g to be present when they are acted: And this no doubt they
would do, were they inform'd, that the Comedies which they encourage
by their Appearance at the Theatre, are full of wanton Sentiments,
obscene Allusions, and immodest Ideas, contain'd in Expressions of
a double Meaning: for it cannot be imagin'd they would bear with
Unconcernedness, much less with Pleasure, Discourses in Publick, which
they detest as unsufferable in private Convention, if they knew them
to be unchast. And should the Ladies assert their Esteem of Vertue,
and declare openly on the Side of Modesty, the most attractive Beauty
of the fair Sex, as certainly they would do, if they understood how
much those amiable Qualities have been expos'd and affronted by our
most eminent Comick Poets; this would lay the Ax to the Root, and at
one Blow destroy this pernicious Practice; for after this, what Writer
would transgress the Rules of Decency and Purity of Expression, when
he knows, that by his immodest Mixtures he shall fright the Ladies
from the House?

It would be another effectual Means to redress the Grievance of the
Stage, if the Clergy could be prevail'd upon to condemn from
the Pulpit and the Press, as well as in their Conversation, the
unjustifiable Entertainments of the Theatre; would they insist upon
it, and urge it as a necessary Duty of the People to avoid these
Occasions, and at least Appearances of Evil; would they shew them,
that by frequenting these unwarrantable Diversions, they rush into
Snares, court Temptation, and invite others to follow their criminal
Example; would they set before them the Hazard of playing on the nice
and dubious Limits of Innocence, and adventuring to the utmost Extent
of Vertue and the Frontier of Vice, there would be great hopes of
stemming this strong Tide of Iniquity. And this is no more than the
indispensable Obligation, which our Divines are under, whose proper
Province it is to warn the People of their Danger, and to press
them earnestly to fly from it. This venerable Order have, by solemn
Engagements, set themselves apart, as spiritual Guides, to point out
the fatal Rocks and treacherous Sands to their Neighbours, that they
may not make Shipwreck of Modesty and Innocence, and plunge into the
Depths of Irreligion and Vice: Nor is it obvious, why these Reverend
Teachers, by their Silence and Neutrality, should give Profaneness and
Immorality such fair Play, as if the Controversy between the Stage
and the Pu