'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful' (Psal. i. 1). Does not this passage condemn our going
into the assemblies of the ungodly? 'But I say unto you, that every
idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment' (Matt. xii. 36). Are there no idle--no profane
words spoken on the stage? and if it be a crime to utter them, can
it be less than a crime to go and listen to them? 'Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to
the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers'
(Eph. iv. 29). Do no corrupt communications proceed from the mouth
of players? and if it be a crime to advance them, can it be less
than a crime to receive them? 'But fornication, and all uncleanness,
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh
saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which
are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks' (Eph. v. 3, 4). Are
there no filthy expressions--no unhallowed jesting on the stage?
and if these vices are not to be named amongst Christians, ought
they to be sanctioned by them? 'For the time past of our life may
suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked
in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings,
and abominable idolatries: wherein they think it strange that ye
run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you'
(1 Pet. iv. 3, 4.) Does not the apostle, in this passage, commend
those to whom it was addressed, for having renounced their former
revellings and banquetings? and does he not arm them against the
reproaches which their exemplary conduct would bring upon them? and
can we suppose that, if the apostle was now on earth, he would give
his sanction to the practice of some modern Christians, who are to
be seen, now at church, and anon at the theatre?--now receiving
the sacrament on bended knees, and anon kindling into rapture by
the exhibitions of the stage?--now giving utterance to the solemn
words, _O God, the Father of heaven, have mercy upon us miserable
sinners_, and anon applauding expressions and sentiments which no
lips can articulate but the lips of impurity? And, Sir, lest we
should, through inadvertency, expose ourselves to the hazard of
being overcome by the force of temptation, are we not commanded to
'abstain from all appearance of evil?' (1 Thess. v. 22);--to have
'no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them?' (Eph. v. 11). Are not these injunctions violated by
those who frequent the theatre? Are we not taught to pray, _Lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?_ and do we not
offer a violence to our own belief, and an insult to our Father in
heaven, when we pass from the attitude of prayer, into the place
over which the evil spirit reigns in undisturbed sovereignty, and
where temptations of the most seducing tendency abound?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"But, Sir, in the application of these passages
of Scripture against an attendance on theatrical amusements, you
have taken for granted that their moral tendency is injurious to
the cultivation and growth of private and public virtue, which,
permit me to say, without intending to reflect on your good sense,
is a species of logical artifice, which I did not suppose you
would condescend to employ. It is an attempt to carry a position
by surprise, which you should have approached openly--a jesuitical
manoeuvre to take the question of debate by the adroitness of a
sheer cunning, rather than by fair argumentation. If, Sir, you had
first proved that their tendency on the morals of society is, what
you assert it to be, injurious and pernicious, I grant there would
be a propriety in the application of the passages of the Bible which
you have made, and the contest would soon be terminated; but, as
that point has not been proved, and as I now challenge you to the
proof of it, allow me to say that your reasoning has produced no
effect."
_Mr. Falkland._--"You are at perfect liberty to examine any
arguments which I may adduce against theatrical amusements with the
utmost degree of severity, and to employ what terms you please when
expressing your opinion of their character, or of their effect; but,
Sir, you cannot expect that I shall submit to your descriptions if I
think them unjust. You accuse me of taking for granted what remains
to be proved, which, you say, is not only unfair but useless. But
I appeal to your candour if I took more for granted than what was
tacitly admitted in proof, if not actually recorded. Has it not
been admitted, that expressions are sometimes uttered on the stage
which the lips of virgin modesty could not utter? If so, will you
presume to say, that the quotation which I made does not condemn
them--'But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment?' Has
it not been admitted, that expressions are uttered, and some actions
are performed in the theatre, which have a tendency to corrupt the
minds of the actors and actresses? and if so, will you say that the
injunction which commands us _to abstain from even the appearance of
evil_, does not prohibit our witnessing such actions or listening
to such expressions? If this be not proof against theatrical
amusements, what will you call proof? If this argument does not
fairly apply, it is not because it has not strength to strike, but
because you are endeavouring to raise the dust, that you may bear
off your colours to prevent them being taken. But that you may not
shout victory on your retreat, nor taunt me with unfair dealing when
you are going down, I will consent to clear the space, and meet you
on the question of the obvious and direct influence of the stage on
the morals of society."
