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[Illustration:
  BATTLE OF HEXHAM
  MARGARET--STRIKE NOT ON THY ALLEGIANCE
  ACT II. SCENE III
  PAINTED BY HOWARD PUBLISHD BY LONGMAN & CO ENGRAVD BY STOW]






THE BATTLE OF HEXHAM; OR, DAYS OF OLD;

A PLAY, IN THREE ACTS;

BY GEORGE COLMAN, THE YOUNGER.

AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.

PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS FROM THE PROMPT BOOK.

WITH REMARKS BY MRS. INCHBALD.

       *       *       *       *       *

  LONDON:
  PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER ROW.


  WILLIAM SAVAGE, PRINTER,
  LONDON.




REMARKS.


Mr. Colman acquaints his readers, in his Preface to this play, dated
1808, that it was written near twenty years ago: then, stating, as an
apology to his jocose accusers, this reason for having made Shakespeare
the model for his dialogue--that plays, which exhibit incidents of
former ages, should have the language of the characters conform to
their dress--he adds--"To copy Shakspeare, in the general _tournure_ of
his phraseology, is a mechanical task, which may be accomplished with
a common share of industry and observation:--and this I have attempted
(for the reason assigned); endeavouring, at the same time, to avoid a
servile quaintness, which would disgust. To aspire to a resemblance of
his boundless powers, would have been the labour of a coxcomb;--and had
I been vain enough to have essayed it, I should have placed myself in a
situation similar to that of the strolling actor, who advertised his
performance of a part"--"In imitation of the inimitable Garrick."

"The Battle of Hexham" has been one of the author's most popular works;
and has, perhaps, to charge its present loss of influence with the
public, to those historical events of modern times, which have steeled
the heart against all minor scenes of woe, and deprived of their
wonted interest the sorrows of Queen Margaret and her child.

There is a short, but well known narrative, written by one Clery,
an humble valet de chambre--which, for pathetic claims, in behalf of
suffering majesty and infant royalty, may bid defiance to all that
history has before recorded, or poets feigned, to melt the soul to
sympathy.

Nor can anxiety be now awakened in consequence of a past battle at
Hexham, between a few thousand men, merely disputing which of two
cousins should be their king, when, at this present period, hundreds
of thousands yearly combat and die, in a cause of far less doubtful
importance.

The loyal speeches of Gondibert, in this play, his zeal in the cause of
his sovereign, every reader will admire--yet one difficulty occurs to
abate this admiration--Did Gondibert know who his sovereign _was_? This
question seems to be involved in that same degree of darkness, in which
half the destructive battles which ever took place have been fought.

The adverse parties at Hexham had each a sovereign. Edward the Fourth
was the lawful king of the York adherents, as Henry the Sixth was of
those of Lancaster; and Edward had at least birthright on his side,
being the lineal descendant of the elder brother of Henry the Fourth,
and, as such, next heir to Richard the Second, setting aside the
usurper.--But, possibly, the degraded state of Henry the Sixth was
the strongest tie, which bound this valiant soldier to his supposed
allegiance;--for there are politicians so compassionate towards the
afflicted, or so envious of the prosperous, they will not cordially
acknowledge a monarch until he is dethroned.--Even the people of
England never would allow the Bourbon family to be the lawful kings
of France, till within these last fifteen years[1].

The youthful reader will delight in the conjugal ardour of Adeline;
whilst the prudent matron will conceive--that, had she loved her
blooming offspring, as she professes, it had been better to have
remained at home for their protection, than to have wandered in camps
and forests, dressed in vile disguise, solely for the joy of seeing
their father.--But prudence is a virtue, which would destroy the best
heroine that ever was invented. A mediocrity of discretion even,
dispersed among certain characters of a drama, might cast a gloom over
the whole fable, divest every incident of its power to surprise, take
all point from the catastrophe, and, finally, draw upon the entire
composition, the just sentence of condemnation.

[Footnote 1: It was since the French Revolution that the crown of
