The Players Scourge

CHORVS.

YOU have seen now Courteous Readers 7 several Squadrons of unanswerable Authorities encountering Stage-plays and Actors, and giving them such an onset, as I hope will put them with their Patrons quite to route, so that they shall never be able to make head again; their forces being so weak, so few, that they cannot bring one Council, one Father, one ancient, one moderne Christian or Pagan Writer of any note into the field, to maintain their cause, against this army-royal of Play-condemning Authorities, which I have here mustered up against them. It is not their long since conquered and confuted Lodge or Haywood (two scribbling hackney Players, their only professed printed Play-Champions that I know of,) who can withstand their all-conquering troops; which either several, or united, are impregnable; able to over-power to vanquish all the forces, that the whole world can raise agai • st them. Let it therefore be your wisdom now at last to take the best, the strongest side, not only in quality, but in number too. Stage-plays and Actors, (as the foregoing Scenes declare;) have been oppugned, condemned in all ages, all places, by all sorts of men; Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Barbarians, Christians and Pagans; Emperors, Magistrates, people, Writers of all sorts, have bent, not only their hearts and judgments, but their very hands, their tongues, their pens and power against them: Yea those who are dead and rotten long ago, still fight against them in their surviving works: (Licet ossa jacent, calamus bella gerit:) and they will one day rise up in judgment (as they do now in arms) against us, if we submit not to them. Let us, O let us not therefore be any longer beso • e, befooled with these lewd stigmatized Plays or Actors, as we have been in former times; but since all Ages, all Nations, (yea those who loved them best and most at first, to wit, the Greeks and Romans ) together with all primitive and moderne pious Christians, Fathers, Councils, Writers, have thus unanimously, successively condemned, renounced them, let us abominate and reject them too. It was the branded infamy of the Jews, that they pleased not God, and were contrary to all men : and will it not be ours too, if all these Authorities will not sway us? If Scriptures, Councils, Fathers; if Christian, if Pagan Writers, Nations, Cities, Republickes, Emperors, Magistrates, Kings, and Edicts thus severed, thus united, will not stir, nor draw us from our Stage-plays, Play-houses and Actors, what then can we conclude of ourselves but this; that God hath given us over to an impenitent heart, a reprobate sense, a cauterized conscience, if not to strong delusions, to believe, to affect these lying Plays and Fables; that we all might be damned, who will not believe the truth, which all these Witnesses have confirmed; but take pleasure in unrighteousness, in ungodly Plays and Actors, which lead their followers to destruction, and without repentance plunge them into hell forever, amids those filthy Devils, whose disavowed pomps and works, they deem their chiefest pleasures. Let us therefore earnestly pray to God, to open our ears, that we may hear: to incline our hearts that we may believe, what all these testify and aver of Stage-plays; that so now at last we may take our final farewell of them, as all true penitent Christians have done before us, and never return unto them more, to God's dishonor, the Republickes damage, or our own eternal ruin; concluding from henceforth of all Stage-plays, all amphitheatricall Spectacles, as Prudentius, that worthy Christian Poet, did many hundred years ago:

SCENA PRIMA.

HAving thus at large evinced the unlawfulness of Stage-plays by Reasons, by Authorities; I come now to refute those miserable Apologies, those vain pretences, or excuses rather, which their Advocates oppose in their defense; the most of which are already answered to my hands. Apologies for Stage-plays are of great antiquity. Tertullian in his book De Spectaculis, cap. 1, 2, 3. & 8. brings in the Pagan Romans, (whose consciences the pleasures of these enchanting Interludes had bribed ) apologizing for their Plays with great acuteness; the fear of losing these their secular pleasures adding a kind of sharpness to their wits. I find St. Cyprian complaining, that the vigor of Ecclesiastical discipline was so far enervated in his age, and so precipitated into worse in all dissoluteness of vice; that vices were not only excused, but authorized; there wanting not such flattering Advocates and indulgent Patrons of naughtiness who gave authority unto vices; and which was worse, converted the very censure of the heavenly Scriptures into a justification of crimes and Stage-plays; producing some texts of Scripture in defense of Plays, as well as reasons; which this Father at large refells. The like Play-apologies of voluptuous Pagans, I read recorded in Arnobius, Chrysostom, Augustine, and Salvian ; who answer them to the full. And as these Pagans of old, so some who would be deemed Christians now, (as namely one Thomas Lodge, a Play-poet, in his Play of Plays, and one Thomas Haywood a Player, i • his Apology for Actors, ) have lately pleaded as hard for Stage-plays, as ever Demetrius did for his great Diana: ) whose several allegations in the behalf of Plays are soledly refelled; by Mr. Stephen Gosson, in his Plays confuted: by the Author of the 3. Blast of Retrait from Plays and Theaters ; by Mr. John Northbrooke, in his Treatise against vain Plays and Interludes ; by Dr. Rainolds, in his Overthrow of Stage-plays: by I: G: in his Refutation of the Apology for Actors, (which you may peruse at leisure) and by sundry others forerecited, whom I spare to mention. The Players, the Play-patrons of our present age, as their cause is worse, so their Pleas for Plays are no other, no better than those of former times, which need no other replies then what these Fathers, these Authors have returned: yet since their answers are now grown obsolete, and our Play-Advocates persevering in their former folly, proceed to justify one vanity, one falsehood with another, disputing much for the lawful use of Stage-plays (perchance to exercise or declare their wits in the unhappy patronage of evil things:) I shall therefore address myself to give a satisfactory answer to all their chief Play-propugning Objections, that so I may pu • them to perpetual silence.

The first, if not the best Argument in defense of Stage-plays, may be cast into this form.

The Major being unquestionable, the Minor may be thus confirmed. Acts 19.29, 31. there is mention made of the Theatre at Ephesus, a place wherein Plays were acted: and in the 1 Cor. 4.9. St. Paul writes of himself and of the other Christians in this age: We are made a Theatre or Spectacle unto the world, unto Angels, and to men. To which may be added the 1 Kings 13.8. 2 Kings 16.14.15 17. &c. 2.11, 12. 1 Cor. 9.24, 25. & 15.22. Eph. 6.11, 12, 13, 14. which mentiō horses, chariots, races, duels, combats: alluding to the Olympian games, the Roman Circus, Sword-plays, and other amphitheatricall Spectacles, which these Scriptures seem to justify; and so by consequence Stage-plays too, which are in the selfsame predicament.