_Mr. Talbot._--"I grant, Sir, that the Bible censures all indecent
and profane expressions, and that it points the severity of its
rebuke against every action which has a demoralizing tendency
either on the mind of the performer or the spectator; but I presume
you will not take upon yourself to say, that our best and most
popular comedies come under this sentence of condemnation? There
are two questions, I apprehend, which have an immediate claim on
our attention--first, What is the design of comedy? and, secondly,
Will the desired result be attained through its instrumentality?
In reply to the first question, I will quote the language of the
celebrated Dr. Blair:--'Comedy proposes for its object, neither the
great sufferings nor the great crimes of men: but their follies
and slighter vices--those parts of their character which raise in
beholders a sense of impropriety, which expose them to be censured
and laughed at by others, or which render them troublesome in civil
society.' And I doubt not, but with all your rancour against the
amusements of the theatre, you will agree with him in the following
opinion which he pronounces on the tendency of such a mode of
attack:--'This general idea of comedy, as a satirical exhibition of
the improprieties and follies of mankind, is an idea very moral
and useful. There is nothing in the nature, or general plan of this
kind of composition that renders it liable to censure. To polish
the manners of men, to promote attention to the proper decorum of
social behaviour, and above all, to render vice ridiculous, is
doing a real service to mankind.' This is the design which comedy
proposes to accomplish; and now, Sir, we will, if you please, pass
on to the consideration of the second question, Will the desired
result be attained through its instrumentality? By the exhibition of
folly and vice, in the persons of the actors and actresses, who are
held up to ridicule and censure, a moral effect is produced on the
audience, who retire from such a scene, where the absurdities of the
human character have been exhibited to their view, infinitely more
disgusted by them, than they ever felt when listening to the grave
lecture of censure or condemnation from the pulpit. And I think,
Sir, you will admit that the worthy doctor has given us a proof of
the correctness of his judgment, when he said, that, 'Many vices
might be more successfully exploded by employing ridicule against
them, than by serious attacks and arguments.' And though, Sir, I
have too much reverence for the pulpit to treat it with contempt,
and form too high an estimate of its moral utility in correcting the
disorders of society, to run it down, yet I doubt whether it _can_
wield such a keen and powerful weapon against the folly and vices of
the times, as the well-regulated and well-conducted stage."
_Mr. Falkland._--"Your last remark, Sir, savours so much of
infidelity, that it is both offensive to my taste, and repugnant
to my understanding; and though it does not affect the question at
issue, yet I cannot let it pass without replying to it. The pulpit,
Sir, when it is the oracle of truth, is denominated the _power of
God_--that moral instrument which he uses to renew and sanctify
our corrupt nature; and on which he has conferred the singular
honour of employing it as the means of subverting the idolatry
of ancient and modern times, and of reclaiming many thousands of
the children of disobedience to the wisdom of the just; but has
he ever identified himself with the stage? has he ever employed
the stage to turn men from darkness to light--from the power of
Satan to himself? O no! Did the stage ever recover Greece or Rome
from their licentious and barbarous rites and ceremonies? It found
them corrupt, and corrupt it left them. And what has it done for
modern Paris, where it exists in the plenitude of its glory?
There you have a proof of the weakness of its strength to reform
a people, and of the charm of its power to corrupt them. Indeed,
Sir, it requires a high degree of moral corruption as the basis
of its exhibitions, for it will be found that its performers, and
its admirers, are alike strangers to that elevated moral purity,
which brings the human spirit to some degree of resemblance to the
immaculate sanctity of the Divine nature. Hence, while many who
profess and call themselves Christians, rank amongst its advocates
and its friends, it is a fact too notorious to be concealed, that
they who are a _peculiar people_, and whose moral peculiarities are
those which the Scriptures hold out as the distinctive evidences of
the Christian character, shun it, as the habitation of evil, from
whence they are excluded no less by the force of principle than by
the voice of authority. A real Christian in a theatre, animated
and delighted with the scenes which he must behold, and with the
sentiments and expressions which he must hear, would be as great a
phenomenon as a stage player weeping at church when confessing his
sins, or overpowered with gratitude when receiving, on his knees,
the sacramental memorials of the Saviour's death."
