■p '-^i / /?> A /■//J u{ya-^^*'< '^^ V7 X ^/C y/^/^^ -/^ ^^.^.- y^it^^-'^^^j^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/defenceofstageOOcolerich /^ ^e_ J ° Y«5, iii. 2. " Be not too hasty to erect general theories from a few particular observations."— Dr. Isaac JVaits, D. D. DUBLIN: MILLIKEN AND SON GRAFTON-STREET, BOOKSELLERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. M.DCCC.XXXIX. In " Orator ad vos venio ornatu prologi, Sinite exorator sim. — Quia sciebam dublam fortunam esse scenicam Spe incerta certum mihi laborem sustuli." Terent. Prol, Hecyr. PBINTED BY B. GBATSBEHBY. PREFACE. The following remarks have been thrown to- gether more hastily than I could have wished, had other avocations permitted me the necessary leisure. I am aware that the subject might have been much more deeply considered, and that what I have written is a summary rather than a dissertation. A great deal more may be said, should occasion arise. At present I have chiefly confined myself to two leading points. An objection to the manner in which the authorities against us are produced, and the strength of our defences in the host of authorities that speak in our favour. It is easy to enter into a controversy, but difficult to retire from one. " Facilis descensus averni Sed revocare gradum hoc opus, hie labor est." — P^irg. Setting aside the time it occupies, which few professional men can command, controversy is ob- Misoaee^ IV jectionable on another ground ; it engenders ir- ritable feelings, and inclines even gentle natures to asperity. Literary warfare has often rendered men, otherwise amiable, callous and uncharitable on a favourite question. Milton expressed no compunction for the death of Salmasius, nor has the Quarterly recorded any penitence for the article that put an end to Keats. My object in the present instance is to maintain what I believe to be a correct view of the subject, and in support of which I have produced many evidences : at the same time I am ready to alter my opinion when those evidences are set aside by sound argument. It is only necessary to add, that I have verified every extract introduced into the following pages by a careful examination of the original authors : this is not mentioned from any parade of erudition or research, but because 1 think every man is bound to do so who wishes to be considered an honest reasoner, and because I have endeavoured to show that our antagonists have not done so, in more than one important instance. AUTHORITIES QUOTED IN DEFENCE OF THE STAGE, OR REFERRED TO IN THE FOLLOWING WORK. St. Paul. Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople. Sozomen. ApoUinaris, Archbishop of Lao- dicea. St. Chrysostom. Theophylact, Archbishop of Bul- garia. Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Ratisbon. Cardinal Bonaventura, Bishop of Alva. St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence. Pope Leo X. Cardinal Bibicna. Cardinal Richlieu. Bishop Trissino. Cardinal Borromeo. Martin Luther. Philip Melancthon. Hugo Grotius. Le Pere Caffaro. Le Pere Brumoy. Le Pere Rapin. Abbe Metastasio. Fenelon, Archbishop of Cam- bray. Archbishop Tillotson. Archbishop Seeker. Archbishop Sheldon. Archbishop Potter. Dr. Porteus, Bishop of Lon- don. Dr. Home, Bishop of Norwich. Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromorf?. Dr. Warburton, Bishop of Glou- cester. VI Dr. J. Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Dr. Bundle, Bishop of Derry. Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Gloucester. Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London. Dr. John Bale, Bishop of Os- sory. Dr. Watson, Bishop of Llan- daflf. Dr. John Christopherson, Bishop of Rochester. Dr. Van Mildert, Bishop of Durham. Archdeacon Paley. Dean Swift. Rev. Dr. South. Rev. Dr. Watts. Rev. Dr. Knox. Rev. Dr. Blair. Rev. Jeremiah Seed. Rev. Archibald Allison. Rev. Dr. Zachary Grey. Rev. Dr. Farmer. j Rev. Dr. Dodd. Rev. Dr. Hurdis. Rev. Dr. Alabaster. Rev. John Upton. Dr. John Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Rev. Stephen Gosson. Rev. Samuel Harding. Rev. Dr. Peter Hausted. Rev. Dr. John Hoadley. Rev. W. Cartwright. Rev. John Home. Rev. W. Mason. Rev. Dr. Brown. Rev. James Miller. Rev. Robert Potter. Rev. Dr. Gloster Ridley. Rev. James Townley. Dr. John Watson, Bishop of Winchester, 1583. Dr. Welsh, Bishop of Derry, 1670. Rev. Dr. Francis Wrangham. Rev. Dr. Plumptre. Rev. Dr. Young. Rev. C. Maturin. Rev. H. Millman. Rev. C. Croly. Rev. John Rotheram. Rev. Dr. T. Warton. Rev. Dr. Valpy. Rev. Dr. Frankhn. Rev. Dr. Francis. Rev. Dr. Eades. Rev. Dr. Barrow. Rev. Dr. Hey. Rev. Thomas Price. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Brady. Rev. T. Broughton. Archdeacon Coxall. Rev. Dr. John Dalton. Rev. Laurence Echard. Rev. Phineas Fletcher. Rev. Thomas GofFe. Solon. Plutarch. Cicero. Vll Plato. Tacitus. Augustus Caesar. Julius Caesar. Scipio Africanus. Laelius. Brutus. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Aristotle. Queen Elizabeth. Lord Bacon. Sir T. More. Erasmus. John Taylor, the Water Poet, Sir Philip Sidney. E. Moore, Author oi Gamester. Addison. Dr. Johnson. Milton. Cowper. Dr. Gregory. Dr. Beattie. Lord Karnes. Lord Littleton. Locke. W. Donaldson, B.A. D'Jsraeh. Sir Walter Scott. Edmund Burke. Professor Gellert. Jonas Han way. Sir R. Blackmore. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy , Sir R. Steele. La Motte. Cumberland. Goldsmith. Murphy. LiUo. General Burgoyne. Spectator. Guardian. Tatler. Idler. Rambler. Adventurer. Mirror. World. Connoisseur. Mrs. Chapone. Mrs. Hannah More. Miss Joanna Baillie. Miss Mitford. Mrs. Jameson. Mrs. Hemans. Mrs. Inchbald. Sheridan. Coleridge. Sir E. Bulwer. Serjeant Talfourd. Thompson. Wilkes, View of the Stage, Gilpin. Richardson. DEFENCE OF THE STAGE, &c. &c. Philippians, iv. 5. <* Let your moderation he known unto all men" My attention has been directed to the subject I am now proposing to discuss, by a Sermon lately pub- lished in Dublin, and preached in the Wesleyan Me- thodist Chapel in Lower Abbey-street, on Sunday, the 4th November, 1838, by the Rev. Dr. John B. Bennett. This Sermon is entitled, '' The Evil of Theatrical Amusements, stated and illustrated." Considered by itself, and with reference to this ex- clusive title, it may be considered a learned, pious, and temperate discourse, almost entirely divested of sectarian prejudice, eloquently argued, dictat- ed, I have no doubt, by a sincere conviction of the truth of the doctrines it inculcates, and an earnest desire to promote the great ends of Chris- tion instruction. The conclusions arrived at are B startling. It is maintained, that to go to the Theatre, is " to follow a multitude to do evil ;" that the patrons and professors of the Drama are flying in the face of Divine command ; practising ungodliness, and hazarding the inestimable bless- ing of redemption, by indulging in a pursuit that Christianity forbids : a pursuit in its nature essentially vicious, and therefore to be " avoided and renounced by all who love and reverence the word of the Creator." These are fearful denun- ciations, and call upon a thinking man to reflect seriously and solemnly on his position. To re- view his avocations and his indulgences, so as to ascertain by the clear light of reason and truth, whether or not he is in the predicament ascribed to him. I approach this investigation with feel- ings suited to the importance of the subject; with an unaffected diffidence of my own power to grap- ple with it ; less imbued with the spirit of contro- versy, than with the desire of instruction ; anxious to learn rather than to dispute; with a profound re- spect for the zeal and abilities displayed by Dr. Bennett, in his discourse, and desirous of ex- amining his arguments, not with the bias of a ''partisan,'* because he has condemned the profes- sion of which I am a member, but rather in the humble spirit of a Christian, seeking in the regula- tion of his life not to offend the sacred tenets of the creed in which he has been instructed. An examination of all the various publications which are before the world, on the moral and immoral tendency of the Stage, (from the days of William Prynne and Jeremy Collier down to our own times,) will lead the reasonable inquirer to determine, that the question has not yet been considered in the dispassionate manner, which can alone lead to a satisfactory conclusion. Assailants and defenders appear to have been misled by prejudice, and blinded by enthusiasm. Overheated zeal, on the one side, has been met by unbecoming virulence on the other. Eloquence and learning have been abund- antly employed, but mixed up with such an undue proportion of acrimonious invective, so coloured by personal animosity, that reasoning is weakened by the bitterness of controversial excitement, and truth forgotten in the tumult of conflicting assertions. Violence provokes, but does not convince. If an opponent commences his attack, by telling you, you are a sinner, and you retort by calling him a hy- pocrite, both positions may be true, but neither the one nor the other is proved or disproved by the counter assertion. When men become angry with each other, and exchange epithets instead of ex- aming arguments, it is painful to read, and unpro- fitable to consider a discussion so conducted. It is in a totally different spirit that I propose to pursue the inquiry, and while 1 can scarcely hope to appeal to better authorities, or produce more powerful reasoning than other advocates of the Dra- ma who have preceded me, I trust, at least, to avoid the personalities by which their cause is weakened, and the violence by which their pages are disfi- gured. The greater portion of Dr. Bennett's dis- course appears to be founded on the publications en- titled, '' An Essay on the Character and Influence of the Stage," by the Rev. John Styles, D. D., and "The Christian Father's Present to his Children," and " Youth Warned," by the Rev. J. Angell James. These writers have, in their turn, drawn largely from Dr. Witherspoon, Law, Bedford, and Collier : indeed so closely are the same trains of reasoning, the same conclusions, and the same authorities adopted throughout, that the present work may rather be called, a modified transcript of former opinions, than an original view of the subject, now for the first time promulgated. This is satisfactory in a double sense, as it enables me to widen the scope of my defence, and to render my reply general rather than individual; at the same time relieving me from the delicacy I should have felt in using the arguments of others, when I find them sufficiently moderate to accord with my own convictions. A long period of two thousand four hundred years has elapsed since Thespis first attracted the attention of the Athenians, by the novelty of his rude invention. During that time, the Stage has flourished most, and has been most generally upheld in those countries, where taste has been refined, and manners softened by the gradual influence of civilization. This is a fact which its history suffi- 5 ciently establishes ; but that, from its inherent evil, it has therefore operated powerfully on the dege- neracy and profligacy of man, is a sentence of con- demnation less easily borne out by evidence. The almost " universal diffusion of the Drama is hailed by its admirers as a ' mighty blessing,' and de- plored by its antagonists, as an ' unmitigated curse.' " On the one hand, the Theatre is extolled as a grand source of pure instruction, while on the other, it is degraded as a complex instrument of mischief, more variable in its hues of evil, than the colours of the cameleon, and shifting alternately from a cause to a consequence, in defiance of every rule of logic or law of consistency. All these are extreme positions, and extremes, whether in argument or in action, are equally conducive to error. Men look on them wath a suspicious eye, as springing from prejudice, rather than founded on reason. '' The middle course is the safest," says the heathen poet and moralist ;* " Let your moderation be known unto all men," says the Christian preacher and apostle.f Let us examine the question ration- ally, with a view to a practical, rather than a the- oretical conclusion, and if we should succeed in showing, that to go to the Theatre, as an occa- sional recreation, is not absolutely *' to follow a multitude to do evil,'* J it will scarcely be unfair to * " Medio tutissimus ibis." — Horat. •f St. Paul, Philippians, iv. 5. J Exodus, xxiii. 2. apply the context of the sacred passage, and say, the sweeping censure thus disproved, is " speaking in a cause to decline after many to wrest judg- ment/'* To ascertain the real qualities of the Drama, we must balance arguments with facts, and form our judgment by a comparative, rather than by any positive standard. All human institutions, as pro- ceeding from an imperfect source, are imperfect in their nature, and cannot be otherwise in their application. The most valuable are formed of good and evil blended together in unequal propor- tions, and the utmost that can be claimed or proved for the best, is a preponderance of good. We have to deal with the productions of men for the use and instruction of men, and cannot do more than apply our materials to the best purposes of which their nature is capable. It is thus philoso- phers. Christian as well as Heathen, have found the necessity of deciding, when ideal theories are reduced to practical reality; and thus, good and evil, in actual exercise, become relative and com- parative, rather than abstract and positive qualities. A prudent legislator will not hastily reject an in- stitution as all evil, because it is not all good ; but will rather investigate the proportions of each, and so endeavour to direct the application, that the good shall be enhanced, while the evil is diminish- * Exodus, xxiii. 2. ed, till the balance inclines to the improvement of mankind.* Beyond this, I apprehend the lessons of the practical teacher, however powerfully enforced, cannot extend. He who expects a complete result from an insufficient cause, exacts from the human faculties, a degree of perfection, incompatible with human infirmities. He pursues a chimera instead of a reahty, a shadow without a substance, and wastes his time in profitless disappointment. The richest field that was ever tilled by human labour, has idle tares among the fruitful produce ; the fair- est garden that ever bloomed beneath the care of man, has noxious weeds entwined around the sweetest flowers. To judge an institution fairly, we must consider its component qualities, rather than the uses to which they are, or may have been, pervertedj and should endeavour to separate the elements of which it consists, from the misapplica- tion of which they are capable ; and between these a wide distinction is to be drawn. The one is in- * " So true our experience doth find those Aphorisms of Mercurius Trismegistus, ^A^vvo^rov to »yoc^ov h^u^e xotQxfevnv ryjq hukick;, * to purge goodness quite and clean from all mixture of evil, here is a thing impossible. Again, to (jlv) Xtocv notKov h^uh To ayaOov lari, * when in this world we term any thing good, we cannot, by exact construction, have any other true meaning, than that the said thing is not noted to be a thing exceedingly evil.'" — Hooker's Eccles, Pol., B. VII., c. xxiv. 16. y 8 herent in the institution itself, the other arises from extraneous causes, which it cannot always con- trol. What is there, however wise and good in its own predominating qualities, on which human opinion has not been divided, and which human practice has not perverted ? If we analyze this proposition closely, it touches upon matters of in- finitely higher importance than the subject under discussion. It reaches the sacred code of Chris- tianity itself, which, all perfect in its elements, as proceeding directly from the Divine Creator, pro- mising to man the blessing of eternal redemption, and pointing out the only channel through which it can be obtained, has yet been impugned by the audacious pride of man, and so perverted in prac- tice by his bigotry and wickedness, that crime, and sin, and sorrow, have arisen from that, which in its essence is all pure and holy. Our Saviour himself prophesied this, and what the blindness and inhe- rent sinfulness of man, in the unregenerate flesh, would lead him to, when he said, " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth : I come not to send peace, but a sword. For 1 am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household."* " Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive * Matthew, x. 34, 35, 36. many." " Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars," " nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." " And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many."* ** The brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son." " And children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death."f Will any reflecting being, aware of his awful responsibility, be guilty of the monstrous folly and impiety of rejecting the true fountain of eternal life, because human depravity has polluted its waters ? Certainly not. Neither will he, de- scending to the employments and recreations of the world, with the desire of truth in his heart, and his reasoning faculties unclouded by prejudice, pronounce that any thing is all evil in itself, be- cause instances of its evil application are recorded ; passing by, at the same time, the many authorities which speak powerfully on the other side, and not comparing both, in the fair spirit of rational en- quiry. When we are anxious to convert others to an opinion which we conscientiously believe to be correct, all men are naturally inclined to lay too much stress on the arguments which support, and too little on those which oppose their own views of the question. This leaning to the one side should be carefully guarded against, as dangerous both in * St. Matthew, xxiv. 5, 6, 7, 11. f St. Mark, xiii. 12. C 10 principle and practice. A conclusion so derived is, in fact, a case summed up on ex-parte evidence, and a sentence pronounced without hearing the defence. " Audi alteram partem" (hear both sides) is the soundest of maxims, either in civil jurisprudence or moral instruction. When we are told that the Stage is " irrecon- cileably hostile to the whole tenor and spirit of the Word of God;" that it is "an exclusively vicious and criminal indulgence, directly opposed to the Christian doctrine," and " destructive to the soul," we anxiously examine the Scriptures to seek for the evidence on which these assertions rest. We find there laid down, not general prin- ciples alone, but minute and specific instruction for the regulation of our lives. Impiety, profligacy, intemperance, and idleness of every kind, are dis- tinctly forbidden. We are continually cautioned to watch and pray, lest we yield to temptation, and not to surrender up our hearts too much to the cares and pleasures of this world. Moderation is the groundwork of every Christian precept, but we are no where required to abstain from reasonable indulgence in fitting time and place. This tem- perate enjoyment of pleasure is not only permitted, but sanctioned by the example of our Saviour him- self, who sat at a marriage feast in Cana of Ga- lilee, and whose first recorded miracle is that of converting water into wine, when he judged it seasonable for the heart of man to be made glad. 11 Let it be understood that I have here not the least intention of perverting a text, or applying it in any other than its fair and obvious meaning. The intemperate indulgences to which our nature is prone, and the places where they are encouraged most, are clearly indicated ; but, in the sacred writings, the Theatre is no where prohibited by name, or direct implication. The silence of our Saviour and the first apostles on this subject, is urged by the pleaders for the Stage as one of their strong grounds of defence. Dr. Bennett treats this argument lightly, yet I am inclined to think, on fair consideration it will be found entitled to more weight than he is disposed to concede. "It has," says he, "been answered a hundred times, yet it is still brought forward with a per- tinacity strikingly indicative of the paucity and feebleness of the resources on which the advocates of the Theatre are able to draw." I am not aware that this argument has been answered so as to be refuted, and Dr. Bennett has not shown us the mode of reasoning by which his conclusion is borne out. Unless refuted, the argument is sound, and the advocates of the Theatre have no occasion to draw on secondary resources, as long as they can sustain so good a leading evidence in their favour. The best reasoning I have met with, in opposition to this, is to be found in a work by Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, entitled, " Maximes et Reflexions sur la Comedie." This was written in answer to a 12 dissertation in favour of stage entertainments, which was prefixed to the '' Theatre de Boursault," first published in 1694, and written by a Theatin friar of the name of Caffaro. Boursault, an actor as well as author, had some scruples of conscience which nearly led him to abandon his profession ; on this point he consulted CaflParo, whose reasoning appears to have satisfied him. Bossuet argues on the postulatum, that the Theatre is sinful, which he requires rather than proves, as any one may see who reads his work. But having erected this basis, the rest is easy, as all sin is denounced by Scripture, and texts are at hand in abundance to second his argu- ments.