esbro'. The piece seems to have
been very successful, and to have kept the stage at intervals for some
twenty years.

To the Right Noble

HENRY FITZ-ROY,

Duke of _Grafton_, Earl of _Sutton_, Viscount of _Ipswich_, Baron
of _Sudbury_, Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter,
and Colonel of his Majesties Regiment of Foot-Guards, &c.

May it please Your Grace,

Dedications which were Originally design'd, as a Tribute to the
Reverence and just esteem we ought to pay the _Great_ and _Good_ ; are
now so corrupted with Flattery, that they rarely either find a Reception
in the World, or merit that Patronage they wou'd implore. But I without
fear Approach the great Object, being above that mean and mercenary Art;
nor can I draw the Lovely Picture half so charming and so manly as it
is; and that Author may more properly boast of a Lucky Hitt, whose
choice and Fortune is so good, than if he had pleas'd all the different
ill Judging world besides in the business of the _Play_; for none that
way, can ever hope to please all; in an Age when Faction rages, and
different Parties disagree in all things-- - But coming the first day to
a new Play with a Loyal Title, and then even the sober and tender
conscienc'd, throng as to a forbidden Conventicle, fearing the Cub of
their old Bear of Reformation should be expos'd, to be the scorn of the
wicked, and dreading (tho' but the faint shadow of their own deformity)
their _Rebellion, Murders, Massacres_ and _Villanies_, from forty
upwards, should be represented for the better undeceiving and informing
of the World, flock in a full Assembly with a pious design to Hiss and
Rail it as much out of countenance as they would _Monarchy, Religion,
Laws_, and _Honesty_; throwing the _Act of Oblivion_ in our Teeths, as
if that (whose mercy cannot make them forget their old Rebellion) cou'd
hinder honest Truths from breaking out upon 'em in Edifying Plays, where
the Loyal hands ever out-do their venom'd Hiss; a good and happy Omen,
if Poets may be allow'd for Prophets as of old they were: and 'tis as
easily seen at a new Play how the Royal Interest thrives, as at a City
Election, how the _Good Old Couse_ is carried on; as a Noble Peer lately
said, _Tho' the Tories have got the better of us at the Play, we carried
it in the City by many Voices, God be praised!_

This Play, call'd _The Roundheads_, which I humbly lay at your Graces
feet, Pardon the Title, and Heaven defe