The Overthrow of Stage Plays — John Rainolds

The Overthrow of Stage Plays · John Rainolds

A more greevous wound hauehave you giuen your selfe in saying that you presumed your playes to be lawfull, when you made your simple assertion (so you terme it) that there is a needfull time for sports. For this is in effect as much as if you saide, that you played the sAristo. de … prehē. Soph.Sophister, 9foreign.begging the point in question, and taking it as granted. The which kinde of dealing, if it had any sinewes to graple with an adversarie, the Iesuits might trooble vsus, by saying that the Catholike faith must be kept; and they presume that Poperie is the Catholike faith. Likewise the meanest advocate in a court of law might speede all his clients, by saying that such as hauehave wrong offered them, ought to be releeved; and hee presumeth his clients hauehave so. Neither had you needed to write so long a reply of twelue leaves to me: twelue wordes might hauehave sufficed, that you presume my cause is naught, and naughty things must not be credited. But your selfe acknowledge that this prooveth not the lawfulnes of your playes. So that, in affirming you did presume them to bee lawfull, and calling it a simple assertion which you avowed concerning sports, you speake more trueth then you intended. For it is a simple assertion in deede to say that sports are needfull, against a mans arguments who saith that stage-playes are vnlawfull. And hee may be iustly noted of presumption, who, beeing vnable to proove a thing he fansieth, condemneth them as Momes that are minded otherwise and bring sound proofe against it.

Howbeit, had you kept your selfe within the compasse of such oversights, you were more excusable. But it is a greater fault to play the sclanderer by falsifying mens wordes, and fathering vponupon them an erroneous sentence, which never came into their mindes, nor fell out of their mouths or pennes. And what doe you else, when having saide that I vse many wordes against dansing, you reply that you louelove to see honest dansing; and, you see no cause in reason, charitie, or Christian libertie, why dansing should simply be condemned. For hereby you insinuate, or pronounce rather, that I condemned dansing simply, and honest dansing: whereas my wordes were that danses of Penelopes wooers, of Melantho, of other of her maides, and simply all stage-dansing do savour of dishonestie. Which differeth as much from that you father on me, as the speech of Christ, tIoh. 2. 19.Destroy ye this temple, & in three dayes I will raise it vp againe, meaning of his body, did differ from that which vMatt. 26. 61the false witnesses affirmed him to hauehave said of the temple of God, xMar. 14. 58.the temple made with handes. Nay, it surpasseth that of the false witnesses: it differeth as much as if, where Christ saide, that yLuk. 13. 3. & 21. 18.all vngodly men shall perish, they had fathered on him that all men shall perish. And your crime herein is the more blamewoorthy, because I had so plainly excepted certaine dansing, that you can not seeme to hauehave mistaken my wordes, and reade all dansing, for all stage-dansing; but wilfully and advisedly to hauehave misreported mee. For I said expressely, I meant those danses that I specified, and not z2. Sam. 6. 14Davids dansing, which S^t aDepoeniten. lib. 2. cap. 6.Ambrose doeth well distinguish from them. Now S^t Ambrose saith that Davids religious and godly dansing is decent: but 1Saltationis lubricae histrionici motus.the dangerous dansing practised by players, and the 2Scenae deliramenta.foolish toyes, the dotages, of the stage; 3Haec etiam in adolescentula aetate vi…osa sunt.are faultie even in youth too. So both mine owne woords, and the autour I cited, doe manifestlie shew, that whē you tooke vpō you to prayse honest dansing, and said you saw no cause in charitie or reason why dansing should simply be condemned, you could not but in reason and charitie see cause, why you should have dealt more simply and honestly, then so calumniouslie to raise a false surmise of me. You know what creature it is, whom the bRev. 12. 9.scripture nameth a 4foreigncalumniatour.

Beside, as you offend in charging me with that I said not: so in going about to overthrow that which I said. For whereas I affirmed that dansing of Penelopes wooers with her maides, and simply all stage-dansing, is disallowed by the light of nature; and for proofe thereof did alleage the testimonies, of Romans putt by Nero, of Philistines putting Samson to it, and of all ancient 6 Pastorē saltaret vti Cyclopa, rogabat: Nil illi larva, aut tragicis opus esse cothurnis.lawes in a manner, yea of reason it selfe, as Arias Montanus noteth: you, avouching two mens opinions to the contrarie, doe adde, that to apply, either the dansing of those noble Romans, whom Nero enforced to danse so publikely; or, Samsons dansing among the Philistines; or, the note of Arias Montanus, against your dansing onelyonly of two sober measures, is a comparison without all measure. Wherein first, through negligence of marking my words, or desire of crossing them before you vnderstood them, you misreport my drift: and say that I applyed those thinges against your dansing onelyonly of two sober measures, (you meane, the wooers dansing with the maides,) which I applyed not against it alone, but against the rest of your stage-dansing also, that is, all your stage-playing. For this did I betoken by the name of stage-dansing, the better to expresse the sentence, that I had in hand, of Saint Ambrose, who by 5Saltationis lubricae histrionicos motus & scenae deliramenta.dansing noteth all histrionicall motions and playings on the stage, in like sort as cSatyr. lib. 1. sat. 5.Horace saith, 8Saltabat Hylas Oedipodē. Pylades: foreign.one was requested to danse Polyphemus, meaning to play his part; and 7Caeruleatus, & nudus, caputque redimitus arundine, & candam trahens, genibus innixus, Glaucum saltavit.Plancus dansed Glaucus, in dLib 2.Uelleius storie; and g stage-players dansed Oedipus, and Hercules, in eSatur. lib. 1. cap. 7.Macrobius; and fAdver. gent. lib. 7.Arnobius speaketh of 9Si Europa, fi Leda, si Ganymedes fuerit saltatus, aut Dana. cōpescit motum irarum Iuppiter?dansing Europa, Leda, Ganymedes. Neither was it hard for you to perceiue that I meant thus much, if you had better weighed the branches of my speech, & proofes therto answering, concluded with the note of Arias Montanus, touching not onelyonly dansers, but persons of such shewes & spectacles. Chiefly if you had looked on the autour him selfe, and marked that in the persons of such shewes and spectacles, he compriseth stage-players; as the 1Hujus generis actiones ingenuo homine indigniffimas duxerunt, qui de virtute vera, de que corruptis hominū moribus prudēter loq…ti sunt. Vt ille de Nerone: In scena nunquā cantavit Orestes. &c. Iuv. sat. 8generalitie of his wordes, exemplified by Nero, maketh plaine.

An other iniurie is it, that you terme those proofes of mine, a comparison; and (which is more) a comparison without all measure. What hMatt. 7. 2.measure you did vse in the meting out hereof, I can not guesse: vnlesse peradventure, because that you had heard that comparisons are odious, you hoped you should make all my proofes odious by naming them comparisons. For I, having noted, against your argument drawne from sports and recreations, that sports by the light of nature, are accounted vnseemelie, bad, infamous, and so is all stage-dansing; did alleage the iudgements of Romans, of Philistines, of ancient lawes well nigh all, and of reason it selfe, as testimonies to proove that proposition by; not as comparisons, but as testimonies And therefore in the note of Arias Montanus, I did omitt that he saith of 2Divina verò lex minimè admittenda censuit, invulgaribus etiam ac vilibus capitibus; & quae sequuntur.the law of God condemning stage-playes likewise, because that might goe higher then the light of nature. Otherwise, you may be sure that I, who cited him for mens lawes, a thing of weaker proofe, would not have omitted the lawe of GOD, his strongest argument. But if I had ioyned supernaturall light to the light of nature, and had produced testimonies of the Scripture also: would you have replied, that, to alleage the Scripture, is a comparison without all measure? You must by like reason. And what should stay you from it? All would have espied that it were no comparison. Why more, then the note of Arias Montanus? which yet, when you had cast my allegation of the Romans and Philistines in such a mould, that it could not appeare I brought them in as testimonies; you named with them for company a comparison too. Though, seeing you are greeved with my applying of it against your stage-dansing, and that induced you to call it a cōparison: me thinks you should have fastned that odious name rather on the proposition prooved by those testimonies. For the proofes reach not you immediatlie, they fight not nigh at hande: the proposition doeth; as being the maior of that argument, wherof your stage-players make the minor. And the proposition, condemning all stage-dansing, doth giuegive a deadlyer wound; nether can it choose but light on your stage-dansing: the proofes might seeme to be more easilie avoided; or, comming so farre off, to raze the skinne onelyonly. Againe, my applying of the proposition to you, by the assumption, would deserve more woorthily the name of a comparison: and the assumption being particular, or singular; the proposition vniversall; were not this applying of all against some, a comparison without all measure?