* He also draws conclusions from abuses, in common with every one else who has taken the same side of the question. There can be no doubt that Theatres existed and flourished at Jerusalem, Damascus, Ephesus,f Antioch, Co- *Caffaro's defence of the Theatre was pubhshed anonymously, and he was by no means desirous of being known as the author ; when this was discovered, the Archbishop of Paris threatened to suspend him, and Bossuet wrote a pastoral letter, exhorting him to repent his mistake and rescind his mischievous opinions, which Caffaro accordingly complied with. — See QEuvres de Bossuet, vol. xxxvii. But he could not thus change the opinions of the many authorities he had quoted, and on their judgment rather than his own his dissertation was founded. t " They rushed with one accord into the Theatre." " De- 13 rliith, Athens, Thessalonica, Philippi, Alexan- dria, and Rome ; in all the principal cities of the Roman empire, at the time when the early apostles preached the Gospel of Christ. Dra- matic writers, the effects of their works, and the various exhibitions of the Theatre, had long been known in the world. The Stage was a dis- tinct institution, then, as now, peculiar in its qua- lities, important in its operation, and a powerful engine either for good or evil. To a considerable extent it had occupied the time, and affected the characters and actions of men. According to some writers, it had already exercised a baneful influence on the destinies of nations.* If it were a mere ordinary pastime, insignificant in its nature, and scarcely bearing upon either policy or morals, it might be passed over altogether, or in- cluded in a general allusion. But it appears to its opponents such an unmixed mass of evil, that lan- guage can scarcely supply them with adequate terms in which to express their condemnation. According to them, it is " utterly pernicious in its operation ;" " the stronghold of Satan ;'* " one of the broadest avenues which lead to destruction ;" f "only to be justified by condemning the Bible;" *'the school of debauchery and nursery of pro- siring him that he would not adventure himself into the The- atre." — This was at Ephesus. — See Acts, xix. 29, 31. * Athens and Rome. f l^^v. J. A. James. 14 faneness," " not to be attended without a manifest departure from God ;" " we may as soon attempt to reform the gambler or the thief;" * "it is un- changeable in its character as a pander to the vitiated taste of the ungodly multitude ;" '* the history of its results is written in blood ;"f "one playhouse ruins more souls than fifty churches are able to save;" J "plays are one of the most successful engines of vice that Satan ever invented ;"§ "it is utterly impossible for the soul to find enjoyment at the same time in the Bible and the Theatre ;" " the morality of the stage is mere worldly sophistry ;" " its pretended religion abominable blasphemy;" and finally, ac- cording to the pious Mr. Law, " there is as much justice and tenderness in telling every player his employment is abominably sinful, and inconsistent with the Christian, as in telling the same thing to a thief.'* If these are fair deductions, drawn from reason and evidence, untinctured by prejudice or fanaticism, and consistent with the true spirit of Christian moderation, then is the Theatre indeed a leviathan in wickedness. It is not merely sin- ful, but a concentration of every known sin ; not simply criminal, but an embodied essence of every crime forbidden in the Ten Commandments ; in * Dr. Timothy Dwight. t Dr. Bennett. J Judge Bulstrode. § Rev. George Burder. 15 short, a wide-spreading pestilence, more fatal than the blast of the Simoon, or the poison of the Upas tree. Now, I ask, is it conceivable that an insti- tution so unparalleled in evil, so utterly irreclaim- able, so certainly leading to destruction, should have escaped direct and individual denouncement ? Above all other precepts, '* Go not to the Theatre, it is the straight road to perdition,'' would have proceeded from the lips of the Saviour, and have been reiterated by his apostles. The command would have been clear, distinct, and positive, as the hand writing on the wall to the eye of the in- spired prophet. No "spirit of laws, containing general principles of morality,"* could possibly suffice for an individual case so monstrous, so sur- passing in wickedness. The extreme point to which the enemies of the Stage carry its inherent depravity and fatal consequences, renders the absence of a distinct prohibition in the sacred writings the more striking, and gives it double force as an argument against them. If a general caution against undefined sin can include an in- stance so appalling as this is represented, the De- calogue itself is superfluous, and the special crimes therein denounced require no more than a gentle admonition. *' But," says Dr. Bennett, '' you assert that stage entertainments are not contrary to Scrip- * Dr. Bennett. 16 ture, because there is no express censure of them in the sacred volume ; then will you come to the conclusion, that nothing is criminal but what is there distinctly and by name prohibited? If so, you conclude gambling to be no crime. If so, the cruel exposure of infants, so common in Heathen lands, in the days of the apostles, was not censured by them. If so, casting human beings to fight with beasts of prey, for the amusement of imperial and other spectators, was not reprehensible. If so, even suicide itself is defensible, being no where forbidden by name." In reply to this, I close with these arguments, and I think I can shew that they are neither sound nor analogous. A learned divine says,* " Whoever expects to find in the Scriptures a specific direction for every moral doubt that arises, looks for more than he will meet with." There is no question that this is strictly true, but leading crimes and vices cannot be included as mere " moral doubts." There is no leading crime of which human nature is capable, that is not dis- tinctly or by name prohibited in the Scriptures, and none more clearly than those which Dr. Ben- nett has here proposed as exceptions. What is gambling ? The desire of obtaining that which belongs to another, without giving an equivalent for it. This is manifestly coveting our neighbour's * Archdeacon Paley, Moral and Political Philosophy, Book I. c. iv. 17 goods, not "loving our neighbour as ourself," and therefore distinctly and repeatedly prohibited.* What is exposing an infant to perish ? Infanticide, a child-murder. What is casting a man into an arena, to be devoured by wild beasts ? Unless as a just sentence of established law, it is simple mur- der. What is suicide ? Self-murder. Now, all these are merely modifications of the same crime, and are by name prohibited in the sixth command- ment, which says, *'Thou shalt not killf'f or, as it is rendered in our liturgy, in the words of the Sa- viour, " Thou shalt do no murder." J I am aware that on the question of suicide a great authority. Archdeacon Paley, differs from this conclusion. "I acknowledge," says he, "that there is not to be found in Scripture sufficient evidence to prove that the case of suicide was in the contemplation of the law which prohibited murder ;§ any inference, therefore, which we deduce from Scripture can be sustained only by construction and implication : that is to say, although they who were authorized to instruct mankind have not decided a question * See Dr. Watts on the Improvement of the Mind, Part II. c. V. where this question is argued scripturally. f Exodus, XX. 13. {St. Matthew, xix, 18 — See Dr. Watts's *< Defence against the Temptations to Self-Murder ;" in which he argues, that it is included in the canon, " Thou shalt do no murder." } <' Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ! " — Hamlet, Act i. S. 2. D 18 which never, as far as appears to us, came before them, yet I think they have left enough to con- stitute a presumption how they would have decided it, had it been proposed or thought of."* If it might not appear too presumptuous for a lay- man to differ from so profound a theologian as Dr. Paley, I would venture to observe, that the case did come before the apostles in the re- markable instance of one of themselves ; one even of the chosen twelve, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his master and Saviour for thirty pieces of silver, which " he cast down in the temple, and departed, and went out and hanged himself." f The crime, therefore, if not propounded to the apostles in a direct question, and met by a direct reply, is thus clearly brought before them, and in reference to which it is said. Acts, i. 25, ''that he (Joseph or Matthias) may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place ;" that is, according to the interpretation of Archbishop Newcome, "to the place of destruction fit for him." Here is a positive judgment pronounced on the point in dispute, and the punishment thus de- clared against Judas may be taken as the opinion of the apostles on the question of suicide, and is * See Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, Book IV. c. iii. section Suicide, and the able arguments which follow the extract. ■f St. Matthew, c. xxvii. 5. 19 not to be considered so much as the conse- quence of his treachery, which, though heinous, might have been mitigated by repentance, (as Peter redeemed his delinquency) as the sen- tence belonging to the still heavier crime of self- murder, with which he followed up the first offence. Archdeacon Paley, in another place, says, " murder is forbidden, and wherever human life is deliberately taken away, otherwise than, by public authority, there is murder."* If suicide does not come under this head, I know not how we shall define it, unless we accord with the practice of modern judicial inquests, who dispose of the question in a summary manner, and, with a chari- table feeling, remove the act altogether from the list of responsible offences, by invariably recording it as proceeding from temporary insanity. The fact is, the Scriptures do not contain a single ex- pression or allusion, which by fair reasoning can be applied as a condemnation of theatrical amuse- ments in themselves ; and to this strong negative argument, we may add the positive testimony of St. Paul, the most learned of the apostles, who enforces the sacred truths of the Gospel, by quotations from the poet Aratus of Cilicia,t the * Moral and Political Philosophy, Book II. c. ix. "f " For in him we live, and move, and have our being ; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." Acts, xvii. 28. 20 epic poet Epimenides of Crete,* and by a very remarkable one from the Thais of the dramatic poet, Menander the Athenian, in the celebrated line, " Evil communications corrupt good manners."! If the apostle had considered the drama as es- sentially vicious, and opposed to Christianity, he would scarcely, in delivering the divine oracles of God, have availed himself of the language of the Stage, however sound in its morality, or innocent in its expression. To do so, with a conviction that the source from whence he derived even truth itself was evil, would be to advocate the doctrine of expediency, and to make the end sanctify the means ; a proceeding directly opposed to the Gos- pel he was commissioned to preach. But let us leave the inspired authorities, and descend to the testimonies of uninspired men. Dr. Bennett, in his Appendix,J quotes a powerful passage in condemnation of plays, from Arch- bishop Tillotson's Sermon, " On the Evil of Corrupt Communications." There are few writers whose * " One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, TJ|B Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies : this witness is true" Titus, i. 12, 13. f 1 Corinthians, xv. 33. There is a difference of opinion among the learned, as to whether this line belongs to Menander or Euripides ; it is extant in the fragments of both writers, and in either case applies equally as a quotation from a dramatic poet — See Milton's Preface to Samson Agonistes, Doddrige's Family Expositor, &c. t Page 44. 21 opinions are entitled to more respect than those of this eminent divine; his character reflected the highest honour on the archiepiscopal chair, and his life was a true commentary on his faith. Strange as it may appear at first sight, I am willing to join conclusions on his evidence, and am here content to rest my argument on the very witness produced to refute it. Archbishop Tillotson condemns the Theatre, not in itself, but as it was frightfully misapplied in the corrupted times in which he preached; he speaks in just reprehension of the licentious plays which then held possesssion of the Stage, but the Stage in itself he admits to be capa- ble of innocent instruction. I subjoin the entire passage, with the context, which Dr. Bennett withholds, and which materially affects the value of the quotation. The unsoundness of drawing conclusions from partial extracts, was strongly il- lustrated at the trial of Algernon Sidney ; some loose sheets were found in his study, which con- tained speculative opinions in answer to Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, a book in which Filmer de- duced the indefeasible claims of kings from Noah, and argued on the right divine, and other ultra- doctrines of his party. Sidney's reply was un- finished ; it had evidently been written many years before, and whatever might be the tendency of particular sentences, it was impossible to conclude how the book was to end. Passages from this work were cited in evidence against him, which. 22 when disconnected from their contexts, were en- tirely altered in meaning. " I pray you to read the whole," said he. " I will read as much as bears on the indictment," replied the Attorney- General. On this, Sidney argued eloquently, that on that principle, truth might be made to appear like falsehood, and the Bible itself convicted of atheism. " Now, my lord," said he, " if you will make a concatenation of one thing, a sup- position upon supposition, I would take all this asunder, and show that if none of these things are any thing in themselves, they can be nothing joined together." And again, "my lord, if you will take Scripture by pieces, you will make all the penmen of the Scripture blasphemous; you may accuse David of saying there is no God; and accuse the Evangelists of saying, Christ was a blasphemer and a seducer; and the apostles, that they were drunk."* * Vide Cobbett's State Trials, vol. ix. page 867. Sidney, as is well known, was sentenced to the block ; but he was tried by a packed jury, and his judge was Jefferies. Fox, in the introductory chapter to his history of James the Second, says, in speaking of the trial of Lord William Russell, " the pro- ceedings in Sidney's case were still more detestable. The production of papers containing speculative opinions upon go- vernment and hberty, written long before, and perhaps never intended to be published, together with the use made of those papers, in considering them as a substitute for the second witness to the overt act, exhibited such a compound of wicked- ness and nonsense, as is hardly to be paralleled in the history of judicial tyranny." 23 The entire extract from Archbishop Tillot- son's sermon stands as follows : '* / shall only speak a few words concerning plays, which, as they are now ordered among us, are a mighty reproach to the age and nations. To speak against them in general may he thought too severe, and that which the present age cannot so well brook, and would not perhaps he so just and rea- sonahle, because it is very possible they might be so framed, and governed by such rules, as not only to he innocently diverting, but instructing and useful ; to put some vices and follies out of countenance, which cannot perhaps be so decently reproved, nor so effectually exposed and corrected in any other , way. But as the Stage now is, they are intolerable, and not fit to be permitted in a civilized, much less in a Christian nation. They do most notoriously minister both to infidelity and vice. By the profaneness of them, they are apt to instil bad principles into the minds of men, and lessen the awe and reverence which all men ought to have for God and religion ; and by their lewd- ness they teach vice, and are apt to infect the minds of men, and dispose them to lewd and disso- lute practices. And therefore, I do not see how any person pretending to sobriety and virtue, and especially to the pure and holy religion of our Blessed Saviour, can without great guilt, and open contradiction to his holy profession, he present at such lewd and immodest plays, much less frequent 24 them, as too many do, who yet would take it very ill to be shut out of the communion of Christians, as they would most certainly have been in the first and purest ages of Christianity." There is no- thing here that the reasonable advocate of the drama can in the slightest degree object to or impugn. Let us fairly consider this opinion of one of the most distinguished preachers of the Gospel, and it amounts to this, the very nucleus of my argument; that an institution, containing in itself the elements of innocent amusement and moral instruction, has at a particular juncture been perverted to immoral and unchristian purposes ; a result to which the higher avocations, as well as the ornamental accomplishments of life are equally liable. But there is nothing here of inherent de- pravity, unchangeable licentiousness, or utter in- compatibility with the doctrine of Christ. Yet, when we remember that Archbishop Tillotson wrote and preached in the reign of Charles the Second, and that the plays he so justly denounces are the profligate emanations of that most profli- gate of all ages ; when the moral lessons of Shak- speare, and his lofty delineations of character were laid on the shelf, to make room for the prurient abominations of the Behns, Wycherleys, Ethereges, Sedleys, and Durfeys of the day ; writers, who, as Dr. Johnson remarked, " studied themselves," and drew from the sources of their own polluted taste ; with whom " intrigue was plot, and obscenity was 25 wit ;'* whose names are synonymous with indeli- cacy, immorality, and profaneness — when we re- member this, we are lost in wonder that Archbishop Tillotson did not, in his indignation, proscribe the total use, as well as the abuse of an art which had produced such baneful consequences; and pro- nounce an anathema as sweeping and unqualified as those, the justice of which we are now endea- vouring to combat. The reign of Charles the Second presents a picture of national profligacy, which the historian blushes to record, and the reader sighs to believe. A libertine, unreclaimed by the misfortunes of his family, the fate of his father, or his own early years of banishment and adversity; in the full maturity of manhood, as- cended the throne of his ancestors amidst the universal acclamations of the people, and at once surrendered himself up to all the unbridled license of a vicious temperament. He had no dawn of moderation, no early years of restraint like Nero ; from the begining to the end, his reign and life were marked by riot and debauchery. The court and the nobility readily imitated the contagious ex- ample of the monarch, and the whole nation became abandoned to the grossest sensuality. " The arts were prostituted in the cause of licentiousness, and the Drama of course did not escape the contamina- tion."* But the Theatre had no share in pro- * Calvert, in defence of the Stage. E 26 ducing this state of moral debasement. It followed, where it had no power to lead. For several yezn previous to the death of Cromwell, the Theatres had been suppressed by decrees of the existing government ; the actors were dispersed, many had taken arms on the king's side during the civil war, and more than one had honourably sealed their loyalty with their blood. The class of plays which immediately succeeded the Restoration, are re- nounced and disclaimed by the Drama, as unwhole- some excrescences, infecting the very life blood of its existence. The Stage has driven them from its boards for ever. " Shame has regain'd the post that vice betray'd, And virtue call'd oblivion to her aid." * The unredeemed vice of that period, carried through all gradations of the state, and infecting equally the manners and the morals of all classes, forms a subject of deep and powerful interest to the contemplative mind : and when we reflect on the great plague and fire of London, which occurred during the high season of debauchery, we discern in those tremendous visitings, as clear a mani- festation of divine wrath to rouse the nation to repentance, as the pillar in the wilderness was a token of divine favour, to guide the Israelites to the Land of Promise. The principal dramatic writers who imme- * Dr. Johnson's Prologue on the opening of the Theatre Eoyal Drury Lane, 1747. 27 dlately followed the time of Charles the Second, Gibber, Congreve, Vanburgh, and Farquhar, were all more or less infected by the indecency of the school from whence they descended, although pal- liated by the most brilliant flashes of wit, and admirable sketches of character, of which the works of their predecessors were entirely destitute. All this class of plays is also banished from the Stage, with one or two exceptions, and even these, expurgated and refined as they are to suit the more polished taste, and let us hope the purer morals of the present day, are seldom acted, and scarcely ever attractive. Of this school, we may instance the comedy of the Provoked Husband, by Van- burgh and Gibber, which is still received with marked applause whenever it is brought forward. Both in its higher and lower plot, it contains a useful moral lesson, and as now performed, has nothing to object to, either on the score of gross- ness of manner, or freedom of expression. Speak- ing of this play, an eminent divine. Dr. Blair, whom I shall have occasion to quote more than once, says : " It is perhaps, on the whole, the best comedy in the English language ; we are indeed surprized to find so unexceptionable a comedy proceeding from two such loose authors; for in its general strain it is calculated to expose licentiousness and folly, and would do honour to any Stage."* * Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, vol. ii. 28 It is remarkable also, that every one of the plays denounced by Collier has long since been consigned to the shelves of the dramatic collector ; and although he erred by falling into the extreme of wishing to abolish a useful institution, because it had been abused, his antagonists, while they tried to defend themselves, gave ample evidence that he had the best of the argument. Dryden acknowledged his faults in a manly apology, and thanked Collier for schooling him, though he com- plained of his roughness. Congreve made an angry answer, but opinion was against him, and he tacitly acknowledged that he was wrong, by a careful revision of his plays, and omitting many offensive passages in a subsequent edition. Collier's re- monstrances roused the nation and the dramatists to a better tone of feeling,* and led the way to the reform which we hope and believe has ever since been gradually operating. That there have been bad plays, as there have been bad every thing else, is a fact too palpable to be disputed ; but that for that reason the Stage should be abolished, and its use denied, because of its abuse, would be almost as wise in practical legislation, as to denounce the pulpit, because there have been rebellious and heterodoxical preachers; to proscribe the bench, because there have been unjust judges ; to ille- * See Dr. Johnson's Life of Congreve. 29 galize the art of printing, because there have been immoral books ; to abolish penmanship because there have been forgeries; or to forbid wine because there have been drunkards. In all large communities, where a mixed population is hetero- geneously blended together, and where the habits and characters of men are as varied as their em- ployments, it has been found politically* wise to establish places of public recreation. In doing this, the sound legislator will seek for what is consistent with the cause of morality; morals being at the same time inseparable from religion, and the whole forming continuous links of the same chain. A system of government founded on any other basis, is not likely to last long. When, therefore, we find the Stage in almost all civilized countries, and nearly at all times, protected and encouraged by the laws, we are justified in con- cluding, that magistrates have found it to combine political utility with moral advantage ; to unite instruction with amusement ; and calculated to im- prove rather than deprave the minds and manners of the public. At the same time, from its peculiar elements, and the extraordinary sway It is capable of exercising over a mixed assembly, it is easily * To prevent mistakes, it is as well to observe, that here and elsewhere, I only use this word in its extended sense, as comprising that portion of ethics which consists in the general science of government. 30 perverted to bad purposes, as we have often seen, when administered by careless or vicious spirits : and therefore the same power which extends the protection, feels the necessity of restraining license by a rigid censorship. On this point, the follow- ing quotation from a sound authority is particularly applicable : " As one writer may disinterestedly kindle the affections of an assembled multitude for w^iat is good and noble, so another may en- tangle them in the nets of sophistry, and dazzle them by the glare of a false magnanimity, where vainglorious crimes are depicted as virtue, nay as devotion. Beneath the pleasing garb of oratory and poetry, corruption steals imperceptibly into ear and heart. But of all others, the comic poet needs to be on his guard, (seeing that by reason of his very task and destination, he grazes upon the edge of this precipice,) lest he authorize the common and base elements of human nature to display themselves with unblushing effrontery. This power of indoctrination in good or evil has from old (as meet it was) attracted to the drama the attention of the legislature. Governments have sought to bend it to their objects, and to guard it from abuse. Few have deemed it neces- sary to subscribe to Plato's sentence of excommu- nication, but few have seen fit to leave the Theatre entirely to its own courses, without any supervisal on their parts."* On the other hand, it has been * Donaldson's Theatre of the Greeks, p. 307. 31 said, that any thing which requires such powerful restraint, is too dangerous to be desirable, and that the virtue which is in need of a constant sentinel is not worth preserving. But the argument is neither sound in itself, nor fair when individually- applied. In every thought and action of our lives, the bad propensities are struggling for the mastery, and there is perpetual danger lest they should pre- vail. Every shade of human feeling, every impulse of human passion, requires to be carefully watched and checked, lest extreme indulgence should en- tirely change its features. Nothing is more easy and natural than for excited virtue to border on vice, or exuberant gaiety to lead to dissipation. The degree of temptation may be unequal, but the tempter is always at our elbow, whatever may be the object of our pursuits or desires. If the Theatre was so thoroughly opposed to morals and religion, as the authorities which contend for its abo- lition declare, it would not only have been espe- cially forbidden by the laws of God, but the laws of man, instead of protecting, would long since have rooted it out from amongst them as an intolerable nuisance. Yet the wise counsellors who sur- rounded the throne of Elizabeth, declared that stage-playing was not evil in itself. They dis- tinguished between the use and abuse of salutary recreations in a well governed State, and they determined to regulate the Stage, and by re- stricting the number of play-houses, to insure their 32 usefulness : * thus acknowledging, in the language of honest John Taylor, the water-poet, that ** Plays are good or bad as they are us'd, And best inventions often are abusM." Subsequent enactments have proceeded from the same conviction, till coming down to our own times, we find the Act of Parliament, from which the patent of the present Theatre Royal in Dublin is derived, contains these words in the preamble : " Whereas the establishing a well regulated Theatre in the City of Dublin, being the residence of the Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, will be productive of advantage, and tend to improve the morals of the people." And the patent itself con- tains the royal intention and expectation, dis- tinctly expressed in these words ; "that the Theatre in future may be instrumental to the cause of virtue, and Instructive to human life." After which follow various restrictions, forbidding any per- formances tending to profaneness, disloyalty, or indecency. The instructors of youth, also, who are safe authorities to refer to on this subject, will be found in many instances agreeing with the ma- gistrate in the utility of theatrical representation. In the reign of Elizabeth, plays were frequently * See " Farther Account of the English Stage," by G. Chalmers, in the Prolegomena to the different variorum editions of Shakspeare, where the Act of the Privy Council for the regulation of Theatres is detailed at full length. 33 acted before the Queen and the Court, by the children of St. Paul's School, of the Revels, of Blackfriars, of the Queen's Chapel, of Westmin- ster, and of Windsor, who were trained up to the art as a salutary accomplishment. Public schools have constantly encouraged the performance of plays by the scholars. At Westminster, a comedy of Terence is annually represented ; and the late Dr. Valpy, an eminent scholar, as well as a truly devout and pious Christian preacher, and so many years at the head of Reading School, altered and adapted several of Shakspeare's plays* for the ex- press purpose of having them represented in his seminary.f The practice of acting plays at the Colleges and Universities, subsisted from an early period, and continued to the usurpation of Crom- well. J In 1566 Elizabeth visited Oxford, on which occasion, in the hall of Christ Church, she was entertained with a Latin comedy, called Marcus Geminus, the Latin tragedy of Progne> and an English comedy on the story of Palamon and Arcite, all acted by the students of the Uni- * The three parts of Henry VI., called the Roses, Mer- chant of Venice, King John, and the second part of Henry IV. t At the Roman Catholic College of Clongowes* Wood, plays are acted usually at Christmas by the scholars. J Boulay, Hist. Univ. Paris, torn, ii., page 226, observes, that it was a custom not only still subsisting, but of very high authority, vetustissima consuetude, to act tragedies and come- dies in the University of Paris. 34 versity. In the year 1564 she honoured Cambridge with a royal visit. Here she was present at the Aulalaria of Plautus, and the tragedies of Dido and Hezekiah in English, which were played in the Chapel of King's College, by a select company of scholars, chosen from different Colleges at the discretion of five doctors, " specially appointed to set forth such plays as should be exhibited before her Grace." In the year 1605, James the First visited Oxford, and again the Students of Christ Church exhibited in their favourite amusement. The plays presented, were, a pastoral comedy, called Alba, (sufficiently indecent,) a Latin play called Vertumnus, written by a learned Doctor in Divinity ; and the Ajax of Sophocles, also in Latin. It is fair to add that his Majesty was neither amused nor edified, as he slept during the greater part of the performances, and at the end, said he was " very wearie."* Plays are also acted at the College of Winchester. In 1755 Bishop Lowth wrote a prologue to Venice Pre- served, which on that occasion was represented by the students.f * Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii. •f The Rev. Richard Weaver, at whose excellent school at Corsham, in Wiltshire, near Bath, I received the rudiments of my own education, was a warm admirer of the plan of Dr. Valpy. Every Christmas, on the evening before the school broke up, we had an annual exhibition, to which the parents and friends of all the scholars were invited. The school-room 1 35 Can then the Theatre with justice be con- founded among the resorts of low sensuality, with which it has been so cruelly compared ? The gaming table, the brothel, and the midnight tavern of the drunken reveller, are equally unsanctioned by the magistrate and the philosopher. The one feeling the impossibility of rendering useful that which is essentially profligate, and the other, in the wildest dreams of Utopian enthusiasm, never contemplating the probability of reforming that which reason says should be abolished altogether. There are portions of life which men cannot and will not employ either in labour or in study. The mind and body both require refreshment, and that which nature demands, religion does not deny. Pindar says, " rest and enjoyment^ are universal was fitted up as a Theatre, with appropriate scenery and orchestra. The exhibition consisted of recitations from the Greek, Latin, and EngUsh Classics, and always concluded with one of Miss Hannah More's sacred Dramas, or one of Dr. Valpy's alterations from Shakspeare. After the death of Mr. Weaver, the school devolved into the hands of Mr. Turner, his head usher, who married his widow, and for many years it flourished as a highly respectable seminary. It has now passed away ; all whom I knew as connected with it are dead, and the house (heu mutabile !) has I believe been pulled down. Let me pay a passing tribute of respect to the memory of those to whom I am indebted for early instruction. What- ever I may since have acquired, the seeds of knowledge and the love of reading, were there first instilled into my mind by careful and anxious teachers. 36 physicians :" and Aristotle observes, "it is im- possible for men to live in continual labour — repose and games must succeed to cares and watchings." Our recreations should be moderate, not tardily prolonged, but dismissed in time, as the dogs of the Nile run whilst they sip its waters, lest the wary crocodile should entrap their negligence. In teaching the discipline of the human heart, we should avoid extremes as carefully as in restrain- ing its indulgences. Dr. Johnson, a profound moralist and pious Christian, says, " If one was to think continually of death, the business of life would stand still ; I am no friend to making re- ligion appear too hard. Many good people have done harm by giving too severe notions of it."* Sir Walter Scott, another eminent moral teacher, says, '' to those abstracted spirits, who feel or suppose themselves capable of remaining con- stantly involved in heavenly thoughts, any sub- lunary amusement may justly seem frivolous, but the mass of mankind are not so formed."f Giddy, thoughtless people, and there always have been, and in all probability always will be, a majority of such in the world, are more likely to be reclaimed by instruction mildly insinuated, than harshly com- manded. The pride which recoils against autho- rity, sometimes yields to persuasion, and in this * Croker's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. v. f Article Drama, Suppl. to Encycl. Britt. 37 view, it is probable the Stage may avail (I speak it reverently,) where the pulpit fails. Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci''^ He carries every vote who combines the instructive with the agreeable. Surely this maxim of the Roman poet is not inconsistent with the higher sources from whence our own moral doctrines are derived. The Theatre is a gentle monitor, and as such acceptable to the tastes of men ; appeahng to the reason, it is true, through the pleasant, but at the same time hazardous medium of the senses, and therefore liable to objection as easily pervertible to abuse; but the lesson is not the less efficacious if pru- dently administered, as the senses are the most powerful alembic through which knowledge can be instilled into the heart.f This reasoning applies more to the multitude than the individual, and was well illustrated by an eminent Roman Catholic divine, (whose name I have forgotten,) who, when it was argued with * Hor. de Arte Poetica. f According to Locke, who used to be considered a good metaphysical authority, there are no innate ideas. The mind of an infant is a tabula rasa, or sheet of white paper, and all our notions are derived from early perceptions of external exist- ence. If this theory be true, the senses are the only medium of instruction. But I have been told Locke is falling into disrepute in modern times, and that the rapid progress of im- provement in every thing has even impeached his philosophy. This is strange ; but what are we to say when it has been asserted that Euclid is an unsound mathematician. 38 him that paintings in a church were not con- sistent with religion, replied, '* paintings are the books of the ignorant.'* In this view fiction is a useful auxiliary to truth ; a sick child refuses the medicine which brings it health when presented in its natural bitterness, but swallows it voraciously when sweetened with honey.* There is a passage in one of the Rev. Dr. Knox's Essays, so applicable to this point, that I quote it entire. " There seems to me to be no method more effectual of softening the ferocity and improving the minds of the lower classes of a great capital, than the frequent exhibition of tragical pieces, in which the distress is carried to the highest extreme, and the moral, at once self-evident, affecting, and in- structive. The multitudes of those who cannot read, or, if they could, have neither time nor abilities for deriving much advantage from read- ing, are powerfully impressed through the medium of the eyes and ears, with those important truths, which, while they illuminate the understanding, correct and mollify the heart. Benevolence^ jus- tice, heroism, and the wisdom of moderating the * Tasso, Gierusal. Liberata, Canto I. ver. 3. Cosi al egro fanciul porgiamo aspersi, Di soavi licor gli orli del' vaso. Succhi amari ingannato intanto ei beve, E dall' inganno suo vita riceve. The original idea is in Lucretius. — De Rer. Nat. passions are plainly pointed out, and forcibly re- commended to those savage sons of uncultivated nature, who have few opportunities, and would have no inclination for instruction, if it did not present itself in the form of a delightful amuse- ment."* In spite of all that may be said or proved, men, as long as they are compounded of their present materials, will seek amusement in their leisure hours. If then, we proscribe the Stage, which is an intellectual recreation, the chances are, we shall drive them to others which are more exclusively sensual; and it is, no doubt, this conviction of its comparative superiority, which has induced the laws by which Theatres are pro- tected. " If the Theatre," says La Motte, in his Essay on Poetry and Painting, " were to be shut up, the Stage wholly silenced and suppressed, I believe the world, bad as it is now, would be then ten times more wicked and debauched," — " which," says Mr. Wilkes, in his View of the Stage, " was once the case at Milan, when Charles Barromeus took possession of the archbishopric : he, out of abundance of zeal and severity, shut up the play- house and expelled the players, strollers, and min- strels as debauchers and corrupters of mankind. He soon had reason to alter his opinions, for he found that the people ran into all manner of ex- cesses, and that wanting something to amuse and Knox's Essays, vol. iii. p. 122-3. 40 divert them, they committed the most horrid crimes by way of pastime. It was on this account he repented of his edict, recalled the banished players, and granted them a free use and liberty of the Stage." In speaking of the early Greek Drama, Dr. Bennett justly eulogizes the high moral purity of the great Tragic poets, uEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and as justly condemns the low buffoonery and obscenity of Aristophanes. The latter I am no more inclined to defend than I should the similar licentiousness of some of our own writers, who cannot plead the powerful talent of the Athenian in mitigation of their faults. I therefore yield him up, with all his sparkling wit and poignant satire, to slumber on the shelves of college libraries, from whence it would be a pity to disturb him. Yet, though the moralist may hesitate to draw instruction from such a doubtful source, the student will derive advantage from examining the Attic purity of his language, and many of his sins against decency may be forgiven I'iim, for the sound political advice contained in his Comedies of Peace, the Acharnians, and Lysis- trata, in all of which he urges his countrymen to conclude the war with Sparta, and not to engage in the expedition against Syracuse. It would have been well for the Athenians if they had lis- tened to his warning voice, and profited by the moral, instead of merely laughing at the jest. It 41 is curious enough that the remnant of Aris- tophanes which has reached our times, should have been preserved by the partiality of Saint Chrysostom, one of the early Christian Fathers, quoted among the enemies of the Theatre, who is said to have been so fond of this author, that he constantly slept with his works under his pillow. Aristophanes has also found an advocate in Arch- bishop Potter, who claims for him " the crowning merit of a great mind, and a sound consistent view of the philosophy of morals.* It is also to be remarked, that the same Athenians, who not only tolerated, but revelled in the licentiousness of the comic poet, should at the same time, have watched their tragic drama with a jealous eye, and evinced the utmost solicitude to preserve in it the strictest reverence for morality, de- cency, and justice. The one they considered the imitation, or mirror of life and manners ; f the other, the standard of virtue. Tragedy at all times, as proceeding from a higher source, and embracing loftier objects, is less liable to abuse than comedy, the end of which is to expose ab- surd peculiarities, and satirize the passing follies of the day. Euripides, in one of his tragedies, puts into the mouth of Bellerophon a panegyric * Potter's Archaeologia Grseca. Appendix, Section I. His- tory of Greek Literature. f Imitatio vitae, speculum consuetudinis. — Cicero. 42 upon riches, which concludes thus : — " riches are the supreme good of the human race, and with reason excite the admiration of the gods and men." The whole Theatre exclaimed against these sen- timents, and the Poet would have been banished on the instant, but he desired the sentence to be respited till the conclusion of the piece, in which the advocate for riches perishes miserably.* This severe censure on the tragic poets was the com- mon practice of the Athenian public, and may be quoted in reply to the assertion, that plays, to ob- tain popularity, must always administer to the vices rather than the good feelings of the audience. But that point will be more appropriately discussed in another place. Dr. Bennett deduces the decline of the Athe- nian power, and the loss of their independence, from immoderate indulgence in the pleasures of the Theatre, and the national degeneracy from thence proceeding. " Never," says he, " did any land produce dramatic writers at once so powerful and so little exceptionable, as were ^Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes : never were people more passionately attached to the Drama, than the Athenians ; it had here a full and fair trial of its tendency, and what was the result ? Let those who desire information on this point, consult the writ- ings of the admirable historian Rollin, especially that * Rollin. Preface to Ancient History. 