To this I answer first; though Stage-plays are not expressly condemned in the Scripture by name, yet they are in other general terms (as well as Apostasy, Atheism, [ 2] poisoning, Incest and such other sins whose names we find not in the text) as I have already proved: So that both the Major and Minor are false. Secondly, I answer, that the reason why Stage-plays are not by name condemned in the Scripture is, because the penmen of it being Jews, were unacquainted with Stage-plays, which the Jews would not admit, as being opposite to their religion, and pernicious to their State: wherefore they condemn them only under those general terms, of Idolatry, sacrifices of Idols, vanities of the Gentiles, rudiments and customs of the world, &c. under which they are fully comprised. Thirdly, though the Scriptures inhibit not Stage-plays by name, yet St. Paul himself in his Constitutions, (if Clemens Romanus may be credited) hath condemned Plays and Players in express terms, decreeing, that all Players and Play-haunters should desist from Stage-plays, or else be cast out of the Church ; and the other Apostles also decreed the like: yea the whole primitive Church in several general and National Councils, the ancient Fathers in their renowned writings, and the holiest Christians from age to age, have given sentence against them as unlawful Spectacles, which the word of God inhibits as misbeseeming Christians: this therefore is sufficient to disprove the Minor. Fourthly, the Scriptures here produced as approving Stageplayes, do no ways countenance, but oppugn them. For first, that Theatre mentioned Acts 19.29.31. was not a Theatre on which Plays were acted, but a place of public meeting, where malefactors were punished, Orations made to the people, and the Magistrates and people usually met together to consult of public affairs: A place much like the Praetorium, into which our Savior was brought, Matth: 27.27. or like to Areopagus or M • rs hill in A • hens, where Paul made an Oration to the Athenians: Acts 17.19, 22. That this was such a Theatre, is evident: First, because such places of public concourse and consultation, where speeches were made, and malefactors sometimes executed, were styled Theatres: witness Ausonius, Apuleius, Cicero, Tacitus, Livy, Philost • atus, Varro, Philo, Chrysostom, Synesius, Juvenal, Appianus, & Bulengerus De Theatro, l. 1. c. 32. where this very text is quoted. Hence Eusebius and Nicephorus, write, that Ignatius with other Martyrs were tortured and put to death in the Theatre: yea hence Orosius, (and out of him Baronius and Spondanus ) record; that Iu • ian the Apostate, commanded a Theatre to be built of the materials that were brought to re • disie the temple at Jerusalem, in which Theatre after his return from Persia he intended to cast the Bishops, Monks; and other Christian inhabitants of that place to beasts which should tear them in pieces; ut scilicet ibi esset Christianorum carnificina, unde eorū religio videretur esse progressa. Secondly, the very words and circumstances of the text a • • ure [ 2] us, that this was such a Theatre: For first, it is said, [ 1] that all the people rushed with one accord into the Theatre, v. 29. as into a place of common counsel. Secondly, that [ 2] the cause of this their concourse was, to prevent the decay of their craft of making silver shrines, and to maintain the honor of their great Goddess Diana: v. 27. Thirdly, [ 3] that Paul would have entered into the Theatre to have made an Oration unto the people, from which his friends dissuaded him : v. 30, 31. Fourthly, that the assembly there [ 4] w • s confused, some crying one thing, some another, and that the most part knew not why they were come together: verse 32. Fifthly, that they caught Gai • s and Aris • archus, [ 5] and drew them as malefactors into the Theatre: verse 29. Sixthly, that they drew Alexander out of the multitude, [ 6] who there beckoned to them • with his hand, and would there have made his defense to the people: v. 37. Seventhly, [ 7] that the Town-clerk made there a solemn speech to the people, admonishing them to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly against Paul's companions, whom they had brought into the Theatre, since they were neither robbers of Churches, nor yet blasphemers of their Goddess: informing Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen, that if they had a matter against any man, the Court-days were kept, and there were deputies before whom they might implead one another: and if they inquired anything concerning other matters, it should be determined in a lawful assembly: v, 35. to 41. All which concurring particulars infallibly prove, that this Theatre was only a place of public counsel, justice and execution ; not a Theatre whereon Plays were acted: therefore it gives no color of approbation to Plays or Play-houses, no more than the Courts of Justice at Westminster argue, that the Plays and Play-houses about London are lawful. But admit this Theatre were a place for Stage-plays, yet it affords no justification at all to Plays or Play-houses. For the assembly in the Theatre, which this Scripture mentions, was but a tumultuous concourse of Idolaters, without any lawful authority: and that not to act or see a Stage-play, but to defend their Goddess Diana, and their idolatrous trade of making her silver shrines, by which they got their living: to persecute St. Paul and his companions, whom they accused as malefactors, and to withstand the preaching of the Gospel, which would suppress their trade and their Diana both together. This unlawful assembly therefore, which both the Scripture, their own Town-clerk, and themselves condemned, is no justification [ 2] of, but a strong evidence against our Play-assemblies, which are commonly as tumultuous, as opposite to Christ's word, his Saints, his kingdom, as this Ephesian conventicle.

