Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704); Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage in a Letter to a Lady (1704) by Anonymous
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Anonymous >> Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704); Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage in a Letter to a Lady (1704)
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Series Three:
Essays on the Stage
No. 2
Anon., Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage
(1704)
and
Anon., Some thoughts Concerning the Stage (1704)
With an Introduction by
Emmett L. Avery
and
a Bibliographical Note
Announcement of Publications for the Second Year
The Augustan Reprint Society
March, 1947
Price: 75c
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Southwestern University.
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INTRODUCTION
Within two or three years after the appearance in 1698 of Jeremy
Collier's 'A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English
Stage', the bitter exchanges of reply and counter-reply to the charges
of gross licentiousness in the London theaters had subsided. The
controversy, however, was by no means ended, and around 1704 it flared
again in a resurgence of attacks upon the stage. Among the tracts
opposing the theaters was an anonymous pamphlet entitled 'A
Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage', a
piece which was published early in 1704 and which appeared in three
editions before the end of that year.
The author reveals within his tract some of the reasons for its
appearance at that time. He remarks upon the obvious failure of the
opponents of the theater to end "the outragious and insufferable
Disorders of the STAGE." He stresses the brazenness of the players in
presenting, soon after the devastating storm of the night of November
26-27, 1703, two plays, 'Macbeth' and 'The Tempest', "as if they
design'd to Mock the Almighty Power of God, _who alone commands the
Winds and the Seas_." ('Macbeth' was acted at Drury Lane on Saturday,
November 27, as the storm was subsiding, but, because it was advertised
in the 'Daily Courant' on Friday, November 26, for the following
evening, it would appear that, unless the players possessed the even
more formidable power of foreseeing the storm, their presentation of
'Macbeth' at that time was pure coincidence. No performance of 'The
Tempest' in late November appears in the extant records, but there was
probably one at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was not regularly
advertising its offerings.) The author also emphasizes the propriety,
before the approaching Fast Day of January 19, 1704, of noting once more
the Impiety of the stage and the desirability of either suppressing it
wholly or suspending its operations for a considerable period.
Apparently the author hoped to arouse in religious persons a renewed
zeal for closing the theaters, for the tract was distributed at the
churches as a means of giving it wider circulation among the populace.
('The Critical Works of John Dennis' [Baltimore, 1939], I, 501, refers
to a copy listed in Magga catalogue. No. 563, Item 102, with a note:
"19th Janry, Fast Day. This Book was given me at ye Church dore, and was
distributed at most Churches.")
Except for the author's ingenuity in seizing upon the fortuitous
circumstances of the storm, the acting of 'Macbeth' and 'The Tempest',
and the proclamation of the Fast Day (which was ordered partly because
of the ravages of the storm), there is nothing greatly original in the
work. The author was engaged, in fact, in bringing up to date some of
the accusations which earlier controversialists had made. For example,
he reviews the indictments of the players in 1699 and 1701 for uttering
profane remarks upon the stage, and he culls from several plays and
prints the licentious expressions which had resulted in the indictments.
Like Jeremy Collier before him and Arthur Bedford in 'The Evil and
Danger of Stage-Plays' later (1706), he adds similar expressions from
plays recently acted, as proof, presumably, of the failure of the
theaters to reform themselves in spite of the publicity previously given
to their shortcomings. In so doing, he damns the stage and plays by
excerpts, usually brief ones, containing objectionable phrases. To this
material he adds a section consisting of seventeen questions, a not
uncommon device, addressed to those who might frequent the playhouses.
The questions again stress the great difficulty involved in attending
plays and remaining truly good Christians.