43 section of the introduction to his Ancient History, entitled " Passion for the Representations of the Theatre, one of the principal Causes of the De- cline, Corruption, and Degeneracy of the Athe- nian State." Now, Rollin speaks of this immo- derate indulgence of the Athenians in a favourite pleasure, as leading to the result ascribed. If this position be true, it proves no more, than that the immoderate indulgence of any thing leads to evil, a conclusion that no one denies. It does not touch the inherent qualities of the institution itself, but its injudicious application. It is again an ar- gument drawn from an abuse rather than use. Plutarch, and after him, Justin, condemn the Athenians for lavishing on the production of a play a greater sum than sufficed to equip the fleet which won the battle of Salamis, or the army which con- quered at Marathon. The frugal Spartans were shocked at this extravagant luxury.* On the other hand, it is argued that " the Athenians chose gene- rals of their armies, governors of their provinces, and guardians of their rights from among their poets ; and no people were more jealous of their liberties, or better knew that corruption and degeneracy are the greatest foes to liberty. When the Athenians, as is recorded, laid out the enormous sum of one hundred thousand pounds on the decoration of a single tragedy of Sophocles, it may be an- * Plut. De Glor. Atheniens. 44 swered, that it was not merely for the sake of exhibiting a pompous spectacle for idleness to gaze at, but because it was the most rational, in- structive, and delightful composition that human art had then arrived at, and consequently the most worthy to be the entertainment of a wise and warlike nation."* Here, as on almost every other subject, are divided opinions ; but if we examine the evidence of history, we shall find that on both sides these are rather speculative theo- ries, than reasonable and authentic facts. Dege- neracy of mind and manners, arising from any given source, will be slow and imperceptible in its effects, and can scarcely produce a great and im- mediate political change. It may operate as a secondary and remote, but not as a primary and in- fluential cause, and in the present instance I am inclined to think it was altogether a consequence. The fall of the Athenians from power to depen- dence was sudden, and not gradual ; it was a blow rather than a change. Their fondness for the Theatre was contemporaneous with, and not subsequent to their greatest public exertions. The virtuous precepts of the tragic writers, and the coarse satires of the comic one, were exhibited at the same time, and worked their effects, whether * Brief View of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage, prefixed to Jones's Continuation of Baker's Biographia Dra- matica. 45 for good or evil, on the same generation, who divided their energies between the love of poetry and the thirst of power. Simpler and more imme- diate causes than those ascribed for the ruin of the State, are to be found if sought for. Between op- posite reasonings the subtle conclusion may be the most ingenious, but the obvious one is generally the truest. Without arguing on the inherent weakness of the Athenian government, and their extraordinary ingratitude to the most eminent warriors and legislators who had illustrated their annals, (and either of these are causes sufficient in themselves to account for public disaster,) the failure of their grand expedition against Syracuse under Nicias, gave the death blow to their politi- cal importance. While engaged in a domestic war with Sparta, which employed their resources, they attempted a foreign conquest which exhausted them. In the fulness of their power, and the height of their ambition, they rushed into an en- terprize beyond their strength, and the result was fatal. They sent forth the most numerous fleet and army, that had ever been equipped by a single Grecian State, and they returned no more. The defeat was not partial, it was complete and crushing. " The event," says Thucydides, the gravest of historians, and the soundest of authori- ties, " was most glorious to the victors, and to the vanquished most calamitous. In short root and branch, as is commonly said, their land armies 46 and their shipping were now ruined." "They had lost the bulk of their heavy armed infantry and horsemen, which they found it impossible to re- place. They had neither shipping in their docks sufficient for a fresh equipment, nor money in the public treasury."* Cicero also, in speaking of this catastrophe, says, " Hie primum opes illius civitatis victae, comminutaB, depressseque sunt : in hoc portu Atheniensium nobilitas, imperii, gloriae, naufragi- um factum existimatur 1" " It was then the troops of Athens, as well as their galleys, were ruined and sunk, and in the harbour of Syracuse the power and glory of the Athenians were miserably wreck- ed." With the energy of an enlightened nation, they roused themselves from the shock, and strug- gled nobly, but the mortal wound was given, and though the subsequent victories of Alcibiades re- tarded, they could not prevent their fall. The city was taken, the walls were razed to the sound of music, and as the Dorian flutes of Lysander pro- claimed the triumph of his countrymen, the mourn- ful echoes, sweeping across the harbour of Pirgeus, announced to the world, that Athens, the queen of the arts, the mistress of civilization, and the early bulwark of Greece, had fallen from her lofty pinnacle, never to resume it. Her subsequent history is dark, and although the names of Thrasy- * Thucyd. Hist, of Pelop. War, Book VI. and commence- ment of Bo©k VII. See Smith's Translation. 47 bulus, Phocion, Chabrias, and Demosthenes, enligh- ten some of the pages with bright flashes of virtue and genius, her political importance was annihilated from that hour, and she lost her rank among the independent nations. This haughty republic, which had on all occa- sions taken the lead in the affairs of Greece, thus became by the event of war, secondary to a rival state. Her national pride was humbled in the dust, the loss of power diminished the love of in- dependence, produced a lethargy of pubHc spirit, an indifference to the hardy exercises of war, and wrought an important change in the features of the national character. When the energies of a State are forced by external circumstances to narrow their field of action, and are driven from the loftier excitements of ambition and conquest ; an increased indulgence in favourite amusements, following as a natural consequence, will usurp the time and means which were formerly employed in nobler pursuits, and hasten the progress of degeneracy, which it can scarcely be said to have occasioned. The Athenians, who were roused by the eloquence of Demosthenes to make a stand against the en- croachments of Philip, were no longer, in physical resources, the nation which under Pericles and Alcibiades had aspired to the sovereignty of Greece ; their dominion had sunk into a remnant of its former greatness, a consequence produced by the untoward events of war, rather than by the i 48 enervation arising from indulgence in the arts of peace. Plutarch draws a parallel between the fate of Nicias and that of Crassus, and compares the Athenian expedition against Syracuse, with the Roman invasion of Parthia. The cases are in some features similar, but widely diflPerent in their re- sults. The Athenians were ruined, but the Romans cared little for the loss of three or four legions. It was a check from which they speedily recovered, and by which their enormous power was scarcely affected. The only true parallel is fur- nished by modern history in the memorable cam- paign of Moscow, where the mighty and apparently well consolidated empire of Napoleon, melted away with the 400,000 veterans whom he led to perish in the snows of Russia. If we can suppose a person thoroughly unac- quainted with Grecian history, and hearing of the Athenian republic for the first time in that portion of Dr. Bennett's discourse on which I have been reasoning, such an individual would naturally conclude that the pernicious influence of the Theatre alone had ruined a powerful nation. He would with difficulty believe, when afterwards informed, that there existed in the story of their annals, two such strong control- ling causes as the destruction of their naval and military power at Syracuse, and the subversion of their government and independence at the close of the Peloponessian war. Here again is an 49 instance where opinions may be questioned, as drawn without sufficiently comparing authorities, and derived too much from exparte arguments. It is not thus that Archdeacon Paley reasons, in his standard work on "The Evidences of Christia- nity;'* his object is to establish the truth of the doctrine he believes, by the mode most likely to carry conviction to the minds of other men — an impartial examination of conflicting testimonies. In doing this, he sets forth the proofs and the ob- jections with equal prominence, arguing on both, and finally establishing a sound conclusion by the mass of preponderating evidence. It may not be irrelevant to mention here an interesting fact, re- corded by historians, which forms not the least flourishing leaf in the chaplet of the Dramatists. The Sicilians were passionate admirers of Euripi- des. When the Athenian army, under Nicias, surrendered to Gylippus, the prisoners were treated with barbarous cruelty, sold for slaves, and com- pelled to labour in the quarries, where the greater part of them perished by disease and bad diet. But when it was discovered that many of them could repeat the verses of Euripides, such as could do so were treated with lenity, clothed and fed, released from labour, and permitted to return to their own country.* On arriving in Athens, they * " On their return they went and saluted the poet as their deliverer, and informed him of the admirable effect wrought in their favour by his verses. Scarcely any circumstance could H 50 went to Euripides in a body to thank him for their lives and liberty. What greater homage could be paid to the talents of a writer, or how could the beneficial tendency of his art be more clearly evi- denced ? When Plutarch questions the importance of the Drama, and asks how a few tragedies can weigh in the balance with the great actions of warriors and statesmen,* he might be answered that conquests and laws are subverted by the tide of time and the progress of revolutions, but the writings of such authors as ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, contain moral precepts available in all ages and to all men.f Fixed on the immutable basis of truth, they are perpetual landmarks, " mo- numents more durable than brass." J The instance I have quoted, entitled Euripides to a high place as a public benefactor. The oaken garland was a nobler reward than the laurel wreath, as it was be more pleasing and flattering than this testimony." — Bishop Home's Works, vol. i. p. 319. " It is also stated, that when a ship from Caunus happened to be pursued by pirates, and was seeking shelter in one of their ports, the Sicilians at first re- fused to admit her. Upon asking the crew whether they knew any of the verses of Euripides, and being answered in the affirmative, they instantly received both them and their vessel.'* -^Plut.in ViLNic. * Plut. de Glor. Athen. I " It was said of Euripides, that every verse was a precept." , — Dr. Johnson's Preface to Shakspeare. J Monumentum aere perennius. — Horace. H held more honorable to save the life of a citizen, than to destroy that of an enemy. From many causes, the taste of the Romans in the fine arts was in- ferior to that of the Greeks ; as a nation they never evinced the same decided partiality for the higher walks of tragedy and comedy. Their authors were few ; the only ones who have come down to us are Plautus, whose genius was of the highest order ; Terence, who, with all his brilliant talent, was chiefly a translator of Menander ; and the doubtful tragedies of Seneca, which are only en- titled to rank in the third or fourth class. A ra- pidly increasing preference for mimes, or low farces, pantomimes, gladiatorial exhibitions, and the various games of the circus, soon obscured the more legitimate portion of the Drama, although unworthily mixed up and confounded with it. If, therefore, any portion of Roman degeneracy arose from the Stage, let it be ascribed to an extreme indulgence in its illegitimate accessories, rather than to a fair cultivation of its purer components. Augustus himself, the patron of learning, at- tempted to write a tragedy on the subject of Ajax ; but he abandoned the task, as he found it a matter of more difficulty than to govern an empire. Even in the best age of Roman litera- ture, he was suspected of preferring pantomines to the regular drama, and is even said to have in- vented them.* '* These," says Le Pere Brumoy, * Adams' Roman Antiquities, p. 295. 52 in his ** Theatre des Grecs," " were continued in Italy from the time of Augustus long after the Emperors. It was a public mischief which con- tributed in some measure to the decay and ruin of the Roman Empire. To have a due detestation of those licentious entertainments there is no need of having any recourse to the Fathers. The wiser Pagans tell us very plainly what they thought of them. I have made this mention of the mimi and pantomimes, only to show how the most nohle of public spectacles were corrupted and abused." From the reign of Augustus, downwards, the de- cline of dramatic taste was rapid in its progress, and we learn from Gibbon, (who, though 1 should hesitate to quote him on a theological point, is good evidence on an historical one,) when speaking of a much later period, that *' the Roman people considered the circus their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic ; the same immoderate ardour inspired their clamours and their applause, as often as they were entertained with the hunting of wild beasts, and the various modes of theatrical representation. These representations in modern capitals may deserve to be considered as a pure and elegant school of taste, and perhaps of virtue, but the tragic and comic muse of the Romans, who seldom aspired beyond the imitation of attic genius, had been almost totally silent since the fall of the republic ; and their places were un- worthily occupied by licentious farce, effeminate 53 music, and splendid pageantry."* That a Roman Emperor should exhibit himself either as an actor, a charioteer, or a gladiator, is equally inconsistent ; but if we cry down an art as evil, because vicious spirits have degraded it, or derive the causes of national degeneracy from the excesses of such monstrous exceptions as Nero or Commodus, we may as safely argue that a bush is always dangerous because there was once a tiger in it ; or pronounce a city uninhabitable because it has once been visited by the cholera or the plague.t Dr. Bennett, rea- soning still from evidences on the one side only, assures us, (in the words of Dr. Styles,) that " the Stage has always flourished most, in the most de- praved states of society,'* that " at all times its warmest supporters have been found amongst the profligate and vicious;" and that it has been con- demned by " the recorded judgment of an immense- ly preponderating majority of the wise and good," amounting to the "almost unanimous verdict of * Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. iv. p. 106. 8 vol. Edition. f There is a difference of opinion here, between the enemies of the Stage themselves. Dr. Bennett says the Stage led to the degeneracy of Greece and Rome. Dr. Styles in- forms us, that the degeneracy of Greece and Rome led to the Stage. See page 44 of Dr. Styles*s Essay. " It was not till the Romans and Athenians became emasculated by wealth and luxury, that they afforded countenance or support to the Stage." Who shall decide, when Doctors disagree ? 54 the whole moral world." Judging by these sweep- ing conclusions, it will be thought we can find little or no evidence on the other side derived from responsible sources ; but our case is not closed, neither are our evidences light. " Many there are that trouble us and persecute us, yet do we not swerve from the testimonies."* There can be no doubt that the profligate, the vicious, and the idle will especially infest all places of public amuse- ment, and go wherever large assemblies invite the exercise of their propensities, or afford the oppor- tunity of getting rid of their time. But the Theatre is not their only resort ; no place is suf- ficiently sacred to exclude them. Wherever the evil nature predominates, it will pervert every thing to its own purposes. Vice is no doubt exercised in '* the purlieus," and within the walls of the Theatre ; but when Mr. James informs us, that ** not many days ago, a venerable and holy man said to him, that he once robbed his father of a shilling to go to the gallery," I reply, that it is not many weeks since a friend of my own had his pocket picked in church; yet I am not going for that reason to argue that churches are immoral institu- tions, or principally frequented by "the vicious and depraved." We learn from history that the Theatre flourished most in Greece, when ^schylus, Sopho- * Psalm cxix. v. 157. 55 cles, and Euripides formed the models of dramatic composition, during the brightest period of Athe- nian glory ; in Rome, immediately preceding and during the reign of Augustus, when the ancient world was supposed to be at its meridian, and when men were so happy and enlightened that the age itself has passed into a standard designation for learning and accomplishment. In France, during the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, when Corneille, Racine, and particularly Voltaire, exhibited in their tragedies severe models of classic purity; cold and declamatory enough, but strictly moral and religious. The Polyeucte of Corneille, the Athalie and Esther of Racine, the Zaire of Voltaire, are religious subjects reverently treated. It is strange that a people so gay and vo- latile as the French, should listen with such rapt attention as they do when these tragedies are acted. Even Collier says of " Athalie," " the play, in fine, is a very religious poem, 'tis upon the matter all sermon and anthem^ and if it were not designed for the theatre, I have nothing to object."* Dr. Blair says,f " what one might not expect, Voltaire is, in the strain of his sentiments, the most religious and the most moral of all tragic poets." Of the French comic writers, he adds, " the general cha- racters of the French comic Theatre are, that it is * Collier's Short View, &c., p. 124. t Lectures on Rhetoric and Belle-Lettres, vol. ii. p. 377, 56 correct, chaste, and decent. Mollere is full of mirth and pleasantry, and his pleasantry is always innocent ; his comedies in verse, such as the Mi- santhrope, and Tartuffe, are a kind of dig- nified comedy, in which vice is exposed in the style of elegant and polite satire ; in his prose co- medies, tho' there is an abundance of ridicule, yet there is never any thing found to offend a modest ear, or to throw contempt on sobriety and virtue.*' I wish I could say as much for the English writers of the same period. In our own country, the Stage has flourished most in the reign of Elizabeth ; in that of ilnne, which has been called the Augustan age of English literature, and from thence with increased popu- larity down to the present day. There are now, while I am writing, more regular theatres in the united kingdom, and a greater portion of the in- habitants of all classes occasional visitors of the Theatre, than at any former aera ; yet at the same time education is more generally diffused, and religious duties more carefully attended to by the nation at large. I am at a loss to know how any of the periods I have here named can be designated as amongst the most depraved, unless the improve- ment of the arts and the progress of knowledge be prejudicial to a State, and civilization is held synony- mous with vice. Wise, learned, and pious men have no doubt been found in all ages, who have condemned the Theatre ; but many wise, learned, and pious 57 men halve also been found in all ages who have upheld it ; in point of numbers the latter far ex- ceed the former, nor can I find that they are behind them in the qualities which command re- spect and claim deference for their opinions. Dr. Bennett tells us in his Appendix, that Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Livy, Tacitus, Vale- rius Maximus, Plutarch, &c. " have charged plays with the corruption of principles and manner s^ and have given the strongest warnings against them'' He gives no extracts from these au- thors, (Livy only excepted,) but subjoins a few from Theophilus Bishop of Antioch, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Minutius Felix, Cyprian, Lactantius, and Chrysostom. All these authorities he has evidently taken on the ipse dixit of Jeremy Collier, as the list of extracts are copied seriatim et verbatim as they appear in that writer's work, en- titled, " A short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, together with the Sense of Antiquity upon this Argument,' ' be- beginning at page 233. On so grave a subject, and where such important conclusions are drawn from these premises, it is hardly fair to take autho- rities on the faith of another quoter, without veri- fying them by a reference to the originals. But be this as it may, Collier is neither an indulgent adversary, nor a careless witness, and we shall pre- sently see how much he has extracted from some of his evidences. Xenophon, he tells us, "who was I 58 both a man of letters and a great general, com- mends the Persians for the discipline of their edu- cation." " They won't," says he, " so much as suffer their youth to hear any thing that's amorous or tawdry."