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PREFACE
The subject of the following Play is taken from
a domestic tragedy in the history of Venice, and
was suggested to the Authoress by an interesting
narrative of that event in Dr. Moore's Travels.
It is scarcely, perhaps, necessary to say here in
prose, what the Prologue repeats in verse, that
her piece was not only completed, but actually
presented to Covent Garden Theatre before the
publication of Lord Byron's well-known drama:
a fact which happily exculpates her from any
charge of a vain imitation of the great Poet, or
of a still vainer rivalry.
She has now only the pleasant task of acknowledging
her obligations to those whose
eminent and united talents ensured the success of
her Tragedy. To Mr. Young, for his masterly
and pathetic delineation of the heart-broken
father; to Mr. Kemble, (that embodied spirit of
chivalry to whom all that is gallant and knightly
seems to belong as of right) for the brilliant
exertion of his powers in Francesco; to Mr.
Warde, for the consummate subtlety and the
commanding intellect which he threw into
Erizzo; to Mr. Serle, for the pure and gentle
pathos of his Cosmo; and, though last, far from
least, to Mrs. Sloman, for her chaste an affecting
Camilla, she is most deeply indebted. Nor
ought she to omit the sincere tribute of her gratitude
to Mr. Fawcett, for the zealous kindness
with which he superintended the production of
her Play; and to the performers in general for
the interest they took in its success. She begs
them all to accept her heartfelt thanks.
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