Note 296 — THE ANTIQUARY.
Reading edition
The Prologue is a short conversation between a Critic and the Author, which contains the following hit, perhaps at Ben Jonson:—
"Critic. Are you the author of this play? Author. What then? Critic. Out o' this poetry! I wonder what You do with this disease, a seed of vipers Spawn'd in Parnassus' pool; whom the world frowns on, And here you vent your poison on the stage. Author. What say you, sir? Critic. Oh, you are deaf to all Sounds but a plaudite; and yet you may Remember, if you please, what entertainment Some of your tribe have had, that have took pains To be contemn'd and laugh'd at by the vulgar, And then ascrib'd it to their ignorance. I should be loath to see you move their spleens With no better success, and then with some Commendatory epistles, fly to the press To vindicate your credit. Author. What if I do? Critic. By my consent, I'll have you Banish'd the stage, proscrib'd and interdicted Castalian water, and poetical fire."
—Collier.