To
the
most
Illustrious
and
High-born
Prince
,
James
Duke
of
Monmouth
and
Bucclugh
,
one
of
His
Majesties
most
Honourable
Privy-Council
,
and
Knight
of
the
most
Noble
Order
of
the
Garter
,
&c.
SIR
,
THE
favourable
Reception
which
your
Excellent
Lady
afforded
to
one
of
my
former
Plays
,
has
encourag'd
me
to
double
my
presumption
,
in
addressing
this
to
your
Graces
Patronage
.
So
dangerous
a
thing
it
is
to
admit
a
Poet
into
your
Family
,
that
you
can
never
afterwards
be
free
from
the
chiming
of
ill
Verses
,
perpetually
sounding
in
your
ears
,
and
more
troublesom
than
the
neighbourhood
of
Steeples
.
I
have
been
favourable
to
my self
in
this
expression
;
a
zealous
Fanatick
would
have
gone
farther
;
and
have
called
me
the
Serpent
,
who
first
presented
the
fruit
of
my
Poetry
to
the
Wife
,
and
so
gain'd
the
opportunity
to
seduce
the
Husband
.
Yet
I
am
ready
to
avow
a
Crime
so
advantagious
to
me
;
but
the
World
,
which
will
condemn
my
boldness
,
I
am
sure
will
justifie
and
applaude
my
choice
.
All
men
will
joyn
with
me
in
the
adoration
which
I
pay
you
,
they
would
will
only
I
had
brought
you
a
more
noble
Sacrifice
.
Instead
of
an
Heroick
Play
,
you
might
justly
expect
an
Heroick
Poem
,
filled
with
the
past
Glories
of
your
Ancestors
,
&
the
future
certainties
of
your
own
.
Heaven
has
already
taken
care
to
form
you
for
an
Heroe
.
You
have
all
the
advantages
of
Mind
and
Body
,
and
an
Illustrious
Birth
,
conspiring
to
render
you
an
extraordinary
Person
.
The
Achilles
and
the
Kinaldo
are
present
in
you
,
even
above
their
Originals
;
you
only
want
a
Homer
or
a
Tasso
to
make
you
equal
to
them
.
Youth
,
Beauty
,
and
Courage
(
all
which
you
possess
in
the
height
of
their
perfection
)
are
the
most
desirable
gifts
of
Heaven
:
and
Heaven
is
never
prodigal
of
such
Treasures
,
but
to
some
uncommon
purpose
.
So
goodly
a
Fabrick
was
never
framed
by
an
Almighty
Architect
for
a
vulgar
Guest
.
He
shewed
the
value
which
he
set
upon
your
Mind
,
when
he
took
care
to
have
it
so
nobly
and
so
beautifully
lodg'd
.
To
a
graceful
fashion
and
deportment
of
Body
,
you
have
joyned
a
winning
Conversation
,
and
an
easie
Greatness
,
derived
to
you
from
the
best
,
and
best
belov'd
of
Princes
.
And
with
a
great
power
of
obliging
,
the
world
has
observed
in
you
,
a
desire
to
oblige
;
even
beyond
your
power
.
This
and
all
that
I
can
say
on
so
excellent
and
large
a
Subject
,
is
only
History
,
in
which
Fiction
has
no
part
;
I
can
employ
nothing
of
Poetry
in
it
,
any
more
than
I
do
in
that
humble
protestation
which
I
make
,
to
continue
ever
Your
Graces
most
obedient
and
most
devoted
Servant
,
John
Dryden
.
PREFACE
.
I
Was
mov'd
to
write
this
Play
by
many
reasons
:
amongst
others
,
the
Commands
of
some
Persons
of
Honour
,
for
whom
I
have
a
most
particular
respect
,
were
daily
sounding
in
my
ears
,
that
it
would
be
of
good
Example
to
undertake
a
Poem
of
this
Nature
.
Neither
was
my
own
inclination
wanting
to
second
their
desires
.
I
considered
that
pleasure
was
not
the
only
end
of
Poesie
;
and
that
even
the
instructions
of
Morality
were
not
so
wholly
the
business
of
a
Poet
,
as
that
the
Precepts
and
Examples
of
Piety
were
to
be
omitted
.
For
to
leave
that
employment
altogether
to
the
Clergie
,
were
to
forget
that
Religion
was
first
taught
in
Verse
(
which
the
laziness
or
dulness
of
succeeding
Priesthood
,
turned
afterwards
into
Prose
:
)
and
it
were
also
to
grant
,
which
I
never
shall
,
that
representations
of
this
kind
may
not
as
well
be
conducing
to
Holiness
,
as
to
good
Manners
.
