Chapter 2

II. Can Persons who often spend their Time and Money to see Plays, be suppos'd to be displeas'd with, and to have a due Indignation at, the Hearing the Outrages beforementioned, which so often occur in them, and of which there is a dismal Specimen laid before the World in this Paper?

III. Can sincere Christians encourage and assist, by their Presence and Purses, Men in committing such Practices, and in their living by a Profession, which, as it is managed, is so inconsistent with Christianity?

IV. Can any who have a true Concern for the Honour of Almighty God, give Countenance and Support to such Entertainments whereby he is so dishonour'd and affronted, though they could suppose themselves above the Danger of being the worse for them, which they can never be?

V. Can Persons who know 'tis generally allowed, that the Infidelity and Looseness of the Age is very much owing to the Play-Houses; who have observed, that the Zeal of particular Persons have decreased, and their Strictness of Life abated, by their going to Plays; and do think that the Gospel obliges them to discourage, by their Reproof and Example, Sin in their Neighbours, to endeavour, according to their Advantages and Opportunities, to further their spiritual Welfare, and to be _Lights_ to lead others in their Duty and Way to Heaven? Can such, tho' they could think themselves wholly secure from taking Infection in going to the Play-House, encourage others, even weak and feeble Christians, by their Example, to run to the same dangerous Place likewise? Can this be thought an Expression of their Charity to their Neighbour, or to be acceptable to Almighty God? or rather, Should not Compassion to the Souls of their Neighbours keep such as have a due Concern for them from going to such Places?

VI. Can it be denied, but that the going of a few sober Persons, tho' but once a Year, to see a Play, that they think less offensive and dangerous, does encourage many others to go frequently to Plays, and to those that are more abominably loose and prophane; who might never go at all to them, if none frequented them but such as were entirely abandoned to Shame as well as Vice?

VII. Can Persons who have good Dispositions to Religion, who go but once or twice in a Year to the _Play-House_, say, upon their Experience, that they think the seeing of Plays is proper to encrease the Love of God in Men, to fit them for holy Exercises, and to promote their spiritual Welfare? or rather, Must they not own, that by the seeing of Plays they are more indisposed for Religious Performances; that the Awe and Reverence which they had for God and Religion, and the Horrour which they had at the Sins which they there see Men divert themselves with, and make a Jest of, does thereby wear off; that their sensual Desires are more heightned and enflamed; that they are more alienated from God, and more enamoured with the World?

VIII. Can Persons who are sensible of, and do heartily lament their want of the Love and Fear of God, their too great a Love of the World, the frequent Distractions of their Mind in Prayer, and the Unruliness of their Lusts and Passions, delight to frequent a Place where they are surrounded with Temptations to the Love of the World; where what can excite to unlawful Desires and Actions is promoted; and the Arts of an easie Defilement are studied? Can they think this consistent with the Rules of keeping from all Appearance of Evil, of avoiding the Occasions and Temptations to Sin, and that Watchfulness over their Thoughts, and that Diligence in making their Calling and Election sure, as the Gospel requires? Do they in any wise herein adorn their Profession, resemble the Christians who lived in the first Ages of Christianity; or those who in any Age since have been celebrated for their Virtue?

IX. Can Persons in good earnest pray, as they are directed in the Lord's-Prayer, _Not to be led into Temptation_, and yet frequent the Play-House, where they are assaulted with more and greater Temptations than incounter them perhaps in any other Place?

X. Can such Persons as go to the _Play-Houses_ on Week-days, and appear in our _Churches_ on the Lord's-day, and even at the Holy Sacrament, where they declare, that they _present themselves, their Souls and Bodies, as a reasonable, holy and lively Sacrifice to God_, be suppos'd to attend upon these Holy Ordinances with a suitable Frame of Mind; since the Language and Design of Sermons, and of our Liturgy, and of Plays, are so different and even directly contrary to each other?

XI. Can Ladies really dislike Lewd Discourse in Conversation, and yet like to see Lewdness represented in all the Dresses that can vitiate the Imagination, and fasten upon the Memory?

