in it We find in those days Smut was the expectation of a Coarse Palate and relish'd by none but two-penny Customers In the Knight of the Burning Pestle part of the Prologue runs thus They were banish'd the Theatre at Athens and from Rome hiss'd that brought Parasites on the Stage with Apish Actions or Fools with uncivil Habits or Courtezans with immodest words Afterwards Prologue who represents a Person gives us more to the same purpose Fly far from hence All private taxes immodest phrases Whatever may but look like Vitious For wicked mirth never true Pleasure brings For honest Minds are pleas'd with honest things I have quoted nothing but Comedy in this Author The Coronation is another And the Prologue tells you there is No Undermirth such as does lard the Scene For Coarse Delight the Language here is clean And confident our Poet bad me say He 'll bate you but the Folly of a Play For which altho' dull Souls his Pen despise Who think it yet too early to be wise The Nobles yet will thank his Muse at least Excuse him cause his Thought aim'd at the Best Thus these Poets are in their Judgments clearly ours 'T is true their Hand was not always steady But thus much may be aver'd that Fletcher's later Plays are the most inoffensive This is either a sign of the Poets Reformation or that the exceptionable Passages belong'd to Beaumont who dyed first To these Authorities of our own Nation I shall add a considerable Testimony out of Mr. Corneille This Author was sensible that tho' the Expression of his Theodore was altogether unsmutty Yet the bare Idea of Prostitution uneffected shock'd the Audience and made the Play miscarry The Poet protests he took great care to alter the natural Complexion of the Image and to convey it decently to the Fancy and deliver'd only some part of the History as inoffensively as possible And after all his Screening and Conduct the Modesty of the Audience would not endure that little the Subject forced him upon He is positive ' the Comedies St. Augustine declaim'd against were not such as the French For theirs are not spectacles of Turpitude as that Father justly calls those of his Time The French generally speaking containing nothing but examples of Innocence Piety and Vertue In this Citation we have the Opinion of the Poet the Practise of the French Theatre and the Sense of that Nation and all very full to our purpose To conclude this Chapter By what has been offer'd it appears that the Present English Stage is superlatively Scandalous It exceeds the Liberties of all Times and Countries It has not so much as the poor plea of a Precedent to which most other ill Things may claim a pretence 'T is mostly meer Discovery and Invention A new World of Vice found out and planted with all the Industry imaginable Aristophanes himself how bad soever in other respects does not amplyfie and flourish and run through all the Topicks of Lewdness like these Men. The Miscellany Poems are likewise horribly Licentious They are sometimes Collections from Antiquity and osten the worst parts of the worst Poets And to mend the Matter the Christian Translation is more nauseous than the Pagan Original Such stuff I believe was never seen and suffer'd before In a word If Poverty and Diseases the Dishonour of Families and the Debauching of Kingdoms are such valuable Advantages then I confess these Books deserve encouragement But if the Case is otherwise I humbly conceive the Proceeding should be so too CHAP. II. The Profaness of the Stage AN other Instance of the Disorders of the Stage is their Profaness This Charge may come under these two particulars 1st Their Cursing and Swearing 2dly Their Abuse of Religion and Holy Scripture 1st Their Cursing and Swearing What is more frequent then their wishes of Hell and Confusion Devils and Diseases all the Plagues of this World and the next to each other And as for Swearing 't is used by all Persons and upon all Occasions By Heroes and Paltroons by Gentlemen and Clowns Love and Quarrels Success and Disappointment Temper and Passion must be varnish'd and set off with Oaths At some times and with some Poets Swearing is no ordinary Relief It stands up in the room of Sense gives Spirit to a flat Expression and makes a Period Musical and Round In short 't is almost all the Rhetorick and Reason some People are Masters of The manner of performance is different Some times they mince the matter change the Letter and keep the Sense as if they had a mind to steal a Swearing and break the Commandement without Sin At another time the Oaths are clipt but not so much within the Ring but that the Image and Superscription are visible These expedients I conceive are more for variety then Conscience For when the fit comes on them they make no difficulty of Swearing at Length Instances of all these kinds may be met with in the Old Batchelour Double Dealer and Love for Love And to mention no more Don Quixot the Provok'd Wife and the Relapse are particularly rampant and scandalous The English