The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 6 · Scene 19

The Players Scourge · Part 1 · Act 6 · Scene 19

SCENA DECIMA-NONA.

19THe 19. fruit of Stage-playes is this; that they draw downe Gods fearefull judgements both upon their Composers, Actors, Spectators, and those Republikes that tolerate or approve them… as these ensuing examples evidence. It is storied of aaPliny. Nat. Hist. lib. 10. cap. 3. Opm…rus Chronogr. pag. 121. Calepini AEschylus.AEschylus, (the first inventor p. 553of Tragedies, as bbPost hunc personae pallaeque repertor honestae AEschylus, & modicis instravit pulpita tignis Et docui… magnum que loqui, niti que cothurno. De Arte Poetica. p. 305.306Horace, ccInstit. Orator. lib. 1. cap. 1.Quintilian, Tertullian, and ddOpmeeri Chronogr. pag. 131.others write:) that his braines were dashed out with the fall of a Torteis, which an Eagle soaring over him let fall upon his bald-pate, while hee was sitting meditating on his Playes in the open ayre; a sudden unparalleld & right tragicall judgement, upon the very first inventor of tragick Enterludes. eeGellius Noctiū Attic. l. 15. cap. 20. Suidae Euripides. Opmeeri Chronogr. p. 125. Calepine &. Holioke. Euripides.Euripides, the famous Greeke Tragedian, as hee was returning in the night time from Archelaus his Palace, where hee supped, to his owne lodging, was torne in pieces by Dogs, (some write, by women) set on, as was supposed, by Arridaeus a Poet, who maligned him: A fearefull death: ffPausanias in Attic. l. 1. Tertullian De Anim…. l. 1. Opmeeri Chronogr. pag. 125. Chronicon Chron. AEtas 5. fol. 78.Sophocles, the very Prince of tragicke Poets, being pronounced victor by one casting voyce in a poeticall combate betweene him and others; died suddenly on the Stage of overmuch ioy; his victory proving no other but his owne fatall Tragaedy: the like wee read of ggGellius. Noct. Artic. l. 3. cap. 15.Philippides another famous Greeke Comedian, who died suddenly in the selfesame manner, upon the same occasion. hhIosephus Antiqu. Iudaeorū. l. 12. c. 2. Aristeas. Hist. 70. Scripturae sacrae Interpretum. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 1. p. 12. Eusebius De Praeparatione Evang. l. 8. c. 1. M. Northbrocke against Vaine Playes and Enterludes. f. 32. & M. Stubs, his Anatomy of Abuses. p. 102. Coc. Sabellicus. AEnead. 4.5.8 p 641. George Alley, his Poore Mans Library. part 1.Theodectes a Play-poet, was smitten of God with blindnesse for inserting some passages of the Old Testament into one of his Tragedies. Menander, an ancient Greeke Comedian, iiSuidae Menander.& insanus mulierum amator, as Suidas stiles him, kkOpmeeri Chronogr. p. 133.was suddenly drowned, whiles hee was swimming in the Pyraeean Haven. llOpmeeri Chronogr. p. 145.Terence the eminentest Latine Comedian, was drowned and swallowed up of the Sea, about the 35. yeere of his age, as hee was returning out of Greece with 108. of Menand…rs Comedies which he had translated. mmChronicon Chronicorum. AEtas. 5. fol. 93.Plautus, an elegant comicall Latine Poet, when as hee had scraped together a great masse of money by his Stage-playes, lost all of it by merchandise; and then returned backe to Rome, he was enforced to grinde at a Bakers Mill to get his living, and so died miserably. nnSuidae Antiphanes.Antiphanes the composer of 355. Comedies, died suddenly, being casually strucke with a Peare. ooPlutarchi Alcibiades. Horace. Epist. lib. 3. Epist. 1. Ludovicus Vives. Notae in l. 2. c. 8. August. De Civit. Dei. See here, pag. 121.Eupolis the Poet, for inveighing against A…cibiades in his Comedy, called Baptis, was apprehended by him, and then drowned in the Sea: Such were the sudden and untimely ends of all these ancient Play-poets, which should serve as a caveat to our moderne (of which some have likewise come to desperate ends) to deterre them from their ungodly profession. But I passe from these to Stage-playes: And here I finde ppEcclesiast. Hist. l. 2. c. 27. See D. Rainolds Conference with Hart. c. 8. Divis. 4. p. 515.Theodoret relating a notable Story of a common Actor; who comming to play a part upon the Theater, in a vestment of cloth of gold, given by Constantine the Emperour to Macarius Bishop of Hierusalem, to weare at times of baptisme, (which vestment this Player had purchased of Cyril who succeeded Macarius;) hee fell downe suddenly on the Stage as hee was acting in it, and died. **Witnesse Sherly, slaine suddenly by Sir Edward Bishop, whiles hee was drunke; as most report.I read likewise in qqNatur. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 33.Pliny, of one M. Ofilius Hilarus, an eminent Actor of Comedies, that after hee had acted his part with great applause upon his birth-day, and was vaunting and discoursing of this his acting at supper, hee fell downe suddenly dead at the table, whiles he was thus boasting and looking on that vizard and person which he had then sustained. rrDe Gestis Regum Anglorum. l. …. p. 67.William of Malmesbury a grave English Historian, upon the concurrent testimonies of Pope Leo, Petrus Damianus, and Aquitanicus, relates this memorable History; That a certaine Stage-player who got his living by acting, lodging about the yeere of our Lord. 1012. in the house of two old women who were Witches, situated by the high-way neere to Rome, was by their Sorceries metamorphosed into the shape of an Asse; and being thus transformed, he became so tractable that (like another Bankes his dancing Horse, or the **Sybaritae in tantum delitiarum studium devenerunt ut equos etiam ad …ib…am in symposijs tripudiare a…ne…ecerint. Sic Cardiani equos in Symposijs ad tibias saltare docuerunt, &c. Athe…us Dipnos. lib. 12. cap. 6. vid. Ibidem.dancing Horses of the Sybarites and Cardians) he would readily turne and move which way soever these Witches commanded him; which being bruited abrode he became very gainefull to these his Hoastesses, the people flocking by troopes from all places neere adioyning, p. 554to behold the rare feates of this Mimicall Asse, who strucke the Spectators with great admiration of his strange gestures. The fame of this Asses rare qualities being thus bruited abroad, induced a rich man who dwelt nigh to purchase this Asse at a great price of these two Witches; who informed their Chapman, that if he would have his Asse to practise his histrionicall trickes at all times, he must be sure to keepe him from water; which he did for a long space, exhilarating both himselfe and his guests with this playing Asse: who after a while being not so stricktly looked to as at first… brake loose at last, and running to a pond of water that was next, bathed and tumbled himselfe therein for a while, till at length hee came to his humane shape. The Asse-keeper in the meane time missing the Asse, runnes forth to seeke him, and meeting him in his humane forme, inquires of him whether hee saw the Asse? to which he replyed, that hee was the Asse, and with all related to him the whole Story of this his metamorphosis: the Asse-keeper wondring at it reports it to his Master; and he declares it to Pope Leo; who conventing the two old women for it, they both acknowledged the premises to be true … which I here submit to the Readers faith. If this bee but an Ovids Metamorphosis, or an Apuleius his Golden Asse; we may laugh at the conceit, and so passe it by: but if it bee a truth, as the Historian confidently affirmes it, wee may deeme it a just judgement of God upon this Actor, who for his acting of other mens parts in jest, was thus enforced to play the Asses part in earnest. ssNotae in August. De Civit. De…. lib. 12. cap. 25. C.Ludovicus Vives reports from men of credit, that in a certaine City of Brabant, where they used to make annual Playes to their Saints, upon the day that their great Church was founded, as they doe in other places of that Country; some taking then upon them the vizars and persons of Saints, others of Devils for to act these Playes; o…e of these Actors who played the Devils part being enamored with a Girle which he espied at the Play, went dancing to his house, and there taking his wife as hee was in his Players robes and vizard, he cast her upon a bed, saying, that he would beget a Devill of her; and so hee lay with her: his wife upon this conceived, and the infant which she brought forth, as soone as ever it was borne, began to dance up and downe, being shaped as men use to paint the Devill. Loe the justice of God upon this person, that he who acted the Devils part should thus beget a Devill.

