It is pity that a Man of fine Spirit and a fertile, as well as delicate Imagination, should think himself engag'd in high Conversation, when he is only employ'd in the lowest Affairs that concern Mankind. His Post is of the same Kind, and but the next in Order above that of Players on Instruments, admirable Voices, excellent Actors on the Stage, and famous Dancers; whose Province is only to amuse and recreate; and is therefore far below theirs, who are either busied in governing the State, defending their Country, improving the Minds, or relieving the Bodies of other Men.
Hence the Labours of the meanest Persons, that conduce to the Welfare and Benefit of the Publick, are more valuable, because more useful, than the Employments of those, who apply themselves only, or principally, to divert and entertain the Fancy; and therefore must be as much preferable to the Occupation or Profession of a Wit, as the Improvement and Happiness of Men is to be regarded above their Mirth and Recreation. I allow, that the Talents of these ingenious Men are very much to be esteem'd in their proper place; that is, as they unbend the Mind, relieve the Satiety of Contemplation and Labour, and by the Delight which they give, refresh the Spirits and fit them for the Returns of Study and Employment: But then it must be granted, that, as I have said, this is the meanest, as being the least beneficial Province in which our intellectual Faculties can be engag'd; and therefore these facetious Men can only claim the highest Rank among those, who are Inventors or Ministers of Pleasure, and provide Amusements and Recreations for the Busy and the Wise.
I would illustrate what I have asserted by the following Reflection. Domestick Fowls, the Hen, the Turkey, and Goose are preferable, as more useful, to the singing Bird, and the Parrot. The Ox, that ploughs the Field and brings home the Harvest, the Horse, the Mule, and even the stupid Ass, that carry their Owners, or their Goods and Merchandize, are more to be regarded than the Hound, the Lap-Dog, and various other Animals that seem to have been created only for our Pleasure and Amusement: And the Reason of this is very evident, Mankind may be very happy, and States and Kingdoms may remain in a flourishing Condition, tho there were no such diverting Creatures in the World: And from the same Consideration, Men, tho of a lower Station, who are not only beneficial, but necessary to the Well-being of Human Societies, are of far greater Importance, and therefore deserve more Esteem than those, who only are subservient to our Recreation; for the World may still subsist, and continue in very comfortable Circumstances without one, but not without the other: And 'tis easy to name some learned and powerful Communities, the Envy and Terror of their Neighbours, who tho they abound in Men of good Sense and diligent Application to Business, yet have few Wits and Jesters among them to make them merry.
The Truth of what I have asserted will farther appear, if we reflect that generally Men of a plain Understanding and good Sense, but of great Industry and Capacity for Business, are in all Governments advanc'd to Posts of Trust and great Employments in the State, while meer Wits are regarded as Men of the lowest Merit, and accordingly are promoted to the meaner and less profitable Places, being look'd on, by reason of their Inapplication and volatile Temper, as unfit for a higher Station.
Another pernicious Abuse of Wit is that which appears in the Writings of some ingenious Men, who are so hardy as to expose from the Press the most venerable Subjects, and treat Vertue and Sobriety of Manners with Raillery and Ridicule. Several, in their Books, have many sarcastical and spiteful Strokes at Religion in general, while others make themselves pleasant with the Principles of the Christian. Of the last kind this Age has seen a most audacious Example in the Book intitul'd, A Tale of a Tub. Had this Writing been publish'd in a Pagan or Popish Nation, who are justly impatient of all Indignity offer'd to the Establish'd Religion of their Country, no doubt but the Author would have receiv'd the Punishment he deserv'd. But the Fate of this impious Buffoon is very different; for in a Protestant Kingdom, zealous of their Civil and Religious Immunities, he has not only escap'd Affronts and the Effects of publick Resentment, but has been caress'd and patroniz'd by Persons of great Figure and of all Denominations. Violent Party-Men, who differ'd in all Things besides, agreed, in their Turn, to shew particular Respect and Friendship to this insolent Derider of the Worship of his Country, till at last the reputed Writer is not only gone off with Impunity, but triumphs in his Dignity and Preferment. I do not know, that any Inquiry or Search was ever made after this Writing, or that any Reward was ever offer'd for the Discovery of the Author, or that the infamous Book was ever condemn'd to be burnt in Publick: Whether this proceeds from the excessive Esteem and Love that Men in Power, during the late Reign, had for Wit, or their defeat of Zeal and Concern for the Christian Religion, will be determin'd best by those, who are best acquainted with their Character.