Stage exceed their predecessors in this as well as other Branches of immorality Shakespear is comparatively sober Ben Jonson is still more regular And as for Beaument and Fletcher In their Plays they are commonly Profligate Persons that Swear and even those are reprov'd for 't Besides the Oaths are not so full of Hell and Defiance as in the Moderns So much for matter of Fact And as for point of Law I hope there needs not many words to prove Swearing a Sin For what is more provoking than contempt and what Sin more contemptuous than common Swearing what can be more Insolent and Irreligious than to bring in God to attest our Trifles to give Security for our Follies and to make part of our Diversion To Play with Majesty and Omnipotence in this manner is to render it cheap and despicable How can such Customes as these consist with the belief of Providence or Revelation The Poets are of all People most to blame They want even the Plea of Bullies and Sharpers There 's no Rencounters no starts of Passion no suddain Accidents to discompose them They swear in Solitude and cool Blood under Thought and Deliberation for Business and for Exercise This is a terrible Circumstance It makes all Malice Prepence and enflames the Guilt and the Reckoning And if Religion signifies nothing as I am afraid it does with some People there is Law as well as Gospel against Swearing 3 d Jac. 1. cap. 21. is expresly against the Playhouse It runs thus FOR the preventing and avoiding of the great abuse of the holy Name of God in Stage Plays Enterludes c. Be it enacted by out vereign Lord c. That if at any time or times after the End of this present Session of Parliament any Person or Persons do or shall in any Stage Play Enterlude Shew c.
Heautontimoroumenos and Bacchis in Hocyra may serve for example They are both modest and converse not unbecoming their Sex Thais the most accomplish'd in her way has a great deal of Spirit and wheadling in her Character but talks no Smut Thus we see with what Caution and Sobriety of Language Terence manages 'T is possible this Conduct might be his own Modesty and result from Judgment and Inclination But however his Fancy stood he was sensible the Coarse way would not do The Stage was then under Discipline the publick Censors formidable and the Office of the Choragus was originally to prevent the Excesses of Liberty To this we may add that Nobless had no Relish for Obscenity 't was the ready way to Disoblige them And therefore 't is Horaces Rule Nec immunda crepent ignominiosaque dicta Ossenduntur enim quibus est Equus Pater res The Old Romans were particularly carefull their Women might not be affronted in Conversation For this reason the Unmarried kept off from Entertainments for fear of learning new Language And in Greece no Woman above the degree of a Slave was treated abroad by any but Relations 'T is probable the old Comedy was silenced at Athens upon this Score as well as for Defamation For as Aristotle observes the new Set of Comedians were much more modest than the former In this celebrated Republick if the Poets wrote any thing against Religion or Good Manners They were tryed for their Misbehaviour and lyable to the highest Forfeitures It may not be amiss to observe that there are no Instances of debauching Married Women in Plautus nor Terence no nor yet in Aristophanes But on our Stage how common is it to make a Lord a Knight or an Alderman a Cuckold The Schemes of Success are beaten out with great Variety and almost drawn up into a Science How many Snares are laid for the undermining of Virtue and with what Triumph is the Victory proclaim'd The Finess of the Plot and the Life of the Entertainment often lies in these Contrivances But the Romans had a different sence of these Matters and saw thro' the consequences of them The Government was awake upon the Theatre and would not suffer the Abuses of Honour and Family to pass into Diversion And before we part with these Comedians we may take notice that there are no Smutty Songs in their Plays in which the English are extreamly Scandalous Now to work up their Lewdness with Verse and Musick doubles the Force of the Mischief It makes it more portable and at Hand and drives it Stronger upon Fancy and Practice To dispatch the Latins all together Seneca is clean throughout the Piece and stands generally off from the point of Love He has no Courting unless in his Hercules Furens And here the Tyrant Lycus addresses Megara very briefly and in Modest and remote Language In his Thebais Oedipus's Incest is reported at large but without any choaking Description 'T is granted Phaedra speaks her Passion plainly out and owns the strength of the Impression and is far less prudent than in Euripides But tho' her Thoughts appear too freely her Language is under Discipline Let us now Travel from Italy into Greece and take a view of the Theatre at Athens In this City the Stage had both its beginning and highest Improvement Aeschylus was the first who appear'd with any