* This is all he has given us from Xenophon, and if any thing else bearing on the subject was to be found in that author, Collier was the very man who would have ferreted it out ; and yet on this flimsy extract we are assured, that Xenophon is amongst those who " have charged plays with the corruption of principles and man- ners andhave given the strongest warnings against themJ' Again, Collier tells us, " Tacitus,f re- lating how Nero hired decayed gentlemen for the Stage, complains of the mismanagement, and lets us know, 'twas the part of a prince to relieve their necessity, and not to tempt it, and that his bounty should rather have set them above an ill practice, than driven them upon it." Taking this as a fair translation of the passage, which it scarcely is, to what does it amount ? To this, that forcing needy gentleman to do what they were unfit for, instead of giving them pensions, was not acting like a wise prince. But, says Collier in another place, Tacitus informs us that " the German woman were guard- ed against danger, and kept their honour out of harm's way, by having wo play houses among them." * Xen. Cyropaed. f Annal. L. 14. c. 14. 59 In the original, the words of Tacitus are, " nullis spectaculorum^ illecehris corruptee''^ Latin scho- lars will easily judge, whether or not the transla- tion is a fair one. Yet on these slight extracts we are told, that Tacitus has also charged plays "with the corruption of principles and manners, and has given the strongest warnings against them J' If Nero had sat at public spectacles in his dignity, on fitting occasions, as Augustus did, Tacitus and other historians, would not have charged him with aiding immorality and vice ; but when he put off the emperor, and assumed the actor, minstrel, and buffoon, his licentious conduct, as high example always will, occasioned such a rapid descent into the abyss of profligacy, that he was at last obliged to check the mischief he had himself engendered, by a decree against the professors of the Stage. It was not the art which degraded him, but he who had degraded the art. The remarks of Tacitus on this subject, clearly point at the abuse only, as he adds, " public spectacles, if still left to the direc- tion of the Praetor, might be exhibited with good order and propriety. "J Dr. Bennett says, (page 14 of Sermon,) " The * Spectaculum, a sight, or show, a spectacle, — Vide Ains- worth's Dictionary. f Tac. de Moribus Germ. c. xix. t Murphy's Translation. <' Spectaculorum quidem antiquitas servaretur, quoties prsetores ederent, nulla cuiquam civium necessitate certandi." — Annal. Lib. xiv. c. 20. 60 authority of Livy is sometimes adduced by the friends of the Drama, to prove that it was origi- nally introduced at Rome to pacify the gods, and avert a pestilence ; but it should in candour be added to this statement, that he says, ' the re- medy in this case was worse than the disease ^ and the atonement m^re infectious than the plague,' " Which latter sentence he gives as a quotation from Livy, transcribing it on the faith of Collier.* Now, there is no such passage in Livy, nor any remark of that historian which, by any possible interpretation, can be so defined. What he says on the subject is as follows : " Inter aliarum parva principia rerum, ludorum quoque prima origo ponenda visa est : ut appareret, quam ab sano initio res in banc vix opulentis regnis tolerabilem insaniam venerit."f Which stands thus in Baker's translation. " Among the trifling beginnings of other matters, I thought it not amiss to give a view of the origin of theatrical exhibi- tions also, in order to shew, from a moderate setting out, to what an intolerable extravagance they have proceeded ; such extravagance indeed, as scarcely to be supported by opulent kingdoms." Let impartial readers decide whether or not this is a fair mode of handling evidences. " Tully," answering to Collier, ^' cries out upon licentious plays and poems, as the bane of • Short View, &c. p. 235. f Liv. Dec. I. lib. vii. c. 3. 61 sobriety and wise thinking, and Plutarch says plays are dangerous to corrupt young people, and there- fore stage-poetry, when it grows too hardy and licentious, ought to be checked.'^ * With both of these opinions we cordially agree, but Cicero, as is well known, was the friend of Roscius, and an admirer of his art; and Plutarch tells us, in another passage of the same part of his works, from whence Collier has quoted, that he thought plays useful to polish the manners and instil the principles of virtue. The entire tendency of the treatise, '' De Audiendis Poetis," is to guide youth in the study of the poets, especially the dramatic ones, and to shew them where the abuses lie, and how they are balanced by the advantages. There is scarcely any author who quotes more constantly from the ancient dramatists than Plutarch, when enforcing his own moral sentences and instruc- tions. Aristotle (who, according to Collier and his followers, is also an enemy to the Stage) con- sidered it of so much importance, that he laid down a very minute model for its formation and arrange- ment. " Tragedy," by his definition, is " the imitation of an action which, by means of terror and pity, refines and purifies in us all sorts of passion."f He also says, " the force of music and * Plutarch Sympos. L. vii. — De Aud. Poet, t Arist. on Poet. P. II. s. 1. 62 action is very affecting ; it commands the audience, and changes the passions to a resemblance of the matter before them." " So that," adds Collier, '' when the representation is foul, the thoughts of the company must suffer." This we readily admit, and by the same rule when the represen- tation isjair, the thoughts of the company must be elevated accordingly.* Plato, it is true, banished plays from his visionary republic, but this, as it has been observed before,f was no more than to say, that if all men were virtuous there would be no need of satirists. Yet Plato asso- ciated with Aristophanes, and was a great admirer of his works. In his piece called *' The Enter- tainment," he gives him a distinguished place, and makes him speak according to his character with Socrates himself. Plato is likewise said to have sent a copy of Aristophanes to Dionysius the Tyrant, with advice to read it diligently, if he would obtain a complete judgment of the state of * Collier quotes Ovid in his licentious poem " De Arte Amandi," which he says gives evidence against the playhouse, by calHng it " the most likely place to forage in." I presume he means for a mistress. Sir Pertinax Mac Sycophant recom- mends a Meeting House as the best field in which to hunt for a wife ; his authority is almost as respectable as the other, and equally fit to be appealed to in a serious matter. Dr. Styles also enrols Ovid in his list of evidences. f Cumberland's Observer. 63 the Athenian republic* And so partial was he to the compositions of Sophron the actor, that his Moral Sentences were found under the pillow of the philosopher when he died. The wise Solon, though he expressed indig- nation at some parts of the tragedies of Thespis, and was startled at their novelty, was fond of the theatre, and frequented it in his old age. Lae- lius, surnamed '^the wise," and Scipio Africanus the younger, were the friends and patrons of Te- rence, and are said to have assisted him in his comedies ; Julius Caesar was a poet and orator, as well as a statesman and warrior ; he thought the first title an additon to his honour, and ever named Menander and Terence with respect and delight ; Brutus, the virtuous, the moral Brutus, thought his time not misemployed in a journey from Rome to Naples, only to see an excellent troop of comedians, and was so pleased with their performance that he sent them to Rome with let- ters of recommendation to Cicero, to take them under his patronage ; this too was at a time when the city was under no small confusion from the murder of Caesar ; yet amidst the tumult of those times, and the hurry of his own affairs, he thought the having a good company of actors of too much * Brumoy's Dissertation on Greek Comedy. Dr. John- son's Translation. 64 consequence to the public to be neglected.* The stern moralist and philosopher, Seneca, is reported, on the authority of Quintilian and Erasmus, to have been the author of the tragedies usually- called his.t The pious emperor, Marcus Aurelius, attests the utility of the Stage in the following passage. " Tragedies were first brought in and in- stituted to put men in mind of worldly chances and casualties. That these things, in the ordinary course of nature, did so happen ; that men that were so much pleased and delighted by such acci- dents upon the Stage, might not by the same things upon a greater stage be grieved or afflicted ; for here you see what is the end of all such matters. And in very truth many good things are spoken by these poets." Then follow some quotations from Euripides, after which he resumes : " After the tragedy, the comcedia vetus, or ancient comedy, was brought in, which had the liberty to inveigh against personal vices ; being therefore through this her freedom and liberty of speech, ofvery good use * Introduc. to Biog. Dramatica, by Isaac Reed — Cumber- land. — Rise and Progress of the English Stage, prefixed to Cooke's Select British Drama. I Quintilian supposes <' The Medea" to have been the composition of Seneca ; other authorities attribute to him " The Troas " and " Hippoly tus," and suppose the " Aga- memnon," " Hercules Furens," " Thyestes," and " Hercules in CEta," to have been written by his father, Seneca " the declaimer." 65 and effect to restrain men from pride and arro- gance — to which end it was that Diogenes took also the same liberty."* Among the Greeks, the profession of an actor was not thought a degrading one. iEschylus held a command at Marathon, and was an officer of dis- tinction ; Sophocles was a person of the highest rank, and both these authors, as well as Euripides, performed in their own plays. The actors Ne- optolemusf and Aristodemus were employed in important embassies. The latter, at the proposal of Demosthenes himself, was honoured with a golden crown, the usual reward of those who had * Rev. Dr. Meric Casaubon's translation, 1673. The origi- nal is as follows. " n^AfTfly ui r^ecyto^ixi ■mrot^Kx^ma'civ vn-of^v^gixcct rm cfic6ivovri>Vf Kxi on rxvret avrot tA^vkb yivietduiy xeti ort oYf t^ri T)jp crtcviv^g -^vxotyuyttoi'h xov toig fcii x^kxS l-nrt tjjj f>cit^ovog a-Ki^vtii* c^Zn yu^, on curat ^i7 vruvrot TFi^xintt^oti — jccti xlytTect di nvec vvi rov rx o^xftxrx Trotovvrefv ;^g)90'(^A>$. — Mtrx ^g tjjv r^xyu^ixv *i a^xxix xciff^eJ^lx TTX^nx^Yty TTXihxyayiKifiy 7ra^^n "In this part of learning which is poesy, I can report no deficience. For being as a plant that cometh of the lust of the earth, without a formal seed, it hath sprung up and spread abroad more than any other kind : but to ascribe unto it that which is due, for the expression of affections, passions, cor- ruptions, and customs, we are beholden to poets more than to philosophers' works ; and for art and eloquence not much less than to orators' ha- rangues. But it is not good to stay too long in the theatre." And again, in the Essay, " De Aug- mentis Scientiarum," he says, " Dramatic poesy, which has the Theatre for its world, is of excellent use if soundly administered. The Stage can do much either for corruption or discipline; but in our times, the corruptions in this kind abound, while the discipline is evidently neglected. For although in modern states theatrical exhibition is but esteemed a pastime, unless when it becomes biting from satire, yet among the ancients, care was taken that is should train up the minds of men to virtue. Moreover, wise men and great phi- * Roper's Life of Sir T. More, p. 27. Ed. 1781, 8vo. 84 losophers have considered it as the how^ of their minds. And certainly it is most true, and as it were a secret of nature, that the minds of men are more open to impressions and affections, when as- sembled together, than when they are alone.^f Hugo Grotius, the author of the text book on Christianity ;J composed the Tragedies of Ada- mus Exuli Christus Patiens, and Sophompha- ncBUS;^ in his dedication to the last of which to Gerard Vossius, he justifies writing tragedy with arguments similar to those of Milton, in his preface to Sampson Agonistes.H Grotius also left amongst his works, "Excerpta," or Selections from the Greek tragic and comic Writers. * Plectrum — the bow, with which to play upon the strings of a musical instrument, so as to bring forth its properties. f " Dramatica autem poesis, quae Theatrum habet pro mundo, usu eximia est, si sana foret. Non parva enim esse posset Theatri, et disciplina et corruptela ; atque corruptelarum in hoc genere abunde est, disciplina plane nostris temporibus est neglecta. Attamen licet in rebus publicis modernis, habe- atur pro re ludicra actio Theatralis, nisi forte nimium trahat e satira et mordeat ; tamen apud antiquos curae fuit ut animos hominum ad virtutem institueret. Quinetiam viris prudentibus et magnis philosophis veluti animorum plectrum quoddam cen- sebatur. Atque sane verissimum est, et tanquam secretum quoddam Naturae, hominum animos, cum congregati sint, magis quam cum soh sint, aflPectibus et impressionibus patere." — De Augmentis Scientiarumy Lib. 2, c. 13. J " Grot. De Veritate Religionis Christianae." § Vide Hugonis Grot. Opera. |1 Dunster. [ 85 Sir Philip Sidney, in his "Defence of Poesie,"* says, " Comedy is an imitation of the common errors of our life, which the poet repre- senteth in the most ridiculous sort that may be, so as it is impossible that any beholder can be content to be such a one. And little reason hath any man to say that men learn the evil by seeing it so set out ; since there is no man living, but by the force truth has in his nature, no sooner seeth these men play their parts, but wisheth them ' in pistrinum :'f so that the right use of comedy will, I think, by nobody be blamed. — And much less of the high and excellent tragedy, that openeth the greatest wounds, and showeth forth the ulcers that are co- vered with tissue; that maketh kings fear to be tyrants, and tyrants to manifest their tyrannical humours : that with stirring the effects of admi- ration and commiseration, teacheth the uncertainty of this world, and upon how weak foundations gilded roofs are builded. — But it is not the tragedy they do dislike, for it were too absurd to cast out so excellent a representation of whatever is most worthy to be learned." Afterwards, in speaking of the abuses of poetry, he uses these pithy argu- ments. " Shall the abuse of a thing make the right use odious ? Do we not see skill of physic, the best rampire to our often assaulted bodies, being abused, teach poison, the most violent de- * Pages 31, 32, Ed. 1829. f In Bridewell. 86 stroyer ? Doth not knowledge of law, whose end is to even and right all things, being abused, grow the crooked fosterer of horrible injuries ? Doth not (to go in the highest) God's word abused, breed heresy, and his name abused become blas- phemy ? With a sword thou mayst kill thy father, and with a sword thou mayst defend thy prince and country : so that, as in their calling poets fathers of lies, they said nothing, so in this, their argument of abuse, they prove the commendation." Locke, in his '' Thoughts concerning Reading and Writing,"* says, ''There is another use of reading which is for diversion and delight. Such are poetical writings, especially dramatic, if they be free from profaneness, obscenity, and what corrupt good manners ; for such pitch should not be handled.'* Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray, in his " Lettre sur I'Eloquence," addressed to the French Academy, has two long sections, entitled, " Projet d'un Traite sur la Tragedie,'* and " Projet d'un Traite sur la Comedie;" in both of which he recommends various improvements, and the cor- rection of abuses, indicating throughout the im- portance he attached to the subject from the hold it has obtained over the minds of men, and the ad- vantages it is capable of producing. I have se- lected the following extract, with which he com- * Locke's Works, 4to. vol. iv. p. 604. 87 mences, as a specimen. " With respect to tra- gedy, I must begin by declaring that I have no wish to perfectionate those plays in which the cor- rupted passions are only represented to inflame them. It appears to me that a prodigious force might be given to tragedies, according to the philosophical ideas of antiquity, without mixing up with them that fickle and irregular love which produces so much mischief." In speaking of the Horace of Corneille, he adds, *' I am charmed when I read these words, ' Quil mourut.'"* Le Pere Rap in says, ''For no other end is poetry delightful than that it may be profitable. Pleasure is only the means by which the profit is conveyed, and all poetry, when it is perfect, ought of necessity to be a public lesson of good manners for the instruction of the world, f — Tragedy rec- tifies the use of passion, by moderating our fear and our pity, which are obstacles to virtue ; it lets men see that vice never escapes unpunished, when it represents iEgysthus, in the Electra of Sopho- cles, punished after ten years' enjoyment of his crime. It teaches us that the favours of fortune * CEuvres de Fenelon, 4to. vol. iii. 1787. f Ben. Jonson, in his dedicatory Epistle to the Comedy of the Fox, lays it down for a principle, <' that it is impossible to be agood poetf without he'mg a good man. I fear there have been exceptions to this rule ; though it is very possible to be a writer of great genius, without being a good poet, in Ben. Jonson's sense of the word. 88 and the grandeurs of the world are not always true goods, when it shews on the theatre a queen so unhappy as Hecuba, deploring with that pathetic air, her misfortunes in Euripides. — Comedy, which is an image of common conversation, corrects the public vices, by letting us see how ridiculous they are in particular instances. Aristophanes does not mock at the foolish vanity of Praxagora, (in his Par- liament of Women,) but to cure the vanity of the other Athenian women : and it was only to teach the Roman soldiers, in what consisted true valour, that Plautus exposed in public the extravagance of false bravery in his braggadocio captain, in the comedy of the Boastful Soldier." * Archbishop Secker, in his sermon on the text, '' Lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God," says :t " Another considerable ingredient in the fashionable amusements of the world, are public spectacles, and provided regard be had to time and cost, they might be allowably and beneficially fre- quented, if they were preserved from tendencies dangerous to virtue." And again, in the sermon on the text, " Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded," he says,J " the other sort of pleasures especially dangerous to young people, are^ay amuse- ments. Love of pleasure is undeniably one part of * Rapin, Reflexions sur La Poesie, sec. x. I Sermons, vol. i. p. 108. J Sermon x. vol. i. p. 220. 89 our nature ; but sense of duty, and concern for lasting happiness, are as evident and much more important parts ; therefore allow yourselves in fit instances of pleasure, at fit seasons, to a fit degree, and enjoy them with a merry heart ; but never let the thought of living to pleasure get the least possession of you," Here is ample allowance of all that we contend for, and which Christianity permits, a moderate indulgence in rational amusement ; and that Archbishop Seeker did not mean to exclude the Theatre from that definition, is evident from his sanctioning it in the first sermon, and not ex- cepting it by name in the second, when he speaks of " gay amusements." The discipline of the present day is so totally opposed to this spirit of mild indulgence, that amusement of any kind is almost proscribed as sin. But is it certain that these rigid teachers are " wiser in their generation" than their forefathers ? And is there not danger in this extreme severity of doctrine, lest, in rooting out from the heart every inclination to gaiety, we should, at the same time, expel from it the kindly feelings of charity, and supply the void with narrow and gloomy selfishness. It remains yet to be proved, whether a harsh inter- pretation of the Christian code will increase the hap- piness of mankind, and render the world in reality more religious. Archbishop Seeker thought other- wise, and his opinion is worth attending to, as re- 90 corded in the following words:* "The opposite ex- treme (of straining the duties of religion too high) hath seldom done good, and often harm: hath deterred weak spirits from taking the burden of religion upon them, entangled scrupulous tempers with endless perplexities, and made rigid ones un- charitable and superstitious : given the enemies of Christianity opportunities of declaiming against it, as unnaturally severe, and tempted the careless professors of it, after rejecting, as they well might, the over strict sense of such phrases, not to take the pains of looking for .any other, but to go on un- restrained by them, to live as they please !"f Dr. Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London, in his sermon preached before the lords spiritual and temporal on the General Fast, February 10th, 1779j says, " Let parents, in fine, when they are so anxious to embellish the manners, and improve the understandings of their children, pay a little more attention than they have done to the cultivation of * Sermon, x. vol. i. page 220. j* " To be righteous over much, and to be righteous over little, are extremes equally distinct from that golden medio- crity, which in all human transactions, pubhc and private, is the best principle of conduct, and which is recommended to us by the example of our Saviour himself, who occasionally mixed in convivial intercourse with publicans and sinners, and taught the hypocritical Pharisee, that * the subbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.