The stage defended, from Scripture, reason, experience, and the common sense of mankind, for two thousand years. Occasion'd by Mr. Law's late pamphlet against stage-entertainments. In a letter to ****** By Mr. Dennis

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- TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE DODINGTON, Esq One of the LORDS COMMISSIONERS of His Majesty's Treasury.

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The STAGE defended, &c.

To _____ Esq

SIR,

WHEN you desire to know my Sentiments concerning Mr. Law's late Pamphlet against the Stage, you make a Request, which 'tis not so easy for me to satisfy as you may perhaps imagine: For I really never was so much at a Loss to know what an Author meant. Sometimes I am inclined to think him in good earnest; and sometimes I believe, that there are Grounds to susbect, that he design'd this whole Pamphlet for nothing but a spiritual Banter; for there seems to me to be a Necessity of believing, either that a Clergyman, as Mr. Law is, should be profoundly ignorant of the sacred Writings, a Man of Letters of the Nature of Dramatick Poems, and one who had liv'd long enough in the World to have some Experience of the present State of Religion, and Virtue, and Vice, among us; or a Necessity of concluding, that while Mr. Law is declaiming with so much furious Zeal against the Stage and Players, he is all that while acting a Part, and shewing himself a great Comedian.

When Mr. Law is putting Idolatry and frequenting the Playhouse upon an equal Foot, he seems to be playing a Part: for he cannot but know, that St. Paul was of another Mind, who when he was at Athens, the very Source of Dramatick Poetry, said a great deal publickly against their Idolatry, but not one Word against their Stage. When he was afterwards at Corinth, as little did he say against theirs: For St. Paul, who was educated in all the Learning of the Grecians, who had read all their Poets, who in the vjth Chapter of the Acts, Ver. 28, quotes Aratus, and Epimenides, in the first Chapter of his Epistle to Titus, Ver. 10, could not but have read all their noble Dramatick Poems; and yet has been so far from speaking one Word against them, that he has made use of them for the Instruction and Conversion of Mankind. And when afterwards he wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians, he did not scruple, for their Instruction, to make use of an Athenian Play; for all the World knows, that Evil Communications corrupt Good Manners, 1 Cor. xv. 33. is taken from an Athenian Dramatick Poet. Does Mr. Law believe that that Epistle, and consequently that Verse, was dictated by the Holy Ghost or not? Can Mr. Law believe, that St. Paul was guided by the Spirit of God to make Choice of that Verse for the Instruction▪ and Conversion of the Corinthians? And can he believe at the same Time, that the Theatre, as he more than once declares it, is the Temple of the Devil? If any one should affirm, That St. Paul was guided by the Spirit of God, to take a Verse from the Temple of the Devil, would it not be such horrid Blasphemy as would make even the Blood of the most profligate of all Players to curdle within the Miscreant's Veins. But if St. Paul had in the least believed, that the Athenian Stage was the Sink of Sin and Corruption, as Mr. Law says every Stage is, he would not have fail'd to reproach them with it, in order to check the spreading Evil. He who dares talk openly and boldly against the National Religion of a People, may very well venture to condemn their Vices and evil Customs. But St. Paul not only says nothing at all against Dramatick Poetry, but makes use of it for the Conversion and Reformation of Mankind. Now I would fain know, if quoting a Dramatick Poet, without giving the least Caution against the Stage, be not a downright Approbation of Dramatick Poetry, and establishing the Stage by no lesser an Authority than that of the Spirit of God himself.

If we look into the Old Testament, we shall find, that the Kings of Israel and Judah, they and their Reigns, were declared righteous or wicked, according as those Kings were Idolaters or not Idolaters; and that no Sin whatever was reckon'd so abominable as Idolatry. Solomon, who had seven hundred Wives, had no less than three hundred Concubines; and yet when God threatened to rend Ten Tribes of his Subjects from him, it was only for his Idolatry, because he had forsaken God, and had worshipped Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the God of the Moabites, and Milcom the God of the Children of Ammon, 1 Kings xj. For it came to pass, that when Solomon was old, his Wives turned away his Hear after other Gods, and his Heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the Heart of David his Father, ibid. Ver. 4. Now David committed Adultery with Bathsheba, and murdered her Husband Uriah; yet these Sin that were of so flagrant a Nature that they brought a Plague upon Israel, were venial, compared to Idolatry. They brought, indeed, a Plague upon the People, but they deposed the King from no Part of his Subjects, as the Idolatry of Solomon did his Son Rehoboam. In short, Idolatry is by so much more criminal than the Transgression of any other divine Commandment, as the Attempt to depose a King and to set up a Pretender, is a Crime of a higher Nature than the Breach of any other human Law.

As it is hard to imagine, that Mr. Law should be ignorant of what has been said above, it gave me just Cause to suspect his Sincerity: But when I came to the Passage which he quotes from Archbishop Tillotson, in the 38th Page of his Pamplet, I found that he prevaricated so vilely in it, that the Hypocrisy became immediately manifest: For he has omitted the former Part of the Passage, because it makes directly against him. It is as follows:

To speak against them (viz. Plays) in general, may be thought too severe, and that which the present Age cannot so well brook, and would not perhaps be so just and reasonable, because it is very possible they might be so framed, and governed by such Rules, as not only to be innocent and diverting, but instructive and useful, to put some Vices and Follies out of Countenance, which cannot perhaps be so decently reproved, nor so effectually exposed and corrected any other Way. All this, as I have said above, he has purposely omitted, because it makes point blank against him.

For after he has told us, in this blessed Pamphlet, That the Playhouse is the Temple of the Devil, a more delightful Habitation for him than ever any Temple that he had in the Heathen World, where Impurity and Filthiness, immodest Songs, prophane Rants, Lust, and Passions, entertain the Audience, a Place, the peculiar Pleasure of the Devil, where all they who go, yield to the Devil, go over to his Party, and become Members of his Congregation, where all the Laughter is not only vain and foolish, but that it is a Laughter among Devils; that all who are there, are upon prophane Ground, and hearing Musick in the very Porch of Hell. After he has bestow'd all this fine Language upon it, and all these fragrant Flowers of Rhetorick, he assures us, that the Playhouse is all that he has said, not thro' any accidental Abuse, as any innocent or good Thing may be abused, but by its genuine Hellish Nature; which is directly contrary to what the foremention'd illustrious Prelate has said. Mr. Law says, that every Entertainment of the Stage is in its Nature unlawful, abominable, and infernal. The Archbishop assures us, that the Entertainments of the Stage may be so managed, as not only to be innocent, but useful and instructive; nay, that they may even become necessary for the exposing some certain Follies, and the correcting some certain Vices.

As Mr. Law has shewn his Want of Sincerity in the foresaid Quotation, he gives us great Reasons to suspect it in his Invectives against the Drama. For 'tis hard to conceive, that a Man of Letters should be so ignorant of the Nature of a legitimate Dramatick Poem, as those Invectives suppose him; for 'tis such only that we pretend to defend, and abhor the Productions of ignorant and impure Poetasters as much as he does. 'Tis hard to conceive, that a Man who has read the Classicks, should not know that a legitimate Dramatick Poem, either of the Comick or Tragick Kind, is a Fable, and as much a Fable as any one of Aesop's, agreeing in Genus, and differing only in Species. Terence has told him in almost every one of his Prologues, that every Comedy is a Fable; and he begins his very first to Andrea with it.

Poeta cum primum animum ad scribendum appulit,

Id sibi negoti credidit solum dari,

Populo ut placerent quas fecisset Fabulas.

