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Show P 11 E F A C E. firjk arte lam time with a fecret veneration of things Cetleftial; and is wound up m^my into thepracfl7 fit which it admires. Now, if, tnft, < we fometimes fee em our theatres the fE7aZusi Via rewarded, or at leaft unpun:, it ought not to be an Argument againft the Art anymore than the Extravagances and Impieties of tie fulfil tn-the late lima of Rebellion, can be airainli the Office and Dignity of the Cfrgy. •• BtlJy timA happensf that Poets are Vrongf,<llyaccusd, as it is my own Cafip'thisvery Play, wb JI am charg'd by fome ignorant or mat, <*s, with no lefs Lames than tropbawe- T^iT'lMixin^R againft whicbthefe holy Criticks fo much declaim, was defign'd by me to fit off the Character of St. Catharine. And thcf who read lbe RomarX Hiftory, may e.p rem ember, thai Miximin was J only a bloody Tyrant, \ pore, animo Jeius, as Hercdian dgenfo him; Maximm W"™JV , MJh ' tbt sixth V . So that what-but alfo a Ptrjecutor of toe ^ourcn, agamy u uu j foever he fpeak' or alls in tbn Tragedy, is no more than a Retcrd of his life and Manners; < a PiQure, as near as I could take it, from the Original. If, with much pains and fome fuccefs, I have drawn a deform'd Piece, there is as much of Art, and as near an imitation of Nature, m a Lazare, at m a Venus Maximin was an Heathen, and wfkfl be fixah againft Religun, is in contempt of that which he profefsi. He defies the Gods of R o m e , which is no more than St. Catharine might with decency have done, lf it be urged, th.it a perfon of fuch Principles, who fafsat any Relgion, Ought not to be prefented en the Stage, why then are the Lives and Swings of fo many wicked and prophane perfons r< corded in the Holy Scriptures.? I V ill be anfwer'd, That a due ufe may be made cf, them; that they a?c unambrA with a Brand of Infamy fixt upon them; and fit as Sea-marks for thofe who behold them to avoid. And what other ufe have I made of M a x i m i n ? Have I propofed him as a pattern to be imitated, whom, even fir his impiety to his. falfe Gods, I have fe feverely punijlj'd? Nay, as fy remov'd the Sane of the Play, whisk ought to have been at Alexandria in Eg>pt, {where St. Catharine fuffered) and Lid it under the Walls cf Aquileia in Italy, where Maximin was flain; that the Pumjhment cf his Crime might immediately (ucceedits Execution. This, Reader, is what I ow'd to my juft D fence, and the due Reverence of that Religion which 1 profefs, to which all Men, who defire to be efteemed good or honeft are obliged: I have neither leifurt nor occafion to write more largely on this Sebjcil, becaufe I am already juft fled by the fentenct of the beft, and moft difcerning Prince in the U'Ald, by thc Juft rage of all unbyaffd fudges, and, above all, by the Witntjs of my own Confcience, which abhors the thought of fuch a Crime • to which I ask. have to add my outward Convey fallen, which {hall never be juftly tax d with the Note of Atkeifm or Prophanenefs. In what elfe concerns the Play, I jhail be brief; for the faults cf th•Writing and Contrivance, I kavejhem to the mercy of the Readier, for I am as little apt to defend my Errors, as to find thofe ef other Poets: Only I ebjerve, that the great Cenfors of Wit and Poetry, tifbtr produce nothing of their own, or what is more ridiculous than, any thipg t hey reprehend. Aluch cf ill Nature, and a very little "Judgment, go far in finding the miftalt.es of Writers. I pretend not that any thing of mine can be correll: This Poem, efpecialy, which was confived and written in Seven Weeks, though afterwards kindred, by many Accidents, fr*m a fpeedy Reprefentation, which would have been its fuft ex. Tet the Scenes are every where unbroken, and the unities of place and time mcreexaclly kept,than per. haps is requifite i»a Tragedy; or at leaft, than I have fince preferv'd them tn the Conqueft of Granada. I have not every where obferv'd the equality cf Numbers in my Verfe, partly by reafon of my hafte : but more ejpecially, becaufe I would.not have my Sence a Slave to Syllables, 'Tis eafte to difcover that I have been very bold in my alteration of the Story, which of it felf was too barren for a Play; and that I have taken from the Church Two Martyrs, in the perfons cf Porphyria and the Emprtft, who fuffer''d for the Chriftian Faith, under thc Tyranny of Maximin. / have feen a French Play, call'd thc Martyrdom of St. Catharine : but thofe who have read it, will fon clear me from ftealing out of fo dull an Author. I have only borrowed a miftake from him, of one Maximin for another ; for finding him in the French Poet, call'd the Son of a Thracian Herdjman, and an Atane Woman, I too eafily believ'd him to have been fhe fame Maximin mention'd in Herodianj till afterwards confulting Eufebius and Aletaphraftes, I found the Frenchman bad betray d me into an Error (when it was too late to alter it) by miftaking that firft M a x i m i n for a fecond, the Contemporary of Conftantine the Great, and one of the Ufurpers of the Eaftern Empire But neither was the other Name of my Play more