To Mrs Mary Howe.

Forgive me for offering to you a play which never deserved nor was ever designed to be public and therefore this cannot aspire to the name of a dedication. Could it, I should be ashamed of it, since they are so common and of late so full of falsehood and flattery, though this be full of truth to you, who alone makes the happiness of my life and from the sincerest heart in nature, your dear self had not seen this senseless play which deserves not the name of a poem, but that you commanded it and whatever faults are caused by my zeal to obey your commands, you ought to forgive or at least to overlook and not to expose in

Your most faithful humble obedient servant,

Anne Wharton.