A Prefatory Dedication WHEN I wrote the following Sheets I had ftudied the ancient Laws of my Country, but was not converfant with her prefent political State. I did not confider Things minutely j in the general View I liked our Conftitution, and eealoufly wifhd that the Religion, the Laws, and Liberties of England might ever be facred and fafe. I had nothing to fear or hope from Party or Preferment. My Attachments were only to Truth, I was confcious of no other Principles, and was far from apprehending that Such could be offensive. I TOOK my SubjecT from the Hiftory of Swe- den, one of thofe Gothic and glorious Nations, from whom our Form of Government is de- rived, from whom Britain has inherited thofe unextinguimable Sparks of Liberty and Patriotiim, that were Her Light thro the Ages of Ignorance and Superflition, Her flaming Sword ttiradevry Way againft Invafion, and that vital Heat which has fo often preferved Her, fo often reftored Her from inteftine Malignities. Thofe are the Sparks, the Gems, that alone give true Ornament and Brightnefs to the Crown of a Britijh Monarch that give Him freely to reign over the Free j and mail ever fet Him above the Princes of the Earth till Corruption grow uni- veriulj till Subjects wim to be Slaves, and Kings know not how to be Happy. I WAS pleafed with this Similitude between the Principles, and, as I may fay, between the natural A Prefatory Dedication c. v natural Constitutions of Sweden and Britain. I lookd no further for Sentiments, than as they arofefrom Facts, and for the Fails Iam indebted I was to Hiftory Nay, I ingenuoufly confefs, fo far from a View of Merit with the Dif- affefted, that I lookd on this Performance as the higheft Compliment I could pay the prefent Eftablifhment Such was my Ignorance, or fuch 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 fur- mount them this Piece was about five Weeks in Rehearfal, the Day was appointed for Acting, I had difpofed of many hundred Tickets, and imagined I had nothing to fear but from the Weaknefs of the Performance. BUT then it was, that where I lookd for Approbation, I met with Repulfe. I was condemnd and punifhd in my Works without being accusd ofany 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 Inflance I had given Offence. HOWEVER fingular and this unprecedented Treatment may appear Had I conceived it to be the Intention of the Legiflature, I fhoulJ have fubmitted without complaining. Or had any, among Hundreds who have perufed the Manufcript, cferved but a fmgle Line that might Vi A Prefatory Dedication might inadvertently tend to Sedition or Immorality, I woud then have been the firft to ftrike it out I woud now be the laft to publifh it, HAD the Dignity of the Ld...