Reputation His Genius seems noble and his Mind generous willing to transfuse it self into the Audience and inspire them with a Spirit of Bravery To this purpose his Stile is Pompous Martial and Enterprizing There is Drum and Trumpet in his Verse 'T is apt to excite an Heroick Ardour to awaken warm and push forward to Action But his Mettal is not always under Management His Inclination for the Sublime carrys him too far He is sometimes Embarrass'd with Epithites His Metaphors are too stiff and far fetch'd and he rises rather in Sound than in Sence However generally speaking his Materials are both shining and solid and his Thoughts lofty and uncommon This Tragedian had always a nice regard to Good Manners He knew corrupting the People was the greatest disservice to the Commonwealth And that Publick Ruine was the effect of general Debauchery For this reason he declines the Business of Amours and declares expresly against it Now here we can't expect any length of Testimony His aversion to the subject makes him touch very sparingly upon it But in this case there is no need of much citation His very Omissions are Arguments and his Evidence is the stronger for being short That 〈◊〉 I meet with shall be produced 1 st Orestes was obliged by the Oracle to revenge his Fathers Death in the Murther of his Mother When he was going to kill her he Mentions her Cruelty but waves her Adultery Euripides approv'd this Reservedness and makes his Electra practise it upon the same occasion Aeschylus in his next Play complements his Country with a great deal of Address in the Persons of the Eumenides They are very Gentile and Poetical in their Civilities Among other things They wish the Virgins may all Marry and make the Country Populous Here the Poet do's but just glance upon the Subject of Love and yet he governs the Expression with such care that the wishes contain a Hint to Sobriety and carry a Face of Virtue along with them The Double Dealer runs Riot upon such an Occasion as this and gives Lord Touchwood a mixture of Smut and Pedantry to conclude with and yet this Lord was one of his best Characters But Poets are now grown Absolute within themselves and may put Sence and Quality upon what Drudgeries they please To return Danaus cautions his Daughters very handsomly in point of Behaviour They were in a strange Country and had Poverty and Dependance to struggle with These were circumstances of Danger and might make him the more pressing He leaves therefore a solemn Charge with them for their Security bids them never to subsist upon Infamy but to prefer their Virtue to their Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Poets I suppose would call this Preaching and think it a dull Business However I can't forbear saying an honest Heathen is none of the worst Men A very indifferent Religion well Believed will go a great way To proceed Sophocles appear'd next upon the Stage and was in earnest an Extraordinary Person His Conduct is more Artificial and his Stile more just than that of Aeschylus His Characters are well drawn and Uniform with themselves His Incidents are often surprising and his Plots unprecipitated There is nothing but what is Great and Solemn Throughout The Reasoning is well Coloured The Figures are sometimes Bold but not Extravagant There are no Flights of Bombast no Towring above Nature and Possibility In short nothing like Don Sebastians Reigning in his Atomes This Tragedian like Aeschylus does
is much about as witty as Sancho It seems Emmeline Heiress to the Duke of Cornwal was Blind Albanact takes the rise of his Thought from hence And observes that as Blind as she is Coswald would have no blind Bargain of her Carlos tells Sancho he is sure of his Mistress and has no more to do but to take out a License Sancho replies Indeed I have her License for it Carlos is somewhat angry at this Gingle and cries what quibling too in your Prosperity Adversity it seems is the only time for punning Truly I think so too For 't is a sign a Man is much Distress'd when he flies to such an Expedient However Carlos needed not to have been so touchy For He can stoop as low himself upon occasion We must know then that Sancho had made Himself a Hunch'd Back to counterfeit the Conde Alonzo The two Colonels being in the same Disguise were just upon the edg of a Quarrel After some Preliminaries in Railing Sancho cries Don't provoke me I am mischeivously bent Carlos replies Nay you are Bent enough in Conscience but I have a Bent Fist for Boxing Here you have a brace of Quibbles started in a Line and a half And which is worst of all they come from Carlos from a Character of Sense And therefore the Poet not the Soldier must answer for them I shall now give the Reader a few Instances of the Gourtship of the Stage and how decently they treat the Women and Quality of both Sexes The Women who are secured from Affronts by Custom and have a Privilege for Respect are sometimes but roughly saluted by these Men of Address And to bar the