The third iniurious part offered me in this point, is, that you alleage the iudgement of Homer and Syr Thomas Eliot, as making for that dansing, which I did reproove. And bringing in the former of them by a 3Praeteritio.figure, saying, To omit Homers iudgment thereof; him self you call an excellent observer of decorum in all things, and quote for his iudgement iOdyss. ….the eight booke of his Odyssea. Now, better had it ben… …or you to omit him without a figure in deede: sith he, describing there the life of King Alcinous, and of his people, the Phaeacians, saieth, that 4foreign.they tooke pleasure continually in feasting, and musicke, and daunsing, and braverie of apparell, and hott baths, and chambering: wherein a livelie paterne of a wanton, riotous, voluptuous, Epicures life, being sett foorth by Homer, as kEpist. lib. 1. ep. 2. Alcinoique In cute curanda plus aequo operata iuventus.Horace, lDipno sophist. lib. 1. foreign.Athenaeus, mIu Odyss. foreignEustathius may teach you: if I should not hauehave blamed dansing in your playes, because such an excellent observer of decorum saith the Phoeacians vsed it; then must the nPhil. 3. 19.belly bee your players God, because such an excellent observer of decorū saith the Phoeacians served it. Moreover seeing that the Musicke which the minstrell gave thē to their dansing, was a 5foreignsong of Mars taken in adulterie with Venus Vulcans wife; & you commend in dansing the number of the footing wel expressing, answering, and as it were acting the measure and meaning of the Musike: you see what good instructions you give men by extolling your excellent observer of decorum in all things. Adde therevnto that he, so good an observer of decorum, maketh the Phoeacian actors danse with 6foreign.others of their owne sexe, or 7foreign.single. Which how much, & why, it is more allowable, then men and women to danse together: I wish you to consider, by weighing, with examples mentioned in oExo. 15. 20. Iudg 21. 21. 1. Sam. 18. 6Scripture, the iudgement of pPet. Mart. in lib. Iud. cap. 21. Hyperius de feriis Bacchanalib. Aretius probl. theolog. tom. 1. loc. 14.Divines thereon. So shall you perceiue, that Homer in the eight booke of his Odyssea, hath no sufficient warrant for Melantho to danse together with Eurymachus, the maides with the wooers; no not though they were maides and Melantho in deede; much lesse for boyes attired like Melantho, & maides, to danse with men vponupon a stage. The later of your autours you alleage directlie; and, that learned Knight Syr Thomas Eliot, say you, among other things that he writeth in a booke of his, in the prayse of dansing, compareth the man treading the measures, to Fortitude, and the woman on his hande, to Temperance. You adde, that you have seene the booke, and you remember hee vseth this comparison in it. But did you not remember the name of the booke too? or was it for some speciall cause that you concealed it? your woordes might giuegive a man occasion to thinke, that he had written a booke in the praise of dansing: which that he did, I qBaleus scriptorum Britann. centur. 8. cap. 77.finde not. I guesse you meane therefore his booke entituled the Governour. Wherein rLib. 1. ca. 20he prayseth Dansing, and vttereth somewhat like to that avouched by you, and sCap. 22. 23. 24. & 25.treateth of circumstances (a point you touch also) which being all observed, dansing may be honestlie and honorably vsed: But his speech of Fortitude and Temperance represented by men and maidens in a danse, commeth nothing neere your maides and wooers measures, whereto you would stretch it. For, among diverse maners and kindes of dansing vsed in ancient time, he rehearseth one, wherein (as tDe saltat.Lucian saith, translated woord for woorde by him in a maner) 8foreigndansed young men and maidens; the man going before, and expressing 9foreign.such motions as he might afterward vse in warre; the maiden following him modestly and shamefastlie; so that it represented a pleasant coniunction of temperance & fortitude. Now those warlike motions were (as vDe legi. li. 7Plato sheweth, speaking of the like danse) gestures which resembled, partlie the avoiding all sortes of woundes and blowes by 1foreign.bending aside, by 2foreigngoing backe, by 3foreign.leaping vp, by 4foreign.bowing downe; partlie the enforcing of enimies by shooting 5foreign.arrowes, and casting 6foreign.dartes at them, and giving them 7foreign.all sortes of wounds. Wherfore this being it, that represented Fortitude in the danse described by Syr Thomas Eliot: farre was it frō his meaning to make your measures, your sober measures, warlike motions; or compare a wooer treading them, to Fortitude. As farre, as to compare a boy doeing the same in maidens likenes, to Temperance. Which, if you had otherwise expressed his sense rightlie, yet should you hauehave forborne to apply to yours for the observing of decorum, a thing that you commend so in Homer, and your selfe aime at: sith those maides and wooers, intended both by Homer and you, to be wantons, must vse lascivious danses; and the man (if you will needes hauehave such resemblances) bee compared rather to Mollitude, or Cowardnes, the woman to Incontinencie. Beside that, the praise which that learned Knight geveth vntounto dansing, he giveth it not simply; (for he saith xLib. 1. ca. 19some danses, doe corrupt the mindes of them that danse, and provoke sinne:) but with limitation, to weete, ycap. 22. & 2….being vsed and continued in such forme, and with such observations and rules, as hee specifieth. Whereof the first (to name one for example) is, that, by the curtesie or reverent inclination made at beginning of dansing, the dansers and beholders should marke and remember this to be signified, that at the beginning of all our actes, we should doe due honour to God, which is the roote of prudence. And in deede if dansers in treading of their measures had such regards and meditations: then not Syr Thomas Eliot onelyonly, but the Fathers would praise dansing too. For, when godly Bishops assembled in the Councells of zConcil. Laodicen. can 53Laodicea, and aConc. Ilerd. can. ult. Concilior. tom. 2.Ilarda, decreed that Christians ought not to danse at mariages; when S^t bIn Matt. hom. 59.Chrysostome blamed women for so doeing, as being a staine vntounto their sexe; when S^t cDe virginib. lib. 3.Ambrose cited and averred that of dOrat. pro Muraen.Tullie, that such as danse are drunke, or madde; when S^t eIn Psal. 32. part. ….Austin said that it were better to spend the Sabbat day in digging & delving, then in dansing: they meant not to restraine men from marking, and remembring, that at the beginning of all their actes, they should doe due honour to God; but they thought that dansers hauehave commonlie their mindes on thinges of an other qualitie. Which if your wooers and maidens also had; as (I am perswaded) them selves will not deny, and you seeme to have thought by touching so nicely, or rather scarcelie touching, the circumstāces that you say should be observed in dansing: you abuse the name of that learned Knight, in vrging his prayse of a good danse that might bee, against my disprayse of an ill danse that is. It had bene more reason, that when his conceit caried him a litle out of the way sometimes, as in that fLib. 1. ca. 20he prayseth Lucians stage-danser, who dansed the adulterie of Mars and Venus with resembling of 8foreign, saith Lucian.every act therein, (which I hope, your selfe would not allow on your stage;) you should hauehave acknowledged that through too great a love of dansing, he liked too well of Lucians treatise: though otherwise he fansied not the autour much; as gLib. 1. ca. 10he well declareth by noting of *Huius impios & scurriles dialogos scho larū nostrarum censores volunt, si Deo placet, in puerotū scholis praelegi, &c. Hyperius opusc. de sacrar. literar. stud non deferend.his ribaudrie, and his too much scorning; and by saying farther, It were better that a childe should never read any part of Lucian, then all Lucian. Or, if the sentence of a Knight, so woorthy, had such credit with you; why did you not consider hLib. 1. ca. 19his religious wish, that the names of idoles, of Paynim Gods and Goddesses, were not vsed at this day in balades and dities, to the corrupting of many good wittes with godlesse fantasies? For though his reproofe doe specially touch the most vile idoles, Venus, and Bacchus, remembred so in dansing-songs as if the danse were to their honour and memorie; a matter most abhorring from Christes religion, and savouring of the ancient errour of Paganisme: yet as the iExod. 33. 13 Psal. 16. 4. Hos 2. 17.Scripture, the ground of his reproofe, doeth generallie condemne such naming of other Gods, semblably he sheweth, that, if you had attributed so much to his iudgement, you should hauehave eschewed that fault in your tragedie. At least, wher the woords are vttered as it were in your owne person: as kVlyss. red. prolog. ad Acad.those of 9Llluminavit Deos.the Gods enlightned or beautificd by Homers fables are. Perhaps, where players of other mens persons also speake: as lAct. 1. & 5.Ulysses, and mAct. 2.Eumaeus, adoring spirits of 1Nymphae Naides.Devills, or of dead 2Iuppiter.men, and 3Minerva.women, with sacrifices and prayers; nAct. 2.Telemachus 4Per Iovem.swearing by Iuppiter; oAct. 4.Philaetius, first 5Inique semper Iuppiter: nec enim est Deus Te pejor alter.blaspheming GOD vnderunder Iuppiters name, then 6Magne regnator Deûm …am fateor esse, fateor in coelo Deos.confessing to him that there are Gods in heaven. Chieflie seeing that these speeches are delivered by the flower of those persons, by whose partes (you say) no hurt could come to any man: and Syr Thomas Eliot thought that such speeches, savouring of Paganisme, might corrupt good wittes. But howsoever you shall distinguish your Poëme from the balades and dities, in which he controlleth this irreligious custome of giving the honour of God to vile idoles: your selfe doe beare witnesse that he commēdeth not the dansing of Eurymachus & the rest of your wooers with their Melanthos on the stage. For among the partes of their dissolute behaviour imagined to be doon within, you rehearse their 7Regiam perdunt domum Luxu, choréis, scelete, dapibusque impiis.dansing: and that in the person, not of a carping Momus, but of wise pAct. 1.Telemachus. Now looke what was imagined to bee doon within, the same was expressed on the stage in part, by your owne confession: as Telemachus also saith, that in 8Quos jam reliqui more viventes suo, Tumultuantes, atque saltantes domi.their maners at home they kept their wont, Their dansing on the stage then, your self acknowledge, was vnhonest dansing. And the dansing praysed by Syr Thomas Eliot is honest dansing, you say. Therefore you doe manifest wrong vntounto vsus both, in alleaging him as praysing that which I dispraysed.

