for COMEDY, must needs distinguish the Excellency of _Moliere's_
Plays: one of which is here translated. What the _English_ may be,
I leave others to determine; but the ORIGINAL, which you receive along
with it, is, I am certain, worthy your Perusal.

Tho' what You read, at present, is called a DEDICATION, it is, perhaps,
the most unlike one of any thing You ever saw: for, You'll find not one
Word, in Praise, either of Your blooming Youth, Your agreeable Person,
Your genteel Behaviour, Your easy Temper, or Your good Sense... and, the
Reason is, that I cannot for my Life bring myself to such a Degree of
Impertinence, as to sit down with a solemn Countenance, and Take upon me
to inform the World, that the Sun is bright, and that the Spring is
lovely.

My Knowledge of You from Your Infancy, and the many Civilities I am
obliged for to Your Family, will, I hope, be an Excuse for this
Presumption in,

MADAM, _Your most obedient humble servant_

H. B.

Enfield,

Jan. 1st 1731-2.


This play seems to have induced several English playwrights to imitate
it. First, we have Sir William D'Avenant's _The Playhouse to be
Let_, of which the date of the first performance is uncertain.