The "enemies of the reformation of our morals!" Defoe used the
expression satirically, but how well it suited the minds of many pious
persons, ranging all the way from bishops to humble laymen, who could
see nothing in the theatre excepting the prospective flames of the
infernal regions. Clergymen preached against the playhouse then, just
as some of them have done since, and will continue so to do until
the arrival of the Millennium. Oftentimes the criticisms of these
well-meaning gentlemen had more than a grain of truth to make them
half justifiable. The stage was still far from pure, in spite of
the improvement which was going on steadily enough, and there is no
denying the fact that several of the worst plays of the Restoration
could still claim admirers. Even "Sir Courtly Nice," wherein occurs
one of the most indecent passages ever penned, and one of the most
suggestive of songs, was received without a murmur. Congreve was
pardoned for his breaches of decorum, and Dryden was looked upon as
quite proper enough for all purposes.

The _morale_ of the players could hardly be called unimpeachable, at
least in some instances, but the violations of social rules were not
so open as they had been in the old days. Here and there a frail
actress might depart from the stony path of virtue, or an actor give
himself up to wine and the dodging of bailiffs, yet the attending
scandals were not flaunted in the face of the public. In other words,
there were Thespians of doubtful reputation then, just as there are
now, and these black sheep helped materially to keep up against their
white brethren that remarkable prejudice which has endured even unto
the present decade.

As a class, the players had no social position of any kind, although
the great ones of the earth, the men of rank, never hesitated to