Secondly, that text of 1 Cor. 4.9. We are made 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which the Fathers and most Latin Authors render, Spectaculum ; and our English Translations, a Spectacle, or gazing-stock: makes naught for Stage-plays. For what if the Apostles were made a Theatre or Spectacle to the world, to Angels and to men: (that is, as some Fathers interpret it; The whole world of men and Angels good and bad, beheld the miseries, the afflictions they endured for Christ and his Gospel, not only in one corner, but in all the quarters of the world. Or as others of them paraphrase it: They were made a wonderment, a laughing-stock to unclean spirits, and to the wicked of the world, who rejoiced at their miseries, their torments, being glad to see them drawn to the place of execution called [ Theatrum ] a Theatre, where the innocent Martyrs for the most part suffered in the view of all the people, as our Traitors usually suffer on a Stage or scaffold, erected for that purpose: both which expositions some good Interpreters have conjoined:) yet this no ways justifies but oppugnes our Stage-plays. For first, the Apostles did not make themselves a voluntary Spectacle, as all Players do; but they were made Spectacles by others. Secondly, they were no Spectacles of lasciviousness, vanity, folly, mirth, or wickedness, as Plaies and Plaiers are; but of grace, of faith, of piety, patience, constancy, martyrdom, and the like, which Plaies and Plaiers are not. Thirdly, they were Spectacles of God's own institution, they being appointed, called, destinated to their sufferings by God himself ; whereas Plaies and Actors are Spectacles not of God's, but of the very Devils own invention and appointment. Fourthly, they were memorable public Spectacles of admiration, of imitation, both to the world, to Angels, and to men: Plays, Players and Play-haunters were yet never such. Fifthly, they were real, not hypocritical, histrionical personated Spectacles, consisting of representations only, as all Plays and Actors are. Sixthly, they were Spectacles appointed only unto death, not to laughter: Spectacles of passion, of compassion, not of mirth and pleasure: Spectacles only at a stake, appointed unto martyrdom; not on a stage, to stir up laughter: Spectacles they were, which the very Angels and Saints applauded, not condemned; which Devils and wicked men derided, persecuted, not applauded: Spectacles, which were the crown, the honor, not the reproach, and infamy of Christianity, as Plays and Players are: therefore they give no color, no approbation to our Play-house Spectacles with which they have no Analogy, but this alone; that as the chief agents in the Apostles and Martyrs tortures, were desperate wicked men, envenomed, enraged with bitter rancor against all grace, all goodness; even such are the common Actors and Abetters of our theatrical Interludes. All the argument then that our Play-patrons can collect from hence, is from the allusion which the Apostle hath to Theatres, to Spectacles; which being an allusion only to the spectacle of a Martyr, at the stake; or of a malefactor at the place of execution, as all Expositors accord; not to a Play or Enterlude on a Stage, subverts their very foundation, and takes them off from this their hold, in which they had most repose. But admit, it were an allusion to a Play-house Theatre, yet as thieves can never justify their stealing, nor u • urers their usury to be lawful, because the Scripture saith, that Christ, that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night: and that he will require his own with usury: no more can our Play-champions conclude from hence, that Stage-plays are warrantable or lawful among Christians, because St. Paul by way of similitude, writes thus of himself and his fellow-Apostles: We are made a Theatre or Spectacle to the world, unto Angels, and to men. These two main Scriptures being thus fully vindicated from our Play-proctors wrestings, the other will fall away of themselves: there being no analogy at all between a race and a Stage-play: an horse or chariot for war, and a Comedy for sport. I shall therefore answer them all together in St. Cyprians words. In this place I may say, that it had been better for these Objectors never to have known the Scriptures, than thus to read and wrest them. For these words and examples which are laid down as exhortations to evangelical virtue, are translated into apologies for vice; For these things are written, not that they should be gazed upon, but that a more earnest vehemency should be stirred up in our minds in profitable things, whiles there is so great a diligence in Ethnics in unprofitable things. It is an argument therefore of exciting virtue, not a permission or liberty of beholding the Gentiles error; that by this the mind may be more enflamed to evangelical virtue by divine rewards, when as men must pass through the misery of all toils and griefs, before they can come to terrene emoluments. That Elias is the horseman or charioter of Israel, it yields no patronage to the beholding of Cirque-plays, for he never ran in any Circus: That David danced in the sight of God, it no ways avails nor justifieth the sitting of faithful Christians in the Theatre: for by distorting none of his members with obscene motions, he hath ended the dance, and put a period to the Play of Graecian lust. His Lute, his trumpets, flutes and harps have resounded God's praises, not an Idols. It is not therefore hence determined, that unlawful things may be looked on: those lawful things by the Devils cunning being now changed from holy into unholy things. Let shame therefore instruct or restrain these men, although the holy Scriptures cannot do it. For is it not a shame, is it not a shame I say, for faithful men, who challenge to themselves the name of Christians, to justify the vain superstitions of the Gentiles intermixed with their Stage-plays, out of the sacred Scriptures, and to give authority to Idolatry? For when that which is done by Ethnics to the honor of any Idol is frequented by Christians in a Stage-play, both heathen idolatry is maintained, and in contumely of God, true religion is trod underfoot. This is St. Cyprians answer to the objected Scriptures, and with it I rest.

SCENA SECVNDA.

THe second Objection in defense of Plays is this: That they are innoxious, pleasant, honest & laudable recreations, which the ancient Greeks and Romans not only tolerated but applauded: therefore they are tolerable among Christians.

