A SHORT

VIEW
OF THE
Immorality, and Profaneness

OF THE

English Stage,
TOGETHER

With the Sence of Antiquity

upon this Argument,
By J E R E M Y C O L L I E R , M.A.

London, Printed for S. Keble at the Turk's-Head

in Fleetstreet, R. Sare at Gray's-Inn-Gate,
and H. Hindmarsh against the Exchange in
Cornhil. 1698.

THE

PREFACE
Being convinc'd that nothing has gone farther in Debauching the Age than
the Stage Poets, and Play-House, I thought I could not employ my time better than
in writing against them. These Men sure, take Vertue and Regularity, for great
Enemies, why else is their Disaffection so veryRemarkable? It must be said, They
have made their Attack with great Courage, and gain'd no
inconsiderable Advantage. But it seems Lewdness without Atheism, is but half
their Business. Conscience might possibly recover, and Revenge be thought on;
and therefore like Foot-Pads, they must not only Rob, but Murther. To do them
right their Measures are Politickly taken: To make sure work on't, there's nothing
like Destroying of Principles; Practise must follow of Course. For to have no good
Principles, is to have no Reason to be Good. Now 'tis not to be expected that
people should check their Appetites, and balk their Satisfactions, they don't know
why. If Virtue has no Prospect, 'tis not worth the owning. Who would
betroubled with Conscience if 'tis only a Bugbear, and has
nothing in't but Vision, and the Spleen?

My Collection from the English Stage, is much short of what They are able to

furnish. An Inventory of their Ware-House would have been a largeWork: But
being afraid of over charging the Reader, I thought a Pattern might do.
In Translating the Fathers, I have endeavour'd to keep close to
their Meaning: However, in some few places, I have taken the Liberty of throwing
in a Word or two; To clear the Sense, to preserve the Spirit of the Original, and
keep the English upon its Legs.

There's one thing more to acquaint the Reader with; 'Tis that I have Ventured
to change the Terms of Mistress and Lover, for others somewhat morePlain, but
much more Proper. I don't look upon This as
any failure in Civility. As Good and Evil are different in Themselves, so they
ought to bedifferently Mark'd. To confound them in Speech, is the way
to confound them in Practise. Ill Qualities ought to have ill Names, to prevent their
being Catching. Indeed Things are in a great
measure Govern'd by Words: To Guild over a foul Character, serves only to
perplex the Idea, to encourage the Bad, and mislead the Unwary. To
treat Honour, and Infamy alike, is an injury to Virtue, and a sort
of Levelling in Morality. I confess, I have no Ceremony for Debauchery. For
to Compliment Vice, is but one Remove from worshipping the Devil.

March 5th. 169 .78

THE INTRODUCTION.

The business of Plays is to recomend Virtue, and discountenance Vice; To shew

the Uncertainty of Humane Greatness, the suddain Turns of Fate, and the Unhappy
Conclusions of Violence and Injustice: 'Tis to expose the Singularities of Pride and
Fancy, to make Folly and Falsehood contemptible, and to bring every Thing that is
Ill Under Infamy, and Neglect. This Design has been oddly pursued by the English
Stage. Our Poets write with a different View, and are gone into an other Interest.
'Tis true, were their Intentions fair, they might be Serviceable to this Purpose. They
have in a great measure the Springs of Thought and Inclination in their Power.
Show, Musick, Action, and Rhetorick, are moving Entertainments; and rightly
employ'd would be very {2}significant. But Force and Motion are Things
indifferent, and the Use lies chiefly in the Application. These Advantages are now,
in the Enemies Hand, and under a very dangerous Management. Like Cannon
seized they are pointed the wrong way, and by the Strength of the Defence the
Mischief is made the greater. That this Complaint is not unreasonable I shall
endeavour to prove by shewing the Misbehaviour of the Stage with respect to
Morality, and Religion. Their Liberties, in the Following Particulars are
intolerable. viz. Their Smuttiness of Expression; Their Swearing, Profainness, and
Lewd Application of Scripture; Their Abuse of the Clergy; Their making their Top
Characters Libertines, and giving them Success in their Debauchery. This Charge,
with some other Irregularities, I shall make good against the Stage, and shew both
the Novelty and Scandal of the Practise. And first, I shall begin with the Rankness,
and Indecency of their Language.