qPlutarch. apophthe. reg. & imperat.When the Lacedaemonians had accused the Thebans of manie and greevous matters: In deed, quoth Epaminondas, 9foreign.these have made you give over your short forme of speaking. I wishe I might be short, as were the Lacedaemonians; but you constraine me to be long: you deale so Theban-like continually with me. A doubtfull woord being vsed in a question of yours, 1Senecamne tu recitare jacturam putes?whether we account it a losse recitare, to recite Seneca; Wherevnto I answered that it is one thing 2Recitare.to recite, another thing 3Agere.to play, as I declared by sundrie writers; and added that I would have bene content to heare your tragedie recited; had it bene recited or pronounced onelyonly; you reply that the woord is vsed in Quintilian; not onelyonly de scripto, but also memoriter recitare; and therefore you might vse it indifferentlie, for agere, in a generall acceptatiō; moreover, that as Horace and Persius doe scoffe bitterly at recitatores also, and the law in the generalitie of the terme noteth also with imfamie, them, qui pronuntiandi, that is properly, recitandi causa in scenam prodeunt: so the Universitie would have thought it a more absurd thing to have heard you, or any other, openly reading your Vlysses to them, then to have seene it acted as it was. Wherein to the intent you may see how you play the Theban, I will vse a comparison, and that within some measure I trust. rforeign.Plutarch hath written a dialogue to proove that brute beastes hauehave reason as well as men hauehave: in iest peradvēture, seeing he maketh it to be avouched by 4foreign a pigge, or hogge.Gryllus: or meaning, that they hauehave a naturall sagacitie and vnderstanding like to reason, not reason capable of Religion, as in the 5foreign.conclusion he seemeth to insinuate, and a sVallesius de sacra philosophia, cap. 44. & 55.certaine Christian writer hath mainteined, though speaking not so fitlie in saying they have reason, sith the t2. Pet. 2. 12.Scripture termeth them 6foreignCreatures voide of reason. But suppose that some man being of Gryllus minde, (or let vsus call him Gryllus for more perspicuitie, and make Sempronius likewise his adversaries name;) suppose then that Gryllus having asked this question, 7Animálne tu rationis expers esse putas?Doe you thinke that animal, a living creature indued with sense, wanteth reason? Sempronius answered him, that animal is one thing, and a beast an other, as vDe legi. li. 1.Tullie declareth, affirming a 8Animal hoc providum, sagax, multiplex, acutum, memor, plenum rationis & consilii, quem vocamus hominē.man (whom he calleth animal) to be full of reason, whereof he saith, that 9Solum est enim ex tot animātium generibus atque naturis particeps rationis, & cogitationis, cùm caetera sint omnia expertia.no beast at all is partaker. If Gryllus should reply that the woord is vsed in xMetamor. lib. 1.Ovid for 1Pronaque cùm spectent animalia caetera terram, os homini sublime dedit.all things that have life and sense, not for men onelyonly, and therfore he might vse it indifferently for beasts in a general acceptatiō: would not they, who see, that belike he meant to comprehend men also vnderunder that generall woord, thereby the more closely to fetch in beastes with them; and that, restraining it to beasts, his question must bee, Thinke you that beastes want reason? which were an idle question, and openly implying a begging of the point in controversie; would they not, I say, condemne him as a wrangling and contentious Sophister? Now, if in the same vaine, or rather in a woorse, he should adde moreover, that as yEpist lib. 1. epi. 1.Horace and zSatyr. 3.Persius speake scoffingly of mad men too, and the aL. 2. D. de postulando. l. 2. D. de curatorib. suriosor.law appointeth gar… …s for idiots, that is properly, for men wanting the vse of re…; so the grave Athenian bench of Areopagus would iudge it more absurd to say that men hauehave reason, then that beasts hauehave it, chieflie certaine beastes, as 2foreign, saith Gryll… in Plutarch.horses and oxen dansing vponupon stages in a more exquisit maner then men are lightlie able: would not this speech of Gryllus shew that he deserveth a sharper commendation, then Plutarch by praysing 3foreign.his sophistrie meant vntounto him? Here your vsuall dealing causeth mee to feare that you will aske whether I make you a Gryllus. As bTheodoret. hist ecclesia. lib. 2. cap. 16when a Catholike Bishop, being rebuked by an Arian Emperour for standing alone with Athanasius against the whole worlde, said that the doctrine of faith was not impeached though he alone mainteined it, seeing that of olde time cDan. 3. 12.three alone were found who stoode against the Kings commandement: What? quoth an Eunuche, 4foreign.doest thou make our Emperour a Nabuchodonosor? But, I pray you, leave this Eunuches odious practise in racking my cōparisons: and marke the maine point whereat I aime in them, and which I seeke to open by them. For, as in Gryllus question, and verse, framed like yours, the circumstances giuegive, that he vsed the generall woord comprising man, thereby to breed a fansie that if this kinde of animal hauehave reason, why not the other? In like sorte your expresse mention of 5Cuius vel vnum simile carminibus me… Benigna carmen malo posteritas legat: legat, you say, not agat; though agat would hauehave fitted the verse as well as legat.reading, I say, of reading, not of playing, in shewing what a iewell you take the reciting of Seneca to be; maketh it probable that you meant to doe by the generalitie of the woord recitare. The more, because you vsed it not onelyonly in your verse, where your excuse might serve, that it stoode better then agere would in that place; as Gryllus might say likewise for versifying animal rather, then bestiam: but in your prose also, the 6Tragoedia noua, in aede Christi recitata.title of your tragedie; as if Gryllus, setting downe the point controversed betweene him and Sempronius, should make it, vtrum animal sit rationis expers; where the woorde 7In the larger sense, that Tullie geueth it: Tusc quae. lib. 5. De nat. Deor. lib. 2. not in the stricter of your Lawiers: l. 1. § removet. D de postulando. l. 1. §. in bestiis. D. si quadrup. pauper. sec. di.bestia, would serve as fitlie in prose; nay, (if plaine dealing were meant) a great deale more fitlie. And if you intended not to make that reason which I supposed you did, it is no losse to recite Seneca, Ergo no losse to play him: but meant to vse the generall woorde for the speciall, and to aske Momus onelyonly, Thinke you it a losse to play Seneca? thē you begged at Momus hand, or tooke as graunted, the point you should hauehave prooved; sith the playing of Seneca was condemned by him, and you vndertooke to confute his arguments. Againe, as Horace, Persius, the law, alleaged by Gryllus, doe shew that certaine men want the vse of reason, but neither proove that beasts hauehave it, nor that mankind wanteth it; and his presumed testimonie of the Areopagus, brought in with a particle of similitude, So, as hitting iumpe with Horace, Persius, and the law, is too too absurd: in like sort the same autours, alleaged by your selfe, doe shew that some reciters are misliked by them, but neither prove that players are liked, nor all reciters misliked; and the Vniversities testimonie which you bring in with the same particle, as hitting iumpe with those autours, I can not say you bring it altogether as Gryllus, but you bring it strangely. For dSatyr. lib. …. sat. 4. &. De art. poët.Horace scoffeth at them, who 8In medio qui Scripta foro recitent, sunt multi, quique lavantes.recite their writings out of due place or time, and are 9Indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus.importunatlie displeasant: eSatyr. 1.Persius, at 1Patranti fractus ocello.wantons reciting 2Quum carnima lúbum Intrant, & tremulo scalpuntur ubi in…ma versu.wanton verses, with an 3Liquida quū plasmate guttur Mobile collueris. Quintilian. li. 1. cap. 14.effeminate voice, and a 4Quo didicisse, nisi hoc fermentum, & qua semel intus innata est, rupto jecore exierit caprificus? & vsque adeò ne Scire …uú nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter?vainglorious minde. The law noteth with infamie such as come vponupon the stage to recite: belike, for their vaine-glorious desire of 5Populo, pexusque, togaque recenti, & natalitia tandem cum sardonyche albus, Sede legens celsa.being seene, and 6At pulchrum est digito monstrari, & dicier, hic est.getting mens applause, which Persius iesteth at. Now in that you adde hereto the Universitie, and make vsus ioyne with the former in opinion, saying; So the Vniversitie would have thought it a more absurd thing, to have heard me, or any other, openly reading my Ulysses to them, then to have seene it acted, as it was: what meane you by this terme, So? That if you, or an other, had read your Vlysses openly vntounto them, it had bene done out of due place, or due time? or, they should hauehave heard wanton verses read? or wantonly? or by a wanton? or with a vaine-glorious minde? or on the stage? In deede, they should hauehave heard 7In Melanthos part, & Eurymachus.some wanton verses, I graunt: and both out of due place, and time, if you had read it 8Qui pronuntiandi causa in scenam prodierit.where, & 9Die Dominico.when it was acted. Neither doe I doubt but the Universitie would hauehave thought such open reading, of such stuffe, on such a day, absurd: though, whether more absurd, then to hauehave seene it acted as it was, I know not. But whatsoever they would hauehave thought in this comparison, wherein the fL. 1. D. de his qui not. infam.law, that you cite, noting both with infamie, should giuegive (mee thinkes) a deeper print thereof to acting then reading, all things weighed: you are farre from hitting the marke, whereat you shoote; namely, from cō vincing by the Universities testimonie, and iudgement, my sentence as absurd, that if your tragedie had bene recited onelyonly, I would have accounted it no more losse of time to hauehave heard you pronounce it, then my selfe to reade it. For, I did not meane, if it had bene recited as those were, which the autours by you alleaged, doe reproove: but as gLib. 1. sat 4.Horace vsed to 1Non recite cuiquam, nisi amicis, idque coactus. Non vbiuis corámve quibuslibet.recite his owne writings; as 2Quintilio si quid recitares corrige sodes Hoc aiebat, & hoc. Hora. de art. poet.poëmes were recited to Quintilius Uarus; as hPersii vita. Gloss. vet. … Persium.Persius did recite his booke vntounto Cornutus, before he published it. Whereof if you pronounce (as you doe, if you speake to purpose) that our Universitie would hauehave thought it a more absurd thing, then to have seene it acted as it was: you deale in like maner with our Vniversitie, as Gryllus with the reverend bench of Areopagus, if he should abuse their name and estimation, to perswade that brute beastes have more reason, then the wisest men have.

