Play-Books and Stage-Plays as the Fomenters and Fewel ef Lust the occasion of Adultery and other intollerable Evils And in that same Book which its sit to observe by the way was Printed by her Majesties Authority he Inveighs against wanton and impure Books as being then too frequent and wishes the Authors of of them the same Punishment that the Emper or Severus inflicted upon Vetromus Turinus his Faâ—iliar viz. That they might perish by Smoak who liv'd by it A little further he says That many of these who profess Christianity are in respect of reading Lascivious Books worse by far than the Heathens The People called Massilienses before they knew Christ were of such pure and uncorrupt Morals that their Manners were accout the best and amongst other good Laws in their City this was one That there should be no Comedy acted there because their Arguments were for the most part of wanton and dissolute Love But alas all Places in our days are fill'd with Juglers Scoffers Jesters Players who may sâ—â— and do what they list be it never so fleshly and filthy and yet are applauded with laughing and clapping of Hands Epicharmus was punished by Hiero of Syracuse for rehearsing some wanton Verses in the presence of his Wife Sophocles rebuk'd Pericles for launching out in the Commendation of the Beauty of a Boy that passed by him and was told that not only the Hand of a Pretor ought to be free from Bribes but their Eyes clear from wanton Looks that the Athenians would suffer none of their Judges to write any Comedy or Play But I speak it with Sorrow our vicious Balladmakers and Composers of lewd Songs and Plays go not only unpunished but are largely Rewarded There was no Adulterer in Sparta because the Citizens were not suffered to be present at any Comedy or other Play lest they should hear and see those things that were contrary to their Laws The next we shall mention is Bishop Bahingtoâ— who in his Exposition on the seventh Commandment says Those Prophane Wanton Stage Plays and Enterludes what an occasion thâ—â— are of Adultery and Uncleanness by Gesture Speech Conveyance and Devices to attain ungodly Desires the World knoweth by long Experience Vanities they are if we make the best of them ' and the Prophet prayeth to have his Eyes turn'd away from beholding Vanity evil Communication corrupts good Manners and they abound with it They are always full of dangerous Sights and we must abstain from all appearance of Evil They corrupt the Eyes with alluring Gestures the Eyes corrupt the Heart and the Heart corrupts the Body till all be horrible before the Lord All things are polluted by Histrionical Gestures saith Chrysostome And Plays says he are the Feasts of Satan the Inventions of the Devil Councils have decreed very sharply against them those who have been desil'd by them have on their Death Beds confessed the danger of them and warned others for ever to avoid them The Bishop adds that Play Haunters carry away with them the Ideas and Similitudes of the lewd Representations they behold in Stage-Plays which sink deep into their Minds That they suck in the Poison of Stage-Plays with great Delight and practise the Speeches and Conveyances of Love which there they see aâ—d learn and having once polluted their Speech with the Language of the Theatre for I will never call it polishing they are never well but when they have Company to whom they may impart the Stories and Salutations they have learned at the Stage Bishop Andrews in his Exposition of the seventh Commandment Bishop Baily in his Preface to the Practise of Piety and Bishop Hall in in his Epistles agree with the former in condemning Stage-Plays Of the same Mind is Doctor Reynolds in his overthrow of Stage-Plays Doctor Griffitâ— Doctor Williams Doctor Elâ—on and Mr. Dod on the seventh Commandment Doctor Sparks in his Rehearsal Sermon at Paul's Cross April 29. 1579. Doctor Whites Sermon there March 24. 1615. Dr. Bond of the Sabâ—ath in 1595. and as many more Doctors as would serve to make up a Convocation whence it is evident that the Divines of the Church in those Days were far from being silent against the Stage Nay we are told in the Preface to the second and third Blast of Retreat from Plays and Theatres Printed in 1580. That many Godly Ministers did from Day to Day in all Places of greatest Resort denounce the Vengeance of God against all such be they high or low that favoured Players Theatres or Plays Mr. Northbrook a learned Divine in his Treatise against Vain Plays and Enterludes Printed by Authority in 1579. says That to speak his Mind and Conscience plainly and in the fear of God Players and Plays are not tollerable not to be suffered in any Commonwealth because they are the Occasion of much Sin and Wickedness corrupting both the Minds and the Manners of the Spectators There 's one Book more writ in those times against the Stage that I cannot omit because of the singularity of its Title viz. The Church of evil Men and Women whereof Lucifer is the Head and Players and Play-haunters the Members And in 1625. a Treatise against Stage Plays was dedicated to the Parliament from all which it will appear that the Author of the Defence of Dramatick Poetry spoke without Book when he said Mr. Collier was the first that appeared from the Press or the Pulpit against ouâ— Stage and that the present Divines of the Church who have betraid the Cause by their Silence or encouraged the Stage by their Pens and Practice come not only short of their Ancestors but are directly opposite to them Nor was it the Divines alone who in those days attack'd the Theatre But Poets of their own who being touch'd with remorse for writing to the Stage turn'd their Pens against it and made such Discoveries of its Lewdness as no other Persons were able to do CAP. IX The Stage Condemned and Anatomized by Play-Poets THE First we shall name is Mr. Stephen Gosson formerly a Stage-Poet for which he says himself in the Epistle to his School of Abuse Printed by Authority and dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney in 1578. That his Eyes had shed many Tears of Sorrow and his Heart had sweat many drops of Blood when he remembred Stage-Plays to which he was once so much addicted This Penitent Stage-Poet in the Book just now menâ—ioned and in another called His Plays Confuted Printed in 1581. and Dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham writes to this Effect I will shew you says he what I saw and inform you what I read of Plays Ovid said That Romulus built his Theatre as a Horse-Fair for Whores made Triumphs and set up Plays to gather fair Women together that every one of his Souldiers might take where he lik'd a snatch for his Share It would seem that the Abuse of such Plâ—ces was so great that for any chast Liver to haunt them was a black Swan and a