CHAP. I.The Immodesty of the Stage.

In treating this Head, I hope the Reader does not expect that I should set down
Chapter and Page, and give him the Citations at Length. To do this would be a very
unacceptable and Foreign Employment. Indeed the Passages, many of them, are in
no Condition to be handled: He that is desirous to see these Flowers let him do it in
their own Soil: 'Tis my business rather to kill the Root than Transplant it. But that
the Poets may not complain of Injustice; I shall point to the Infection at a Distance,
and refer in General to Play and Person.

Now among the Curiosities of this kind we may reckon Mrs. Pinchwife, Horner,
and Lady Fidget in the Country Wife; Widdow Blackacre and Olivia in the Plain
Dealer. These, tho' not all the exceptionable Characters, are the most remarkable.
I'm sorry the Author should stoop his Wit thus Low, and use his Understanding so
unkindly. Some People {4}appear Coarse, and Slovenly out of Poverty: They can't
well go to the Charge of Sense. They are Offensive like Beggars for want of
Necessaries. But this is none of the Plain Dealer's case; He can afford his Muse a
better Dress when he pleases. But then the Rule is, where the Motive is the less, the
Fault is the greater. To proceed. Jacinta, Elvira, Dalinda, and Lady Plyant, in the
Mock Astrologer, Spanish Friar, Love Triumphant and Double Dealer, forget
themselves extreamly: And almost all the Characters in the Old Batchelour, are
foul and nauseous. Love for Love, and the Relapse, strike sometimes upon this
Sand, and so likewise does Don Sebastian.

I don't pretend to have read the Stage Through, neither am I Particular to my

Utmost. Here is quoting enough unless 'twere better: Besides, I may have occasion
to mention somewhat of this kind afterwards. But from what has been hinted
already, the Reader may be over furnish'd. Here is a large Collection of
Debauchery; such Pieces are rarely to be met with: 'Tis Sometimes painted at
Length too, and appears in great Variety of Progress and Practise. It wears almost
all sorts of Dresses to engage the Fancy, and fasten upon the {5}Memory, and keep
up the Charm from Languishing. Sometimes you have it in Image and Description;
sometimes by way of Allusion; sometimes in Disguise; and sometimes without it.
And what can be the Meaning of such a Representation, unless it be to Tincture the
Audience, to extinguish Shame, and make Lewdness a Diversion? This is the
natural Consequence, and therefore one would think 'twas the Intention too. Such
Licentious Discourse tends to no point but to stain the Imagination, to awaken
Folly, and to weaken the Defences of Virtue: It was upon the account of these
Disorders that Plato banish'd Poets his Common Wealth: And one of the Fathers
calls Poetry, Vinum Dæmonum an intoxicating Draught, made up by the Devils
Dispensatory.

I grant the Abuse of a Thing is no Argument against the use of it. However Young
people particularly, should not entertain themselves with a Lewd Picture;
especially when 'tis drawn by a Masterly Hand. For such a Liberty may probably
raise those Passions which can neither be discharged without Trouble, nor
satisfyed without a Crime: 'Tis not safe for a Man to trust his Virtue too far, for
fear it should give {6}him the slip! But the danger of such an Entertainment is but
part of the Objection: 'Tis all Scandal and meanness into the bargain: it does in
effect degrade Human Nature, sinks Reason into Appetite, and breaks down the
Distinctions between Man and Beast. Goats and Monkeys if they could speak,
would express their Brutality in such Language as This.To argue the Matter more
at large.

Smuttiness is a Fault in Behaviour as well as in Religion. 'Tis a very Coarse

Diversion, the Entertainment of those who are generally least both in Sense, and
Station. The looser part of the Mob, have no true relish of Decency and Honour,
and want Education, and Thought, to furnish out a gentile Conversation.
Barrenness of Fancy makes them often take up with those Scandalous Liberties. A
Vitious Imagination may blot a great deal of Paper at this rate with ease enough:
And 'tis possible Convenience may sometimes invite to the Expedient. The Modern
Poets seem to use Smut as the Old Ones did Machines, to relieve a fainting
Invention. When Pegasus is jaded, and would stand still, he is apt like other Tits to
run into every Puddle.

