PUBLICATION OF THE PLAY OF VORTIGERN.

It is astonishing to observe how very frequently persons neglect opportunities which present themselves of realising money. Either from bad advice or some secret motive, Mr. Samuel Ireland, instead of publishing the play of Vortigern on the night of its representation, deferred the bringing of it forward until after I had confessed that the manuscripts were the productions of my own pen; whereas had Mr. Ireland followed a different line of conduct, the profits of the piece would have been exceedingly great; for having some time after demanded the opinion of Mr. Barker, the bookseller, of Russel Street, Covent Garden, respecting the publication of that play, he stated to me as follows:"Sir, had Mr. Samuel Ireland applied to me ten days previous to the night of the performance of the piece, and desired to know what I would have given for the manuscript of the Vortigern, I would have bound myself under any penalty not to

have made one copy public before the hour of four on the night of its representation; and, under such a restriction, I would gladly have paid him one thousand guincas for the copy-right, taking every risk upon myself as to the future sale of the production."

PRINTING OF THE PLAYS OF VORTIGERN AND
HENRY THE SECOND.

A considerable period having transpired from the representation of Vortigern at Drury Lane theatre, Mr. Samuel Ireland applied to Mr. Barker to become the publisher of that drama, as well as the Henry the Second, which soon afterwards appeared, and is at the present moment to be purchased at his shop in Russel Street.

I cannot close this statement respecting Mr. Barker without offering him my sincere thanks for many curious facts contained in these volumes which would have otherwise escaped my recollection, as well as for his kindness in having obliged me by the loan of several pamphlets on the sub

ject of the manuscripts, which are now out of print and very rarely to be found.

CONCLUSIVE STATEMENT RELATIVE TO VORTIGERN.

As internal tranquillity is the most estimable blessing human nature can enjoy, I think it requisite, ere I close the statements respecting the play of Vortigern, to insert the ensuing stanzas, which were composed after the condemnation of that piece, which had for so long a period occupied the public attention, and had so unceasingly preyed upon my feelings as to render my life burdensome to me.

ON BEING RELIEVED FROM THE WEIGHT WHICH
OPPRESSED MY MIND.

"Tis not the bolt, the bar, and cell,

That can controul mankind:
That which alone creates his hell

Is a tormented mind.

"Tis not the genius fraught with fires
That galling fetters bind,

But 'tis that wretch whose vile desires

Have gangren'd o'er his mind.

"Tis not the prison's baleful gloom,
Nor jailer's mien unkind;
No; not all these can ever doom
The free and guiltless mind.

'Tis not the terror of disgrace

That keeps the soul confin'd:
All ills the suff'rer may efface,
So he be free in mind.

Such is my plea: with this I'm bless'd:
For, after all, I find

With sov'reign Truth my soul's at rest;
All's tranquil in my mind.

THE PLAY OF HENRY THE SECOND.

Having heard with attention the diversity of opinions which had been given respecting the play of Vortigern, I conceived that I might profit by the information thus acquired, and therefore determined on writing another drama, which I planned from the story of Henry the Second and fair Rosamond; a subject that appeared to me amply stored with incident for the structure of a dramatic performance: and to the selection of that monarch's reign I was the more incited, as the genius of William Shakspeare had been so amply

displayed in dramatising the histories of our Henries-the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth. On the completion of this play, it was by all allowed to be a more finished composition than the Vortigern; and the only regret was that I had not brought it forward prior to that play. There is however a very conclusive reason on that head: for as it had never been thought of till a considerable time after the production of Vortigern, I might exclaim, with the Governor in the Critic,

"The Spanish fleet thou canst not see . . . because... It is not yet in sight."

The plan of the play of Henry the Second I formed from a thin folio containing the life and reign of that monarch: and I was about ten weeks occupied in its composition. It was delivered to Mr. Samuel Ireland in my own hand-writing: nor was I ever at the trouble of reproducing it in the disguised hand, upon old paper, as my confession of the transaction intervened, and thus prevented my being put to that unnecessary trouble.