Hereto would be annexed that, which in the fourth and, last head of reasons, you vrge againe concerning our Universities iudgement for the approbation of your playes in generall: if your interlaced defense of wastfull cost in setting foorth therof (the onelyonly point remaining besides) were discussed. And this is easilie done, considering what hath bene alreadie prooved against you touching the inconveniences and mischifes of your playes. For having made Momus obiect the great charges; which how great they were, you know better then I, who summed them perhaps too much beneath the due whē I did mention thirtie pound; but having made him say that it should hauehave bene bestowed on the poore rather, you take him vp with three answeres: one, that the mony was your own, not his; an other, that the charge, though great to him, was meane to you; the thirde, that none would give the lesse to the poore for that, none would have given the more without it. All the which I shewed to be of no force for warrāting of expēses on things of that qualitie, because, both vnhonest spending of a mans owne, is wastfulnes & riott, condemned by our Saviour in the prodigall sonne: and, as Nero giving much to gett a Plaudite, was the lesse able to help the poore by so much, and the lesse willing too perhaps; in like sort may you be. Herevpon you demand of me, What similitude is there, or can there be, betweene the prodigall sonne, that in such a sort, as he did, spent all, and brought him selfe to the extreemest miserie; and betweene your expense? A question, which you would not have pressed, as you doe; for your vnlikenes to him in that he wasted all, and brought him selfe to extreeme miserie thereby: if you had considered that 3foreign.woord in the originall text of the Gospell, whereto my quotation for iLuk. 15. 13.riott did direct you. For vsually it noteth the qualitie of expenses made by loose & wanton persons on their pleasures, as in forein writers, kEthicor. lib. 4. cap. 1. foreign.Aristotle and lDe finib. li 2Tullie; so in mEph. 5. 18. Tit. 1. 6. 1. Pet. 4. 4.Scripture likewise: and, to that effect in the same parable of the prodigall sonne is it said nLuk. 15. 30.afterward, that he devoured his goods 4foreign.with harlotts. Now, in Rome, of olde time, there were common 5Diobolares meretrices. Fest. Scorta diobolaria. Plaut. Poen.harlots to be hired for 6Two oboli beeing the third part of drachma, or denarius; & eight drachma, or denarii, weighing an ounce of siluer.two pence halfe-peny. The price in our dayes, by reason of the oIo. Athon. gloss. in constit. Othon. de concubin. clericor. remouend. Fr. Sansouin. de administr. regnor & rerumpub. lib. 11. cap. de mareschallo.tribute, which they are to pay the Pope, may bee enhaunsed. But if one, desirous of an harlots company, could have her so cheape, and should pleade for him self that the moony he spendeth on her is his owne, & the charge not great, neither would he geve the lesse vntounto the poore for that, nor more without it: were this a lawfull barre to stay vsus from accusing him of 7foreignriott, I meane, of wastfull and vnhonest spending; (give it a fitter English name, if you know any; I tooke that which our best interpreters agree on;) but might we not accuse him thereof vponupon the same ground that Scripture doeth the prodigall sonne? Or, if some Preacher, more severe then pHorat. satyrar. li 1. sat. 2Cato, should deale so strictly and rigorously with him; might he aske what similitude there is, or can be, betweene his expense of two pence half-peny, and the prodigall sonne, who in such a sort, as he did, spent all, and brought himselfe to the extremest miserie? Much fault hauehave you found with my hard incomparable comparisons and similitudes; & some of them are 8Sed quid opus teneras mordaci radere vero Auricolas? Pers. sat. 1.hard in deede, though none incōparable: but I must say thereof, as the Apostle of his boasting, q2 Cor. 12. 11you hauehave compelled me. For when I tooke a softer and more gentle course, as here, to encounter that aunswere made to Momus, Thou saist the charge is great; but thou mayst come, and looke on, Momus, and pay nothing, no man doeth aske thee a peny; I resembled it to an aunswere which the prodigall sonne might thus hauehave made to his reproover, Thou blamest me for wasting, but I wast none of thine; thou mayst drinke with me scotfree, if thou be a good felow, & welcome: albeit the very woord, wasting, might hauehave shewed I meant vnhonest spending, (for rLuk. 16. 9. 1. Tim. 6. 18 Tit. 3. 14. Reu. 14. 1….thinges spent honestly are not wasted,) chiefly sith I vsed it in respect of the riot noted by our Saviour; and in the vnthrifts speech, drawing good felowes to drinke with him, I pointed to his lusty, excessive, dissolute s1. Pet. 4. 3.drinkings with lewde companions like himselfe; yet you did reply, that, if hee had bene as moderate and thrifty in spending at his boord, as you were at your playes, he might well enough have said to any niggard, that should hauehave vnwisely found fault with him, as much as I make him say, not with the note of a prodigall, but with the commendation of an ingenuous and liberall disposition. Whereby you make mee see, to what reprochefull contumelies of a niggardly minde, and want of wisedome and discretion, I should hauehave laid my selfe open, if I had still endevoured to disclose vntounto you the weaknes of your aunswers by gentle similitudes. That similitude therefore of mine, the tender smoothnes whereof occasioned you to mistake my meaning, and intertaine it so coursly, I have now corrected with substituting a rougher, which may deliver you from errour, and me from such tantes. For seeing you perceve this to be my meaning, that the threefold answer made by you to Momus is like as if tCie. de finib. lib. 2.Gallonius, or some other Epicure, reprooved by a Stoike for going to the stewes, should answer him; Thou blamest me for spending two pence half-peny on a wench, but I spend none of thine; thou maist goe with me thither, if thou be a good felow, & I will give her as much for thee too; the charge, though it seeme great to thee, is small to me; neither will I bestow a dodkin lesse vponupon the poore for that, nor more without it: you will not reply, that if Gallonius had bene as moderate and thrifty in his spending at his bedde, as you were at your playes, (they cost a number of you more, you wote, in severall, then twise two pence halfe-peny;) hee might well enough have said to any niggard, that should hauehave vnwisely found fault with him, as much as I make him say, not with the note of a prodigall, but with the commendation of an ingenuous and liberall disposition. And so, by the other similitude likewise mended, and as it were rough hewen, you may the better learne to discerne my drift, and spare your owne replying. For when, to discover the povertie of your aunswere touching the poore, I said, that Nero peradventure was either lesse able, or lesse willing to helpe the poore, by reason of five or sixe thousand pownd given for a Plaudite; which charge notwithstanding he might better beare, then some of your students may fiue or six shillings: you replyed, that, if Nero could hauehave as well spared such huge summes of moony, which hee spent that way often, as your House, with the company in it, and belonging to it, can once in many yeares thirty powndes: Nero should hauehave bene wronged greatly, being an Emperour, to hauehave bene noted of wastfulnes; and, if ever hee had any such good minde, hee mought neverthelesse hauehave releeved the poore. Nowe, altering and changing Neros charge on Plaudite into vCorn. Tacit. annal. li. 13.his charge on Acte (a harlot whom hee loved better then his wife,) and telling you that he was lesse able, or lesse willing (nay, both) to helpe the poore, by reason of 9Quae Princeps furtim mulierculae tribuebat.gifts bestowed on her: I shall not heare, I trust, that, if Nero could hauehave as well spared the sundry summes of moony which he spent that way often, as your House, with the company in it, and belonging to it, can once in many yeares thirty powndes: Nero should hauehave bene wronged greatly, beeing an Emperour, to hauehave bene noted of wastfulnes. No, not, though in adding that clause, being an Emperour, you seeme to allude to xEthicor. li. ….Aristotles saying, that 1foreign.Princes are not termed wastfull, or prodigall. For therin he respecteth 2foreign.the abundance of their wealth, which Nero could hardly exceede in gifts and expenses: not the 3foreign.qualitie of the matters that they spend their wealth on, wherin as prodigall persons may and doe wast, so Nero. Neither will you affirme that Nero mought neverthelesse have releeved the poore; for feare least you cause your reader to suspect you of shamelesnesse, or sophistrie. Shamelesnesse, if you say, that, whatsoever it were which Nero gaue to Acte, he had no whit the lesse in his coffers to giuegive others. Sophistrie, if by the woorde neverthelesse, you meane, notwithstanding. For Phoedria in the yTerent. Eun.Comedie, mought hauehave helped Parmeno, notwithstanding the moony that he spent on Thais. Yet 4Nam quod nos capere oportet haec intercipit.the greater charge he was at with his harlot, the lesse had he remaining to giuegive his poore seruant. And your dout, if Nero had ever any such good minde, will bee as badly opposed vntounto my speech of his lesse willinglesse. For both him selfe, zSueton Ner. cap. 10.having so good a minde once, became aCap. 32. & 38.worse minded afterward, when he was growen bca. 30. & 31.wastfull such wayes, yea, simply wastfull, prooving that to bee possible which Aristotle iudgeth 5foreign in y^e woords alleaged.not easy to bee done: and if he had alwayes bene equally ill-minded, yet commeth it otherwise to passe in mans nature, as you might hauehave learned by Caesar and Plutarch. Of whom the one, beholding certaine rich strangers and foreiners, at Rome, carying whelpes of dogges and apes in their bosomes, and making much of them, did aske, Whether wemen brought not foorth children in their countries: cPlutarch. vita Periclis.the other saith that Caesar herein gaue a woorthy and princely admonition to them 6foreign.who doe consume & wast, vponupon beasts, the naturall affection and louelove due to men. Both, evidently shewing, that the more wee spend on thinges of lesse value, the lesse we are disposed to spend on thinges more pretious; sith, d1. Ioh. 3. 17.as a mans louelove is, so is his willingnes to spend for louelove sake: and the louelove of apes and dogges may better stande with the louelove of Children, eMark. 7. 27.eche of them beeing to bee loved, though not alike; then expenses on playes may with releeving of the poore, fProu. 19. 17. Mat. 25. 40.the Lorde accounting mercy had vpō the poore, as had vpō him selfe, & mony spēt on playes, being as mony spent on harlots. Wherfore, if you wil be sutable to your self, & as you deale for playes, so for the louelove of apes & dogges, for which you may more reasonably; your threefold answer against Momus in your own defense, is quicklie turned against Caesar & Plutarch, for those strangers: The louelove, which they did beare to the whelpes of dogges and apes, was their owne louelove, it was not Caesars, or Plutarchs; great might it be to Caesar and Plutarch, meane to them; neither would they louelove children the lesse for that, nor more without it. And as you assaulted Momus with the Scripture, telling him that Iudas his speech, who said, what needed this wast? is an evill speech; and nowe, notwithstanding the difference betwene your playes and Christ; vsus and Indas, doe thinke that it may also be applyed against either the niggardise, or the hypocrisie of any Momus, that shall condemne all expense, as cast away, that is sometime moderatly bestowed vponupon honest sportes and pastimes, and not vponupon the poore: so, what letteth you to thinke that it may also bee applyed against either the clownishnes, or the hypocrisie of Caesar and Plutarch, who condemned all louelove, as cast away, that is sometime, moderatly bestowed vponupon sweete whelpes of dogges and apes, and not vponupon children? For, if you should answer, the case is vnlike because you can not proove that mens colling and dandeling of such whelpes is seemely, which Caesar and Plutarch sawe good cause to reproove: you must bee remembred that yet you may say, the thing is seemely, though say it onelyonly, and deny their reproofe to bee iust, though not refute it; as you avouch against mee that your playes were honest and lawfull recreations, whatsoever is rather obiected then prooved to the contrary. Nay, if Caesar, or Plutarch, had, beside their reasons to proove it vnseemely; alleaged sundry testimonies of Romans and Grecians so esteeming it, as I did the iudgements of a Lacedemonian, of Horace, of Tullie of other learned men, to shew that they deemed such cost, as you were at, to bee vaine and wastfull: yet, as you reply to me that all Paynim and heathen iudgement you hauehave answered in the defense of your first reason; so might you to them, that all the testimonies which they bring, you hauehave aunswered in the 7Culpam prorsus Hippolyto imputet, Iuveni protervo, caelibi, duro, truci.prologue of your last play. I hauehave read gThe copie of a French letter to Don Bernardin Mendoze.that whē the Spaniards invincible navie mett with ours, about some five yeares since, vponupon the narow seas, it was published in print, at Parise, by Mendoza the Spaniards procurement, that they gott a brave victorie, wherein my Lorde Admirall of England, with sixteene of the Queenes great shippes, were sunke to the bottome of the sea, and the rest put to flight with the Vice-admirall Francis Drake. But, God bee thanked, wee saw my Lord Admirall of England alive at her Maiesties late being here with vsus: and now may the Mendozians picke out of their owne hLib. 1. ad ann. Christ. 1588.Mercurius Gallobelgicus, that neither any one shippe of the Queenes navie, were it great, or small, was sunke by the Spaniards, nor the Vice-admirall put to flight.

