le
Performances.

Another, and the chief Cause of the Immorality of the Theatre, is
the ill Taste of the People, who, notwithstanding they have applauded
several clean and regular Ttagedies, such as those which have of late,
appear'd that are worthy of the greatest Commendation, especially
_Cato_ and the Plays for the most part of Mr. _Row_, as great a Genius
for Tragedy as any Nation in any Age has produc'd, yet still frequent
and encoutage the loosest Comedies. It happens, that the greatest part
of Men of Wit and Humour, who not being easy in their Fortunes,
work for the Stage, and are Day-Labourers to the Muses, lie under
a Necessity of bringing those Productions to Market, which are in
Fashion, and therefore vendible; while others, tho of ever so much
greater Value, would be turn'd back upon their Hands; nor would the
Actors, who live by their Employment, as the Comick Writers do by
theirs, undertake to represent an Innocent, and much less a Comedy of
yet higher Merit.

Tho several Assaults have been made upon the Comick Poets in Fashion,
and many Batteries have been rais'd against the Theatre, yet hitherto
they have prov'd unsuccessful; the Stage is become Impregnable, where
loose Poets, supported by Numbers, Power, and Interest, in Defiance
of all Rules of Decency and Vertue, still provide new Snares
and Temptations to seduce the People, and corrupt their Manners.
Notwithstanding the earnest Cries of this great City, that importune
these Writers to reform the Theatre, and no longer to infest her
Youth, and draw their Inclinations from their Professions and
Employments; notwithstanding the Sighs and Tears of many once
flourishing, but now disconsolate Families, ruin'd by the dissolute
Lives of their chief Branches, who lost their Vertue by frequenting
the fatal Entertainments of the Theatre; notwithstanding the wise and
sober part of the Kingdom earnestly sollicit them to spare the
People, to stop the spreading Plague and slay the destroying Pen, they
persevere with intrepid Resolution and inexorable Cruelty, to poison
the Minds, and ruin the Morals of the Nation.

The great Archbishop _Tillotson_ has set our present Theatre in a true
Light in his Discourse upon _Corrupt Communication_:

"I shall only speak a few words concerning Plays, which as they are
now order'd among us, are a mighty Reproach to the Age and Nation.

"To speak against them in general, may be thought too severe, and that
which the present