Passages that have a tendency to promote Uncleanness and that is the Reason why nothing but the Schools is mentioned in the Introduction ERRATA PAge 3. Line 22. dele the and put after Versails p. 35. l. 13 dele the after Journey p. 40. l. 10. r. â—â—vitus p. 128. l. 25. r. Epimantus p. 140. l. 5. r. adjur'd instead of abjur'd p. 162. l. 13. Genselarics p. 172. l. 20. r. Personae instead of Personal p. 194. l. 34. r. were instead of there p. 198. l. 34. r. Moses instead of Samuel Some may perhaps object against what is said p. 200 that Oliver made Richlieu to tremble whereas Richlieu died soon after 〈◊〉 began to appear the Author owns that this slipt his Observation till the Sheet was printed off but the Argument holds good as to the French Nation and his Successor Mazarin Books Printed for J. Salusbury at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. A Compleat French Master for Ladies and Gentlemen or a most exact new Grammar to learn with Ease and delight the French Tongue as it is now spoken in the Court of France wherein is to be seen an Extraordinary and Methodical Order for the Acquisition of that Tongue Inriched with new Words and the most modish Pronounciation and all the Advantages and Improvements of that famous Language Written for the Use of his Highness the Duke of Glocester Price 2 s. A Most compleat Compenâ—um of Geography General and Special describing all the Empires Kingdoms and Dominions in the whole World shewing their Bounds Scituation Dimensions History Government Religions Languages Commodities Cities Rivers Mountains Lakes Archbishopricks Bishopricks and Universities in a most plain and easie Method c. The Fourth Edition Corrected and much Improved By Laurence Echard M. A. of Christ's College in Cambridge Price 1 s. 6 d. EAchard's Gazetteer or Newsman's Interpreter Being a Geographical Index of all Cities Towns c. in Europe with their Distances from each other and to what Prince they are now subject very necessary for the right understanding of all Foreign and Domestick News-Letters and Gazettes 12â— Price 2 s. THE Changeableness of this World with Respect to Nations Families and particular Persons with a practical Application thereof to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life By T. Rogers M. A. p. 1 s. MR. Oughtred's Key of the Mathematicks newly Translated with Notes rendring it Easie and Intelligible absolutely necessary for all Gagers Surveyors Gunners Military Officers and Mariners c. Recommended by Mr. E. Halley Fellow of the Royal Society THE Happiness of a Quiet Mind both in Youth and Old Age with the Way to attain it In a Discourse occasioned by the death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborâ— By T. Rogers pr. 1 s. A Dialogue between two young Ladies lately Maried concerning the Management of Husbands shewing how to make that Honourable State more Easie and Comfortable The Third Edition Revised and Coâ—rected By the said Young Ladies Price 6 d. where the Second Part may be had Price 6 d. FINIS Introduction WE have had lately a Curious and Learned Survey of the Immorality and Profaness of the Stage but tho' that Author hath done excellently well there may still be some Gleanings left for another Mr. Collier strikes directly at the Miscarriages of the Stage because they were most obvious and nearest to View but this ought not supersede the Endeavours of others nor to put a stop to their Inquiry into the Root of the Mischief If the Foundation be sapp'd the Superstructures must â—umble of course and it signifies little to patch the Roof or to tell us that it Rains in at the Sky-Lights when an Inundation comes in at Doors and Windows There 's none can be fit to write for the Stage that hath not first been at School and if we be instructed there in Plays and Romances it s but natural we should think our selves good Proficients and that we have in a great measure answered the End of our Education when we can oblige the World with those of our own Composure If the Amorous Passages of Ovid Terence Plautus c. be thought commendable Patterns fit to be put into the hands of Youth and by them imbib'd as proper Nourishment why should not the Harvest answer the Seed-time or why should the Scholar be blam'd to Viâ— with his Masters Copy or when time and opportunity serves to sett up for a Master himself CAP. I. The Stage Encouraged by the Clergy IF our Shepherds have no better Morals than to feed their Lambs with the Milk of Goats why should they not expect that their Flocks in time should come to smell Pâ—nk and where 's the Justice to bait and worry them when they do so If the Pulpits be so grosly negligent as not to tell us with Tertullian that Stage-Plays are the Chief of those Pomps that we abjure at Baptism or if they will needs Canonize one as a Martyr and Saint who by Royal Authority introduc'd the Use of Masks and Plays into his Court and Dominions on Sundays and never testified his Repentance for it to the World why should not they who write and frequent Plays think they are in the Path Road to Heaven as well as he and why may not they who distinguish themselves from others by such like performances hope some time or other to bear him company in the Calendar If the Head and Fathers of the Church did prosecute Mr. Prin for his Histriomastrix and condemn those for Schismaticks who would not Comply with Laud's Book of Sports and Pastimes on Sundays whereof Masks and Opera's at Court led the Van why should not the Writing and Haunting of Plays be reckon'd genuine Marks of a true Son of the Church and the contrary the Badge of one that is no true Church-man as a certain Clergy-man thought fit to express it in relation to K. William because of his not frequenting the Play-house Let the Clergy if they seriously design a Reform in this particular strike St. Ch s out of their Calender or declare their opposition to St. Chrysostom Tertullian and many others that might be named who thought the writing and frequenting of Plays to be damnable without Repentance and much more the commanding and patronâ—â—ing them It cannot be denied but Mr. Collier has writ ingeniously and has taken a great deal of pains to hew and lop off the Branches and considering how much the Play-house was favoured in the Reign of Charles I. by some of the highest Dignity in the Church we have more reason to wonder that he hath said so much than that he hath said any thing too little because that part of the Sense of Antiquity which he hath repeated to us in this Matter does obliquely condemn that Prince whom so many Ecclesiasticks of great Note have always accounted a Martyr Besides his writing against Plays at present and some of the principal Authors of them is not like to be accounted an extraordinary piece
demonstration of the Spirit and of Power yet this great Apostle of the Gentiles was brought up at the Feet of Gamaliel and had more humane Learning than 20 of our fluttering Doctors It is not my design to cry down Eloquence in a Preacher nor to commend a rough way of Expression from the Pulpit Eloquence is the Gift of God and commended in the Preacher Apollos but at the same time we are told That he was mighty in the Scriptures and taught diligently the things of the Lord It 's reckoned highly prophane and Mr. Collier has smartly reproved it for Poets to apply the Phrase of the Scripture to the use of the Stage and I see no reason why Vice Versa it should not be liable to that same Censure to adopt the Phrase of the Stage for the Language of the Pulpit not that it 's absolutely Unlawful for a Preache◠to quote an apposite Sentence or Verse either from Greek Latine or other Poets The Apostle himself hath taught us the contrary by his own Example when he tells the Cretians that one of their own Poets says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is an intolerable Affectation of Novelty when a New Word or a Quaint Phrase is no sooner published in a Play or Gazzette but we shall the next Sunday after hear it out of the Pulpit This is so far from holding fast the Form of sound Words as St. Paul enjoyned Timothy that it is rather the prophane and vain Babbling he commanded him to avoid and which Calvin upon the place says is Inanis tinnitus profanus Simulatque Doctores it a inflant suas tibias ad suam Eloquentiam Venditandam A prophane and empty Jingle which the Doctors make use of to set off their Eloquence It were an easie matter to quote as many Sermons