And thus at length approching vntounto the conclusion, I come to your maintenance of that which you obiected concerning the iudgement of our Vniversitie. Wherewith (least I passe any thing of weight in your reply, as you doe many in mine) I will ioyne that elswhere you touch about the woorshipfull, & sometimes honorable presence at your playes; and those reverend, famous, and excellent men, for life, and learning, and their places in the Church of God, who hauehave bene not onelyonly writers of such things them selves, but also actors, and doe thinke well of them (as you affirme) to this day. Our Vniversities iudgement therefore you avow that you produced rightfully to the approoving of your playes, because the greater part of the Universitie did with their harty applause approove them. An argument, that neither layeth sound foundation, nor buildeth therevpon to purpose. For how proove you, first, that the greater part did with their harty appause approove them; seeing you acknowledge that many, some absent, some present, disallowed them? Forsooth, you say, you are sure of it. But your bolde avouching thinges, you are not sure of, doeth make mee dout of your assurance. For, vponupon my speech that certaine who came thither were pressed therevnto by great importunitie, you wish they had more truly, and more charitably, for dansing, kissing, and other demeanour, reported to me of your playes, with such a minde as you will forbeare (you say) to speake of. Wherein you doe charge them, how charitably, iudge your selfe; but questionlesse, most vntruly, with making false reports of your playes to me, to whom they made no report at all thereof. Yea, you take vponupon you to pronounce of their thoughts: and say they did it with such a minde, as in your iQuintilian. lib. 9. cap. 2.figurative forbearing to speake of, you speake most bitterly of, and raise a very wrongfull and vile suspicion of them. Againe, where I tolde you how the grave and learned man, our common friend, shewed me his dislike of the representation of amorousnes, and drunkennes; in the Comedie, both; the former, not in it onelyonly: you say, that you know how farre hee did somewhat dislike some Comicall action; but you are sure he commended much the playes to you, & would be sorry that any speech of his should bee, by mistaking, alleaged against you. And doe you not in assuring vsus after this sort that hee did like of your playes, saving a litle in the Comedie, imply that hee disliked nought in any tragedie? Or breede you not a sclanderous surmise of his integritie, as if hee had commended to you the very same, which vntounto me he discommended? Or seeke you not to make men thinke that I mistooke him, in fathering that vponupon him; when him selfe hath sithence acknowledged vntounto mee, that I mistooke him not; and (as I am perswaded) hath certified you no lesse too?

Wherefore your pronouncing, that you are sure the greater part did with their hartie applause approoue your playes, may rather proove you to bee rash, then your assertion to be true. Chieflie, sith you mention, not onelyonly their applause, a thing that sense might iudge of; but their harty applause, a circumstance presumed by your conceit peradventure. For as they did 8Nisi displic…imus, vos gregi applausum date.clappe their handes after your playes, so 9Iterum benignus vndique applausus sonet.after the appendix thereof touching Momus. Which yet some approovers of your playes approoved not: as them selves hauehave signified. How can you then be sure, that all, who did clappe their handes, did it with liking; and that the applause, which they gave, was hartie? Beside that, if their hearts ioyned with their handes, how can you be sure they approoved your playes by such applause, and not somewhat else? As kOrat. pro P. Sextio.Tullie declareth that the Romans vsed it to shew their louelove of gratious persons: and in lVlyss. red. epilogo.one of your playes 1Huic vos Elisae quem decet plausum date.you wished it to be geuen to her gratious Maiestie. Nether is it impossible, but that, as a mHorat. epist. lib. 2. ep. 1.number gaue it to the 2Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.apparell and furniture of the stage at Rome: so lighter bodyes might with you. And what if the grauer sort did shew the liking of your paines and charges employed for their delite sake? or of the better parts; not of wantons, of drunckards, & of the whole playes? Now, suppose the greater part of the Vniversitie approoued them with their harty applause: might you therefore lawfully vrge the Universities iudgment as making for them? Yea, say you, if the greater part may denominate the whole, Nay, by your leaue, euen so too will you come short still, vnlesse you adde, that iudgement and harty applause is all one: which nCicero, orat. pro Plancio.he, who affirmed that 3In comitiis, praesertim aedilitiis, studium esse populi, non …dicium.the people of Rome was lead with affection sometimes, not with iudgement, did put a difference betweene. And though the greater part denominate the whole, cōmonly; & alwayes may, if the woord, greater, be well expounded: yet there fall out cases when the lesser part in number shall denominate it, and the greater shall not. For example sake, oSynod. A… cyr. can. 2…. Basil. ep. ad Amphil. can. 83. Greg. Nysse. epist. ad. Lat. can. 3there were in the primitiue Church certaine Christians (as in ours there are) who, having lost sowewhat, would goe to a wisard, or a setter of figures, or other such soothsayer, to knowe how it went from them, or by what meanes they might recover it. pSext. synod. in Trul. can. 61.One of the generall Councells spake against this: and called it 4foreign, saith the Councell touching this and the like customes.a pernicious and an heathenish custome. The number of Bishops assembled in that Councell was lesser of all likelyhoode (amounting qTheodor. Balsam. de ea synodo quae dicitur sexta.not to twelve score) then the number of Christians, who either vsed that practise them selves, or liked it in others. Yet, in my opinion, the Churches iudgement did controll it: and to say the contrary, because the greater part denominateth the whole, were most iniurious to the Church. Or, if this example satisfie you not, rCan. 62.the same Councell made a decree, that 5foreign.no man should put on womans raiment. Whereto, being pressed by me, whē you reply that the voice of the Church therein may be interpreted by them who are of your minde; you acknowlege, that, taking it in the right sense, it is the Churches iudgement. And the sense thereof by 6Of the text of Scripture, Deut. 22. 5. where the Greeke trā slation hath, foreign: the very woords vsed by the Councell.your interpretation of putting on, or wearing, must be that none may doe it commonly. So, the Councell speaking of doeing it in playes, you graunt that the Churches iudgement is against it as common players vse to practise it. But greater assemblies of Christians then that Councell, allow it in common players: the Curtaine and Theater can tell so much. Neither will you say, that common players are approoved by the Churches iudgement. For, the Churches iudgement you professe obedience too: yet 7Histrioniam accusas? Non defendo sed famam, pudorem, at que innocentiam. Histrioniam vero ipsam, vel tecum accusabo, si voles.cōmon players you condemne. The lesser part therefore in number may sometime denominate the whole; and the greater may not. Which if wee apply to the case in question, it is playne you should not have vrged the Universities iudgement for your playes, although the greater part thereof had approoved them. For, the chiefest cause that moved the governours of our Vniversitie, the Uicechancellour and Convocation, to forbidde by statute the vse of common playes among vsus, was, sThe Vniuersitie statute against common stageplayers: made in the yeare 1584.least the younger sort should be spectators of so many lewde and evil sports as in them are practised. Now, reason doeth give, that men of vnderstanding, who, through a godly care of the good training vp of youth, restrayned them from seeing those playes, because of such sportes; must thinke it inconvenient for them to see such sportes in what soever playes, even in your Rivales. And, if inconvenient to see such sportes onelyonly, much more to play and represent such: the representing of them beeing so farre woorse, then the beholding, in tDe legib. lib. 7.Platos iudgement, that 8foreign.they would be seene and knowne, hee sayeth, because their contraries, honest things and serious, can not be knowen without them, if one intend to bee wise; but 9foreignpractise both them, and their contraries, it is impossible, if one intende to have as much as a sparke of vertue. Our gouvernours might thinke more hopefully, then Plato, that vertuous youths may doe them both: and Plato peradventure meant by impossible, very hard, as vDe Vniversi.Tullie 1Plat. Timaeo; foreign cic. Difficillimū factu.elswhere doeth interpret him. But the duetifull reverence, which I owe vntounto them, will not permitt me to iudge of them, that where Plato suffered his citizens to see sportes of folly and scurrilitie, yet none 2foreign.beside bondslaves & mercenarie strangers to imitate and expresse them: the guides of our Universitie should deeme it convenient for youths to be actors of loose and wanton prankes, whereof to be spectatours, they have pronounced it vnmeete and hurtfull for them. Wherefore, what soeuer the greater part approoved with their harty applause, I am perswaded still that you did wrong in vrging the Universities iudgement as making for your playes. No lesse in a manner, then if one beholding a great number of Scholers playing in winter time at footeball, should saye, the Universities iudgement doeth approove it. Which I contrariewise should be so farre from thinking, that if any graver man were looking on them, or touched the ball with his foote, I would take it rather to savour of affection borne to some playing thereat, then of iudgement.

