_The Patrician's Daughter_ was the title bestowed upon a play, in the tragic vein, by a then unknown writer, J. Westland Marston, it being his maiden effort in dramatic authorship. Dickens took great interest in the young man and indicated a desire to promote the welfare of his production by composing some introductory lines. To Macready he wrote: 'The more I think of Marston's play, the more sure I feel that a prologue to the purpose would help it materially, and almost decide the fate of any ticklish point on the first night. Now I have an idea (not easily explainable in writing, but told in five words) that would take the prologue out of the conventional dress of prologues, quite. Get the curtain up with a dash, and begin the play with a sledge-hammer blow. If, on consideration, you should agree with me, I will write the prologue, heartily.' Happily for the author, his little tragedy was the first new play of the season, and it thus attracted greater attention. Its initial representation took place at Drury Lane Theatre on December 10, 1842, and the fact that Dickens's dignified and vigorous lines were recited by Macready, the leading actor of his day, undoubtedly gave _prestige_ to this performance; but the play, although it made a sensation for the moment, did not enjoy a long run, its motive being for some reason misunderstood. As explained by the Editors of _The Letters of Charles Dickens_, it was (to a certain extent) an experiment in testing the effect of a tragedy of modern times and in modern dress, the novelist's Prologue being intended to show that there need be no incongruity between plain clothes of the nineteenth century and high tragedy. _The Patrician's Daughter: A Tragedy in Five Acts_, appeared in pamphlet form during the year prior to its being placed upon the boards. The Prologue was printed for the first time in the _Sunday Times_, December 11, 1842, and then in _The Theatrical Journal and Stranger's Guide_, December 17, 1842. By the kind permission of Miss Hogarth, the lines are here reproduced from the revised and only correct version in _The Letters of Charles Dickens_. In the preface to the second edition of the play (1842), the author thus acknowledges his indebtedness to Dickens for the Prologue, which, however, does not appear in the book: 'How shall I thank Mr. Dickens for the spontaneous kindness which has furnished me with so excellent a letter of introduction to the audience? The simplest acknowledgment is perhaps the best, since the least I might say would exceed _his_ estimate of the obligation; while the most I could say would fail to express _mine_.' PROLOGUE TO 'THE PATRICIAN'S DAUGHTER' (SPOKEN BY MR. MACREADY)