THE DRAMA AND ITS PROFESSORS.

(_For the Mirror_.)


It is remarkable with what difference actors were treated among the
ancients. At Athens, they were held in such esteem, as to be sometimes
appointed to discharge embassies and other negotiations; whereas, at
Rome, if a citizen became an actor, he thereby forfeited his freedom.
Among the moderns, actors are best treated in England; the French having
much the same opinion of them that the Romans had; for though an actor
of talent, in Paris, is more regarded than here, he nevertheless is
deeply degraded. He may die amid applauses on the stage, but at his
natural death, he must pass to his grave, without a prayer or _de
profundis_, unless a minister of religion receives his last sigh.

Cromwell and his Puritans had a holy horror of actors. They pronounced
them Sons of Belial! and professors of abomination. During the whole
reign of the Republican Parliament, and Protectorate, the theatres of
that day were closed, or, if opened by stealth, were subject to the
visits of the emissaries of "Praise God Barebones," "Fight the Good
Fight," and their crew. The actors were driven off the stage by
soldiers, and the cant word of that period is still recorded, "Enter
red coat, exit hat and cloak." William Prynne was celebrated for his
writings against the immorality of the stage, and the furious invectives
of Jeremy Collier, are still extant; his pen was roused by Dryden's
_Spanish Friar_, and Congreve's witty, but licentious comedies. Collier
inveighed without mercy, but he certainly did much to reform the stage.
Our Evangelicals and Methodists denounce the histrionic art to this day,