The pamphlet must have been completed late in 1703 or very early in
1704. The references to the storm and the performances of 'Macbeth' and
'The Tempest' would place its final composition after late November,
1703, and it was in print in time to be distributed at the churches on
January 19 and also to be advertised in the 'Daily Courant' for January
20 under the heading "This present day is publish'd." The fact that it
quickly attained three editions during 1704 may be partially accounted
for by its being given to churchgoers, for it seems unlikely that the
pamphlet would have a tremendous sale, even if one allows for the strong
opposition to the stage which persisted in the minds of many people at
the turn of the century. The author of the tract is unknown, although
Sister Rose Anthony in 'The Jeremy Collier Stage Controversy, 1698-1726'
(Milwaukee, 1937), pages 194-209, ascribed it to Jeremy Collier, an
attribution which E. N. Hooker, in a review of the book in 'Modern
Language Notes', LIV (1939), 388, and also in 'The Critical Works of
John Dennis', I, 501, has deemed unlikely.
Advertised also in the 'Daily Courant' for January 20, 1704, under the
heading "This present day is publish'd" and in the same paragraph with
the advertisement of 'A Representation', was another short pamphlet,
'Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage in a Letter to a Lady'. (Immediately
below this notice of publication was a re-advertisement of Jeremy
Collier's 'Dissuasive from the Play-House', with the result that, on the
day following the Fast Day, three of the pamphlets attacking the stage
and referring to the performances of plays representing tempests soon
after the destructive storm of November 26-27, 1703, were brought
simultaneously to the attention of the public.)
It seems clear that the publication and distribution of these books was
a feature in the activities of the Societies for Reformation of Manners.
The anonymous 'Account of the Progress of the Reformation of Manners'
(13th ed., 1705) boasted that the Societies had enlarged their design
by causing books to be written which aimed at "laying open to the World
the outragious Disorders and execrable Impieties of our most Scandalous
Play-Houses, with the fatal Effects of them to the Nation in general,
and the manifest Sin and Danger of particular Persons frequenting of
them" (p. 2). Defoe's 'Review' (III, no. 93, for August 3, 1706) pointed
out that thousands of Collier's books had been distributed at the church
doors by the Societies for Reformation of Manners and the founders of
the Charity Schools. Obviously the Societies did not restrict themselves
to the works of Collier. Incidentally, the habit of Collier and his
followers of giving excerpts to illustrate the profaneness and
immorality of the stage produced an unexpected effect in at least one
quarter. The same issue of the 'Review' tells us that the Rev. Dr.
William Lancaster, archdeacon of Middlesex, objected strongly to the
dispersal of anti-stage tracts at the door of _his_ church, on the
grounds that they tended "to teach the ignorant People to swear and
curse."
'Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage in a Letter to a Lady' was ascribed
by Halkett and Laing to Josiah Woodward, who was associated with the
Society for the Reformation of Manners, and the ascription has been
referred to by later writers on the controversy over the immorality of
the stage. According to Sister Rose Anthony (op. cit., pp. 203-209),
Jeremy Collier may have issued a pamphlet as a supplement to his
'Dissuasive from the Play-House', which was first published late in
1703; and it has been conjectured (cf. 'Critical Works of John Dennis',
I, 501, 505) that 'Some Thoughts' might be that work, especially since
Dennis, at the end of 'The Person of Quality's Answer to Mr. Collier's
Letter', refers to a quotation from Tillotson which appears on pages 8-9
of 'Some Thoughts' and begins his reference to the pamphlet by
designating it as a "Letter written by you [Collier], tho' without
Name." In any event, both 'A Representation' and 'Some Thoughts' stem
from the renewed opposition to the stage which arose in the winter of
1703-1704 and were activated in part by the belief that the great storm
of 1703 was a judgment brought on England by, among other faults, the
licentiousness of the stage.
Both of the items printed in this issue are reproduced, with permission,
from copies in the library of the University of Michigan.
Emmett L. Avery
State College of Washington
A
REPRESENTATION
OF THE
Impiety & Immorality
OF THE
English Stage,
WITH
Reasons for putting a Stop thereto: and some Questions Addrest to those
who frequent the Play-Houses.
The Third Edition.
LONDON,
Printed, and are to be Sold by J. Nutt near Stationers-Hall, 1704.