guilty of these Vanities as Mr. Collier has quoted Plays guilty of abusing Scripture but for obvious Reasons I forbear it The only cause why I mention it is to shew that it is not the Poets alone that support the Credit of the Stage and that what is Criminal in a Poet is ten times worse in a Priest and therefore they ought not to pass without a Reproof It 's known there are many godly Persons amongst our Clergy who bewail those things and oppose them as much as they can but there is a mighty Neglect somewhere and the World will hardly be perswaded that our Church of England is unanimous in this Matter else it were easie for them who shook King James out of his Throne to overturn the Stage It is not to be supposed that the King and Parliament would deny the Clergy such a Request if it were duly presented and considering how much the Nation hath suffered in its Morals and Religion by the Licentiousness of the Stage it 's high time that some effectual Course should be taken to suppress it But there 's reason to fear that the Faction begun by Arch-bishop Laud has still too great an interest amongst our Clergy for scarcely can any other reason be imagined why after so many Years Experience of the Mischief of the Stage the Church should be so silent in this Matter That there is something in this I am very apt to think because of the Deference many of the Clergy men pay to the Memory of that Prelate and of his Master King Charles I. whom he help'd to mislead In those Times as Mr. Prin acquaints us in his Histriomastix none were accounted Enemies to the Play-house but Puritans and Precisians and in opposition to them it probably was that Laud and his Clergy became its Patrons and it is not unlike that many of the Less-thinking Church-men continue still to favour it on that Account as being unwilling to condemn that for which King Charles I. and Arch-bishop Laud testified so much Passion but these Gentlemen would do well to remember That the Defence of the Stage was never so much the Characteristick of their church as was the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and seeing the Majority of them have relinquished that they are infinitely the more to blame for still adhering to this If a Petition of the Londoners had so much Influence on Queen Elizabeth as to get the Play-houses suppress'd and if the Stage was expresly condemned by a Statute of King Iames I. we have no reason to despair of obtaining the same now upon the like Application And methinks the Clergy are more concerned to stir in it than ever seeing it would appear by Mr. Collier's third Chapter Of the Clergy abused by the Stage that the Theatre is now become a Nusano◠to themselves It is apparent enough from what has been said already that the Clergy are chargeable with the Mischief of the Stage by the omitting of what their Character obliges them to do against it and that many of them are also Culpable by seeming to hallow its Phrase in the Pulpit but this is not all as will appear by what follows We have heard that the Stage was condemned by Act of Parliament in King Iames I. Time but reviv'd again in the Reign of K. Charles contrary to Law and that Operas were practised in his own Court by his Royal Authority on Sundays Now considering how much that Prince was devoted to the Interest of the Clergy it 's highly improbable that he would have atttempted any such thing had the then Governing part of the Church given him faithful warning against it but Laud and the other topping Church-men of that time were so far from opposing it that they concur'd with him imposed a Book of Sports and Pastimes upon all their Clergy to be read to the People on Sundays which was a fair step towards converting all the Churches of the Nation into Play-houses This great Example did so much incourage the Stage that Mr. Prin tells us in his Book before-mentioned in two Years time there were above 40000 Play-Books printed They became more vendible than the choicest Sermons Grew up from Quarto's to Folio's were printed on far better Paper than most of the Octavo or Quarto Bibles and were more saleable than they And Shackspeers Plays in particular were printed in the best◠Paper The two old Play-houses were rebuilt and enlarged and a new Theatre erected so that there were then six Play-houses in London twice the number of those in Rome in Nero's Time which though a much more spacious City Seneca complains of as being too many That Faction of the Clergy became at last so enamour'd of the Stage that the same Author informs us He had heard some Preachers call their Text a Land-skip or Picture and others a Play or Spectacle dividing their Texts into Actors Spectators Scenes c. as if they had been Acting a Play Upon which he complains of their using Play-house Phrases Clinches and strong Lines as they called them and that it was to to frequent to have Sermons in respect of their Divisions
THE Stage Condemn'd AND The Encouragement given to the Immoralities and Profaneness of the Theatre by the English Schools Universities and Pulpits Censur'd King Charles I. Sundays Mask and Declaration for Sports and Pastimes on the Sabbath largely Related and Animadverted upon The Arguments of all the Authors that have Writ in Defence of the Stage against Mr. Collier Consider'd AND The Sense of the Fathers Councils Antient Philosophers and Poets and of the Greek and Roman States and of the First Christian Emperours concerning the DRAMA Faithfully Deliver'd Together with The Censure of the English State and of several Antient and Modern Divines of the Church of England upon the STAGE AND Remarks on diverse late Plays as also on those presented by the two Universities to King Charles I. LONDON Printed for Iohn Salusbury at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. To the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons of ENGLAND in Parliament Assembled THE Corruption of Our Stage most Noble Senators is so very Palpable and Notorious that the Authors themselves who Live by it and have lately writ in Defence of it are forc'd to acknowledge it wants a Reformation But when they come to Particulars every one standâ— upon his own Defence and refuses to acknowledge that the Plays of his Writing contain any thing Culpable or Blameâ—worthy All of them write in Defence of the Stage and some of them plead the Usefulness and Absolute Necessity of it at the Expence of the Honour and Credit of the Nation whom they Charge as the most Splenetick and Rebellious People in Europe and that they stand in need of the Drama as a Sovereign Preservative against the Mischievous Effects of that Distemper At Your Feet therefore most Noble Senators the following Sheets are humbly laid as containing amongst other things a Vindication of the Brave and Generous People whom You Represent from that Foul Slander and Charging the Guilt upon the True Criminals who endeavour'd to tear Our Constitution in pieces by setting Our Kings and Parliaments at Variance and endeavouring to have Liberty and Property swallowed up by Prerogative to which wicked Design the Stage hath not a little Contributed The Bleeding Morals of this Gallant Nation are past the Cure of all Quack-pretenders It is His Majesty and Your Honours alone who are capable of applying the Sovereign Remedy by obliging Magistrates and Ministers to perform their Duty or enabling them to do it by New Laws if those we have already be not sufficient Our Gracious Sovereign hath not only rescued us from Popery and Tyranny but out of his Fatherly Care to prevent our future Danger hath again and again recommended it to His People to take