And Horace tells us the same Thing concerning Tragedy, more than once or twice:

Neve minor quinto, neu sit productior actu

Fabula. De Arte Poet.

And we find in the same Treatise;

Interdam speciosa locis, morataque recte

Fabula.

And likewise again;

Nec Quodcunque volet poscat sibi Fabula credi.

Mr. Law cannot but know, that the Instruction by Fables and Parables, which mean the same Thing, was mightily in Use among the wise Ancients, and especially among the sacred Writers; that we have an Example of it, of about three thousand Years standing, in the Parable of Jothan. And that Jesus Christ, who best knew the Nature of Men, made use of Fables or Parables, as most proper at the same Time, both to please, and instruct, and perswade. For a Fable is a Discourse most aptly contrived to form the Manners of Men by Instructions disguised under the Allegory of an Action. And therefore he could not chuse but know, that every legitimate Dramatick Poem, either of the Comick or Tragick Kind, is not a mere Diversion, as he pretends, but a philosophical and moral Lecture, in which the Poet is Teacher, and the Spectators are his Disciples, as Horace insinuates in the three following Verses:

Nec minimum meruere Decus vestigia Graeca

Ausi deserere & celebrare Domestica Facta

Vel qui Praetextas, vel qui docuere togatas.

And knowing all this, he could not but know that 'tis very hard, if not very extravagant, to put the frequenting moral Lectures upon the same Foot with Idolatry.

If Mr. Law has read either Aristotle or any of his Interpreters, as 'tis hard to imagine that he should think himself qualified to write against the Stage if he had read none of them, he cannot but know, that as the Action of a Dramatick Fable is universal and allegorical, the Characters are so likewise. For as when Aesop introduces a Horse, or a Dog, or a Wolf, or a Lion, he does not pretend to shew us any singular Animal, but only to shew the Nature of that Creature, as far as the Occasion where it appears admits of; so when a Dramatick Poet sets before us his Characters, he does not pretend to entertain us with particular Persons, tho' he may give them particular Names; but proposes to lay before us general and allegorical Fantoms, and to make them talk and act as Persons compounded of such and such Qualities, would talk and act upon like Occasions, in order to give proper Instructions.

Now as a Dramatick Fable is a Discourse invented to form the Manners by Instructions disguised under the Allegory of an Action, it follows, that in a Dramatick Fable for the proving the Moral, 'tis as necessary to introduce vicious as virtuous Characters, and to make them speak and act, as all Persons compounded of their Qualities would be obliged by Nature to speak and act upon the like Occasions; as Aesop, for the Sake of his Morals, does not only introduce innocent and peaceable Creatures, as Horses, and Sheep, and Cows, and Dogs; but likewise noxious and violent ones, as Lions and Bears, and Wolves, and Foxes: But the Poet at the same time ought to take care that the Vices should be shewn after such a Manner, as to render them odious or ridiculous, and not agreeable or desirable; and that the Reader should reap no Pleasure from the Agreeableness of the Vices, but only from a just Imitation of Nature.

I make no Doubt, Sir, but that I have said enough to satifie you or any of your Friends to whom you may happen to shew this Letter, that as every true Dramatick Poem is a Fable as much as any one of Aesop's; it has in its Nature a direct Tendency to teach moral Virtue, and can therefore never be contrary to a Christian Temper and Cirit, which, where-ever it is, incites us to good Works, that is, to the Performance of moral Duties. But there is every Jot as much Difference between a true Dramatick Poem, and the Production of an ignorant obscene Poetaster, as there is between two religious Books, the Bible and the Alcoran. Now will Mr. Law affirm, that because the Alcoran is full of egregious Falshoods, and of monstrous Fanatick Extravagancies, therefore we ought not to read the Bible? It belongs to none but to an Atheist, or some other unbelieving Sceptick, to make such a Conclusion.

Sir, As 'tis hard to conceive that Mr. Law should be ignorant of what we have said above, both concerning the sacred Writings, and the Nature of a Dramatick Poem; and equally hard, if he is not ignorant, to believe him a Writer of Sincerity and Integrity; so it seems to be as hard to conceive, that a Man of his Years, and consequently of his Experience, should be utterly a Stranger to the present State of Religion, and Virtue and Vice, among us; or that, if he is not a Stranger to it, he should be capable of writing so malicious or so erroneous a Treatise as that which he has lately publish'd against the Stage.

Before I come to speak of the present State of Religion among us, I desire Leave to translate a Passage from Dacier's Preface to his excellent Comment on Aristotle's Art of Poetry. If the Quotation appears to be of more than ordinary Length to you, I comfort my self with this Reflection, that you will attend to an Author of more than ordinary Learning and Judgment, and who can speak s much better in this Cause than myself.

'Poetry, says that most judicious Critick, is an Art which was invented for the Instruction of Mankind, and an Art which is by Consequence useful. 'Tis a Truth acknowledg'd by all the World, that every Art is in itself good, because there is none whose End and Design is not so: But as it is no less true, that Men are apt to abuse the very best Things, and to pervert the very best Designs, that which was at first invented as a wholsome Remedy, may afterwards become a very dangerous Poison. I am obliged to declare, then, that in what I say of Tragedy, I speak not of corrupted Tragedy: For'tis not in Works that are deprav'd and vicious that we are to search for the Reason and the Design of Nature, but in those which are sound and intire; when I say this speak of ancient Tragedy, of that which is conformable to the Rules of Aristotle, which I dare pronounae to be the most useful and most necessary of all Diversions whatever.'

'If it were in our Power to oblige all Men to follow the Precepts which the Gospel lays down, nothing could be more happy for Mankind. In living conformably to them, they would find true Repose, solid Pleasure, and a sure Remedy for all their Infirmities; and they might then look upon Tragedy as a useless Thing, and which would be infinitely below them. How could they look upon it in any other Light, since the Heathens themselves beheld it in the very same, as soon as they had embraced the Study of Philosophy. They confess, that if People could be always nourish'd with the solid Truths of Philosophy, the Philosophers had never had Recourse to Fables, in order to give them Instruction. But as so much Corruption could not bear so much Wisdom, the Philosophers were obliged to look for a Remedy for the Disorder which they saw in Mens Pleasures; for which they invented Tragedy, and they offered it to the World, not as the most excellent Thing of which Men could make their Employment and their Study, but yet as a Means to correct those Excesses, in which they were wont to be plunged at their solemn Feasts; and to render those Diversions useful to them, which Custom and their Weakness had render'd necessary, and their Corruption very dangerous.'

'What Men were formerly, they are To-day; and what they are To-day, they will be hereafter; they have the same Passions which they always had, and run with the same Eagerness after Pleasure. To undertake to reduce them in this Condition by the Severity of Precepts, is endeavouring to put a Bridle on a mad Horse in the greatest Rapidity of his Course. In the mean time, there is no Middle; Men will fall into the most criminal Excesses, unless we find Pleasures for them which are wise and regular. 'Tis some Degree of Happiness, that a Remnant of Reason inclines them to love such Diversions as are consistent with Order, and such Amusements as are not incompatible with Truth. And I am persuaded, that we are obliged in Charity to make our Advantage of this Inclination, that we may not give time to Debauchery entirely to quench that Spark of right Reason which still may be seen to glimmer in them. We prescribe to distemper'd Persons; and Tragedy is the only Remedy, from which, in their present Condition, they can reap any Advantage; for 'tis the only Diversion in which they can find the Profitable united with the Pleasant.'