* ">~^Bishop Watson^s Ser- monsj vol. i. p. 539. 91 their hearts; and let those grand corrupters of their unguarded innocence and simplicity, licen- tious novels, licentious histories, and licentious St/stems of philosophy, be for ever banished from the hands of our youth." Here again is sufficient evidence, that this truly Christian prelate did not agree with those who consider the Theatre as the high road to perdition, or he surely would not have omitted it in this very appropriate place, and in this carefully expressed caution. Again, in a sermon on the favourite and most salutary text, " Lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God," he says, " At present I shall confine myself to that sort of pleasures which are usually styled innocent* and in a certain degree and under proper restric- tions undoubtedly are so ; / mean the gaieties and amusements of life. Here then is the precise point at which you ought to stop. You may be lovers of pleasure ; it is natural, it is reasonable for you to be so ; but you must not be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. This is the true line which separates harmless gaiety from criminal dissipation." Here is the spirit of Christian moderation again powerfully expressed, and the utmost indulgence allowed that any reasonable mind can require, but among the harmless gaieties of the world, permis- sible in fitting time and place, the Theatre is not excepted, either here or in any other of Bishop Porteus' discourses. If he had considered it an in- stitution opposed to Christianity, he would scarcely 92 have omitted these opportunities of expressing that opinion. Archdeacon Paley, is his " Sermon addressed to the young Clergy of the diocese of Carlisle/' says, *' Observe delicacy in the choice of your com- pany and refinement in your pleasures. Above all things keep out of public houses ; you have no business there ; your being seen to go in and out of them is disgraceful; neither be seen at drunken feasts, boisterous sports, late hours, or barbarous diversions. Let your amusements, like every thing else about you, be still, quiet, and unoffending." But here, there is no total prohibition of the Theatre, no hint or allusion that a fascinating amusement existed, which was in reality a " snare of the devil." I may probably be told that the Theatre is such a monster, that the possibility of any moderately virtuous mind having any thing to do with it never occurred to these eminent divines. Let that argument stand for what it is reasonably worth, but when licentious books, gaming, drinking, and cruel sports are mentioned, the Theatre could not be passed over, if it were considered worse, or even on a level with those excesses. Dr. Isaac Watts, the author of the Divine Hymns, whose life and character entitle him to re- spect from men of every creed, in his " Treatise on the Education of Children and Youth," condemns the Stage as dangerous and to be avoided by young people, arguing still like others on its abuses ; and many of the plays of his day were sufficiently ob- 93 jectionable to justify the censure.* But he pre- faces his remarks with this passage, which is mucb * Dr. Watts lived and wrote when the Beggar's Opera first appeared, and was no doubt shocked at the extraordinary success of that production. If it were to be acted now, as it was then, it would not be tolerated for two scenes, and even as it is, purified as much as the nature of the subject will allow, a mere skeleton of its original self, and little more than a peg to hang the music on, it is a vulgar and immoral compo- sition, and will very soon be banished (as it ought) from the Stage altogether. The poignant satire which gave force to it, when first written, has lost its effect with the times and indivi- duals to which it was applied. Yet even on this subject, there are wide differences of opinion between eminent writers. " Deaiv Swift commended the Beggar's Opera " for the excellence of its morality, as a piece that placed all kinds of vice in the strongest and most? odious light." Dr. Herring, afterwards Archishop of Canterbury, censured it as giving encouragemeni not only to vice, but to crimes. It was even said, that after its production, the gangs of robbers were evidently multipHed. Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Gay, says, " both these decisions are surely exaggerated. The play, hke many others, was plainly written only to divert, without any moral purpose, and is therefore, not likely to do good ; nor can it be conceived with- out more speculation than life requires, or admits, to be pro- ductive of much evil. Highwaymen and housebreakers seldom- frequent the play-house, or mingle in any elegant diversion ; nor is it possible for any one to imagine, that he may rob with safety, because he sees Macheath reprieved upon the Stage." On another occasion he said, <*asto this matter, which has been very much contested, I, myself, am of opinion, that more in- fluence has been ascribed to it, than in reality it ever had ;foF I do not beheve that any man was ever made a rogue, by being present at that representation I" — Croker^s Boswell, vol. iii. p. 242. 94 from so strict a disciplinarian. '* It is granted that a dramatic representation of the affairs of human life, is by no means sinful in itself. I am inclined to think that valuable compositions might be made of this kind, such as might entertain an audience with innocent delight, and even with real profit. Such have been written in French, and have, in times past, been acted with applause." With re- ference to this last sentence, in the preface to his Horce Lyriccey he says, " What a noble use have Racine and Corneille made of Christian subjects in some of their best tragedies !* What a variety of divine scenes are displayed, and pious passions awakened in those poems ! The martyrdom of Polyeucte, how doth it reign over our love and pity, and, at the same time, animate our zeal and devotion ! May I here be permitted the liberty to return my thanks to that fair and ingenious hand,f that directed me to such entertainment in a foreign language, which I had long wished for and sought in vain in our own." Further on he speaks still more powerfully on the advantage of selecting scriptural subjects for dramatic composition, and the benefits arising from the Drama when thus applied. ** If the trifling and incredible tales that furnish * The religious tragedies of Corneille and Racine were written for the Stage, not the closet, and have been constantly acted. f Philomela, Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, Authoress of " Pious Reflections," " Letters from the Dead to the Living," &c. 95 out a tragedy are so armed by art and fancy, as to become sovereign of the rational powers, to triumph over all the affections, and manage our smiles and our tears at pleasure, how wondrous a conquest might be obtained over a wide world, and reduce it at least to sobriety, if the same happy talent were employed in dressing the scenes of religion in their proper figures of majesty, sweetness, and terror I The wonders of creating power, of redeeming love and renewing grace, ought not to be thus impi- ously neglected by those whom heaven has endued with a gift so proper to adorn and cultivate them ; an art whose sweet insinuations might almost convey piety in resisting nature, and melt the hardest souls to the love of virtue. The affairs of this life with reference to a life to come, would shine bright in a dramatic description; nor is there any need, or any reason why we should always borrow the plan or history from the ancient Jews, or primitive martyrs ; modern scenes would be better under- stood by most readers, and the application would be much more easy. How might such performances under a divine blessing, call back the dying piety of the nation to life and beauty.*' Dr. Rundle, Bishop of Derry, in his letter to Mrs. Sandys, speaking of the success of Thompson's Sophonisba, observes, " The reception this play has met with, proves the justness of Plato's obser- vation, ^ that if men could behold Virtue, she would make all of them in love with her charms;'" 96 and adds, *' a right play draws her picture in the most lively manner."* His letters abound with evidences of his partiality for the Theatre. Dr. Watson, Bishop of LlandafiP, in a letter to Lord Granby, Aug. 15th, 1775, says, «*Make Bacon, then, and Locke, and why should I not add, that sweet child of nature, Shakspeare, your chief companions through life : let them be upon your table, and when you have an hour to spare from business or pleasure, spend it with them, and I will answer for their giving you entertain- ment and instruction as long as you live."f The Rev. Jeremiah Seed, J who has been quoted as condemning the Stage,§ in his Sermon, called " The Case of Diversions stated," says, " To comply with men's tastes, as far as we inno- cently can, in the little incidents and daily occur- rences of life, to bear a part in their favourite diversions, and to adjust our tempers to theirs, it is this that knits men's hearts to one another, and lays the foundation of friendships." And again, in his Sermon on the " Government of the Thoughts," after condemning bad books and im- moral plays, he says, " I would not be thought to pass a general, undistinguishing censure upon all * Letters, vol. ii. p. 108. t Bishop Watson's Life, vol. i. p. 82. X Rector of Enham in Hampshire, and Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. § By the Rev. Job Orton, in his discourse called '' A Dis- suasive from the Playhouse." 97 plays ; some of them are rational and manly en- tertainments, and may be read with improvement as well as delight." Dr. Blair, an eminent divine, and most po- pular preacher, as well as an accomplished general scholar, says, " Dramatic poetry has among ci- vilized nations, been always considered as a rational and useful entertainment, and judged worthy of careful and serious discussion. — As tragedy is a high and distinguishing species of composition, so also, in its general strain and spirit, it is favourable to virtue ; and, therefore though dramatic writers may sometimes, like other writers, be guilty of improprieties, though they may fail in placing virtue precisely in the due point of light ; yet no reasonable person can deny tragedy to be a moral species of composition. — Taking tragedies com- j)lexly, I am fully persuaded, that the impressions left by tliem upon the mind are on the whole, fa- vourable to virtue and good dispositions. And therefore, the zeal which some pious men have shown against the entertainments of the Theatre, must rest only on the abuse of comedy ; which, indeed has frequently been so great as to justify very severe censures against it. I am happy how- ever to have it in my power to observe, that of late years, a sensible reformation has begun to take place in English comedy. We have at last become ashamed of making our public entertainments rest wholly upon profligate characters and scenes ; and 98 our later comedies of any reputation, are much purified from the licentiousness of former times- If they have not the spirit, the ease, and the wit of Congreve and Farquhar, this praise they justly merit, of being innocent and moral."* Dr. Vicesimus Knox, another devout and able preacher, says, '* The Bible, the Iliad, and Shaks- peare's works are allowed to be the sublim est books that the world can exhibit. — The human heart in general, whether it beats in the bosom of him who has been inspired by education, or of the neglected child of poverty, is taught to exercise some of its most amiable propensities, by the indulgence of commiseration in scenes of fancied woe.f Were the Theatre under certain regulations, a man might go to it as he would to church, to learn his duty ; and it might justly be honoured with the appella- tion which it has often assumed, and be called the school of virtue. Indeed, there is no class of peo- ple however refined and polished, which may not receive such benefits from a well written tragedy as scarcely any other mode of instruction can af- ford. He who has entered into all the feelings of a Shakspeare, an Otway, a Rowe, an Addison, may be said to have assimilated with their souls, and * Lectures on Rhetoric, and the Belles Lettres, vol. ii. pp. 336-7-8. t *< Useful mirth, and salutary woe." — Dn Johnson's Prologue, 99 snatched a sacred spark, which cannot fail to kindle something in himself resembling the ethereal lire of true genius. His nature will be improved, and a species of wisdom and elevation of spirit, which was in vain sought for in academic groves, may at last be imbibed in the Theatres. Philosophy may catch a warmth of the Drama, which is capable of advancing it to nobler heights than she could other- wise have attained. Socrates, whose benevolence and wisdom appeared to have something of divinity, was the voluntary assistant of Euripides in the composition of his tragedies, and undoubtedly was of opinion that he taught philosophy to instruct the herd of mankind in the most effectual manner, when he introduced her to their notice in the bus- kin."* The Rev. Archibald Alison, in his " Essays on Taste," says, " Had the taste of Shakspeare been equal to his genius, or had his knowledge of the laws of the Drama corresponded to his know- ledge of the human heart, the effect of his composi- tions would not only have been greater than it now is, but greater perhaps, than we can well imagine ; and had he attempted to produce, through a whole composition, that powerful and uniform interest * Essays, vol. i. No. 15, p. 89. Dr. Styles pronounces a Threnodia over Dr. Knox, and laments that so sound a divine, and so good a preacher, should have written in defence of the Stage. 100 which he can raise in a single scene, nothing of that perfection would have been wanting, of which we may conceive this sublime art to be capable.'* And, again, in speaking of Corneille, " His object seems to have been, to exalt and to elevate the imagination ; to awaken only the greatest and noblest passions of the human mind ; and by pre- senting such scenes and such events alone, as could most powerfully promote this end, to render the Theatre a school of sublime instruction, rather than an imitation of common life."* The number of churchmen who have written plays, or otherwise countenanced the Stage by their writings and example, is extraordinary. So- 'phonisha, the first Italian tragedy after the resto- ration of learning, is by the Bishop Trissino, nuncio to Pope Leo X. It was first acted in Rome in 1515, on which occasion the Pope himself at- tended in state. The first Italian comedy. La Calandra^ is by Cardinal Bibiena, and was first acted in 1490. The Abbe Metastasio is the author of the numerous musical dramas so well known, and equally remarkable for their pure mo- rality and exquisite poetry. Cardinal Richelieu was a warm patron of the Drama, and (out of jealousy of Corneille, as is said) wrote or assisted in the composition of tragedies, which have ac- quired him less fame than his diplomatic talents. * Vol. i. p. 134-135. 101 In England, considerably above one hundred cler- gymen are to be found in the list of dramatic au- thors,* including many names eminent both for learning and piety. From among them I have selected the following. The first regular comedy in English, Gammer Gurton's Needle, was writ- ten by the Rev. J. Still, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells. Dr. John Christopherson, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Norwich, in the reign of Henry VIII., is the author of a Latin tragedy, called Jephtha. Dr. W. Ala- baster, Prebendary of St. Paul's, wrote a tra- gedy in Latin, called Roxana, in 1632. Wood, in his Ath, Ox on. says of him, " He was the rarest poet and Grecian that any one age or nation produced." Dr. John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, called bilious Bale, from the acrimony of his con- troversial writings, is the author of above twenty dramatic pieces, four of which were published. Dr. Nicholas Brady, the coadjutor of Tate (who was also a dramatist) in the version of the Psalms, is the author of a tragedy, called The Rape, or the Innocent Impostors. The Rev. Thomas Broughton, Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral, is the author of a tragedy, called Hercules. The Rev. William Cartwright, who died in 1643, is the author of the Royal Slave, The Lady Errant, The Ordinary, and The Siege. He w^as an eminent preacher. The learned and * Vide Baker's Biographia Dramatica. 102 pious Dr, Fell, Bishop of Oxford, said of him, " Cartwright was the utmost man could come to." Dr. Samuel Cox all. Archdeacon of Salop, is the author of the Fair Circassian, Dr. John Dalton altered and adapted to the Stage, Milton's Comus, Dr. Dodd, who, though his end was unfortunate, was an able divine, and a religious man, wrote the oratorios of Ruth and Balaa7n, the tragedy of the Si/racusan, and edited the Beauties of Shahspeare^ with notes and anno- tations. Dr. Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, bestowed much time on an edition of Shakspeare, and in writing notes to his works. Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, wrote an essay on the English Stage, and contributed many notes to the various editions of Shakspeare. The Reverend Laurence EcH ARD, author of the History of England^ trans- lated nine comedies of Plautus and Terence. Dr. Richard Eades, Prebendary in Salisbury Cathedral, and Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, is the author of several tragedies. The Reverend Phineas Fletcher is the author of a dramatic piece called Sicelides, Dr. Philip Francis, the translator of Horace and Demosthenes, is the author of two tragedies, Eugenia and Constantine, Dr. Franklin, Chaplain to King George HI., translated seven tragedies of Sophocles, and is the author of the Earl of Warwick^ Orestes, Electra^ Matilda, The Contract, a comedy, Tragopoda- gra or the Gout, translated from Lucian, and a 103 MS. tragedy, called Mary Queen of Scots. The Rev. Dr. Farmer wrote a celebrated Essay, called An Inquiry into the Learning of Shakspeare,' and many Notes on his Works. The Rev. Thomas Goffe, who was esteemed as an excellent preacher, wrote the tragedies of the Raging Turky Orestes^ and the Courageous Turk^ and a tragi-comedy called the Careless Shepherdess. He died in 1627. Dr. Zachary Grey wrote critical, historical, and explanatory Notes to Shak- speare. The Rev. John Upton, Prebendary of Rochester, wrote critical observations on Shak- speare. The Rev. Stephen Gosson, who after- wards became a noted persecutor of the Theatre, and wrote The School of Abuse, an invective against poets and players, is the author of a tragedy called Catiline's Conspiracies, the comedy of Cap- tain Mario, and a morality called Praise at parting. Dr. John Hackett, Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, is the author of Loyola, a comedy acted before James the First. The Rev. Samuel Har- ding, wrote the tragedy of Sicily and Naples or the Fatal Union. Dr. Peter Hausted, Chap- lain to the Earl of Northampton in the civil wars, wrote the Comedies called Rival Friends, and Senile Odium. Dr. John Hoadly, Prebendary of Winchester, is supposed to have materially assis- ted his brother in the celebrated comedy of the Suspicious Husband, and is the author of the fol- lowing dramatic pieces, The Contrast, Jephtha, 104 Loves Revenge^ The Force of Truths and Fhcehe^ and left several dramatic works in manuscript behind him. The Rev. John Home is the au- thor of Douglas^ a play that will keep possession of the Stage, as long as any taste for true natural poetry remains ; and also of Agis^ The Siege of Aquileia, The Fatal Discoverj/, Alonzo, and Al- fred, The rigid principles of the synod of Scot- land were shocked at the idea of a member of the kirk becoming a dramatist ; they accordingly, in a public convocation, expelled him, and disqualified him from the ministry, in consequence of which he resigned a good living, and withdrew from the jurisdiction of the presbytery: the opinion of man- kind has amply vindicated him, and condemned the harsh bigotry by which he suffered, and the late King George III., then Prince of Wales, afforded him a substantial recompence, in the form of a handsome pension, which placed him beyond the effects of further persecution. Dr. James Hurdis, is the author of Panthea, and Sir T, More, * tragedies * Cowper, a pious, and in some respects severe Christian, in a letter to Dr. Hunter, speaking of the tragedy of Sir Thomas More, says, " I wish to know what you mean to do with Sir Thomas, for though I expressed doubts about his theatrical possibilities, I think him a very respectable person, and, with some improvement, well worthy of being introduced to the public.'* — Hayleifs Life of Cowper, Letter cxxxviii. See also The Task, Book vi. p. 254, in which he eulogizes 105 and " Cursory remarks on the Arrangement of the plays of Shakespeare.'* The Rev. W. Mason, Chaplain to the King, Rector of Aston and Canon residentiary of York, and Prebendary of Driffield, is one of the authors entitled to the applause of the world, as well for the virtues of the heart, as the excellence of their writings. He is the au- thor of the celebrated dramatic pieces, Caractacus and Elfrida, two tragedies still in MS., and fi- nished a tragedy left by Whitehead, called Q^dipus. The Rev. Dr. Brown is the author of the tra- gedies of Barharossa and Athelstan, The Rev. James Miller is the author of the tragedy of Mahomet the Impostor, and eleven other plays. The Rev. Robert Potter, Vicar of Seaming, and Prebendary of Norwich, is the well known translator of iEschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, to which he devoted a considerable portion of his life. Dr. Gloster Ridley is the author of two tragedies, Jugurtha, and the Fruitless Redress, An epitaph by Bishop Lowth thus commemorates his Christian learning and piety. " Verbi divini minister peritus, fidelis, indefessus." A skilful Garrick, and in speaking of the Jubilee at Stratford, in 1769, in honour of Shakspeare, says — " 'Twas a hallowed time : decorum reigned, And mirth without offence. No few returned, Doubtless much edified, and all refreshed." It is evident from this, Cdwper had no horror of the Theatre ; yet his character and conduct are often quoted by themostrigid. 