Page:The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets.djvu/111

Rh  ow'd as much to his Wit and Judgment, in those Books which he was pleased to publish, as his King and Country to his Loyalty, Valour, and Conduct. And well might our Delarivier prove a Muse, being begot by such a Father. She has as yet given us but two Plays, of which in their Order:

The Royal Mischief, a Tragedy, 4to. Acted by his Majesty's Servants, at the Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 1696. and dedicated to his Grace, William, Duke of Devonshire, &c. The Story, as she owns, is originally taken from Sir John Chardin's Travels, but has receiv'd this Advantage, that the Criminals are here punish'd for their Guilt, who in the Story escape; a Poetick Justice, which ought ever to be observed in all Plays; for a Just Audience could never have been pleas'd with the Prosperity of Homais, and Leavan, after so very criminal an Amour. I cou'd here give the Reader a Proof how well the Rules of Aristotle are observ'd in this Tragedy, by a Lady who never read him; and how just all her Metaphors and Allegories are: but that wou'd exceed the Bounds I am prescribed by the Model I'm oblig'd to build on. I shall therefore proceed to

The Lost Lover; or, The Jealous Husband, a Comedy, 4to. acted at the Theatre Royal by his Majesty's Servants, 1696. To this Play is no Epistle Dedicatory, and the Preface informs us of its ill Success, which we cou'd never gather from the reading of it; and if we wou'd, as we ought, give any Allowance for the Sex that wrote it, the Time it was wrote in, and its being the first Essay of that Nature, we shou'd agree with her, that it met with a much severer Fate than it deserved.

This Lady has Publish'd several other Books, which have not her Name to 'em, and which, for that Reason, I shall forbear to mention their Titles.

Major in the King's Army, in the late Civil War, and Author of two Plays, call'd,

The just General, a Tragedy, 4to. 1630. This the Author design'd for the Stage, but was not ever acted.

The Loyal Lovers, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1652. The Author, in Play, represents divers of the Committee Men and their Informers. Gervase