Obscenity in any Company is a rustick uncreditable Talent; but among Women 'tis
particularly rude. Such Talk would be very affrontive in Conversation, and not
endur'd by any Lady of Reputation. Whence then comes it to Pass that those
Liberties which disoblige so much in Conversation, should entertain upon the
Stage. Do the Women leave all the regards to Decency and Conscience behind
them when they come to the Play-House? Or does the Place transform their
Inclinations, and turn their former Aversions into Pleasure? Or were Their
pretences to Sobriety elsewhere nothing but Hypocrisy and Grimace? Such
Suppositions as these are all Satyr and Invective: They are rude Imputations upon
the whole Sex. To treat the Ladys with such stuff is no better than taking their
Money to abuse them. It supposes their Imagination vitious, and their Memories ill
furnish'd: That they are practised in the Language of the Stews, and pleas'd with
the Scenes of Brutishness. When at the same time the Customs of Education, and
the Laws of Decency, are so very cautious, and reserv'd in regard to Women: I say
so very reserv'd, that 'tis almost a Fault for them to Understand they are ill Used.
{8}They can't discover their Disgust without disadvantage, nor Blush without
disservice to their Modesty. To appear with any skill in such Cant, looks as if they
had fallen upon ill Conversation; or Managed their Curiosity amiss. In a word, He
that treats the Ladys with such Discourse, must conclude either that they like it, or
they do not. To suppose the first, is a gross Reflection upon their Virtue. And as for
the latter case, it entertains them with their own Aversion; which is ill Nature, and
ill Manners enough in all Conscience. And in this Particular, Custom and
Conscience, the Forms of Breeding, and the Maxims of Religion are on the same
side. In other Instances Vice is often too fashionable; But here a Man can't be a
Sinner, without being a Clown.In this respect the Stage is faulty to a Scandalous
degree of Nauseousness and Aggravation. For

1st. The Poets make Women speak Smuttily. Of This the Places before mention'd
are sufficient Evidence: And if there was occasion they might be Multiplyed to a
much greater Number: Indeed the Comedies are seldom clear of these Blemishes:
And sometimes you have them in Tragedy. For Instance. {9}The Orphans
Monimia makes a very improper Description; And the Royal Leonora in the
Spanish Friar, runs a strange Length in the History of Love p. 50. And, do
Princesses use to make their Reports with such fulsom Freedoms? Certainly this
Leonora was the first Queen of her Family. Such raptures are too Lascivious for
Joan of Naples. Are these the Tender Things Mr. Dryden says the Ladys call on
him for? I suppose he means the Ladys that are too Modest to show their Faces in
the Pit. This Entertainment can be fairly design'd for none but such. Indeed it hits
their Palate exactly. It regales their Lewdness, graces their Character, and keeps up
their Spirits for their Vocation: Now to bring Women under such Misbehaviour is
Violence to their Native Modesty, and a Mispresentation of their Sex. For Modesty
as Mr. RapinReflect upon Aristot. &c.

Eurip. Hippolit. observes, is the Character of Women. To represent them without

this Quality, is to make Monsters of them, and throw them out of their Kind.
Euripides, who was no negligent Observer of Humane Nature, is always careful of
this Decorum. Thus Phædra when possess'd with an infamous Passion, takes all
imaginable pains to conceal it. She is as {10}regular and reserv'd in her Language
as the most virtuous Matron. 'Tis true, the force of Shame and Desire; The Scandal
of Satisfying, and the difficulty of parting with her Inclinations, disorder her to
Distraction. However, her Frensy is not Lewd; She keeps her Modesty even after
She has lost her Wits. Had Shakespear secur'd this point for his young Virgin
Ophelia,Hamlet. the Play had been better contriv'd. Since he was resolv'd to drown
the Lady like a Kitten, he should have set her a swimming a little sooner. To keep
her alive only to sully her Reputation, and discover the Rankness of her Breath,
was very Cruel. But it may be said the Freedoms of Distraction go for nothing, a
Feavour has no Faults, and a Man non Compos, may kill without Murther. It may
be so: But then such People ought to be kept in dark Rooms and without Company.
To shew them, or let them loose, is somewhat unreasonable. But after all, the
Modern Stage seems to depend upon this Expedient. Women are sometimes
represented Silly, and sometimes Mad, to enlarge their Liberty, and screen their
Impudence from Censure: This Politick Contrivance we have in Marcella,Don
Quixot. Relapse. Love for Love. Hoyden, and Miss Prue. However {11}it amounts
to this Confession; that Women when they have their Understandings about them
ought to converse otherwise. In fine; Modesty is the distinguishing Vertue of that
Sex, and serves both for Ornament and Defence: Modesty was design'd by
Providence as a Guard to Virtue; And that it might be always at Hand, 'tis wrought
into the Mechanism of the Body. 'Tis likewise proportioned to the occasions of
Life, and strongest in Youth when Passion is so too. 'Tis a Quality as true to
Innocence, as the Sences are to Health; whatever is ungrateful to the first, is
prejudicial to the latter. The Enemy no sooner approaches, but the Blood rises in
Opposition, and looks Defyance to an Indecency. It supplys the room of
Reasoning, and Collection: Intuitive Knowledge can scarcely make a quicker
Impression; And what then can be a surer Guide to the Unexperienced? It teaches
by suddain Instinct and Aversion; This is both a ready and a powerful Method of
instruction. The Tumult of the Blood and Spirits, and the Uneasiness of the
Sensation, are of singular Use. They serve to awaken Reason, and prevent surprize.
Thus the Distinctions of Good and Evil are refresh'd, and the Temptation kept at
proper Distance.