Effectual Methods for the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immorality which the Enemies of our Religion and Liberty made use of as the most successful Engines to Ruine both The Author of this Treatise has endeavour'd to prove That the Corruption of the Stage is in a great measure owing to the Method of Educating our Youth in Schools from whence the Infection spreads into the Universities and Pulpits And having been Encouraged by the late Reigns and part of the Clergy hath at last prov'd so fatal to the Manners of 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ople that the Stage is become a general 〈◊〉 and hath been complained of as such 〈◊〉 by Puritans and those who oppos'd King Charles I. as the Advocates of the Theatre do falsly pretend but by Antient and Modern Church of England Divines and hath been sometimes Restrained and at other times entirely Banished by the States of England in Parliament Assembled Whether the Merits of the present Stage be such as may deserve a more favourable Censure at Your Hands is Submitted as is fit it should to Your Great Wisdom In the following Treatise there 's the Opinion of the Jewish and Christian Church of the Greatest of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets of the Heathen Greek and Roman State of the first Christian Emperours c. and of Our English State against the Theatre fairly exhibited But seeing the Defenders of the Play-house argue the Usefulness of it to the English Nation in general and to the present Govenment in particular it is reasonable the Appeal should be to Our Honourable Representatives and that the Arguments pro and con should be laid before them not doubting if they think fit at all to take it into Consideration but they will give a True and Righteous Judgment in the Matter It is not in England alone where the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of the Stage and the Immorality and Profaneness of it is the present Subject of Controversie But in France and Italy nay at Rome it self where as well as at Paris the Stage has of late as all the Publick Intelligences inform us receiv'd a Check tho' the Prefaâ—â—r to the Play call'd Beauty in Distress says the French Stage is so Reform'd as not to fall under the Censure of the Antient Fathers The Honour of our Nation and Religion would therefore seem to require that our Theatres should come under Examination as well as theirs but the Time wheâ— and the Method how must be left to the Wisdom of the King and Parliament to determine In the mean time it were to be wished that our English Ladies and Gentlewomen whose Encouragement and Presence is the most powerful Argument after all for the Defence of the Stage and by whose absenting themselves it must fall in Course without Law or Statute would be pleased to consider That the wise Roman Senate approv'd the Divorce which Sempronius Sophus gave to his Wife for no other Reason but that she resorted to the Cirques and Play-houses without his Consent the very sight of which might make her an Adultress and cause her to defile his Bed And the Christian Emperor Justinian made the following Constitution That a Man might lawfully put away his Wife if she resort to Cirques to Play-houses or Stage-Plays without his Privity and Consent because her Chastity might thereby be endangered If Our Stage then be so much Corrupted as its Advocates themselves are forc'd to confess its influence upon the Morals of the Audience must needs be dangerous and therefore it s hop'd our English Senators will be as careful of the Chastity of the English Ladies as the Antient Roman Senators were of theirs and that our English Women whose Beauty is every where admir'd will readily Consent to any thing that may preserve their Modesty too from being so much as Questioned Advertisement to the Reader THE Heads treated on in this Book don't follow in the same order as they are set down in the Title Page because the Author was oblig'd to take them as they occur'd in the Books that he answers but all of them may easily be found out by the Running Titles The Reader is also desir'd to take Notice that the Author designed at first only to have Writ against teaching the Heathen Poets in Schools without eâ—punging those
of Service to the Courts of St. Germains and Versails If we consider that the Restoring and Incouraging of Play-houses was one of the chief Expedients of those who were resolved to put Cardinal Mazarins Advice in Execution which was to debauch the Nation in order to the better Introducing of Poâ—ory and Slavery and therefore those who reflect upon Mr. Collier for his Nonjurancy for his Book called A Perswasive to Consideration and for his Absolving Sir William Perkins and Sir Iohn Friend at Tyburn ought not to be angry with him for writing against the Stage If all our Church-men had done their Duty as well as Mr. Collier has done his in this Matter Stage-Plays had never bâ—en suffered in the Nation nor had there been the least pretence for their Usefulness But in K. Charles I. Time they were necessary to Ridicule the Puritans and run down the Patrons of Liberty and Property And in K. Char. II. Reign they were no less wanted to lash the Dissenters and Whiggs that oppos'd Tyranny and needful to promote the Glorious Design of Debauching the Nation and to baffle the Evidence of the Popish Plots And now by the just Judgment of God the Clergy who did but too much Countenance the Proceedings of those Reigns are lash'd and expos'd in the Play-houses themselves which Mr. Collier complains of This it 's hop'd will cure their Itch of Adorning or rather disguising the Doctrines of the Gospel with the Phrase of the Stage and their fondness of Reading Plays for refining their Stile No Clergy-man can propose to himself any justifiable End in Reading Plays but that which Mr. Collier has excellently perform'd to wit the exposing their Immorality and Profaneness and to discover their Failure in their pretended Designs It is altogether unsufferable to hear a sort of young Divines Regale our Ears from the Pulpit with the Rhetorick of a Play while at the same time they Treat the Phrase of the Scripture and the Language of Antient and Learned Divines as Unintelligible Cant and yet that this hath been and is still too common amongst some of our Clergy-men cannot be denied So long as those Writings of Parkers and others which call the New Birth a Fantastical Iargon or those Sermons which treat the Doctrine of St. Austin Calvin and Beza nay and of the Articles of the Church of England too as Stuff and Cant have an Existence Mr. Collier and others may write Volumes against the Stage as long as they please but they will find it to little purpose whilst the Plays are so much read and incourag'd by the Clergy and by 'em retail'd again to the People If the Language of the Play-house be thought fit to be made use of as an Ornament to a Sermon the Hearers will be apt to conclude that the Stage is not so Criminal a Thing as some Men would have it accounted And seeing Mr. Collier has been so much approv'd for lashing the Poets and the Stage there 's no reason to think that it should be taken amiss in another to censure the vanity of such of the Clergy as write Plays or Preach in that Dialect and have neglected to inform their People of the Danger of the Play-house Had they taken due care to instruct their Auditors in this Matter at Church the Audiences would never have been so numerous at the Stage For why should I think there 's any hurt in the Theatre when I see that its ordinary for our Gallants on a Saturday to prepare themselves by a Play for