As for the worshipfull, and sometimes honorable presence at your playes, you might seeme to presse it against me with more credit, if honorable and worshipfull persons never vsed to grace any playes, saue onelyonly yours, with their presence. But if they be present at common playes also, such as our Vniversitie-statute banisheth hence, and your selfe make offer that 3Histrioniam ipsam vel tecum accusabo, si voles.you will ioyne with me in writing aginst the players thereof, if I will: consider with your selfe what you would aunswere to this argument alleaged by those players, and let the same serve on my behalfe to yours. For a supply whereof I adde, that worthy personages, who, vponupon intreatty, become your spectators, perhaps thinke with Plato, that the seeing of Comedies played can doe no harme, of tragedies may be dangerous; perhaps incline to Aristotle, that they both may safely bee seene by elder folke, not by younger: and so, though them selves beholde one, or both, yet doe they warrant neither of the pointes you strive for; I meane, that either students of Christ-church may bee actors, or the youth of Oxford spectators of your playes. xPlini epistolar. lib. …. ep. 22. ad Sempronium Rufum.There were at Uienna, in the time of Traian the Emperour, by some bodyes last will and testament, certaine solemne games and shewes sett foorth yearely: 4Placuit ag… na tolli, qui mores Viennensium infecerat, vt noster hic omnium.the which, as Plinie saith, had stained the maners of the inhabitants of that citie, in like sort as the games & shewes sett foorth at Rome had stained the maners of all the world. This corruption of maners was not bredde by other exercises and masteries tried, in those games, but by the stage-playes, as a yPetr… Faber, agonist. lib. 1 cap. 26.learned man of your profession iudgeth: and zPanegyrico Trajan.Plinies owne speech, concerning sundry kindes of games among the Romans, maketh it most probable, that he meant, the corruption grew from stage-playes chiefly, if not from them alone.

But when the Uiennians playes were taken away by Trebonius Rufinus, a governour of theirs, and he was accused to the Emperour for it: Iunius Mauricus, a graue and faithfull Counseller, being asked by the Emperour, what he thought thereof, said, 5Non esse restituendū Viennensibus agôna.it was not meete the playes should be restored againe to the Viennians; adding, 6Vellem etiam Romae tolli posset.I would to God they might be taken away at Rome too. Which corollarie of his sentence touching playes at Rome, it may bee, that as 7Viennensium vitia intra ipsos residunt: nostra late vagantur. Vtque in corporibus, si… imperio gravissinus est morbus, qui à capite d… funditur.Plinie liked very well of, so the Emperour did: albeit he gave order for the not restoring of the Uiennians onelyonly; and yet shewed great mislike of playes therein also, forbidding that to bee done which by ones aL. ult in sin. c. de fideicomm. Nov. 1. in praefat. §. Semper.testament was required. Deceve not your selfe, Maister D. Gager, with a vaine conceit, as if, because a Prince, farre and farre more excellent then Traian, though surnamed 8Optimus, Plin. locis citatis; & Dio, Trajan. Xiphilini epit.most vertuous, with Her counsellers and Nobles more honorable then Mauricus, did vouchsafe the last yeare to see that Comedie played, which being played a few moonths before I reprooved, therefore you had gained against me the matter in question betwene vsus. Her Maiestie with their Honors, & Commons of the realme, having made an Act of Parlament b14 Eliz. ca. 5long since, and c35 Eliz. ca. 7sith that time renewed it, that common players in enterludes, not licensed by speciall autoritie to goe abrode, shall bee adiudged rogues and vagabonds, hath taken away more playes, and in more places, then Traian did by giving order that they should not bee vsed againe at Vienna. Whether the taking of them away at Oxford too, hauehave bene wished by any of the Counsellers, who might bee notwithstanding present with her Highnes, as Plinie & Mauricus of likelyhoode were with Trajan at the playes in Rome: you and I are not so neere of their counsell, that we can define. But thus much I may say, and say it vponupon knowledge, that, if your Comedie had still as homely speeches (to say no worse) as it had when your dProlog. in Rivales comaediam: actam Febr. 1591.prologue praysed it, there is greater cause why you should feare the checke which 9Non putabā me tibi tam familiarem. Macrob. Saturn. lib. 2. cap. 4.Augustus gaue one (were not our Augusta the more gratious to vsus) for presuming to play it before a presence of such honour: then why you should mention to the credit of your playes, and to my discredit, that they are thinges done by you, in a worshipfull, and sometimes honorable presence.

