_Some may think the Subject of this Discourse trivial, and the persons herein mention'd not worth remembering. But besides that I could name some things contested of late with great heat, of as little, or less Consequence, the Reader may know that the Profession of Players is not so totally scandalous, nor all of them so reprobate, but that there has been found under that Name, a Canonized Saint in the primitive Church; as may be seen in the_ Roman Martyrology _on the_ 29th _of_ March; _his name_ Masculas _a Master of Interludes_, (_the Latin is_ Archimimus, _and the French translation_ un Maitre Comedien) _who under the Persecution of the_ Vandals _in_ Africa, _by_ Geisericus _the_ Arian _King, having endured many and greivious Torments and Reproaches for the Confession of the Truth, finisht the Course of this glorious Combat. Saith the said_ Martyrology.
_It appears from this, and some further Instances in the following Discourse, That there have been Players of worthy Principles as to Religion, Loyalty, and other Virtues; and if the major part of them fall under a different Character, it is the general unhappiness of Mankind, that the_ Most _are the_ Worst.
LOVEW. Honest Old Cavalier! well met, 'faith I'm glad to see thee.
TRUM. Have a care what you call me. Old, is a Word of Disgrace among the Ladies; to be Honest is to be Poor, and Foolish, (as some think) and Cavalier is a Word as much out of Fashion as any of 'em.
LOVEW. The more's the pity: But what said the Fortune-Teller in _Ben. Johnson_'s Mask of _Gypsies_, to the then _Lord Privy Seal_,
_Honest and Old!_ _In those the_ Good _Part of a Fortune is told_.
TRUM. _Ben. Johnson?_ How dare you name _Ben. Johnson_ in these times? When we have such a crowd of Poets of a quite different Genius; the least of which thinks himself as well able to correct _Ben. Johnson_, as he could a Country School Mistress that taught to Spell.
LOVEW. We have indeed, Poets of a different Genius; so are the Plays: but in my Opinion, they are all of 'em (some few excepted) as much inferior to those of former Times, as the Actors now in being (generally speaking) are, compared to _Hart_, _Mohun_, _Burt_, _Lacy_, _Clun_, and _Shatterel_; for I can reach no farther backward.