Defence this Coarseness does not alwaies come from Clowns and Women-haters but from Persons of Figure neither singular nor ill Bred. And which is still worse The Satir falls on blindly without Distinction and strikes at the whole Sex Enter Raymond a Noble-man in the Spanish Fryar O Vertue Vertue What art thou become That men should leave thee for that Toy a woman Made from the dross and refuse of a Man Heaven took him sleeping when he made her too Had Man been waking he had nee'r consented I did not know before that a Man's Dross lay in his Ribs I believe sometimes it lies Higher But the Philosophy the Religion and the Ceremony of these Lines are too tender to be touched Creon a Prince in Oedipus railes in General at the Sex and at the same time is violently in Love with Euridice This upon the Matter is just as natural as 't is Civil If any one would understand what the Curse of all tender hearted Women is Belmour will inform him What is it then 'T is the Pox. If this be true the Women had need lay in a stock of ill Nature betimes It seems 't is their only preservative It guards their Virtue and their Health and is all they have to trust to Sharper another Man of Sense in this Play talks much at the same rate Belinda would know of him where he got that excellent Talent of Railing Sharp Madam the Talent was Born with me I confess I have taken care to improve it to qualisie me for the Society of Ladies Horner a Topping Character in the Country Wife is advised to avoid Women and hate them as they do him He Answers Because I do hate them and would hate them yet more I 'll frequent e'm you may see by Marriage nothing makes a Man hate a Woman more than her Constant Conversation There is still something more Coarse upon the Sex spoken by Dorax but it is a privileged Expression and as such I must leave it The Relapse mends the Contrivance of the Satir refines upon the Manner and to make the Discourse the more probable obliges the Ladies to abuse themselves And because I should be loath to tire the Reader Berinthia shall close the Argument This Lady having undertook the Employment of a Procuress makes this remark upon it to her self Berinth So here is fine work But there was no avoiding it Besides I begin to Fancy there may be as much Pleasure in carrying on another Bodies Intrigue as ones own This is at least certain It exercises almost all the Entertaining Faculties of a Woman For there is Employment for Hypocrisie Invention Deceit Flattery Mischief and Lying Let us now see what Quarter the Stage gives to Quality And here we shall find them extreamly free and familiar They dress up the Lords in Nick Names and expose them in Characters of Contempt Lord Froth is explain'd a Solemn Coxcomb And Lord Rake and Lord Foplington give you their Talent in their Title Lord Plausible in the Plain Dealer Acts a ridiculous Part but is with all very civil He tells Manly he never attempted to abuse any Person The other answers What you were afraid Manly goes on and declares He would call a Rascal by no other Title tho' his Father had left him a Dukes That is he would call a Duke a Rascal This I confess is very much Plain Dealing Such Freedoms would appear but odly in Life especially without Provocation I must own the Poet to be an Author of good Sense But under favour these jests if we may call them so are somewhat high Season'd the Humour seems over-strain'd and the Character push'd too far To proceed Mustapha was selling Don Alvarez for a Slave The Merchant asks what Virtues he has Mustapha replies Virtues quoth ah He is of a great Family and Rich what other Virtues would'st thou have in a Nobleman Don Carlos in Love Triumphant stands for a Gentleman and a Man of Sense and out-throws Mustapha a Bars Length He tells us Nature has given Sancho an empty Noddle but Fortune in revenge has fill'd his Pockets just a Lords Estate in Land and Wit This is a handsom Compliment to the Nobility And my Lord Salisbury had no doubt of it a good Bargain of the Dedication Teresa's general Description of a Countess is considerable in its Kind But only 't is in no Condition to appear In the Relapse Sir Tunbelly who had Mistaken Young Fashion for Lord Foplington was afterwards undeceiv'd and before the surprize was quite over puts the Question is it then possible that this should be the true Lord Foplington at last The Nobleman removes the scruple with great Civility and Discretion Lord Fopl. Why what do you see in his Face to make you doubt of it Sir without presuming to have an extraordinary Opinion of my Figure give me leave to tell you if you had seen as many Lords as I have done you would not think it Impossible a Person of a worse Taille then mine might be a Modern Man of Quality I 'm sorry to hear Modern Quality degenerates so much But by the way these Liberties are altogether new They are unpractised by the Latin Comedians and by the English too till very lately as the