Not no answer this objection with that exclamation of Volateranus in this very case of Plays: Sed quid nunc de faece hujus saeculi dicam? quum virtutem ac gloriam veterum imitari nullo pacto valeamus, vitia tamen omni studio imitamur. I am scena ubique renovata est, ubique come • dias specta • uterque sexus, quodque longe impudentius, ipsi Sacerdotes et praesules, quorum erat officium omnino prohibere. Multo igitur severiores in hac parte Graeci, qui omnes suos comicos jamdiu aboluerunt, propter unum Aristophanem, quamvis moribus mi • ime officeret. I answer first; that Plays are no harmless, honest or laudable recreations, as all the premised Authorities, and this whole treatise prove at large: this objection therefore is but a begging of the cause in question. [ 2] Secondly, I answer, that although some Pagan Greeks and Romans approved Stage-plays at the first in lewd and dissolute times; yet at last after long experience of those intolerable mischiefs which they occasioned, enforced by dear bought repentance, they banished them their Commonweales and Territories by public solemn Edicts, as inconsistent with their safety. And although some vicious histrionical Roman Emperors, as Nero, Caligula, Heliogabalus, Commodus, and others, reduced Plaies & Plaiers, yet the gravest Romā Emperors, Senators, Philosophers did still oppose and reexile them as the seminaries of all vice and lewdness, and intoll • rabble mischiefs in the Commonwealth: as I have largely proved. Wherefore we should rather imitate the best, the wisest Pagan Greeks and Romans in abandoning, than the worst or lewdest in retaining Stage-plays. Secondly, [ 2] the reason why the ancient Pagans, Grecians and Romans tolerated Plaies and Plaiers (as Bodine and Guevara observe) was not for any good or laudable quality in them, but only out of superstition and idolatrous devotion to their Idol-gods, who exacted solemn Stage-plays from them as the most pompous if not serious part of their idolatrous worship: which Plays (saith Guevara ) were dedicated to them by the divine sufferance of the living God, who would that their Idol-gods being but laughing-stocks should be served, honored and feasted by jeastures, mocks and Plays. The truth of this is evident, not only by that of Aristotle; who prohibiting the sight of all unchaste fabulous Plays or pictures, and advising the Magistrates to suppress them; comes in with this exception: Nisi forte apud illos Deos, quibus etiam per leges lascivia illa conceditur, et apud quos sacra facere aetate quidem provectioribus pro se, pro liberis et conjugibus permittitur: by Dionysius Hallicarnasseus, Antiqu. Rom. l. 2. c. 5. & 7. c. 9. by Ci • ero in Verr • ̄, Act. 6. Oratio de Aruspicum Responsis, p. 524, 526, 527. Oratio 3. in Catilinam, p. 452. b. Where he informs us, that Stage-plays were exacted by, and dedicated to the Roman God's, who were honored and atoned by them: by Thucydides Historiae, lib. 3. p. 291. Polybius Historiae l • 4, p. 340. C. and Diodorus Siculus Bibl. Hist. l. 4. sect. 5 • 6, 7. p. 202. to 206. with sundry other Pagans: and by St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei lib. 2. c. 4. to 15. & l. 4. c. 20 27. HRaban • s Maurus l. 2. c. 10. with others formerly quoted ; but by that also which Livy and Ovid have recorded of the Romans: who when as all the Fiddlers and Players departed from Rome to Tibur in one discontented company, because the Censors prohibited them to eat in the Temple of Jove, as they had accustomed: the Senate out of their care to religion (there being no man left in Rome to sing and play before their sacrifices) sent ambassadors after them to Tibur, requesting the Tiburtines to do their best endeavor to persuade them to return to Rome: upon which embassie the Tiburtines sent for these companions into their Senate house, where they first persuaded them to go back to Rome; but their entreaties not prevailing, they concluded to make them drunk with wine, (of which they were very greedy) and then to put them into carts being drunk, and so to carry them back to Rome; which they did accordingly. Where upon their return, the Senate to obtain their good will, restored them to their former privileges, and withal aut • orized them to go freely about the Citty, and to act their solemn Stage-plays every year. Upon which Valerius Maximus descants thus: Personarum usus pudorem circumventae temulentiae causam habet. Idolatry therefore, and the pleasing of Idol-God's being the chief, if not the only cause why these Pagan Greeks and Romans allowed Plays or Players ; their example grounded on this reason, should rather engage all Christians eternally to detest them, than any ways to approve them. Thirdly, admit that Stage-plays were in high estimation among these lascivious vicious Pagans, yet they were evermore execrable among Christians, who have constantly abandoned them from age to age. It is therefore a great dishonor, a shame, if not a sin for Christians (who should follow the footsteps of their blessed Savior only, and those who walk as he hath walked; abandoning all the fashions, ways and customs of lewd idolatrous Pagans: ) to swerve from Christ and primitive Christians as not worthy the following, in this case of Plaies; and to make the worst • the most lascivious heathens, the quides and patterns of their actions. Alas, where is our Christianity, our piety, our obedience or our love to Christ, if we choose rather to imitate the very vices of the lewdest Pagans than the graces, the holiness of the best Christians? It was the brand, the infamy of the Jewish Nation; that they were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works: and shall it not be much more ignoble and sinful for us Christians, to justify the lawfulness of Stage-plays from the bare examples of these wicked Pagans? O let it be never be heard in Gath, nor published in Askelon, that any Christians should grow so atheistically profane, so stupendiously impious, as to prefer the lewd examples of the deboisest heathens, before the unparalleled patterns of their most holy Savior, and the best of Christians: (alas, what need we run to such precedents of impiety, when as we have better examples nearer hand?) but since all Christian, yea • the very best of Pagan Greeks and Romans have utterly condemned and exploded Stage-plays, the very worst of Greeks and Romans only approving them by their practice, and that to sinister ends: let us rather imitate the best, the wisest of them in abandoning, than the very worst of them in patronizing, in applauding Stage-plays; for fear we renounce our Christianity, and prove far worse than the very worst of Pagans ever were.

SCENA TERTIA.

THe third Objection in the behalf of Plays is this; that they are not only commendable but necessary in a Commonwealth; and that in three respects: First, for the solemn entertainment and recreation of foreign Ambassadors, States and Princes: Secondly, for the solemnizing of festivals and triumphs: Thirdly for the exhileration and necessary recreation of the people. Therefore they ought to be countenanced, continued, not suppressed.

