All private taxes, immodest phrases,
Whatever way but look like Vitious.
For wicked mirth, never true Pleasure brings;
For honest Minds, are pleas'd with honest things._
I have quoted nothing but Comedy in this Author. The _Coronation_ is
another. And the _Prologue_ tells you there is
_No Undermirth such as does lard the Scene,
For Coarse Delight, the Language here is clean.
And confident our Poet bad me say,
He'll bate you but the Folly of a Play.
For which altho' dull Souls his Pen despise;
Who think it yet too early to be wise.
The Nobles yet will thank his Muse, at least
Excuse him, cause his Thought aim'd at the Best._
Thus these _Poets_ are in their Judgments clearly ours. 'Tis true their
Hand was not always steady. But thus much may be aver'd, that _Fletcher's_
later _Plays_ are the most inoffensive. This is either a sign of the
_Poets_ Reformation; or that the exceptionable Passages belonged to
_Beaumont_, who dyed first.
To these Authorities of our own Nation, I shall add a considerable
Testimony out of Mr. _Corneille_. This Author was sensible that tho' the
Expression of his _Theodore_ was altogether unsmutty,[101] 'Yet the bare
Idea of Prostitution uneffected, shock'd the Audience, and made the Play
miscarry. The _Poet_ protests he took great care to alter the natural
Complexion of the Image, and to convey it decently to the Fancy; and
delivered only some part of the History as inoffensively as possible. And
after all his Screening and Conduct, the Modesty of the Audience would not
endure that little, the Subject forced him upon. He is positive 'the
Comedies St. _Augustine_ declaim'd against, were not such as the _French_.
For theirs are not spectacles of Turpitude, as that Father justly calls
those of his Time. The _French_ generally speaking, containing nothing but
examples of Innocence, Piety and Virtue.'
In this Citation we have the Opinion of the _Poet_, the Practise of the
_French_ Theatre, and the Sense of that _Nation_, and all very full to our
purpose.
To conclude this _Chapter_. By what has been offer'd, it appears that the
_Present English Stage_ is superlatively Scandalous. It exceeds the
Liberties of all Times and Countries: It has not so much as the poor plea
of a _Precedent_, to which most other ill Things may claim a pretence. 'Tis
mostly meer Discovery and Invention: A new World of Vice found out, and
planted with all the Industry imaginable. _Aristophanes_ himself, how bad
soever in other respects, does not amplyfie, and flourish, and run through
all the Topicks of Lewdness like these Men. The _Miscellany Poems_ are
likewise horribly Licentious. They are sometimes Collections from
Antiquity, and often, the worst parts of the worst _Poets_. And to mend the
Matter, the Christian _Translation_, is more nauseous than the _Pagan_
Original. Such stuff I believe was never seen, and suffer'd before. In a
word, If Poverty and Diseases, the Dishonour of Families, and the
Debauching of Kingdoms, are such valuable Advantages, then I confess these
Books deserve encouragement. But if the Case is otherwise, I humbly
conceive the Proceeding should be so too.
CHAP. II.
_The Profaness of the_ Stage.
An other Instance of the Disorders of the _Stage_ is their _Profaness_:
This Charge may come under these two particulars.