106 faithful and unwearied minister of the Divine Word. The Rev. James Townley is the author of the popular farce of High Life below Stairs, so often attributed to the pen of Garrick and many others. Dr. John Watson, Bishop of Win- chester in 1583, is the author o^ Absalom, a tra- gedy in Latin. Dr. Welch, Bishop of Derry in 1670, wrote two comedies called Hermophus, (in Latin,) and Love's Hospital, Dr. Francis Wrangham, Archdeacon of York, is the author of a farce called Reform, written in 1792. Dr. James Plumptre is the author of a comedy called the Coventry Act, the tragedy of Osway, Obser- vations on Hamlet with an appendix, and four Sermons on subjects relating to the Stage, preached in St. Mary's Church, Cambridge. In these dis- courses Dr. Plumptre takes the middle course, and points out the distinction between the uses and abuses of the Stage. He says, " This powerful engine can be made to promote the cause of virtue and religion, and to become not only an innocent amusement, but a highly rational and pleasing source of instruction.'* These discourses were written under the sanction of the Rev. Dr. Pear- son, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cam- bridge, to whom they are dedicated. The reader would do well to peruse them entire, and not draw his opinion of Dr. Plumptre's object, or the mode in which he enforces it, by the summary ac- count included in Dr. Bennett's Appendix. The 107 book is reasonable and moderate, and the notes abound with highly entertaining information.* This production Dr. Bennett regards as " a curi- osity in theological literature." It may be so. That a clergyman should say a word or two in defence of the Stage, may appear to him curious, but I think I have shown that at all events it is not singular. Dr. Edward Young, the author of Night Thouglds, wrote the tragedies of the Revenge, Bu- siris, and The Brothers ; the last of which (a fact, I believe, not generally known) was written and acted for the express purpose of adding to the fund for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts. In more modern times, the Rev. C. Maturin, who is remembered in this city as an eloquent preacher, is the author of the tragedies of Bertram, Manuel, Fredolfo, and Osmyn the Renegade, The Rev. H. Millman is the author of Fazio, which was eminently successful on the stage when produced at Covent Garden for Miss O'Neill, Belshazzar' s Feast, the Fall of Jeru- salem, and the Martyr of Antioch. The Rev. C. Croly is the author of Catiline, and a very successful comedy called Pride shall have a Fall. Milton, a piously-minded man, of purita- nical principles, author of the sublime poem of * Some of Dr. Plumptre's Notes have furnished me with references to several authorities, of which before I was not aware. 108 ** Paradise Lost," wrote also the masks of Arcades and Comus, which latter still keeps possession of the Stage, and the tragic poem of Samson Ago- nistes. In the preface to the last he says, " Tragedy, as it was anciently composed, hath ever been held the gravest, moralest, and most profitable of all other poems; hence philosophers and the gravest writers, as Cicero, Plutarch, and others, frequently cite out of tragic poets, to adorn and illustrate their discourse. The apostle Paul him- self thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euri- pides into the text of holy Scripture ; and Para2us, commenting on the Revelation, divides the whole book as a tragedy, into acts, distinguished each by a chorus of heavenly harpings and song between. Heretofore, men in highest dignity have laboured not a little to be thought able to compose a tra- gedy."* In Milton's MS., in Trinity College, Cambridge, are one hundred plans of subjects in- tended by him for tragedies, from the Scriptures and from British history. On this. Bishop Hurd observes, " Many of these subjects, in Milton's hands, would have made glorious tragedies : and one cannot enough lament, that the prejudices of his age should have discouraged him from giving us more of these dramas."f * Dionysius the Elder was ambitious of attaining this honour. Queen Elizabeth, on the authority of Sir Robert Naunton, translated a tragedy of Euripides. t Appendix to Samson Agonistes. 109 The pious, moral Addison is the author of the tragedy of Cato, the comedy of the Drummer ^ and the opera of Rosamond. He was a frequenter of the Theatre all his life, and on his death-bed he sent for the Earl of Warwick, to whom he was guardian, and said to him, " See in what peace a Christian can die !" His exemplary death is said to have worked an instantaneous reformation in the conduct of a dissipated young nobleman.* Addi- son has been most unjustly called an advocate of suicide, and his play condemned as anti-christian, because Cato dies by his own hand. Surely nothing can well be more unreasonable than this. The poet handles a well-known historical subject, and treats it historically. If he were to alter the catastrophe, he would falsify a striking event in history, and change the leading incident of his Drama. Cato of Utica is not a Christian, but a heathen. He reasons, not from Christian re- velation, but from pagan philosophy.f If it is * In Tickell's Elegy on Addison, which Dr. Johnson com- mends as asubhmeand elegant funeral poem, are the following lines in allusion to this incident, as Tickell himself informed Dr. Young: " He taught us how to live, and oh ! too high The price of knowledge, taught us how to die." f Yet the concluding lines of Cato*s famous Sohloquy, have been quoted in the pulpit. Alas, Expediency! to what strange extremes wilt thou drive thy votaries ! no lawful to read history, it cannot be unlawful to mould it into a poem ; and when that poem assumes a dramatic shape, there can be no more harm in acting it, than in singing a song which has been composed for the purpose. If Cato were repre- sented as a Christian, and reconciling himself to suicide, on Christian arguments, the case would be widely altered, and the charge against Addison might stand good. Suicide which in the Chris- tian code, is a crime of the first magnitude, was considered by the most enlightened heathens, un- der particular circumstances, as an incumbent duty, and the crowning test of virtue. But so cautious is the Christian poet to avoid the imputation which has been unjustly cast on him, that he puts into the mouth of his dying hero, a doubt, suggested by his own reverence for Christian doctrine. *' A gleam of light Breaks in on my departing soul. Alas ! I fear I've been too hasty. — O, ye powers, that search The heart of man, and weigh his inmost thoughts, If I have done amiss, impute it not ! — The best may err " These lines alone might have saved Addison from a groundless accusation. It is strange, how even pious and good men will suffer their reason to be warped, when they are anxious to bear out a favourite argument. The Rev. S. Pigott, in a very beautiful work on Suicide, charges the death of Eustace Budgell, to the ac- ► 111 count of Cato, " What, " says he, " was the effect of the exhibition on the mind of the unhappy Mr. Budgell, who on retiring, as it is supposed from the Theatre, plunged into the Thames, and was found with this defence on his person — What Cato did, and Addison approved, must needs be right." This apology was mere flimsy nonsense, a sort of struggling at effect which half mad people often indulge in, even in their last moments. What Cato did on heathen principles, could be no argument to a man professing to be a Christian, nor did Addison approve it, because the Cato of his poem acted like the Cato of history.* There is not the slightest reason to suppose that Budgell committed his suicide on retiring from the Theatre, nor was it a sudden impulse arising from the effect of Addison's play, as Mr. Pigott has determined. It was deliberately done, in the day time, to avoid the disgrace of conviction for forging the will of Dr. Tindal, in which he had provided himself with a legacy of two thousand pounds.t He filled his pockets with stones, took a boat, and jumped over board while they were shooting one of the bridges. He had proposed to his daughter to accompany him, but she was not disgusted with life, and * Budgell, it is said, was an avowed free-thinker. If so, my argument is strengthened by that fact. f Croker^s Boswell's Johnson, passim. Rees's Cyclop. Aikin's Biog. ' 112 declined the invitation. His defence, such as it was, was found on his bureau and not in his pocket.* Dr. Styles, goes far beyond Mr. Pigott, and in quoting also the death of Budgell, as chargeable to Cato, he draws a general conclusion from this individual case, and says, " the alarming progress of suicide may be ascribed in a great measure to the influence of the Theatre.* 'f Cumberland, the Author of " Calvary," a poem of much merit, though little read, was a moral and conscientious writer, and published a great many dramatic pieces, many of them eminently success- ful on the Stage, particularly The West Indian, and The Wheel of Fortune, Dr. Johnson, who I presume will be admitted to be both a moral writer and a sound practical Christian, wrote the tragedy of Irene^ frequented the Theatre, and associated with actors and dramatic poets. His works abound with reviews and dissertations on the various branches of theatrical literature. A short time before his death, on the occasion of a visit from Mrs. Siddons, then in the first bloom of her fame, he said, " Madam, whenever you represent Queen Katharine, old as I am, I will once more hobble out to the Theatre to see you.*' Few men were * The words were, "what Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot be wrong 1" t The Hev. Rowland Hill, the Rev. Job Orton, and Miss Hannah More, also attribute the suicide of Budgell to the per- nicious influence of Cato. 113 more apprehensive of the great account, or more doubtful of their own fitness to meet it, than this eminent moralist : if he had believed the Theatre to be such a den of wickedness as it has been re- presented, he would not thus have talked of going there when old and ill, and not expecting to live many weeks. It is true he was wont to speak slight- ingly of the profession of an actor, and under- valued the reputation of Garrick, but he never would allow any one else to do so in his presence ; and when Garrick died, he affectionately eulogized him and his art, in his Life of Smith, by saying that "he had gladdened life, and that his death had eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impove- rished the public stock of harmless pleasure.'* Coleridge, a man whose piety and profound learn- ing almost entitle him to a place among the divines themselves, is the author of a very successful tragedy called Remorse, of another called Za- poli/a, and the translator of Schiller's Wallen- stein, Thompson, the author of the Seasons, whose hymn alone is a sermon, wrote five trage- dies and a masque. LiLLO, Goldsmith, Murphy, BuRGOYNE, and a host of other moral writers, may be added to those we have already named ; and on sum- ming up the list of dramatists, whose amiable and re- ligious lives have thrown an additional lustre on their literary labours, let us not forgot those distinguished ladies, Miss Hannah More, Miss Q 114 Joanna Baillie, Mrs. Inchbald, Miss Mitford, and Mrs. Hemans. Dr. Gregory, in his " Legacy to his Daugh- ters,*' says, " I know no entertainment that gives such pleasure to any person of sentiment or hu- mour as the Theatre. But I am sorry to say there are few English comedies a lady can see, without a shock to delicacy. — Never go to a play that is par- ticularly offensive to delicacy. Tragedy subjects you to no such distress ; its sorrows will soften and ennoble your hearts." Mrs. Chapone, in her "Let- ters to a young Lady," particularly recommends the study of Shakspeare and Milton. " The first,*' says she, " is not only incomparably the noblest genius in dramatic poetry, but the greatest master of nature^ and the most perfect characterizer ofmen and man- ners : in this last point of view, I think him inestima- ble ; and T am persuaded that in the course of your life you will seldom find occasion to correct those observations on human nature, and those principles of morality, which you may extract from his capital pieces.'* D'Israeli, an author of sound moral and literary fame, in his '* Curiosities of Literature," has the following observations : " A gloomy sect was formed, who drawing, as they fancied, the principles of their conduct from the literal pre- cepts of the Gospel, framed those views of hu- man nature, which were more practicable in a desert than in a city, and which were rather 115 suited to a monastic order than to a polished people. These were the Puritans, who at first, perhaps from utter simplicity, amongst other ex- travagant reforms, imagined that of the extinc- tion of the Theatre. Numerous works from that time fatigued their pens and their readers' heads, founded on literal interpretations of the Scriptures, which were applied to our drama, though written ere our drama existed ; and voluminous quotations from the Fathers, who had only witnessed farcical interludes and licentious pantomimes. — The licen- tiousness of our comedies had too often presented a fair occasion for their attacks, and they at length succeeded in purifying the Stage : we owe them this good, but we owe little gratitude to that blind zeal which was desirous of extinguishing the Theatre ; which wanted the taste also to feel that the Theatre was a popular school of morality ; that the Stage is a supplement to the pulpit, where virtue, according to Plato's sublime idea, moves our love and affections when made visible to the eye. Dr. Beattie, Professor of Moral Philosophy, in the College of Aberdeen, says, in his " Ele- ments of Moral Science," *' The only poet^ modern or ancient, who, in the variety of his characters, can vie with Homer, is our great English dramatist, of whom the elegant and judicious Lord Lyttleton boldly, but with no blameable exaggeration, affirms, that if all human things were to perish except the 116 works of Shakspeare, it might still be known from them what man was. But it would require vo- lumes and the labour of years to give a just analysis of the characters of Shakspeare." And further on he adds, " The Drummer^ by Addison, The Con- scious Lovers, by Steele, The Merry Wives of Windsor, by Shakspeare, The Clandestine Mar- riage by Colman and Garrick, are excellent come- dies. Shakspeare's Merry Wives is probably the best in the world.'* The celebrated Edmund Burke, in a letter to Malone, on receiving a copy of his History of the Stage, says, " A history of the Stage is no trivial thing to those who wish to study human nature, in all shapes and positions. It is of all things the most instructive to see not only the reflection of man- ners and characters, at several periods, but the modes of making this reflection, and the manner of adapting it at those periods to the taste and dis- position of mankind. The Stage may be considered as the republic of active literature, and its history as the history of that state." Lord Kames, in his "Elements of Criticism," says, in speaking of tragic writing, '' Many are the good effects of such compositions. A pathetic composition, whether epic or dramatic, tends to a habit of virtue, by exciting us to do what is right, and restraining us from what is wrong. Its frequent pictures of human woes produce besides two effects, extremely salutary j they improve our 117 sympathy, and fortify us to bear our own misfor- tunes. — I cannot imagine any entertainment more suited to a rational being, than a work thus happily illustrating some moral truth ; where a number of persons, of different characters, are engaged in an important action, some retarding, others promoting, the great catastrophe ; and where there is dignity of style as well as matter."* To say that Sir Walter Scott was a friend to the Theatre, will surprise no one. That truly great man was a friend to every art, and a patron of every artist, who by talent or character had any claim on his regard. His name will descend to posterity as one of the greatest human benefactors the world has ever produced, and with his' opinion on the present subject I shall close my extracts. After pointing out some very annoying abuses in the London Theatres, which might be easily re- formed, he says, " Such an arrangement might indeed be objected to by those who entertain a holy horror of the very name of a Theatre ; and who imagine impiety and blasphemy are insepa- rable from the Drama. We have no room left to argue with such persons, or we might endeavour to prove that the dramatic art is in itself as capable of being directed either to right or wrong pur- poses, as the art of printing. It is true that even after a play has been formed upon the most vir- * Chap. xxii. on Epic and Dramatic Compositions. 118 tuous model, the man who is engaged in the duties of religion, will be better employed than he who is seated in a Theatre and listening to it. — The Supreme Being who claimed the seventh day as his own, allowed the other six days of the week for purposes merely human. When the necessity for daily labour is removed, and the call of social duty fulfilled, that of moderate and timely amusement claims its place, as a want inherent in our nature ; to relieve this want, and fill up the mental vacancy, games are devised, books are written, music is composed, spectacles and plays are invented and ex» hibited. And if these last have a moral and virtuous tendency, if the sentiment expressed tend to rouse our love of what is noble, and our contempt of what is mean ; if they unite hundreds in a sympa- thetic admiration of virtue, abhorrence of vice, or derision of folly ; it will remain to be shown how far the spectator is more criminally engaged than if he had passed the evening in the idle gossip of society ; in the feverish pursuits of am- bition ; or in the unsated and insatiable struggle after gain — the grave employments of the present life, but equally unconnected with our existence hereafter."* If I were to proceed with the authorities avail- able, I might easily expand my narrow volume into a * Conclusion of the article Drama, in the Supplement to Encyc. Brit. vol. iii, p. 671, 119 folio,* but I have adduced enough to shew that the enemies of the Stage have principally been excited by its abuses, which they have too readily con- founded with its utility ; and that in all ages it has found powerful advocates, which I certainly have not selected from amongst the "profligate and vicious. "f Yet in the face of all this mass of evidence, Christian preachers, predetermined to judge on the one side only, ascend the pulpit, and gravely tell their congregations that " the Stage is denounced by the religion they profess, and con- demned by the almost unanimous verdict of the whole moral world." Are then the recorded opinions of so many wise and good men to be dismissed like chaff? and is no weight to be attached to the * See Tarious articles in the Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, Observer, World, Connoisseur, Adventurer, and all the leading periodicals, in which the abuses of the Stage are pointed out, improvements suggested, and its general advantages commend- ed. Sir Richard Blackmore, Jonas Hanway, Professor Gel- lert, Dr. Hey, Gilpin, Richardson, Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, with a host of equally moral and religious authors may be add- ed to the long list of those who have written and spoken favourably of the Stage. See appendix to Dr. Plumptre*s Four Discourses. t Dr. Styles quotes Rousseau, as an authority amongst the enemies of the Stage I should be very sorry to have found him in the list of its defenders, and if I had, I should as soon have thought of quoting Spinosa or Voltaire on a question of di- vinity. But we need not wonder at this zealous expediency, since Dr. Styles also quotes Shakspeare, while condemning him, and in this practice he is far from singular. 120 wisdom of the legislative body, which protects the Theatre by law, and the example of the Sovereign who encourages it by her presence and command ? These enthusiastic ministers who pick out texts from Scripture intended for general purposes, apply them individually to the patrons and professors of the Stage, and hurl them at our heads with un- sparing severity, forget that in thus anathematizing an art sanctioned by law, and encouraged by royal countenance, they arm our hands with their own weapons, and enable us to send back other texts with double pungency in their direct application, reminding them " that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully ;"* that they are commanded to '* render unto Caesar the things that are C£esar's,"f '* to submit themselves to every ordinance of man, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors ;'*{ " to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates ;"§ " to render to all their dues, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour."|| In a dissertation on the Stage it may appear strange that so little allusion should have been made to Shakspeare ; but we come to him at last. Dr. Bennett pronounces a high panegyric on his unequalled powers, but adds, "he indulges in profaneness and obscenity to such an extent, as * 1 Timothy, i, 8. t St. Matthew, xxii. 21. t 1 Peter, ii. 13, 14. § Titus, iii. 1. II Rom. xiii. 7. 