Of Gods judgements upon Play-haunters, wee have sundry precedents, worthy our most serious observation; some of particular persons onelyonly, others of whole multitudes together. For Gods judgements on particular persons onelyonly. We read of ttDiodorus Siculus. Bibl. Hist. l. 16. sect. 93.94, 95. pag. 806. to 810. Supplementū Qu. Curtius. l 1. p. 17. Iustin. Hist. l 9. p. 99. O…osius. Hist. l. 3. c. 14. Vincentius Spec. Hist. l. 3. c. 18.19. Antonini Chron. Tit. 4. c. p. 2. sect. 2.3. cū multis alijs, & Sir Walter Rawleighes History of the World. lib. 4. pars 1. sect. 8. p. 138.Philip King of Macedonia, Father to Alexander the Great; that as hee delighted much in Stage-playes, so he was slaine by Pausanias as hee was sitting in the Theater at a Play; The like wee finde uuIosephus Antiqu. Iudaeorū. l. 19. c. 1. Suet… nij Caligula. …. …8. Suidae Historica. Caius Caligula. Zonaras Annalium. Tom. 2. fol. 96. Dion Cassius. Rom. Hist. lib. 59. pag. 854.recorded of Caius Caligula; who being much devoted to Stage-playes, (which hee would sometimes act himselfe in womans apparell to his inexpiable shame) was murthered by Cherea, whiles he was beholding the Noble-mens Children which he sent for out of Asia, acting a Play upon the Stage. A just judgement of God upon these two dissolute Princes, who made these wicked Playes their chiefe delight. It is storied of **Iosephus Antiquitatum I…daeorum. lib. 19. cap. 7. Eusebius Ecclesiast. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 9. but 10. in the English. Nicephorus Ecclesiasticae Historiae. lib. 2. cap. 13. Op…eerus Chronogr. pag. 209. Baronius & Spondanus. Anno 46. sect. 2. & Acts ….20. to 24.Herod Agrippa, that in the third yeere of his Lieutenantship hee went to Caesarea Stratonis where he published Spectacles and Stage-playes in the honour of Caesar, and ordained a solemne Feast-day for his prosperous affaires, unto which all the chiefe men of worth and great Officers of that Province resorted: on the second day of these Playes and Spectacles, he came to the Theater in a silver robe wonderfully wrought, which by the reflection of the Sunbeames ye…lded so gorgeous a glistering to the eye, that the shining thereof seemed terrible and intolerable to the beholders; whereupon some flatterers (it is likeliest that p. 555some Players or Play-poets were the chiefe of them) deifying him as a God, and hee rebuking them not; a little after looking about him, he beheld an **Iosephus writes it was an Owle.Angell, hanging over his head, who smote him with an extreame paine in his bowels whiles he was thus sitting in the Theater, so that he was carried desperately sicke to his Palace, where being tormented for the space of fiue dayes with bitter gnawing of his bowels, he ended his life most miserably, being eaten up of wormes. Which divine judgement, though it miraculously seised on him for his ambition, in that hee rebuked not these …latterers, and gave not God the glory; yet since this Tyrant, (**Chronicon Chron. AEtas. 6. fol. 107. Agrippa Magnus… who had built a Theater and Amphitheater in Hierusalem after the Roman manner, to advance Idolatry and Paganisme, and suppresse Religion;) was thus smitten by Gods Angell in the Theater it selfe, where hee sate beholding these Playes and Spectacles which hee had then provided for Caesars honour, and the peoples recreation, whose deifying acclamations were the cause of this his fearefull death; and since these Stage-playes were the chiefe occasion of drawing both himselfe and the people into the Theater; wee may justly behold him as a …ad fatall Spectacle of Gods avenging judgement, as wel for his instituting and beholding Stage-playes, and erecting publike Theaters, as for his proude ambition. Not to speake of yyIosephus An…qu. Iudaeorū. lib. 15. cap. 11. here, p. 466.Herod the great, whom the Iewes conspired to murther in the Theater which hee had built at Hierusalem whiles he was beholding Stage-playes, for that hee had brought in Stage-playes into Hierusalem contrary to Moses Law and the discipline of the Iewish Nation. Nor yet to mention the Emperour Nero, whose acting and beholding of Playes was one chiefe occasion that stirred up zzQui interroga…us à Nerone, quibus causis ad oblivionem sacramenti processis…et: Oderamte, inquit, nec quisqu…m tibi militum fidelior fuit dum amari meruisti, odisse caepi post quam parricida matris & uxoris, auriga, histrio & incendiarius extitisti. Tacitus. Annal… lib. 15. sect. 10. pag. 360.Subrius Flavius, with others, to conspire his death. aaHistoriae. lib. 1. pag. 31. & 51. to 67.Herodian informes us, that Commodus his excessive delight in Actors, Gladiators, Playes and Enterludes, and his unworthy comming on the Stage in person to play the Actor and Gladiator before the people, (from which base shamefull act his friends, together with Martia his best beloved Concubine, did earnestly disswade him, ne Romanum Imperium contumelia a…ticeret, &c.) was the originall ground of his untimely death; hee being poysoned by his Martia, whom he resolved to murther, for this her good advice: and bbSee his Gallieni duo. pag. 316. & here, pag. 485.Trebellius Pollicarpus records, that Gallienus the Emperour, was murthered by Martianus, Heraclianus, and Claudius, for this very cause, lest by his lewde example in frequenting Stage-playes, and favouring Stage-players, with which hee had fild his Palace, hee should bring both himselfe and the Republike unto utter ruine: These severall Kings and Emperours Stage-delights being thus the iust oecasions of their untimely deathes. A sufficient Item for all Christian Princes for ever to abandon Playes and Actors as fatall and pernicious evils both to their owne persons, and their subjects too. To passe from Kings and Emperours to some of meaner quality, **De Spectaculis. lib. cap. 26.Tertullian, a Father of good credit among Schollers, informes us; That a certaine Christian woman in his time going to a Play-house to see a Stage-play, returned thence possessed with a Devill (as too too many now a dayes doe; at leastwise in a spirituall sence,) which uncleane spirit being afterwards rebuked in an exorcisme, that he durst assaul… a Christian woman; replyed, that hee had done constantly and most iustly … in meo enim eam inveni, for I have found her in my owne Iurisdiction. If therefore you will neither believe the yyAct 1. Scene 1. & Act 2. Chorus.Acts 1Acts 2forequoted Fathers and Authors, that the Play-house is the Devils Chappell; yet now believe the very Devill himselfe who claimes it for his owne, together with all such persons who frequent it. The same zzDe Spectaculis. lib. cap. 26.Father relates; that another Christian woman who went to see a Tragedy, had the very same night a linnen sheet presented to her in a dreame; the Tragedian himselfe being likewise named to her, with an exprobration for this p. 556act of hers; after which she lived not above fiue dayes: To which two examples (writes he) aaQuo uti que & ali… documenta cesserunt do his, qui cum Diabolo apud Spectacula cōmunicando à Domino exciderunt. Ibid.I might adde some fearefull precedents of others, who by communicating with the Devill at Stage-playes, have fallen quite away from God. A dreadfull Apostasie and judgement indeed. To these two former precedents, I shall annex the parallel example of a bbSee M. Brathwait, his English Gentlewoman. London 1631 pag. 53.54. this Author being then present at her departure.late English Gentlewoman of good ranke; who daily bestowing the expence of her best houres upon the Stage, and at last falling into a dangerous sicknesse of which she died, her friends in her extremi…y sent for a Minister to comfort, counsell, and prepare her for her end, who comming to instruct her, and advising her to repent, and call upon God for mercy, she made him no reply at all; but cryed out Hieronimo, Hieronimo; O let mee see Hieronimo acted; (calling out for a Play, in stead of crying unto God for mercy,) and ccPercussus quis que ante