To this I shall first reply; that Stage-plays are so far from being commendable or necessary in a Cōmonweale, that they are the very greatest mischiefs which can befall it: whence the wisest States and Magistrates have been so far from tolerating, that they have quite discarded them as inconsistent with the public welfare. So that the very ground of this objection fails, and then the particulars cannot stand, which I shall now examine. For the first of them; that Stage-plays are necessary for the solemn entertainment of Ambassadors, and foreign States; though I will not take upon me to define what entertainment will befit such personages; yet with all humble submission to better judgments, I conceive, that common Stage-plays (to which every cobler, tinker, whore, and base mechanicke may resort from day today, as many of them do ) are no meet sports or entertainments for Christian Princes, States, and Potentates ; whose piety, majesty, gravity are so transcendent, that they cannot but disdain the sight, the presence of such ridiculous, infamous, scurrilous, childish Spectacles, as common Stage-plays are, which savor neither of state, nor royalty, but of most abject baseness, though too many great ones (I know not out of what re • pects) have vouchsafed to honor them (or rather dishonored themselves ) with their presence. For my own part it is beyond my Creed to believe, that Christian Monarchs, Peers, or foreign Ambassadors, who are (at leastwise should be) men of highest dignity, of eminentest piety, severest gravity, deepest wisdom, sublimest spirit, and most sober, exemplary conversation, without any mixture of levity, vanity, or childish folly, (the least tincture of which in men of supreme rank, (though it be but in their sports) is no small deformity, no mean eclipse unto their fame ) should so far degenerate, or descend below themselves, as to admit of common Plaies or Actors, (the most infamous, scurrilous, ignoble pleasures and persons that the world affords ) into their royal presence. We know that many Christian, many Pagan States and Emperors, have long since sentenced, exiled Plays and Players, and that the whole Church of God, with all faithful Christians from age to age have execrated and cast them out, as the very greatest grievances, shames and cankerwormes both of Church and State: We know, that many public Acts of Parliaments, even of this our Realm, have branded Players with the very name, the punishment of Rogues and Vagabonds, and condemned Stage-plays as unlawful Pastimes. And can any one then be so brainsicke, so shameless to affirm, that these anathematized heathenish Spectacles, these stigmatized varlets, (which all times, all Christians, all men of gravity and wisdom have disdained as the most lewd infamous persons, are fit to entertain the noblest Princes, or to appear before them in their royal Palaces, at times of greatest state? Certainly as Eagles scorn to stoop at flies, or as magnanimous lions disdain to chace a mouse ; even so those generous Christian Monarchs, who have cast out Plays and Actors as intolerable mischiefs in their meanest Cities; will never so far grace them, as to deem them worthy to approach their Courts, as necessary ornaments and attendants, on days of most solemnity. It was King David's godly protestation; that he would set no wicked thing before his eyes; that the work of those who turned aside should not cleave unto him: That a froward heart should depart from him, and that he would not know a wicked person: who so privily slandereth his neighbor, him (saith he) will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart, I will not suffer: he that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight, &c. Certainly, there is never a true Christian Prince or Potentate this day living, but is, but must, or ought to be of David's mind, he being a man after God's own heart: therefore he can never suffer Stage-plays, which are wicked, lewd and heathenish Pastimes; or common Actors, (who are perverse, yea froward, wicked, proud, deceitful, slanderous, lying persons in the highest degree ) to come into his presence, or harbor in his palace. A King that sitteth in the throne of judgment (saith the wisest King) scattereth all evil with his eyes: yea, A wise King scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them, Prov. 20.8, & 26. Needs therefore must a just, a prudent Christian Prince, abandon Plays and Players from before his eyes, the one being the greatest evils to a State: the other, the very worst and most infamous men. It is true indeed, that some dissolute Roman Emperors, as Caligula, Nero, Heliogabalus, Carinus, and others, have been much enamored with Plays and Actors: but this was only the blot, the infamy of these shames of Monarchy, as Philo Judaeus, Marcus Aurelius, Juvenal, John Sarisbery, and their own Historians witness: who have recorded it only for their greater shame: Res haud mira tamen cytharaedo Principe mimus, Nobilis &c. being the sole encomium, that they have lest behind them for it. Their examples therefore can be no good argument to second this objection, especially since the best Roman Senators, Monarchs, both Pagan and Christian have exiled Stage-players, and suppressed Plays, as even Nero himself (who was most devoted to them, and most honored Players) was at last enforced to do, by reason of those intolerable oft-complained mischiefs which they did occasion. I confess, that many Christian Writers both of ancient and moderne times, and among sundry others whom I spare to mention, Vincentius, Olaus Magnus, John Sarisbery, and Peter de Bloyes, • rchdeacon of Bath (two ancient English Writers; AEnaeas Sylvius (afterwards Pope Pius the 2) and Mr. Radolphus Gualther, have publicly complained and bewailed in their writings; that Stage-players, Tomblers, Fiddlers, Singers, Iesters, and such like idle persons, have followed Princes Courts, and haunted great men's houses; that they have there found access and harbor, when as experienced, virtuous, well-deserving men, have been excluded, contemned, and sent away without reward; these caterpillars and pests of the commonweale, not only anticipating in the mean while their charity to the poor, their bounty to men to best desert, but even exhausting their treasures, depraving their manners, fomenting their uices to the public prejudice, and their own eternal perdition: But this they censure as their shame, their folly and oversight, not their praise; as did St. Chrysostom long ago, whose words I would these Objectors would observe: Wilt thou hear again (saith he) some other things which show the folly and madness of these wise Law-givers? They gather together Players & Theatres, & bring in thither troops of harlots, of adulterous youthes &c. making all the people to sit on scaffolds over them: Thus recreate they the Citty; thus do they crown great Kings, whose victorious trophees they admire. But alas what is more cold than this honor? What more unpleasant than this pleasure? Doest thou then seek applauders of thy actions among these? Tell me, I pray thee, wilt thou be praised with dancers, with effeminate persons, Stage-players, whores? And how can this be but the very extremity of folly and frenzy? But thou wilt say, these are infamous persons. Why then doest thou honor Kings, why doest thou murder Cities by such who are infamous? Why doest thou bestow so much upon them? For if they are infamous, they ought to be cast out, &c. It is therefore no less then madness, then extremest folly in St. Chrysostom's judgment, to honor, to Court Kings or great ones with Plays or common Actors: and a far greater frenzy is it for such to foster, to applaud them, and to be praised by them; because no true praise can proceed from any, but such who really deserve applause themselves. Add we to him the verdict of laborious Gualther, who reputes it an argument of corrupted, of everted discipline, that at this day Players, Iesters, effeminate persons, and furtherers of most dishonest pleasures are in great request in Princes Courts and in great cities, &c. which he there proves at large. To him I shall annex that notable passage of Olaus Magnus to the like purpose, well worth all Princes, all