A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage Together with the Sense of Antiquity on this Argument

Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

The errata have been applied without further annotation. Otherwise no
attempt has been made to distinguish likely typographical errors from the
natural variability of 17th century orthography.

A few short phrases proved illegible on the scan: these are marked
<|lacuna|>.

The marginal notes have been changed to footnotes, marked thus [123].

       *       *       *       *       *

A SHORT

VIEW

OF THE

_Immorality, and Profaneness_

OF THE

English Stage,

TOGETHER

With the Sence of Antiquity
upon this Argument,

By _JEREMY COLLIER_, M.A.

_London_, Printed for S. Keble at the _Turk's-Head_
in _Fleetstreet_, R. Sare at _Gray's-Inn-Gate_,
and H. Hindmarsh against the _Exchange_ in
_Cornhil_. 1698.




THE

PREFACE

_Being convinc'd that nothing has gone farther in Debauching the Age than
the_ Stage Poets, _and_ Play-House, _I thought I could not employ my time
better than in writing against them. These Men sure_, take Vertue and
Regularity, _for_ great Enemies, _why else is their_ Disaffection _so very_
Remarkable? _It must be said, They have made their_ Attack _with great_
Courage, _and_ gain'd _no inconsiderable_ Advantage. _But it seems_
Lewdness without Atheism, _is but_ half their Business. Conscience _might
possibly recover, and_ Revenge _be thought on; and therefore like_
Foot-Pads, _they must not only_ Rob, _but_ Murther. _To do them right_
their Measures _are_ Politickly taken: _To make sure work on't, there's
nothing like_ Destroying of Principles; Practise _must_ follow _of_ Course.
_For to have_ no good Principles, _is to have_ no Reason to be Good. _Now
'tis not to be expected that people should_ check _their_ Appetites, _and_
balk _their_ Satisfactions, _they don't know why. If_ Virtue _has no_
Prospect, _'tis not worth the owning. Who would be_ troubled _with_
Conscience _if 'tis only a_ Bugbear, _and has nothing_ in't _but_ Vision,
_and the_ Spleen?

_My_ Collection _from the_ English Stage, _is much short of what_ They _are
able to furnish. An_ Inventory _of their_ Ware-House _would have been a
large_ Work: _But being afraid of over charging the_ Reader, _I thought a_
Pattern _might do_.

_In_ Translating _the_ Fathers, _I have endeavour'd to keep_ close _to
their_ Meaning: _However, in_ some few places, _I have taken the_ Liberty
of throwing in a Word or two; _To_ clear _the_ Sense, _to_ preserve _the_
Spirit _of the_ Original, _and keep the_ English _upon its Legs_.

_There's one thing more to acquaint the_ Reader _with; 'Tis that I have
Ventured to_ change _the_ Terms _of_ Mistress _and_ Lover, _for_ others
_somewhat more_ Plain, _but much more_ Proper. _I don't look upon This as
any_ failure _in_ Civility. _As_ Good _and_ Evil _are_ different _in_
Themselves, _so they ought to be_ differently Mark'd. _To_ confound _them
in_ Speech, _is the way to_ confound _them in_ Practise. Ill Qualities
_ought to have_ ill Names, _to prevent their being_ Catching. _Indeed_
Things _are in a great measure_ Govern'd _by_ Words: _To_ Guild _over a
foul_ Character, _serves only to perplex the_ Idea, _to encourage the_ Bad,
_and mislead the_ Unwary. _To treat_ Honour, _and_ Infamy _alike, is an_
injury _to_ Virtue, _and a sort of_ Levelling _in_ Morality. _I confess, I
have no_ Ceremony _for_ Debauchery. _For to_ Compliment Vice, _is but_ one
Remove _from_ worshipping _the_ Devil.

_March 5th. 1697/8._




THE

CONTENTS.



  CHAP. I.

  _The Introduction._                                                Page 1

  _The_ Immodesty _of the_ Stage.                                      p. 3

  _The_ Ill Consequences _of this_ Liberty.                            p. 5

  Immodesty _a Breach_ of good Behaviour.                              p. 6

  _The_ Stage _faulty in this respect to a very_ Scandalous degree.    p. 8

  Modesty _the_ Character _of_ Women.                                  p. 9

  _The Natural_ Serviceableness _of this_ Quality.                    p. 11

  Immodesty _much more insufferable, under the_ Christian, _than
      under the_ Heathen _Religion_.                                  p. 14

  _The_ Roman, _and_ Greek Theatres _more_ inoffensive _than the_
      English.                                                        p. 15

  _This proved from_ Plautus.                                         Ibid.

  _From_ Terence.                                                     p. 20

  _From_ Seneca's Tragedies.                                          p. 25

  _The_ Comparison _carried on to the_ Theatre _at_ Athens.           Ibid.

  _A short_ Character _of_ Æschylus.                                  p. 26

  _The_ Cleaness _of his_ Expression.                                 p. 27

  _The_ Genius _and_ Conduct _of_ Sophocles.                          p. 28

  _The_ Sobriety _of his_ Plays.