rapitur, quàm ad lamenta paenitentiae convertatur. Pensate ergo, qualis ad conspectum districti judicis perveni…, …i non vacat flere quod …ecit. Greg. Mag. Epist. l…b. 11 cap. 3. …ol. 452. b.so closed her dying eyes. O tragicall, O fearefull death! answerable to her former wicked life? Not to relate the various tragicall ends of many, who in my remembrance at London, have beene slaine in Play-houses, or upon quarrels there commenced: Nor yet to recite the sudden fearefull burning even to the ground, both of the Globe and Fortune Play-houses, no man perceiving how these fires came: together with the visible apparition of th… Devill on the Stage at the Belsavage Play-house, in Queene Elizabeths dayes, (to the great amazement both of the Actors and Spectators) whiles they were there prophanely playing the History of Faustus (the truth of which I have heard from many now alive, who well remember it,) there being some distracted with that fearefull sight; I shall confine my selfe onelyonly to such printed examples of Gods judgements upon many Players and Play-haunters together, which I finde scattered here and there in sundry Authors. To begin first at home. I read in ddAnno 8. Eliz. 1567. pag. 1209. b.Hollingshead, that in the eighth yeere of Queene Elizabeths Raigne, there were three Schollers at Oxford slaine outright, and divers others hurt and mained, with the unexpected fall of a wall, whiles …hey were beholding a Stage-play: eeM. Stubs, his Anatomy of Abuses. p. 135. I.G. his Refutation of the Apologie for Actors. pag. 43.44.About the yeere 1582. many people being assembled together at the Theaters in London to see the bawdy Enterludes and other fooleries there practised, God caused the earth on a sudden mightily to shake and tremble, as though all would have fallen to the ground: where at the people sore amazed, many of them leapt downe from the top of the Turrets, Pinacles and Towers, where they stood, to the ground, whereby some had their legges broken, some their armes, some their backes, some were hurt one where… some another where, and many sore crusht and bruised; but not any but they went away sore afraid, & wounded in conscience. And yet (writes my Author) can neither the one nor the other, fray men from these devillish exercises, untill the Lord cōsume them all in his wrath: The Lord of his mercy open the eyes of the Magistrates to plucke downe these places of abuse that God may be honoured, and their consciences discharged. ffM. Ioh… Field, his Declaration of Gods Iudgement at Paris Garden… London 1583. Henry Cave, his Narration of the fall of Paris Garden. London 1588. M. Stubs, his Anatomy of Abuses. p. 134.135. D. Beard, his Theater of Gods Iudgements. Edit. 3. London 1631. l. 1. c. 35. p. 212. & the Preface to the Practice of Pi…ty. I. G. his Refutation of the Apologie for Actors. pag… 43.VponUpon the 13. of Ianuary, Anno 1583. being the Lords-day, an infinite number of people, men, women, and children, resorted unto Paris Garden to see Beare-bayting, Playes, and other pastimes, and being alltogether mounted aloft upon their Scaffolds and Galleries, and in the middest of all their iollity and pastime, all the whole building (not one sticke so much as standing) fell downe miraculously to the ground with much horror and confusion: In the fall of it fiue men and two women were slaine outright, and above one hundred and fifty persons more, sore wounded & bruised, whereof many died shortly after; some of them having their braines dashed out, some their heads all to quasht, some their legges broken, some their armes, some their backes, some one hurt, some another; there being nothing heard there but wofull shreekes and cryes which did even pierce the skies; children bewayling there the death and hurts of their Parents, Parents of their Children; Wives of their Husbands, and Husbands of their Wives; so that every way from foure of the clocke in the afternoone till nine at night, especially over Londonbridge, many were carried in chaires, and led betwixt their friends, and so brought home to their houses with sorrowfull p. 557heavy hearts, like lame Cripples. A just, though terrible judgement of God upon these Play-haunters and prophaners of his holy day: the ggM. Iohn Field … in his Declaration of Gods Iudgement at Paris Garden.originall relator of which, doth thus conclude: And therefore for a conclusion, I beseech all Magistrates by the mercies of God in Iesus Christ, that by this occasion and example, they take good heed to looke to the people committed to their charge, that they take order, especially on the Sabbath dayes, that no Citizen or Citizens servants have liberty to repaire to any of those abused places, and that they keepe their stragling wantons in, that they may be better occupied. And as they have with good commendation so farre prevailed, that upon Sabbath dayes these Heathenish Enterludes and Playes are banished, so it will please them to follow the matter still, that they may be utterly rid and taken away, For surely it is to be feared, besides the destruction of body and soule that many are brought unto by frequenting the Theater and Curtin… that one day these places will likewise bee cast downe by God himselfe, and draw with them an huge heape of such contemners and prophane persons to be killed and spoyled in their bodies. Neither was he a false prophet altogether. hhD. Beard, his Theater of Gods Iudgements. l. …. cap. 35. pag. 212.For in the yeere of our Lord, 1607. at a Towne in Bedford-shire called Risley, the fl…ore of a chamber wherein many were gathered together to see a Stage-play on the Sabbath day, fell downe; by meanes whereof divers were sore hurt, and some killed. If these domestique examples, together with that of **Diogenes Laertius. lib. 1. pag. 33.Thales the Philosopher, who was smothered and pressed to death at a Play will not move us; let us cast our eyes upon some forraigne Tragedies of this nature. I read in **Lib. 3. c. 4.44. pag. 889.Munster his Cosmography, that about the yeere of our Lord, 1380. Lodovicke a Marquis of Nisina, a man not very religious, was made Arch-bishop of Magdeburge; who thereupon invited many Gentlemen, and others, together with their Wives and Daughters into a Towne called Calven, to feast and make merry with him; who came accordingly: The Bishop for their better entertainement provided the Towne-hall for them to dance in (they being much addicted to dancing and singing) and to act other vanities: and whiles they were busily turning, dancing, and playing, and every one danced merrily at the hands of their Ladies, the house being oppressed with the great weight, began to sinke, giving a great cracke before. The Arch-bishop taking the Lady who stood next him by the hand, hastned to goe downe the staires with the first: and as soone as he begun to goe downe, the stony staires being loose before fell downe, and miserably crusht to death the Arch-bishop and his consort, with divers others. It is storied by iiBooke 4. chap. 192.193. fol. 243.244, See the Generall History of France. p. 231. and D. Beard, his Theater of Gods Iudgements. lib. 2. c. 37. pag. 435.436. accordingly.Froyssart in his Chronicle, and by some others since, that in the Raigne of Charles the sixt, in the yeere of our Lord; 1392. at a marriage made in the Kings Court at the hostle of Saint Pauls in Paris, betweene Sir Yvan of Foiz, Bastard Sonne to the Earle of Foiz, and one of the Queene of Erance her Gentlewomen, the Tuesday before Candlemas day: A Squire of Normandy called Hogrymen of Gensay, provided for a Play or Mummery against night… for which purpose he had devised 6. Coates made of Linnen cloth covered with Pitch, and thereon cloth and flax like haire, and had them ready in a Chamber: The King himselfe put on one of these Coates; the Earle of Iovy, a yong lusty Knight, another; Sir Charles of Poytiers, the third; Sir Yvan of Foiz another; the Son of the Lord Lanthorillet had on the fift, and the Squire himselfe put on