t and noble; the conduct of it very artful, if not too full of
business which may run into length and obscurity." He warns her against
having too much noise of fighting on the stage in her second act, and
against offending probability in the third. The fourth act is confused,
and in the fifth there are too many harangues. Catharine Trotter has
asked him to be frank, and so he is, but his criticism is practical and
encouraging. This excellent letter deserves to be better known.

To continue the history of Miss Trotter's fifth and last play, _The
Revolution in Sweden_ was at length brought out at the Queen's Theatre
in the Haymarket, towards the close of 1704. It had every advantage
which popular acting could give it, since the part of the hero, Count
Arwide, was played by Betterton; that of Constantia, the heroine, by
Mrs. Barry; Gustavus by Booth; and Christina by Mrs. Harcourt. In spite
of this galaxy of talent, the reception of the play was unfavourable.
The Duchess of Marlborough "and all her beauteous family" graced the
theatre on the first night, but the public was cold and inattentive.
Some passages of a particularly lofty moral tone provoked laughter. _The
Revolution in Sweden_, in fact, was shown to suffer from the
ineradicable faults which Congreve had gently but justly suggested. It
was very long, and very dull, and very wordy, and we could scarcely find
a more deadly specimen of virtuous and didactic tragedy. Catharine was
dreadfully disappointed, nor was she completely consoled by being
styled--by no less a person than Sophia Charlotte, Queen of
Prussia--"The Sappho of Scotland." She determined, however, to appeal to
readers against auditors, and when, two years later, after still further
revision, she published _The Revolution in Sweden_, she dedicated it in
most grateful terms to the Duke of Marlborough's eldest daughter,
Henrietta Godolphin.

How Miss Trotter came to be favoured by the Churchills appears from
various sources to be this. Her brother-in-law, Dr. Inglis, was now
physician-general in the army, and was in personal relations with the
General. When the victory at Blenheim (August 1704) was announced,
Catharine Trotter wrote a poem of welcome back to England. It is to be
supposed that a manuscript copy of it was shown by Inglis to the Duke,
with whose permission it was published about a month later. The poem
enjoyed a tremendous success, for the Duke and Duchess and Lord
Treasurer Godolphin "and