ent of Power you
have, and how lawfully you may exercise it over the petulant Scriblers
of the Age. As Lord Chamberlain, you are absolute by your Office, in
all that belongs to the Decency and good Manners of the Stage; You can
banish thence Scurrility and Profaneness, and restrain the licentious
Insolence of the Poets and their Actors, in all things that shock the
publick Quiet or the Reputation of private Persons, under the Notion
of _Humour_." Hence it evidently appears, that Mr _Dryden_ look'd on
the Decency of the Stage to be violated in his Time, by licentious and
insolent Poets; and I wish I could say, that there is less Reason
of Complaint in ours; In a Copy of Verses, publish'd in one of the
Volumes of the Miscellany Poems, the same celebrated Author inveighs
against the Lewdness and Pollutions of the Stage in the strongest
Expressions that can be conceiv'd; and in his latter days, when
his Judgment was more Mature, he condemns all his loose and profane
Writings to the Flames, which, he says, they justly deserve: Which
is not only a free and ingenious Confession of his Fault, but a
considerable Mark of Repentance, and worthy to be imitated by his
Successors, who have broken in upon the Rules of Vertue and Modesty in
the like manner.

Tho all Men of Vertue, who wish well to Mankind, and are zealous for
the Happiness of their Country, cannot but observe the mischievous
Effects of these licentious Dramatick Compositions, yet they will find
it very difficult to suggest an effectual Remedy for the Cure of so
obstinate an Evil. The ingenious _Spaniard_ mention'd before, for
stopping the Progress of this contagious Lewdness in his Country,
propos'd to the Government, that an Officer or Inspector might be
establish'd, with Authority to peruse and correct the Poet's Writings,
and that no Comedies should be presented to the Publick without his
Licence and Approbation.

But if this would have been sufficient to have prevented or remov'd
this hurtful Practice, the _British_ Nation would long since have had
no reason to complain on this Subject. We have Officers intrusted
with this useful and important Power, and are able, if they please, to
hinder the spreading of the Infection, by not permitting such noxious
Productions to appear in Publick: But whether those Inspectors have
had a true Taste and Judgment themselves, or have diligently apply'd
themselves to the Reading and Amending the Comedies put into
their Hands for