AS the Entertainments of our Theatres are publick, and supported by publick Authority, it is but just that the Instruction, which is the ultimate end of them, should tend to the publick Advantage. 'Tis true, indeed, the Stage, by correcting particular Persons, has a natural tendency to the improving the Publick. But when, I say, that the Publick ought to receive Advantage from the Entertainments of our Thea­tres, I mean, that it ought to do so immediately, and that the In­structions which we receive from the Stage ought to be for the Be­nefit of the lawful establish'd Government.

That this was the Case among the Athenians appears plain to me; and the reason why they settled so vast a Fund upon the Tragick Stage, was because they regarded it as the very Barrier of Liberty, which it supported by exposing the Misfortunes of Ty­rants, and the Calamities that attended upon Arbitrary Pow'r. And it seems to me to be for this reason that they had that high Esteem for Oedipus, and were at so uncommon an Expence in the Decoration of it, because both the Crimes and the Calamities of Oe­dipus were the Consequences of his assuming unlimited Pow'r. 'Tis true, he kill'd his Father before he came to be King, but it was by ascending the Throne that he committed Incest, and that he came to the knowledge of what he had done; and had he continued a private Man, he had neither known the Guilt of his Actions, nor had he felt the Punishment of them.

As the Athenians had Liberty with a Common-wealth, the Eng­lish enjoy the very same Liberty under the Government of the best of Queens, and in so doing are the happiest People in the World. I thought therefore that I could not do a thing that would be more acceptable to all true Englishmen, than to cas [...] in my Mite towards the defending and supporting of that Liberty.

[Page] That the Liberties of Europe, and of this Island particularly, are in no small Danger at present from the growing Power of France, will be easily granted by all but such who are either Fools or Knaves too incorrigible to be talk'd too. But this is plain, that they are not so much in danger, from what some call the Greatness of the French, as from the Baseness of the rest of Eu­rope. If we were but as true to Liberty, as the French are to Tyranny, they would soon be as despicable in their Circumstances as they are now in their Principles. 'Tis the want of publick Spi­rit that ruins us, and the Design of this Tragedy is to inculcate that, this being its important Moral; that the want of publick Spirit in the Members of any Community makes not only the publick, but very often those private Persons who want it▪ very unhappy; that whoeven sells or betrays his Country either to a foreign Tyrant, as some of the Confederates, or to a home-bred one, as the whole Bo­dy of the French do; whoever does this upon the account of ad­vancing his Family, which is the general Motive to such publick Treasons, is sure to have himself and his Family suffer with the rest, and perhaps with the foremost. And this Moral is prov'd by the Dramatick Action both ways. It shews a Man who makes a Treaty with the French upon private Interest, made by that Treaty the most wretched of Mankind, of the happiest that he was before; and it shews the very Frenchman who breaks it, about to be plung'd by the Breach of it, in the most deplorable Calamity; and it shews something farther too, that the French, who are the Instruments of promoting Tyranny upon a private Interest, are so only because they are so far blinded by their Passions, that they know not what they do; that is, they know not that they are sacrificing to their Tyrant their very Children and Families, for whose Support they pretend to act; that if their other Passions did not conccal this from them, all of them who have any thing of natural Affection, would be so far from being guilty of so unnatural a Villany, that they would immediately declare for Liberty.

Some People may perhaps admire, that I who have been accus'd of repeating the same thing in the Play, the Prologue and Epilogue, should yet appear to be farther guilty of that very Fault in the Preface. To whom I answer, That since after all the Care I had taken in the Play, the Prologue and Epilogue, to assure the World [Page] that this was an English and not a Party Play; there were some malicious enough to affirm that this was a Play writ pur­posely to oblige the Whigs, I thought it lay upon me to prove what I had affirm'd before, that this was not a Whig but an English Play, which I shall manifestly, I believe, make out, un­less they will urge, that because it is an English therefore it is a Whiggish Play.

If this Play is writ for a Party, why then it must be writ against a Party. Now it will be pretty plain from what has been said above, considered with the Play it self, that the Design of this Tragedy is to make Men in Love with Liberty, by shewing them that nothing can be more according to Nature, and by shewing this not by such forcible and extra­ordinary Arguments as require more than ordinary Penetration to be understood, for that has been already done so incompara­bly by Mr. Lock that nothing need or can be added to it; but by something so plain that ev'ry Understanding is capable of it, and that is, by the most Tender of all Sentiments which Nature has implanted in the Minds of Men, and that is, the Love of their Children. The Party therefore that this Play was writ to oblige, are all those who have any concern for their Country, their Religion, their Relations, their Friends and their Children; and the Party it was writ against, are all those who care not one farthing for any or all of these. Now I would give a good deal to behold so abominable a Wretch as to own himself of such a Party.

He who writes for a Party writes for Interest; now I would fain ask any one where can be my Interest in writing for the Party for which it is supposed that I write. The first thing that I wrote which had relation to the Publick was a Poem call'd The Court of Death, in which I lamented the Death of the late Queen of happy and glorious Memory. And tho' both the Design and Spirit of that Poem were thought by some of the best Judges, to be above the common level of Poetry, yet I was almost the only Person of all the Writers who appear'd upon that Subject, of whom the Court took no notice. My Friends can bear me Witness that I was so far from being mortified at it, that I was resolv'd to persevere in what I thought my Duty, and of all the foresaid Writers I was afterwards [Page] the only Person who bewail'd the Death of the late King in the same publick manner that I had before lamented that of his Royal Consort. I had almost the same Fortune with that Poem that I had with the former: It brought me indeed a little more Repu­tation, but just as much Advantage.

He who after this could be induc'd to expect any thing from those whom they call the Whigs, must be of a more sanguine Temper than I am. I know indeed that there are a great many People whom they call Whigs, who are really Englishmen, and to oblige Englishmen I shall be always proud, by what Names soever they may be distin­guished; By a real Englishman I mean one who is for the present Establishment, and the Protestant Succession, upon the view of the good of his Countrey, and his own no farther than as it depends on the other.

But upon the first acting this Tragedy there were not wanting some worthy Persons who made it their Business to report about the Town that it was a Republican Play. Now to give them an Answer to which nothing can be replyed, I have ordered the last Scene of the Play to be printed, which on the account of Length was left out in Acting, tho' it yet remains in the Play-house-copy. At the same time I desire the Reader to believe, that I am not such a Fool to contend for Names but for Things; that Liberty is Liberty under a limited Monarchy, as much as under a Common-wealth; that we enjoy enough under the present Queen to make us the happiest of People; that I have as high a Venera­tion for Her as any Subject She has, and would venture as much to serve Her, because I am perfectly convinc'd, that all that She aims at by Her perpetual Care and the Wisdom of Her Conduct, is to sup­port and defend these Liberties which Her glorious Predecessour deliver'd to us; and which 'tis the Business of this Play to assert and vindicate. So that the Design of this Tragedy being only to pro­mote the good Intentions of the Queen, it is more Her Interest than it is any Persons in England that it should make the Impres­sion which it was design'd to make; tho' I believe it at the same time to be the Interest of ev'ry Person in England, excepting those who are wishing for a French Government or contriving to bring it in.

This is not the first time that since Her Majesties happy Accession [Page] to Her Throne I have endeavour'd to serve Her. And all the world knows that it is not my Fault that I have not done Her a most important Service. ^* Had that been done, there had been no need of writing the following Tragedy. There had been no need of firing People with the Love of Liberty, or animating them a­gainst the common Foe. Had that been done the Liberties of Eu­rope and our own had been sufficiently secur'd.

I know very well that the foregoing Declaration is not over politick; that to declare for the Publick against Parties is to make no Friends. I am perfectly convinc'd that if I could be brought to espouse any Party warmly, that Party might be brought to espouse me, but that till I make that step I must be left to my self; of this, I say, I am perfectly convinc'd, and yet not­withstanding that Conviction, I hope in God I shall not change my Conduct.

The Success of this Play has been so favourable notwithstanding Malice and ill Accidents; it has had the Felicity of having so many illustrious Voices for it, that I may spare my self the Trouble of answering Objections. However, since good Manners appear to be concern'd in two of them, I shall say a word to those.

The first is, that there are in this Play National Reflections, which ought not to be made. To which I answer, that I plainly perceive that the Art of the following Tragedy is by no means all understood. That part of it consists in this, that what some mi­stake for a National Satyr, is only a Satyr upon Arbitrary Power, a Satyr upon the Government of the French, and not upon their Manners as they proceed from their Climate. The French are in them­selves a brave and a gallant Nation; but the Submission which they fondly pay to unlimited Power has plung'd them in Vices which their Natures abhor, and render'd them odious and despicable. To shew this, I have introduced the Characters of two Frenchmen, Frontenac and Miramont, who are both of them Men of Honour; but the difference between them is this, that Miramont, who de­clares against Arbitrary Pow'r, is altogether without Blemish, and the Faults and Defects in Frontenac's Character, are plainly deriv'd [Page] from his Zeal for their present Government.

The other Objection is this, that the Satyr in the Ambassadors Scene is too course for delicate Ears. I know it very well, and in complaisance to some Gentlemen whom I esteem, I order'd it to be left out after the first Night, but I have printed it with the rest because they who do not like it may turn over it, and because it is likely to be subservient to the end for which this Poem was writ, and that is, to animate our English against the French; for I believe it may not be unacceptable to some honest downright Englishmen, who while we and the French are cutting one anothers Throats, will not take it ill, that we do it without Ceremony.

The Scene of this Tragedy lies at Agnie in Canada; which, for the sake of the better sound, I call Angie. Canada is a vast Tract of Land in Northern America, on the Back of New England and New York. As New England and New York, and the Coun­try about them belong to the English, a considerable part of Ca­nada is possess'd by the French; and as the English and French divide the Country, they divide the Natives. The most conside­rable Nation of Canada, next to the Iroquois, are the Hurons, who are Friends to the French. But the five Warlike Nations of the Iroquois are our Confederates; of those five Nations, Agnies or Angies is one; and the chief Place of the Nation is Agnie or Angie, and thus much I thought fit to premise for the Sake of those who have never read either Hennepin or La Hontan.

But now it will be convenient to say a word concerning the Scenes as they are mark'd in the printed Play, and here▪ by the word Scene, I do not mean so much the Place, as the Number of Persons who are in Action upon that Place at a time. I have therefore distinguish'd the Scenes in the following Play, as they have been always distinguish'd by the Ancients and by the Moderns of other Countries, and by our own Ben. Johnson. Any Person who comes upon the Place of Action, or leaves it, makes a different Scene, and that new Scene is mark'd by the Figure of its respe­ctive Number, and the Names of the Persons who are upon the Place of Action. I thought that agreeable Delusion into which the Reader willingly and gladly enters, for the sake of his Plea­sure, would be both greater and easier if he were not put in mind [Page] of a Stage by Entrances and Exits, which are nothing but Dire­rections that are given to a Play House Prompter.

The Design of this Play was much improv'd by the Remonstrances which I receiv'd from my valued Friend Mr. Southern, who besides his Zeal to do good to his Friends, and a noble Sincerity, uncommon among the Writers of this Age, by the ex tempore Re­marks which he made upon my reading this Play to him in a very hasty manner, shew'd at once so much penetrating Quickness, as well as so much Solidity, and so much sureness, as could belong to no Man but one who has a thorough Understanding of Nature, and who has that admirable Talent for touching the Passions which he has shewn in his Tragedies. I must own the Obligation too which I have to Mr. Betterton for the Hints I received from him, as well as for his excellent Action.

This Play indeed receiv'd all the Grace and Ornament of A­ction in most of the principal Parts, and in all the Womens. But that of Sakia by Mrs. Barry was acted so admirably and inimita­bly, as that no Stage in Europe can boast of any thing that comes near to her Performance; or if the Foreign Stages can shew any thing like it, they are at least prodigiously improv'd since I was upon the Continent. That incomparable Actress changing like Nature which she represents, from Passion to Passion, from Extream to Extream, with piercing Force, and with [...] Grace, changes the Hearts of all who see her with irresistible Pleasure.