Thus far Monsieur Dacier. And here, Sir, I beg Leave to observe, that, notwithstanding our Reformation, we have as few Persons here in England who have the true Spirit of Christianity in them, as there are in France: But there is this Difference between them and us; In France, all own themselves Christians publickly; none of them dare renounce the Name, tho' few of them are the Thing: But among us, How many open Dissenters are there from Christianity itself? How many Atheists? How many Deists? How many Free-thinkers of a Thousand Kinds? who all of them refuse to join in our sacred Rites; some of them, as the Atheists, believing them to be sens lessand ridiculous; and others, as the Deists, esteeming them to be blasphemous and idolatrous. Then what School of publick Virtue and of publick Spirit have we for too great a Part of our Youth, but our Theatres only?

'Tis very strange that Mr. Law should be so ignorant of the present State of Religion among us, as not to foresee that the wild Enthusiasm, and the spiritual Fanatical Rant, which abounds so much in his late Pamphlet, would afford Matter of Scorn and Laughter to Infidels and Freethinkers of all Sorts, and render our most sacred Religion still more contemptible among them.

When Mr. Law says, in the 16th Page of his Pamphlet, that It cannot be doubted by any one, that the Playhouse is a Nursery of Vice and Debauchery, and that the Effect it has upon Peoples Manners is as visible as the Sun at Noon; he seems to know as little of the present State of Vice among us, as he pretends to do of Religion. The present reigning Vices of the Town, are Drinking, Gaming, Cursing, Swearing, Prophaness, Corruption of all Sorts, as Bribing, Tricking, Oppression, Cheating, Whoring and execrable Sodomy. And Mr. Law, forsooth, has the Face to tell the World, that the Playhouse encourages all these; that it is the Sink of Corruption and Debauchery; and that that is not the State of it thro' any accidental Abuse, but that Corruption and Debauchery are the truly natural and genuine Effects of the Stage-Entertainment, that is, of any Stage-Entertainment. Now to shew the Folly and the Arrogance of these Assertions, let us consider these Vices one by one.

First then; Does the Theatre encourage Drunkenness? No; it neither does nor can encourage it: To shew it, is enough to render it odious or ridiculous. To shew a Man drunk, is to shew a Fool or a Madman, in whom the Creator's Image is for a Time intirely defaced, and who, while he continues in that State, stands in need of a Guardian. Besides, nothing is more certain, than that brutal Vice rages most in the Scum and Off-scowring of the People, who neither have nor ever had the least Communication with the Playhouse. 'Tis true, Men of Thought may be sometimes drawn into it, but they naturally hate it; for Drunkenness is a mortal Enemy to Thought, and consequently Thought to that.

Does the Playhouse encourage Gaming? So far from that, that Gaming has increased ten-fold, since Collier's Books against the Stage were published; and since when, whole Plays have been writ to shew it dangerous and destructive, to shew the unspeakable Harm it does to both Sexes, and particularly to the Women; to shew that Gaming, by giving Men a Privilege of being familiar with, and sometimes rude to Women, removes that Awe which Nature has placed between the Sexes, as the strongest Bulwark of Chastity; that when a young Lady, even of the strictest, the most unblemish'd Honour, loses a Sum of Money, which she dares not own to her Relations, and which she cannot pay without them, and loses it to an agreeable young Fellow, who perhaps loves her, and has a secret Design upon her, she finds a Temptation that trys her utmost Virtue.

Does the Playhouse encourage Swearing and Cursing? Both Reason and Experience assure us that it does not. They who walk the Streets in the West End of the Town may be sufficiently convinced, that it rages most in the Lees of the People, who never knew what a Playhouse was. It infects even their Wives and their Children, as it very rarely does those of the better Sort. As common Swearing is a foolish brutal Vice, that brings neither Pleasure nor Profit with it, and is the Result of want of Thought; it follows, that the foolish brutal Part of the People must be most infected with it. Of the Women that frequent the Playhouse, few are addicted to it but the common Strumpets; and of the Men, none but Bullies, Rakes, and giddy Coxcombs. If a Comick Poet draws any of these, in order to correct and amend them, he is obliged to shew them sometimes Swearing, or he leaves out one of their Characteristicks. But he cannot fail of shewing that very Quality either odious or ridiculous, when it appears in Persons who are themselves both the one and the other. And if he shews it either odious or ridiculous, that surely will invite none of the Audience to imitate it.

We equally deny, that the Playhouse encourages any other Sort of Prophaness. But as a Play is a Fable, that is, a Composition of Truth and Fiction (as we have observed above;) as the Action is feigned and the Moral true; as Characters are necessary for the carrying on the Action, and or proving the Moral, and vicious Characters as necessary, and perhaps sometimes more necessary, than are the good ones; as to shew vicious Characters, and to expose them, 'tis absolutely necessary to put vicious Sentiments into their Mouths, it follows, that the most criminal Sentiments, and the most violent Passions, are allowable in vicious and violent Characters; the most ungovern'd Fury, and the most outragious Blasphemy itself, not excepted; provided they are adapted to the Character and the Occasion, and the Character and the Occasion are necessary for the Moral. Virgil has every where shewn Mezentius a Contemner of the Gods, and a Blasphemer of them; yet we never heard that the most bigotted of his Cotemporaries ever accused Virgil upon that Account. Milton, in the second Book of Paradice lost, makes the Devils, in their infernal Council, blaspheme in a most outragious Manner; and yet, as they speak agreeably to their Characters and the Occasion, no Man has ever been so weak or so unjust, as to accuse Milton for that Blasphemy, or to give all his Readers to the Devil for being entertained with it. On the contrary, all Men of good Understanding, and good Taste, have been peculiarly charm'd with that very Book, as one of the most beautiful of that admirable Poem. Cowley makes not only the Devil, but Goliah blaspheme;

Thus he blasphem'd aloud; The Hills around,

Flatt'ring his Voice, restor'd the dreadful Sound.

and yet has been never blamed for it. The Book of Job is canonical, and is firmly believed to have been writ by divine Inspiration. Tho' it is full of uncharitable Judgments, and is not free from Blasphemy, yet the Instructions which that divine Parable or Fable gives, proceed in a great measure from that very Blasphemy, and those uncharitable Judgments. But now, if a Poet is allow'd to put Blasphemy into the Mouth of one of his Characters, provided he takes care to punish him for it, he is certainly at Liberty to do the like by any inferior Prophaness.

The Three Nonjuring Priests who have attack'd the Stage, have made such a Noise about nothing as Prophaness; it sometimes drops three or four Times in one Page from their tautologous Pens; and they have chiefly accused our Comedies for it: The Unreasonableness of which may appear from hence, that all our true Comedies are but Copies of the foolish or vicious Originals of the Age. Certainly never Man knew what a Comedy was better than did Moliere. Now when in the Critic of the Ecole des Femmes, he is endeavouring to prove, by the Mouth of Dorante, that Comedy is harder to write than Tragedy, he gives the following Reason for it: Lors que vous peignez des Heros, vous faites ce que vous voulez; ce sont des Portraits a plaisir, ou l'ou ne cherche de ressemblance; et vous n'avez qu'a suivre les Traits d'une Imagination qui se donne l'essor, et qui souvent laisse le vrai pour atraper le Merveilleux. Mais lors que vous peignez les Hommes, il faut peindre d'apres Nature; on veut qui ces Portraits ressemblent, et vous n'avez rien fait si vous n'y faites reconnoitre le Gens de votre Siecle. That is to say; When you draw Heroes, you are at your own Liberty; those are Pictures at the Painter's Pleasure, in which no Body looks for Likeness; and you have nothing to do but to indulge the Flight of a soaring Imagination. But when you paint Men, you must draw after Nature; the World expects that those Pictures should be like; and you have done nothing at all, unless you shew your Readers or your Spectators the People of the Age you live in.

