"234 London Philosophical Society, 



found not, but created the English stage. Mass'mger, Ben 

 Joiibon, Ford, Webster, Beaujuont, and Fletcher, came 

 altcrnatclv under his investigation ; and after a successful 

 analysis of their different styles, he reviewed the licentious- 

 ness of taste which disgraced the reign of Charles the Second, 

 and, comparing it with the cast of modern plays, drew a 

 very just conclusion as to the general increase of public 

 morality. During the time of Charles there were no less 

 than seventeen play-houses in London, all of which were 

 put down by the Puritans. 



The appetite for theatrical amusements, which succeeded 

 the overthrow of fanaticism, may be accounted for by the 

 long fast which the people had sustained. The theatre, 

 however, arose under considerable advantages. Patents 

 were granted to Killegrew and Daveii^nt, incorporating a 

 body of actors for the amusement of the public; and the 

 introduction of women on (he stage, whose parts had till 

 then been personated by boys, was a change of great im- 

 provement to the drama. 



After some just remarks, deduced from the display of 

 character by females, on the illiberality of inferring an infe- 

 riority of faculty from defect of cultivation, the charac- 

 teristicsofOtway, Cibber,V^anbrugh,andCongreve produced 

 from the lecturer an instructive analvsis of their peculiar 

 qualifications. The libertinism of the two latter drew upon 

 the theatre the well-directed attack of Jeremy Collyer, who 

 succeeded for a time in "mastering the witty arguments of his 

 opponents supported by Dryden; and the stage had scarcely 

 recovered from the shock, when the ingenious and cele- 

 brated Henry Fielding, by the personality and sarcasm of 

 his dramatic innovation, produced a severer enemy in the 

 person of ministers; the consequence of which was, that the 

 power of licensing more iheatres as well as all plays was 

 vested in the Crown. Foote a short time after followed 

 the same plan ; but, having secured a strong party in his fa- 

 vour, overruled the opposition the revival excited. JVIr. R. 

 however, diew a very proper distinction between the per- 

 sonalities of Arist'.phanes and those ol Foote and Fielditisr, 

 who have lieen compared to bin), observing, that virtue 

 was an object of attack to the first, but immorality and 

 foUv aloTit: provoked the satire of the latter, Afterajusi 

 and apjjropriate compliment to ihe talents of Garriek, the 

 autl'.or passed to the consideration of the new species of 

 sentimental comedy introduced o^" hue years on the statre. 

 Diderot, who invented it, merely called it /</ <^o.v;e ; but 

 the enemies of his project nicknauud it, in ridicule of its 



seiuimtnt, 