_1st. Their Cursing and Swearing._
_2dly. Their Abuse of Religion and Holy Scripture._
_1st Their Cursing and Swearing._
What is more frequent then their wishes of Hell, and Confusion, Devils, and
Diseases, all the Plagues of this World, and the next, to each other? And
as for Swearing; 'tis used by all Persons, and upon all Occasions: By
Heroes, and Paltroons; by Gentlemen, and Clowns: Love, and Quarrels,
Success, and Disappointment, Temper, and Passion, must be varnish'd, and
set off with _Oaths_. At some times, and with some _Poets_ Swearing is no
ordinary Releif. It stands up in the room of Sense, gives Spirit to a flat
Expression, and makes a Period Musical and Round. In short, 'tis almost all
the Rhetorick, and Reason some People are Masters of: The manner of
performance is different. Some times they mince the matter; change the
Letter, and keep the Sense,[102] as if they had a mind to steal a Swearing,
and break the Commandement without Sin. At another time the Oaths are
clipt, but not so much within the Ring, but that the _Image and
Superscription_ are visible. These expedients, I conceive are more for
variety, then Conscience: For when the fit comes on them, they make no
difficulty of Swearing at Length. Instances of all these kinds may be met
with in the _Old Batchelour_, _Double Dealer_, and _Love for Love_. And to
mention no more, _Don Quixot_, the _Provok'd Wife_, and the _Relapse_, are
particularly rampant and scandalous. The _English Stage_ exceed their
predecessors in this, as well as other Branches of immorality. _Shakespear_
is comparatively sober, _Ben Jonson_ is still more regular; And as for
_Beaument_ and _Fletcher_, In their _Plays_ they are commonly Profligate
Persons that Swear, and even those are reprov'd for't. Besides, the Oaths
are not so full of Hell and Defiance, as in the Moderns.
So much for matter of Fact: And as for point of Law, I hope there needs not
many words to prove Swearing a Sin: For what is more provoking than
contempt, and what Sin more contemptuous than common Swearing? what can be
more Insolent and Irreligious, than to bring in God to attest our Trifles,
to give Security for our Follies, and to make part of our Diversion? To
Play with Majesty and Omnipotence in this manner, is to render it cheap and
despicable. How can such Customes as these consist with the belief of
Providence or Revelation? The _Poets_ are of all People most to blame. They
want even the Plea of _Bullies_ and _Sharpers_. There's no Rencounters, no
starts of Passion, no suddain Accidents to discompose them. They swear in
Solitude and cool Blood, under Thought and Deliberation, for Business, and
for Exercise: This is a terrible Circumstance; It makes all _Malice
Prepence_, and enflames the Guilt, and the Reckoning.
And if Religion signifies nothing, (as I am afraid it does with some
People) there is Law, as well as Gospel against _Swearing_. _3d Jac. 1
cap. 21._ is expresly against the _Playhouse_. It runs thus.
For the preventing and avoiding of the great abuse of the holy Name of
God, in Stage Plays, Enterludes &c. Be it enacted by our Sovereign Lord
&c. That if at any time, or times, after the End of this present Session
of Parliament; any Person or Persons do, or shall in any Stage Play,
Enterlude, Show, &c. Jeastingly or Profanly, speak or use the Holy Name
of God, or of Christ Jesus, or of the Holy Ghost, or of the Trinity,
which are not to be spoken, but with Fear and Reverence; shall forfeit
for every such offence, by him or them committed, ten pounds: The one
Moity thereof to the King's Majesty, his Heirs; and Successors, the other
Moity thereof to him, or them, that will sue for the same in any Court of
Record at Westminster, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of Law
shall be allow'd.
By this _Act_ not only direct Swearing, but all vain Invocation of the Name
of God is forbidden. This _Statute_ well executed would mend the _Poets_,
or sweep the _Box_: And the _Stage_ must either reform, or not thrive upon
Profaness.
_3dly_ Swearing in the _Playhouse_ is an ungentlemanly, as well as an
unchristian Practice. The _Ladies_ make a considerable part of the
_Audience_. Now Swearing before Women is reckon'd a Breach of good
Behaviour, and therefore a civil Atheist will forbear it. The custom seems
to go upon this Presumption; that the Impressions of Religion are strongest
in Women, and more generally spread. And that it must be very disagreeable
to them, to hear the Majesty of God treated with so little respect.
Besides: Oaths are a boistrous and tempestuous sort of Conversation;
Generally the effects of Passion, and spoken with Noise, and Heat. Swearing
looks like the beginning of a Quarrel, to which Women have an aversion: As
being neither armed by Nature, nor disciplin'd by Custome for such rough
Disputes. A Woman will start at a Soldiers Oath, almost as much as at the
Report of his Pistol: And therefore a well Bred Man will no more Swear,
than Fight in the Company of Ladies.