the Relapser had a more fashionable Fancy in his Head His Moral holds forth this notable Instruction 1 st That all Younger Brothers should be careful to run out their Circumstances as Fast and as Ill as they can And when they have put their Affairs in this posture of Advantage they may conclude themselves in the high Road to Wealth and Success For as Fashion Blasphemously applies it Providence takes care of Men of Merit 2 ly That when a Man is press'd his business is not to be govern'd by Scruples or formalize upon Conscience and Honesty The quickest Expedients are the best For in such cases the Occasion justifies the Means and a Knight of the Post is as good as one of the Garter In the 3 d. Place it may not be improper to look a little into the Plot. Here the Poet ought to play the Politician if ever This part should have some stroaks of Conduct and strains of Invention more then ordinary There should be something that is admirable and unexpected to surprize the Audience And all this Finess must work by gentle degrees by a due preparation of Incidents and by Instruments which are probable 'T is Mr. Rapins remark that without probability every Thing is lame and Faulty Where there is no pretence to Miracle and Machine matters must not exceed the force of Beleif To produce effects without proportion and likelyhood in the Cause is Farce and Magick and looks more like Conjuring than Conduct Let us examine the Relapser by these Rules To discover his Plot we must lay open somewhat more of the Fable Lord Foplington a Town Beau had agreed to Marry the Daughter of Sir Tun-belly Clumsey a Country Gentleman who lived Fifty miles from London Notwithstanding this small distance the Lord had never seen his Mistress nor the Knight his Son in Law Both parties out of their great Wisdom leave the treating the Match to Coupler When all the preliminaries of Settlement were adjusted and Lord Foplington expected by Sir Tun-belly in a few days Coupler betrays his Trust to Young Fashion He advises him to go down before his Brother To Counterfeit his Person and pretend that the strength of his Inclinations brought him thither before his time and without his Retinue And to make him pass upon Sir Tun-belly Coupler gives him his Letter which was to be Lord Foplingtons Credential Young Fashion thus provided posts down to Sir Tunbelly is received for Lord Foplington and by the help of a little Folly and Knavery in the Family Marries the young Lady without her Fathers Knowledge and a week before the Appointment This is the Main of the Contrivance The Counterturn in Lord Foplingtons appearing afterwards and the Support of the main Plot by Bulls and Nurses attesting the Marriage contain's little of Moment And here we may observe that Lord Foplington has an unlucky Disagreement in his Character This Misfortune sits hard upon the credibility of the Design 'T is true he was Formal and Fantastick Smitten with Dress and Equipage and it may be vapour'd by his Perfumes But his Behaviour is far from that of an Ideot This being granted 't is very unlikely this Lord with his five Thousand pounds per annum should leave the choise of his Mistress to Coupler and take her Person and Fortune upon Content To court thus blindfold and by Proxy does not agree with the Method of an Estate nor the Niceness of a Beau. However the Poet makes him engage Hand over Head without so much as the sight of her Picture His going down to Sir Tunbelly was as extraordinary as his Courtship He had never seen this Gentleman He must know him to be beyond Measure suspicious and that there was no Admittance without Couplers Letter This Letter which was the Key to the Castle he forgot to take with him and tells you 't was stolen by his Brother Tam. And for his part he neither had the Discretion to get another nor yet to produce that written by him to Sir Tun-belly Had common Sense been consulted upon this Occasion the Plot had been at an End and the Play had sunk in the Fourth Act. The Remainder subsists purely upon the strength of Folly and of Folly altogether improbable and out of Character The Salvo of Sir John Friendly's appearing at last and vouching for Lord Foplington won't mend the matter For as the Story informs us Lord Foplington never depended on this Reserve He knew nothing of this Gentleman being in the Country nor where he Lived The truth is Sir John was left in Town and the Lord had neither concerted his journey with him nor engaged his Assistance Let us now see how Sir Tun-belly hangs together This Gentleman the Poet makes a Justice of Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant and seats him fifty Miles from London But by his Character you would take him for one of Hercules's Monsters or some Gyant in Guy of Warwick His Behaviour is altogether Romance and has nothing agreeable to Time or Country When Fashion and Lory went down they find the Bridge drawn up the Gates barr'd and the Blunderbuss cock'd at the first civil Question And when Sir Tun-belly had notice of this formidable Appearance he Sallies out with the Posse