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VORTIGERN;
AN HISTORICAL PLAY;
WITH
AN ORIGINAL PREFACE.
BY
W. H. IRELAND.
REPRESENTED AT THE
THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE,
ON SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1796,
AS A SUPPOSED NEWLY-DISCOVERED DRAMA OF
SHAKSPEARE.
LONDON:
JOSEPH THOMAS, BIRCHIN LANE.
1832.
BALNE, PRINTER, GRACECHURCH STREET, LONDON.
CONTENTS.
| PREFACE. |
| PROLOGUE. |
| DRAMATIS PERSONÆ, 1796. |
| ACT I. |
| ACT II. |
| ACT III. |
| ACT IV. |
| ACT V. |
| EPILOGUE. |
| FOOTNOTES. |
| Transcriber’s Notes |
[Pg i]
PREFACE.
No one connected with literature, or who feels a partiality forreading, on hearing the title of Vortigern and Rowena mentioned, buthas more or less a confused idea respecting this dramatic effort; yetwhen inquiry is made, whether any individual has perused the play, ituniformly occurs, that every one is a total stranger to the production.It would be difficult to ascertain the reason why the present dramashould have become of such extreme rarity; but, after a continuanceof nine years upon the continent, though incessantly occupied, on myreturn, in endeavouring to procure a copy, as well as employing aneminent theatrical bookseller in the same pursuit, upwards of fouryears elapsed ere I obtained copies of my plays of Vortigern and Rowenaand Henry the Second, on which occasion I gladly paid three times theoriginal publication price for their procurement. Appeals to me havebeen so often made, to know where these dramas could be purchased, thatI shall certainly not infringe upon veracity when I state, a limitededition would long ere this have been disposed of, had copies existedto