The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor | Page 9

all the old plays that retain
possession of the stage, have been cleared of their pollution, and all the

offensive passages in them have been expunged; some have been
entirely thrown out as incapable of amendment, and in truth, purity of
sentiment, and delicacy of expression, have become so prevalent, that it
is very much to be doubted whether if it were proposed to act one of
Wycherly's, Dryden's, or Otway's offensive plays in its original state, a
set of players could be found who would prostitute themselves so far as
to perform it.
From the offences of mankind arise despotic restrictions and penal laws
of every kind. From the licentiousness of the stage in England, arose
the licensing law which still continues to hold a heavy hand over all the
dramatic productions that are acted; and which has too often been
perverted to corrupt purposes.
But if the abuses of the stage in the times alluded to, serve to show its
power to do mischief, the general reformation in the public taste, which
followed that of the dramatic writings, equally show its competency to
effectuate good. Rousseau, who had little less dislike to plays and
players than Jeremy Collier, says, in a letter to D'Alembert, "Let us not
attribute to the stage the power of changing opinions or manners, when
it has only that of following and heightening them. An author who
offends the general taste may as well cease to write, for nobody will
read his works. When Moliere reformed the stage he attacked modes
and ridiculous customs, but he did not insult the public taste; he either
followed or explained it." So far Rousseau was right. It is the public
that gives the stage its bias--necessarily preceding it in taste and
opinion, and pointing out the direction to its object. In return the stage
gives the public a stronger impulse in morals and manners. Wherever
the stage is found corrupted with bad morals, it may be taken for
granted that the nation has been corrupted before it; when it labours
under the evils of a bad taste, it may safely be concluded that that of the
public has been previously vitiated. The truth is evident in the wretched
state of dramatic taste in England at this moment, where, corrupted by
the spectacles and mummery of the Italian opera, by the rage for
preternatural agency acquired from the reading of ghost novels and
romances, and by the introduction of German plays or translations, the
people can relish nothing but melo-drame, show, extravagant incident,

stage effect and situation--goblins, demons, fiddling, capering and
pantomime, and the managers, in order to live, are compelled to gratify
the deluded tasteless multitude at an incalculable expense.
What the advantages are which could be derived from abolishing the
stage can only be judged from a view of the moral state of those
countries in which the drama has been for ages discouraged and held in
disrepute, compared with that of countries where it has been supported
and cultivated. Spain comes nearest to a total want of a regular drama
of any Christian country in Europe; and if there be any person who
prefers the moral state of that country to the moral state of Great Britain
or America, we wish him joy of his opinion, and assure him that we
admire neither his taste, his argument, nor his inference.
We have thus far entered into a vindication of the stage, not with the
slightest hope of changing the opinion of its enemies, nor with the least
desire to increase the admiration of its friends; but to awaken public
opinion to a sense of its vast importance, and of the advantages which
society may derive from giving full and salutary effect to its agency, by
generous encouragement, and vigilant control--by directing its
operations into proper channels, and fostering it by approbation in
every thing that has a tendency to promote virtue, to improve the
intellectual powers, and to correct and refine the taste, and the manners
of society. This desirable end can only be attained by making it
respectable, and sheltering its professors from the insult and oppression
of the ignorant, the base-minded, and the illiberal. None will profit by
the precepts of those whom they contemn; and the youth of the country
will be very unlikely to yield to the authority of the instructor whom
they see subjected to the sneers and affronts of the very rabble they
themselves despise. Besides, if actors were to be treated with injustice
and contumely, young gentlemen of talents and virtue would be
deterred from entering into the profession; and the stage would soon
become as bad as it is falsely described to be by fanatics--a sink of vice
and corruption: but the wisdom and liberality of the British nation,