Now with Regard to Prophaness, our Comedies are the faintest Copies in the World, and you may often hear more Prophaness in one Night's Conversation at a Tavern or an Eating-house, than you shall hear from the Stage in a year. For Atheists, Deists, Arians, and Socinians, are wont to say at their private Meetings, what no one dares to pronounce on the Stage. Now are not these Nonjuring Priests either very wise, or very conscientious Persons? Our Comedies are but Copies of the foolish and vicious Originals of the Age; and 'tis the Business of the Copies to expose, and satyrize, and ridicule those foolish and those vicious Originals. Now these Nonjuring Priests having nothing to say against those foolish and those vicious Originals, which most certainly corrupt and debauch the Age, make it their Business to fall foul on the Copies, which chastise, and satyrize, and ridicule the Originals.

What I have said of the Stage with Relation to Prophaness, is in Proportion true, with Regard to all other Vices. Now since our Comedies are but Copies of the foolish and the vicious Originals of the Age in which we live, and Copies which do by no means come up to the Originals, I appeal to all the World, if it does not unanswerably follow from what I have said, that the Originals of the Age debauch the Stage, by which latter, the Age never possibly can be debauched. The Stage was establish'd in England towards the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign; whereas the Manners of the People continued generally sound till beyond the Middle of the last Century▪ And the Manners of the People continuing generally sound, the Stage remain'd generally chaste: But at the Restoration of Charles the Second, the Court returning from abroad, corrupted by foreign Luxury, quickly debauch'd the Town; and the Court and the Town jointly endeavour'd to debauch the Stage, because our Comick Poets were obliged to copy their lewd Originals, in order to expose and reform them.

As for Corruption of any Sort, whether it be Tricking, Oppressing, Bribing, Sharping, Cheating, the true Poet, who 〈◊〉 perfectly free from all Avarice, is least of all addicted to it.

—Vatis Avarus.

Non temere est animus, versus amat, hoc studet unum

Detrimenta, fugas servorum, incendia ridet;

Non fraudem socio, puerove incogitat ullam

Pupillo; Horace Epist. ad Augustum.

Their usual Poverty is a signal Proof of this: For as the Love of Money is the Source of all Corruption, he who despises Gold, is above all the Vices that attend it. And Poverty attended with great Parts, may very well pass for a pretty sure Sign of Honesty. A Dramatick Poet therefore being averse from all Corruption himself, if ever he describes any Kind of it, is sure to make it both odious and ridiculous.

I come now to almost the only Charge against the Stage which seems to have any thing of real Weight in it, and that is, That it excites in Mens Minds the natural Love of Women. And here by this Charge may be meant two Things; the one is, That it excites in Men a Desire to the unlawful Enjoyment of Women; the other is, That it inclines them to that violent Passion of Love, which is sometimes between the two Sexes.

As to the first Part of the Charge, that it excites in Men a Desire to the unlawful Enjoyment of Women; if there are any Passages in our Plays that are chargeable with that Guilt, or that defile the Imaginations of an Audience with unchast and immodest Images, they are neither natural to the Drama nor necessary, but flagrant Abuses of it, and contrary to the very Design of the Art; and those Passages ought to be banish'd from the Stage for ever. And yet I cannot help thinking, that if ever those Passages could be excusable, they would be so at this Juncture, when the execrable Sin of Sodomy is spread so wide, that the foresaid Passages might be of some Use to the reducing Mens Minds to the natural Desire of Women. Let Fornication be ever so crying a Sin, yet Sodomy is a Crime of a thousand times a deeper Dye. A Crime that forc'd down supernatural Fire from Heaven, to extinguish its infernal Flames; a Crime that would have obliged even righteous Lot to prostitute his two chast and virgin Daughters, in order to prevent it. I cannot here omit observing one Thing, That this unnatural Sin has very much increased since Collier's Books were publish'd against the Stage. There were no less than four Persons condemned for it the last Sessions; and I am inform'd, that several more have been since apprehended for it: The like of which was never heard of in Great Britain before.

As for the Passion of Love, by which the Hearts of Men and Women are sometimes mutually and violently inclined to each other; if the Passion is kept within the Bounds of Nature, if the Object and the Intention of it is lawful, or if 'tis punish'd when 'tis unlawful, I am of the Opinion, that it cannot have the least ill Consequence; 'tis certainly a Check upon wandring loose Desires; it gives a very great and very harmless Pleasure, and has a direct Tendency to the keeping the two Sexes stedfast and firm to the natural Love of each other: For not only the Affections of the Men have wildly wander'd from Nature, as is manifest to all the World, but not a few of the Women too have endeavour'd to make themselves the Center of their own Happiness. St. Paul is pleas'd to reprove this unnatural Affection of the Roman Dames in the first Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. And Mr. Law is desired to take Notice, that he lays those unnatural Desires not upon their going to Plays, but upon their Idolatry; Verse 22, Professing themselves to be wise, they became Fools. Verse 23, And changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man, and to Birds, and fourfooted Beasts, and creeping Things. Verse 24, Wherefore God also gave them up to Uncleanness, to dishonour their own Bodies between themselves. Verse 25, Who changed the Truth of God into a Lie, and worshipped and served the Creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Verse 26, For this Cause God gave them up to vile Affections: For even their Women did change the natural Use into that which is against Nature. Verse 27, And likewise the Men, leaving the natural Use of the Women, burned in their own Lusts one toward another, Men with Men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that Recompence of their Errors which was meet. And Mr. Law may be pleased to observe, that the Apostle here gives us another signal Proof, that he does not put Idolatry and going to Plays upon an equal Foot. And here, Sir, I desire Leave to make another Remark, and that is, That of all the Countries of the Christian World, that Country has been, is, and is like to be, the most infamous for this execrable Vice, in which Idolatry has set up its Head Quarters.

Sir, You are very well acquainted with the exact Judgment of the late French Satyrist, who was an Honour to France. That he was very far from being a Friend to the Corruption of the Stage, will appear from the following Passage of the fourth Canto of his Art of Poetry; where he is giving his Advice to the Poets who were his Cotemporaries.

Que votre ame & vos moeurs peints dans tous vos ouvrages

N'offrent jamais de vous que de nobles Images.

Je ne puis estimer ces dangereux Auteurs,

Qui de l'honneur en vers infames deserteurs,

Trahissant la vertu sur un papier coupable,

Aux yeux de leurs Lectures rendent le vice aimable.

Tho' I know very well, that no one understands this Author better than you do; yet as this Letter is to pass thro' your Hand to the Press, I desire Leave to translate the Passage, for the Benefit of those who are not used to French. ‘Let your Soul and your Manners, appearing in your Works to your Readers, never offer any but noble Ideas of you. I can have no Esteem for those dangerous Authors, those infamous Deserters of Honour in their Verses, who being Traytors to Virtue in their guilty Lines, render Vice lovely to the Eyes of those who peruse them.’ And yet immediately after comes his Approbation of Love in Dramatick Poems:

Je ne suis pas pourtant de ces tristes Esprits

Qui bannissant l'Amour de tous chastes êcrits,

D'un si riche ornement veulent priver la Scene:

Traitent d'empoisonneurs & Rodrigue & Chimene.