A
REPRESENTATION
OF THE
Impiety & Immorality
OF THE
English Stage.
The various Methods that have been used for Preventing the outragious
and insufferable Disorders of the STAGE, having been in a great measure
defeated: It is thought proper, under our present Calamity, and before
the approaching FAST, to collect some of the _Prophane and Immoral
Expressions_ out of several late PLAYS, and to put them together in a
little Compass, that the Nation may thereby be more convinced of the
_Impiety of the Stage_, the Guilt of such as frequent it, and the
Necessity of putting a Stop thereto, either by a total Suppression of
the _Play-Houses_, as was done in the Reign of Queen _Elizabeth_, or by
a Suspension for some considerable time, after the Example of other
Nations; where, we are informed, the Stages were very chaste, in respect
of ours of this Nation, who are of a Reformed Religion, and do with so
much Reason glory in being of the best constituted Church in the World;
nay, 'tis out of doubt but the _Theatres_ even of _Greece_ and _Rome_
under _Heathenism_ were less obnoxious and offensive, which yet by the
Primitive Fathers and General Councils stood condemned.
And is not the dangerous and expensive War we are engaged in, together
with the present Posture of Affairs, a sufficient Reason for this, tho'
the Play-Houses were less mischievous to the Nation than they are?
Are we not also loudly called upon to lay aside this prophane Diversion,
by the late dreadful Storm, terrible beyond that which we are told was
felt in the Year 1636? which, as a Right Reverend Prelate has observ'd,
some good Men then thought presag'd further Calamity to this Nation, and
was accordingly followed by the Commotions in _Scotland_ the very next
Year, and not long after by the Civil War in _England_.
And if we go on to countenance such open and flagrant Defiances of
Almighty God, have we not great Reason to fear his heavy Judgments will
consume us?
But further, Her Majesty having now, upon Occasion of the late great
Calamity, appointed a Day of Solemn Fasting and Humiliation throughout
the Kingdom, for the deprecating of God's Wrath, surely the Players have
little Reason to expect that they shall still go on in their abominable
Outrages; who, 'tis to be observed with Indignation, did, as we are
assured, within a few Days after we felt the late dreadful Storm,
entertain their Audience with the ridiculous Representation of what had
fill'd us with so great Horror in their Plays call'd 'Mackbeth' and the
'Tempest' as if they design'd to Mock the Almighty Power of God, _who
alone commands the Winds and the Seas, and they obey him_. No surely, it
cannot but be hoped, that a Suspension at least of the Players acting
for some considerable time will follow, when the _Prophaneness and
Immorality of the Stage_ comes to Her Majesty's Knowledge, who, 'tis to
be remembred, has never once given any Countenance to the Play-House by
Her Royal Presence, since Her happy Accession to the Throne.
The abominable obscene Expressions which so frequently occur in our
Plays, as if the principal Design of them was to gratifie the lewd and
vicious part of the Audience, and to corrupt the virtuously dispos'd,
are in this black Collection wholly omitted; lest thereby fresh Poison
should be administred instead of an Antidote.
_After the Endeavours used by Sir Richard Blackmore, Mr. Collier, and
others, to Correct and Reform the _Scandalous Disorders and Abuses of
the Stage_ were found too unsuccessful; in the Year _1699_, several of
the _Players_ were prosecuted in the Court of _Common-Pleas_, upon the
Statute of _3 Jac. 1._ for prophanely using the Name of GOD upon the
_Stage_, and Verdicts were obtained against them._
_And in _Easter-Term, 1701_, the _Players_ of one House were Indicted at
the _King's-Bench-Bar_, before the Right Honourable the Lord Chief
Justice _Holt_, for using these following Expressions, and were thereof
Convicted._
_In the Play call'd, _The Provok'd Wife.__
'But more than all that, you must know I was afraid of being damn'd in
those Days; for I kept sneaking, cowardly Company, Fellows that went to
Church, and said Grace to their Meat, and had not the least Tincture of
Quality about em.
