Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704); Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage in a Letter to a Lady (1704)

by Unknown

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.

[*] This is spoken by one in a Minister's Habit.

‘[*] Let me speak and be damn'd.

‘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.