The wifeft Part of the World were always pleafed with Fables, as the most delightful Means to convey Inftruction, and leave the ftrongest Impreflion on our Minds, Nay, the facred Prophets of old, could not invent any thing to heighten the Character of the future Meffiah more, than that he fhould fpeak all in Parables.

As for the Fables which in Homer, or on the Stage (I fpeak of the ancient Stage only) give any Offence, they had, in thofe old Times, a Thing which they called Allegory, which with a great Deal of Clearnefs and Eafe, obviated all the Objections and Criminati ons of the most malicious Obfervators. Nor is the Word confin'd to Heathenism, we meet with it in St. Paul, Galat. 4. 24. and the Application of it; and to this Origen himfelf was glad to have Recourse, when Celfus made his Objections against the New and the Old Teftament. As to the Stories of Eve and the Serpent, Cain and Abel, the Building of Babel, Sodom, with Lot and his two Daughters, which are Incefts and pompous Wickedness, beyond any thing fabl'd in Thyeftes, and the like, fays an Englif Author of Reputation, on this very Subject.

Shall the Chriftians only (fays Origen on this Occafion) be deny'd the Benefit of the Allegory? May not we be allow'd our Myftery, and Tropological Meaning? Thus we find, That what Lactantius objets against Homer, and the Heathen Tragedy, is by Celfus and the Heathens objected. againft our Bible and Religion. Befides, Clemens of Alexandria, and Eufebius, many Ages ago, made the Discovery that Homer had most of Fables from fome Hebrew Tradition, or Original. Nor is fchylus to be cenfur'd for bringing in Apollo finging at a Wedding, that much Happiness fhouk enfue upon it; and that the Child that was to be the Product of it should live long. Apollo had the Name of Laxias from his double Meaning, which thewed the Nature of Oracles Be not out of Patience, Thetis, fays.

be, this Child fhall live; his Memory, his better Part, which Homer has enfur'd to the End of the World, according to what our Spencer fays,

For not to have been dipt in Lethe Lake,
Cou'd fave the Son of Thetis from to die;
But that blind Bard did him immortal make
In Verfes fecp'd in Font of Caftalie.

If therefore it appears from what I have faid, That the Fables themfelves, with the Drama made ufe of, are not fo rafhly to be cenfur'd; fure no Body will be fo vainly critical, as to stick upon the particular Sayings mentioned by you, Madam, from Ariphanes, Plato, and Lactantius. For their good Sayings we have St, Paul citing a whole Verfe out of a Comedy of Menander; and Clemens of Alexandria brings more Proofs from Menander, and other Comic Poets, than from all the Bible.

On the other Hand, where ill Men are reprefented, we ought not to take it amifs, that according to their Character they fay all things; for when we remember the Saying, we remember, that it is the Saying of 1 wicked Perfon,

If with the Gods above I can't prevail,
To move the Gods below I cannot fail.

This is objected as impious in Juno. I will not justify it by what is faid by a ludicrous Author, on this Point, viz. Why may not Juno take as much Liberty with her Tongue, as Job's Wife, or any other Old Testament Matron? First, because it may feem to fome ferupnJous Hearer, to carry the Appearance, or Glance of Irreligion; and next, becaufe, it does not seem to ftand in need of any Juftification at all, according to the Pagan Theology: For Pluto, Jupiter's Brother, and the third Sovereign of Nature, is King of Hell, and

had

had his Temples and Sacrifices, as had. the Furies themselves, fo different a Notion had the Heathens of them, from what we have of the Devils. They were the legal Inftruments of the Punishment of the Wicked; but then they carry'd not with them the Notion of being fallen from a beatifick State, by a Rebellion against Omnipotence, and doom'd to be there as their own Place of Punishment.

It is an eafy Matter to find more Abuse of the Sayings of the Holy Scripture, and the Confequences of it more tragical, than from any perverted Piece of Poetry; and thus, Curfe ye Mero, ferves every Body's Turn that has a Mind to be cutting of Throats. And Campanella, and Pedro de Guzman would urge much more against the Bible's being in the vulgar Tongue, on this Account, than against the Nurfe of Herefy, this Hydra's Head of Dramatic Poefy.

I know not whether we have any Eye and Infpetion on the Conduct of the Pulpit; but there is in fome of our neighbouring Countries, and I can fee no Reason why there might not be proper Officers, fuch as Mr. Harrington affigns to this Office in his Oce ana, who should take Care of the Doctrine of the Stage, that nothing be there broach'd, but what tends to the Edification, as well as to the Delight of the Specta· tors and Audience.

But to fay, Euripides brought Harlots on the Stage; in that I believe you are led aftray, by the Zeal of fome defigning Déclaimer against the Theatre; for his Phedra was fo far from being fo, that the chofe rather to die than admit of fuch a Guilt. But had this been true, it had been the Practice of but one Poet; for Efchylus was fo far from doing fo, that he introduces not one Woman that can be fufpected to be in Love: The Fault of One Poet is not to be charg'd to the Reft, nor on the Art felf.

If I grant, That in Tragedy, the Felicity of the Invention, the Novelty of the Notion, the Strength

of

of Verfe, the Eafinefs of Expreffion, ftill heighten'd from Act to Act; together with the Richness of the Figures, the Pomp of the Theatre, the Habits, Gesture, and Voice of the Actors, at the fame Instant charming both the Eyes, and the Eirs; fo the Soul being won, the Judgment is furpriz'd, and the whole Man at once led captive; for a Man muft indeed be of Brafs or Stone to refift fo many united Charms, and be Mafter of himfelf in the midst of fuch Allurements; granting all this, I fay, Where is the Hurt? What is the Danger, if the End of all this be (as it evidently is) to fhew Virtue in Triumph ? The nobleft Thoughts make the strongest Impreffions: And the juftest Paffions find the kindeft Reception. among us. The Medicine is not the lefs Wholefome for the Honey, or the Pill for its gilding, nor can a moral Lesson be lefs profitable, when adorn'd with all the Decorations of the Theatre. I muft own indeed, that this is the moft bewitching of all Diverfions, and for that Reason, I think, the Theatre to be a Magazine, not to be trufted to vulgar Hands, and. common Heads, or ever to escape the fpecial Eye, and Direction of a virtuous Government; fince it might otherwife fo far degenerate (not to fay it has fo far degenerated) as to deferve the Afperfions and ill Names, under which the Jefuits, and fome akin to them in this Nation, wou'd render it odious: As when they call it the School of Vice, the Sanctuary of Venus, the Temple of Impiety, the Furnace of Babylon, the Confiftory of Impurity, the Shop of Lewdnefs the Peft of the Common-wealth, the Seminary of Debauchery, Sathans Festival, and the Devil's Dancing-School.

If it be unpardonable, and all together unallowalle, to mention or name any Vices at all; then is there no Book free, that is either Hiftorical, Theological or Moral. The Holy Scriptures are full of Narrations of the excefs of Wickedness in every Kind;

the

the Divines harangue against the Vices they have defcrib'd; but Tragedy never reprefents a Vice, or even the frail Approaches to any one without a Punishment. I fpeak of juft Tragedy, not of fuch Stuff, as you, Madam, have with a great deal of Reafon condemn'd in Fletcher, and fuch as is in Poffeffion of the Stage at prefent, full of Lewdness, Cruelty, Villany; in which all the Advances to Vice are fet off with lufeious Defcriptions, which, with the effeminating, amorous Speeches, are got by Heart by the young Girls and young Fellows, and take fuch Poffeffion of their Hearts and Hands, that they quite extirpate all that is wholesome and useful.

But, Madam, there is no fuch thing among the Tragedies of the Ancients, nor is there any thing like it in its Conftitution; this is all Ufurpation, and Intrusion upon the Scene, by its having been, through the Carelessness of the Government, permit. ted to the Management of ignorant, an abandoned Creatures, who have nothing in their Eyes, but the Money they can any way convey to their own Private Pockets, not minding nor caring whether they corrupt the Audience; Religion and Morality being an equal Jeft to thefe fcandalous Managers of the Theatre.

I must therefore acknowledge, that most of Mr. Collier's Criminations on the Stage, as it is debas'd in this Nation, are too true and juft; but then the Conclufion he draws from this Abufe, is by no Means just, even from the Principles he fixes at the Opening of his own Book, where he lays it down, for an undoubted Maxim, That the Wit of Man cannot inventany thing more conducive to Virtue, and deftructive of Vice, than the Drama and yet for the Abuses of Particulars, he would deftroy the Diversion: Whereas, all that he could in Reason demand, or contend for, was a Reformation of the Stage, by removing it from the Hands of Ignorance and Irreligion, and reftoring it