BOSTON = PRIZE POEMS, AND OTHER SPECIMENS OF DRAMATIC POETRY. BOSTON: 1824. Barvard College Library Mrs. James T. Fields, AL432.50 CAMBRIDGE: Printed by Hilliard & Metcalf. INTRODUCTORY. IN September, 1823, the manager of the Boston Theatre, by advertisement in the newspapers, offered a prize of the value of fifty dollars, for the best Ode, or other poetical Address, that should be presented previous to the first of December then following, suitable to be recited at the exhibition of a pageant in honour of Shakspeare. Upwards of thirty pieces were offered. The manager appointed ten gentlemen of literary reputation, in Boston and Cambridge, to award the prize. The following is the report of the committee. "The gentlemen who were requested by the manager of the Boston Theatre to examine the merits of the several poems written on occasion of the approaching jubilee in honour of Shakspeare, and to decide which is entitled to the medal proposed, are of opinion that this honour should be awarded to Mr. Charles Sprague, as the author of the poem, marked No. 22. The gentlemen however owe it to the author of a poem entitled, "Shakspeare's Triumph,” to say, that its intrinsick merit is so great, and it is so well adapted to recitation, that they consider it entitled to high commendation, and they cannot but express their wish that the author would allow it to be recited on the stage. W. DUTTON, A. RITCHIE, Among the unsuccessful compositions, were several of much merit; and to present these to the publick, together with that which obtained the prize, in a form convenient for preservation, was the primary object of the present publication. The piece alluded to by the Committee, entitled "Shakspeare's Triumph," is that which immediately follows the Prize Ode. In selecting from the rejected pieces for this publication, the publisher was not governed altogether |