the sixt. Being thus apparelled and sowed fast on these Coates, which made them soone like wilde wode-houses; the King upon the advice of Sir Yvan of Foiz, commanded an Vsher of his Chamber to enioyne all the Torch-bearers in the Hall where the Ladies were dancing to stand close to the wall, and not to come neere the wode-houses for feare of setting them on fire, which he did accordingly. Soone after the Duke of Orleance, who knew nothing of the Mummery or the Kings command, entred into the Hall with foure Knights and sixe Torches, to behold the dancing, and begun himselfe to dance. Therewith the King and the fiue other Masquers came in, in these their disguises, fiue of them being fastned one to the other, the King onelyonly being loose, who went before p. 558and led the device. When they entred the Hall, every one tooke so great heed to them that they forgate the Torches. The King departing from his company went to the Ladies to sport with them, as youth required, and came to the Dutches of Berry who tooke hold of him to know what hee was, but he would not shew his name. The Duke of Orleance running to the other fiue to d…scover who they were, put one of the Torches his servants held so neere the flax, that he set one of the Coates on fire, and so each of them set fire on the other, so that they were all in a bright flame; the fire taking hold of the living Coates & their shirts began to scorch their bodies so that they began to bren and to cry out for helpe. The fire was so great that none durst come neere them, and those that did, brent their hands by reason of the heate of the pitch. One of them called Manthorillet fled into the Botry and cast himselfe into a vessell of water where they rynsed pots, and so saved his life by quenching the fire, but yet hee was sore hurt. The Countesse o… Berry with her long loose Gowne covered the King and so saved him from the fire: two of the other were burnt to death in the place: the Bastard of Foiz and the Earle of Iovy were carried to their lodgings, and there died within two dayes after in great paine and misery. Thus was this Comedy turned into a dolefull Tragedy. kkThe French History. p. 231…The King though he escaped was much distracted in minde (and his servants distressed with griefe) at this unhappy accident, so that he could not sleepe quiet that night. llFroyssarts Chronicle. Booke 4. chap. 192.193. fol. 244.The next day these newes being spred abroad in the City, and every man marveling at it: some said, how God had sent that token for an ensample, and that it was wisedome for the King to regard it, and to withdraw himselfe from such yong idle wantonnesse… which he had used overmuch being a King. All Lords and Ladies thorow the Realme of France and elsewhere, that heard of this chance had great marvai…e thereof. Pope Boniface being at Rome with his Cardinals reioyced at it, and said, that it was a token sent from God to to the Realme of France, which had taken part against him. Sure I am it was a just judgement of God, to teach Kings and great men, and not to bee Actors or Spectators of vanity, but wholy to lay aside such foolish Masques and Enterludes. mmI.G. his Refutation of the Apologie for Actors. pag. 38. A short Treatise against Stage-playes, printed, 1625. and Dedicated to the Parliament. pag. 28.At Lions in France, in the monethmonth of August, in the yeere 1607. whiles the Iesuites were acting a prophane Play of Christs comming to Iudgement at the last day, to the disgrace of true Religion, the Lord from Heaven continued thunder and lightnings for two houres space together, slew twelue of the Actors and Spectators presently, and amazed all the rest with great terror and feare. To passe from France to Rome, Suetonius records, that in Iulius Caesar his time, there resorted such a multitude of people to Rome to behold his Stage-playes and Spectacles, that most of the strangers were forced to lodge in the Villages adioyning in Tents: there was oft-times very many people trod and crushed to death at these Playes by reason of the multitude, and among them two Senators: so tragicall and fatall were these Enterludes. nnRom. Histor. lib. 37. p. 101.Dion Cassius records; that in Pompey his time. a Theater in Rome built for the acting of Syrian Enterludes was overturned with a sudden tempest, to the death and destruction of many persons. To passe by the memorable example of Gods avenging Iustice upon the **See Iudg. 16.23. to 31. & Arias Montanus. Comment. in lib. Iudicum. c. 16. Antwerpia 1592. p. 568. to 580. See Lyra, Tostatus, Peter Ma…tyr. Ibidem.Judg 16:23–31Philistines and their Lords, many thousands of them being crushed to death with the fall of their Dagons Temple, which Samson pulled downe upon their heads whiles they were there feasting, dancing, and acting Playes before their Idoll Dagon, and beholding Samson playing, dancing, and making sport before them like a Clowne in a Play, they calling him out of the prison to that purpose. From whence **Ibidem. pag. 570.571, 572.Arias Montanus well observes, that it was the custome of the Philistines and other Idolaters, to court their Idols with dances and Stage-playes on their sol…mne Festivals; their temples being built in such a manner, that people might conveniently behold the dances and Stage-playes that were acted in them: and thereupon hee iustly taxeth **Vulgo ut gratificentur principes varia ac plerū que humanitati dissentanea, vel ed…nt ipsi, vel edenda permittunt spectacula. Hinc olim Theatra caedibus ac sanguine plena; hinc nostro tempore nostrisque moribus impura, & ab omni arte semota, scenarum & comaediarū licentia, & gladiatorum caede funestiora crudeliora que taurorum ac belluarum munera quae dat retinentibus ac detestatis superorum animis dicata consecrataque versantur. vid. Ibid.Christian Princes, for exhibiting Playes and such like impure, p. 559unchristian spectacles to the people, and tolerating them in their Kingdomes, they being unsuitable and pernicious unto Christian manners, and altogether unlawfull unto Christians as originally consecrated unto Idols; the very acting and beholding of them being odious unto God, as this his iudgement on the Philistines proves. ooAnnalium. l. 4. c. 10. p. 165.166.Cornelius Tacitus, and ppHistoriae. lib. 7. cap. 4.Paulus Orosius, (and out of them qqEutropius R…rum Rom. l. 7. Tiberius. Petrarch. De Remed. Vtrius que Fortunae. l. 1. Dialog. 30. Bodinus Methodo Historiae. c. 7. The 3. Blast of Retrait from Playes, &c. pag. 124. D. Hackwels Apologie l. 4. c. 4. sect. 9. Edit. 1. p. 320. A short Treatise against Stage-playes… pag. 26. with sundry others. Coc. Sabellicus. Ennead. 7. lib. 1. pag. 191.sundry others) relate; that about the eighth yeere of Tiberius his Raigne, there were by the iust iudgement of God, at least **Sonorites Tacitus, others onelyonly above 20000. which may both stand well together, since 50000. is above 20000.fifty thousand persons slaine and pressed to death at once, with the fall of a Theater at Fidena in Italy, (which Theater was built by one Atilius,) whiles they were there beholding Sword-playes, and such like Theatricall Enterludes; the dolefulnesse of which bloody Tragedy and judgement (seconded with a devouring fire, which almost burnt up that City) is at large described by Tacitus. Ioannes Aventinus in his excellent Annals, hath registred two memorable Examples for our present purpose. rrAventinus Annalium Bojorum. lib. 7. pag. 530.The first of them hapned at Pisonium, a City of Bavaria; about the yeere of our Lord, 1200. where divers people assembling together from all quarters to behold Enterludes and Cirque-playes, above three hundred of them were there slame outright with thunder and hayle from Heaven: The latter of them ssIdem Annal. Bojorum. lib. 7. pag. 668. & 581. Romae quintadecimo Cal. Octobris pons Tiberinus corruit aquis, obru…i interire quingenti sexaginta homines, qui eò secularibus ludis, quos Nicolaus contra decret… Constantiensis S…natus aperuerat, confluxerant.fell out in Rome it selfe upon the 15. day of October, in the yeere of our Lord 1450 when Pope Nicholas the first, solemnized his famous Iubily with secular Playes: at which time, fiue hundred and fifty persons comming to Rome to see these secular Enterludes, which this Pope brought in contrary to the decrees of the Councell of Constance, were drowned & washed to death in the River Tiber, the Bridge upon which they were being overturned with the waters, To these I shall adde one Tragicall Story more which ttIn Vita Beati Gregorij. pag. 312.313. Edit. Basil…ae. 1571.Gregory Nyssen, in the life of Gregory the worker of miracles, hath registred to posterity. The Citizens of Caesarea, and well might all the people of that Province accustomed to meet together at Caesarea once a yeere, upon a publike solemne Festivall which they dedicated to a certaine Devill-Idol, which that Country worshipped; at which feast they **See Act 1. Scene 1.2. & Act 2… Est enim ludus turpis & inhonestus qui in se deformitatem importat, & tales fecerunt Gentiles coram dijs suis in Theatris & templis: & illa est simpliciter inhibitus Christianis. Holkot. Lectio. 