'Damn 'em both, with all my Heart, and every thing else that daggles a
Petticoat; except four generous Whores, with Betty Sands at the Head of
'em, who were drunk with my Lord Rake and I, ten times in a Fortnight.
'Sure, if Woman had been ready created, the Devil, instead of being
kick'd down into Hell, had been married.
'Pox of my Family.
'Pox of her Virtue.
'He has married me, and be damn'd to him
'Pox of the Parson.
'Damn Morality, and damn the Watch.
'Let me speak and be damn'd.
[Note: _This is spoken by one in a Minister's Habit._]
'And you and your Wife may be damn'd.
'Stand off and be damn'd.
'Damn me, if you han't.
'Lord! What Notions have we silly Women from these old Philosophers of
Virtue, for Virtue is this, and Virtue is that, and Virtue has its own
Reward; Virtue, Virtue is an Ass, and a Gallant is worth forty on't.
'If I should play the Wife and Cuckold him.
'That would be playing the down-right Wife indeed.
'I know according to the strict Statute Law of Religion, I shou'd do
wrong; but if there were a Court of _Chancery_ in Heaven, I'm sure I
shou'd cast him.
'If there were a House of Lords you might.
'If you should see your Mistress at a Coronation, dragging her Peacocks
Train, with all her State and Insolence about her, it would strike you
with all the awful Thoughts that Heaven it self could pretend to, from
you.
'Madam, to oblige your Ladyship, he shall speak Blasphemy.
'In hopes thou'lt give me up thy Body, I resign thee up my Soul.
'A Villain, but a repenting Villain; Stuff which Saints in all Ages have
been made of.
'Satan and his Equipage; Woman tempted me, Lust weakened me, and so the
Devil overcame me; as fell _Adam_, so fell I.
_A Bill was likewise found against the _Players_ of the other House, in
the Term abovementioned, for the following Expressions; but the
Indictement being wrong laid, they were acquitted: but they were
Indicted the Term following for the same, which Indictment is not yet
tried._
In the Humour of the Age.
'Marriage, that was only contriv'd for the meaner Rank; tell me of
Marriage, commend me to a Whore.
'Every serious Thought, was so much Time lost.
'We address you with the same awful Reverence we petition Heaven.
_In Sir 'Courtly Nice'._
'Nay, his Salvation is a Looking-Glass, for there he finds his eternal
Happiness, Surly's Heaven, at least his Priest is his Claret-Glass, for
to that he confesses all his Sins, and from it receives Absolution and
Comfort. But his Damnation is a Looking-Glass, for there he finds an
eternal Fire in his Nose.
'That same thing, the Word _Love_, is a Fig-Leaf to cover the naked
Sense, a Fashion brought up by _Eve_, the Mother of Jilts, she Cuckold
her Husband with the Serpent, then pretended to Modesty, and fell a
making of Plackets.
'Let him be in Misery and be damn'd.
'And a Pox on thee for't.
'Prithee Dress and be damn'd.
'Pox on 'em: Pox on you all Whores.
'Pox take him.
'Rot me.
'Let him Plague you, Pox you, and damn you; I don't care and be damn'd.
_The following Expressions are transcribed out of the Plays that have
been Acted and Printed since they were Indicted for the horrid Passages
above-recited._
_In the Comedy call'd, 'The False Friend. 1702'._
Pag. 7. 'Pox take ye. Pag. 12 'The Devil fetch me, &c.
Pag. 22. 'Heaven's Blessing must needs fall upon so dutiful a Son; but I
don't know how its Judgments may deal with so indifferent a Lover.
Pag. 28. 'Say that 'tis true, you are married to another, and that a----
Twou'd be a Sin to think of any Body but your Husband, and that ---- You
are of a timorous Nature, and afraid of being damn'd.
'How have I lov'd, to Heaven I appeal; but Heaven does now permit that
Love no more.
