A

TRAGEDY,

BY MR. GLOVER.

ADAPTED FOR

THEATRICAL REPRESENTATION,

AS PERFORMED AT THE

THEATRE-ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.

REGULATED FROM THE PROMPT-BOOK,
By Permission of the Manager.

The Lines distinguished by inverted Commas, are omitted in the Representation."

LONDON:

Printed for the Proprietors, under the Direction of
JOHN BELL, British Library, STRAND,
Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

MDCCXCII.

MEDEA.

THIS is the last produced of four plays by different authors upon the same subject. For those previous to the present, it is enough to stile them bad translations of a bad original-they are all from SENECA.

Mr. GLOVER however has taken a scope less servile and better suited to his powers; for though he has kept SENECA Constantly in his eye, yet his poem bears very frequent marks of originality and skill.

It does not in truth appear designed for the stage under our present modes of thinking, retaining so much of the declamatory sentiment and the unmanagable chorus of SENECA.-We do not recollect its performance more than for the benefits of an ACTRESS of great merit-the late Mrs. YATES.

In the closet it will give pleasure to such as are fond of the ANCIENT DRAMA; a Greek subject in the dress of a Roman poet, modernized a little by an English writer of considerable merit.

PROLOGUE.

THOUGH wild our theme, the grave historian's page
Hath sanctify'd the tale through ev'ry age.

Who hath not heard of Argo sent from Greece,
Of Jason's labours for the golden fleece,
And fond Medea's ill-requited aid

To that false hero, who his vows betray'd?
In ev'ry clime, where learned Muses reign,
The stage hath known Medea's mournful strain ;
Hath giv'n the flying car, and magic rod,
To her, th' avowed descendant of a god.

The storms of trouble, which affli&t the great,
Teach private life to prize its tranquil state.
That truth the moral of our fable shows
Too well in scenes of unexampled woes,
Which here will ravage an exalted breast,
Of merit conscious, and with shame opprest;
Where love and fury, grief and madness join'd,
O'erturn the structure of a godlike mind.
Pow'r, wisdom, science, and her birth divine,
In vain to shield her from distress combine:
Nor wisdom, pow'r, nor science yield relief;
Her potent wand can vanquish all, but grief;