A _Second_ Branch of the Profaness of the _Stage_ is their Abuse of
Religion, and _Holy Scripture_. And here sometimes they don't stop short of
Blasphemy. To cite all that might be Collected of this kind would be
tedious. I shall give the _Reader_ enough to justifie the Charge, and I
hope to abhor the Practice.
To begin with the _Mock-Astrologer_. In the First _Act_ the _Scene_ is a
_Chappel_; And that the Use of such Consecrated places may be the better
understood, the time is taken up in Courtship, Raillery, and ridiculing
Devotion. _Jacinta_ takes her turn among the rest. She Interrupts
_Theodosia_, and cries out: _why Sister, Sister----will you pray? what
injury have I ever done you that you should pray in my Company?_
_Wildblood_ Swears by _Mahomet_, rallies smuttily upon the other World, and
gives the preference to the Turkish Paradise[103]! This Gentleman to
incourage _Jacinta_ to a Complyance in Debauchery, tells her _Heaven is all
Eyes and no Tongue._[104] That is, it sees Wickedness but conceals it. He
Courts much at the same rate a little before. _When a Man comes to a great
Lady, he is fain to approach her with Fear, and Reverence, methinks there's
something of Godliness in't_.[105] Here you have the Scripture burlesqu'd,
and the Pulpit Admonition apply'd to Whoring.[106] Afterwards _Jacinta_ out
of her great Breeding and Christianity, swears by _Alla_, and _Mahomet_,
and makes a Jest upon Hell.[107] _Wildblood_ tells his Man that _such
undesigning Rogues as he, make a Drudge of poor Providence_. And _Maskall_
to show his proficiency under his Masters, replies to _Bellamy_, who would
have had him told a Lie.[108] _Sir upon the Faith of a Sinner you have had
my last Lie already. I have not one more to do me Credit, as I hope to be
saved Sir._
In the close of the _Play_, They make sport with Apparitions and Fiends.
One of the Devils sneezes, upon this they give him the Blessing of the
Occasion, and conclude _he has got cold by being too long out of the
Fire_.[109]
The _Orphan_ lays the Scene in Christendom, and takes the same care of
Religion. _Castalio_ Complements his Mistress to Adoration.
_No Tongue my Pleasure and my Pain can tell:
'Tis Heaven to have thee, and without thee Hell._ [110]
_Polydor_ when upon the attempt to debauch _Monimia_, puts up this
ejaculation.
_Blessed Heaven assist me but in this dear Hour_: [111]
Thus the _Stage_ worships the true God in Blasphemy, as the _Lindians_ did
_Hercules_ by Cursing and throwing stones.[112] This _Polydor_ has another
Flight of Profaness, but that has got a certain _Protection_, and therefore
must not be disturb'd.
In the _Old Batchelour_, _Vain-love_ asks _Belmour_, _could you be content
to go to Heaven_?
_Bell. Hum, not immediatly in my Conscence, not heartily._[113]----This is
playing I take it with Edge-Tools. To go to Heaven in jeast, is the way to
go to Hell in earnest. In the Fourth _Act_, Lewdness is represented with
that Gaity, as if the Crime was purely imaginary, and lay only in ignorance
and preciseness. _Have you throughly consider'd (says Fondlewife) how
detestable, how Heinous, and how crying a Sin the Sin of Adultery is? have
you weighed I say? For it is a very weighty Sin: and, altho' it may
lie----yet thy Husband must also bear his part; For thy iniquity will fall
on his Head_.[114] I suppose this fit of Buffoonry and profaness, was to
settle the Conscience of young Beginners, and to make the Terrors of
Religion insignificant. _Bellmour_ desires _Lætitia to give him leave to
swear by her Eyes and her Lips_: He kisses the Strumpet, and tells her,
_Eternity was in that Moment_.[115] _Lætitia_ is horibly profane in her
Apology to her Husband; but having the _Stage-Protection_ of Smut for her
Guard, we must let her alone.[116] _Fondlewife_ stalks under the same
shelter, and abuses a plain Text of Scripture to an impudent Meaning.[117]
A little before, _Lætitia_ when her Intrigue with _Bellmour_ was almost
discover'd, supports her self with this Consideration. _All my comfort lies
in his impudence, and Heaven be prais'd, he has a Considerable
Portion_.[118] This is the _Play-house_ Grace, and thus Lewdness is made a
part of Devotion! Ther's another Instance still behind: 'Tis that of
_Sharper_ to _Vain-Love_, and lies thus.