Players and Play-haunters most serious consideration: in his Historiae l. 15. c. 31. De Histrionibus et Mimis. Where he writes thus. Nemo miretur quod hac etiam pessima occupatione repl • t • sit haec chartula pusilla, nempe talibus hominum generibus, quorum nume • us est infinitus, et tantae reputationis in curijs et mensis sublimium Dominorum, ut fere vel nullum vel exiguum credatur adesse solatium praeter unicum hoc quod emanat ab infamibus his Protomimis. Refert Trebellius, Galerum in tantum dilexisse scurras et parasitos, et id genus infamiae hominum, ut poneret eos in secunda sua mensa. Si consilium Suetonij locus habuisset, tales mimi publico spectaculo virgis et flagris caesi, remotiusque effugati fuissent: quod et Vincentius in speculo. Historiae lib. 29. c. 41. de rege Galliae Philippo attestatur ; quem asserit dixisse, Histrionibus dare est daemonibus immolari, &c. And cap. 34. De abjecta commendatione Mimorum, et utili laude prudentium: where he thus expresseth himself. Sed nec ignotum universis relinquitur, QVANTA IGNOMINIA PRINCIPIEVS SIT, aut laudis cupidis à talibus commendari, quorum praecipua professio est infamibus colludere, turpibusque colloquijs bonos mores corrumpere, eos{que} effaeminatos efficere, a • libidinosos reddere et luxuriosos; praeterea comaediarum more adulteria et stupra representare vel concinnere, unde spectandi enascatar voluptas et consuetudo, ac turpissima quaeque faciendi licentia perniciosa, et denique ad omnium virorum gravium obmutescere rationem et censuram. Cujus rei testis est illa Massiliensis meretrix, quae in actu publico prostans vestem{que} deducens, gravi Catone vis • descendere in Spectaculum, à gestu se statim continuit, et alijs mirantibus, ait, severum virum adesse: qua quidem voice ostendit, longe pluris esse gravissimi viri aspectum, quàm totius populi applausum. Quocircà, etsi cuncti, maxim principes laudari appetant, TAMEN INTIME CAVEANT, ne id procurant vel admittant fieri AB HISTRIONIBVS ET PROTOMIMIS NISI SIMILES ILLIS AESTIMARI ET FORSAN ESSE VOLVNT. Vera enim laus haberi debet, quae à laudato viro proficiscitur, quia à tali viro emanat qui virtute praeditus cum laude venit. Sed haec peramplius verior esse judicatur, quae ex recte factis et justis meritis, multitudinis etiam laude • oncurrente procedit • : alioquin nihil aliud nisi popularem auram aut scurrarum fucum captant: quo nihil instabilius aut detestabilius inveniri potest. Igitur attendendum erit unicuique, MAXIME PRINCIPI in sublimiori dignitate constituto, ne sic scurrarum, mimorum, histrionum, protomimorum brevi tempore delectetur spectaculis, uti immemor salutis, perdito tempore, honor, laude, et bone nomine in uno momento rapiatur ad aeterna tormenta, quae ab immundis spiritibus forsitan in umbra et forma histrionum apparentebus et flagellantibus importunius sustinebit; sentietque perpetuo flendum esse cum diabolis, sicuti in momentanea vita inconsiderate risit cum stultis. Exclamandum hîc merito foret contra quosdam alti nominis viros, in sublimitate constitos, qui pro summa voluptate ducunt, scurras videre et a • dire, nudas mulierum picturas intueri, et ijs delectari, atque alijs praebere videndas; quasi propria caro, mundus, et daemonia non sufficerent ad infatuandum hominem, creatum ad imaginem Dei, ni et studiose in suam irreparabilem damnationem excitarent tot importunatissimos hosts, ignorantes verbum beati Gregorij, dicentis; Talem te ostendis in cord diligere, qualem imaginem ante te geris in oculis, &c. All which recited premises, together with that memorable fore-mentioned worthy speech of the Emperor Trajan to a Courtier, who entreated him to hear an active Player: and that private advice of Macro, unto Gaius the Emperor; insane spectantem saltatores ità ut unà gesticularetur, aut ad mimorum scurrilia dicteria non subridentem, sed cachinnantem pueriliter &c. who whispered thus into his ear, ne quis audiret alius, blande admonens: Non decet te alijs audiendo spectandoque et usu caeterorum sensuum esse similem, sed tantum debes in ration vivendi excellere, quanto eminentiorem te fortuna constituit: absurdum enim fuerit terrae marisque principem, cantibus, cavillis, et hujusmodi ludis succumbere: oportet illum semper et ubique meminisse majestatis imperatoriae, tanquam pastorem gregi praepositum, et undicunque dictis factisque in melius proficiscere: (a good lesson for this scandalous, ignoble, dissolute Emperor, who was not only a spectator, an applauder, but sometimes an actor too of Masques and Stage-plays to his eternal shame: ) are sufficient to disprove this crack-brained frentique Objection of an infamous Player; That Stage-plays are necessary pastimes for the recreation, the solemn entertainment of Christian Princes, States, Ambassadors, Nobles; whose majesty, whose greatness cannot but disdain such base infamous spectacles, which make their Actors and Spectators infamous. Certainly he who shall read the Epistle of Marcus Aurelius, unto Lambert ; the Panegyricke of C. Plinius Secundus, to the • mperor Trajan: the answer of Agesilaus, to Callipides the expert tragicke Player; (who saluting this royal King, and thrusting himself into his presence, expecting and hoping that this noble Prince would have taken some special notice of him, and spoken kindly to him; and then perceiving that he slighted him, demanded of him; Doest thou not know me ô King, and hast thou not heard whom I am? who looking upon him, returned him no other reply but this, Art not thou Callipides the Player? intimating, that Kings should wholly contemn such lewd infamous persons as not worthy their least respect:) or Guevara his Diall of Princes, lib. 3. c. 43. to 48. & Act. 6. Scene 5. Act. 7. Scene 2, 3, 6. will presently adjudge all Stage-plays, all Actors, unworthy a Pagan, how much more then a Christian Emperors, Kings or Princes royal presence; who have far more honorable, majestique, heroic sports and exercises to refresh themselves withal: as tilting Barriers, Iusts, and such like martial feats, (the ancient solemn festival entertainments of Kings and Nobles, wherein our warlike English Nation have far excelled others;) with an hundred such like laudable exercises, • avouring both of royalty, valor, and activity; which if they were now revived instead of effeminate, amorous, wanton dances, Interludes, Masques and Stage-plays, effeminacy, idleness, adultery, whoredom, ribaldry and such other lewdness would not be so frequent in the world as now they are. But admit this idle surmise as true as it is fabulous, it then administers a pregnant argument against all common Stage-plays: for if Stage-plays be meet ornaments for Princes palaces at times of greatest state and royallest entertainment, great reason is there to suppress their daily acting, and to appropriate them to such times, such places, such purposes as these, for fear their assiduity, their cōmonnes should make the despitably base and altogether unmeet for such sublime occasions. Extraordinary royal occasions, persons, entertainments will not suite with common prostituted Interludes, which every tinker, cobler, foot-boy, whore or rascal may resort to at their pleasure, as they do unto our Stage-plays; which as they are every man's for his penny, so they are every days Pastime too, at every roguish Play-house. And are such common hacknie Interludes, think you, fit for high-days, for Princes Courts and presence? If therefore you will exalt these sordid Stage-plays to such sublime employments as you here pretend, you must now shut up our standing Play-houses, and sequester all Stage-plays from the vulgar crew, appropriating them only to some certain solemn public festivities, and times of royal entertainment, (as the ancient Greeks and Romans did; who had no constant (much less any private) Interludes acted day by day, but only public Stage-plays, at times of public triumph, or on the great solemn Feast-days of their Idol-gods, to whom they were devoted: ) that so their rarity may ennoble them to such royal services as are pretended, when as their assiduous commonness hath now made thē & their Actors base ; too base (I dare say) for any Princes presence, when as they deem themselves highly honored, with the very meanest varlets.

