The following Plays, excepting the Last, will fall under the same Heads of Commendation with the Former. However, since the Poets have here been prodigal in their Expence, and dress'd themselves with more Curiosity then ordinary, they deserve a proportionable Regard. So much Finery must not be Crowded. I shall therefore make Elbow-Room for their Figure, and allow them the Compass of a distinct Chapter.
To begin with Amphytrion. In this Play Mr. Dryden represents Jupiter with the Attributes of the supream Being: He furnishes him with Omnipotence, makes him the Creator of Nature, and the Arbiter of Fate, puts all the Functions of Providence in his Hand, and describes him with the Majesty of the true God.Amphit. p. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9.[353] And when he has put Him in this glorious Equipage, he brings him out for Diversion. He makes him express himself in the most intemperate Raptures:p. 8. 17.[354] He is willing to Renounce his Heaven for his Brutality, and employ a whole Eternity in Lewdness. He draws his Debauch at its full Length, with all the Art, and Heightings, and Foulness of Idea immaginable. This Jupiter is not contented with his success against Amphitrion, unless he brings Alcmena into the Confederacy, and makes her a Party ex post Facto. He would not have her think of her Husband, but her Lover, that is, her Whoremaster. 'Tis not the success, but the manner of gaining it which is all in all. 'Tis the Vice which is the charming Circumstance. Innocence and Regularity, are dangerous Companions; They spoil Satisfaction, and make every Thing insipid! Unless People take care to discharge their Virtue, and clear off their Conscience, their Senses will vanish immediately! For Jupiter, says he,p. 18.[355] would owe nothing to a Name so dull as Husband. And in the next Page.
That very name of Wife And Marriage
Is poyson to the dearest sweets of Love.19.[356]
I would give the Reader some more of these fine Sentences, but that they are too much out of Order to appear. The truth is, Our Stage-Poets seem to fence against Censure by the excess of Lewdness; And to make the overgrown size of a Crime, a Ground for Impunity. As if a Malefactor should project his Escape by appearing too scandalous for Publick Tryal. However, This is their Armour of Proof, this is the Strength they retreat to. They are fortified in Smut, and almost impregnable in Stench, so that where they deserve most, there's no coming at them. To proceed. I desire to know what Authority Mr. Dryden has for this extraordinary Representation? His Original Plautus, is no President. Indeed Plautus is the only bold Heathen that ever made Jupiter tread the Stage. But then he stops far short of the Liberties of the English Amphitrion. Jupiter at Rome, and London, have the same unaccountable Design; but the Methods of pursuit are very different. The First, does not solicit in scandalous Language, nor flourish upon his Lewdness, nor endeavours to set it up for the Fashion. Plautus had some regard to the Height of the Character, and the Opinion of his Country, and the Restraints of Modesty. The Sallies of Aristophanes do not come up to the case; And if they did, I have cut off the Succours from that Quarter already. Terence's Chærea. is the next bold Man:Eunuch.[357] However, here the Fable of Jupiter and Danae are just glanced at, and the Expression is clean; and He that tells the Story, a Young Libertine. These are all circumstances of extenuation, and give quite another Complexion to the Thing. As for the Greek Tragedians and Seneca, there's no Prescription can be drawn from them. They mention Jupiter in Terms of Magnificence and Respect, and make his Actions, and his Nature of a piece. But it may be the Celebrated Homer, and Virgil may give Mr. Dryden some Countenance. Not at all. Virgil's Jupiter is alwaies great, and solemn, and keeps up the port of a Deity. 