'Why does it then permit us Life and Thought? Are we deceiv'd in its
Omnipotence? Is it reduc'd to find its Pleasure in its Creature's Pain?
Pag. 33. '_Leonora_'s Charms turn Vice to Virtue, Treason into Truth;
Nature, who has made her the Supream Object of our Desires must needs
have design'd her the Regulator of our Morals.
'There he goes I'faith; he seem'd as if he had a Qualm just now; but he
never goes without a Dram of Conscience-water about him to set Matters
right again.
Pag. 43. 'Speak, or by all the Flame and Fire of Hell eternal; speak, or
thou art dead.
_In the 'Inconstant', or the 'Way to Win him. 1702'._
Pag. 10. 'My Blessing! Damn ye, you young Rogue.
Pag. 20. 'What do you pray for? Why, for a Husband; that is, you implore
Providence to assist you in the just and pious Design of making the
wisest of his Creatures a Fool, and the Head of the Creation a Slave.
Pag. 43. 'But don't you think there is a great deal of Merit in
dedicating a beautiful Face to the Service of Religion?
'Not half so much as devoting them to a pretty Fellow. If our Femality
had no Business in this World, why was it sent hither? Let's dedicate
our beautiful Minds to the Service of Heaven: And for our handsom
Persons, they become a Box at the Play, as well as a Pew in the Church.
_In the 'Modish Husband'._
Pag. 12. 'She's mad with the Whimsies of Virtue and the Devil.
Pag. 28. 'I think Wit the most impertinent thing that belongs to a
Woman, except Virtue.
Pag. 47. 'The Devil fetch him.
Pag. 50. 'I'm going towards Heaven, Sirrah; it must be the Way to my
Mistress.
_In the Play call'd, 'Vice Reclaim'd', &c._
Pag. 15. 'Now the Devil take that dear false agreeable; what shall I
call him, _Wilding_. But I'll go home and pray heartily we may meet
again to morrow.
'By Heaven, &c.
Pag. 24. 'By Heaven it becomes you.
Pag. 27. 'The Devil take me.
Pag. 31. 'Lightning blast him! Thunder rivet him to the Earth! That
Vulture, Conscience, prey upon his Heart, and rack him to Despair!
Pag. 32. 'Grant me, ye Powers, one lucky Hint for Mischief.
Pag. 43. 'Then damn me, if I don't, &c.
Pag. 47. 'Rot me and be damn'd.
Pag. 52. 'By Heaven, &c.
Pag. 60. 'Well, the Devil take me.
_In the 'Different Widows'._
Pag. 1. 'Damn'd Lies, by _Jupiter_ and _Juno_, and the rest of the
Heathen Gods and Goddesses; for I remember I paid two Guinea's for
swearing Christian Oaths last Night.
Pag. 2. 'Pox take him. Pag. 24. 'Ye immortal Gods, who the Devil am I?
Pag. 61. 'May the Devil, Curses, Plagues and Disappointments light upon
you.
_In the 'Fickle Shepherdess'._
Pag. 17. 'Bid _Charon_ instantly prepare his Boat, I'd row to Hell.
Ibid. 'O _Ceres_, can thy all-seeing Eye _behold_ this Object, and yet
restrain thy Pity?
Pag. 32. 'Fly hence to Hell; there hide thy Head lower than Darkness.
Wou'd thou hadst been acting Incest, Murder, Witchcraft, when thou
cam'st to pray: Thou hadst in any thing sinn'd less than in this
Devotion.
Pag. 36. 'Where Love's blind, God sends forth continual Arrows.
Pag. 42. '_Ceres_, to whom we all things owe.
Pag. 46. 'Almighty _Ceres_.
_In the Play called, 'Marry or do Worse, 1704'._
Pag. 4. 'Pox on me. Rot the World.
Pag. 6. 'Pox on him.
Pag. 8. 'A Plague on her.
'The Devil take you for a Witch. The Devil take you for a Fool.
