OR, THE DELIVERER OF HIS COUNTRY; A TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS; BY HENRY BROOKE, ESQ. AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN. PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGER FROM THE PROMPT BOOK. WITH REMARKS BY MRS. INCHBALD. LONDON: RINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN PATERNOSTER-ROW. REMARKS. THE writer of this tragedy, at the end of his labour, received a severe disappointment. "Gustavus Vasa" had been accepted by the managers of Drury Lane, in 1739, with high expectation of its success, and had even arrived at the last rehearsal, when an order came from the Lord Chamberlain's office, to prohibit its performance. The reader will possibly observe some passages in the work, which will account for this mandate; yet the author felt himself aggrieved, and his friends considered him so deeply wronged, that the play was printed, and the sum of one thousand pounds immediately raised by its sale. Under these circumstances it is not probable, that the influence of authority was a misfortune to the dramatist; on the contrary, his production was rendered popular by having excited opposition from the hand of power; and every reader was highly pleased with it as a literary performance; whereas, had those very persons seen it in action, upon the stage, no doubt but it would have proved a languid, if not a dull exhibition. In evidence of this opinion, not one of the sentinients which were formerly dreaded by government, can apply to the present times; yet the play is seldom acted; and the reason is, because it is deficient both of interest and incident for representation. Its greatest merit, then, it seems, has been, in the giving a kind of seditious description of the blessing of liberty, which warmed the bosons of all those, who fancied they did not enjoy it. But liberty, like meaner blessings, palls in the possession, and now, though an English audience still think themselves bound to applaud those sentences which boast of freedom, long use has made its charms so familiar, that no ceremonious courtesy to so old an acquaintance, will make a play attractive which has not other requisites. This play should, properly, be called historical, for its foundation is the following page of history:"Gustavus I. King of Sweden, known by the name of Gustavus Vasa, was born in 1490. He was the son of Eric Vasa, Duke of Gripsholm, and descended from the ancient kings of Sweden. Christiern II. King of Denmark, having got Gustavus into his hands, in the war in which he reduced Sweden, kept him several years prisoner at Copenhagen. He at length made his escape, and having prevailed |