of the Family and marches against a Couple of Strangers with a Life Gaurd of Halberds Sythes and Pitchforks And to make sure work Young Hoyden is lock'd up at the first approach of the Enemy Here you have prudence and wariness to the excess of Fable and Frensy And yet this mighty man of suspition trusts Coupler with the Disposal of his only Daughter and his Estate into the Bargain And what was this Coupler Why a sharper by Character and little better by Profession Farther Lord Foplington and the Knight are but a days Journey asunder and yet by their treating by Proxy and Commission one would Fancy a dozen Degrees of Latitude betwixt them And as for Young Fashion excepting Couplers Letter he has all imaginable Marks of Imposture upon him He comes before his Time and without the Retinue expected and has nothing of the Air of Lord Foplington's Conversation When Sir Tun-belly ask'd him pray where are your Coaches and Servants my Lord He makes a trifling excuse Sir that I might give you and your Fair Daughter a proof how impatient I am to be nearer akin to you I left my Equipage to follow me and came away Post with only one Servant To be in such a Hurry of Inclination for a Person he never saw is somewhat strange Besides 't is very unlikely Lord Foplington should hazard his Complexion on Horseback out ride his Figure and appear a Bridegroom in Deshabille You may as soon perswade a Peacock out of his Train as a Beau out of his Equipage especially upon such an Occasion Lord Foplington would scarsely speak to his Brother just come a Shore till the Grand Committee of Taylors Seamtresses c. was dispatch'd
Sâcremens de l' Eglise les met dans un état perpetuel de peché hors de salut s'ils ne l' abandonnent Et á egard des Comediens Commediennes Nous defendons trés expressement à nos pasteurs á nos Confesseurs des les recevoir aux Sacremens si cé n'est qu' ils aient fait Penitence de leur peché donné des preuves d'amendment renoncé á leur Etat repare pat une satisfaction publique telle que nous jugerons à propos de leur ordonner le Scandale public qu'ils om donné Fait ordonné á Arras le quatriéme jour de Decembre mil six cent quatre-vingt quinze Guy Evéque d' Arras Et plus bas Par Monseigneur CARON In English thus An Order of the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord Bishop of Arras against Plays GUY DE SEVE DE ROCHE CHOUART by the grace of God c. Bishop of Arras To all the Faithful in the Town of Arras Health and Benediction A man must be very ignorant of his Religion not to know the great disgust it has always declar'd for Publick Sights and for Plays in particular The Holy Fathers condemn them in their writings They look upon them as reliques of Heathenism and Schools of Debauchery They have been always abominated by the Church And notwithstanding those who are concern'd in this Scandalous Profession are not absolutely expell'd by a Formal Excommunication yet She publickly refuses them the Sacraments and omits nothing upon all occasions to show her aversion for this Employment and to transfuse the same sentiments into her Children The Rituals of the best govern'd Dioceses have ranged the Players among those whom the Parish Priests are oblig'd to treat as Excommunicated Persons The Ritual of Paris joyns them with Sorcerers and Magicians and looks upon them as notoriously infamous The most eminent Bishops for Piety have publickly denied them the Sacraments For this reason we our selves have known one of the most considerable Bishops in France turn back a Player that came to be Married And an other of the same order refused to bury them in Consecrated Ground And by the Orders of a Bishop who is much more illustrious for his worth for his Piety and the Strictness of his Life than for the Purple in his Habit They are thrown amongst Fornicators Usurers Blasphemers Lewd Women and declar'd Excommunicates amongst the Infamous and Simoniacal and other Scandalous Persons who are in the List of those who ought publickly to be barr'd Communion Unless therfore we have a mind to condemn the Church the Holy Fathers and the most holy Bishops 't is impossible to justifie Plays neither is the Defence of those less impracticable who by their Countenance of these Diversions not only have their share of the Mischief there done but contribute at the same time to fix these unhappy Ministers of Satan in a Profession which by depriving them of the Sacraments of the Church leaves them under a constant necessity of Sinning and out of all hopes of being saved unless they give it over From the general Unlawfulness of Plays the Bishop proceeds to argue more strongly against seeing them at times which are more particularly devoted to Piety and Humiliation And therefore he strickly forbids his Diocess the Play-House in Advent Lent or under any publick Calamity And at last concludes in this Manner As for the Case of Players both Men and Women we expresly forbid all our Rectors Pastors and Confessours to admit them to the Sacraments