Joan of Arc: A Play in Five Acts

Madam,
When I first requested permission to dedicate this humble effort to your Majesty, I felt—a feeling I confess which I had no right to indulge—that I should be much disappointed if you were pleased to refuse me; but now that you have graciously condescended to honour me by granting it, a fear of the unworthiness of my offering diminishes the gratification I should otherwise experience, and makes me almost envious of talents which might better have justified your patronage. Let others, however, excel me as much as they may in those endowments which are supposed to constitute genius, I have at least the comfort of reflecting that none can excel me in dutiful affection to your Royal Person, in profound reverence for your character, and in respectful admiration of those virtues which have long endeared you to all British hearts, and will remain a monument of your goodness when you shall have exchanged time for eternity.
More than this I dare not say, lest it should be imputed to a want of delicacy: less than this I will not say, certain that it would be considered as an omission of duty.
I remain, With the highest respect, Madam, Your Majesty's most dutiful, most humble, And most devoted Servant,
J. A. SARGANT.
In laying this Play before the public some apology is perhaps due. Sensible that it cannot compete with many of the productions of the present day, the author yet pleads for such exemption only from severe criticism, as true humility, and a respect for the opinions of an enlightened and intellectual age, may entitle her to. She has not aimed at any display of originality, nor has she been deceived by a presumptuous estimation of her powers, to attempt that which she may not have more ability than leisure and opportunity to accomplish. Unlike those who write for amusement, or by profession, or in the consciousness of their talents, to gain for themselves competence or fame, her pen is exercised only to soothe anxiety, to refresh exhausted energy, and to vary the monotony of seclusion. She would not, however, be thought indifferent to the praise or censure of her contemporaries. Far from it. No exertion, compatible with higher duties, would be thought too severe to obtain the former, nor any degree of patient labour too lengthened to avoid the latter. She is, however, so circumstanced as to preclude such a dedication of her time, and therefore is it that she ventures to ask for that indulgence which, in another case, she would have deemed it unjustifiable to claim or to expect.