Love and revenge a tragedy acted at the Duke's Theatre / written by Elkanah Settle ...

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS and most RENOWNED PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, ONE OF HIS MAJESTIES most Honourable Privy Council, and Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter, &c.

May it please your Grace,

THat so worthless a Present to so Emi∣nent a Person, is a piece of Arro∣gance, I am as Conscious as I am that your Grace has Goodness to Pardon it; for if sins of Presump∣tion could not be forgiven, the punishment of Offences would put a restraint on Virtue, and

make Mercy one of the noblest Ornaments of Greatness a Stranger to it; and at that rate a Patron would be as confined as a Iudge, who at the same time he is a Kings Representative, and presides over Iustice, is a Slave to it; whilst his Sentence is but the voyce of Law, & his Fa∣vour or Cruelty, not voluntary, but prescribed. Your Patronage is not so bounded, your Favours are unlimited, and your Grace can execute a more peculiar Kingly power; You can give Par∣dons, and by your Smiles create Merit where you do not find it. But above that Title of a favourer of Poetry, which single Attribute were enough to make the Muses your Votaries; the World is sensible of your Conspicuous Eminence in more adorable Qualities. In a Duke of Newcastle Wit has found a Pillar, Valour a Pattern, Loyalty a Standart, and England a Patriot: In which rank of Heroes so placed and so adorned, your Grace has the advantage over both the ancient Worthyes, and those of the present Age. For when Homer or Virgil Character'd Greatness, with them the Walls of Cityes were built by the Hands of Gods, their

Heroes descended from Deities, and their Di∣vinities personally Interested in National Quar∣rels; whilst the almost fabulous Gallantry they painted, was set off by False Lights, and so their Presidents of Glory were but things of Noyse, and works of Art. But your Grace lives in an Age where History and Poetry are the Repre∣sentations of Nature; and he that describes your Worth, draws your true Self; and Story must render you Illustrious by Glories that are your Own: And when Fame (which will pre∣serve your Memory longer then Marble can your Ashes) shall speak of a Newcastle; its Au∣thority will be undisputable, as its Subject is unimitable. Nor can this Age (should it joyn the Noblest Blood, and the most forward Cou∣rage in one Person,) raise your Equal. For Loyalty now under a Flourishing King, is but like Ripe Fruits in Summer: The kindness of the Season, & the Blessing of the warm Sun take off their Rarity, and lessen their Price. But you, my Lord, are the truest and noblest Miracle of Honour, whose Arms, whose Policy, and whose Fortunes were Vigorously engaged, and as Glo∣riously

signaliz'd under a great, but drooping Cause; whose Fidelity was ripend by the In∣fluence of a declining Sun. Thus the faithful Newcastle laid a foundation for Immortality; and to compleat so fair a Structure, Fate con∣spired with his just and sacred Ambition. For when Rebellion durst strike at Majesty, and the Quarrel of a threatned King had made Newcastle an Assertour of his Countreys Free∣dom, Victory waited on his Arms, and added Gems to his Coronet, when it deserted a Crown; wherever he led in Person, Conquest attended him, and his Royal Cause had never sunk, had Newcastle admitted of Rivals; had all its Champions been as great Favourites of Fortune as He. But Providence, as it had more parti∣cularly obliged your Grace with extraordinary Parts and Ornaments of Nature, so it adjusted the Laurels which it gave you, to the Merit of the Brow that wore them. Nor did your Ho∣nours spring only from the Trophies of the Field, the Harvest of War: Your Glory began its Ascension, before it had those steps Conquest and Triumph to mount upon. His late Majesty of

ever blessed Memory out of the Deserving No∣bility of England, singled out your Grace for the Care of a Nations Hopes, the Tuition of a Prince of Wales: So visible were your Sacred principles of Honour, that they were thought fit to be precepts for an Heir to a Crown, and by that pow'rful inspirer Education, to be imprint∣ed in the Bosom of a growing Majesty. In which high Trust, your Grace reacht that height which Seneca could not arrive to. He, though in his Learning and Integrity he resembled You, met not your Success in the stubborn Nero. Provi∣dence has justly lengthen'd out your happy Life, to see the prosperous Raign of a Great, a Pious, and Gracious Monarch in your Royal Charge. Thus whilst your Matchless Gallantry has ren∣dred your Character so great in the Records of Fame, and your Worth an Object for a Kingdoms Veneration; in the vast numbers of those whom the Admiration of your Vir∣tues has made your Creatures, I, in pre∣senting you an ill Play, have made the meanest Offering to your Grace; yet I

humbly beg you would not condemn an Effect that has a Cause so powerful. Every one cannot be deserving in Crowds; & not to have your Admi∣rers numerous, is as impossible, as 'tis for your Grace to bid your Fame spread thus far, and no farther; whilst That knows no bounds, They must be Infinite; which is the only justification of

Your Graces Most Devoted, most Humble, and most Obedient Servant, Elkanah Settle.