But reverend, famous, excellent men, for life, and learning (you say) and for their places in the Church of God, have bene not onelyonly writers of such thinges themselves, but also actors; and to this day doe thinke well of them: to whom it were a great reproche (thus you amplifie it) at any time to have bene acquainted with things of so vile & base qualitie; & much more, still to allow of thē. eAugust. de bapt. contr. Donatist. lib. 2. cap. 1.When the Donatists praysed S^t 1Cyprianus, cujus tantum meritum novimus, tantā que doctrinā.Cyprians life, and learning, and spake of 2Cum coëpiscopis suis.his place in the church of God, to countenance their errour by the reputation of such a Bishop and Martyr, S. Austin, answering thē, said that 3Non me deterret autoritas Cypriani, quia reficit humilitas Cypriani.the autoritie of Cyprian did not dismay him, because the humilitie of Cyprian did relieve him. Which as Austin saide, considering how fAd Quintū, ep. 71. edit. Pam.Cyprian had sett down in writing, that Peter, whom the Lord chose his gMark. 3. 16.first Apostle, and hMatt. 16. 18vponupon whom he built his Church, did not, when iGal. 2. 11.Paul afterward grew to question with him touching circumcision, take proudly on him selfe, to say that hee had the prerogative of beeing first, and that new-sprong and later-come ought rather to obey him; neither despised he Paul for kAct. 9. 1.having bene a persequuter of the Church before, but yeelded to the advise of truth, and easily approoved the rightfull way, which Paul contended for; giving vsus a lesson of peaceablenes, and patience, that wee should not obstinately louelove our owne conceits; but such things as sometimes are profitably and holesomly shewed vsus by our brethren and felowes in office, those should we account of as our owne rather, if they bee true and rightfull: whervnto Paul having a carefull eye also, and Christianly providing for concord and peace, said, l1. Cor. 14. 29Let the Prophets speake, two or three, and let the rest iudge; and if any thing be reveiled to an other that sitteth by, lett the first holde his peace; teaching therein that many things are reveiled better to particular persons; and that every one, if any thing bee found better and more profitable, ought gladly to embrace it, not obstinately to striue for that which hee hath once conceived and mainteined: as these points (I say) noted thus by Cyprian made mLib 2 ep. 5Austin bee perswaded of him, that seeing he knew, he might more easilie erre then Peter, he would hauehave bene very well content to change his minde, if any man by 4Satis ostendit, facillimè se correcturū fuisse sententiam suam, si quis ei demonstraret, and so forth; meaning this kinde of proofe, as appeereth by that hee addeth, vndè multa jam diximus, cō pared with y^t hee pointeth to, lib. 1. ca. 7. & by Cypri. ep. 47. ad Pompeium.Scripture had prooved him to be overseene, or 5Gu… & ipse sine dubio cederet, si jam illo tempore quaestionis hu ius veritas eliquata & declarata per plenariū concilium solidaretur.the Church had sifted the truth in a generall Councell, and agreed of it; so the knowledge of the same engraven in those learned and godlie men, whom you speake of, induceth me to thinke that when they shall hauehave weighed what grounds of Gods woord, what consent of the Church, what Councels, what Fathers, impugne their opinion, they will not approove your obstinat striving for it. It may bee, that they will mislike of your art too, in that, for the surer vniting of them to you, and stirring them vpp against mee, you doe not onelie affirme that they are exceedinglie tainted in honour, if playes, which they allow of, bee iustlie disallowed by mee: but also, that it were a great reproche to them, though not so exceedingly great, as is the other, yet a great reproch, at any time to hauehave bene acquainted with things of so vile and base qualitie. For why? Is the writing of Comedies, or tragedies, but what speake I of writing? in mentioning whereof your art appeereth farther, sith I condemned it not: is the playing of them made by mee a thing of so vile and base qualitie, as persequuting, or blaspheming? Yet Saint Paul thought it no great disgrace for him, n1. Tim. 1. 13in former time to have bene a blaspemer, and a persequuter, when over. 12.he was now become a faithfull minister of Christ: no more then for the Romans pRom. 6. 17.to hauehave bene slaves of sinne, when they did now obey the doctrine of the Gospell; or for Abraham qIos. 24. 2.to hauehave bene in the land of Chaldaea & served other Gods there; when rGen 12. 5.he came now to Chanaan. and ss ver. 8.served there the Lord. Not, tPsal. 119. 67 Luk. 15. 10 1. Cor. 6. 11. Rev. 3. 18. & 7. 14. & 19. 8to hauehave bene evill, is a reproche; but to bee. Againe, what reason have you to say that a much greater reproch it were to them, still to allow of playes: when you commend S^t Cyprian as a man of singular godlines, and zeale, vEpist. 70. sequen…ibus que : & conc. Carthag. de bap. baeret.who did more then allow, an other maner of matter then playes, even rebaptizing of men baptized by heretikes? For as he folowed xEpist. 71. & 73.his predecessors in this errour, and therfore was the more excusable: so had the reverend men, whom you alleage, their predecessors that trained them to the liking of playes. Neither is it probable that they have bene advertised of their oversight by any such mans writing, as Cyprian was by yVincent. Lirin. contr. haer. cap. 9.Stephanus. And zEpist. 73. & 74.Cyprian continued in his errour still, notwithstanding that advertisement: howe knowe you that they hauehave not changed their opinion? Or, if they have not changed it, they may ere they dye: which none is able to say that Cyprian did, for ought that aEpist 48. & de bapt. cont. Donatist. lib. 2. cap. 4.Austin could finde, a man most likely to hauehave found it, had there bene ought that could hauehave shewed it. Wherefore it savoureth stronglie of a bad qualitie, that you would perswade them, they must by my iudgement bee noted and disgraced with a fowle exceeding great reproche and infamie, if they allow of playes still. Much woorse doeth it savour, that you beare them in hand, although their mindes should alter and thinke hereof when they praye, bPsal. 25. 7.Remember not, O Lord; the sinnes of my youth, it must bee neverthelesse a great reproche vntounto them, at anie time to have bene acquainted with the writing and playing of such matters. But what qualitie, nay, what canker shall I say it savoureth of, that, vntounto the Prophets, whose iudgement and autoritie the c1. Cor. 14. 32.spirits of these Prophets were likely to be mooved with, I meane, vntounto the Fathers and Councels laid in balance by me against your testimonies, you reply, that, if they be rightly vnderstoode, their forces are not bent against you; Whereas your owne penne telleth you, that you know the contrary. For, the first and greatest Councell that I quoted, is dSexta syn… dus in Trull….that generall Councell of Constantinople, which (grounding it selfe vpō the place of Deuteronomie) noteth mens wearing of wemens raiment in playes as a heinous crime. Now this to make against you, euen being rightly vnderstoode, your selfe did acknowledge whē I alleaged it afore: in so much that you opposed therevnto the opinion of others interpreting that text otherwise then the Councell doeth. The same did you likewise confesse of sundry Fathers vponupon the same occasion, & namely of Saint Cyprian; whom here notwithstāding you doe namelie mention as making not against you: yea, whom you moreover doe sett downe for a speciall paterne of the rest, to inferre the generall, that none of all the Fathers or Councells doe reproove your playes. For, Saint eEpistolar. …. 2. ep. 2.Cyprian (say you) inveigheth most eloquentlie and godly against the abuses of the 6Cothurnus est tragicus prisca facinora carmine recēsere, &c.tragike buskin in his time. So hee doeth also against the evills of warre, of iudgement seates, of iudges, of advocates, of golde, and riches. Shall we therefore conclude there should bee no warre, no tribunals, no iudges, no advocates, no golde, no riches; and likewise no tragike buskin in any sort? Wherevpon you adde; No doubt the Fathers, as holy men of God, both in their Councelles, and in their bookes, have decreed, and written, many zealous & most godly things against the theatricall sightes of their times: but distinguish the times, the places, the qualities of the sights & actors, and the vse from the abuse; and it is evident by that which is said before, that we and our playes are not reproched by them. Thus labour you to face it out that your playes are not reproched by the Fathers, as dealing forsooth, iust like Saint Cyprian against the abuses of playing tragedies, not the vse; when yet you had graunted that fEpist. 61. or (as your copie hath it) lib. 1. ep. 10.he condemneth 7Cùm in lege prohibeantur viri mu…ierē induere vestē & maledicti eiusmodi iudicentur: quā to maioris est criminis non tantum muliebria indumenta accipere, sed & gestus quo que turpes, & molles, & muliebres, magisterio artis impudicae exprimere?the attyring of boyes in womens raiment, and teaching them to 8Quemadmodum masculus frangatur in foeminam.play the women, the self same thing he doth in the 9Evirantur mares; honor omnis & vigor sexus enervati corporis dedecore mollitur; plusque illic placet quisquis virū in foeminam magis fregerit.place you quote: so that your tragedie-playing is reprooved by him in your owne conscience, because of your Melantho and Nais played by boyes, although it were true that hee inveigheth onelyonly against the abuses thereof, as you distinguish.