To the second clause of this Objection, That Stage-plays are necessary for the true solemnizing of our Savior's Nativitie, and other such solemn Christian Festivalls; it is so diametrally opposite unto truth, above 40 several Councils, besides Fathers and other Christian Writers professedly contradicting it, (See Act. 6. Scene 12. & Act. 7. Scene 3.) that I cannot so much as name it but with highest indignation. Alas into what atheistical heathenish times are we now relapsed, into what a stupendous height of more than Pagan impiety are we now degenerated, when as Stage-plays (the very chiefest pomps and ornaments of the most execrable pagan Idols festivities) are thought the necessary appendants of our most holy Christian solemnities? when as we cannot sanctify a Lord's-day, observe a fifth of November, or any other day of public thanksgiving to our gracious God, nor yet celebrate an Easter, a Pentecost, or such like solemn Feasts, (much less a Christmas, as we phrase it) in a plausible pious sort, (as too many paganizing Christians now conceit ) without drinking, roaring, healthing, dicing, carding, dancing, Masques and Stage-plays? which better become the sacrifices of Bacchus, than the resurrection, the incarnation of our most blessed Savior, which are most execrably profaned, most unchristianly dishonored with these Bacchanalian pastimes. What pious Christian heart bleeds not with tears of blood, when he beholds the sacred Nativitie of his spotless Savior, transformed into a festivitie of the foulest Devils? when he shall see his blessed Jesus, who came to redeem, to call men from their sins, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works ; entertained, honored, courted, served like a Devil, yea rather crucified and nailed to his cross again, with naught else but desperate notorious sins • by an unchristian crew of Christians, (I might say Pagans, o • incarnate Devils ) who during all the sacred time of his Nativity, when they should be most holy, are more especially and that professedly too • a most impure people, zea • ous of nothing but of Stage-plays, dicing, dancing • healthing, riot • ng, and such evil works, as would make the very lewdest Pagans to blush for shame. Is this the honor, the entertainment, the gratitude, the holy service, the welcome we render to our Savior, for his Nativity, his incarnation or his passion, to court him thus with heathenish Plays or hellish pastimes, as if he were no other, no better than a Pagan Idol or infernal Devil, who were always w • rshipped, courted with such solemn Interludes? Are Christ and Belial (think we) reconciled? or is there no difference between our Savior's Nativity, and a Devil-Idols birth-day, that we thus commemorate them in the selfsame manner? For how did the idol • trous Gentiles honor, or please their Jupiter, Venus, Flora, Apollo, Berecynthea, Bac • hus, and such like Devil-gods upon their gaudiest feast-days, but with healthing, dancing, Masques and Stage-plays ; the very works and pomps of Satan, invented for, appropriated to these Idols service, as I have largely proved? and how do we Christians spend or celebrate for the most part, the Nativity of our Savior, but with such heathenish sports as these, which Turks and Infidels would abhor to practice? O wickedness, O profaneness beyond all expression! even thus to abuse our Savior's solemn birth-time, as to make it a patronage for all kind of sin! Were we to celebrate the very foulest Idol-Devils birth-day (as many wretches do in deeds, whiles they solemnize Christ's in show) how could we please or honor him more, than to court him with lascivious Masques or Stage-plays, (an invention of and for himself, which he hath oft exacted from his worshippers upon his solemn festivals: ) or to give him the very selfsame welcome that most men give to Christ, in the feast of his Nativity; when the Devil hath commonly more professed public service done him, than all the year beside? For may I not truly write of our English Cities, and Country villages in the Christmas season, as Salvian did of Rome: Video quasi scaturientem vitijs civitatem; video urbem omnium iniquitatum generi servientem, plenam quidem turbis, sed magis turpitudinibus: plenam divitijs, sed magis vitijs: vincentes se invicem homines nequitia flagitiorum suorum, alios impuritate certantes, alios vino languidos, alios cruditate distentos, hos sertis redimitos, illos unguento oblitos, cunctos vano luxus marcore perditos, sed pene omnes una errorum morte prostratos: non omnes quidem vinolentia temulentos, sed omnes tamen peccatis ebrios. Populos putares non sani status, non sui sensus, non animo incolumes, non gradu, quasi in morem baccharum crapulae catervatim inservientes &c. Those who are temperate and abstemious at all other times, prove Epicures and drunkards then. Those who make conscience to redeem all other seasons, deem it a point of Christianity to misspend all this, eating, drinking, and rising up to play, whole days and nights together. Those who are civil at other seasons, will be now deboist; and such who were but soberly dissolute before (if I may so speak) will be now stark mad, forgetting not only their Savior but themselves. Those who repute it a shame to be unruly disorderly any other part of the year; think it an honor to be outrageously disordered and distempered now, turning day into night, and night into day, against the course of nature, like Seneca his Antipodes, setting no bounds to any lust. That which is not tolerable at other times seems laudable unto most men now: that which were it done at any other season could not but be condemned as an execrable sin, becomes now a virtue, at least a venial crime. In a word, those who make a kind of conscience of drinking, amarous dancing, healthing, dicing, idleness, Stage-plays, and of every sin at other times • deem it a part