THE ARGUMENT.

AMONG the great names which have done honour to antiquity in general, and to the Roman Republic in particular, that of Marcus Attilius Regulus has, by the general consent of all ages, been considered as one of the most splendid, since he not only sacrificed his labours, his liberty, and his life, for the good of his country, but, by a greatness of soul almost peculiar to himself, contrived to make his very misfortunes contribute to that glorious end.

After the Romans had met with various successes in the first Punic war, under the command of Regulus, victory at length declared for the opposite party-the Roman army was totally overthrown, and Regulus himself taken prisoner by Xantippus, a Lacedæmonian general in the service of the Carthaginians: the victorious enemy, exulting in so important a conquest, kept him many years in close imprisonment, and loaded him with the most cruel indignities. They thought it was now in their power to make their own terms with Rome, and determined to send Regulus thither, with their ambassador, to negotiate a peace, or at least an exchange of captives, thinking he would gladly persuade his, countrymen to discontinue a war which necessarily prolonged his captivity. They previously exacted from him an oath to return, should his embassy prove unsuccessful; at the same time giving him to understand, that he must expect to suffer a cruel death if he failed in it: this they artfully intimated, as the strongest motive for him to leave no means unattempted to accomplish their purpose.

At the unexpected arrival of this venerable hero, the Romans expressed the wildest transports of joy, and would have submit

ted to almost any conditions, to procure his enlargement; but Regulus, so far from availing himself of his influence with the senate to obtain any personal advantages, employed it to induce them to reject proposals so evidently tending to dishonour their country, declaring his fixed resolution to return to bondage and death, rather than violate his oath.

He at last extorted from them their consent; and departed amidst the tears of his family, the importunities of his friends, the applauses of the senate, and the tumultuous opposition of the people; and, as a great poet of his own nation beautifully observes, "he embarked for Carthage as calm and unconcerned, as if, on finishing the tedious lawsuits of his clients, he was retiring to Venafrian fields, or the sweet country of Tarentum."

acts.

This piece is a pretty close imitation of the Attilio Regolo of Metastasio, but enlarged and extended into a tragedy of five Historical truth has in general been followed, except in some less essential instances, particularly that of placing the return of Regulus to Rome posterior to the death of his wife. The writer herself never considered the plot as sufficiently bustling and dramatic for representation.

PROLOGUE.

WRITTEN BY THE REV DR. LANGHORNE.

DEEP in the bosom of departed days,

Where the first gems of human glory blaze;

Where, crown'd with flowers, in wreaths immortal drest,
The sacred shades of ancient virtue rest;

With joy they search, who joy can feel, to find
Some honest reason still to love mankind.
There the fair foundress of the scene to-night,
Explores the paths that dignify delight;
The regions of the mighty dead pervades ;
The sibyl she that leads us to the shades.
O may each blast of ruder breath forbear
To waft her light leaves on the ruthless air:
Since she, as heedless, strives not to maintain
This tender offspring of her teeming brain!
For this poor birth was no provision made,
A flower that sprung and languish'd in the shade.
On Avon's banks, forsaken and forlorn,
This careless mother left her elder born;
And tho' unlike what Avon hail'd of yore,
Those giant sons that Shakspeare's banners bore,
Yet may we yield this little offspring grace,
And love the last and least of such a race.
Shall the strong scenes, where senatorial Rome
Mourn'd o'er the rigour of her patriot's doom;
Where melting Nature, aw'd by Virtue's eye,
Hid the big drop, and held the bursting sigh,
Where all that majesty of soul can give,
Truth, Honour, Pity, fair Affection live :
Shall scenes like these, the glory of an age,
Gleam from the press, nor triumph on the stage?
Forbid it. Britons! and, as Romans brave,

Like Ro fans boast one citizen to save.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

REGULUS.

Mr. HENDERSON.

PUBLIUS, his son. Mr. DIMOND.

MANLIUS, the Consul.-Mr. BLISSETT.

LICINIUS, a Tribune.-Mr BROWN.

HAMILCAR, the Carthaginian Ambassador.-Mr. ROWBOTHAM.

ATTILIA, daughter of Regulus.-Miss MANSELI..
BARCE, a Carthaginian captive.-Miss WHEELER.

Guards, Lictors, People, &c.

THE

INFLEXIBLE CAPTIVE.

ACT I.

SCENE-A Hall in the Consul's Palace.

Enter LICINIUS, ATTILIA, Lictors, and People.

Lic. ATTILIA waiting here? Is't possible?
Is this a place for Regulus's daughter?
Just gods! must that incomparable maid
Associate here with Lictors and Plebeians?

Att. Yes, on this threshold patiently I wait
The consul's coming; I would make him blush
To see me here his suitor. O, Licinius,
This is no time for form and cold decorum;
Five lagging years have crept their tedious round,
And Regulus, alas! is still a slave;

A wretched slave, unpitied, and forgotten;
No other tribute paid his memory,

Than the sad tears of his unhappy child;
If she be silent, who will speak for Regulus?
Lic. Let not her sorrows make my
fair unjust.
Is there in Rome a heart so dead to virtue
That does not beat in Regulus's cause?
That wearies not the gods for his return?
That does not think all subjugated Afric,