2ly. They Represent their single Ladys, and Persons of Condition, under these
Disorders of Liberty, This makes the Irregularity still more Monstrous and a
greater Contradiction to Nature, and Probability: But rather than not be Vitious,
they will venture to spoil a Character. This mismanagement we have partly seen
already. Jacinta,Mock Astrologer. Old Batchelour. and Belinda are farther proof.
And the Double Dealer is particularly remarkable. There are but Four Ladys in this
Play, and Three of the biggest of them are Whores. A Great Compliment to Quality
to tell them there is not above a quarter of them Honest! This was not the Roman
Breeding, Terence and Plautus his Strumpets were Little people; but of this more
hereafter.

3dly. They have oftentimes not so much as the poor refuge of a Double Meaning to
fly to. So that you are under a necessity either of taking Ribaldry or Nonsence. And
when the Sentence has two Handles, the worst is generally turn'd to the Audience.
The Matter is so Contrived that the Smut and Scum of the Thought rises
uppermost; And like a Picture drawn to Sight, looks always upon the Company.

4ly. And which is still more extraordinary: the Prologues, and Epilogues are
sometimes Scandalous to the last degree.Mock Astrologer. Country Wife.
Cleomenes. Old Batchelour. I shall discover them for once, and let them stand like
Rocks in the Margin. Now here properly speaking the Actors quit the Stage, and
remove from Fiction, into Life. Here they converse with the Boxes, and Pit, and
address directly to the Audience. These Preliminarie and concluding Parts, are
design'd to justify the Conduct of the Play, and bespeak the Favour of the
Company. Upon such Occasions one would imagine if ever, the Ladys should be
used with Respect, and the Measures of Decency observ'd, But here we have
Lewdness without Shame or Example: Here the Poet exceeds himself. Here are
such Strains as would turn the Stomach, of an ordinary Debauchee, and be almost
nauseous in the Stews. And to make it the more agreeable, Women are Commonly
pick'd out for this Service. Thus the Poet Courts the good opinion of the Audience.
This is the Desert he regales the Ladys with at the Close of the Entertainment: It
seems He thinks They have admirable Palats! Nothing can be a greater Breach of
Manners then such Liberties as these. If a Man would study to outrage Quality and
Vertue, he could not do it more Effectually.

5thly. Smut is still more insufferable with respect to Religion. The Heathen
Religion was in a great Measure a Mystery of Iniquity. Lewdness was Consecrated
in the Temples, as well as practised in the Stews. Their Deitys were great
Examples of Vice, and worship'd with their own Inclination. 'Tis no wonder
therefore their Poetry should be tinctured with their Belief, and that the Stage
should borrow some of the Liberties of their Theology.....But the Christian
Religion is quite of an other Complexion. Both its Precepts, and Authorities, are
the highest discouragement to Licentiousness. It forbids the remotest Tendencies to
Evil, Banishes the Follies of Conversation, and Obliges up to Sobriety of Thought.
That which might pass for Raillery, and Entertainment in Heathenism, is detestable
in Christianity. The Restraint of the Precept, and the Quality of the {15}Deity, and
the Expectations of Futurity quite alter the Case.