L'amour le moins honneste exprimé chastement,

N'excite point en nous de honteux movement.

Didon a beau gemir & m'étaler ses charmes;

Je condamne sa faute, en partageant ses larmes.

‘And yet, says he, I am none of those splenetick Souls, who banishing Love from all chaste Composures, endeavour to deprive the Stage of so rich an Ornament. The most dishonourable Love, if 'tis chastly express'd, excites no shameful Motion in us. In vain does Dido lament and groan, exposing all her Charms to me; I condemn her Conduct at the very Time that I partake of her Grief.’

I now return to the Charge of Hypocrisy; for which there are very just Grounds of Suspicion from the Stile and Language of this Pamphlet. For is not this little Treatise, which is pretended to be writ thro' a Zeal for the Christian Religion, writ in downright Antichristian Language? Is this Pamplet writ in the Language of Modesty, of Humility, of Meekness? Is it writ in the attractive Language of Charity? On the contrary, Does not Mr. Law seem to have taken all his Degrees at a certain University between the Bridge and the Tower? And as the Disciples of our Saviour, from Dealers in Fish became the Apostles of their Master; this false Apostle seems to set up for Water Doctor, and from a Priest to become a Dealer in Fish. For he has not only the Tropes, and the Figures, and all the Rhetorical Flowers, but the very Tautologies of those obstreperous Dealers in quiet and mute Animals. For the foresaid obstreperous Dealers, are not contented with calling Rogue, or Whore, or Bitch, or Villain, once, they will repeat it fifty Times; and their Fellow-Collegiate who disputes with them, will return it fifty-fold.

I desire that you would give me leave to present you with some of Mr. Law's Rhetorical Flowers.

At the Bottom of the second Page of his Pamphlet, he tells us, That there is more to be said in Behalf of Popery than of going to Plays. For that is plainly his Meaning, tho' he disguises it by the Terms that he uses. And towards the Top of the third Page, he is no less positive, that God is less displeased with Popery than he is with going to Plays. It looks as if Mr. Law would be very glad to exchange Plays for Popery.

In all the rest of the second Page, he puts them upon an equal Foot; and assures us, that the Entertainment of the Stage is contrary to more Doctrines of Scripture than the Worship of Images.

What, tho' we grant it; Intemperance in Eating, Drinking, and Venery, is contrary to more Doctrines of Scripture, than is either Murder, or High-Treason; and yet either Murder or High-Treason singly, is ten Times a greater Sin than all the forementioned Three together. Sometimes he is making Idolatry, that is Popery, less criminal than going to Plays: Sometimes he is for making them equal, and endeavouring to revive the old stoical Opinion, Omnia peccata sunt aequalia; All Sins are equal: A Paradox that would tend to make Christianity as ridiculous, as it help'd to do Pagan Stoicism.

In the first Paragraph of the 4th Page. You go to hear Plays you say—I tell you, says Mr. Law, you go to hear Ribaldry and Prophaness; that you entertain your Mind with extravagant Thoughts, wild Rant, blasphemous Speeches, wanton Amours, prophane Jests, and impure Passions. [Ay, now the Language of the College begins.] And a little lower, He who goes to a Play, diverts himself with the Lewdness, Impudence, Prophaness, and impure Discourses of the Stage. And a little lower, in the same Page, This is plainly the Case of the Stage; it is an Entertainment that consists of lewd, impudent, prophane Discourses. And Pag. 7, It is an Entertainment made up of Lewdness, Prophaness, and all the extravagant Rant of disorder'd Passions. At the Top of Page 8. he is endeavouring once more to make Popery less sinful than going to Plays; and by the same Piece of spiritual Sophistry, he confirms this religious Lie; because, forsooth, the Stage, with its lewd prophane Discourses, offends against more Doctrines of plain Scripture than Popery: Which is proving one gross Piece of Falshood, by another that is much greater.

About the Middle of the same Page, he brings an Argument against the Stage from the Iniquity of the Players, against whom he inveighs with his usual Sophistry and Uncharitableness: Which is full as wise and as just, as it would be to bring an Argument against the Church, from the Vices of some spiritual Comedians. The Players are Men and Women, says he, equally bold, in all Instances of Prophaness, Passion, and Immodesty; whose Business, Pag. 9, is prophane, wicked, lewd, and immodest; and a little lower in the same Page, whose Employment is less Christian than that of Robbers. For he must know very little of the Nature of Religion, says Mr. Law, who can look upon Lust, Prophaness, and disorder'd Passions, to be less contrary to Religion, than the taking Money from the right Owner. Which is directly contrary to common Sense and to common Utility.

Queis paria esse fere placuit peccata, laborant,

Cum ventum ad verum est: sensus moresque repugnant.

Atque ipsa utilitas justi prope mater & aequi. Hor.

Page 10, He speaks of the Blasphemy, Prophaness, Lewdness, Immodesty, and wicked Rant of Plays. And a little lower in the same Page, he mentions a Collection of all the wicked, prophane, blasphemous, lewd, impudent, detestable Things that are said in the Playhouse. And Page 11, he speaks of the Entertainment of the Stage, as it consists of Love-Intrigues, blasphemous Passions, prophane Discourses, lewd Descriptions, filthy Jests, and all the most extravagant Rant of wanton profligate Persons of both Sexes; heating and inflaming one another with all the Wantonness of Address, the Immodesty of Motion, and the Lewdness of Thought, that Wit can invent.

And here I desire Leave to say a Word, by the way, in Defence of Players, whose Profession he very wisely, humanely, and Christianly, makes as unlawful as that of Robbers. Is he to be told at this Time of Day, that the Players say nothing of Themselves? They only speak what the Poet puts into the Mouths of his universal allegorical Fantoms; which Fantoms the Players represent. Can this poor Gentleman be so simple as to believe, that Reynard, Bruin, Isgrim, and Grimalkin, say really of themselves the Things that Aesop puts into their Mouths? The Players are only the Poet's Instruments, by which he carries on his Action, and proves his Moral. If any Musician sings a treasonable Song, and plays to it at the same time, he ought to suffer for his Crime; but would you indict the Fiddle or the Flute upon which the Tune is play'd?

What Turn Mr. Law design'd to serve, by being so profuse of so much fine Language he best can tell, tho' we perhaps may guess. But he could never possibly think of making Poets, or Players, or Spectators, good Christians, by railing at them for an Hour together, and treating them worse than the great Archangel dared to treat the Devil, who durst not bring against him a railing Accusation, but only said, The Lord rebuke thee. If he design'd to convert People by such a Proceeding, he might as well pretend to begin a Friendship with another by abusing him, and throwing Dirt at him.

But to make some Amends for treating his Fellow-Creatures with so much Antichristian Language, he uses the Devil with a great deal of Respect and Civility. For besides the gentle Terms in which he speaks of him; of his Honour, of his Glory, of his Joy, his Delight, his Pleasure, his peculiar Pleasure; as if Damnation were an honourable and a happy State; besides this, I say, he is pleased, out of his great Bounty, to settle upon him and his, to have and to hold for ever, the Freehold and Fee-Simple of all our Theatres. One may, with the same Assurance, affirm, says he, that the Playhouse, not only when some prophane Play is on the Stage, but in its daily common Entertainments, is as certainly the House of the Devil, as the Church is the House of God, Page 12. And a little lower in the same Page, The Manner and Matter of Stage-Entertainments, is as undeniable a Proof, and as obvious to common Sense, that the House belongs to the Devil, and is the Place of his Honour, as the Matter and Manner of Church Service prove that the Place is appropriated to God.