'Tis true, Homer does not guard the Idea with that exactness, but then He never sinks the Character into Obscenity. The most exceptionable passage is that where Jupiter relates his Love Adventures to Juno. Here this pretended Deity is charm'd with Venus's Girdle, is in the height of his Courtship, and under the Ascendant of his Passion. This 'tis confess'd was a slippery Place, and yet the Poet makes a shift to keep his Feet. His Jupiter is Little, but not nauseous; The Story, tho' improper, will bear the telling, and look Conversation in the Face. However; These Freedoms of Homer were counted intolerable: I shall not insist on the Censures of Justin Martyr, or Clemens Alexandrinus: Even the Heathen could not endure them. The Poets are lashed by Plato upon this Score; For planting Vice in Heaven, and making their Gods infectious; If Mr. Dryden answers that Jupiter can do us no Harm.Euseb. præpar. Evang.[358] He is known to be an Idol of Lewd Memory, and therefore his Example can have no Force: Under Favour this is a mistake: For won't Pitch daub when a dirty Hand throws it; or can't a Toad spit Poyson because she's ugly? Ribaldry is dangerous under any Circumstances of Representation. And as Menander and St. Paul express it, Evil Communications corrupt good Manners. I mention them both, because if the Apostle should be dislik'd, the Comedian may pass. But after all, Mr. Dryden has not so much as a Heathen President for his Singularities. What then made him fall into them? Was it the Decency of the Thing, and the Propriety of Character, and Behaviour? By no means. For as I have observ'd before, Nature and Operations, ought to be proportion'd, and Behaviour suited to the Dignity of Being. To draw a Monkey in Royal Robes, and a Prince in Antick, would be Farce upon Colours, entertain like a Monster, and please only upon the score of Deformity. Why then does Mr. Dryden cross upon Nature and Authority, and go off as he Confesses, from the Plan of Plautus, and Moliere? Tho' by the way, the English Amphitryon has borrow'd most of the Libertine Thoughts of Moliere, and improv'd them. But to the former question. Why must the beaten Road be left? He tells us, That the difference of our Stage from the Roman and the French did so require it.Ep. Ded.[359] That is, our Stage must be much more Licentious. For you are to observe that Mr. Dryden, and his Fraternity, have help'd to debauch the Town, and Poyson their Pleasures to an unusal Degree: And therefore the Diet must be dress'd to the Palate of the Company. And since they are made Scepticks, they must be entertain'd as such. That the English Amphitryon was contriv'd with this View is too plain to be better interpreted. To what purpose else does Jupiter appear in the shape of Jehovah? Why are the incommunicable Attributes burlesqu'd, and Omnipotence applyed to Acts of Infamy? To what end can such Horrible stuff as this serve, unless to expose the Notion, and extinguish the Belief of a Deity? The Perfections of God, are Himself. To ridicule his Attributes and his Being, are but two words for the same Thing. These Attributes are bestow'd on Jupiter with great Prodigality, and afterwards execrably outrag'd. The Case being thus, the Cover of an Idol, is too thin a pretence to Screen the Blasphemy. Nothing but Mr. Dryden's Absolom and Achitophel can out-do This. Here I confess the Motion of his Pen is bolder, and the Strokes more Black'd. Here we have Blasphemy on the top of the Letter, without any trouble of Inference, or Construction. This Poem runs all upon Scripture Names, Upon Suppositions of the true Religion, and the right Object of Worship. Here Profaness is shut out from Defence, and lies open without Colour or Evasion. Here are no Pagan Divinities in the Scheme, so that all the Atheistick Raillery must point upon the true God. In the beginning we are told that Absalom was David's Natural Son: So then there's a blot in his Scutcheon and a Blemish upon his Birth. The Poet will make admirable use of this, remark presently! This Absalom it seems was very extraordinary in his Person and Performances. Mr. Dryden does not certainly know how this came about, and therefore enquires of himself in the first place,
Whether inspired with a diviner Lust,
His Father got him——p. 1.[360]
