In March 1698,

Jeremy Collier Jeremy Collier (; 23 September 1650 – 26 April 1726) was an English theatre critic, non-juror bishop and theologian. Life Born Jeremiah Collier, in Stow cum Quy, Cambridgeshire, Collier was educated at Caius College, University of Cambridg ...

published his anti-theatre pamphlet, ''A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage''; in the pamphlet, Collier attacks a number of playwrights:

William Wycherley William Wycherley (baptised 8 April 16411 January 1716) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays ''The Country Wife'' and ''The Plain Dealer''. Early life Wycherley was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, Shropsh ...

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...

William Congreve William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet of the Restoration period. He is known for his clever, satirical dialogue and influence on the comedy of manners style of that period. He was also a mi ...

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...

, and

Thomas D'Urfey Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera. Life D'Urfey was born in Devonsh ...

. Collier attacks rather recent, rather popular comedies from the London stage; he accuses the playwrights of profanity, blasphemy, indecency, and undermining public morality through the sympathetic depiction of vice.

Description

Collier begins his pamphlet with this conclusion: " thing has gone farther in Debauching the Age than the Stage Poets, and Play-House" (Collier A2). He goes on, in great detail—despite the title—to give his evidence. For Collier, the immorality of the title stems from Restoration comedy's lack of poetic justice. With his exhaustively thorough readings—in a sense, pre-

close reading In literary criticism, close reading is the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of a text. A close reading emphasizes the single and the particular over the general, effected by close attention to individual words, the syntax, ...

close readings—he condemns the characters of Restoration comedies as impious and wicked and he condemned their creators (the playwrights) for failing to punish the playwrights' wicked "favorites". As the title suggests, Collier also charges the playwrights with profaneness, supporting his allegations with a number quotations from the plays (i.e. ''

The Provoked Wife ''The Provoked Wife'' (1697) is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh. It made its first appearance in Lincoln's Inn Fields in May, 1697. The often-repeated claim that Vanbrugh wrote part of his comedy ''The Provoked Wife'' in th ...

'', ''

The Relapse ''The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger'' is a Restoration comedy from 1696 written by John Vanbrugh. The play is a sequel to Colley Cibber's '' Love's Last Shift, or, The Fool in Fashion''. In Cibber's ''Love's Last Shift'', a free-living Rest ...

'', et cetera). However, most of these charges are rather mild (at least according to the standards of most modern readers). Collier is, of course, unable to give examples of blatant blasphemy, for at the time, they were neither allowed on stage nor in print. However, Collier's strategy was innovative for his time (not to mention effective). Before ''A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage'', most anti-theatre pamphlets were merely nondescript diatribes (e.g.

William Prynne William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were presb ...

's ''

Histriomastix ''Histriomastix: The Player's Scourge, or Actor's Tragedy'' is a critique of professional theatre and actors, written by the Puritan author and controversialist William Prynne. Publication While the publishing history of the work is not absolutel ...

'' (1633)), but with his innovative techniques, Collier comprehensively indicted the entire Restoration stage (see also Antitheatricality#Restoration theatre).

Reaction

Due to its publication, a pamphlet war ensued (for and against Collier's case), lasting sporadically until about 1726. In 1698,

John Dennis John Dennis may refer to: *John Dennis (dramatist) (1658–1734), English dramatist *John Dennis (1771–1806), Maryland congressman * John Dennis (1807–1859), his son, Maryland congressman * John Stoughton Dennis (1820–1885), Canadian surveyor ...

wrote a pamphlet entitled: ''The Usefulness of the Stage''. John Vanbrugh wrote a jestful retort, ''A Short Vindication of The Relapse and The Provok'd Wife From Immorality and Prophaneness'' (1698). In his pamphlet, Vanbrugh accuses Collier of being more upset by the unflattering depictions of clergymen than actual blasphemy.Cordner p. 217 William Congreve, on the other hand, took the attacks on his plays quite seriously and refuted Collier's allegations in his ''Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations'' (1698). Other playwrights (like Thomas D'Urfey) preferred to give their reply on the stage. D'Urfey's play ''Campaigners'' (1698) comments on Collier's strictures. Collier would later fire back with his ''Defence of the Short View'' in 1699 and

Edward Filmer Edward Filmer (c.1654–1703) was an English dramatist. Life He was the second son of Sir Robert Filmer, 1st Baronet, of East Sutton, Kent, who died 22 March 1676, and his wife, Dorothy, daughter of Maurice Tuke of Layer Marney, Essex. In 1672 ...

would go on to defend Restoration theatre in 1707 with ''A Defence of Plays''.

Analysis

By the end of the 17th century, the Restoration comic style had already collapsed: the satiric presentation of English life gave way to the sentimental portrait (beginning in 1696 with

Colley Cibber Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling ...

's ''

Love's Last Shift ''Love's Last Shift, or The Fool in Fashion'' is an English Restoration comedy by Colley Cibber from 1696. The play is regarded as an early herald of a shift in audience tastes away from the intellectualism and sexual frankness of Restoration ...

'') (Bernbaum 72). ''A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage'' only signaled the swelling of public opposition to the real or imposed indecency of the plays staged over the last three decades.Cordner p. 210 Collier writes in the introduction: "The business of plays is to recommend Vertue, and discountenance Vice" (Collier 1). However, the Restoration playwright rarely saw their function within Collier's strictures; in Congreve's dedication to ''

The Double-Dealer ''The Double Dealer'' is a comic play written by English playwright William Congreve, first produced in 1693. Henry Purcell set it to music. Characters and plot This comedy sees character Mellefont, nephew and prospective heir of Lord Touchw ...

'' (1693), he writes, "It is the business of a comic poet to paint the vices and follies of humankind" (Congreve 174). Congreve implies that the purpose of the comic playwright was to portray the vices and follies of society in order to correct them. Collier, instead, preferred his restrictions imposed on comedy (e.g. his rigid Neoclassical notions of dramatic decorum) and in doing so he followed the a logic similar to what is found in the work of other critics who had imposed the law of poetic justice on tragedy (e.g.

Thomas Rymer Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 14 December 1713) was an English poet, critic, antiquary and historian. His lasting contribution was to compile and publish 16 volumes of the first edition of ''Foedera'', a work in 20 volumes conveying agreements betwe ...

and his ''A Short View of Tragedy'' (1693)).

Legacy

''A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage'' is often credited with turning the tide against the sexually explicit nature of Restoration comedy, but the tide had already begun turning; Collier's pamphlet was only "swimming" with the "tide" of public opinion. The truth was that Restoration comedy was over; it had been worn down by external factors, such as the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

and William and Mary's bête-noire for theatre. Maybe the most obvious sign of Restoration theatre's death came with the ''nolle prosequi'' (immunity from prosecution for earlier offenses) granted to Collier by William III (for ''A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage'').

References

External links