, it may be said, but it is better than nothing, and it is all we
can get or would have. The censor cannot go ahead of the prevailing
habits and the common opinion of the society of his day. If we had a
censor who started a lofty code of morality and propriety all his own,
public opinion would not stand him and his code. Suppose we had a
censor who considered "Othello" shocking, and an ordinary _decolletee_
dress or an ordinary ballet costume indecent, an outcry would soon be
raised against him which would compel him to resign his purposes or his
office. All he can do is to endeavor to order things so that nothing
is said or exhibited which might shock society's sense of propriety,
and this he can as a rule fairly accomplish. He must also take his
society as he finds it. A West End audience in London will stand
allusions and jests and scantiness of costume which an East End
audience, made up almost exclusively of the working-people and the
poor, would not endure for a moment. The censor of plays can be much
more rigid in his discipline when he is protecting the proprieties of
poverty than when he is protecting the proprieties of fashion. The
censorship works well in England on the whole, because it has almost
always been worked by capable men of the world who understand that they
are not dealing with children, who do not magnify their office, and do
not strain after an austere authority which it would be quite
impossible for them to exert.

[Sidenote: 1737--The Playhouse Bill]

The Playhouse Bill passed through the House of Commons easily enough.
No one of any mark took much account of it, except Pulteney, who
opposed it. The opposition offered by Pulteney does not appear to have
been very severe or even serious, for no division was taken in the
representative Chamber. The feeling of every one was not so much
concerned about what we should now call immorality or indecency, but
about lampoons on public men. This fear was common to the Opposition
as well as to the {100} Government, was shared alike by the Patriots
and the Court party; and so the Bill was sent speedily through both
Houses.

[Sidenote: 1737--The censorship of the stage]

The debate was made memorable by the brilliant speech of Lord
Chesterfield in the House of Lords. All contemporary accounts agree in
describing this speech as one of the most fascinating and impressive
ever heard in Parliament. Chesterfield strongly opposed the measure in