This is down right Defiance of the Living God! Here you have the very Essence and Spirit of Blasphemy, and the Holy Ghost brought in upon the most hideous Occasion. I question whether the Torments and Despair of the Damn'd, dare venture at such Flights as these. They are beyond Description, I Pray God they may not be beyond Pardon too. I can't forbear saying, that the next bad Thing to the writing these Impieties, is to Suffer them. To return to Amphitryon. Phœbus and Mercury have Manners assign'd very disagreeable to their Condition. The later abating Propriety of Language, talks more like a Water-man than a Deity. They rail against the Gods, and call Mars and Vulcan the two Fools of Heaven. Mercury is pert upon his Father Jupiter, makes jests upon his Pleasures, and his Greatness, and is horribly smutty and profane.p. 3, 16, etc.[361] And all this Misbehaviour comes from him in his own shape, and in the sublimity of his Character. Had He run Riot in the Disguise of Sofia, the Discourse and the Person had been better adjusted, and the Extravagance more Pardonable. But here the Decorum is quite lost. To see the Immortals play such Gambols, and the biggest Beings do the least Actions, is strangely unnatural. An Emperour in the Grimaces of an Ape, or the Diversions of a Kitten, would not be half so ridiculous. Now as Monsieur Rapin observes, without Decorum there can be no probability, nor without Probability any true Beauty. Nature must be minded, otherwise Things will look forced, tawdry, and chimerical. Mr. Dryden discourses very handsomly on this occasion in his Preface to Albion and Albanius.p. 1.[362] He informs us, That Wit has been truly defin'd a propriety of Words and Thoughts.——That Propriety of Thought is that Fancy which arises naturally from the Subject. Why then without doubt, the Quality, of Characters should be taken care of, and great Persons appear like themselves. Yes, yes, all this is granted by implication, and Mr. Dryden comes still nearer to the present case. He tells us, that Propriety is to be observed, even in Machines; And that the Gods are all to manage their Peculiar Provinces. He instances in some of their respective Employments; but I don't find that any of them were to talk Lewdly. No. He plainly supposes the contrary. For as he goes on, If they were to speak upon the Stage it would follow of necessity, that the Expressions should be Lofty, Figurative, and Majestical. It seems then their Behaviour should be agreeable to their Greatness. Why then are not these Rules observ'd, in the Machines of Amphitrion? As I take it, Obscenity has not the Air of Majesty, nor any Alliance with the Sublime. And as for the Figurative Part, 'tis generally of the same Cut with the Lofty: The Smut shines clear, and strong, through the Metaphor, and is no better screen'd than the Sun by a Glass Window. To use Mercury thus ill, and make the God of Eloquence speak so unlike himself is somewhat strange! But tho' the Antients knew nothing of it, there are Considerations above those of Decency. And when this happens, A Rule must rather be trespass'd on, than a Beauty left out. 'Tis Mr. Dryden's opinion in his Cleomenes, where he breaks the Unity of Time, to describe the Beauty of a Famine.Pref.[363] Now Beauty is an arbitrary Advantage, and depends upon Custom and Fancy. With some People the Blackest Complexions are the handsomest. 'Tis to these African Criticks that Mr. Dryden seems to make his Appeal. And without doubt he bespeaks their Favour, and strikes their Imagination luckily enough. For to lodge Divinity and Scandal together; To make the Gods throw Stars, like Snow-balls at one another, but especially to Court in Smut, and rally in Blasphemy, is most admirably entertaining! This is much better than all the Niceties of Decorum. 'Tis handsomly contriv'd to slur the Notion of a Superiour Nature, to disarm the Terrors of Religion, and make the Court Above as Romantick as that of the Fairies. A Libertine when his Conscience is thus reliev'd, and Atheism sits easie upon his Spirits, can't help being grateful upon the Occasion. Meer Interest will oblige him to cry up the Performance, and solicit for the Poets Reputation! Before I take leave of these Machines, it may not be amiss to enquire why the Gods are brought into the Spiritual Court.p. 1.[364] Now I suppose the Creditableness of the Business, and the Poets Kindness to those Places, are the principal Reasons of their coming. However. He might have a farther Design in his Head, and that is, to bring Thebes to London, and to show the Antiquity of Doctors Commons. For if you will believe Mercury, this Conference between him and Phœbus was held three thousand years ago.19.[365] Thus Shakespear makes Hector talk about Aristotles Philosophy,Troil. and Cressid.