173. in lib. Sapientiae. fol. 133.Acts 1Acts 2alwayes celebrated some publike Stage-playes to the honour of this their Idoll, and to delight the people: It fortuned that the whole Country and City assembled thus together after their wonted manner, when Saint Gregory was newly made Minister of that City: and being thus assembled they presently flocked to the Theater; **Eorum qui concurrerant Theatrum plenum …rat, & eorum qui postremo affluxerant multitudo subsel…ijs undique superf…ndebatur, atque omnibus ad spectacula atque acroamata orchestram intueri cupientibus: plena …cena tumul…us & trepidationis, irrita praestigiatoribus, mirabil…umque spectaculorum artificibus oste…atio erat, tumultu sese mutuo constipantium non modo oblectationem sunsicae impediente, sed ne circulatoribus quidem & praestigiatoribus suas artes ostentanti tempus erat, &c. Greg. Nyssen. Ibidem.which being filled with those who first hasted thither, those who came after climbed up by troopes upon the Scaffolds that were built about it. At last the crowde of the people; who were very desirous to behold these Enterludes, grew so great, that they left no roome at all upon the Stage, either for the Players or Musicians to act their parts; whereupon the whole multitude cryed out to that Devill whose festivall they then solemnized, with one united voyce; O Iupiter make us roome; Which Saint Gregory over-hearing, hee presently sends one who stood by to the Theater, to tell the people that that they should forth-with have more roome and ease then they desired. **Hac autem ab eo voce tanquam tristi quadam sententia prolata pestilen…ia frequentem ferias agentium, & ludos celebrantium conventum excipit, ac sta…im tripudiantium choris lamentatio miscebatur adeo ut in luctus & calamitates eis voluptates converterentur, quum pro plausibus & cantu tibiarum, aliae super alias naeniae cantusque lugubres urbem passim invasissent, &c. Ibidem.No sooner was this message delivered to them, l…ke a dolefull sentence passed against them, but a devouring pestilence suddenly seised upon that great assembly, which were there sporting and beholding Playes, and presently p. 560a lamentation was mingled with their dancing, in so much that their pleasures were turned into sorrowes and calamities; and funerall dolefull Elegies one upon another were heard thorowo…t the City in stead of acclamations and musicke: yyCum enim semel morbus homines invasisset, opinione citius propagabatur atque serp…bat, ignis in modum domos depascens, adeo ut aedes quidem sacrae, quae spe sanationis atque remed…j confugiebant, ijs, qui morbo peribant repletae: fontes verò, aquae ductus, s…aturigines que ac pu…e… …orū, quos atr…citate morbi sitis… exurebat, referti essent, &c. multi item ultrò transirent ad sepulchra eò quod superstites s…p…l…ndis mor…uis non amplius suffice…ent. Ibidem.For as soone this pestilent disease had seised upon men, opinion and conceit did propagate it the faster, it consuming whole houses at once, like a fire: in so much that flying from their houses to their Temples for succour and recovery, their very temples were even filled up with the carcases of such who there fell downe dead of this disease: whose extremity was such, that all the Cisternes, Fountaines and pits of water neere the City were covered with the dead corps of such who resorted to them for to quench their thirst; in so much that many went voluntarily to their graves to die there, because the living were not sufficient to bury the dead. Neither did this pestilence surprise men suddenly, but a certaine Ghost or Spirit came first unto these houses over which destruction hovered, and then certaine perdition followed after. At last when the people came to know the cause of this their sicknesse, they renounced their former Idolatrous sacrifices, rites and Enterludes, and resorting with their whole families to Saint Gregory, they intreated him both to instruct them and to pray unto God for them, that so they might escape this pestilence. By which meanes they all abandoning their Idol-worship were drawne to the profession of Christs Name: part of them being led as it were by the hand unto the truth by the disease that was then upon them; others of them embracing the faith of Christ, as a defensative to secure them from the plague; zzAdeò illis hominibus sanitate morbus… validior erat. Qui enim in sanitate ad approbationem mysterij rationibus infirmi essent, corporali… morbo ad fidem convaluerunt. Ibidem.their sicknesse being more effectuall to convert them then their health. For those who were so weake in their health that they could not bee wonne by reasons to approve the truth, were made whole in faith, by this their corporall disease. Loe here a man-eating pestilence sent by God from Heaven upon these Pagan Play-haunters; Answerable to which I finde another Story in Plutarch, who relates; **Pestis Roma grassata omnes ad unum scenae administros extinxit. Plutarchi. Question…s Romanae. Quaest 107. pag. 600.that in the Consulship of Caius Sulpitius, and Licinius Solon, the great plague then raigning in Rome, devoured not onelyonly sundry Play-haunters, but even all the Stage-players then in Rome, so that there was not so much as one of them left alive: A just judgement of God upon these pestiferous miscreants. And may we not then suspect, that their toleration of, and our great resort to Stage-playes, hath beene a great occasion of those devouring Plagues, which formerly and now of late have seised, not onelyonly upon London and her Suburbs, (where divers publike standing Play-houses are every day frequented,) but on other Townes and Cities too, where stragling wandring Players (though aa14 Eliz. c. 5.39. Eliz. cap 4.Rogues by Statute) doe oft-times act their parts? Sure I am that Saint bbDe Civ. Dei. lib. 1. cap. 32.Augustine, ccHistoriae. lib. 3. cap 4.Orosius, and ddGualther. Hom. 11. in Nahum. and others forequoted. at p. 67.68. & Act 6. Scene 5. Hermannus Schedell. Chronicon Chronicorum. AEtas 5. fol. 83.Acts 6others truely stile Stage-playes; the very plague and pestilence of mens mindes and manners; and that **Paedagogi. lib 3. cap. 11.Clemens Alexandrinus, ffDe Spectaculis. lib. c. 27.Tertullian, and S. ggHom. 