OR, THE DELIVERER OF HIS COUNTRY; A TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS; BY HENRY BROOKE, Esq. AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN. PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS FROM THE PROMPT BOOK. WITH REMARKS BY MRS. INCHBALD. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER ROW. REMARKS. The writer of this tragedy, at the end of his labour, received a severe disappointment. "Gustavus Vasa" had been accepted by the managers of Drury Lane, in 1739, with high expectation of its success, and had even arrived at the last rehearsal, when an order came from the Lord Chamberlain's office, to prohibit its performance. The reader will possibly observe some passages in the work, which will account for this mandate; yet the author felt himself aggrieved, and his friends considered him so deeply wronged, that the play was printed, and the sum of one thousand pounds immediately raised by its sale. Under these circumstances it is not probable, that the influence of authority was a misfortune to the dramatist; on the contrary, his production was rendered popular by having excited opposition from the hand of power; and every reader was highly pleased with it as a literary performance; whereas, had those very persons seen it in action, upon the stage, no doubt but it would have proved a languid, if not a dull exhibition. |