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A TRAGEDY,

IN FIVE ACTS;

BY JOANNA BAILLIE.

AS PERFORMED AT THE

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE.

PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS

FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.

WITH REMARKS

BY MRS INCHBALD.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW,

EDINBURGH:

Printed yb James-Ballantyne & Co.

REMARKS.

AMONGST the many female writers of this and other nations, how few have arrived at the elevated character of a woman of genius!

The authoress of "De Monfort" received that rare. distinction, upon this her first publication.

There was genius in the novelty of her conception, in the strength of her execution; and though her play falls short of dramatic excellence, it will ever be rated as a work of genius.

Joanna Baillie, in her preface to her first publication, displays knowledge, taste, and judgment, upon the subject of the drama, to a very high degree: still, as she observes, "theory and practice are very different things;" and, perhaps, so distinct is the art of criticism, from the art of producing plays, that no one critic so good as herself, has ever written a play half so good as the following tragedy.

Authors may think too profoundly, as well as too superficially-and if a dramatic author, with the most accurate knowledge of the heart of man, probe it too far, the smaller, more curious, and new-created passions, which he may find there, will be too delicate for the observation of those who hear and see in a mixed, and, sometimes, riotous, company.

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