your lordship has one particular reason to promote this undertaking,
because you were the first who gave me the opportunity of discoursing
it to his majesty, and his royal highness: They were then pleased,
both to commend the design, and to encourage it by their commands. But
the unsettledness of my condition has hitherto put a stop to my
thoughts concerning it. As I am no successor to Homer in his wit, so
neither do I desire to be in his poverty. I can make no rhapsodies nor
go a begging at the Grecian doors, while I sing the praises of their
ancestors. The times of Virgil please me better, because he had an
Augustus for his patron; and, to draw the allegory nearer you, I am
sure I shall not want a Mecaenas with him. It is for your lordship to
stir up that remembrance in his majesty, which his many avocations of
business have caused him, I fear, to lay aside; and, as himself and
his royal brother are the heroes of the poem, to represent to them the
images of their warlike predecessors; as Achilles is said to be roused
to glory, with the sight of the combat before the ships. For my own
part, I am satisfied to have offered the design, and it may be to the
advantage of my reputation to have it refused me.

In the mean time, my lord, I take the confidence to present you with a
tragedy, the characters of which are the nearest to those of an heroic
poem. It was dedicated to you in my heart, before it was presented on
the stage. Some things in it have passed your approbation, and many
your amendment. You were likewise pleased to recommend it to the
king's perusal, before the last hand was added to it, when I received
the favour from him, to have the most considerable event of it
modelled by his royal pleasure. It may be some vanity in me to add his
testimony then, and which he graciously confirmed afterwards, that it
was the best of all my tragedies; in which he has made authentic my
private opinion of it; at least, he has given it a value by his
commendation, which it had not by my writing.

That which was not pleasing to some of the fair ladies in the last act
of it, as I dare not vindicate, so neither can I wholly condemn, till
I find more reason for their censures. The procedure of Indamora and
Melesinda seems yet, in my judgment, natural, and not unbecoming of
their characters. If they, who arraign them, fail not more, the world
will never blame their conduct; and I shall be glad, for the honour of
my country, to find b