University of Virginia Library

A PREFATORY DEDICATION TO THE SUBSCRIBERS.

As I esteem'd it my Happiness to live under a Government, where National Liberty was establish'd by Law, and the Rights of Subjects interwove with their Allegiance: So I ever thought it my Safety to act with such allowable Freedom, as did not contradict any of our written and known Regulations.

Tho' inconsiderable in myself, I am yet a Subject of Great-Britain; and the Privileges of her meanest Member are dear to the whole Constitution.

Among those Privileges, I claim that of justifying my Conduct, I claim that of defending my Property, and wish I could do both, without giving Disgust, ev'n to Those by whose Censures I am a Sufferer.

When I wrote the following Sheets I had studied the ancient Laws of my Country, but was not conversant with her present political State. I did not consider Things minutely; in the general View I liked our Constitution, and zealously wish'd that the Religion, the Laws, and Liberties of England might ever be sacred and safe. I had nothing to fear or hope from Party or Preferment. My Attachments were only to Truth, I was conscious of no other Principles, and was far from apprehending that Such could be offensive.

I took my Subject from the History of Sweden, one of those Gothic and glorious Nations, from whom our Form of Government is derived, from whom Britain has inherited those unextinguishable Sparks of Liberty and Patriotism, that were Her Light thro' the Ages of Ignorance and Superstition, Her flaming Sword turn'd ev'ry Way against Invasion, and that vital Heat which has so often preserved Her, so often restored Her from intestine Malignities. Those are the Sparks, the Gems, that alone give true Ornament and Brightness to the Crown of a British Monarch; that give Him freely to reign over the Free; and shall ever set Him above the Princes of the Earth; till Corruption grow universal; till Subjects wish to be Slaves, and Kings know not how to be Happy.

I was pleased with this Similitude between the Principles, and, as I may say, between the

natural Constitutions of Sweden and Britain. I look'd no further for Sentiments, than as they arose from Facts, and for the Facts I am indebted to History: Nay, I ingenuously confess, I was so far from a View of Merit with the Disaffected, that I look'd on this Performance as the highest Compliment I could pay the present Establishment—Such was my Ignorance, or such is my Misfortune.

Many are the Difficulties a new Author has to encounter in introducing his Play on the Stage. I had the good Fortune to surmount them; this Piece was about five Weeks in Rehearsal, the Day was appointed for Acting, I had disposed of many hundred Tickets, and imagined I had nothing to fear but from the Weakness of the Performance.

But then it was, that where I look'd for Approbation, I met with Repulse. I was condemn'd and punish'd in my Works without being accus'd of any Crime, and made obnoxious to the Government under which I live, without having it in my Power to alter my Conduct, or knowing in what Instance I had given Offence.

However singular and unprecedented this Treatment may appear: Had I conceived it to be the Intention of the Legislature, I should have submitted without complaining. Or had any, among Hundreds who have perused the Manuscript, observed but a single Line that

might inadvertently tend to Sedition or Immorality, I wou'd then have been the first to strike it out, I wou'd now be the last to publish it.

Had the Dignity of the Ld. C****n's Office condescended, as some wou'd insinuate, to a Theatrical Examination of the Drama, to a critical Inquisition of the Conduct, the Unities, and Tricks of Scenery, even so I might have hoped for equal Indulgence with Farces, Pantomimes, and other Performances of like Taste and Genius.

But this is not the Case, the Ld. C****n's Office is alone concerned in those Reasons which gave Birth to the Statute, it is to guard against such Representations as He may conceive to be of pernicious Influence in the Commonwealth; this is the only Point to which his Prohibitions are understood to extend, and his Prohibition lays me under the Necessity of publishing this Piece, to convince the Public, that (tho' of no valuable Consequence) I am at least inoffensive.

Patriotism, or the Love of Country, is the great and single Moral which I had in View thro' this Play. This Love (so superior in its Nature to all other Interests and Affections) is personated in the Character of Gustavus. It is the Love of National Welfare; National Welfare is National Liberty; and He alone can be conscious

of it, He alone can contribute to the Support of it, who is personally free.

By Personal Freedom I mean that State resulting from Virtue; or Reason ruling in the Breast superior to Appetite and Passion; and by National Freedom I mean a Security (arising from the Nature of a well-order'd Constitution) for those Advantages and Privileges that each Man has a Right to, by contributing as a Member to the Weal of that Community.

The Monarch or Head of such a Constitution, is as the Father of a large and well regulated Family, his Subjects are not Servants, but Sons; their Care, their Affections, their Attachments are reciprocal, and their Interest is one, is not to be divided.

This is truly to Reign; this, only, is to Reign. How glorious, how extensive is the Prerogative of such a Monarch! He is superior to Subjects, each of whom is equal to any Monarch, who is only superior to Slaves. He is scepter'd in the Hearts of his People, from whence He directs their Hands with double Force and Energy. His Office partakes of the Divine Inclination, by being exerted to no other End, but the Happiness of a People.

O, never may any Subtleties, any Insinuations raise groundless Jealousies in a People so govern'd! never may they be influenced to imagine

that such a Prince is invading their Rights, while He is only solicitous to confirm and preserve them!

And never may any Ministry, any Adulation, seduce such a Prince from that his true Interest and Honour!

I shou'd not have had the Assurance to sollicite a Subscription in Favour of Sentiments that any Circumstance could ever make me retract. These, and these only, are the Principles of which you are Patrons; and the honourable Names prefix'd to this Performance lay me under such a future Obligation of Conduct, as shall ever make me cautious of forfeiting the Advantages I receive from them. They are also to me a lasting Memorial of that Gratitude with which I am,