_Mr. Talbot._--"I was not aware, Sir, that the accidental expression
of an opinion, which has no bearing on the question at issue, would
have called forth such a spontaneous burst of disapprobation; and
though it would not be very difficult to turn back some of your
pointed interrogations to your own annoyance, yet as that would
probably consume too much of our time, we will, if you please,
confine our remarks in future to the subject under discussion. To my
questions, Sir, if you please."
_Mr. Falkland._--"Well, Sir, then to the first question. You have
given such a very flattering description of the _design_ of comedy,
that you remind me of a certain painter who engaged to draw a
likeness that should represent a whole fraternity, but when he
produced it, it was found to resemble no one, having been sketched
from fancy rather than real life. I admit that a comic writer, of
rare and extraordinary powers, could get up a piece that would keep
in view, through the whole of its plot, the censure and reprobation
of the follies and vices of mankind; but have the writers of English
comedy done this? Did not the author from whom you have made your
quotations speak the truth when he said, '_that the English comedy
has been too often the school of vice_?' And is it not so? Do
not the most popular plays that are acted on the English stage
exhibit such scenes as must compel virtue, if present, to hide her
blushing face, and wish herself away? Do they not give utterance
to sentiments and expressions, which, to say the least, border on
profanity and blasphemy, and which, if admired or approved of, must
contaminate and defile?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"But, Sir, I hope in the ardour of your zeal against
the stage, you will not overlook the distinction which the wisest
and best of men have made between the use and the _abuse of a
thing_. I grant that certain abuses, at various periods of its
history, have disgraced this department of the drama; but what
then? is it an argument against the thing itself, any more than
the impositions of priestcraft are arguments against the value of
true religion? I grant you that the most obscene and licentious
compositions have disgraced the stage, but is the abuse of a thing
any objection against its use? Licentious writers of the comic
class, as Dr. Blair very justly remarks, have too often had it in
their power to cast a ridicule upon characters and subjects which
did not deserve it; but this is a fault not owing to the nature of
comedy, but to the genius and turn of the writers of it."
_Mr. Falkland._--"It happens unfortunately, however, for your side
of the question, that its _abuse_ has hitherto been almost the
universal characteristic of comedy, while its _use_ has scarcely
ever been exemplified. Indeed, I defy any one who has a regard for
propriety to go to a theatre without hearing something to shock his
moral feelings."
_Mr. Talbot._--"Why, Sir, you are aware that no play can be acted
on the English stage unless it is licensed by the lord-chamberlain,
fourteen days before it makes its appearance in public; and do
you not know that he is invested with full power to prohibit the
representation of any play, if he thinks it militates against the
interests of virtue?"
_Mr. Falkland._--"Then, Sir, if I understand you, it is lawful to
introduce any play on the stage which the lord-chamberlain licenses?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Exactly so, Sir."
_Mr. Falkland._--"Indeed! is not this rather singular! But if a
licentious play should pass through the chamberlain's office without
being detected, and come to be represented on the stage, what would
be its reception? Are you quite sure that it would be hissed off by
a British audience?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Nothing, Sir, can be a stronger proof of the respect
which a British theatrical audience feels for pure virtue, than the
well-known opposition made to the re-appearance of K----, after his
disgraceful conduct."
_Mr. Falkland._--"That determined opposition on the part of the
more respectable public was very gratifying; but yet I am decidedly
of opinion, that if he had absented himself for a few months, or
weeks, till the public feeling had somewhat subsided, he would have
met with a cordial reception on his re-appearance on the stage. But
he was precipitate, he did not dream that there could be much more
virtue before the scenes than behind; in this, so far happily, he
was mistaken. He forgot that many who will connive at the vices of
the stage while they remain in comparative obscurity, or are only
whispered abroad in private circles, dare not, out of respect to
the decent little observances to which they are attached, connive
at them when they are sent out of a court of justice with a badge
of indelible infamy hanging about their necks. His precipitancy
was the cause of his rejection, rather than his crime; for even his
greatest opponents promised him their support, if he would refrain,
only for a fortnight, from appearing on the boards, in deference to
the taste and voice of the public."
