'His price for a Prologue or Epilogue is said by Dr. Warburton to have been originally four guineas; till being asked by Southerne to write one, he required six;
"Not, (said he) young man, out of disrespect to you, but the players have had my goods too cheap."
This story, Warburton says, was told by Southerne to him and Pope, nearly at the same time. In the Life of Southerne, however, published shortly afterwards by Shiels and the younger Cibber, on the testimony of a gentleman who had been personally acquainted with that poet, the sums are said to have been five and ten guineas; and Dr. Johnson with more probability supposes, that Dryden's original price for a Prologue was two guineas, and that from Southerne he demanded three: so difficult is it to elicit truth from any traditional tale.' — Malone, Life of Dryden, p. 456.
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