Heaâ—ing a Sermon on Sunday Nay sometimes it may be for the Sacrament And yet the Parson hath not the Courage or Honesty to reprove it but perhaps chuses it as the most proper way to recommend himself to the Applause of his Hearers to deliver his Preachment in the stile of a Comedy Our Wits indeed when passing their Judgment on a Sermon think they give the Preacher a large Encomium when they say he has read abundance of Play-Books Which let our Youngsters in Divinity value as they please I should think it the most picquant Satyr that could be put upon me were I worthy of bearing the Indelible Character But that those flanting Preachers may have no occasion to say that I am alone in this Matter I shall pray them to consider the following Authorities Prosper says to such Whilst they would seem Nice and Elegant they grow perfectly Mad with fulsom Expressions St. Ierom writing to Nepotianus Advises him when he is Preaching in the Church To labour for the Groans and not for the Applause of his Hearers Not to behave himself like a Declaimer of feigned Orations or a pretended Advocate and to talk without Measure The Sermon of a Minister ought to be seasoned with Quotations from Scripture Prosper Aquitanicus says That a Preacher ought not to value himself upon the Accuracy of his Stile except he have more mind to shew his own Learning than to edifie the Church of God That his Sermon ought to be so plain that the most ignorant Persons may understand it the business of Declaimers or Makers of Orations being one thing and that of Preachers another The former endeavour to set off the â—omp of an Elaborate Speech with the utmost strength of their Eloquence The latter seek after the Glory of God in a sober and plain Discourse Of the same Opinion are St. â—erom Ambrose Theodoret Theophylact and others as appears by their Commentaries on 1 Cor. 2. 1. c. Isidorus Pelusiot a taxes some Monks of his time for their affected Stile in Preaching Who can abstain from Satyrs against you says he when they hear your Sermons cram'd with Heathen Historians and Poets Pray what is there in them preferable to our Religion Therefore either let your Sermons be Grave and prefer a Modest Stile to big swelling Words and pompous Rhetorick or give me leave to say That you are fitter for the Stage than the Pulpit The Bishop of Chemnis in his Onus Ecclesiae has very remarkable Saâ—ings to this purpose and amongst others those that follow In these last days the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures is utterly lost the Preachers being puffed up with Knowledge teach their own Notions They extol the Learning of the Heathen Philosophers and thereby darken the Sun-shine of Christian Wisdom And now most of the Schools where Divinity was formerly taught are filled with Poetical â—ictions Empty Trifles and Monstrous Fables The Preachers hunt after their own Applause and study to gratifie the Ears of their Auditors with Ornat and Polite Discourses But true Sermons are better than those that are Elegant And let those Eloquent Doctors know that our Saviour says of them In vain do ye Worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. To conclude this Point with the Authority of the Apostle St. Paul he commends his own Sermons because his Speech and his Preaching was not with enticing Words of Mans Wisdom but in
Interlude could serve for nothing else but to divert their Meditations from whatever was serious and therefore the setting up of Masks and Sports and Pastimes upon Sundays and Holydays was one of the most effectual Methods that the Enemies of Piety could have invented to hinder the effect of those Ordinances which the Church of England looks upon as necessary to promote the Salvation of her People CAP. III. The Sâ—age Encouraged by the King and Arch-bishop Laud's Book of SPORTS YET this was not all that the then Head of the Church King Charles the first and Laud the Metropolitan of all England did to run down the practice of Piety and Religion They were not satisfied to corrupt the People only by bad Example but enjoin'd also the Book of Sports and Pastimes to be read by the Bishops and their Clergy and took off the restraint that was laid upon the People from following such Practices by the Laws then in being particularly the 1st of Car. Cap. 1. and 3d Car. Cap. 2. Forbiding all Sports or Pastimes whatsoever on the Lord's Day In the first it is complained of That the Holy keeping of the Lord's Day in very many Places of this Realm hath been and now 〈◊〉 prosaned and neglected by a disorderly sort of People in exercising and frequenting Bearbaiting Bullbaiting Interludes Common-plays and other Unlawful Exercises and Pastimes Yet the King contrary to his own Law sets up Interludes and Masks in his Pallace on Sundays and by his Declaration for Sports and Pastimes on Sundays does perfectly dispense with the said Law and reflects severely upon those that would hinder the People in the Exercise of such Sports and Pastimes as Puritans and Precisians and Arch-bishop Laud and the governing part of the Church join'd with him in prosecuting Mr. Prin for his Histriomastix wherein he writ against those Plays and Interludes especially such as were acted on Sundays and were so embittered against him that on Feb. 1. 1632. Laud procured him to be sent close Prisoner to the Tower where he lay till the 21st of Iune 1633. when an Information without mentioning any particular Passages in his Book was exhibited against him in the Star-Chamber for publishing a Book concerning Interludes Entituled Histriomastix which was Licensed by a Chaplain of Dr. Abbots Arch-bishop of Canterbury Notwithstanding which License he had this heavy Sentence pass'd upon him viz. To be imprisoned during Life pay 5000 l. Fine be expell'd Lincolns-Inn disabled to exercise the profession of a Barrister degraded by the University of Oxford of his degrees taken there and that done to be set in the Pillory at Westminster and have one of his Ears cut off and at another time to be seâ— in the Pillory in Cheapside and there to have his other Ear cut off which was accordingly executed on the 7th and 10th of May and he remained sâ—ndry Years in the Tower upon this Censure though the Queen is said to have interceded earnestly for the Remission of this Sentence which was Tyrannical to the highest degree considering â—he Laws before-mentioned against Stage-plays declaring the Actors to be Rogues c. as is evident from the 39th of Eliz. and the 7th of King Iames the First Having been so successful against Mr. Prin Laud and his Faction took Courage and prevailed with His Majesty to publish his Declaration concerning Recreations on the Lord's Day after Evening Prayer dated Octob. 