_Mr. Talbot._--"Well, Sir, after the public had expressed their
disapprobation of his disgraceful conduct, and compelled him to
perform a theatrical penance, did you expect them to force him off
the stage for ever?"
_Mr. Falkland._--"No, Sir, I did not expect it. I know them too
well. The vices of the players will never be the means of excluding
them from the stage, if they possess the talent of pleasing the
admirers of the drama. These are a humane people whose mantle of
charity is so broad, that it will easily cover a multitude of sins;
and though some of them, when goaded by the severe invectives
of the press, will raise their indignant voice against the bold
transgressor who passes at once from a court of justice, where his
delinquencies have been exhibited in all their enormity, to the
stage, the so-styled school of morals, yet the lapse of a short
interval will soon induce an oblivion of his offences, and the
charms of his acting will soon re-establish him in the favour of the
public. But I must now return to the question under consideration.
It is not, What will a theatrical audience do, when an actor is
convicted in a court of justice of one of the worst of crimes
that can be committed against the sanctity of domestic honour and
happiness? but, What is such an audience _accustomed to do_, when a
lewd or profane comedy--a comedy which is the abuse of the thing--a
comedy which is the school of vice--is brought on the stage, and
acted in their presence?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Why, Sir, I presume you know that the public often
reject plays?"
_Mr. Falkland._--"Yes, when they are not to their liking."
_Mr. Talbot._--"Well, Sir, then the point is decided."
_Mr. Falkland._--"Nay, good Sir, not till you have proved that their
lewdness, their profanity, and their demoralizing tendency, was
the cause of their being rejected. Prove that, and you have gained
your point, and redeemed the audience from the heavy charge which
I bring against it, of having uniformly given the least degree of
support to the purest plays, and the greatest degree of support
to the most objectionable. When the writers of comedy mix up with
their plots incidents which we could not tolerate in virtuous life,
and introduce characters in their scenes which we should shun as
the corrupters of our manners, and do this to excite ridicule and
contempt against the religion of our country by holding pious people
up to obloquy, the audience have uniformly exclaimed, 'Ah, ah, so
we would have it! This is to our taste!' The play is again and
again called for. What you call the abuse of the thing, has been,
and still is, more popular than the thing existing in what you call
its purity. How will you account for this, unless you admit that
the taste of the audience is formed from the character of their
amusements, which tend to deprave and vitiate it?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Why, Sir, I admit that many who attend our theatres
are persons of dubious virtue; yet, formerly a great play-goer, I
can flatly contradict this imputed propensity on the part of the
public to applaud a licentious play. I have always heard noble
sentiments echoed in public applause, and, on several occasions,
the lurking remains of the old broad comedy received with marked
disapprobation. And whatever be the opinion of those who do _not_ go
to the theatre, these facts will be corroborated by all who _do_."
_Mr. Falkland._--"You say that all who go to plays corroborate
the facts that noble sentiments are always applauded, and obscene
expressions are marked with disapprobation. Now, Sir, I can flatly
contradict this assertion, though not from personal observation,
yet from undoubted testimony. I grant that fine passages, delivered
in an eloquent style, and which breathe the noble sentiments of
patriotism, and valour, and benevolence, and indignation against
some _unpopular vice_, are heard with pleasure; but the self-same
audience, which makes the house ring with its acclamations on these
occasions, not only silently sanctions but likewise loudly applauds
profanity and indecency at other times. If this be not the case, how
is it that the plays, which are the school of vice, still appear on
the stage, and still retain their hold on popular favour?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"What plays do you refer to?"
_Mr. Falkland._--"Why, Sir, _The Hypocrite_ is one."
_Mr. Talbot._--"_The Hypocrite!_ What! do you object to _The
Hypocrite_?--A comedy which was applauded by royalty, and in which
a striking example is afforded of the attempt of fanaticism to
undermine the principles and well-being of society for its own
individual advantage, under the specious garb of religion! Surely,
you must be a very fastidious person indeed, to find anything
objectionable in that most excellent comedy! I can hardly think you
are serious."
