And make us even with you. My thanes and kins

men,

Henceforth be Earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

[Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.-Exeunt.

THE END.

A TRAGEDY,

IN FIVE ACTS;

BY WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

AS PERFORMED AT THE

THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN.

PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS

FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.

WITH REMARKS

BY MRS. INCHBALD.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,

PATERNOSTER ROW.

SAVAGE AND EASINGWOOD,

PRINTERS, LONDON.

REMARKS.

It rarely happens, that a theatre is enriched by a number of male performers, equal to the task of representing those great historical characters, which Shakspeare has here pourtrayed with his usual truth of delineation.

The theatres of London, at the present era, can boast of actors to set all such difficulties at defiance; and yet it has been thought adviseable, for some years past, that this tragedy should not appear upon the stage.

When men's thoughts are deeply engaged on public events, historical occurrences, of a similar kind, are only held proper for the contemplation of such minds as know how to distinguish, and to appreciate, the good and the evil with which they abound. Such discriminating judges do not compose the whole audience of a playhouse; therefore, when the circumstances of certain periods make certain incidents of history most interesting, those are the very seasons to interdict their exhibition.

Till the time of the world's repose, then, the lovers of the drama will, probably, be compelled to accept of real conspiracies, assassinations, and the slaughter of war, in lieu of such spectacles, ably counterfeited.

Dr. Johnson has said of this play-" I have never been strongly agitated in perusing it, and think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with some other of Shakspeare's plays : his adherence to the true story, and to Roman manners, seem to have impeded the natural vigour of his genius."

Had Johnson lived in the present time, perhaps

this very

"adherence to the true story," would have excited that warmth, and that interest, of the absence of which he complains. A relish for the food of the mind is to be created by a certain stimulus, the same as an appetite for the nourishment of the body; and, in these days, political wonders occur to inspire a more than common concern about all those that

are past.

In this admirable drama is a short, and yet exact, narration, of the most remarkable crisis in the Roman history. Every character is described by a faithful pen-every virtuous and every wicked design nicely explained, by a penetrating and an impartial commentator upon the heart of man.

Voltaire's tragedy, on the same subject, has a degree of peculiar interest, on account of his representing, though from doubtful authority, the close relationship, which subsisted between Cæsar and Brutus, as father and son; but the sympathy awakened by truth, and nothing but known truth, is surely more forcible with the generality of readers, than that which arises from a source, the least tending towards fiction.

Some critics have objected to Shakspeare's conti