To Her Majesty, the Queen of Bohemia.

Madam,

Were I not fully persuaded that this dramatic piece in the original is one of the best that hath been presented upon the French stage, I should not have presumed to offer the copy to the best of queens and indeed the most judicious of women. If I have failed in my judgment of the author's work, I am indisputably right in the character of my patroness. Your Majesty’s goodness in pardoning this presumption and in approving the plot and language of the play in my version, hath begotten this future ambition in me, to publish it under the favour of your royal protection, which will secure it indubitably from the malevolent censures of any ignorant, arrogant, or malignant person whatsoever. If in the intervals of your high contemplations your serious thoughts shall descend to divert them a little, as before, so now after the dedication and impression, in reading those scenes, I must ever esteem it an unparalleled honour to me, who am,

Madam,

Your Majesty’ s most humble, most obedient and most faithful servant,

William Lower.