8. de Paenitentia. & Hom. 6.7. & 38. in Matth. See before p. 67.68. & Act 6. Scene 5.Acts 6Chrysostome, call the Play-house; the …ery sea…e and chaire of pestilence; no wonder therefore if they produce a plague in those Kingdomes, & the Cities which permit them. Indeed the hhSee before, p. 17.18.ancient Pagan Romanes when as Rome was exceedingly pestred with the plague; sent into Tuscany for Stage-players, to asswage its rage: but both iiNec tamen ludorum primum initium procurandis religionibus datū, aut religione animos, aut corpora morbis levavit, &c. Livy. Hist. l. 7. sect. 2.3.Livy, kkDij propter sedandam corporum pestilentia… ludos sibi scenicos exhiberi jubebant. Pontife… autem vester Scipio propter onimorum cavendam pestilentiā, ipsam scenam constr…i prohibebat. Ne que enim & illa corporum pestilentia ideo conquievit, quia pop…lo bellicoso, & s…lis anteà ludis Circensibus assueto, ludorū scenicorum delicata subintravit insania, sed astutia spirituū nefandorū praevidens illā pestilen…iam jàm …ine debito cessaturam, aliam longè graviorem qua plurimū gaude…, ex hac occasione, non corpori…us sed moribus curavit immittere: quae animos miserorum tantis occae …avit tenebris, …anta deformitate faedavit, ut etiam modo, quod incredible forsitan erit, si a nostris posteris audietur, Romana urbe vastata quos pestilētia ista possedit, a… que inde fugientes, Carthaginem pervenire potuerunt, in Theatris quotidie pro histrionibus insani…nt. De Civit. Dei. lib. 1. cap. 33.Augustine, and **Histor. lib. 3. cap… 4. Se… here, Act 6. Scene 5.Acts 6Orosius assure p. 561us; that they were so farre from mitigating this plague which …eised on mens bodies, which they did rather aggravat…; that in stead of it, they brought in among them, a far more pernicious and perpetuall pestilence of their soules and manners (to wit, their wicked pestiferous Stage-playes) which they could not shake off. In the first yeere of Queene Elizabeths Raigne, mmHollinshead Anno 1559. p. 1184. n. 50.all Stage-plages were prohibited by publike proclamation from the 7. of Aprill till Allhallontide, of purpose to cease that plague which was then begun; and so in all great sicknesses since that time, all publike Enterludes have beene suppressed for the selfesame reason. If then the inhibiting of publike Stage-playes hath beene such a common an…idote to asswage those fearefull Plagues, which God in justice hath inflicted on us; we may then conclude from the rule of contraries, that our resort to ribaldry Stage-playes (which God without all question, as appeares by all the new recited judgements, nnSee Salvian De Gubernat. Dei. lib. 6. accordingly. & Chrysostom. Hom. 3. De Davide & Saul. & Hom. 6. & 38. in Matth.cannot but abhorre,) is a grand occasion both of the engendring and propagating these late, these present plagues which yet wee feele, and suffer. As therefore we would flie and feare this dreadfull fatall sicknesse, which hath a long time hovered over our heads, and hath almost quite depopulated some particular places of this Kingdome (and God knoweth how soone, how fast it may increase to sweepe us all away) let us henceforth cast out these our lewde pestiferous Enterludes, and rase downe these our Leprous Play-houses, which may involue us in the selfesame miseries, that these Caesarians here sustained, to our utter ruine. But if all these former examples will not deterre us from these Spectacles, let us consider what generall Nationall judgements they have oft procured. To passe by Gods judgements upon **Theatra, Et Circum cum plebe sua madidasque popinas. Quicquid agunt homines Sodomorum, incendia justis Ignibus involuunt & Christo judice damnant. Haec fugisse semel satis est, non respicit ultra… Lot noster, &c. Prudentius. Hamertigenia. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 4. pag. 907. D.Sodom for her Cirques and Theaters, as Prudentius poetically expresseth it; who affirmes with all that Christians after their conversion, returne backe no more to Playes and Theaters. The excessive expences of the Athenians on their Stage-playes (if ooDe Gloria Atheniensium. lib. & Iustin. Hist. lib. 6. pag. 79.Plutarch or Iustin may be credited,) was the very overthrow and destruction of their State, and the occasion of their bondage to the Macedonians. ppNecsatis haec culpa est, …tiam mimis & scurrilibus… ludicris sanctissimorū personae interponuntur Deorum. Et ut spectatoribus vacuis risus possit at que hilaritas excitari, joculatoribus feriuntur cavillationibus numina, conclamant & assurgunt. Theatra, caveae omnes concrepant fragoribus atque plausibus, &c. Et audetis post ista mirari, unde oriantur haec mala, quibus inundatur & premitur sine ulla intermissione mortalitas? Advers. Gentes. l. 4. p. 150. vid. Ibid.Arnobius informes the Gentiles, against whom he wrote; that all the evils, the miseries with which mortality was overwhelmed and oppressed from day to day, without intermission, originally sprang from Stage-playes, with which these Heathen Gentiles were besotted. Saint Augustine qqDe Civit. Dei. l. 1. c. 31.32.33. & l. 2. c. 4. to the end of that Booke.at large demonstrates; that the bringing in, and tolerating of Stage-playes, which vitiates the mindes and manners of the Romanes, was the principall cause of the very ruine of their Common-weale and of all those fat all miseries which befell them. Whereupon hee breakes out into this patheticall exclamation. rrAmentes, amentes, quis est hic tantus non error, s…d furor, ut exitium vestrum, sicut audivimus, plangentibus Orientalibus populis, & maximis Civitatibus in remotissimis terris, publicum …ctū maerorem que ducentibus, vo… Theatra quaereretis, intraretis, impleretis, & multò insaniora quàm fuerant anteà faceretis? hanc animorum labem ac pestem, hanc probitatis & honestatis eversionem vobis Scipio ille metuebat, quando constitui Theatra prohibebat, &c. neque enim censebat ille faelicē esse rem pub. stantibus, maenibus, ruentibus moribus: Sed in vobis v…luit quod Daemones impij seduxerunt quàm quod homines providi praecaverunt. Hinc est, quod mala quae facitis, vobis imputari non vultis; mala verò quae patimini, Christianis temporibus imputatis. Neque enim in vestra securitate pacatam rempub. sed luxuriam quaeritis impunitam; qui depravati rebus prosperis, nec corrigi potuistis adversis. De Civit. Dei. lib. 1. cap. 33.O fooles! O mad men! what is this your extreame I say not error, but frensie, that when as all the Easterne Nations, as wee have heard, and the very greatest Cities in the remotest Countries doe publikely grieve and sorrow for your destruction; that you should runne after Theaters… enter into them, fill them, and make them much more unruly and outragious then before? This plague and pestilence of mens mindes; this overthrow of honesty and goodnesse did worthy Scipio feare would befall you, when he prohibited Theaters to be erected; when p. 562he discerned that you might be easily corrupted and overturned with prosperity; when as hee would not have you secure from feare of enemies: neither did he thinke the Common-weale could be happy, when as the walls of it onelyonly stood, but the manners fell to ruine. But in you that hath more prevailed which wicked Devils have seducingly suggested, then that which provident men have laboured to prevent. Hence is it, that the evils, which you doe, you will not have them to be imputed to you; and the evils, which you suffer, you impute onelyonly to the Christian times. Neither in your security doe you seeke for a peaceable Common-wealth, but an unpunished luxury, who being depraved with prosperity, cannot yet be amended by adversity. Saint Chrysostome, as hee records; ssMagna Civita…ibus mala ferunt Theatra magna. Hom. 62. ad Pop. Antioch. Tom. 5. Col. 347. B.that Stage-playes had brought great mischiefes upon Cities, both in respect of sinne and punishment; so hee with all relates: ttVel ipsa signa agnoscite, quia aereum factum est caelum, & terra ferrea. Iracundiam Dei ipsa elementa loquuntur. Fil… hominum quousque graves corde? ut quid deligitis vanitatem in spectaculis, & quaeritis mendacium in histrionibus. H…milia ult. in Psal. 118. Tom. 1. Col. 1031. A.Ps 118That the very Heavens were made. Brasse, and the earth Iron; that the very elements themselves did proclaime Gods wrath against men for their Stage-playes. How long therefore O sonnes of men will yee be slow of heart? Why (writes he) doe yee love vanity in Enterludes, and seeke after lies in Stage-players? Holy Salvian writes expresly; That the very sacking of Rome, the destruction of all Italy, the spoyling of Ravenna, Trevers, Marseilles, Agrippina, Moguntia, and a great part of France and Spaine by the Goathes and Vandals, was but a iust iudgement of God in…licted on them for their frequenting and maintaining Playes and Theaters; whose execrable filthinesse, whose inconsistency with Christianity, and whose odiousnesse in Gods eye-sight, hee most eligantly discyphers. If wee observe all the passages of the Roman History,uuDe Gubernatione Dei. lib. 6. & 7. thorowout. we shall easily discover that the Roman Common-weale had never so bad Emperours and Magistrates, and the greatest plagues that can befall a people, that it was never so ill governed, never so much disordered and corrupted: and that the xxSee for this purpose: Arnobius Contra Gentes. l 4. & 7. August. De Civit. Dei. lib. 1.2. & 4. Salvian, De Gub. Dei. l. 6.7. Orosius. Hist. l. 7. c. 5.6, 7, 8. Tacitus Annal. lib. 14. c. 1.2, 3. Herodian Historia. l. 1. Suetonij. Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, & Nero. AElij Lampridij H… li…gabasus & Commodus. Flavij Vopisci Carinus. Eutropius Rerum Rom. lib. 8.9. Dion Cassius. Rom. Hist. lib. 57.59, 60. Grimstons Imperiall History. Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Heliogabalus, Comodus, & Carinus. Zonaras Annaliū. Tom. 2. with sundry others…Romanes themselves and their Allies were never so strangely oppressed, afflicted, dissipated and consumed, with all kinde of plagues and iudgements; with pestilences, civill dissentions, tyranny, forraigne invasions, exactions, mundations, earthquakes, fires, and the like, as in the raignes of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Heliogabalus, Commodus, Carinus, and these other flagitious Histrionicall Emperours in whose raignes both Playes and Players were in most request, as well with Prince as people, whose sinnes were nourished and intended by them; and so by consequence Gods iudgements on them too. When ever their Playes and Theaters went up, their manners, vertues, prosperity and Common-wealth went downe, and all Gods iudgements fell upon them, as their Historians declare at large. When xxSee Iosephus Antiq. Iudaeorum. l. 15. c. 11.12, 13. & l. 16. c. 9.Herod brought in Playes among the Iewes, then went their manners, their State, their whole Nation unto wrecke, and **See 2. Maccabees. c. 4. v. 9.10.18.2 Macc 4:92 Macc 4:102 Macc 4:18Gods iudgements seised on them more fatally then before. To come neerer to our times: yyDe Remed. Vtrius que Fortunae. l. 1. Dial. 30.Franciscus Petrarcha, zzAgainst Vaine Playes and Euterludes. fol. 32.36.M. Northbrooke, aaAnatomy of Abuses. p. 102.106, 107…M. Stubs, and bbMaster Gosson, his Schoole of Abuses. I. G… his Refutation of the Apologie for Actors. A short Treatise against Stage-playes. pag. 26.27, 28. with sundry others. Gualther… Hom. 11. in Nahum.others certifie us: That Stage-playes draw downe Gods vengeance not onelyonly on their Actors and Spectators (for which they recite some precedents;) but likewise on those States and Cities which allow them. Master Brinsly, a reverend Divine, informes us: ccThe True Watch. part 3. chap. 11. Abomina…ion 30. pag. 302…That such who frequent Play-houses, must needs bring faggots and firebrands to set in the gates of our Hierusalem. The very Title of the second and third Blast of Retrait from Playes and Theaters, published by Authority in the yeere of our Lord, 1…80.) instructs us; That that Common-weale is nigh unto the curse of God, wherein either Players be made of, or Theaters maintained: And the Author of the third of these p. 563Blasts, being once a Play-poet, writes; ddIbidem. pag. 55.56.That sinne did so abound at Stage-playes, and was there so openly committed, that when he gave himselfe first to observe the abuse of common Playes, he looked, whe… God in iustice should presently in his wrath have confounded the beholders. eeIbidem. p. 53. So writes Master Gualther too, in his 11. Homily upon Nahum.And I am verily perswaded (saith hee) that if Players may bee still permitted to make sale of sinne, wee shall pull on our heads Gods vengeance, and to our Realme bring an utter confusion. And no wonder that it should bee so: For iiDeus etsi quaedam longanimiter tolerat, quaedam tam…n etiam in hac vita flagellat: & hic nonnunquam ferire inchoat, quos aeterna damnatione cons…mmat. Gregor. Magnus. Moral. lib. 36. cap. 18.where ever sinne goes before, Gods wrath and vengeance will certainely follow after; where all wickednesse and prophanesse super-abound, kk2 Chron. 36.15, 16. Ier. 7.20. Ezech. 21.30.31, 32.2 Chr 36:152 Chr 36:16Jer 7:20Ezek 21:30Ezek 21:31Ezek 21:32Gods Iudgements cannot but abound at last. Now Playes and Play-houses, (as the precedent Scenes doe manifest,) are the fruitfull nurseries, and fomenters of all wickednesse, all lewdnesse whatsoever: they likewise llHebr. 3.13. See Act 7. Scene 14.Heb 3:13Acts 7harden mens hearts thorow the deceitfulnesse of sinne, and undispose them to repentance; they so ripen and prepare men for Gods judgements, mmSopor quippe insunditur ut perditio subsequatur. Cum enim completis iniquitatibus suis quis meretur ut pereat, providentia ab eo tollitur ne periturus evadat. Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei. lib. 6. pag. 234.that they have neither providence to foresee, nor any spirituall wisedome to prevent them: no wonder therefore if Gods judgements seise upon them to their just destruction, nnMatth. 24.38, 39, 49, 50, 51. 1 Thes… 5.2, 3, 4. Luke 12.19, 20. Dan. 5.3, 4, 5, 6. Amos 6.1. to 9.Matt 24:38Matt 24:39Matt 24:49Matt 24:50Matt 24:511 Thess 5:21 Thess 5:31 Thess 5:4Luke 12:19Luke 12:20Dan 5:3Dan 5:4Dan 5:5Dan 5:6Amos 6:1–9even in the ruffe of all their carnall iolity and fearelesse security. You have now seene a short survay of Gods tragicall judgements upon Play-poets, Players, Play-haunters, and those States and Cities wherein they are tolerated and approved, together with the reason of it, which must needs stand firme, as long as God is just to punish sinne. These few examples therefore of Gods iudgements (which oo1 Cor. 10.5, to 12. Praebentur cunctis exempla cum fuerint quibusdam irrogata supplicia. Cyprian De Sing. Cl…ricorum Tom. 2. pag. 202.1 Cor 10:5–12should be warnings unto all) should lesson all Play-poets, to give over their composing; all common Actors, to renounce the acting; all voluptuous Play-haunters, to abandon the sight and hearing, of all Theatricall Enterludes; all Christian Princes, Cities, States and Magistrates (ppPotestas quippe maxima & potentissima quae inhibere maximum scelus potest, quasi probat debere fieri, si sciens patitur perpetrari: In cujus enim manu est ut prohibeat, juber agi si non prohibe… admitti. Salvian. De …ubernatione Dei. l. 7. p. 266. Facientis culpam proculdubio habet, qui quod potest corrigere, negligitemenda…e: Et negligere cum possis per…urbare perversos, nihil est aliud quam fovere. Gratian. Distinctio 86. whose connivency at any evils that they might suppresse, doth make them deepely guilty of them) for ever to exile all Playes, and demolish all Play-houses whatsoever; for feare they pull Gods judgements downe upon them, as they have done on others. Alas, why should any Christian Play-poet, Player, or Spectator; any Christian State or City where Playes have publike countenance, be so desperately secure, as to conceit; that though Playes have brought Gods judgements upon others, qqVt sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira Deorū est. Si curant igitur cunctos punire nocentes, Quando ad me venient? sed & exorabile numen Fortasse experior, solet his ignos…ere: multi Cōmittunt eadem diverso crimina fato. Ille crucem pretium sceleris tulit, Hic diadema. Sic animum dirae trepidum formidine culpae Confirmant. Iuvinal. Satyr. 13. p. 120.yet they shall scape unpunished, his wrath shall never seise on them: what ground, what warrant is there for any such unchristian surmise? Is not Gods avenging justice towards sinne and sinners, still the same? and are not Stage-playes, Play-poets, Actors, Play-haunters, and those places where they are tolerated, as execrably vitious, as sinfull, as odious now to God as ever? Is rrOportet ut una paena teneat obnoxios quos similis error invenerit implicatos. Concil. Tol…tanum. 4. Ca… 74.not the selfesame punishment alwayes due unto the selfesame sinnes and sinners? and is not the selfesame sinne as sinfull, as peccable; ssCriminosior enim culpa est ubi honestior status: si honorosior est persona peccantis, peccati quo que major invidia. Itaque nos qui Christiani catholici esse dicimur, si simile aliquid Barbarorū impunitatibus facimus gravius erramus. Atrocius enim sub sancti nominis professione peccamꝰ: ubi sublimior est praerogativa major est culpa. Salvian. De Guber. Dei. l. 4. p. 125.126, 130.yea more execrable, more damnable in Christians, then in Pagans? God hath most severely punished Pagan, yea and Christian Play-poets, Stage-players, Play-haunters, and such States as tolerated them, for Stage-playes heretofore, as the forequoted examples testifie; and shall hee not much more avenge himselfe on such like Christians for their Stage-playes now? And yet alas, ttHaec semper est incredulitas humanae duritiae, ut non solū audiendo sed etiam videndo non credat alteros interijsse, nisi & seipsam viderit interire: nec sociorū mortibus quatitur, dum illos immeritos aut invalidos opinatur, &c. Cyprian. D… Sing…lar. Clericorū. Tom. 2. p. 202.such is the infidelity p. 564such the security of mens obdurate hearts, that not onelyonly when they heare, but likewise when they visibly behold Gods vengeance seising upon others, for composing, acting, frequenting, countenancing these vaine delights of sinne; yet they really believe not, either that these have perished, or that themselves shall perish for the selfesame things, unlesse they likewise see themselves destroyed too: neither are they any whit affected with the sudden fearefull deaths of others, till such a death hath seised on themselves. O therefore now at last (as wee tender our owne private or the publike safety,) uuAliorum vulnus nostra sit cautio. Hierom. Epist. 10. cap 4.let other mens wounds bee our cautions; let these mens deaths, prove our life; let their judgements be our medicines. xxMetuite quantum po…estis ejusmodi casus exi…; & in ista subversione labentiū vos experimenta perterreant. Nimium praeceps est qui transire contendit, ubi aliū conspexerit cecidisse: & vehementer infrenis est, cui non incutitur timor alio pereunte. Amator ver… est salutis suae, qui evita… alienae mortis incursum: Et ipse est providus, qui solicitus fit cladib…s caeterorum: sicut Solomon approbat, dicens; Astutus videns malum puniri, vehementer erudietur: Et …terum: Cadentibus impijs justi vehementer terrebuntur. Cyprian. De Singularitate Clericorum. Tom. 2. pag. 199.Hee (saith Saint Cyprian) is too audacious, who strives to passe over there, where he hath seene another to have fallen: he is outragiously unruly who is not strucke with feare when he sees another perish in that course which he is running. He onelyonly is a lover of his owne safety, who takes warning by anothers death: And he onelyonly is a provident man, who is made solicitous by the ruines of other men: which Solomon approveth, saying, The prudent seeing the evill man punished, is greatly instructed: And againe, When wicked men fall, the iust will bee much affrighted. yyAdversa est confidentia, quae periculis vitam suam, pro certo commendat. Et lubrica spes est quae inter fomenta peccati salvari se spetat. Incerta victoria est, inter hostilia arma pugnare. Et impossib…lis liberatio est, flammis circundari, nec ardere, &c. Cyprian. Ibid.It is an adverse hurtfull confidence, which certainely commits its life to dangers, as to a certaine thing… And that is but a slippery hope, which presumes it shall be safe amids the fomentations of sinne. It is an uncertaine victory to fight amidest the enemies weapons; and it is an impossible deliverance to be compassed about with flames, and not to burne. Wherefore let not a peradventure, that we may escape Gods judgements, though we still resort to Stage-playes; overpoyse, a peradventure, that they may seise upon us, as they have done on others. Neither let Gods long-suffring towards Play-poets, Players, Play-haunters, and such Republikes as approve them, (zzRom. 2.4.Rom 2:4 which in truth should lead them to repentance;) make all or any of them or us secure against the feare of his avenging hand. aaDivina severitas …ò …niquū acrius punit, quo diutius pertulit. Gr…g. Magnus. Moral. lib. 25. cap. 1. Non contemnas, quod j…m non …odie in opera peccantium vindicat Christus. Quā ta enim p…tientia sust…net, tanta severit…te restituet. Chrys…stom. De Militia Christiana H…l. Tom. 5. Col. 633. C.For the longer Gods iudgements are delayed, the greater will they be at last. bbM…jor … enim paena dilata qu…m subita: molestius supplicium quod praemisso terrore differtur: gravior paen…, quae ad hoc t…rdat, ut diutius feriat. Subita enim citò percutiunt, dilata faenera…am paenam restituunt. Chrysost. ex Varijs in Matth. locis. Hom. 24. Tom 2. Col. 1040. C.That punishment is most troublesome, which is deferred with a foregoing terror: that torment is more grievous, more intolerable which is delayed for this onelyonly purpose, that it may strike the longer, the deeper: For sudden evils quickly strike us thorow; whereas delayed iudgements bring a multiplyed, and usurious punishment with them. Wherefore the ccQuantò tardaverit Dominus, tantò sit solicitior servus. Quantò diutius supervenit Christus, tanto sit paratior Christianus. Non est providus servus, quem imparatū invenerit Dominus. Chrysost. Ibid.longer the Lord hath deferred to punish, by so much the more solicitous let the servant be: by how much the longer Christ is ere he come, the more prepared let a Christian be. He is no provident servant, whom his Lord when he comes shall finde unprepared. God hath a long time spared many Play-poets, Players, Play-haunters, States and Cities where Playes are harbored, though some of these have smarted for them: he hath mercifully forborne many such of us at home; and though he hath a long time ddHebr. 12.5. to 12.Heb 12:5–12chastised us as a Father, yet he hath not as yet wholy consumed us, as an avenging Iudge; but how soone he is likely to doe it, if wee repent not speedily, wee may all conjecture: O therefore let not the long suffring of our gracious God, eeEccles. 8.11, 12, 13.Eccl 8:11Eccl 8:12Eccl 8:13harden any of us in the love, the exercise or approbation of these ungodly Enterludes, or of any other ffHebr. 11.25. Deliciae temporariam habent voluptatem, paenam autem sempiternam. Chrysostom. Hom. 54. ad Pop. Antioch.Heb 11:25pleasures of sinne which are but for a season: But let these judgements of God, which Playes have brought on Pagans, on Christians heretofore, and for ought **Par paena perditionis constringat, quo… in pernitie prava societas copulat. Concilium Toletanum. 4. Can. 74. Surius. Tom. 2. Can. 737.we know upon our selves, p. 565be now at last a warning-peale to us, with speed, with care and conscience to abandon them: and thus to syllogize against them in the 44. place,Argument 44. with which I shall close up this Scene.

That which drawes downe Gods judgements, wrath and vengeance, both upon the Composers, Actors, and Spectators of it; and likewise upon those Magistrates, States, and Cities, which foster and approve it: must needs be sinfull, (ggIsay 1.2. to 9. cap. 3.1. to 12. cap. 5.24. to 30. cap. 9.18, 19. Ier. 2.13. to 20. cap. 4.17, 18. Isay 50.1. Psal. 107.17. Lam. 3.33, 34, 39.Isa 1:2–9Jer 2:13–20Isa 50:1Ps 107:17Lam 3:33Lam 3:34Lam 3:39 since God never inflicts his iudgements but for sin) yea altogether to be avoyded of all good Christians, and not tolerable in any Christian Common-weale.

But this doe Stage-playes; as the premises demonstrate.

Therefore they must needs be sinfull, yea altogether to be avoyded of all good Christians; and intolerable in any Christian Common-weale.