XII. Can Parents, or any other Persons who have the Conduct of Youth, and have any serious Concern for the Souls of their Children, or of those that are committed to their Care, satisfie their Consciences, without Restraining them from going to a place of such Impiety and Infection; where they would be in the way to unlearn the best Instructions of their Parents and Governours; where Pride and Falshood, Malice and Revenge, Injustice and Immodesty, Contempt of Marriage, and false Notions of Honour, are recommended; where Men are taught to call in question the first Principles of their Religion, and are led to a contempt of Sacred things?

XIII. Can sincere and judicious Christians think that the Players exposing (as they pretend to do) Formality, Humour, and Pedantry, is an Equivalent for their insulting sacred things, and their promoting to so high a degree the Prophaneness and Debauchery of the Nation?

XIV. Can modest and prudent Christians think, that the Opinion of the General Councils, Primitive Fathers, and so many wise and good Men in the several Ages of the Church, who have condemned the going to Plays as unlawful, and as a renouncing the Baptismal Engagements, doth not deserve great regard?

XV. Can sincerely religious Persons hear of the most horrid, licentious Treatment of sacred things as is in our Plays, and this not among _Mahometans_ and _Infidels_, not at _Rome_ and _Venice_, but in a Protestant Countrey, without a Fear that the Judgments of God will fall upon us?

XVI. Can less be expected from good Christians, who are sensible of the intolerable Disorders of the Play-Houses, and the Mischiefs that are brought upon Mankind by them, than that they would use all proper Methods for the Discouraging and Restraining their Relations and Friends from going to them, as they have any Concern for the Honour of God, the Good of Mankind, and the Welfare of their own Immortal Souls; that so by Persons, who have any virtuous Principles, keeping from a Place which they will never be able to frequent with Safety to themselves, under any partial Regulation; the _Players_, the unhappy, the miserable _Players_, may be necessitated to quit their Profession, and take upon them some honest and useful Employment (wherein good Men ought to encourage and assist them) and thereby the execrable Impieties of the _Play-Houses_, and the ruinous consequences of them, be prevented?

XVII. Lastly, Can Persons frequent the Play-Houses, after the outragious Impieties of them, and the fatal Effects of their going to them, are in so full and advantageous a manner laid open to the World, without a greater Aggravation of their Guilt?

FINIS.

Some THOUGHTS Concerning the STAGE IN A LETTER TO A LADY

London, Printed Anno Dom. 1704

_Madam_,

It is with no little Pleasure I behold you treading in the Paths of _Virtue_, and practising the Duties of a Holy and Religious life. This, as it has deservedly gain'd you the Love and Admiration of all that know you: so, I doubt not, but you will always find it a _Fund_ of solid Peace and Satisfaction to your own Mind. I heartily wish there were many more such bright Examples in the World, that the Ladies might be at last convinc'd, _That there is something worthy their Imitation beyond the Modes of Dress and Equipage; something which will render them much more agreeable to the best and wisest of their Admirers, and, in time, no less pleasing to themselves_. I make no doubt but the Age (as corrupt as it is) can furnish us with many Instances of those of your _Sex_, who think the Beauty of the Mind does far surpass the gay Appearances of the most splendid Outside: But yet, it must be confessed, that there are others, (and those not a few) whose Lives are almost one continued Circle of Vanity and Folly. Such as divide the best and most precious part of their Time between their _Toilet_, the _Exchange_, and the _Play-House_. This, I believe, upon Enquiry, will appear to be no unjust Censure; tho' at the same time, _Madam_, I must freely own to you, that I think it a most amazing thing, that the _Ladies_ (at least those who make any Pretensions to Virtue and Goodness) should ever be seen at the last of these Places; where they find themselves so scandalously treated. I am apt to think, that very few of 'em have read Mr. Collier's 'View of the Stage'; if they had, they would there see the _Corruptions_ of the Plays set in so clear a Light, that one would believe, they should never after be Tempted to appear in a Place where _Lewdness_ and _Obscenity_ (not to mention other Immoralities) are so great a part of the Entertainment; a Place that is now become the _Common Rendezvouz_ of the most Lewd and Dissolute Persons; the _Exchange_, (if I may so call it) where they meet to carry on the _vilest_ and _worst_ of Practices. 'Tis the Nursery of all manner of _Wickedness_, where the Seeds of _Atheism_ and _Irreligion_ are sown, which Weak and Tender Minds too readily cultivate, and from thence are easily led into a _Contempt_ of all that's Serious. It is impossible to say, how many, and how great the _Mischiefs_ are that spring from thence; which if a Man should take a View of, it would perhaps, be one of the most Melancholy Prospects that ever he beheld. To look into our _Modern Plays_, and there to see the Differences of Good and Evil confounded, Prophaneness, Irreligion, and Unlawful Love, made the masterly Stroaks of the _fine Gentleman_; Swearing, Cursing, and Blaspheming, the Graces of his Conversation; and Unchristian Revenge, to consummate the Character of the _Hero_; Sharpness and Poignancy of Wit exerted with the greatest Vigor against the _Holy Order_; in short, Religion and all that is Sacred, Burlesqu'd and Ridicul'd; To see this, I say, and withall, to reflect upon the fatal Effects which these things have already had, and how much worse are likely to follow, if not timely prevented, cannot but fill the Minds of all good Men with very dismal Apprehensions.

