 | An English Tragedy |  |
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
| An English Tragedy | |