18. in the Ninth Year of his Reign which was 1634. It is observable That he Founds this Declaration on one of his Father King Iames in Anno 1618. wherein it is said That when that Prince returned from Scotland he found his Subjects but chiefly those in Lancashire debarred from Lawful Recreations on Sundays after Evening Prayer for which he rebuked the Puritans and published his Declaration That none should thereafter prohibit his good Subjects from using their Lawful Recreations on that day He adds in another part of it That his County of Lancashire to his great Regret had more Popish Recusants than any other County in England but being informed by his Judges and the Bishop of the Diocess that they were beginning to amend he was very sorry to hear the general Complaint of his People that they were debarr'd from all lawful Recreations and Exercises on Sunday after the ending of all Divine Service Which could not but produce two Evils viz. the Hindering the Conversion of many whom their Priests will persuade that there is no honest Mirth or Recreation allowed in our Religion and the setting up of filthy Tippling and Drinking and breeds a number of idle and discontented Speeches on those days His express Pleasure therefore was that no lawfull Recreation should be barr'd to his good People and that the Bishops should take strict order with all Puritans and Precisians and either constrain 'em to conform themselves or to leave the Country And that his Pleasure was that his good People should not be hindered after the end of Divine Service on Sundays from their lawful Recreations such as Dancing either Men or Women Archery Leaping Vaulting nor from having of Maygames Whitson-ales Morrice-dances and setting up of Maypoles or other Sports therewith used and he barr'd from those Sports all Recusants that abstain'd from coming to Church and Divine Service and those that though they conformed in Religion did not come to Church Were the place proper for it this Declaration affords a large Field for Reflections Here 's the Platonick KING The Head of the Church The â—irst as some say to whom they gave the Title of Most Sacred Majesty who to Convert the Papists as he pretends orders the Lord's Day to be profaned with such Sports and Pastiâ—es as tended to debauch the Morals of the People and yet will not shew the least favour to the stricter sort of Protestants but brands them with the Nick-names of Puritans and Precisians and Orders his Bishops to bring them to Conformity or to expel them the Country But the pleasantest Jest is this That he invites them to come to Churh by the tempting Reward of having Liberty to profane the Sabbath which they perfectly abhorr'd His Son King Charles I. Corroborates this Declaration by his of the 18th of Oct. 1634. which he begins thus Now out of the like pious Care for the Service of God and Suppressing any Humours that oppose Truth and for the Ease Comfort and Recreation of our well-deserving People we do Ratifie and Publish this our Blessed Fathers Declaration This Declaration did but too much verifie what an old Reverend Divine of the Church of Scotland said to King Iames I. when he asked his Blessing on his Journey to take upon him the Crown of England viz. Pray God bless you Sir and make you a good Man but he has ill stuff to make it of The Declaration adds We command that no Man do Trouble or Molest any of Our Loyal People in or â—rom their Lawful Recreations and We further Will that
Publication of this Our Command be made by Order of the Bishops through all the Parish-Churches of their several Diocesses respectively Here was a great difference betwixt the Exercise of the Episcopal Function in the Reigns of the Father and the Son or by this Declaration Ch. I. made the Bishops Trumpeters to the Stage and King Iames II said that in his Time they were Trumpeters of Rebellion because they petitioned against Reading the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience This Declaration for Sports was read by most of them and such of the Ministers as would not conform were turned out till the Controversies betwixt the King and Parliament and the Civil War that ensued put a stop to it Thus I have made it plain That the governing part of the Church patroniz'd the Stage in the Reign of Charles I. and by the Book call'd Centuries of scandalous Ministers we find that many of them were turned out for frequenting the Stage in the Parliament Times and the Theatre being then overturned there was so great a Reform of Manners that notwithstanding the Libertinism which usually accompanies War one might have walk'd through the City and Suburbs without hearing an Oath but when King Charles II. was restored the Play-houses were speedily re-opened and without any Publick Check or Control from the Church went on to that height of Immorality which Mr. C. complains of Nay they were thought very subservient to support the Church by jerking at the Whigs and Dissenters in their Prologues and Plays and to infuse â—rightful Ideas of them into the Heads of the Spectators whilst at the same time they run down the belief of the Popish Plot vindicated the Traitors that had been executed for it and dress'd the true Patriots of our Religion and Liberty in the Skins of Beasts of prey that they might be devoured with the better Appetite It were easie to cram a Volume with Instances of this sort but they are so well known that 't is needless There being no Body who â—requented the Play-house or read the Plays in the two last Reigns but know that the Stage was attempered to the Lascivious and Arbitrary â—umoeâ—s of those Princes and to blacken all those that opposed their Tyrannical Designs Having thus made it appear that the Church hath â—avoured the Stage by their not warning the People against it by seeming to hallow the Phrase of it in their Pulpits by approving or at least conniving at the practise of it on the Sabbath in King Charles I. by prosecuting those who writ against it Writing Plays themselves by some of them practising it in their own Persons and Writing in Defence of it by enjoining the Book of Sports by not opposing it in the Reigns of Charles II. and Iames II. and to which I shall add by their not opposing it in this Reign when they might have hopes of better success seeing both King and Parliament have declared themselves so highly against Immorality and Profaneness I come now in the next place to see how far the Schools are chargeable with the same Crime CAP. IV. The Stage Encouraged by the Schools THIS Subject hath not been so much â—reated on as the former and by Consequence is a sign that the danger of it hath not â—een so much perceived yet it hath not been altogether over-look'd for Authors both Antient and Modern have taken Notice of it Clemens Romanus Nazianzen Tertullian Ambrose Ierom Lactantius Augustine and others of the Antients The 4th Council of Carthage and divers other Councils Bishop Babington Bishop Hooper Perkins Doâ—nham Williams and all other Commentators on the 7th Commandment have Condemned and Forbid the Writing Printing Selling or Teaching any Amorous Wanton Play-books Histories or Heathen Authors especially Ovids wanton Epistles and Books of Love Catullus Tibâ—â—lus Propertius Martial Plautus and Terenâ—â— as may be seen in the Places quoted in the Maâ—â—gin The Reasons why they should not be read 〈◊〉 Youth are giv'n us by Osorius thus 〈◊〉 Poets are Obscene Petulant Effeminate and 〈◊〉 their Lascivious and impure Verses divert thâ— Mind from Shamfastness and Industry to Lust anâ— Sloth and so much the smoother they are 〈◊〉 much the more Noxious and like so manâ— Syrens ruine all those that give Ear to them The more ingeniously any of them write 〈◊〉 amorous Subjects they are so much the moâ—â— Criminal for we willingly Read and easilâ— Learn by Heart a Fine and Elegant Poem anâ— therefore the Poison of Lascivious Verse makâ—â— a quick and speedy Impression upon the Mind and by the Smoothness and Elegancy of thâ— Language kills before an Antidote can be aâ—â—plied Therefore all such Poets ought not only 〈◊〉 be banished the Câ—urt but also the Country Nay Aeneas Silvius afterwards Pope Pius 〈◊〉 in his Treatise of Education dedicated to Ladislâ—â—â— King of Hungary and Bohemia Discoursing whâ—â— Authors and Poets are to be read to Children râ—solves it thus Ovid writes many times in a Melanchollâ— Strain and as often Sweetly but is in moâ—â— places too Lascivious Horace though an Aâ—thor of admirable Eloquence yet has manâ— things I would neither have