And are these then the Entertainments for a Christian to be pleas'd with; for one whose _Salvation_ is to be wrought out with Fear and Trembling? Will the Strictnesses of Virtue and Religion be ever relished by a Mind tinctur'd with such Licentious Representations? Must not such Diversions (to say no worse of 'em) insensibly steal upon the _Affections_, especially of the _Younger sort_; give their Minds quite a wrong Biass, and disarm them of that _Severity_ which is their greatest Guard, and which, when once lost, leaves 'em an easie Prey to every Temptation? Will not those _Lewd Scenes_ of Love, wherewith almost every Play is fraught, inflame the Fancy, heighten the Imagination, and render a Person thus prepar'd, a fit Subject for ill designing People to work on? But suppose it were possible to be so armed as to be Proof against all these Dangers; yet let any that have the least Regard to what is _Serious_, tell me how they can answer it to _God_, or their own _Consciences_, to be any ways Instrumental towards the _Support_ of so much Wickedness? Do they think it a Sin to give the least Encouragement to Vice, and at the same time believe themselves _Innocent_, when by their _Persons_, and their _Purses_, they contribute to the cherishing the very _Seed-Plot_ of Irreligion? 'Tis to no purpose for such to say, That they are cautious what Plays they see, and always go to the best and that the _Play-Houses_ would thrive whether they frequented them or no. This may he true, but what then, Will this excuse them? Suppose a powerful _Rebellion_ is begun in a Nation, and carried on _successfully_, for some time; and a Man should not only appear sometimes among the Rebels, but should, now and then, send them a _Supply_ (tho' never so little) of Money and Arms: Could such a one pretend that he was no ways _Instrumental_ in this Rebellion, nor Accessary to the Mischiefs that attended it, and that because it was not only _begun_, but would have _prosper'd_ too, without him; and altho' he did sometimes appear among the Authors of it, yet it was with the Party which did the least Mischief? Do you think, _Madam_, this a just way of Reasoning? I dare say you do not. Is not this then the very Case I am speaking of? Is the _Stage_, as 'tis now manag'd, any thing else but a downright Rebellion against God and his Holy Religion? Are not the Plays, (if not by Design) yet by a natural and necessary Consequence, an _undermining_ of his Laws, and an _Attempt_ upon his Government? And must it not then follow, that _every one_ that frequents them, is a _Party_ in the _Cause_, and _encourages_ the Undertaking? And tho' he should be so Happy as never to smile at a _Prophane Jest_, nor join in Applauding a _Vitious_ Play; yet, will that exempt him from a Share of that _Guilt_ which his Presence and Purse has help'd to support? No, _Madam_, 'tis _Numbers_ strengthen the Enemy, and give fresh Courage to his Attempts! A _Full_ House is the very _Life_ of the Stage, and keeps it in Countenance, whereas _thin Audiences_ would, in time, make it dwindle to nothing.

