so might leave it justify'd till some Person or other make the
Discovery to the World: But because 'tis my Opinion 'tis utterly
impossible, I shall give you some Reasons why I think it not only
lawful in it self but very necessary in this populous City. And,
First, if we consider the Matter that ought to be represented, whether
it be Tragedy or Comedy; there is nothing in either that can offend
Religion or Good Manners.

Tragedy is a Representation of an Action by some Great Man, teaching
us to regulate our Passions with exactness, and by shewing the strange
and differing Accidents of Life, to which the most important Persons
are subject; proving to us that Vice never goes unpunished; and that
true Happiness does not chiefly consist in the Enjoyment of this
World.

Comedy is a Representation of common Conversation; and its Design is
to represent things Natural; to shew the Faults of Particular Men in
order to correct the Faults of the Publick, and to amend the People
thro' a fear of being expos'd, with this Observation, That the
Ridiculous of the Stage is to be only a Copy of the Ridiculous found
in Nature.

In short, 'tis the Property both of Tragedy and Comedy to instruct:
The Characters in both are to be Natural; and the Persons concern'd in
the whole Action, are to be such whose Vertues ought to provoke us to
an Emulation, or whose Vices ought to deter us from imitating their
Example, The Language and Sentiments are to be suitable to each
Character: A Wife, Good, and Great Man is to say nothing but what is
natural for such a one to say: The Gallant Man is to appear with all
the Qualities of a Man of Honour: and the Fool in his proper colour'd