The trueth is that he distinguished not so, neither for tragike buskin, nor for comike stertvp, but inveigheth against stage-playing it selfe: in like sort as he doeth against the games and sights of 1Paratur gladiatorius ludus, vt libidinem crudelium luminum sanguis oblectet.fensers, or sword-players, and of 2Quid illud, oro te, quale est, vbi se feris obiiciunt quos nemo damnauit?beast-players (so to terme them) wherewith he matcheth this of 3Converte hi… vultus ad diuersa spectaculi non minus paenitenda contagia: in theatris conspicies, quod tibi & dolori sit & pudori.stage-players. So that the absurd conclusion which you frame, of no warre, no iudges, no advocates, no riches, if no tragike buskin, is framed amisse on errour, and would have reason enough if it were framed rightlie, as it should be, thus, that, if no stage-playing ought to be allowed by Saint Cyprians iudgement, then ought there no. 4Homicidium quum admittunt singuli, crimen est: virtus vocatur quum publicè geritur.vniust warres, no perfidious advocates, no 5Patronus praevaticatur, & decipit.6Iudex sententiam vendit.corrupt iudges, no. 7Divites, continuant… saltibus saltus, & de confinio pauperibus exclusis infinita ac sine terminis rura latius porrigentes.covetous encrochers on the poore, to be allowed: because he inveigheth as well against the iniquitie, treacherie, briberie, and miserie of these, as he doeth against stage-playing. Or, if you will needes have him to reproove the abuses onelyonly of stage-playing, not the thing: then by like reason he reprooveth not the blooddy sport and game of beast-players, or of sword-players, but the abuses of it. Which, I hope you will not affirme to be his meaning, no not for the former, sith 8foreign.the Church condemned it, as gAdvers. haer. conclus. compend. ver. doctr. de fide cath. & apost. Ecclesiae.Epiphanius witnesseth: 9foreign, translated venationem, meaning that hunting which Cassiodore describeth, variar. lib. 5. epist. 42. Quo muner… venator explendus est, qui, vt spectantibus placeat, suis mortibus elaborat. &c.it, I say, the thing, not the abuses of it, as if it had a right vse, allowed by the Church. At least you will not make it his meaning for the later; which Emperours, lesse severe then that holie Martyr, even hEuseb. lib. … vit. Cōstant. cap. 25.Constantine, iCod. Theod. lib. 15. tit. 12. l. 1.Theodosius, kTheodoret. hist. eccl. lib. 5. cap. 26.Honorius, and lC. de gladiatoribus penitus tollendis.Iustinian, tooke absolutely away by edictes and lawes, as a thing faulty of it selfe. Though, when I consider your speech, above rehearsed, of so many Circi, Theatra, Amphitheatra, builded by the greatest & bravest Romans with huge charge; and of games sett out therein, referred by Aristotle to magnificence, a goodlie vertue: Your professed desire of approoving the Romans iudgement so farre foorth, as serveth for the necessarie defense of your owne dooings, causeth mee to dout that seeing in 1foreign. Epiphanius. in the place quoted.Theatra, condemned by the Church, you distingush abuse from vse, you will in 2Ludi circenses: which he nameth foreign.Circi also, and 3foreign. Dio. lib. 43. vsed not onelyonly to foreign, whereof Epiphanius; but also to foreign & gladiatoria certamina. Tertull. de spect. cap. 12 & 1….Amphitheatra; and therefore say that Cyprian reprooveth not the vse, but the abuses onelyonly of beast-playes, yea of swoord-playes, vnlesse there come some other shift into your minde for severance of your stageplayes from them. And sure if one possessed with mDiscors. sopr. liv. lib. 2. cap. 2. Osor. de nobilit. Christ. lib. 3.Machiavells humour and louelove of blooddy sacrifices, as helping by the sight thereof to make men valiant, should wish for blooddy games of swoord-players in like respect: he might, by your example, not onelyonly chalenge them from the marke of infamie wherewith the Romans branded them, (for nSatyr. 8.fuvenal, oAugust. cap. 43. Calig. cap. 30.Suetonius, pAnnal. li. 15Tacitus, and so foorth, doe reproche noble men and Knights for swoord-playing, not base folke;) but also defende them from the reproofe of Cyprian and all the rest of the Fathers. For qDe spectac. cap. 4.Cyprian inveigheth most eloquently and godly against the abuses of swoord-playing in his time. So rEpist. lib. 2. ep. 2.he doth also against the evills of warre, of iudgement seates, of iudges, of advocates, of gold, and riches. Shall wee therefore conclude there should be no warre, no tribunals, no iudges, no advocates, no gold, no riches, and likewise no swoord-playing in any sort? No dout the sIren. lib. 1. cap. 1. Tertull de spect. cap. 19. Arnob. advers. gent lib. 2. Minut. Felix in Octav. Lactant. diuinar. instit. epit. cap. 4. August. confess. lib. 6. cap. 8. Prudent. con…r. Symnach. lib. 2.Fathers, as holy men of God, hauehave written many Zealous and most godly things against the amphitheatricall sights of their times: but distinguish the times, the places, the qualities of the sights and actors, and the vse from the abuse; and it is evident by that which Machiavell saith, that swoord-playes of our age are not reproched by them. A very true sentence, that, no dout the Fathers hauehave written many zealous and most godly thinges against those sights of both sorts: and likewise true, no dout, that it is as evident by Machiavels discourse, that, if such swoordplayes should now be vsed in London, as were then at Rome, the Fathers checke them not; as it is by yours, that the Fathers doe not repoche the same stage-playes of Plautus, Terence, Seneca, or woorse (which comparison Rivales may well beare) played here, of late, among vsus. Wherefore it had bene better for your credit to conteine your selfe within generalities, by saying that men mistake the Fathers: as Machiavell contented him selfe to say in grosse, that base and cowardly wretches have misse-interpreted our religion. For then I could not hauehave blamed you about particulars; your policie had prevented me, as it hath in Chrysostome: whose testimonie, tHomil. 56. in Gen. foreign.quoted by mee against your wastfull expenses on such toyes, you make no aunswer to, no more then to vClem. Alexandr. poedag. lib. 3. cap. 11. foreign. Salvian. de gubern. Dei lib. 6. Perditae expensae.others whom I quoted not. Now, when you affirme that Cyprian, and the rest, writing against the theatricall sights of their times, doe not write against such as in our time are vsed: I must needes tell you, that you shew lesse conscience and singlenes in your writing, then to whom you ought and easily might excell in all religious duties, Bodinus, and Lipsius. Of whom xBodin. de repub. li. 6. ca. 1the one, declaring what neede there is for Censors for theaters of our time, alleageth sundry Fathers, and namelie Cyprian, against them: yea, that very epistle of yLib. 2. ep. 2.Cyprian, which you specifie, and wring to the contrarie. The zLips. de gladiatorib. lib. 1. cap. 7.other, observing how the Fathers have inveighed against games, as 4Libidinis saevitiaeque fontes.springes of lust, and crueltie; pointing, in the terme of lust, vntounto theaters; of crueltie, vntounto amphitheaters; doeth argue that swoord-playes, if they were vsed in our time, might bee as well denied to bee reproched by the Fathers, as stage-playes of our time are. But, with whatsoever cunning or boldnes, you blinde the eyes of children, and make them beleeve that these ancient Prophets write not against your fansie: the praise given by you to our owne Prophets, those reverend and famous persons now living, causeth me to feare I was too faint when I said, They will not approove your obstinate striving for it; I should hauehave said, They will not approove your bare opinion or this, will, is also too faint; They doe not approove it. For, being excellent men in life, they love modestie, and yeeld vntounto the knowen truth. Beeing excellent in learning, they know that your theatricall sights are of the same kinde, that the Fathers have decreed in their Councells, and written in their bookes against. The thinges which the Fathers have decreed and written, are not only zealous, but also most godly, as you say. Most godly; therefore consonant to the holy Scriptures: on the ground whereof it is expressely noted by aIn the place aboue quoted.Epiphanius likewise that 5foreign.the churches doctrine and ordinances were framed. And how can it bee thought then with any likelyhoode, that those reverend persons doe approove your stage-playes: which, by all presumptions, and your own verdict, they know that the Church, the Fathers, the Councels, the Scriptures have condemned? In deede if they were Papists, and such as would rather put on the shamelesse forehead of the hoore of Babylon, then confesse them selves to have bene overseene: a man might hauehave reason to think, that their owne doeings they would still allow of. For, wheras the profane and wicked toyes of Passion-playes, playes setting foorth Christs passion, procured 6Magno scelere atque impretate sacerdotum, qui eiusmodi fieri curant: faith Viues.by Popish Priests, who, being b2 Cor. 11. 3corrupted from the simplicitie that is in Christ, as they have transformed the celebrating of the Sacrament of c1 Cor. 11. 20the Lords supper into a dMissale Romanū: tit. de ritib. celebrādi MissamMasse-game, and all other partes of Ecclesiasticall service into eSacerdotale, Pōtificale, & Ceremoniale Romanū.theatricall sights; so, in steede of f2. Tim. 4. 2.preaching the word, they caused it to be played; a thing gEpist. Iapanic. 18. Io. Fernandis Bongo.put in practise by their flowres, the Iesuits, among the poore Indians; but whereas these bables were reprooved by hComment. in Augustin. de ciu. Dei, lib. 8. cap 27Vives: the iIndex expurgatorius.Purgatorie-censors commanded 7Deleantur cap. 27. litera D ab, Atqui mos nunc est, &c. vsque ad E.that reproofe of his to be defaced; and the kAutuerpiensi editione operum Aug.Divines of Lovan have razed it out accordingly. Yea, though lConcil. Mediolan. 1. Constit. part. 1. cap. de actionib. & repres. sacris.some Italian Bishops in a Councell, vnderunder their Archbishop Cardinall Borrhomaeus, have 8Statuimus vt deinceps Saluatoris passio nec in sacro, nec in profano loco agatur.ordered, for their Province, that the Passion shall not bee played hereafter any where: yet (for feare of breeding a scruple in mens mindes that their Church might erre) they say, 9Pie introducta consuetudo repraesentandi populo venerandam Christi Domini passionem.it was a custome religiously brought in. So loth are ambitious spirits to acknowledge their oversights and faults. But seeing that our reverend Pastors and Doctors hauehave an other spirit, as mNumb. 14. 24.he saith of Caleb, and professe a purer religion then Papists: you must give mee leave to suspect rather that you charge them wrongfully, then that men of excellent godlines and wisdome doo allow and thinke well of so manifold evills, as in your playes I hauehave disclosed.

And thus, a great deale later then my desire and hope was, but as soone as sicknes and busines would permit, hauehave you that performed, which in your conclusion, by woords, you request me to forbeare the doeing of; in your whole discourse, by deedes, you hauehave induced and vrged mee to vndertake. The reason added by you to move mee to forbeare it, namely, that I have some thing else to doe, then to trouble my selfe, and my better studies, with a matter of this nature and moment; I knowe not whether it would hauehave seemed sound to others, sure to mee it did not. For, if I had lived among the Iewes at that time, when n2. Maccab. 4. 14.the priests neglecting the service of the altar, and sacrifices of the law, made hast to be partakers 1foreign.of vnlawfull games in the wrastling place: I should of all studies hauehave deemed that the best, which the Lord requireth at his Prophets hands, oEzek. 13. 5.to rise vp in the gappe, and keepe out pMatt. 13. 25 Eph 6. 11. 1. Pet. 2. 11.the enemie striving to enter in thereby, What studie therefore could I account so good, as this, to spend my vacant time in, when Christians, q1. Ioh. 2. 20.anointed by God, r1. Pet. 2. 5.an holy Priesthood, make hast from spirituall sacrifices and service to be partakers of stage-playes; that is, of more vnlawful games then were 2foreign Plutarch. Symposiac. li. 2. quaest. 4.those exercises in the wrastling place, as s1. Cor. 9. 25. Tertullian. lib. ad Martyras, cap. 3.the thing it selfe, & your own tL. 4. Comparata cuml. 2. D. de his qui not. infam.law may teach you? Againe, the vProu. 22. 6.vertuous training vp of youth among vsus, and the xMatt. 5. 14. Eph. 2. 10. Phil. 2. 15.godly life of all sorts of persons, are matters of great moment and weight in his sight, y1. Pet. 1. 17.who without respect of person iudgeth everie man according to his woorke. Now, what hurt it is for youth to bee seasoned with a liking of stage-players; I say not, to bee stage-players them selves, which is woorse, but to have a liking and love of such onelyonly; the autour of zDialog. de oratorib. Tacito inscript.the dialogue (were it Tacitus, or Quintilian) touching the decay of eloquence among the Romans, doeth shew by 3Propria & peculiaria huius vrbis vitia, histrionalis favor, & gladiatorum equoruque studia. Quibus occupatus & obsessus animus quantulū loci bonis artibus relinquit?their example. And, how the maners of all spectators commonlie are hazarded by the contagion of theatricall sights, I made plaine vntounto you in my former letters by the testimonies of learned men and noble nations; all granted by your selfe, or as good as granted, in that you hauehave either not answered them at all, or vnsufficientlie. Wherefore, considering S. aConfession lib. 6. cap. 7.Aust. zealous care to reclaime Alipius (a young man whō he loved, a worthy Bishop afterward) from 4Insania Circensium, as S. Austin termeth it.the vaine delite that he tooke in seeing games of chariot-drivers: I could not but esteeme it a thing of price, and woorth, to seeke to reclaime from a farre more vaine and dangerous delite the Students of your house, among whom there are many no lesse deere to me then Alipius was to Austin, and as likelie (by Gods grace) hereafter to proove well. With whom I have also greater cause to hope that I shall prevaile, then he had with Alipius, because your selfe tell me, that you doe and ever will most gladly embrace, not onelyonly my good will, but also my iudgement in this cause so farre as I write in the generall against stage-players. For I am perswaded that their opinions of me are as kinde as yours: and then doe they agree with me in a maner about the point wee treate of. They will agree wholy, if they weigh advisedlie one rule, which bL. 147. D. de regulis iuris.you can teach them, and I would I might entreat you so to doe: namely, that 5Semper specialia generalibus insunt.the generall doeth evermore comprise the speciall. The Lord behold both them, and you, in his mercy: and giuegive you all his grace to know the way that leadeth vntounto life eternall, and to walke therein.

At Queenes College, the 30^th of May. 1593. Yours in the Lord Iohn Rainolds.

The Overthrow of Stage Plays, Rejoinder (4 of 4)