121 to render his writings, in the form in which he left them, almost unfit for general perusal." He la- ments, "that a connexion with the Stage degraded the mighty genius, which, if exerted in a proper sphere would not only have delighted but benefited mankind, instead of lavishing its energies and pros- tituting its powers to the most grovelling purposes of sin and Satan."* These are hard words. Coarse passages, no doubt there are, scattered through the pages of Shakspeare ; but they impeach the taste and manners of the day more than the character of the writer, and affect the delicacy rather than the moral tendency of his works. They are exceptions, not general features ; nor do they, as is too often the case with his contemporaries, form a leading characteristic of his style. We must also remember, that Shakspeare made no collection of his own works, nor did he ever revise them with a view to pub- lication. Expunge these objectionable sentences, by which his text is disfigured, and we claim for him a degree of excellence which mere mortal genius has never yet arrived at. But if we carry the objection through, it extends to the Bible itself, in which there are passages no father can read aloud in his family ; some of which are passed over in the daily lessons^ and the omission of other chapters, where they occur, has often been recom- mended by learned and pious authorities. There * Sermon, pages 15, 16. R 122 are purified editions of Shakspcare, for the pur- poses of family reading, * and in the plays, as they are now acted, gross passages are either expunged altogether, or softened till they cease to be offensive. Dr. Bennett quotes a detached sentence from Dr. Johnson's celebrated preface, to the following effect. " He (Shakspeare) sacrifices virtue to convenience, and is so much more careful to please than to in- struct, that he seems to write without any moral pur- pose." This carelessness is thus represented as a peculiar attribute of theatrical composition ; but add the contexts which precede and follow the passage, and we observe how much the asperity of Dr. Johnson's opinion is diminished. ''His first defect is that to which may he imputed most of the evils in hooks or in men : he sacrifices virtue to conve- nience, and is so much more careful to please than to instruct, that he seems to write without any moral purpose. From his writings, indeed, a system of social duty may he selected^, for he that thinks rea^onahly must think morally,^' And in another part of Dr. Johnson's preface, he says, " the plays of Shakspeare are filled with practical axioms and domestic wisdom, — from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical pru- dence." This mode of quotation from garbled extracts, savours more of the school of Ignatius Loyola, than of that of John Wesley ; and here Bowdler's Family Shakspeare. 123 we may be allowed to express a reasonable surprise that a minister of what professes to be a reformed section of a reformed church, should rest general arguments on] insulated passages, a principle di- rectly opposed to one of their distinguishing tenets —the totality of Divine law in its collected sense rejecting the application of separated texts. The charge of profaneness against Shakspeare we re- ject at once with indignation, and are prepared to refute it, "pugnis et calcibus, unguibus et rostro." There are few writers, divines included, whose works, in general literature, contain so many evidences of a mind deeply impressed with the beauty of true religion. I was preparing to cite passage on passage from his plays in proof of this, but I am forestalled by the recent publication of an excellent little book, entitled "The Wisdom and Genius of Shakspeare," (with scriptural and other references,) compiled by the Rev. Thomas Price.* The compiler, in his preface, says, " There is one thing worthy of special observation in the morals of Shakspeare, which presents his character in a very interesting light ; I refer to the strong tincture which they have of Divine truth, affording evidence of his mind having been deeply imbued with the pure morality of the Gospel, This highly * Chaplain to her Majesty's Convict Establishment at Woolwich. 124 interesting feature of his morals I have pointed out, in many instances, by references to particular passages of Scripture.'* Dispersed through the vo- lume are considerably more than two hundred ex- tracts, which may be called direct paraphrases of the holy word, and invariably used for the pur- pose of enforcing moral and religious truth. Here is a triumphant answer to the charge of Dr. Bennett, and enough, I hope, to set the question at rest for ever. Shakspeare, to use his own words, " with all his imperfections on his head," is the first and noblest of uninspired writers ; and it is no exaggeration to say, that his works have delighted and benefited mankind, more perhaps, than the united labours of all the catalogue of forgotten authorities enumerated in the voluminous and un-readable work of William Prynne.^ * Histriomastix, or the Player Whipt, 1633, a thick and closely printed 4to. volume of 1004 pages. For publishing this book, Prynne was tried in the Star Chamber, found guilty, and sentenced to be imprisoned for life, to pay a fine of £5000 to the king, to lose both his ears, and to stand twice in the pillory, at Cheapside and Charing Cross, which barbarous sen- tence was executed accordingly. If any advocates of the Stage imagine, that Prynne was thus punished for abusing plays or players, let them <* lay that flattering unction to their souls" no longer. The Star Chamber, that most righteous court, (in fact, the Inquisition under another name,) cared little though every actor and dramatist in the annals of the world, past, present, and to come, had actually been in the place where Prynne wished to consign them. But he had introduced Queen Henri- 125 There is scarcely a human being, from the high- est to the lowest rank, who cannot trace back to Shakspeare some valuable maxim of conduct or the recollection of some hour of delightful enjoyment. He has cheered the labourer in his task of toil, en- couraged the sufferer in the season of adversity, and beguiled the patient in the moment of anguish. He has been appealed to by the divine in the pulpit,* by etta, the consort of Charles I., into bad company, and for the libel against her, the sentence was pronounced. He should have been tried in something more resembling a court of justice, and his sentence should have been less severe. But his book is much too violent to be received as an authority by reason- able minds. It goes beyond prejudice, and reaches fanaticism. We are struck, notwithstanding, with the prodigious learning and research he has brought to bear on his subject. The authorities and extracts he has appealed to, are almost iimu- merable. It might be supposed, that Prynne and Collier had exhausted all that could be scraped together on the topic ; but a few years afterwards, Arthur Bedford put forth a book, called *< The Evil and Danger of Stage Playes," in which most extra- ordinary production he cited 7000 fresh instances of lewd and criminal passages, taken out of plays of the current century alone; and a catalogue of 1400 texts from Scripture, ridiculed by the Stage. On this, D'Israeli shrewdly remarks, in his ** Curiosities of Literature, " " This rehgious anti- dramatist must have been more deeply read in the drama, than even its most fervent lovers. His piety pursued too deeply the study of such impious productions, and such labours were probably not without more amusement than he ought to have found in them." * See a striking instance of this in Bishop Home's Sermon " On the Duty of taking up the Cross." Speaking of the chas- 126 the judge on the bench, the orator in the senate, the pleader at the bar, and the physician in the course of his practice.* To enter on the defence of Shakspeare is to go beyond even a work of su- pererogation. It is to advocate the cause of human nature, with the world for counsel, and an array of witnesses, which, like the army of Xerxes, must be numbered by tens of thousands. Let the enemies of the Stage declaim as they please against its abuses, and we go with them to the fullest extent; but when they deny that these have been amended, or are capable of amendment, we take our stand, and are prepared to combat all their arguments. The axe has been freely applied, and the tree is flourishing in wholesome verdure. tisements of God, he says, ** so saith our heavenly Father of his children, " whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth !" and then in a note he adds, " how finely is this touched by the hand of our great poet :— " Consideration like an angel came, And whipt the offending Adam out of him." King Henry V. Act i. Sc. i. * See Sir H. Halford's Essays and Orations, cr. 8vo. 1831, where he relates an extraordinary case of insanity, which? when all other means failed, he proved by the test of Shaks- peare. <« Bring me to the test, And I the matter will reword, which madness Would gambol from." Hamlet, Act hi. Sc. last. 127 Exuberant branches still remain, which the gra- dual progress of refinement, in morals and man- ners, and the advance of general knowledge, will continue to trim by suitable degrees. The wis- dom of the world has determined that gradual reform is a better practical system, and one more likely to be permanent than violent revolu- tion. We are content to be reformed, which, no doubt, we have required ; but there is no reason why we should be abolished. The Stage has been too long sanctioned by time and opinion; it has obtained too strong a hold over the feelings and prejudices of mankind, to be weakened by open hostility. This declaration of " war to the knife," on the part of its enemies, is- detrimental to their cause, and serviceable to ours. Where one man is bullied out of an error, a hundred are won by mild persuasion. Goldsmith's clergyman con- verted the " fools who came to scoff" by '' meek and unaffected grace." Let me again refer our opponents to one of their own high authorities, Dr. Watts, who says, most truly, " The softest and gentlest address to the erroneous, is the best way to convince them of their mistake. Sometimes it is necessary to represent to your opponent that he is not far from the truth, and that you would fain draw him a little nearer to it. Commend and es- tablish whatever he says that is just and true, as our blessed Saviour treated the young Scribe, when he answered well concerning the two great command- 128 merits : '^ Thou art not far," says our Lord, "from the kingdom of heaven." — Mark, xli. 34. Imitate the mildness and conduct of the blessed Jesus. It is a very great and fatal mistake in persons who at- tempt to convince and reconcile others to their party, when they make the difference appear as wide as possible ; this is shocking to any person who is to be convinced ; he will rather choose to keep and maintain his own opinions if he cannot come into yours without renouncing and abandoning every thing that he believed before. Human nature must be flattered a little as well as reasoned with, that so the argument may be able to come at the under- standing, which otherwise will be thrust oflf at a distance. If you charge a man with nonsense and absurdities, with heresy and self-contradiction, you take a very wrong step towards convincing him. Always remember that error is not to be rooted out of the mind of man by reproaches and railing, by flashes of wit and biting jests, by loud exclama- tions or sharp ridicule ; long declamations and tri- umph over our neighbour's mistake will not prove the way to convince him ; these are signs either of a bad cause, or a want of argument, or capacity for the defence of a good one."* If our opponents would deal with us on this principle of Christian toleration, we should listen to their objections with respect, and would endeavour * Dr. Watts, <' On the Improvement of the Mind." Part ii. c. 3. I 129 to remove them ; but their cry is "you are inveterate sinners, and we hold no communion with you." They hunt us down as the first followers of Maho- met did their adversaries, with their doctrines in one hand, and the sword in the other, shouting aloud '' receive or die." The Stage, as it is now regula- ted, taken with a reasonable allowance, does, as Shakspeare says is its object, " hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature ; show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time, his form and pressure." The gene- ral tendency of plays, as now acted, is to promote the cause of religion, to recommend virtue and morality, and to discountenance vice. Instances of bad characters are brought forward, and crimes are delineated, as no representation of human life could be perfect without them. Evil persons in plays, as in reality, speak the sentiments they feel, and recommend the actions they practise, but they are not produced as examples to be imitated, but rather as exceptions to be shunned. Depravity and wickedness, are no where more frequently pourtrayed in all the disgusting colours of their nature, than in the Sacred Volume. These cases, with their concomitant punishments, are our lessons, teaching us what we are to avoid ; and the Drama depicts them with the same moral purpose. Yet some reasoners against the Theatre extend their ob- jections to the extreme of saying, that it is a perni- cious school, because vicious characters are repre- s 130 sented. According to the poet, " the proper study of mankind is man." * But we exhibit only the least profitable part of the lesson, if we show him in his beauty alone, and withhold the deformities by which he is too often disfigured. It is by the contrast of vice, that the excellence of virtue is made apparent, as by the skilful managemetit of light and shade, the painter produces his most stri- king effects. Plutarch says, in his life of Deme- trius, " we shall behold and imitate the virtuous, with greater attention, if we be not entirely unac- quainted with the characters of the vicious, and infamous.'* When some one blamed Euripides, for bringing such a flagitious villain as Ixion on the Stage, he is reported to have given this answer, " but yet I brought him not off till I had fastened him to a burning wheel."f But even if wickedness were sometimes represented as triumphant, in what purports to be a correct picture of human life, there would be no deviation from truth, nor would the moral be the less important. We know that in this world vice and virtue are not always treat- ed according to their deserts. "Whatever plea- sure there may be," says Dr. Johnson in his Life of Addison, in seeing crimes punished, and virtue re- warded, yet since wickedness often prospers in real life, the poet is certainly at liberty to give it pros- perity upon the Stage. For if poetry has an imi- * Pope. f Plut. De Audiend. Poetis. 131 tation of reality, how are its laws broken by exhi- biting the world In its true form ? The Stage must sometimes gratify our wishes, but if it be truly the " mirror of life," it ought to show us some- times what we are to expect." The heaviest of all Dr. Bennett's charges is couched in the following terms. " So far are plays in general from inculcating the spirit of Gospel morality, that for any internal evidence to the con- trary, they might have been composed by men who f>^ never heard of the Christian revelation; or who having heard of it, are bent upon opposing its in- struction, undermining its authority, and establish- ing a system of motives and conduct not only incom- patible with, but subversive of its sway. / design this censure to he sweeping and universal.'' This is even a harsher judgment than that pronounced against the condemned city, which would have been spared at the intercession of Abraham, had ten righteous men been found within its walls.* Our answer to this is contained in the direct evi- dence we have tendered as to the true Christian feeling of Shakspeare, and the list we have given of learned divines and eminent moralists, who have written for the Stage. If that list, and those pro- ductions, be not sufficient to set aside this universal censure, any further argument on the subject is * Genesis, xviii. 32. 132 worse than useless. We must rely on those testi- monies or our cause is gone. Dr. Bennett follows up the last remark by add- ing, «' While I cannot, of course, say from my own knowledge that the modern Drama pre- sents no exception to it, [this censure,] I can truly say that I am not acquainted with such an ex- ception ; 1 do not know one acted play in which there are not serious moral faults, the Bible being the standard of appeal.'' If we are to understand by this that his acquaintance with the modern Dra- ma is limited and not general, it will be difficult to reconcile wholesale condemnation with such confined knowledge of the subject. The Bible is a trying standard by which to estimate the gravest avo- cations of this life ; how much more difficult, then, must it be to keep parallel to that exalted model in our lighter recreations ? This may be almost called judging the creature by the attributes of the Creator ; but the Bible being given to us as our guide, it is our duty to come as near to it as our imperfect nature will allow. The nearest approach can be no more than an approximation ; weighed in this all perfect balance, the purest of human hearts, and the most blameless of human produc- tions, must still be found lamentably wanting. To require then that any plays, when rigidly judged by an appeal to the Bible, should be found entirely free from fault, is to demand an evident absurdity, and to elevate the Drama beyond the excellence of 133 even the most perfect known systems of moral phi- losophy. Let us be content with showing, that its tendencies preponderate on the side of virtue, and the Stage must be admitted as an institution beneficial to mankind. In what manner can the valuable lessons of history be so powerfully im- pressed on the mind, as in the historical plays of Shakspeare and other leading dramatists ? We see there placed before us, in actual existence, the ani- mated reality of what before we were only ac- quainted with through the cold medium of descrip- tion. The genius of the poet, aided by the executive talent of the actor, recal the by-gone ages of the world, and make them pass in review as in a living panorama. The scenes, the actions, and the characters of men, are thus stamped on our memories, with a strength and accuracy, which mere reading or relation could never accomplish.* " The Drama,'* says Lord Bacon, " is as a history brought before the eyes ; it presents the image of things as if they were present, while history treats of them as things past."f There are few plays which contain a more * " Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus." Hor. de A rt. Poet. f " Dramatica poesis est veluti historia spectabilis, nam con- stituit imaginem rerum tanquam prsesentium, historia autem tanquam prseteritarum." — Be Augm. Scientiar. lib. ii.c. 13. 134 applicable, though homely moral, than Lillo's old- fashioned tragedy of George Barnwell^ which is usually acted at those holiday times, when young merchants and apprentices frequent the Theatre. A remarkable instance of the efficacy of this play is recorded in the life of the celebrated actor, Ross. A young clerk, whose follies had placed him pre- cisely in the situation of George Barnwell, hav- ing, by the influence of a wanton, defrauded his master of £200, was taken alarmingly ill, and in an interview with his physician. Dr. Barrowby, con- fessed the whole of the circumstances, from an impression created on his mind, by seeing Mr. Ross and Mrs. Pritchard in the principal characters of the tragedy. The Doctor communicated the case to the youth's father, who paid the money in- stantly. The son recovered, and became an emi- nent merchant and a good Christian. In a letter from Ross to a friend, dated 20th August, 17875 are these words : " Though I never knew his name, or saw him to my knowledge, I had, for nine or ten years, at my benefit, a note sealed up with ten guineas, and these words, a tribute of gratitude from one who was highly obliged and saved from ruin^ by seeing Mr. Ross's performance of Georg^ Barnwell."* Had Ross been a minister of the * Baker's Biog. Dram. vol. ii. pages 377-8. Dr. Barrowby, with reference to this incident, said to Ross in the Green Room, " you have done some good in your profession, more perhaps than many a clergyman who preached last Sunday." 135 Gospel instead of an actor, he could scarcely have received a more convincing proof of the sound morality of his doctrine. During the run of the popular drama of the Maid and Magpie, a ser- vant girl in the gallery was so overcome by the natural pathos of Miss Kelly, that she cried out, " she's innocent — I stole the spoons, and they are in such a place." Many similar instances have been recorded, how " Guilty creatures sitting at a play Have, by the very cunning of the scene, Been struck so to the soul, that presently They have proclaimed their malefactions."* Herodotus relates a striking incident of the effects of tragedy upon the Athenians. When Phrynichus produced a drama, called The Captive of Miletus, the whole Theatre burst into tears, applying the subject to their own national calami- ties. They interdicted the future performance, and condemned the poet to pay a fine of a thousand drachm as. f Alexander, tyrant of Pharaea, wept at a tragedy of Euripides, and wondered at the * Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. last. M;A^T6y uXaa-iVy ku) di^cc^xvri, h ^ciK^vd rs eVgo-g to Sinr^ov, text 8|- vj^iaa-xv f^iv, aq xvuf^yii(rxvrx oUt/Uca Ketxu ^tXin