To the Queen.

Madam,

The little wit of our poor family, as well as the best part of the subsistence, perished with my husband; so that we have not where withal, worthily to express our great acknowledgment due for the support and favour we have already received, much less to publish to the world our virtues and other endowments, both of mind and body, which in a private person would have procured you the admiration of mankind and cannot in a queen but be considered as the highest national blessing we enjoy from Heaven. This consciousness of our own disability will much shorten your Majesty’s trouble, we shall only therefore, without more words and with all humility and profound respect, throw this our last play at your Majesty's feet, begging your acceptance of it, and that you would once honour it with your presence, which will be the greatest happiness that can arrive in this world to me, his unfortunate widow, and from this world, to your faithful servant, my deceased husband.

I am, Madam, your Majesty’s most humble, most obedient and most faithful subject and servant,

Anne Shadwell.