Now my Opinion is, That if the Devil should once become the Head-Landlord of our Theatres, he would immediately turn them into so many Jacobite Conventicles: For those are properly his Houses, those are properly his Temples. For the Sins which the Theatres are accused by Mr. Law of encouraging, are not the Devil's Sins, but our own, the Sins of Men and Women. The Devil neither drinks nor whores, nor games, nor rants, nor gormandizes. But the Sins which are carried on in a Jacobite Conventicle, are the Devil's own Sins; his two great original Sins, Lying and Rebellion. There all those false Doctrines are carried on, of Hereditary Right, Divine Right, Indefeasible Right, Absolute Power, Uncontroulable Power, Passive Obedience, Unconditional Obedience; Doctrines invented on purpose to make and flatter Tyrants, who are the Devil's Viceroys. For as good Kings are God's Vicegerents, sure a Tyrant is Hell's Viceroy. The Place where the Pretender's Cause is carried on, is properly the Temple of the Devil, the original Pretender.

When Mr. Law affirms, That the Playhouse is the Sink of Corruption and Debauchery, Page 15, and that this is not the State of it, thro' any accidental Abuse, as any innocent or good Thing may be abused, but that Corruption and Debauchery are the truly natural and genuine Effects of the Stage Entertainments; is it possible that he can be so ignorant as he pretends to make himself? Can he be ignorant, that by affirming this, he contradicts what has been the common Sense of Mankind for two thousand Years; and that he contradicts the Opinions and the Judgments of the greatest, and wisest, and most virtuous Men, of the greatest, and wisest, and most virtuous Nations, during that vast Space of Time? If Corruption and Debauchery were the natural and genuine Effects of Theatrical Entertainments; would they have been encouraged by the great Legislators, the most learned Philosophers, and the wisest Rulers of the freest States in the World?

No Body knows better than Mr. Law, that of all publick Diversions, the Drama is the most reasonable, manly, noble, and instructive Diversion; the excelling in which, shews the Excellence and the Strength of Genius of that particular Nation where it appears, and by that Means advances its Reputation with other Nations, and augments its Power; and that therefore Dramatick Performances have been so cherished and esteemed by the wisest Rulers of the noblest Nations, that they have been maintain'd by the publick Treasure; and the Magistrate has not thought it at all below him, to have the Regulation and the immediate Inspection of it: Which is an undeniable Proof, that they did not at all mistrust that it was natural to those Entertainments to corrupt and debauch their People.

The Drama is in itself so excellent, and to excel in it requires so many great Qualities, that of all the Nations we hear of among the Ancients, but Two were capable of proper constant Theatrical Entertainments; and those Two were the wisest, bravest, and most virtuous of all the Nations; so famous for their great Actions in War, and so illustrious for the Arts of Peace, that to know what they were, is become a principal Part of the Learning of us Moderns; and 'tis accounted scandalous in a Gentleman to be ignorant of what they said, and wrote, and did; and yet to know what their Tragick and Comick Poets were, and what they wrote, is none of the meanest Branches of that very Learning.

What Opinion the Grecians themselves had of their Drama; how far they believed their Tragick Poets able to inspire their Countrymen with the Love of their Country, with the Love of Liberty, of Virtue, and of true Glory, and with a magnanimous Contempt of Death for the publick Good, may be gathered from the unanimous Consent of Greece, and particularly from the Honours done by the Athenians to their Tragick Poets, who made them Governors of Provinces, Generals of their Armies, and Guardians of the publick Liberty. For when the Athenians settled a greater Fund for the supporting the Magnificence of their Tragick Representations, than for the Maintenance of their Fleets and Armies, we may justly conclude that it was their Opinion, that their Tragick Poets, by constantly setting before them the Calamities of Tyrants, defended them from far more dangerous Enemies than those which their Armies were sent to encounter, and that was from their own aspiring Citizens. As no People were ever more jealous of their Liberties than the Athenians, none ever knew better that Corruption and Debauchery are inconsistent with Liberty; and therefore it never in the least enter'd into the Thoughts of that great People, that Corruption and Debauchery were the natural Effects of Dramatick Entertainments.

Nor can it be objected with any manner of Justice, that it was the Fury of the Athenian Populace, running mad after their Pleasures, that made them so warmly espouse the Drama. The greatest and the wisest Philosophers of that renown'd Republick declared most warmly and most loudly for it. Aristotle writ an admirable System of Rules for the composing Dramatick Poems, with that Right Hand that has given us so many excellent Lessons of Morality. And Socrates, the wisest and the most virtuous of all the Philosophers, who made it the whole Business of his Life to instruct his Countrymen in moral Virtue, did not think it in the least below his Wisdom and his Virtue, to assist Euripides in the writing his Tragedies.

That the Romans did not yield to the Grecians in the Esteem which they had for Dramatick Entertainments, and the Belief that they were capable of contributing to the Glory and the Felicity of a mighty State, and to the Glory and Felicity of the Authors of them, we may gather from the Actions of their wisest Statesmen, their greatest Captains, and their severest Philosophers. Their greatest Captains and their wisest Statesmen not only encouraged Dramatick Poems, but vouchsafed to write them themselves. Scipio, the wise, the virtuous Scipio, writ Comedy with that conquering Hand that won the Empire of the World at Zama. Augustus Caesar, as famous for the Arts of Peace as his Success in War, renown'd for the wholsome Laws he enacted, and for his reforming the Manners of the People, begun the Tragedy of Ajax, tho' he could not finish it; but found it easier to make himself Emperor of the World, than a great Dramatick Poet. Cicero, the Champion of the Roman Liberties, in twenty Places of his Philosophick Treatises, quotes the Roman Tragick Poets. And Seneca, who thro' the Opinion which Agrippina had of the Strictness and the Severity of his Virtue, was intrusted with the Education of a Prince, upon whose Conduct the Happiness of Mankind depended; Seneca, who, by so many admirable Lessons of moral Virtue, has obliged all the Lovers of Wit and Virtue for ever, did not think writing Tragedy an Employment at all below him.

Now, Sir, I appeal to you, whether it does not logically and necessarily follow, from what has been said, that either Mr. Law must believe, that the Great Men among the ancient Grecians and Romans, their Captains, Statesmen, and Philosophers, wanted common Sense; or he cannot possibly believe, that Corruption and Debauchery are the natural Effects of Theatrical Entertainments; and consequently must be guilty of very vile Hypocrisy.

There remains another strong Presumption of Hypocrisy against Mr. Law. For what is Mr. Law? And what are his two Predecessors, Collier and Bedford, who attack'd the Stage before him? Why Jacabite Nonjuring Parsons all three of them, who have disown'd our Establish'd Church, and disown'd our Government. How come they to take up this great Concern for our Salvation in a Matter about which all our Pastors, who have the immediate Care of our Souls, are silent? Have they more Capacity to see the enormous Crimes of Theaters, and the pretended fatal Consequences of them, than so many great and good Men, who have been the exalted Lights of the Church since the Restoration? No, all the World knows, that there is not the least Pretence for it, nor the least Comparison. Have they more true Zeal and Concern for the Christian Religion? No, that, as we observed above, is inconsistent with their Manner of treating us. The Language of Billingsgate can never be the Language of Charity, nor consequently of Christianity. Truth has not the impetuous stormy Air which Mr. Law assumes, but comes in the soft and still Voice, like the God who inspires it; and Truth detests and abominates the Equivocating and Prevaricating of Mr. Collier and Mr. Bedford.