unless they shall repent them of their Crime make proof of their Reformation renounce their Business and retrieve the Scandal they have given by such publick Satisfaction as we shall think proper to injoyn them Made and Decreed at Arras the fourth day of December 1695. Guy Bishop of Arras c. I shall now in the Third Place give a short account of the sense of the Primitive Church concerning the Stage And first I shall instance in her Councils The Council of Illiberis or Collioure in Spain decrees That it shall not be lawful for any Woman who is either in full Communion or a probationer for Baptism to Marry or Entertain any Comedians or Actors whoever takes this Liberty shall be Excommunicated The First Council of Arles runs thus Concerning Players we have thought fit to Excommunicate them as long as they continue to Act. The Second Council of Arles made their 20 th Canon to the same purpose and almost in the same words The Third Council of Carthage of which St. Augustine was a Member ordains That the Sons of Bishops or other Clergy-men should not be permitted to furnish out Publick Shews or Plays or be prelent at them Such sort of Pagan Entertainments being forbidden all the Laity It being always unlawful for all Christians to come amongst Blasphemers This last branch shews the Canon was Principally levell'd against the Play-House And the reason of the Prohibition holds every jot as strong against the English as against the Roman Stage By the 35th Canon of this Council 't is decreed That Actors or others belonging to the Stage who are either Converts or Penitents upon a Relapse shall not be denied Admission into the Church This is farther proof that Players as long as they kept to their Employment were bar'd Communion Another African Council declares That the Testimony of People of ill Reputation of Players and others of such scandalous Employments shall not be admitted against any Person The Second Council of Chaalon sets forth That Clergy men ought to abstain from all over-engaging Entertainments in Musick or Show oculorum auriumque illecebris And as for the smutty and Licentious Insolence of Players and Buffoons let them not only decline the Hearing it themselves but likewise conclude the Laity oblig'd to the same Conduct I could cite many more Authorities of this Kind but being conscious of the Niceness of the Age I shall forbear and proceed to the Testimony of the Fathers To begin with Theophilus Bishop of Antioch who lived in the Second Century T is not lawful says he for us to be present at the Prizes of your Gladiators least by this means we should be Accessaries to the Murthers there committed Neither dare we presume upon the Liberty of your other Shews least our Senses should be tinctur'd and disoblig'd with Indecency and Profaness The Tragical Distractions of Tereus and Thyestes are Nonsense to us We are for seeing no Representations of Lewdness The Stage-Adulteries of the Gods and Hero's are unwarrantable Entertainments And so much the worse because the Mercenary Players set them off with all the Charms and Advantages of Speaking God forbid that Christians who are remarkable for Modesty and Reserv'dness who are obliged to Discipline and train'd up in Virtue God forbid I say that we should dishonour our Thoughts much less our Practise with such Wickedness as This Tertullian who liv'd
him to learn sets up for a Master of Debauch and Propagates the lewd Mystery The case standing thus 't is my Opinion that the Admission of such a Member would be a Breach of the Discipline of the Gospel and a Presumption upon the Divine Majesty Neither do I think it fit the Honour of the Church should suffer by so Infamous a Correspondence Lactantius's Testimony shall come next This Author in his Divine Institutions which he Dedicates to Constantine the Great cautions the Christians against the Play-House from the Disorder and danger of those places For as he observes The debauching of Virgins and the Amours of Strumpets are the Subject of Comedy And here the Rule is the more Rhetorick the more Mischeif and the best Poets are the worst Common-Wealths-men For the Harmony and Ornament of the Composition serves only to recommend the Argument to fortifie the Charm and engage the Memory At last he concludes with this advice Let us avoid therefore these Diversions least somewhat of the Malignity should seize us Our Minds should be quiet and Compos'd and not over-run with Amusements Besides a Habit of Pleasure is an ensnaring Circumstance 'T is apt to make us forget God and grow cool in the Offices of Virtue Should a Man have a Stage at Home would not his Reputation suffer extreamly and all people count him a notorious Libertine most undoubtedly Now the Place does not alter the Property The Practise at the Play-House is the same thing only there he has more Company to keep him in Countenance A well work'd Poem is a powerful piece of Imposture It masters the Fancy and hurries it no Body knows whither If therefore we