Read nor expouâ—â—ded to you Martial is a Pernicious tho' Floriâ— and Ornat Poet but so full of Prickles that hiâ— Roses are not to be gathered without dangeâ— Those who write Elegies are altogether to 〈◊〉 kept up from the Boys for they are too Sofâ— and Effeminate Tibullus Propertius Catulliâ—â— and Sappho which we have now translated abound with amorous Subjects and are full of complaints of unfortunate Amours Your Preceptor ought to take special Care that whilst he reads the Comical and Tragical Poets to you he does not seem to instruct you in something that 's Vitious It is still more remarkeable that Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Order of the Jesuites who are as little recommendable to the World for their Chastity as for their other Vertues forbad the Reading of Terence in Schools to Children and Youth before his Obscenities were expunged lest he should more corrupt their Manners by his Wantonness than help their Wits by his Latin The Jews a People noted enough for their Uncleanness yet did not permit their Children and Youth in Antient Times to read the Canticles till they arrived at 30 Years of Age for fear they should draw those Spiritual Passages of the Love betwixt Christ and his Church to a Carnal Sence and make them Instruments of inflaming their own Lusts And upon the same Account Origen adviâ—eth such as are of an amorous Temper to forbear Reading it How much more Reason is there to forbid the Reading of the Lascivious Heathen Poets and Plays seeing it is found to be true by Experience as Agrippa in his Discourse of Uncleanness hath excellently expressed it That there is no more powerful Engine to attaque and vanquish the Chastity of any Matron Girl or Widow or of any Male or Female whatever than the Reading of Lascivious
if they please That the Council of Lateran held by the Authority of Pope Innocent the third in the year 1215. consisting of two Patriarchs seventy Arch-Bishops four hundred twelve Bishops and eight hundred Abbots and Priors did forbid Clergymen to be present at Stage-Plays or to encourage Tumblers or Jesters So that if neither the Authority of Councils alone nor that of â— Pope and Council together be sufficient to 〈◊〉 the Paris Doctor of the Unlawfulness of Clergymens frequenting the Stage then I musâ— make bold to tell him That he has made a Sacrifice of the Infallibility of the Church of Rome to the Chapel of the Devil the Playhouse as Mr. Motâ—â—ux â—as Sacrificed the Authority of the Protestant Church of France to the Pleasure and Profit he reaps from the Theatre and Drama What a horrid shame is it that Iuliâ—n the Apostate should have had more Regard to the Honour of his Pagan Priests than our present Patrons of the Stage have either to the Credit of Popish or Protestant Divines when as Zozamen tell us he ordered the Priests to be exhorted not to be seen in the Theatre on Pain of Disgrace AN ANSWER TO THE DEFENCE OF Dramatick Poetry CAP. VIII Church of England Divines against the STAGE I Come next to consider the Arguments of that Book call'd A Defence of Dramatick Poetry Or Review of Mr. Collier and must in the Threshold declare my Agreement with the Ingenious Author in his PREFACE That if the Sufferance of the Theatre be so fatally destructive to Morality Vertue and Religion as Mr. Collier has endeavoured to render it he has more Satyriz'd the Pulpit than the Stage and that this Universal Silence of the whole Clergy must conclude their neglect of their Christian Duty But I 〈◊〉 beg leave to inform him that he is mistaken 〈◊〉 he says Mr. Collier is the first Pulpit or 〈◊〉 Sermon upon that Text For tho' it be true 〈◊〉 the Church of England Clergy in general 〈◊〉 been guilty of a Culpable Silence as to 〈◊〉 Head since the Restoration of King Charlâ—â— yet others have not Nor is Mr. Collier the 〈◊〉 Church of England Divine who since that 〈◊〉 hath attack'd the Stage from the Pulpit 〈◊〉 Wesley in a Reformation-Sermon preached in 〈◊〉 Iames's Church Westminster Feb. 13. and 〈◊〉 wards at St. Brides must be allowed to have 〈◊〉 the start of him Wherein he expresses himselâ—â— page 20 c. thus Our Infamous Cheatres seem to have doâ— more Mischief than Hobbs himself or our 〈◊〉 Atheistical Clubs to the Faith and Morals 〈◊〉 the Nation Moral Representations are ownâ—â— to be in their own Nature not only Innocent but ev'n useful as well as pleasant but what 〈◊〉 this to those which have no Morals or Moraliâ—â— at all in them and which are the most Immoraâ— Things in the World which the more any good Man is acquainted with them the less he musâ— still like them and at which Modest Heathenâ— would blush to be present If we ever hope for an entire Reformation of Manners even our Iails and our Theatres must have their shares With as much Reason may we exclaim against our Modern Plays and Interludes as did the olâ— Zealous Fathers against the Pagan Spectacles and as justly rank these as they did the others among those Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World which our Baptism obliges us to â—â—nounce and to abhor What Communion hath the Temple of God with Idols with those Abominable Mysteries of Iniquity which out do the old Fescennina of the Heathens the lewd 〈◊〉 of Baccus and the impious Feasts of 〈◊〉 and Priapus I know not how any Persons can profitably or indeed decently present themselves here before God's Holy Oracle who are â—â—equently present at those Schools of Vice and Nurseries of Profaneness and Lewdness to unlearn there what they are here taught out of God's Holy Word Would you suffer your Friend or your Child to resort every day to a Pesthous or a place infected with any Contagious or Deadly Disease whence you had seen many Persons carried out dead before you If 〈◊〉 would do this who pretended to be in his Right Senses What excuse can be made for those who do worse and are themselves frequently present as well as suffer others to be so at that place which is so nearly allied to Hers which Solomon describes Whose House is the Way to Hell and her Gates lead down to the Chambers of Death How can such Persons pray every day Lead us not into Temptation when they themselves wilfully rush into the very Mouth of it 'T is true the Stage pretends to Reform Manners but let them tell us how many Converts they can Name by their means to Vertue and Religion during these last thirty or forty Years and we can give Numerous and sad Instances to the contrary even of a Brave and Virtuous Nation too generally deprav'd and corrupted to which there cannot perhaps be any one thing assigned which has more highly contributed than these unsufferable and abominable Representations the Authors of which though the publick should continue to take notice of them would either be forc'd so far to alter them that they would hardly be known or else they would fall of themselves If Men would but withdraw their Company from theâ—â— as their presence there does actually encouraâ—â— and support them To close the Head whereoâ—â—am sorry there 's so much cause of insisting 〈◊〉 there are too many of whom we may withoâ—â— breach of Charity believe that they 'd rathâ—â— forsake the Church than the Theatre by 〈◊〉 being so much more frequently and delightfullâ— present at the latter than they are at the foâ— mer. If Oaths if Blasphemy if perpetual Profaâ— tion of the Glorious Name of God and our Blesed Redeemer if making a Scoff and a Laughtâ—â— at his Holy Word and Institutions and I know not why I should not add his Ministers too which is the very Salt and almost Imprimatur to most of the Comedies of the present Age. If Filthiness and foolish Talking and profanâ— or immodest Iesting and insulting over the Miseries and excusing and representing and recoâ—mending the Vices of Mankind either by not pâ—nishing them at all or slightly punishing them or even making them prosperous and happy and teaching others first how to be wicked and then to defend or hide their Wickedness or at least to think Vertue ridiculous and unfashionable and Religion and Piety sit for none but old People Fools and Lunaticks If contempt of Superiors if false Notions of Honour if height of Lewdness and Pride and Revenge and even Murder be those Lessons which are daily taught at these publick Playhouses to the disgrace of our Age corruption of our Mâ—rals and scandal and Odium of our Nation for the Truth of which we may appeal to all the Unprejudic'd and Virtuous part of Mankind Then we may further ask Whether these are â—it place for the Education of Youth
It had been more becoming a Supream Magistrate to provide against such unsuitable Matches by wholsom Laws than to have had them represented as the Subject of Mirth on a Stage as it would have been more decent for an University to have given him such Counsel than to divert him with such ridiculous Entertainment The Dialogue betwixt Albumazar Pandolfo and Cricca about Astrology is a meer Rhapsody of studied Nonsence which looks very unlike the Practice of Christians whose great Law-giver tells them They must be accountable for every idle Word The Courtship betwixt Trincalo a Farmer and Armellina Pandolfo's Maid wherein Trincalo compares himself to a lusty strong Ass and her to a Wanton young Filly and that they should have a race of Mules if she were willing is so very Coarse and throws so much Contempt upon the Country Farmers who are so useful to the Nation that it can neither be reconciled to the Maxims of Christianity nor Common Policy In short the whole Comedy is far from having any thing of a tendency to Vertue in it except Reflections upon the City as not affording a Dozen of Chast VIRGINS and the like on Sheriffs and Justices of Peace as Cheating and Hectoring their Neighbours and representing Country Gentlemen as minding nothing but Wenching and Drinking and young Gentlewomen talking smuttily of their Amours be vertâ—ous Representations If it be said as usual that those Vices are represented in order to make them be abhorr'd and the Guilty Persons ashamed of them it is easie to Answer That a Supream Magistrate is authoriz'd by God and the Laws of his Country to punish those Vices by the Sword of Justice which will be ten times more effectual than making them the Subject of Diversion on a Stage I come next to the Royal Slave a Tragi Comedy presented to the King and Queen by the Students of Christ-Church in Oxford The Prologue to the King and Queen is on the Representation of one of the Person Magi discovered in a Temple worshipping the Sun and at the sight of a new Majesty he leaves the Altar and addresseth himself to the Throne What Moral this can include is hard to determine except it were that they had a mind to insinuate that it was no Crime to Sacrifice Religion to the Court as too many of them attempted to do in reality when they embrac'd Doctrines contrary to those of the Church of England for which some of them as Laud Montague and others were censur'd by the Parliament afterwards In the Prologue to the University there 's a Jerk at some that they call Late damned Books and wich they hoped would inspire none of the University with a harsh Opinion of the Play which they alledge was so innocent that the â—ittle Ruff or Careless might be present at it without fear and they valued themselves highly upon the Presence of their Majesties as giving Life to the Performance and the King's Servants spoke much in the same manner when they presented it before them at Hampton Court The first Act represents a parcel of drunken Ephesian Captives revelling in their Chains and calling for VVhere 's but bidding their Goaler and his Wife be sure that they did not suffer any of the Young Students of the LAW to forestal the Market The Goaler too has a Jerk at the Custom of Singing Psalms at the Gallows All which I humbly conceive was an Entertainment no way suited to the Royal Majesty of a King nor to the modesty of a Queen Nor was it any thing for the Credit of the Nation that the Reins of Publick Discipline should be so far let loose as to suffer such Practices amongst the young Students of the Law if that was the Moral of the Fable The Rape attempted afterwards upon the Persian Queen and her Ladies by those Ephesian Captives and their lewd Discourses from time to time was no very good Lesson nor meet Entertainment for a Queen And their bringing in the Persian Courtiers yielding compleat Obedience to Cratander a Mock-King for three Days because Arsamnes their Prince commanded it and at the same time divested himself of his Authority for that space seems to teach the slavish Doctrineâ— so much then contended for by the Court that iâ— was unlawful to resist the King or any having his Commission under any Pretence whatsoever tho' he should ev'n overturn the Foundations of their Constitution as here their Counterfeit Arsamnes did by making a Captive King of Persia. Nay and this Play too which they pretend was so fram'd as it could give no offence to the Gravity of the University or Clergy represents Atossa the Queen a little inclining to the Taint of an Unlawful Amour with Cratander the Three-Daysâ—King and him Entertaining it also tho' at the same time he is their chief Pattern of Vertue Indeed there 's Praxaspis's Saying in the Second Scene that seemed to be a Saâ—yrical hint tho' I cannot think coâ—sidering the Temper of the Stage that 't was so design'd Viz. that when one of the Ladies wondred that they had not chosen Cratander a Queen for Company to impe his Reign Praxaspis answer'd That the Female Sex was too Imperious to Rule and would do as much harm in a Kingdom as a Monkey in a Glass-shop move and remove till they had broken all Had her then Majesty taken the hint and forborn medling with Affairs of State it 's probable that Matters had not come to that fatal Exit they did which is one Instance more to convince our Advocates of the Stâ—ge that those who frequent and admire it most are never reform'd by it I shall forbear any further Remarks upon those Plays these being enough to make good the Charge that our Universities have encouraged the Stage which is so much the more Criminal in â—hem because they ought to instruct the Nation by their Example as well as their Learning Methinks the Reverence they ow'd to the Antient Philosophers Fathers and Councils besides what our first Reformers the Acts of Parliament and those of their own Convocations requir'd from them should have restrained them But to the great Misfortune of the Nation neither thâ—se nor any Consideration whatever were able to prevail with them so that the Universities became infected with the Contagion of the Stage and they being the Nurseries of Officers for the Church and State it was no wonder if the Infection spread from them all over the Kingdom especially being patroniz'd by the Court and A. B. Laud and his Faction of the Church This encourag'd particular Students afterwards such a Barton Holydâ—y and Gaspar Main both of Christ-Church Oxford to write Plays The latter in his Comedy call'd The Amorous VVar is so very foul and smutty that it may well deserve the Name of down-right Lewdness but it 's supposed he thought it Attonement sufficient to jerk at the City and Parliament which he does there with abundance of more Malice than Wit Neither Time nor Room will now