Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage | Page 2

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',