The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 5 · Scene 7

The Players Scourge · Part 1 · Act 5 · Scene 7

p. 216SCENA SEPTIMA.

2SEcondly, as Stage-playes are thus unlawfull, in regard of the womannishnesse, so likewise are they in respect of the costly gawdinesse, the immodest lasciviousnesse, the fantastiqu… strangenesse, the meretricious, effeminate lust-provoking fashions of that apparell wherein they are commonly acted and frequented: from whence I shall deduce this 22. Argument against Stage-playes.

Those Playes which are usually acted and frequented in over-costly effeminate,Argument. 22. strange, meretricious, lust-exciting apparell, are questionlesse unseemely, yea unlawfull unto Christians.

But our ordinary Theatricall Enterludes, are for the most part acted and frequented in such apparell.

Therefore they are questionlesse unseemely, yea unlawfull unto Christians.

The Major is warranted not onelyonly by Deut. 22.5. Isay 3.16. to 24. Zeph. 1.8. 2 King. 9.30. Prov. 7.10. Ier. 4.30. Ezech. 23.40, 41. Luk. 7.25. 1 Tim. 2.4, 10. 1 Pet. 3.3. p. 217which condemne all such apparell, as unbeseeming Christians: But likewise by Tertullian, De Habitu Muliebri, & De Cultu Faeminarum. lib. Philo Iudaeus, De Fortitudine, lib. pag. 1005.1006. & De Mercede Meretricis non accipienda in …acrarium. lib p. 1161.1162. By Clemens Alexandrinus Paedag. lib. 2. c. 10.12. & **Non est mulieris sed meretricis illud nimium sui ornandi studium. Ibid c. 2. Mulierem minim… deceat tortos habere c…ines, & pectus suum nudare ne sui decoris & officij oblita videatur, &c. Indignum est enim mulieres Christianas, quas decet cum verecundia & sobrietate ornatus, pietatem per bona opera profiteri, meretricio more into…tis crinibus nudatis capi…ibus & pectore, se velu… nundina…itias populo exponere. Ideo non tan…ū virgines sed e…iam mulieres intortis crinibus, ac nisi velatis capitibus ac pectore (po…issimū in E…clesi…) incedere prohibemus, &c. Syn…dus Tur…nica. An 1583. Apud Boch…llū. Decreta Eccle. Gal. l. 6. Tit. 9. c. 11. Vid. Concil Bitur. 1584. Ibid. c. 12.lib. 3. cap. 1. to 9.11. By Cyprian De Habitu Virginum. lib. By Ambros. De Instit. Virginis, & De Virginibus. lib. 3. By Basil. Ascetica. cap. 12. & Comment. in Esay. c. 3. By Nazienzen Oratio 27. p. 460. & Adversus Mulieres ambitiosius sese ornantes. p. 992, &c. which I would our plaistered pompous Iezeb…ls would peruse. By Cyrillus Alexandrinus in Hesaiam. lib. 1. c. 3. By Hierom. Epist. 7. c. 3. Epist. 8. c. 5.10. Epist. 10. c. 2.3. Epist. 16. c. 2. Epist. 23. & Adversus Iovinianum. c 9. By Chrysostome Hom. 31. in Matth. & Hom. 8. in 1 Tim. 2. By Augustine De Doctrina Christiana. l. 4. c. 21. & Epist. 73. By Fulgentius Epist. 3. ad Probam. By Bernard, De Modo Vivendi Sermo 9. By Primasius, Ambrose, Sedulius, Remigius, Theodoret, Deda, Haymo, Rabanus Maurus, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Anselme, Glossa Ordinaris, Lyra, Master Iohn Calvin, Marlorat, Aretius, Danaeus, Mayer, Byfield, and most other Commentators, on the 1 Tim. 2.9. and on the 1 Pet. 3.3. By Alexander Alensis, Theologiae Sūma, pars 4. Quaest. 11. Artic. 2. sect. 4. Alexander Fabritius Destructorium vitiorum pars 6. c. 2. P. Q. Alvarus Pelagius De Planctu Ecslesiae. lib. 2. Artic. 76. fol. 250. Lydij Waldensia, pars 2. pag. 358. AEneas Sylvius. Epist. lib. 1. Epist. 166. Ioannes Fredericus, De Luxu Vestium. lib. By. Bishop Hooper, Bishop Babington … Master Calvin, Perkins, Dod, Downbam, Brinsly, Lake, Elton, Williams, on the 7. Commandement, and sundry other Diuines in their Treatises of Apparell, Pride and Luxury, and in their Expositions on Isay 3 and the fore-quoted Scriptures; who absolutely censure, the very …se and wearing of such apparell (much more the ordinary abuse of it in lasciuious Enterludes) as aaSee My Vnlovelinesse of Love-locks. p. 49. to 58.being the incendiary of lust, the p. 218fomentation of pride, the occasion of adultery, the bbNon de integra conscientia venit studium placēdi per decorē, quē naturaliter invita…orē libidinis scimus. Textul. De Cultu Faeminarum. cap. 2.badge of incontinency: concluding it, to be altogether unlawfull for chast, for sober Christians, and fit for none but Strumpets, ccOrnamētorū insignia & leno cinia fucorum, non nisi prostitutis & impudicis faeminis congruit; & nullarum ferè praeciosior cultus est, quàam quarum pudor vilis est. Cyp…ian De Habitu Virginum. lib.who are commonly most compt in their attires, most gawdy and new-fangled in their clothes. Whence they ddLaudo ego & admiror veterum Lacedaemoniorum civitatem, quae solis meretricibus floridas vestes & aurū mundū gestare permisit, à probis mulieribus mundi studium auferens, quod solis meretricibus se ornare concederet. Clemens Alexandr. Paedag. l. 2. c. 10. See Athenaeus Dipnos. lib. 12. cap. 6.applaud the Lacedemonians law; that none but common prostituted Strumpets should weare any costly or glorious apparell; the better to deter all chaste and sober persons from it. A law which would well befit our Nation, our times, which **See Purcha… Pilgr. c. 26.27, 51.Proteus-like are alwayes changing shape and fashion, and like the Moone, appeare from day to day in different formes.

The Minor is evident by experience; which findes an whole Wardrobe of all gawdy, pompous vestments; a confluence of all whorish, immodest, lust-provoking attires; a strange variety of all effeminate, lewde, fantastique, outlandish apish fashions, (or disguises rather) at the Play-house; sufficient to excite a very hell of noysome lusts in the most mortified Actors and Spectators bowels: To this we may adde the verdict of the Fathers, who censured the Playes in their times, even from the quality of the apparell in which they were acted. Witnes Clemens Alexandrinus; who as ffPaedag. l. 2. c. 10. & l. 3. c. 2.3.11.he reiects all costly immodest apparell, as fit for no place but the Stewes, or S…age: so he condemnes, not only ggPaedag. l. 2. c. 11.Playes themselves; but even the ggFractis quidem & enervatis his saltatoribus, qui cynaedicam turpitudinē mutam in scenam transferunt, vestem cum tanto dedecore diffluentiū despicantibus, quibus exquisitae vestes, fimbriarū que dilationes, & curiosi figurarū numeri, illiberalē ac sordidā syrmatū mollitiem indicant. Vestes autem quae sunt floribus similes Bacchicis nugis, & initiorū mysterijs relinquendae sunt: deinde verò purpura & vasa argentea, sunt, ut dicit Comicus, Tragaedis, & non vitae utilia, &c. Paedag. l. 2. c. 10.delicacy, the effeminacy, the costlinesse and lust…ulnesse of that apparell wherein they were acted. Witnes hhImo in omni spectaculo nullum magis scandalum occurret, quàm ipse ille virorum ac mulierum accuratior cultus, scintillas libidinum constabellans. De Spectaculis… cap. …5.Tertullian, who writes; That in all Enterludes there is nothing p. 219more scandalous, more pernicious, then the over-curious attire of men and women (both Actors and Spectators) which did blow up sparkes of lust. Witnes S. Chrysostome, who informes vsus, iiCu…cta simpliciter quae ibi fiunt turpissima sunt, verba, vestitus, &c. omnia inquā turpi lascivia plena sunt. Hom. 38. in Mat…h Tom. 2. …ol. 298. C.D.That the apparell used in Play-houses is most lewde, lascivious, filthy; whence he stiles it, Vestitus Satani…us, Satanicall array. Witnes kkDe Regno. l. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 5. pars 1. pag. 49. F.Synesius who gives the title of Scenicus ornatus, to gawdie, new-fangled, swaggering apparell, because Players array was such. Witnes Theophilact, Oecumenius, Chrysostome, on the 1 Tim. 2.9. viz. In like manner also, that women adorne themselves in modest apparel; not with broidered haire, or gold, or costly attire; (a text which our English Ladies have long since forgotten, if not reiected, as savoring of Puritanisme and over-strict precisenesse;) where thus they write: That women must come to Church (and I would our frizled, pouldred, shorne, swaggering Lasses, llVt candida…ae templa …ubean… dant operā diligenter emaculatis amictae vestibus, mentem vero maculosam in ipsa sacraria penitissima inferre non verentur. P…ilo Iudaus De Cherubin. p. 175. Prope periculosius est lascivis puellis, ad loca religionis, qu…m in publicum procedere. Heirom Epist. 8. cap. 10.who are never gawdier or compter then in Churches, would remember it) mmNon intortis crinibus, &c. Venit enim ut oret, non ut tripudiet; Venisti petitura peccatorum remissionem, at tanquam scenam sis ingressura comica mulier, te exornas? Theophilact. Ibid. Non intortis crinibus. Non enim in Thea…rum, inquit, venisti, sed ut peccata tua defleres: non est autem preciositàs supplex habitus, ne que lugentis peccata, est ornamenti in te arrogantia. Quod si haec prohibuit quae divitias tantum ostendunt, multô magis curiosa ac perversa, veluti sunt insectiones genarum, picturae oculorū, perfractus incessus, mere…icius tuniculae amictus, Zona curiosior, calcei distracti, sive disscissi. Nam haec omnia, in eo quod dixit, In amictu decenti. O…cumenius Ibid. Non in tortis crinibus, &c. Amputa omnem e…usmodi simulationem, circumcide abs te omnem illum scenae atque histrionum gestum. Deus enim non irridetur. Ista mimis & saltatoribus, & his qui in scena vertantur, relinquenda sunt: sobriae atque ornatae mulieri, nihil tale congruit. Chrysost. Hom. 8. in 1 Tim 2. Tom. 4. Col. 1348. A. vid. Ibidem.1 Tim 2not with broidered haire, or gold, or costly attire; for they come there, to pray, not to dance. They come to crave the forgivenesse of their sinnes, and shall they then adorne themselves like comicall women, as if they were entring into a Play-house to act a part? Cut therefore from thee all this counterfeiting, circumcise from thee all this demeanour of the Stage and Players: for God is not mocked. These things are to be left to Players and Dancers, and to those who are conversant in the p. 220Play-house: no such thing is sutable to a chaste and sober woman. An unanswerable Argument, that lascivious dresses, and rich immodest, new-fangled apparell misbeseeming Christians, were much in use in Playes and Play-houses. This nnEcclesiast. Hist. l 2. c. 27. Tō. 2. p. 175. H.Theodoret, ooFl. Vopisci. Carinus p. 449.Vopiscus, ppSpectatum veniunt, veniunt ipectentur ut ipsae, &c. De Arte Amandi. lib. 1.Ovid, qqMox traliitur manibus regum fortum retortis, Esseda festināt, pilenta, petorrita, naves; Captiuum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus, Divitiae que peregrinae Epist. l 2. Epist. 1. p. 284.Horace, rrAEqualis habitus illic, similemq, videbis, Orchestram & populū: Hic ultra vires habitus inter: hic aliquid plus quam satis est, &c. Satyr. 3. p. 23.Iuvenal, with ssPlutarchus De tarda Dei vindict. lib. Pollux, lib 4 cap. 18. Sidonius, lib. 2. Epist. 2, Bulingerus, De Theatro, lib. 1. cap. 56. D. Hackwels Apologie, lib. 4. c. 8. se…t. 34.sundry others testifie, of which you may reade more largely in the third and sixt Scene of this present Act. All which sufficiently evidence the truth of the Assumption; and so by consequence of the Conclusion too; which needs no further proofe to backe it.