would be govern'd by Reason let us stand off from the Temptation such Pleasures can have no good Meaning Like delicious Morsels they subdue the Palate and flatter us only to cut our Throats Let us prefer Reality to Appearance Service to Show and Eternity to Time As God makes Virtue the Condition of Glory and trains men up to Happiness by Hardship and Industry So the Devils road to Destruction lies through Sensuality and Epicurism And as pretended Evils lead us on to uncounterfeited Bliss So Visionary Satisfactions are the causes of Real Misery In short These Inviting Things are all stratagem Let us take care the softness and Importunity of the Pleasure does not surprise us nor the Bait bring us within the snare The Senses are more than Out-Works and should be defended accordingly I shall pass over St. Ambrose and go on to St. Chrisostome This Father is copious upon the Subject I could translate some Sheets from him were it necessary But length being not my Business a few Lines may serve to discover his Opinion His 15 Homily ad Populum Antiochenum runs thus Most People fancy the Unlawfulness of going to Plays is not clear But by their favour a world of Disorders are the Consequences of such a Liberty For frequenting the Play-House has brought Whoring and Ribaldry into Vogue and finish'd all the parts of Debauchery Afterwards he seems to make the supposition better than the Fact and argues upon a feign'd Case Let us not only avoid downright Sinning but the Tendencies to it Some Indifferent Things are fatal in the Consequence and strike us at the Rebound Now who would chuse his standing within an Inch of a Fall or swim upon the Verge of a Whirlpool He that walks upon a Precipice shakes tho'he does not tumble And commonly his Concern brings him to the Bottom The Case is much the same in reference to Conscience and Morality He that won't keep his Distance from the Gulph is oftentimes suck'd in by the Eddy and the least oversight is enough to undo Him In his 37 Homily upon the Eleventh Chapter of St. Matthew he declaims more at large against the Stage Smutty Songs says he are much more abominable than Stench and Ordure And which is most to be lamented you are not at all uneasy at such Licentiousness You Laugh when you should Frown and Commend what you ought to abhor Heark you you can keep the Language of your own House in order If your Servants or your Childrens Tongues run Riot they presently smart for 't And yet at the Play-House you are quite another Thing These little Buffoons have a strange Ascendant A luscious Sentence is hugely welcome from their Mouth And instead of Censure they have thanks and encouragement for their Pains Now if a Man would be so just as to wonder at himself here 's Madness and Contradiction in Abundance But I know you 'l say what 's this to me I neither sing nor pronounce any of this Lewd stuff Granting your Plea what do you get by 't If you don't repeat these Scurrilities you are very willing to hear them Now whether the Ear or the Tongue is mismanaged comes much to the same reckoning The difference of the Organ does not alter the Action so mightily as you may imagine But pray how do you prove you don 't repeat them They may be your Discourse or the Entertainments of your Closet for ought we know to the contrary This is certain you hear them with pleasure in your Face and make it your business to run after them And to my Mind these are strong Arguments of your Approbation I desire to ask you a Question Suppose you hear any wretches Blaspheme are you in any Rapture about it And do your Gestures appear airy and obliged Far from it I doubt not but your blood grows chill and your Ears are stopt at the Presumption And what 's the Reason of this Aversion in your Behaviour Why 't is because you don't use to Blaspheme your self Pray clear your self the same way from the Charge of Obscenity Wee 'l then believe you don 't talk Smut when we percieve you careful not to hear it Lewd Sonnets and Serenades are quite different from the Prescriptions of Virtue This is strange Nourishment for a Christian to take in I don't wonder you should lose your Health when you feed thus Foul. It may be Chastity is no such easy Task Innocence moves upon an Ascent at least for sometime Now those who are always Laughing can never strain up Hill If the best preparations of Care will just do what must become of those that are dissolv'd in Pleasure and lie under the Instructions of Debauchery Have you not heard how that St. Paul exhorts us to rejoyce in the Lord He said in the Lord not in the Devil But alas what leisure have you to Mind St. Paul How should you be sensible of your Faults when your Head is always kept Hot and as it were intoxicated with Buffooning He goes on and lashes the Impudence of the Stage with a great deal of Satir and Severity and at last proposes this Objection You 'l say I can give you many Instances where the Play-House has done no Harm Don't mistake Throwing away of Time and ill example has