The Hist. of Sr. John Old Castle.[366] and calls Sr. John Old Castle, Protestant.[367] I had not mention'd this Discovery in Chronology, but that Mr. Dryden falls upon Ben Johnson, for making Cataline give Fire at the Face of a Cloud, before Guns were invented.
By the Pattern of these pretended Deities, we may guess what sort of Mortals we are likely to meet with. Neither are we mistaken. For Phædra, is bad enough in all Conscience, but Bromia is a meer Original. Indeed when Mr. Dryden makes Jupiter, and Jupiter makes the Women, little less can be expected. So much for Amphitrion.
I shall pass on to King Arthur for a word or two.King Arthur.[368] Now here is a strange jumble and Hotch potch of Matters, if you mind it. Here we have Genii, and Angels, Cupids, Syrens, and Devils; Venus and St. George, Pan and the Parson, the Hell of Heathenism, and the Hell of Revelation; A fit of Smut, and then a Jest about Original Sin. And why are Truth and Fiction, Heathenism and Christianity, the most Serious and the most Trifling Things blended together, and thrown into one Form of Diversion? Why is all this done unless it be to ridicule the whole, and make one as incredible as the other? His Airy and Earthy Spirits discourse of the first state of Devils, of their Chief of their Revolt, their Punishment, and Impostures. This Mr. Dryden very Religiously calls a Fairy way of Writing, which depends only on the Force of Imagination.Ep. Ded.[369] What then is the Fall of the Angels a Romance? Has it no basis of Truth, nothing to support it, but strength of Fancy, and Poetick Invention? After He had mention'd Hell, Devils, &c. and given us a sort of Bible description of these formidable Things; I say after he had formed his Poem in this manner, I am surprized to hear him call it a Fairy kind of Writing. Is the History of Tophet no better prov'd than that of Styx? Is the Lake of Brimstone and that of Phlegeton alike dreadful? And have we as much Reason to believe the Torments of Titius and Prometheus, as those of the Devils and Damn'd? These are lamentable Consequences! And yet I can't well see how the Poet can avoid them. But setting aside this miserable Gloss in the Dedication, the Representation it self is scandalously irreligious. To droll upon the Vengeance of Heaven, and the Miseries of the Damn'd, is a sad Instance of Christianity! Those that bring Devils upon the Stage, can hardly believe them any where else. Besides, the Effects of such an Entertainment must needs be admirable! To see Hell thus play'd with is a mighty Refreshment to a lewd Conscience, and a byass'd Understanding. It heartens the Young Libertine, and confirms the well-wishers to Atheism, and makes Vice bold, and enterprising. Such Diversions serve to dispel the Gloom, and guild the Horrors of the Shades below, and are a sort of Ensurance against Damnation. One would think these Poets went upon absolute Certainty, and could demonstrate a Scheme of Infidelity. If they could, They had much better keep the Secret. The divulging it tends only to debauch Mankind, and shake the Securities of Civil Life. However, if they have been in the other World and find it empty, and uninhabited, and are acquainted with all the Powers, and Places, in Being; If they can show the Impostures of Religion, and the Contradictions of Common Belief, they have something to say for themselves. Have they then infallible Proof and Mathematick Evidence for these Discoveries? No Man had ever the Confidence to say This; And if He should, he would be but laughed at for his Folly. No Conclusions can exceed the Evidence of their Principles; you may as well build a Castle in the Air, as raise a Demonstration upon a Bottom of Uncertainty. And is any Man so vain as to pretend to know the Extent of Nature, and the Stretch of Possibility, and the Force of the Powers Invisible? So that notwithstanding the Boldness of this Opera, there may be such a Place as Hell; And if so, a Discourse about Devils, will be no Fairy way of Writing. For a Fairy way of Writing, is nothing but a History of Fiction; A subject of Imaginary Beings; such as never had any existence in Time, or Nature. And if as Monsieur Rapin observes, Poetry requires a mixture of Truth and Fable; Mr. Dryden may make his advantage, for his Play is much better founded on Reality than He was aware of.