_I have been a kind of God Father to you, yonder: I have promis'd and vow'd
something in your Name, which I think you are bound to Perform_.[119] For
Christians to droll upon their Baptism is somewhat extraordinary; But since
the _Bible_ can't escape, 'tis the less wonder to make bold with the
_Catechisme_.
In the _Double Dealer_, Lady _Plyant_ cries out _Jesu_ and talks Smut in
the same Sentence.[120] Sr. _Paul Plyant_ whom the Poet dub'd a Fool when
he made him a Knight, talks very Piously! _Blessed be Providence, a Poor
unworthy Sinner, I am mightily beholden to Providence_[121]: And the same
word is thrice repeated upon an odd occasion.[122] The meaning must be that
_Providence_ is a ridiculous supposition, and that none but Blockheads
pretend to Religion. But the Poet can discover himself farther if need be.
Lady _Froth_ is pleas'd to call _Jehu_ _a Hackney Coachman_.[123] Upon
this, _Brisk_ replies, _If Jehu was a Hackney Coachman, I am
answer'd----you may put that into the Marginal Notes tho', to prevent
Criticisms----only mark it with a small Asterisme and say----Jehu was
formerly a Hackney Coachman._ This for a heavy Piece of Profaness, is no
doubt thought a lucky one, because it burlesques the Text, and the Comment,
all under one. I could go on with the _Double Dealer_ but he'll come in my
way afterwards, and so I shall part with him at present. Let us now take a
veiw of _Don Sebastian_. And here the _Reader_ can't be long unfurnish'd.
_Dorax_ shall speak first.
_Shall I trust Heaven
With my revenge? then where's my satisfaction?
No, it must be my own, I scorn a Proxy._[124]
But _Dorax_ was a Renegado, what then? He had renounc'd Christianity, but
not Providence. Besides; such hideous Sentences ought not to be put in the
Mouth of the Devil. For that which is not fit to be heard, is not fit to be
spoken. But to some people an Atheistical Rant is as good as a Flourish of
Trumpets. To proceed. _Antonio_ tho' a profess'd Christian, mends the
matter very little. He is looking on a Lot which he had drawn for his Life:
This proving unlucky, after the preamble of a Curse or two, he calls it,
_As black as Hell, an other lucky saying!
