TO THE REVEREND WILLIAM HARNESS.
My kind and honoured Friend,
It is not without hesitation that I avail myself of your
permission to dedicate this Play to you. Written between
twenty and thirty years ago, it then challenged the indulgence
of my friends, in spite of its many defects, as the possible
promise of better things when I should have attained maturer
powers. I, too, hoped what my friends were kind enough to
expect, and looked forward to accomplishing something
better; but alas! this is the only piece of work I have ever
finished since the first essays of my school-girl days; and,
therefore, most imperfect as it is, I have nothing better to
offer you. Pray accept it, and with it the expression of my
heartfelt regret that it is not a worthier token of the respect,
gratitude, and affection with which I am
Yours most truly,
Fanny Kemble.