| Citation |
PG-P.737.044
17-24 Nov 1737:11 (467)
Continuation of the Letter begun in our Last. [on Freedom of
Speech.]
King Charles II aimed at the subversion of the Government,
but concealed his designs under a deep hypocrisy. A method
which his predecessor, in the beginning of his reign,
scorned to make use of. The father, who affected a high and
rigid gravity, discountenanced all barefaced immorality:
The son of a gay luxurious disposition, openly encouraged
it. So their inclinations being different, the restraint
laid on some authors and the incouragement given to others
were managed after a different manner.
In this reign a licencer was appointed for the stage and
the press. No plays were encouraged but what had a tendency
to debase the minds of the people. The original design of
comedy was perverted: It appeared in all the shocking
circumstances of immodest double entendres, obscene
description and leud representation. Religion was sneered
out of countenance, and publick-spirit ridiculed as an
awkward, old-fashioned virtue. The fine gentleman of the
comedy, tho' embroidered all over with wit, was a consummate
debauchee, and the fine lady, tho' set off with a brilliant
imagination, was a very impudent coquet. Satire, which in
the hands of Horace, Juvenal and Boileau, was pointed with a
generous resentment against vice, now became the declared
foe of virtue and innocence. . . [5 lines, citizens of the
city of London came under fire.] An Alderman was never
introduced on the Theatre but under the complicated
character of a sneaking canting hypocrite, a miser and a
cuckold. . . [5 lines] Thus the stage and the press, under
the direction of a licencer, became battering engines
against religion, virtue and liberty. . . [3 lines]
But when the embargo on wit was taken off, Sir Richard
Steele and Mr. Addison soon rescued the stage from the load
of impurity it laboured under. . .
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