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In: Plays/Films/Dramas·Essays, Letters & Speeches·British Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #44645.
Jeremy Collier’s A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage is a polemical treatise that sets out, in a single‑volume sweep, the author’s grievances against the theatrical world of late‑17th‑century England. The work opens with Collier’s declaration that the “Stage Poets” and the play‑house have “gone farther in Debauching the Age” than any other influence, and he promises a concise inventory of the moral failings he perceives. From there the text proceeds through a series of numbered chapters that catalogue offenses ranging from lewd language and profanity to the misuse of religious material, the abuse of clergy, and the glorification of libertine characters. Collier intersperses his argument with references to classical authorities, Plato, Seneca, the Church Fathers, and with a litany of specific English plays and characters he deems scandalous, all presented in a dense, almost forensic outline of his case.
The voice is unmistakably that of a learned Anglican clergyman writing in the late 1690s, employing a formal, sermon‑like diction peppered with rhetorical flourishes and occasional typographical quirks that reflect the printing conventions of the period. Collier’s style is both didactic and combative, aiming to persuade a readership concerned with public morality, religious propriety, and the social influence of the arts. Scholars of early modern drama, historians of censorship, and readers interested in the moral debates that surrounded Restoration theatre will find this work a valuable primary source, while those who appreciate the clash between artistic freedom and ethical restraint will be drawn to its fervent arguments.
The opening · free to read
Being convinc'd that nothing has gone farther in Debauching the Age than the Stage Poets, and Play-House, I thought I could not employ my time better than in writing against them. These Men sure, take Vertue and Regularity, for great Enemies, why else is their Disaffection so very Remarkable? It must be said, They have made their Attack with great Courage, and gain'd no inconsiderable Advantage. But it seems Lewdness without Atheism, is but half their Business. Conscience might possibly recover, and Revenge be thought on; and therefore like Foot-Pads, they must not only Rob, but Murther. To do them right their Measures are Politickly taken: To make sure work on't, there's nothing like Destroying of Principles; Practise must follow of Course. For to have no good Principles, is to have no Reason to be Good. Now 'tis not to be expected that people should check their Appetites, and balk their Satisfactions, they don't know why. If Virtue has no Prospect, 'tis not worth the owning. Who would be troubled with Conscience if 'tis only a Bugbear, and has nothing in't but Vision, and the Spleen?
My Collection from the English Stage, is much short of what They are able to furnish. An Inventory of their Ware-House would have been a large Work: But being afraid of over charging the Reader, I thought a Pattern might do.
In Translating the Fathers, I have endeavour'd to keep close to their Meaning: However, in some few places, I have taken the Liberty of throwing in a Word or two; To clear the Sense, to preserve the Spirit of the Original, and keep the English upon its Legs.
There's one thing more to acquaint the Reader with; 'Tis that I have Ventured to change the Terms of Mistress and Lover, for others somewhat more Plain, but much more Proper. I don't look upon This as any failure in Civility. As Good and Evil are different in Themselves, so they ought to be differently Mark'd. To confound them in Speech, is the way to confound them in Practise. Ill Qualities ought to have ill Names, to prevent their being Catching. Indeed Things are in a great measure Govern'd by Words: To Guild over a foul Character, serves only to perplex the Idea, to encourage the Bad, and mislead the Unwary. To treat Honour, and Infamy alike, is an injury to Virtue, and a sort of Levelling in Morality. I confess, I have no Ceremony for Debauchery. For to Compliment Vice, is but one Remove from worshipping the Devil.
March 5th. 1697/8.
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