I know, _Madam_, this is strange Doctrine to some People. If a Man talks to them of leaving the Plays, they wonder what he means, and are ready to take him for a Madman. They have so long habituated themselves to the _Play-Houses_, that they begin to think a _Place_ there, to be part of their _Birth-Right_: But I desire such would be perswaded to hear what the late A. B. Tillotson thought of these matters, (and I hope some Deference is due to his Judgment). If they look into the 11th Volume of his 'Sermons', they will find that in his Discourse against the _Evil of Corrupt Communication_, he tells them, _That Plays, as the Stage now is, are intolerable, and not fit to be permitted in a Civiliz'd, much less in a Christian Nation, They do most notoriously minister_, says he, _both to Infidelity and Vice. By the Prophaneness of them they are apt to instil bad Principles into the Minds of Men, and to lessen that Awe, and Reverence which all Men ought to have for God and Religion: and by their Lewdness they teach Vice, and art apt to infect the Minds of Men, and dispose them to Lewd and Dissolute Practices. And therefore_, says he, _I do not see how any Person pretending to Sobriety and Virtue, and especially to the pure and holy Religion of our Blessed Saviour; can, without great Guilt and open Contradiction to his Holy Profession, be present at such Lewd and Immodest Plays, much less frequent them, as too many do, who would yet take it very ill to be shut out of the Communion of Christians, as they would most certainly have been in the first and purest Ages of Christianity._

This is the Opinion, _Madam_, of that Excellent Man: and, one would think, it should put those Persons who are the Encouragers of Plays, and the Frequenters of them, when they read it, upon an Enquiry, What it is they are doing? Whether they are not carrying on the Designs of the great Enemy of Mankind? But if that will not prevail upon them, let 'em reflect upon the late Instance of God's _severe Displeasure_ against us, and tell me then, whether they think it consistent with that _Humiliation_ and _Repentance_ which this great Judgment ought to awaken in us, and which _Her Majesty_, by Her late Gracious _Proclamation_, calls upon us to Exercise, to be ever again present at a _Place_, where they must often hear the Name of _God_ Prophaned, and every thing that is _Serious_ made a Jest of? A _Place_ which they cannot but know, and must own, (if put to the Question) has contributed so much to the _Corrupting_ the present Age; and which, 'tis to be fear'd, is one of those _accursed things_, that has provok'd the Almighty to be so angry with us.

These are things, _Madam_, of no trifling Importance; they are such as deserve the serious Reflections of all _good_ Christians, whatever the _Pretenders to Gaiety_ may think. And though some may, perhaps, misconstrue and ridicule such Considerations by the Names of _Preciseness_ and _Fanaticism_; yet, 'tis to be hop'd, that all who have any regard for the _Honour_ of God, the _Welfare_ of their Countrey, and the _Interest_ of our _Established Church_, will not be laugh'd out of their _Duty_, but be perswaded, not only to withdraw _themselves_ from a Place of so much Danger, but advise _others_ to do the like; that the Stage may no longer Triumph in the _Spoils_ of Virtue and Religion. 'Tis now the time to begin such an _Undertaking_: We have a powerful Enemy _abroad_, and a more formidable one at _home_; I mean that _Looseness_ and _Irreligion_ which so abounds: and what will it avail us to _subdue_ the one, while we _encourage_ the other? The _Hand of God_ has been lifted up against us, we have seen the _Terrors of the Lord_, and felt the _Arrows of the Almighty_; and what can all this mean, but to awaken us to a due Sense of our _Danger_? And, 'tis to be hop'd, the Nation has already taken the Alarm, and begin to think how to avert God's Displeasure. The _Stage_ is called in Question, and Papers are dispers'd to warn us of its Mischiefs; and it is not improbable that the _Licentious_ and _Unbounded Liberty_ the Players have taken of late years, and particularly in their daring to Act THE TEMPEST within a very few Days after the late dreadful Storm, has rais'd in the Minds of Men such an Abhorrence and Indignation, that we may possibly be so happy as to see the Stage (if not _totally suppress'd_) yet brought under such a _Regulation_, both as to the _Plays_ that are Acted, and the _Company_ that Resort to them, that Foreigners may no longer _stand amaz'd_ when brought into our _Theatres_, nor Good Men _tremble_ at the Continuance of them: but that _Virtue_ may appear there with all its Charms, and _Vice_ be expos'd to the utmost _Contempt_. In short, that the Stage may become so _Chast_, that even those _Birds of Prey_ who now hover about the _Play-Houses_ and make the Avenues to 'em so dangerous, may fly away from a Place that will no longer _Encourage_ nor _Protect_ them.

