They have erred grievously in perverting history to their own
purposes. What was a sin in others was in them a blasphemy, because
they professed to acknowledge God as the Ruler of the world, and
hereby they showed that they valued their own conclusions above the
facts which reveal His order. They owe, therefore, a great amende
to their country, and they should consider seriously how they can
make it most effectually. I look upon this Play as an effort in
this direction, which I trust may be followed by many more. On this
ground alone, even if its poetical worth was less than I believe it
is, I should, as a clergyman, be thankful for its publication.

F. D. M.



INTRODUCTION



The story which I have here put into a dramatic form is one familiar
to Romanists, and perfectly and circumstantially authenticated.
Abridged versions of it, carefully softened and sentimentalised, may
be read in any Romish collection of Lives of the Saints. An
enlarged edition has been published in France, I believe by Count
Montalembert, and translated, with illustrations, by an English
gentleman, which admits certain miraculous legends, of later date,
and, like other prodigies, worthless to the student of human
character. From consulting this work I have hitherto abstained, in
order that I might draw my facts and opinions, entire and unbiassed,
from the original Biography of Elizabeth, by Dietrich of Appold, her