But the most extensive Abuse of Parts and Ingenuity, appears in the loose Productions of our Writers to the Stage. It was the Complaint of the celebrated Wit of Spain, Michael de Cervantes, before-cited, that the Comedies in his Time were not only extravagant and monstrous in their Contrivance, but likewise the Exemplars of Vice and Representations of Lewdness: But had the Plays in Spain, at that Time, been as Immoral and Unchaste as the daily Entertainments of the British Theatre, which have a manifest Tendency to vitiate the Taste of the People, fill their Imaginations with obscene Ideas, and their Lives with Levity, Idleness and Luxury; I say, if that great Man, whose Judgment was equal to his admirable Genius, had seen Religion and Vertue so derided, and Modesty, Reservedness, and Decency so insulted and expos'd, his Zeal for the Honour of his Country, and his Love of Mankind, would have animated him to have attack'd the Comick Poets with the same Spirit, with which he assaulted the prevailing Folly of his Age, the Romantick Atchievements of Knights Errant; his Wit and good Sense would have made those merry Authors as odious for poisoning the People with their loose and immoral Writings, as he made the others ridiculous for their extravagant and idle Tales.
No doubt a Comedy may be so contriv'd, that it may at once become delightful, and promote Prudence and Sobriety of Manners; that is, when the Characters are well chosen, justly delineated, and every where distinguish'd; When the various Manners are exactly imitated and carry'd on with Propriety and Uniformity; when the principal Action contains an instructive Moral, and all the Parts in a regular Connexion, Dependance and Proportion, illustrate and support each other, and have a manifest Influence on the main Event; When the Incidents are well imagin'd, and result from the Manners of the Dramatick Persons, when the Turns are surprizing, the Knots or Obstructions natural and unconstrain'd, and the unraveling of them, tho unforeseen, yet free and easy; and when the Diction is pure, proper and elegant, as well as chaste and inoffensive to the modest and vertuous Hearers. So regular and beautiful a Piece as this cannot but greatly please and divert, as well as instruct the Audience. Nor is it, I imagine, from want of Knowledge of the Rules of Writing, nor of sufficient Genius, in which this Nation abounds, that so few Comedies, distinguish'd by these Perfections, have been produc'd: But this Defect arises partly from this, that the Comick Poets are often Men of loose Manners, and therefore unlikely Persons to undertake the Promotion and Encouragement of Vertue, of which they have no Taste, and to discountenance Imprudence and Immorality, when by doing so, they must expose their own Character to derision; tho sometimes it may happen, that a loose Poet as well as Preacher, merely from his just Manner of Thinking, and his Sense of Decency in forming Discourses becoming his Character, may entertain the Audience with laudable Performances.
Another, and the chief Cause of the Immorality of the Theatre, is the ill Taste of the People, who, notwithstanding they have applauded several clean and regular Ttagedies, such as those which have of late, appear'd that are worthy of the greatest Commendation, especially Cato and the Plays for the most part of Mr. Row, as great a Genius for Tragedy as any Nation in any Age has produc'd, yet still frequent and encoutage the loosest Comedies. It happens, that the greatest part of Men of Wit and Humour, who not being easy in their Fortunes, work for the Stage, and are Day-Labourers to the Muses, lie under a Necessity of bringing those Productions to Market, which are in Fashion, and therefore vendible; while others, tho of ever so much greater Value, would be turn'd back upon their Hands; nor would the Actors, who live by their Employment, as the Comick Writers do by theirs, undertake to represent an Innocent, and much less a Comedy of yet higher Merit.
Tho several Assaults have been made upon the Comick Poets in Fashion, and many Batteries have been rais'd against the Theatre, yet hitherto they have prov'd unsuccessful; the Stage is become Impregnable, where loose Poets, supported by Numbers, Power, and Interest, in Defiance of all Rules of Decency and Vertue, still provide new Snares and Temptations to seduce the People, and corrupt their Manners. Notwithstanding the earnest Cries of this great City, that importune these Writers to reform the Theatre, and no longer to infest her Youth, and draw their Inclinations from their Professions and Employments; notwithstanding the Sighs and Tears of many once flourishing, but now disconsolate Families, ruin'd by the dissolute Lives of their chief Branches, who lost their Vertue by frequenting the fatal Entertainments of the Theatre; notwithstanding the wise and sober part of the Kingdom earnestly sollicit them to spare the People, to stop the spreading Plague and slay the destroying Pen, they persevere with intrepid Resolution and inexorable Cruelty, to poison the Minds, and ruin the Morals of the Nation.
The great Archbishop Tillotson has set our present Theatre in a true
Light in his Discourse upon Corrupt Communication: