‘TANCRED AND SIGISMUNDA.’
he stage took an early opportunity to put forth utterances in behalf of ‘moral order.’ On March 18th, 1745, Thomson, as warm a Hanoverian as could be found among Scots, produced his tragedy—‘Tancred and Sigismunda,’ at Drury Lane. The piece was ostentatiously patronised by Frederick, Prince of Wales, to whom the poet subsequently dedicated it, as a liberal patron of all arts, but particularly of dramatic art. Pitt and Lyttelton were present at a private reading of the play, which, therefore, had a certain political significance, and Whigs and Jacobites sat in judgment on it. Thomson’s cunning, however, enabled him to please both parties. When Siffredi (Sheridan) uttered the lines, referring to a deceased king,—
He sought alone the good of those for whom
He was entrusted with the sovereign power,
Well knowing that a people, in their rights
And industry protected, living safe
Beneath the sacred shelter of the laws,
Encouraged in their genius, arts, and labours,
And happy each as he himself deserves,