fortunate; for as fome, who had heard of a Tragedy cf St. Catharine, imaged I h my Plot from thence i fo others, who had heard of another Klay, called I A m o u r lyranniquc, with the fame ignorance, accus'd me to have borrow'd my defirn from ,;, becaufe I ve„ my pjay tht fame Title, not having to this day feen it; and knowing only by report, , Comedy u extant in French, under the Name'of Monfteur ScuderV. As for what 1 id of Aftral or Aerial Spirits, it is no Invention of mine, but taken JWr" ™ ™r i t t e n m that Subject. Whether there are fuck Beings or not, it concerns not /•> V P"r?'fi, that many have believed the affirmative; and that thefe Heroick bZt J T' fn °f ^ ^ K'tUre Wtth tbe E?ick> *re not **k but with the exremeft bounds of wb ' J J of Ftbe tJillu C?t^u : demftlv'S "+* th'mhnZ th(y ha™ f*»* * fl™ *• that liflt t^Ncntf^l( ; l e r v i , dy,c reePs after Senit, is fafe, &c.) as if I Patronised my hu , fn°fi fy have never read Horace, Serpit humi tutus, &c. arc U, common Senfe, is fafe from committing Abfurdities, but .cellence of Wn ; and fine lto*U not mean that any Luence were to P R E F A C E. 35? to be found in Nonfence. With the fame ignorance , or malice, they would accufe me for ufing empty Arms, when I writ of a Ghoft or Shadow, which has only tbe appearance of a Body or Limbs% and is empty or void offiejh and blood; and vacuis ampledtitur ulnis, was an Exprtfjion of Ovid'/ on the fame Subjell. Some Fool before them, had charg'd me m the Indian Emperor with Non-fence, in thefe words, A n d follow Fate which does too faft purfue; which was borrow*d from Virgil tn tbe ixth of his tAEneids, Eludit gyro interior, fequiturque fequentem. / quote not thefe to prove that I never writ Nonfence, but only to fliew that they are fo unfortunate as not to have found it. V A L E P R O L O G U E E P I L O G UE CElf-Love (wl.ich never rightly underflood) Makes Poets ftill conclude their Plays are good: An.l Malice in all Critickj reigns fo high, TJMI for fmall Errours, tUy whole Plays decry ; So that to fee this fundnefs, and that fpite, You'd thinkjbst none but mad-men judge or write. Therefore our Poet, as he thinks not fie T'impofe upmyou what he writes for tfit, So hopes that leaving ;on your Cenfures free, Tut equal Judges of the whole wiS be : Ihey Judge but half who only faults will fee. , Poets, lik,e lovers, fhould be bold and dare, They fpcil their bufinefs with an over-care : And he whofervilely creeps after fenfe, Js fife, but n'er will reach an Excellence. tlcr.ee 'tis, our Poet hi his conjuring, Allow d his Faw the full fcopc and fwing. Jhtt when a Tyrant fcr his Theme he had, lie loos''d the reins and bid his Mufe run mad: And though be ftumbles in a full Career i 'let Hafknejs is a better fault than Fear. He fnv hu way ; but in f<> fwift a Pace, To chufe the Ground, mi^ht be to lofe the Race. 'Ihey tlmt who if each Trip th' advantage take, Find but ibtjefaulu which they want iVit tomttki'. Spoken by Mrs Ellen, when Ihe was to be carried off dead by the Bearers. To the TJO'.d, aire ;::i mad? you damn'd confounded Bearer. lain to rije and fpeak, the Epilogue [Dog, T o the Audience] I come, kfndGentlemen.ftrange News I am the Gh'ft ef poor departed Nelly. [to tell ye, Sweet Ladies, be not frighted, I'll be civil, I'm what I was, a little harmleft Devil. For after Death, we Speights have jufl fuch natures, iVe had for all the iVer'.d, when human Creatures; And therefore I, that was an AElrefs here, Play all my tricks in Hell, a Goblin there. Gallant's loe\ to't, yon fay there are no Sprigkts } But I'll come dance about your Beds at Nights. And 'faith you'll be in a fweet kind of tailing, IVhen Ifwprijc you between fleep and waging. To tell you true, I w.x'\l>ecaufe I die Out of my eating in a Tr-gedy. O Poet! damn'd dull Poet, who could prove So fen (lefs to make Nelly die for Love: Nay what's yet Worft, to kill me in the prime Of Eafter-Twra, in T.irt and Cheefecake-time t I'll fit the Fop, for VI not one word Jay T" excufe his ^dh, out of fafbion, Play. A Play, which if you dare but twia fit out. You'11 all be flandcr\l, and be thought devout. But farewel, Gentlemen, make haft to me, I'm fure e're long to have your company. Asfor my Epitaph, when I am gone, I'll truft no Poet, but will write my own. Here Nelly lies, who, though fhe liv'd a Slarern, Yet di'd a Princefs acting in St. Cathar'n. Perfons Reprefented- M A x i m i n , Tyrant of Rome, Porphyrius, Captain of the) Pretorian Bands, j Charinus, The Emperors Son, Placidius, a great Officer, Nigrinus, a Tribune and Conjurer, Ameriel, Guardian Angel to S. Catharine, Apollonius, a Heathen Philofopher, Berenice, Wife to Maximin, Valeria, Daughter to Maximin, St. Catharine, Princefs of Alexandria, Felicia, her Mother, Erotion, ( . , . ~ , ' (-Attendants- Cydnon, \ ' By Major Wlohttn, Mr. Hart. Mr. Horrif. Mr. Kynaflon. Mr. Lydall. Mr. Littlewood. Mr. Beefton. Mr. Bell. Mr. Cartmight. By Mrs. Marfhall. Mrs. RllenGvpyn. Mrs. Bowtell. Mrs. Knepp. Mos. Vphill. Mrs. Eaflland. S C E N E , The Camf> of Maximin, under the Walls of Aquileia. y n Tyntn |