DEDICATION OF AMPHITRY ON, OR, THE TWO SOSIAS.3 TO THE HONOURABLE SIR WILLIAM LEVESON GOWER, BART.4 THERE is one kind of virtue which is inborn in the nobility, and indeed in most of the ancient families of this nation; they are not apt to insult on the misfortunes of their countrymen. But you, 3 This comedy was performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane by the King's Servants, and first printed in 1690. It is arranged in our author's chronological list of his plays, after DoN SEBASTIAN, which was printed in the same year." It seems (says Dr. Johnson) to have succeeded at its first appearance, and was, I think, long considered as a very diverting entertainment." 4 Sir William Leveson Gower (ancestor of the present Marquis of Stafford,) was the second son of Sir Thomas Gower, Bart. by Frances, daughter and coheir of Sir John Leveson of Haling, in Kent. On the death of his nephew, Sir Edward Gower, in December 1689, he succeeded to the title and estate; and afterwards, by the will of his maternal uncle, Sir Richard Leveson, of Trentham, in Staffordshire, Knight, became possessed of that estate also. He died in December, 1691. Sir, I may tell it you without flattery, have grafted on this natural commiseration, and raised it to a nobler virtue. As you have been pleased to honour me, for a long time, with some part of your esteem and your good will, so in particular, since the late Revolution, you have increased the proofs of your kindness to me; and not suffered the difference of opinions,' which produce such hatred and enmity in the brutal part of human kind, to remove you from the settled basis of your good nature and good sense. This nobleness of yours, had it been exercised on an enemy, had certainly been a point of honour, and as such I might have justly recommended it to the world; but that of constancy to your former choice, and the pursuance of your first favours, are virtues not over common amongst Englishmen. All things of honour have, at best, somewhat of ostentation in them, and self-love; there is a pride of doing more than is expected from us, and more than others would have done; but to proceed in the same tract of goodness, favour, and protection, is to shew that a man is actuated by a thorough principle it carries somewhat of tenderness in it, which is humanity in a heroical degree; it is a a kind of unmoveable good-nature; a word which is commonly despised, because it is so seldom 5 Sir William Leveson Gower had been one of the Duke of Monmouth's sureties in 1683, and had taken an active part in promoting the Revolution. practised. But after all, it is the most generous virtue, opposed to the most degenerate vice, which is that of ruggedness and harshness to our fellow creatures. It is upon this knowledge of you, Sir, that I have chosen you, with your permission, to be the patron of this poem; and as since this wonderful Revolution, I have begun with the best pattern of humanity, the Earl of Leicester, I shall continue to follow the same method in all to whom I shall address, and endeavour to pitch on such only as have been pleased to own me in this ruin of my small fortune; who, though they are of a contrary opinion themselves, yet blame not me for adhering to a lost cause, and judging for myself, what I cannot choose but judge, so long as I am a patient sufferer, and no disturber of the government; which if it be a severe penance, as a great wit has told the world, it is at least enjoined me by myself; and Sancho Pança, as much a fool as I, was observed to discipline his body no farther than he found he could endure the smart. You see, Sir, I am not entertaining you, like Ovid, with a lamentable epistle from Pontus: I suffer no more than I can casily undergo; and so long as I enjoy my liberty, which is the birthright of an Englishman, the rest shall never go near 6 I have not been able to discover this great wit, but I suspect our author ironically alludes to some trite observation of his antagonist, the facetious Thomas Brown. my heart. The merry philosopher is more to my humour than the melancholick; and I find no disposition in myself to cry, while the mad world is daily supplying me with such occasions of laughter. The more reasonable sort of my countrymen have shewn so much favour to this piece, that they give me no doubt of their protection for the future. As you, Sir, have been pleased to follow the example of their goodness, in favouring me, so give me leave to say, that I follow yours in this Dedication to a person of a different persuasion. Though I must confess withal, that I have had a former encouragement from for this address; and the warm remembrance of your noble hospitality to me at Trentham, when some years ago I visited my friends and relations in your country, has ever since given me a violent temptation to this boldness. you It is true, were this comedy wholly mine, I should call it a trifle, and perhaps not think it worth your patronage; but when the names of Plautus and Moliere are joined in it, that is, the two greatest names of ancient and modern comedy, I must not presume so far on their reputation to think their best and most unquestioned productions can be termed little. I will not give you the trouble of acquainting you what I have added or altered in either of them, so much it may be for the worse; but only that the difference of our stage from the Roman and the French did so |