=Source.=--_Acts and Ordinances of Interregnum._ Ed. by C. H.
Firth and R. S. Rait. London: Wyman and Son, 1911. Vol. i., p. 26.
September 2.
Whereas the distressed estate of Ireland, steeped in her own blood,
and the distracted estate of England, threatened with a cloud of
blood by the civil war, call for all possible means to appease and
avert the Wrath of God, appearing in these judgments; among which
Fasting and Prayer, having been often tried to be very effectual,
having been lately and are still enjoined; and whereas public sports
do not well agree with public calamities, nor public stage plays with
the seasons of humiliation, this being an exercise of sad and pious
solemnity, and the other being spectacles of pleasure, too commonly
expressing lascivious mirth and levity: it is therefore thought fit
and ordained, by the Lords and Commons in this parliament assembled,
that while these sad causes and set times of humiliation do continue,
public Stage Plays shall cease and be forborn, instead of which are
recommended to the people of this land, the profitable and seasonable
considerations of repentance, reconciliation and peace with God,
which probably may produce outward peace and prosperity, and bring
again times of joy and gladness to these nations.