Pag. 12. 'No Matrimony; the Devil danced at the first Wedding there was,
and Cuckoldom has been in Fashion ever since.
'The Devil take you for me.
Pag. 12 & 13. 'The Devil's in't if he been't fit for Heaven, when my
Master has writ Cuckoldom there.
'The Devil take me &c.
Pag. 18. 'A Plague choak you,
Pag. 21. 'A smart Jade by Heaven.
Pag. 33. 'Now the Devil take him &c.
Pag. 37. 'A Plague on my Master.
Pag. 44. 'The Devil take me, &c.
Pag. 47. 'I pity him, and yet a Pox on him too.
Pag. 51. 'That dear damn'd Virtue of hers tempts me strangely.
Pag. 54. 'The Devil take me, &c.
Pag. 64. 'By Heaven.
It must be again remembred, that the detestable lewd Expressions
contained in the abovementioned Plays, which seem to be the most
pernicious part of our Comedies, are not here recited, least they should
debauch the Minds and corrupt the Manners of the Reader, and do the same
Mischief, in some degree, as they do in the greatest when used upon the
Stage, tho' mentioned with never so great Indignation. And it must be
likewise taken notice of, that these Instances of the prophane Language
of Plays, which the good Christian will read with Horror, would not have
been put together, and laid before the World, had not the
Incorrigibleness of the Players made it necessary for the Ends
abovementioned.
_And now may not these plain Questions be proposed, without Offence, to
the Persons who frequent our _Play-Houses_; and especially to such of
them as appear at any times in our Churches, and at the Holy Sacrament,
and be submitted to the Judgment of all Mankind._
I. Can Persons who frequent the _Play-Houses_, and are not displeased to
hear Almighty God blasphemed, his Providence questioned and denied, his
Name prophaned, his Attributes ascribed to sinful Creatures, and even to
Heathen Gods, his Holy Word burlesqued, and treated as a Fable, his
Grace made a Jest of, his Ministers despised, Conscience laught at, and
Religion ridiculed; in short, the Christian Faith and Doctrine exposed,
and the sincere Practice of Religion represented as the Effect of
Vapours and Melancholy, Virtue discountenanced, and Vice encouraged.
Evil treated as Good, and Good as Evil, and all this highly aggravated
by being done in cool Blood, upon Choice and Deliberation? Can those, I
say, that frequent the _Play-Houses_, and are not displeased with any of
these things, be thought to have any due Sense of Religion?
II. Can Persons who often spend their Time and Money to see Plays, be
suppos'd to be displeas'd with, and to have a due Indignation at, the
Hearing the Outrages beforementioned, which so often occur in them, and
of which there is a dismal Specimen laid before the World in this Paper?
III. Can sincere Christians encourage and assist, by their Presence and
Purses, Men in committing such Practices, and in their living by a
Profession, which, as it is managed, is so inconsistent with
Christianity?
IV. Can any who have a true Concern for the Honour of Almighty God, give
Countenance and Support to such Entertainments whereby he is so
dishonour'd and affronted, though they could suppose themselves above
the Danger of being the worse for them, which they can never be?
V. Can Persons who know 'tis generally allowed, that the Infidelity and
Looseness of the Age is very much owing to the Play-Houses; who have
observed, that the Zeal of particular Persons have decreased, and their
Strictness of Life abated, by their going to Plays; and do think that
the Gospel obliges them to discourage, by their Reproof and Example, Sin
in their Neighbours, to endeavour, according to their Advantages and
Opportunities, to further their spiritual Welfare, and to be _Lights_ to
lead others in their Duty and Way to Heaven? Can such, tho' they could
think themselves wholly secure from taking Infection in going to the
Play-House, encourage others, even weak and feeble Christians, by their
Example, to run to the same dangerous Place likewise? Can this be
thought an Expression of their Charity to their Neighbour, or to be
acceptable to Almighty God? or rather, Should not Compassion to the
Souls of their Neighbours keep such as have a due Concern for them from
going to such Places?