Yet
far
be
it
from
me
,
to
compare
the
use
of
Dramatique
Poesie
with
that
,
of
Divinity
:
I
only
maintain
against
the
Enemies
of
the
Stage
,
that
patterns
of
piety
,
decently
represented
,
and
equally
removed
from
the
extremes
of
superstition
and
Prophaneness
,
may
be
of
excellent
use
to
second
the
Precepts
of
our
Religion
.
By
the
Harmony
of
words
we
elevate
the
mind
to
a
sense
of
Devotion
,
as
our
solemn
Musick
,
which
is
inarticulate
Poesie
,
does
in
Churches
;
and
by
the
lively
images
of
piety
,
adorned
by
action
,
through
the
senses
allure
the
Soul
:
which
while
it
is
charmed
in
a
silent
joy
of
what
it
sees
and
hears
,
is
struck
at
the
same
time
with
a
secret
veneration
of
things
Celestial
,
and
is
woond
up
insensibly
into
the
practice
of
that
which
it
admires
.
Now
,
if
,
instead
of
this
,
we
sometimes
see
on
our
Theaters
,
the
Examples
of
Vice
rewarded
,
or
at
least
unpunished
;
yet
it
ought
not
to
be
an
Argument
against
the
Art
,
any
more
than
the
Extravagances
and
Impieties
of
the
Pulpit
in
the
late
times
of
Rebellion
,
can
be
against
the
Office
and
Dignity
of
the
Clergie
.
But
many
times
it
happens
,
that
Poets
are
wrongfully
accused
;
as
it
is
my
own
Case
in
this
very
Play
;
where
I
am
charged
by
some
ignorant
or
malicious
persons
,
with
no
less
Crimes
than
Prophaneness
and
Irreligion
.
The
part
of
Maximin
,
against
which
these
holy
Criticks
so
much
declaim
,
was
designed
by
me
to
set
off
the
Character
of
S.
Catharine
.
And
those
who
have
read
the
Roman
History
,
may
easily
remember
,
that
Maximin
was
not
only
a
bloody
Tyrant
,
vastus
corpore
,
animo
ferus
,
as
Herodian
describes
him
;
but
also
a
Persecutor
of
the
Church
,
against
which
he
raised
the
sixth
Persecution
.
So
that
whatsoever
he
speaks
or
acts
in
this
Tragedy
,
is
no
more
than
a
Record
of
his
life
and
manners
;
a
picture
as
near
as
I
could
take
it
,
from
the
Original
.
If
with
much
pains
and
some
success
I
have
drawn
a
deformed
piece
,
there
is
as
much
of
Art
,
and
as
near
an
imitation
of
Nature
,
in
a
Lazare
as
in
a
Venus
.
Maximin
was
an
Heathen
,
and
what
he
speaks
against
Religion
,
is
in
contempt
of
that
which
he
professed
.
He
defies
the
Gods
of
Rome
,
which
is
no
more
than
S.
Catharine
might
with
decency
have
done
.
If
it
be
urged
,
that
a
person
of
such
principles
who
scoffes
at
any
Religion
,
ought
not
to
be
presented
on
the
Stage
;
why
then
are
the
lives
and
sayings
of
so
many
wicked
and
prophane
persons
,
recorded
in
the
Holy
Scriptures
?
I
know
it
will
be
answered
,
That
a
due
use
may
be
made
of
them
;
that
they
are
remembred
with
a
Brand
of
Infamy
fixt
upon
them
;
and
set
as
Sea-marks
for
those
who
behold
them
to
avoid
.
And
what
other
use
have
I
made
of
Maximin
?
have
I
proposed
him
as
a
pattern
to
be
imitated
,
whom
even
for
his
impiety
to
his
false
Gods
I
have
so
severely
punished
?
Nay
,
as
if
I
had
foreseen
this
Objection
I
purposely
removed
the
Scene
of
the
Play
which
ought
to
have
been
at
Alexandria
in
Egypt
,
(
where
S.
Catharine
suffered
)
and
laid
it
under
the
Walls
of
Aquileia
in
Italy
,
where
Maximin
was
slain
,
that
the
punishment
of
his
Crime
might
immediately
succeed
its
execution
.