I think the Devils in me:----good again,
I cannot speak one syllable but tends
To Death or to Damnation._[125]
Thus the Poet prepares his Bullies for the other World! Hell and Damnation
are strange entertaining words upon the _Stage_! Were it otherwise, the
Sense in these Lines, would be almost as bad as the Conscience. The _Poem_
warms and rises in the working: And the next Flight is extreamly
remarkable:
_Not the last sounding could surprize me more,
That summons drowsy Mortals to their doom,
When call'd in hast they fumble for their Limbs:_[126]
Very Solemnly and Religiously express'd! _Lucian_ and _Celsus_ could not
have ridiculed the Resurrection better! Certainly the Poet never expects to
be there. Such a light Turn would have agreed much better to a Man who was
in the Dark, and was feeling for his Stockings. But let those who talk of
_Fumbling_ for their Limbs, take care they don't find them too fast. In the
Fourth _Act_ _Mustapha_ dates his _Exaltation to Tumult_, _from the second
Night of the Month_ Abib.[127] Thus you have the Holy Text abused by
Captain _Tom_; And the Bible torn by the Rabble! The Design of this Liberty
I can't understand, unless it be to make _Mustapha_ as considerable as
_Moses_; and the prevalence of a Tumult, as much a Miracle as the
Deliverance out of _Ægypt_. We have heard this Author hitherto in his
_Characters_, let us hear him now in his own Person. In his _Dedication of
Aurenge Zebe_ he is so hardy as to affirm that _he who is too lightly
reconciled after high Provocation, may Recommend himself to the World for a
Christian, but I should hardly trust him for a Friend_. And why is a
Christian not fit to make a Friend of? Are the Principles of Christianity
defective, and the Laws of it Ill contriv'd? Are the Interests and
Capacities of Mankind overlook'd? Did our Great Master bind us to
Disadvantage, and make our Duty our Misfortune? And did he grudge us all
the Pleasures and Securities of Friendship? Are not all these horrid
Suppositions? Are they not a flat Contradiction to the _Bible_, and a Satyr
on the Attributes of the Deity? Our Saviour tells us we must _forgive until
Seventy times Seven_; That is, we must never be tired out of Clemency and
Good Nature. He has taught us to pray for the Forgiveness of our own Sins,
only upon the Condition of forgiving others. Here is no exception upon the
Repetition of the Fault, or the Quality of the Provocation. Mr. _Dryden_ to
do him right, do's not dispute the Precept. He confesses this is the way to
be a Christian: But for all that he _should hardly trust him for a Friend_.
And why so? Because the Italian Proverb says, _He that forgives the second
time is a Fool._[128] This Lewd Proverb comes in for Authority, and is a
piece of very pertinent Blasphemy! Thus in some Peoples _Logick_ one proof
from Atheism, is worth Ten from the _New Testament_. But here the _Poet_
argues no better than he Believes. For most certainly, a Christian of all
others is best qualified for Friendship. For He that loves his Neighbour as
himself, and carries Benevolence and Good Nature beyond the Heights of
Philosophy: He that is not govern'd by Vanity, or Design; He that prefers
his Conscience to his Life, and has Courage to Maintain his Reason; He that
is thus qualified must be a good Friend; And he that falls short, is no
good Christian. And since the _Poet_ is pleas'd to find fault with
Christianity, let us examine his own Scheme. _Our Minds (says he) are
perpetually wrought on by the Temperament of our Bodies, which makes me
suspect they are nearer Allyed than either our Philosophers, or School
Divines will allow them to be._[129] The meaning is, he suspects our Souls
are nothing but Organiz'd Matter. Or in plain English, our _Souls_ are
nothing but our Bodies. And then when the Body dies you may guess what
becomes of them! Thus the Authorities of Religion are weaken'd, and the
prospect of the other World almost shut up. And is this a likely
Supposition for Sincerity and good Nature? Do's Honour use to rise upon the
Ruines of Conscience? And are People the best Friends where they have the
least Reason to be so? But not only the Inclinations to Friendship must
Languish upon this Scheme, but the very Powers of it are as it were
destroy'd. By this Systeme no Man can say his Soul is his own. He can't be
assured the same Colours of Reason and Desire will last. Any little
Accident from _without_ may metamorphose his Fancy, and push him upon a new
set of Thoughts. _Matter_ and _Motion_ are the most Humorsom Capricious
Things in Nature; and withall, the most Arbitrary and uncontroll'd. And can
Constancy proceed from Chance, Choice from Fate, and Virtue from Necessity?
In short a Man at this rate must be a Friend or an Enemy in spite of his
Teeth, and just as long as the _Atoms_ please and no longer. Every Change
in _Figure_ and _Impulse_, must alter the Idea, and wear off the former
Impression. So that by these Principles, Friendship will depend on the
_Seasons_, and we must look in the _Weather Glass_ for our Inclinations.