But now let us consider the Time that these People have chose to exert their pretended Zeal. It has been always when something has been about to be done, which it was thought might prove favourable to the Pretender. Mr. Collier publish'd his Short View when France declar'd for the Chevalier, upon the Death of James II. and his Dissuasive, upon the great Storm, when the great Devastation which that Huricane wrought, had amaz'd and astonish'd the Minds of Men, and made them obnoxious to melancholly and desponding Thoughts. I formerly expos'd the egregious hypocritical Folly of making that Storm a Divine Judgment upon the Nation for the Enormities of our Theatres. Mr. Law has taken the Opportunity to attack the Stage, upon the great Preparations which he heard were making abroad, and which the Jacobites flatter'd themselves were design'd in their Favour. As for Mr. Bedford's Serious Remonstrance, tho' I know nothing of the Time of publishing it, yet I dare to lay Odds it was either upon the Duke D'Aumont's being at Somerset-House, or upon the late Rebellion. Now all these Attacks upon the Stage have been Attacks upon the Government, and those three worthy Persons seem to me to have been at the Beck of some certain Superiors, and always ready at their Command to divert the People of Great Britain from their real Danger, by giving them Alarms in a wrong Place.

FINIS.

THE STAGE DEFENDED, FROM SCRIPTURE, REASON, EXPERIENCE, and the Common Sense of MANKIND, for Two Thousand Years.

Occasion'd by Mr. Law's late Pamphlet against STAGE-ENTERTAINMENTS.

In a LETTER to * * * * * *

By Mr. DENNIS.

LONDON: Printed for N. BLANDFORD, at the London-Gazette, Charing Cross; and sold by J. PEELE, at Locke's-Head in Pater-noster-Row. MDCCXXVI. (Price One Shilling.)

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE DODINGTON, Esq One of the LORDS COMMISSIONERS of His Majesty's Treasury.

SIR,

THE following little Treatise is, to all Appearance, so very a Trifle, that I should not have the Assurance to address it to a Gentleman of your distinguish'd Rank, if my chief Design were not to engage you, in order to promote the Honour of your Country, and the Good of the learned World, to take upon you the Protection of the British Dramatical Muses, so far at least as to pronounce in their Favour. 'Tis the Sense of all who have the Honour to be acquainted with you, that you have a perfect Knowledge of the Merits of the Cause, and Ability and Authority to determine it in the last Appeal. The British Dramatick Muses make this Request to you, Sir, who have been barbarously used both by their Friends and their Enemies; for by their Friends they have been more than once poorly deserted, and abandon'd to the Slanders and the unjust Accusations of their most inveterate Enemies.

I appeal to you, Sir, if they are not idle Dreamers who believe, that a great, a powerful, and an opulent People can be without publick Diversions; or if it is fitting they should be without them. I appeal to you, Sir, if a great and a brave People, by being often assembled and pleased together, will not be the more pleased with one another, and the more among themselves united.

But as all Pleasures and Diversions, both publick and private, are barbarous or gentle, rational or sensual, manly or effeminate, noble or base and degenerate; 'tis agreed on by all the sensible World, that the publick Diversions of a free Nation, ought neither to be barbarous, nor sensual, nor base, nor effeminate; because publick Diversions of the first Kind reflect Dishonour upon a brave Nation; and Diversions of the other three Kinds have a natural Tendency to the introducing a general and total Corruption of Manners, which is inconsistent with Liberty.

The publick Diversions which are at present establish'd in Great Britain, are either the Combats of our modern Gladiators, or the Italian Opera's, or the Masquerades, or Tragedies and Comedies, which are the only genuine legitimate Entertainments of the Stage.

As for the first of these, the Combats of our modern Gladiators, I appeal to you, Sir, who by travelling have had the Advantage of knowing the Sentiments and Manners of other Nations, if they are not regarded by all Europe, excepting our selves, with Horror, and esteem'd to be neither agreeable to the Spirit of Christianity, nor to the Manners of a civilized People.

As to the Italian Opera's, they are allow'd by all the impartial World to be sensual and effeminate, compared to the genuine Drama, and a greater real Promoter of wanton and sensual Thoughts than ever the Drama was pretended to be, because too great a Part of them consisting of Softness of Sound, and of Wantonness of Thought, they have nothing of that good Sense and Reason, and that artful Contrivance which are essential to the Drama. No, you know very well, Sir, that good Sense and Reason, and every strict Attention to an artful Design, are so many natural and moral Restraints upon wanton and sensual Thoughts.

I now, Sir, desire Leave to say something concerning Masquerades, which Mr. Law affirms to be more innocent than the Drama, which is a frontless Assertion, and the very Reverse of Reason. I remember one of our Comick Poets observes, that young Ladies run a greater Risk of their Reputations by being familiar with Fools, than with Men of Sense; because Fools have but one Way of passing their Time with them: So Masquerades having neither the Sense of the Drama, nor the Sound of the Opera, Persons of both Sexes may go to them either with no Design, or with a very vile one. To which I might add the late Remark of a wise and pious Prelate, which is, That Masquerades deprive Virtue and Religion of their last Refuge, Shame; which, says he, keeps Multitudes of Sinners within the Bounds of Decency, after they have broke thro' all the Ties of Principle and Conscience. But this Invention sets them free from that also; being neither better nor worse, than an Opportunity to say and do there, what Virtue, Decency, and Good Manners, will not permit to be said or done in any other Place.

This wise and pious Prelate, in this very Passage, censures the Persons of either Sex, who frequent lewd and prophane Plays: But he does not assert here, that there are no Plays but what are lewd and prophane. And he affirms, that Masquerades are of more dangerous Consequence to Virtue and Good Manners, than ev'n Plays which are prophane.

Thus, Sir, I have endeavour'd to shew, that of three of the present reigning Diversions, one is cruel and barbarous, and not at all becoming either of a Christian or a civilized Nation; the Second effeminate, wanton, and sensual; and the Third, either very unmeaning, or else neither moral nor christian.

No Art of Man in the most happy Age of the most happy Nation, has been able to find out a publick Diversion that has been reasonable, noble, manly, and virtuous, but the Drama, when it is writ as it ought be. And yet these wild Enthusiasts, who have shot their Bolts against the Stage, have said not a Word against the other three, which cannot be defended by the least Pretence that any of them can have to Goodness or moral Instruction.

Sir, The following Treatise is not only a Defence of Dramatick Poetry, but of the Establish'd Government, in the Administration of which the Wisdom of the King has given you an illustrious Share, and against which Mr. Law's Pamphlet is obliquely designed; as were the Writings which his two Predecessors, Collier and Bedford, publish'd against the Stage. Collier, by his Action, and Bedford, by his other Writings, because profess'd and declar'd Enemies to the Government: One of them absolved an impenitent Traytor, who died with Treason in his Mouth; and the other, upon publishing his Book upon Hereditary Right, was imprison'd for High Treason.

But, Sir, the following Treatise was likewise design'd in Defence of all the People of Quality of both Sexes in England, and of all the People in any Country throughout the Christian World, where they frequent any Theatres; all which numerous People he has very charitably given to the Devil to have and to hold for ever.