But after all, _Madam_, Whether this is such a Scheme as can ever be reduc'd in Practice; whether so _noble a Structure_ as I am speaking of, can be erected upon so _rotten_ a _Foundation_; whether the _Wound_ is not _Gangreen'd_, and must be cur'd by _Excision_; I say, whether such a _Regulation_ of the _Stage_ be possible, must be left to those who have _Skill_ and _Authority_ to try the Experiment. In the mean time, it will be every one's Duty to run from a Place of such _Infection_, least they contribute to the spreading a _Disease_ which may, in time, prove _Fatal_ to the whole Nation. But I forget, _Madam_, I am intrenching upon your Patience, while I detain you in a place you have so long abandon'd. I am fallen upon a Subject, which 'tis difficult not to say much of: but I shall no longer interrupt your better Thoughts, than while I beg Pardon for this Trouble, who am,

_Madam_, Your very Humble Servant. Jan. 10th. 1704.

A / Representation / of the / Impiety & Immorality / of the / English Stage, / with / Reasons for putting a Stop thereto: / and some Questions Addrest to / those who frequent the Play-/ Houses. / London, / Printed, and are to be Sold by J. Nutt / near Stationers-Hall, 1704 / [enclosed within double frame of rules]

Collation: A8 B4. Pp. [ 1-] 24. P. [1] title, as above; p. [2] blank; pp. 3-24 text.

Three editions were issued in 1704. If we take the author's words literally, the pamphlet was written between the "Great Storm" of November 26, 1703 and the day of fasting decreed by Queen Anne for January 19, 1704. According to Arthur Bedford ('The Evil and Danger of Stage Plays' ... London, 1706) the pamphlet was published "At the Time of the Fast ..."

Colton Storm

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Editors of the Augustan Reprint Society wish to thank the following people for assistance rendered during the first year of the society's publication:

Mr. Warner G. Rice, Director of the Library, University of Michigan. Mr. Stanley Pargellis, Director of the Newberry Library, Chicago. Mr. William Jackson, Director of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Mr. R. B. Downs, Director of the Library, University of Illinois. Mr. Leslie Bliss, Director of the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Mr. Colton Storm, Curator of Manuscripts and Maps, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. Miss Ella M. Hymans, Curator of Rare Books, General Library, University of Michigan. Alvina Woodford, Photostat Department, General Library, University of Michigan. Cal Markham, Edwards Bros., Ann Arbor.

The Augustan Reprint Society

announces its schedule of publications for the _SECOND YEAR_

May, 1947: Series I, no. 3--John Gay's THE PRESENT STATE OF WIT and a section on wit from THE ENGLISH THEOPHRASTUS. With an Introduction by Donald Bond. July, 1947: Series II, no. 3--Rapin's DE CARMINE PASTORALI, translated by Creech. With an Introduction by J. E. Congleton. Sept. 1947: Series III, no. 3--T. Hanmer's (?) SOME REMARKS ON THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET. With an Introduction by Clarence D. Thorpe. Nov., 1947: Series I, no. 4.--Corbyn Morris's ESSAY TOWARDS FIXING THE TRUE STANDARDS OF WIT, etc. With an Introduction by James L. Clifford. Jan., 1948: Series II, no. 4.--Thomas Purney's DISCOURSE ON THE PASTORAL. With an Introduction by Earl Wasserman. Mar., 1948: Series III, no. 4--Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.

Publications

The above schedule is subject to slight modification. On the whole the choices were made in response to requests by members of the Society. You are urged to write the editors, who are anxious to know, not only what you would like to see reprinted, but also what items already printed you have found most useful, and what sort of information you think is most profitable to include in the Introductions. At present we offer a minimum of six issues annually. As soon as the Society's membership increases sufficiently to warrant it, we shall bring out additional publications at no extra charge.

Future Plans

It has seemed desirable that for the Second Year we should continue the present series (on Wit, on Poetry and Language, and on the Stage). But next year we hope to run one or two new series: Rare Poems, Rare Plays, Swiftiana, Drydeniana, Popeana, Rare Periodicals, or some such unifying topic or theme. Send us your suggestions for items in these or in the present series. All suggestions are listed in our files; and our policy in publications will be determined by the requests of members.

Bibliographical Notes

From time to time we shall include Bibliographical Notes in our publications. If members find this addition valuable, it will become a regular feature of the Reprints.

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