"Be of your patron's mind, whate'er he says: Sleep very much; think little, and talk less: Mind neither good nor bad, nor right nor wrong; But eat your pudding, fool, and hold your tongue."--PRIOR. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 64: The cat ran away with this part of the copy, on which the Author had unfortunately laid some of Mother Crump's sausages.] THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES: OR, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOM THUMB THE GREAT. WITH THE ANNOTATIONS OF H. SCRIBLERUS SECUNDUS. FIRST ACTED IN 1730, AND ALTERED IN 1731. H. SCRIBLERUS SECUNDUS, HIS PREFACE. The town hath seldom been more divided in its opinion than concerning the merit of the following scenes. Whilst some publicly affirm that no author could produce so fine a piece but Mr. P----, others have with as much vehemence insisted that no one could write anything so bad but Mr. F----. Nor can we wonder at this dissension about its merit, when the learned world have not unanimously decided even the very nature of this tragedy. For though most of the universities in Europe have honoured it with the name of "Egregium et maximi pretii opus, tragoediis tam antiquis quàm novis longè anteponendum;" nay, Dr. B---- hath pronounced, "Citiùs Mævii Æneadem quàm Scribleri istius tragoediam hanc crediderim, cujus autorem Senecam ipsum tradidisse haud dubitârim:" and the great Professor Burman hath styled Tom Thumb "Heroum omnium tragicorum facilè principem;" nay, though it hath, among other languages, been translated into Dutch, and celebrated with great applause at Amsterdam (where burlesque never came) by the title of Mynheer Vander Thumb, the burgomasters received it with that reverent and silent attention which becometh an audience at a deep tragedy. Notwithstanding all this, there have not been wanting some who have represented these scenes in a ludicrous light; and Mr. D---- hath been heard to say, with some concern, that he wondered a tragical and Christian nation would permit a representation on its theatre so visibly designed to ridicule and extirpate everything that is great and solemn among us. This learned critic and his followers were led into so great an error by that surreptitious and piratical copy which stole last year into the world; with what injustice and prejudice to our author will be acknowledged, I hope, by every one who shall happily peruse this genuine and original copy. Nor can I help remarking, to the great praise of our author, that, however imperfect the former was, even that faint resemblance of the true Tom Thumb contained sufficient beauties to give it a run of upwards of forty nights to the politest audiences. But, notwithstanding that applause which it received from all the best judges, it was as severely censured by some few bad ones, and, I believe rather maliciously than ignorantly, reported to have been intended a burlesque on the loftiest parts of tragedy, and designed to banish what we generally call fine things from the stage.