Nor Engine nor Device Polemick,

Disease nor Doctor Epedemic,

E'er sent so vast a Colony

To the infernal World as he.

But all that I have been able to do in the Defence of so good a Cause, is to shew, that I heartily wish well to it. It belongs to you, Sir, and to those few who resemble you, who have Discernment and Taste, that qualify you to determine surely, and Honour and Justice enough to engage you to pronounce and judge impartially, to take the British Drama into your Protection and Patronage, in order to retrieve its former Lustre, and augment its Glory.

By taking the British Theatre into your Protection and Patronage, you would protect and patronize every other Branch of the British Poetry. For as the British Theatre, as long as it was justly and judiciously managed among us, was the only publick Rewarder of Dramatick Poetry, so it has been the only chief Support and Encouragement of every other Species of that noble Art. It has cherish'd and inflamed the Spirit of Poetry, and raised a noble Emulation among us, more than all our Kings and all our Ministers together. From the very building of London, to the erecting the first Theatre in it, which Time contains about thirty Centuries, we had but two British Poets who deserve to be read: But from the Establishment of our Theatres to the present Time, which contains scarce a Century and a half, we may boldly affirm, that more than ten times that Number of Poets have appear'd and flourish'd in England.

And here, Sir, I beg Leave to observe the Advantage of Genius that Great Britain has over France with Relation to the Drama: For our Neighbours the French, notwithstanding the vast Encouragement that was given by Cardinal Richlieu, and by Lewis the XIVth, at the Instigation of Monsieur Colbert his First Minister, never could with Justice boast of more than one Comick and two Tragick Poets; whereas more than ten of our Countrymen, have, without any publick Encouragement but what they derived from the Stage itself (and that, how inconsiderable!) signalized themselves in Comedy alone, within the Compass of those fifty Years that followed the Restoration.

I know, indeed, very well, Sir, that other Reasons may be assigned, besides the Want of a Theatre, why no more Poets flourished before Queen Elizabeth's Time. But I am at the same Time convinced, that the Reason why we have had so many since, has been the Establishment of our Theatres. For the Dramatick Poets, the Case is plain, few would have given themselves the Trouble to write Dramatick Poems, if there had not been Theatres in which they might be acted. And some, who were by Nature qualified to succeed better in other Kinds of Poetry than the Dramatick, had, by Reason of the Lowness of their Fortunes, been uncapable of exerting their Genius's in those other Kinds, if they had not been first encouraged, and raised, and supported by the Stage. And 'tis very natural to conceive, that several others, who at the same time that they had large Revenues, were qualified both by Nature and Art to excel in the other Kinds, were rouzed and excited to try their Fortunes in them, by the animating Applauses which they saw that our Dramatick Poets received from their ravish'd Audiences. The Sentiment of Virgil might, on such Occasions, very naturally present itself to their Minds.

—Tentanda via est quâ me quoque possim

Tollere humo, victorque virûm volitare per ora.

And now, Sir, since the chief Encouragement not only of Plays, but of every other Kind of the British Poetry, which is none of the meanest Branches of the British Learning, depends upon the Stage, and consequently the Honour of Great Britain in some measure depends upon it, I humbly conceive, that the flourishing Condition of our Theatre is a Matter of Importance and publick Concern, and not unworthy the Consideration of the greatest Men in the State.

Since Dramatick Poetry was first introduced into England, it never was sunk so deplorably low as it is at present, and every other Branch of Poetry is declined proportionably; I mean as far as it has been managed by most of those who have listed themselves under Apollo's Standard, and who engage for their Pay. That little that has appeared that has been writ with more Spirit and more Grace than ordinary, has come, for the most Part, from Volunteers.

Sir, with Submission to your better Judgment, there is but one Way of reviving the expiring Drama, of restoring its original Innocence, and of augmenting its ancient Lustre, and that is by establishing two annual Prizes of two hundred Pound each; the one for Comedy, the other for Tragedy, to be given, besides the ordinary Profits of the Theatre, to him who performs best in each of them, which is to be decided by Judges appointed on purpose, and sworn to determine impartially; with this Proviso, that no Play shall be received, that shall be judged to be ever so little offensive to good Manners; and that every Play shall be rejected, whose Author can be proved to have taken the least Step towards the forming a Cabal; which Design I humbly conceive is in your Power to reduce to Practice, if you would vouchsafe to recommend it to the Government, or to a Number of Gentlemen who may be every way qualify'd to engage in so good a Cause.

Several Causes may be assigned of the Decay of Dramatick Peotry, as the Italian Opera, which never was established in any Country, but it immediately debased the Poetry of that Nation: The Strangers who have been introduced among us, by several great Events, as the Revolution, the Union, the Hanover Succession, who not understanding our Language, have been very instrumental in introducing Sound and Show; the new Gentry that has started up among us, some by the Fortune of War, and some by the Fortune of Exchange-Alley, who are fond of their old Entertainments of Jack-Pudding; but yet none of these has done half the Harm that has been done by Cabal. For 'tis in Poetry as 'tis in Politicks, Things go quite wrong

When Merit pines, while Clamour is prefer'd,

And long Attachment waits among the Herd;

When no Distinction where Distinction's due,

Marks from the Many the superior Few.

A Cabal to espouse a Coxcomb, may get him Money, but at the same Time it will procure him Infamy. Writers who have Genius will leave the Stage with the utmost Indignation, and every Man who understands it will have it in Contempt.

The Men who contradict the publick Voice,

And strive to dignify a worthless Choice;

Attempt a Task that on that Choice reflects,

And lend us Light to point out new Defects.

One worthless Man, that gains what he pretends,

Disgusts a Thousand unpretending Friends.

And therefore every Writer who pretends to succeed by Cabals, ought to be banished from every Theatre. But to shew the Judgment or the Integrity of our Managers of the Stage; they have for several Years past rejected every Play that has not had a Cabal to support it.

And now, Sir, tho' I am sensible that I have already detain'd you a great deal too long, for which I humbly and heartily beg your Pardon; yet, before I take Leave of you, I cannot help acquainting you, that this is the fourth Time that I have appear'd in Defence of the Stage, and in this fourth Defence I have no manner of Interest, but that it has been purely extorted from me by the Force of Truth, and by the Love of my Country. In the former Three, I might appear to be maintaining my own Interests. But I have, since the publishing them, been used with such extreme Ingratitude by the present Managers of the Playhouse, that I have this Ten Years been obliged, by the most barbarous Treatment, to take Leave of the Playhouse for ever.

I am, SIR,
Your most Obedient, and most Humble Servant, JOHN DENNIS.

ERRATA, P. 1. last Line but one, a; after Experience.

Information about this book

Title statement

The stage defended, from Scripture, reason, experience, and the common sense of mankind, for two thousand years. Occasion'd by Mr. Law's late pamphlet against stage-entertainments. In a letter to ****** By Mr. Dennis

Dennis, John, 1657-1734.

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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4181

ID [isbn10]

1106011805

ID [isbn13]

9781106011800

ID [TCP]

K045218.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3300896405

ID [ECHG]

0222600200

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— The stage defended, from Scripture, reason, experience, and the common sense of mankind, for two thousand years. Occasion'd by Mr. Law's late pamphlet against stage-entertainments. In a letter to ****** By Mr. Dennis, Dennis, John, 1657-1734.. xii,34p. ; 4⁰. London :: printed for N. Blandford; and sold by J. Peele,. 1726.. [A reply to William Law's 'The absolute unlawfulness of stage entertainments .. '.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT48555.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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