The Prologue to the Stage, at the Cock-Pit
We know not how our play may pass this stage,But by the best of poets 5 in that ageTHE MALTA-JEW had being and was made;And he then by the best of actors 6 play’d:In HERO AND LEANDER 7 one did gainA lasting memory; in Tamburlaine,This Jew, with others many, th’ other wanThe attribute of peerless, being a manWhom we may rank with (doing no one wrong)Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue,—So could he speak, so vary; nor is’t hateTo merit in him 8 who doth personateOur Jew this day; nor is it his ambitionTo exceed or equal, being of conditionMore modest: this is all that he intends,(And that too at the urgence of some friends,)To prove his best, and, if none here gainsay it,The part he hath studied, and intends to play it.