In order to bring about this beautiful incident, so necessary to heighten in Andromache the character of a tender mother, an affectionate wife, and a widow full of veneration for the memory of her deceased husband, the life of Astyanax is indeed a little prolonged beyond the term fixed to it by the general consent of the ancient authors. But so long as there is nothing improbable in the supposition, a judicious critic will always be pleased when he finds a matter of fact (especially so far removed in the dark and fabulous ages) falsified, for the embellishment of a whole poem. PROLOGUE. WRITTEN BY MR. STEELE. SINCE fancy by itself is loose and vain, But Shakspere's self transgress'd; and shall each elf, Each pigmy genius, quote great Shakspere's self! What critic dares prescribe what's just and fit, Or mark out limits for such boundless wit! Shakspere could travel thro' earth, sea, and air, And paint out all the powers and wonders there. In barren deserts he makes Nature smile, And gives us feasts in his Enchanted Isle. Our author does his feeble force confess, Nor dares pretend such merit to transgress ; Does not such shining gifts of genius share, And therefore makes propriety his care. Your treat with studied decency he serves; With French correctness, and with British fire. This piece, presented in a foreign tongue, When France was glorious, and her monarch young, An hundred times a crowded audience drew, An hundred times repeated, still'twas new. Pyrrhus provok'd, to no wild rants betray'd, Injur❜d Hermione demands relief ; Andromache-If in our author's lines, As in the great original she shines, Attend with silence, you'll applaud with tears. Attendants on Pyrrhus and Orestes, &c. The SCENE, a great ball in the court of Pyrrhus, at Buthrotos, the capital city of Epirus. THE DISTREST MOTHER. ACT 1. SCENE I. The Palace of PYRRHUS. Enter ORESTES, PYLADES, and Attendants. Orestes. OPYLADES! what's life without a friend! At sight of thee my gloomy soul cheers up; Pyl. O prince! O my Orestes! O my friend!Thus let me speak the welcome of my heart. [Embracing. Since I have gain'd this unexpected meeting, B |