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It would prove an effectual Remedy for this Evil, if the Ladies would discountenance these loose Comedies, by expressing their dislike, and refusing to be present when they are acted: And this no doubt they would do, were they inform’d, that the Comedies which they encourage by their Appearance at the Theatre, are full of wanton Sentiments, obscene Allusions, and immodest Ideas, contain’d in Expressions of a double Meaning: for it cannot be imagin’d they would bear with Unconcernedness, much less with Pleasure, Discourses in Publick, which they detest as unsufferable in private Convention, if they knew them to be unchast. And should the Ladies assert their Esteem of Vertue, and declare openly on the Side of Modesty, the most attractive Beauty of the fair Sex, as certainly they would do, if they understood how much those amiable Qualities have been expos’d and affronted by our most eminent Comick Poets; this would lay the Ax to the Root, and at one Blow destroy this pernicious Practice; for after this, what Writer would transgress the Rules of Decency and Purity of Expression, when he knows, that by his immodest Mixtures he shall fright the Ladies from the House?

It would be another effectual Means to redress the Grievance of the Stage, if the Clergy could be prevail’d upon to condemn from the Pulpit and the Press, as well as in their Conversation, the unjustifiable Entertainments of the Theatre; would they insist upon it, and urge it as a necessary Duty of the People to avoid these Occasions, and at least Appearances of Evil; would they shew them, that by frequenting these unwarrantable Diversions, they rush into Snares, court Temptation, and invite others to follow their criminal Example; would they set before them the Hazard of playing on the nice and dubious Limits of Innocence, and adventuring to the utmost Extent of Vertue and the Frontier of Vice, there would be great hopes of stemming this strong Tide of Iniquity. And this is no more than the indispensable Obligation, which our Divines are under, whose proper Province it is to warn the People of their Danger, and to press them earnestly to fly from it. This venerable Order have, by solemn Engagements, set themselves apart, as spiritual Guides, to point out the fatal Rocks and treacherous Sands to their Neighbours, that they may not make Shipwreck of Modesty and Innocence, and plunge into the Depths of Irreligion and Vice: Nor is it obvious, why these Reverend Teachers, by their Silence and Neutrality, should give Profaneness and Immorality such fair Play, as if the Controversy between the Stage and the Pulpit were compremis’d, and the Poets and the Priests were engag’d, as indeed they ought to be, in the same good Designs, Interests, and Pursuits. It is certain, that this Mildness, and friendly Behaviour of the Clergy to the Comick Writers, cannot arise from any Respect or handsome Usage which that sacred Order has met with on the Theatre, where they have been so often jerk’d and expos’d in such a manner, that their Divine Function has been wounded through their Sides.

The Clergy lie under such manifest Obligations to attack publick Immorality, wherever it is found, and by whatsoever Patrons of Power, Dignity, and Interest it is shelter’d and supported, thar, as I have suggested, it is not easy to imagine whence their Lenity and Tenderness for the Theatre can proceed. But if the true Reason of it, whatever it is, and which is so hard to be accounted for, were remov’d, and our Divines would interest themselves with Zeal in the Cause of Vertue, in respect to our Dramatick Entertainments, as they espouse and defend it in all other Instances, I cannot believe that the Stage, without a Regulation, would be able to stand, when batter’d with Vigor from the Pulpit. The Poets and Players would soon find themselves oblig’d to restrain their licentious Conduct, reform the Theatre, and present to the Town, if not instructive, at least inoffensive and unshocking Diversions. And it is very desirable, that this Expedient were set on foot, that the Honour of the English Theatre may be retriev’d; that while we justly boast of our Priority in Wit and Humour to our Neighbours, we may not be oblig’d to acknowledge the great Inferiority of our Comedies, in respect of Cleanness and moral Beauty: that we may not be reproach’d, that while we profess a Reform’d and pure Religion, we encourage an immodest and unreform’d Theatre, and that we are very defective in the Practice of Vertue and Regularity of Manners, while these Abominations are indulg’d, and these unhallow’d Groves and High Places of Immorality are frequented without Disturbance.