| Citation |
EG.770.044
18-25 Dec 1770:872 (3/126)
As in your last you gave the publick an account of the late
libel against the court, which was posted up at the door of
the Town-House in Boston; in which account (which was copied
from the Boston Gazette) it is asserted, that it was taken
verbatim from a play called Venice preserved, and that Mr.
Otway was actually the author of it. I herewith send you a
true copy of it, not only verbatim, but line for line, and
under it the lines as they stand in Otway; which your
readers may compare together, and judge for themselves how
far one is a true copy of the other. The variations are in
italicks.
To see the sufferings of my fellow
Townsmen and own my self a man, to
See the court cheat the injured people
With a shew of justice which yet we
near can taste, of drive us like wrecks
down the rough tide of power while
no hold is left to save us from destructi-
on. All that bear this are slaves and we
are such not to rise up at the great call of
Nature and free the world from such domestic
tyrants.
In Otway's Venice Preserv'd the lines run thus:
To see the sufferings of my fellow creatures,
And own myself a man: To see our senators,
Cheat the deluded people with a shew
Of Liberty, which yet they ne'er must taste of.
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Drive us like wrecks down the rough tide of power,
Whilst no hold is to save us from destruction,
All that bear this are villains: and I one,
Not to rouze up at the greatest call of nature,
And check the growth of these domestic spoilers,
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