both a man of letters and a great general, commends the Persians for the discipline of their education." "They won't," says he, "so much as suffer their youth to hear any thing that's amorous or tawdry."* This is all he has given us from Xenophon, and if any thing else bearing on the subject was to be found in that author, Collier was the very man who would have ferreted it out; and yet on this flimsy extract we are assured, that Xenophon is amongst those who "have charged plays with the corruption of principles and manners and have given the strongest warnings against them." Again, Collier tells us, "Tacitus,† relating how Nero hired decayed gentlemen for the Stage, complains of the mismanagement, and lets us know, 'twas the part of a prince to relieve their necessity, and not to tempt it, and that his bounty should rather have set them above an ill practice,

Taking this as a fair

than driven them upon it." translation of the passage, which it scarcely is, to what does it amount? To this, that forcing needy gentleman to do what they were unfit for, instead of giving them pensions, was not acting like a wise prince. But, says Collier in another place, Tacitus informs us that "the German woman were guarded against danger, and kept their honour out of harm's way, by having no play houses among them."

• Xen. Cyropæd.

† Annal. L. 14. c. 14.

*

In the original, the words of Tacitus are," nullis spectaculorum illecebris corruptæ." Latin scholars will easily judge, whether or not the translation is a fair one. Yet on these slight extracts we are told, that Tacitus has also charged plays "with the corruption of principles and manners, and has given the strongest warnings against them." If Nero had sat at public spectacles in his dignity, on fitting occasions, as Augustus did, Tacitus and other historians, would not have charged him with aiding immorality and vice; but when he put off the emperor, and assumed the actor, minstrel, and buffoon, his licentious conduct, as high example always will, occasioned such a rapid descent into the abyss of profligacy, that he was at last obliged to check the mischief he had himself engendered, by a decree against the professors of the Stage. It was not the art which degraded him, but he who had degraded the art. The remarks of Tacitus on this subject, clearly point at the abuse only, as he adds, "public spectacles, if still left to the direction of the Prætor, might be exhibited with good order and propriety."‡

Dr. Bennett says, (page 14 of Sermon,) "The

* Spectaculum, a sight, or show, a spectacle.-Vide Ainsworth's Dictionary.

† Tac. de Moribus Germ. c. xix.

Murphy's Translation. "Spectaculorum quidem antiquitas servaretur, quoties prætores ederent, nullâ cuiquam civium necessitate certandi."-Annal. Lib. xiv. c. 20.

authority of Livy is sometimes adduced by the friends of the Drama, to prove that it was originally introduced at Rome to pacify the gods, and avert a pestilence; but it should in candour be added to this statement, that he says, the remedy in this case was worse than the disease, and the atonement more infectious than the plague.' Which latter sentence he gives as a quotation from Livy, transcribing it on the faith of Collier. Now, there is no such passage in Livy, nor any remark of that historian which, by any possible interpretation, can be so defined. What he says on the subject is as follows: "Inter aliarum parva principia rerum, ludorum quoque prima origo ponenda visa est: ut appareret, quam ab sano initio res in hanc vix opulentis regnis tolerabilem insaniam venerit."+ Which stands thus in Baker's translation. "Among the trifling beginnings of other matters, I thought it not amiss to give a view of the origin of theatrical exhibitions also, in order to shew, from a moderate setting out, to what an intolerable extravagance they have proceeded; such extravagance indeed, as scarcely to be supported by opulent kingdoms." Let impartial readers decide whether or not this is a fair mode of handling evidences.

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Tully," answering to Collier, "cries out upon licentious plays and poems, as the bane of

Short View, &c. p. 235. † Liv. Dec. I. lib. vii. c. 3.

sobriety and wise thinking, and Plutarch says plays are dangerous to corrupt young people, and therefore stage-poetry, when it grows too hardy and licentious, ought to be checked."* With both of these opinions we cordially agree, but Cicero, as is well known, was the friend of Roscius, and an admirer of his art; and Plutarch tells us, in another passage of the same part of his works, from whence Collier has quoted, that he thought plays useful to polish the manners and instil the principles of virtue. The entire tendency of the treatise, "De Audiendis Poetis," is to guide youth in the study of the poets, especially the dramatic ones, and to shew them where the abuses lie, and how they are balanced by the advantages. There is scarcely any author who quotes more constantly from the ancient dramatists than Plutarch, when enforcing his own moral sentences and instructions. Aristotle (who, according to Collier and his followers, is also an enemy to the Stage) considered it of so much importance, that he laid down a very minute model for its formation and arrangeTragedy," by his definition, is "the imitation of an action which, by means of terror and pity, refines and purifies in us all sorts of passion." He also says, "the force of music and

ment. 66

*Plutarch Sympos. L. vii.-De Aud. Poet.

† Arist. on Poet. P. II. s. 1.

action is very affecting; it commands the audience, and changes the passions to a resemblance of the matter before them." "So that," adds Collier, "when the representation is foul, the thoughts of the company must suffer." This we readily admit, and by the same rule when the representation is fair, the thoughts of the company must be elevated accordingly.' Plato, it is true, banished plays from his visionary republic, but this, as it has been observed before,† was no more than to say, that if all men were virtuous there would be no need of satirists. Yet Plato associated with Aristophanes, and was a great admirer of his works. In his piece called "The Entertainment," he gives him a distinguished place, and makes him speak according to his character with Socrates himself. Plato is likewise said to have sent a copy of Aristophanes to Dionysius the Tyrant, with advice to read it diligently, if he would obtain a complete judgment of the state of

* Collier quotes Ovid in his licentious poem "De Arte Amandi," which he says gives evidence against the playhouse, by calling it "the most likely place to forage in." I presume he means for a mistress. Sir Pertinax Mac Sycophant recommends a Meeting House as the best field in which to hunt for a wife; his authority is almost as respectable as the other, and equally fit to be appealed to in a serious matter. Dr. Styles also enrols Ovid in his list of evidences.

† Cumberland's Observer.