Prologue to "The Wild Gallant", Revived (As some raw squire, by tender mother bred)

As some raw squire, by tender mother bred,
Till one and twenty keeps his maidenhead,
(Pleas'd with some sport, which he alone does find,
And thinks a secret to all humankind,)
Till mightily in love, yet half afraid,
He first attempts the gentle dairymaid.
Succeeding there, and led by the renown
Of Whetstone's Park, he comes at length to town,
Where enter'd, by some school-fellow or friend,
He grows to break glass windows in the end:
His Tutor too, which with the watch began,
Proceeds to duel, and he kills his man.
By such degrees, while knowledge he did want,
Our unfledg'd author writ a Wild Gallant,
He thought him monstrous lewd (I 'll lay my life)
Because suspected with his landlord's wife;
But, since his knowledge of the town began,
He thinks him now a very civil man;
And, much asham'd of what he was before,
Has fairly play'd him at three wenches more.
'T is some amends his frailties to confess:
Pray pardon him his want of wickedness.
He 's towardly, and will come on apace;
His frank confession shows he has some grace.
You balk'd him when he was a young beginner,
And almost spoil'd a very hopeful sinner;
But, if once more you slight his weak endeavor,
For aught I know, he may turn tail for ever.