before; yet it was done in private, but the Stage publishes it. To
this I answer, That it does not intend to license it, only to set it
in a true Light, that it may be expos'd and shunn'd.

As to those Objections, That the Actors are generally debauch'd, and
of leud Conversation; and that no Person who is a known Adulterer, or
Profane, ought to be encouraged. That the Play-house is a Resort of
vicious Persons, and gives Opportunity to such who have wicked
Inclinations. All these wou'd fall upon the advancement of a regular
Stage; but as 'tis, the Objections are not levell'd Right; for the
State is chargeable with the Immoralities. There are Laws for the
Punishment of Vice; and if the Magistrate neglect his Duty, he must
answer for it. I don't know that any body is oblig'd to a Conversation
with the Players; and their Lives can influence only their Associates;
and such they wou'd find, whether they are Players or not. When they
are on the Stage they are confin'd to the Poets Language: And if we
shou'd see Mr. _Powel_ acting a Brave, Generous and Honest Part; or
Mrs. _Knight_, a very Modest and Chaste one, it ought not to give us
Offence; because we are not to consider what they are off the Stage,
but whom they represent: We are to do by them as in Religion we do by
the Priest, mind what they say, and not what they do. Tho' the Stage
is not so abandon'd but that there are some Honest and Vertuous, for
any thing the Town can say to the contrary. And I wou'd leave it to
themselves, whether they don't find their Account in it; whether the
Town is not more favourable on any Occasion; so that it ought to be an
Encouragement to persist in their Vertue.

The Objection against the Play-House it self, because it gives
Opportunities for Wickedness, is so trifling, it is hardly worth
answering, for they who are viciously inclin'd will find an