_Mr. Falkland._--"The design of that comedy is to hold up personal
piety to ridicule and contempt, by associating it with the weakness
of the intellect, the vulgarity of unpolished manners, and the
vices of the human character; and though the writer makes an effort
at the conclusion to redeem it from such an imputation, yet such
is its obvious tendency, and such is the effect which it is known
to produce on an audience. But as I wish to shape my objections
into a tangible form, allow me to say that the introduction and
exposure on the stage of any person making pretensions to elevated
piety is, of itself, an objectionable feature, and more calculated
to excite prejudice against all professions of religion, than to
induce the hypocrite to throw off the mask. Is this favourable to
the cultivation and growth of virtue? It may be of the virtue of a
theatrical audience, which reaches not the maturity of its growth
till it has acquired the art of caricaturing righteousness, after it
has been accustomed to make a mock of sin; but it is destructive of
that pure religion which teaches us to avoid all 'foolish talking
and filthy jesting;' and to correct our personal imperfections,
instead of making sport with the vices of others. I have read this
disgusting comedy, and I do not hesitate to say, that its indecent
allusions and profane language, are enough to corrupt any mind; and
that the woman who can retire from the theatre after the curtain
drops with a desire to see it performed again, must have lost all
that refined delicacy of feeling which forms the greatest ornament
of her sex."
_Mr. Talbot._--"Stop, Sir! I cannot allow this libel to be
pronounced, without entering my protest against it."
_Mr. Falkland._--"No, Sir, it is not a libel. The allusions, the
language, and some of the actions of that play, are more becoming
a house of ill-fame than the school of virtue, as you wish me
to believe the play-house is; and I am conscious that no decent
persons, in any rank of life, would tolerate such allusions or
actions in their families. Allow me to ask one question, What
opinion would you form of a female who would consent to read that
comedy in the presence of an indiscriminate assemblage of young
people?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Of course, Sir, I should not solicit her to do it."
_Mr. Falkland._--"But suppose she was solicited to do it, and
suppose she did it without faltering and without blushing, what
opinion would you form of her modesty, or of the tone of her mind?
Would you like that female to be either your mother, your wife, your
sister, or your daughter?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Perhaps not."
_Mr. Falkland._--"So I presume; for, as the poet says--
'Immodest words admit of no defence,
For want of decency is want of sense.'
If, then, you would not like to hear a female read that play in a
private party, especially if that female was your own daughter, how
can you attempt to justify your conduct in wishing her to go and see
it performed?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"Why, there is a little difference between the two
cases."
_Mr. Falkland._--"Yes, I grant there is a little difference between
the circumstances of the two cases; but, Sir, I appeal to your
candour and to your judgment, whether that comedy, when acted on
the stage, can promote the growth of virtue, which would have a
demoralizing effect if read in a private circle?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"In a theatre, each one is lost in the mass of the
audience, and hence no immediate effect is produced."
_Mr. Falkland._--"Then, Sir, how can the stage, when it exists
in its purity, promote the growth of virtue, and how, when it is
abused, does it become the school of vice, if no immediate effect is
produced by the sentiments and actions which are there delivered and
performed?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"I mean, Sir, that a female does not sustain that
injury in the opinion of others, who goes to see this comedy
performed, which she would, if she read it to a promiscuous
assembly."
_Mr. Falkland._--"I grant it, Sir; but will her imagination sustain
no injury by the polluting impressions which it will receive? Will
her moral taste sustain no injury by the obscene sentiments and
allusions which she will hear? Will she retire as pure from all
corrupt associations, as she was when she first entered the theatre?
Will her memory carry away no expression which you would rather she
would forget?"
_Mr. Talbot._--"But, Sir, when people become familiar with the
stage, none of these evil effects are ever felt, which you imagine
must be the consequence of their attendance."
_Mr. Falkland._--"They may not be felt so forcibly as at first,
because by habit the taste becomes reconciled to them, which proves
that the stage lowers the high tone of virtue, and brings it down
so softly and so imperceptibly on a level with impurity, that
eventually its more disgusting forms and expressions merely excite
the passing smile or the burst of laughter.
'Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
As to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.'"