But this 'tis to Refine upon Revelation, and grow wiser than Wisdom! The
same Author in his Dedication of _Juvenal_ and _Persius_, has these words:
_My Lord, I am come to the last Petition of_ Abraham;[130] _If there be ten
Righteous Lines in this vast Preface, spare it for their sake; and also
spare the next City because it is but a little one_. Here the Poet stands
for _Abraham_; and the Patron for God Almighty: And where lies the Wit of
all this? In the Decency of the Comparison? I doubt not. And for the _next
City_ he would have spared, he is out in the Allusion. 'Tis no _Zoar_, but
much rather _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_, Let them take care the Fire and
Brimstone does not follow: And that those who are so bold with _Abraham_'s
Petition, are not forced to that of _Dives_. To beg Protection for a Lewd
Book in _Scripture Phrase_, is very extraordinary! 'Tis in effect to
Prostitute the Holy Rhetorick, and send the _Bible_ to the _Brothell_! I
can hardly imagin why these Tombs of Antiquity were raked in, and
disturb'd? Unless it were to conjure up a departed Vice, and revive the
Pagan Impurities: Unless it were to raise the Stench of the Vault, and
Poyson the Living with the Dead. Indeed _Juvenal_ has a very untoward way
with him in some of his Satyrs. His Pen has such a Libertine stroak that
'tis a Question whether the Practise, or the Reproof, the Age, or the
Author, were the more Licentious. He teaches those Vices he would correct,
and writes more like a Pimp, than a _Poet_. And truly I think there is but
little of Lewdness lost in the _Translation_. The Sixth and Eleventh
_Satyrs_ are Particularly remarkable. Such nauseous stuff is almost enough
to debauch the _Alphabet_, and make the Language scandalous. One would
almost be sorry for the privilege of _Speech_, and the Invention of
_Letters_, to see them thus wretchedly abused. And since the Business must
be undertaken, why was not the Thought Blanched, the Expression made
remote, and the ill Features cast into shadows? I'm mistaken if we have not
Lewdness enough of our own Growth, without Importing from our Neighbours.
No. This can't be. An Author must have Right done him, and be shown in his
own shape, and Complexion. Yes by all means! Vice must be disrobed, and
People poyson'd, and all for the sake of Justice! To do Right to such an
Author is to burn him. I hope Modesty is much better than Resemblance. The
Imitation of an ill Thing is the worse for being exact: And sometimes to
report a Fault is to repeat it.
To return to his _Plays_. In _Love Triumphant_, _Garcia_ makes _Veramond_
this Compliment:
_May Heaven and your brave Son, and above all,
Your own prevailing Genius guard your Age._[131]
What is meant by his Genius, in this place, is not easy to Discover, only
that 'tis something which is a better Guard than Heaven. But 'tis no Matter
for the Sense, as long as the Profaness is clear. In this _Act_, Colonel
_Sancho_ lets _Carlos_ know the old Jew is dead, which he calls good news.
Carl. _What Jew?_
Sanch. _Why the rich Jew my Father. He is gone to the Bosom, of_ Abraham
_his Father, and I his Christian Son am left sole Heir_.[132] A very
mannerly Story! But why does the Poet acquaint us with _Sanchos_ Religion?
The case is pretty plain: 'tis to give a lustre to his Profaness, and make
him burlesque St. _Luke_ with the better Grace. _Alphonso_ complains to
_Victoria_ that _Nature doats with Age_.[133] His reason is, because
Brother and Sister can't Marry as they did at first: 'Tis very well! We
know what _Nature_ means in the Language of Christianity, and especially
under the Notion of a Law-giver. _Alphonso_ goes on, and compares the
Possession of Incestuous Love to Heaven. Yes, 'tis _Eternity in
Little_.[134]
It seems Lovers must be distracted or there's no diversion. A Flight of
Madness like a Faulcons _Lessening_, makes them the more gaz'd at! I am now
coming to some of the Poets Divinity. And here _Vengeance is said to be so
sweet a Morsel_,
_That Heaven reserves it for its proper Tast._[135]