Macbeth' and 'The Tempest',
and the proclamation of the Fast Day (which was ordered partly because
of the ravages of the storm), 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 Repr