1 appeared ferious rather than abfurd; or at beft, have aimed rather at what is unfafhionable than what is vicious. For my own part, I have endeavoured to make nothing ridiculous that is not in fome measure criminal. I have fet up the immoral man as the object of derifion : In fhort, if I have not formed a new weapon against vice and irreligion, I have at leaft fhewn how that weapon may be put to a right ufe which has fo often fought the battles of impiety and profanenefs. C Quid deceat, quid non; quò virtus, quò ferat error. Hor. Ars Poet. v. 308. What fit, what not; what excellent, or ill. ROSCOMMON. INCE two or three writers of comedy who are now SINCE living have taken their farewell of the ftage, thofe who fucceed them finding themselves incapable of rifing up to their wit, humour and good fenfe, have only imitated them in fome of thofe loofe unguarded ftrokes, in which they complied with the corrupt tafte of the more vicious part of their audience. When perfons of a low genius attempt this kind of writing, they know no difference between being merry and being lewd. It is with an eye to fome of thefe degenerate compofitions that I have written the following difcourfe, Were our English stage but half fo virtuous as that of the Greeks or Komans, we fhould quickly fee the influence of it in the behaviour of all the politer part of mankind. It would not be fashionable to ridicule religion, or its profeffors; the man of pleasure would not be the complete gentleman; vanity would be out of countenance, and every quality which is ornamental to human nature, would meet with that esteem which is due to it. If the English ftage were under the fame regulations the Athenian was formerly, it would have the fame effect that had, in recommending the religion, the government, and public worship of its country. Were our plays fubject to proper infpections and limitations, we might not only pass away feveral of our vacant hours in the highest entertainment; but fhould always rife from them wifer and better than we fat down to them. It is one of the most unaccountable things in our age, that the lewdness of our theatre fhould be to much complained of, fo well expofed, and fo little redreffed. It is to be hoped, that fome time or other we may be at leisure to restrain the licentiousness of the theatre, and make it contribute its affiftance to the advancement of morality, and to the reformation of the age. As matters and at prefent, multitudes are fhut out from this noble diversion, by reafon of thofe abuses and corruptions that accompany it. A father is often afraid that his daughter fhould be ruined by thofe entertainments, which were invented for the accomplishment and refining of human nature. The Athenian and Roman plays were written with fuch a re-. gard to morality, that Socrates ufed to frequent the one, and Cicero the other. It happened once indeed, that Cato dropped into the Roman theatre, when the Floralia were to be reprefented; and as in that performance, which was a kind of religious ceremony, there were feveral indecent parts to be acted, the people refufed to fee them whilft Cato was prefent. Martial on this hint made the following epigram, which we muft fuppofe was applied to fome grave friend of his, that had been accidentally prefent at fome fuch entertainment, Nofjes jocofe dulce cùm facrum Flora, Epig. 1. 1. 1. Why dost thou come, great cenfor of the age, I With With awful countenance and brow fevere, An accident of this nature might happen once in an age among the Greeks and Romans; but they were too wife and good to let the conftant nightly entertainment be of fuch a nature, that people of the most sense and virtue could not be at it. Whatever vices are reprefented upon the stage, they ought to be fo marked and branded by the poet, as not to appear either laudable or amiable in the person who is tainted with them. But if we look into the English comedies above-mentioned, we would think they were formed upon a quite contrary maxim, and that this rule, tho' it held good upon the heathen ftage, was not to be regarded in chrif tian theatres. There is another rule likewife, which was observed by authors of antiquity, and which these modern geniuses have no regard to, and that was never to choose an improper fubject for ridicule. Now a fubject is improper for ridicule, if it is apt to ftir up horror and commiferation rather than laughter. For this reason, we do not find any comedy, in fo polite an author as Terence, raifed upon the violations of the marriage bed. The falfhood of the wife or husband has given occafion to noble tragedies, but a Scipio and Lelius would have looked upon inceft or murder to have been as proper fubjects for comedy. On the contrary, cuckoldom is the bafis of most of our modern plays. If an alderman appears upon the ftage, you may be fure it is in order to be cuckolded. An husband that is a little grave or elderly, generally meets with the fame fate. Knights and baronets, country fquires, and juftices of the quorum, come up to town for no other purpofe. I have feen poor Dogget cuckolded in all thefe capacities. In fhort, our English writers are as frequently fevere upon this innocent unhappy creature, commonly known by the name of a cuckold as the ancient comic writers were upon an eating parafite, or a vain-glorious foldier. At At the fame time the poet fo contrives matters that the two criminals are the favourites of the audience, We fit ftill, and wish well to them through the whole play, are pleased when they meet with proper opportunities, and out of humour when they are difappointed The truth of it is, the accomplished gentleman upon the English ftage, is the perfon that is familiar with other mens wives, and indifferent to his own; as the fine woman is generally a compofition of fprightlinefs and falfhood. I do not know whether it proceeds from barrenness of invention, depravation of manners, or ignorance of mankind, but I have often wondered that our ordinary poets cannot frame to themselves the idea of a fine man who is not a whore-mafter, or of a fine woman that is not a jilt. I have fometimes thought of compiling a fyftem of ethics out of the writings of thofe corrupt poets, under the title of Stage Morality. But I have been diverted from this thought by a project which has been executed by an ingenious gentleman of my acquaintance. He has compos'd, it feems, the hiftory of a young fellow, who has taken all his notions of the world from the stage, and who has directed himself in every circumftance of his life and conversation, by the maxims and examples of the fine gentlemen in English comedies. If I can prevail upon him to give me a copy of this new fashioned novel, I will bestow on it a place in my works, and queftion not but it may have as good an effect upon the drama, as Don Quixote had upon romance. C No 447 Saturday, Agust 2. Φημί πολυχρονίην μελέτην ἔμμεναι, φίλες καὶ τὴ Long exercife, my friend, inures the mind; HERE is not a common faying which has a better turn of sense in it, than what we often hear in the mouths of the vulgar, that cuftom is a fecond nature. It is indeed able to form the man anew, and to give him inclinations and capacities altogether different from those he was born with Dr. Flat, in his hittory of Staffordshire, tells us of an idiot that chancing to live within the found of a clock, and always amufing himfelf with counting the hour of the day whenever the clock truck, the clock being spoiled by fome accident, the idiot continued to ftrike and count the hour without the help of it, in the fame manner as he had done when it was intire Though I dare not vouch for the truth of this ftory, it is very certain that custom has a mechanical effect upon the body, at the fame time that it has a very extraordinary influence upon the mind. I fhall in this paper confider one very remarkable effect which custom has upon human nature, and which if rightly obferved, may lead us into very ufeful rules of life. What I fhall here take notice of in cuftom, is its wonderful efficacy in making every thing pleasant to us. A perfon who is addicted to play or gaming, though he took but little delight in it at firit, by degrees contracts fo trong an inclination towards it, and gives himself up fo intirely to it, that it feems the only end of his being. The love of a retired or bufy life will grow upon a man infenfibly, as he is converfant in the one or the other, till he is utterly unqualified for relishing that to which he has been for fome time difufed. Nay, a man may fmoke, or drink, or take fnuff, till he is unable to pafs |