This
,
Reader
,
is
what
I
owed
to
my
just
defence
,
and
the
due
reverence
of
that
Religion
which
I
profess
,
to
which
all
men
,
who
desire
to
be
esteemed
good
or
honest
are
obliged
:
I
have
neither
leisure
nor
occasion
to
write
more
largely
on
this
subject
,
because
I
am
already
justified
by
the
sentence
of
the
best
and
most
discerning
Prince
in
the
World
,
by
the
suffrage
of
all
unbiass'd
Judges
;
and
above
all
,
by
the
witness
of
my
own
Conscience
,
which
abhors
the
thought
of
such
a
Crime
;
to
which
I
ask
leave
to
add
my
outward
Conversation
,
which
shall
never
be
justly
taxed
with
the
Note
of
Atheism
or
Prophaneness
.
In
what
else
concerns
the
Play
,
I
shall
be
brief
:
for
the
faults
of
the
writing
and
contrivance
,
I
leave
them
to
the
mercy
of
the
Reader
.
For
I
am
as
little
apt
to
defend
my
own
Errours
,
as
to
find
those
of
other
Poets
.
Only
I
observe
,
that
the
great
Censors
of
Wit
and
Poetry
,
either
produce
nothing
of
their
own
,
or
what
is
more
ridiculous
than
any
thing
they
reprehend
.
Much
of
ill
Nature
,
and
a
very
little
Judgment
,
go
far
in
the
finding
the
mistakes
of
Writers
.
I
pretend
not
that
any
thing
of
mine
can
be
Correct
:
This
Poem
,
especially
,
which
was
contrived
and
written
in
seven
weeks
,
though
afterwards
hindred
by
many
accidents
from
a
speedy
representation
,
which
would
have
been
its
best
excuse
.
Yet
the
Scenes
are
every
where
unbroken
,
and
the
unities
of
place
and
time
more
exactly
kept
,
than
perhaps
is
requisite
in
a
Tragedy
;
or
at
least
then
I
have
since
preserv'd
them
in
the
Conquest
of
Granada
.
I
have
not
every
where
observed
the
equality
of
numbers
,
in
my
Verse
;
partly
by
reason
of
my
haste
;
but
more
especially
because
I
would
not
have
my
sense
a
slave
to
Syllables
.
'T
is
easie
to
discover
,
that
I
have
been
very
bold
in
my
alteration
of
the
Story
,
which
of
it self
was
too
barren
for
a
Play
:
and
,
that
I
have
taken
from
the
Church
two
Martyrs
,
in
the
persons
of
Porphyrius
and
the
Empress
,
who
suffered
for
the
Christian
Faith
,
under
the
Tyranny
of
Maximin
.
I
have
seen
a
French
Play
,
called
the
Martyrdom
of
S.
Catharine
;
but
those
who
have
read
it
,
will
soon
clear
me
from
stealing
out
of
so
dull
an
Author
.
I
have
only
borrowed
a
mistake
from
him
,
of
one
Maximin
for
another
:
for
finding
him
in
the
French
Poet
,
called
the
Son
of
a
Thracian
Herds-man
,
and
an
Alane
Woman
,
I
too
easily
believed
him
to
have
been
the
same
Maximin
mentioned
in
Herodian
.
Till
afterwards
consulting
Eusebius
and
Metaphrastes
,
I
found
the
French-man
had
betrayed
me
into
an
Errour
(
when
it
was
too
late
to
alter
it
)
by
mistaking
that
first
Maximin
for
a
second
,
the
Contemporary
of
Constantine
the
Great
,
and
one
of
the
Vsurpers
of
the
Eastern
Empire
.
But
neither
was
the
other
name
of
my
Play
more
fortunate
:
for
as
some
who
had
heard
of
a
Tragedy
of
S.
Catharine
,
imagined
I
had
taken
my
plot
from
thence
;
so
others
,
who
had
heard
of
another
Play
called
L'Amour
Tyrannique
,
with
the
same
ignorance
,
accused
me
to
have
borrow'd
my
design
from
it
,
because
I
have
accidentally
given
my
Play
the
same
Title
,
not
having
to
this
day
seen
it
:
and
knowing
only
by
report
,
that
such
a
Comedy
is
extant
in
French
,
under
the
name
of
Monsieur
Scudery
.
As
for
what
I
have
said
of
Astral
or
AErial
Spirits
it
is
no
invention
of
mine
,
but
taken
from
those
who
have
written
on
that
Subject
.
Whether
there
are
such
Beings
or
not
,
it
concerns
not
me
;
't
is
sufficient
for
my
purpose
,
that
many
have
believed
the
affirmative
:
and
that
these
Heroick
Representations
,
which
are
of
the
same
Nature
with
the
Epick
,
are
not
limited
,
but
with
the
extremest
bounds
of
what
is
credible
.