of their piety to make no bones of these, of any deboistnesse or profaneness now: those who are constant in religious family-duties, now discontinue them; those who remembered their Savior and sins before, now qui • e forget them: those who seemed Saints before, turn Devils incarnate now: those who were reasonable men before, are metamorphosed into beasts or monsters now: those who were formerly good at least in outward show, do now turn bad; and all who were bad before, prove now ten • times worse; & all under this pretence of solemnizing Christ's Nativitie, as if he were delighted only with their sins. Thus do we even crucify our blessed Savior in his very cradle, and like that [ v ] Tyrant Herod, seek to take away his life, as soon as he is born, whiles we thus impiously celebrate & profane his birth, & evē pierce him through with these gross disorders which are now too frequent among many Christians. Should Turks & Indels behold our Bacchanaliā Christmas extravagancies, would they not think our Savior to be a glutton, an Epicure, a wine-bibber, a Devil, a friend of publicanes and sinners, as the Jews once styled him; yea a very Bacchus • a God of all dissoluteness, drunkenness and disorder, since his Nativitie is thus solemnized by his followers, who are never so dissolutely, so exorbitantly deboist in all kinds, as in this his festival? Would they not take up that speech in Salvian. Ecce quales sunt qui Christum colunt? falsum plane illud est quod aiunt se bona discere, quod jactant se sanctae legis praecepta retinere. Si enim bona discerent, boni essent. Talis profecto secta est, quales et sectatores: hoc sunt absque dubio quod docentur. Apparet itaque Prophetas quos habent impuritatem docere, et Apostolos quos legunt nefaria sensisse, et Evangelia quibus imbuuntur haec quae ipsi faciunt praedicare. Postremo sancta à Christianis fierent, si Christus sancta docuisset. AEstimari itaque de cultoribus suis potest ill qui colitur. Quomodo enim bonus magister est, cujus tam malos videmus esse discipulos? Ex ipso enim Christiani sunt, ipsum audiunt, ipsum legunt: promptum est omnibus Christi intelligere doctrinam. Vide Christianos quid agant, et evidenter potest de ipso Christo sciri quid doceat. Would they not condemn our God, our Savior, our religion, and loath both th • m, and us? qui ita agimus ac vivimus, ut hoc ipsum quod Christianus populus esse dicitur, opprobrium Christi esse videatur ; as the same Father speaks. O inaestimabile facinus et prodigiosum! Quid non ausae sint improbae mentes, in the Christmas season? Armant se ad peccandum per Christi nomen; auctorem quodammodo sui scele • is Deum faciunt: et cum interdictor ac vindex malorum omnium Christus sit, dicunt se scelus quod agunt agere pro Christo. Such are our graceless unchristian Christmas lives: who when as our Savior daily cries unto us: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven: we on the contrary live so in the Christmas season, (that I speak not of other times) that the sons of men, that Infidels and Pagans may openly behold our evil works, and blaspheme • ou • Father • our most blessed Savior, who is now grieving in heaven, whiles we are thus dishonoring his Nativitie here on earth. And should not our hearts then smi • e us, should not shame confound us all for this our heinous sin? for this our indignity to our blessed Lord and Savior, who never finds worse entertainmen • in the world than in the feast of his Nativity, when he expects the best? O let us now at length remember, that our holy Savior was borne into the world for this very purpose, to redeem and call us from (not to) those sins and sinful pleasures ; to destroy out of us (not to erect within us) those very works and pomps of Satan, which now we more especially practice at his sacred birthtide: as if he were borne to no other purpose, but to set hell loose, to give a liberty to all kind of wickedness, and to prove a mere broker (for such a one men then make him) to the very Devil. Did we but seriously consider and believe, that our Savior Christ was for this end borne into the world; that he might purify and wash • s both from the guilt, and power of all our sins in his most precious blood: that he might sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of water by the word from all iniquity, and present us to himself a glorious Church without any spot or wrinkle: that he might teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world, expecting every day his second coming: that he might quite destroy out of us the works of the Devil, purge us from all iniquity, and purify us unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works: that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives, shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation: that we should henceforth cease from sin, and no longer live the rest of our time in the lusts of the flesh to the will of men, but to the will of God: that we might be holy in all manner of conversation and godliness, even as he is holy, especially at holy s • asons: that we should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again: that whether we live we might live unto him, or whether we die we might die unto him, and that living and dying we might be his; glorifying him both in our souls and bodies which are his. And did we withal remember, that this our blessed Savior hath called us, not to uncleanness, but unto holiness: that he hath likewise enjoined us, to cast off all the works of darkness, and to put on the armor of light: to walk honestly as in the day; not in chambering and wantonness, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in divers lusts and pleasures, according to the course of this wicked world, according to the power of the Prince of the air, which now worketh in the children of disobedience. That he hath seriously charged us, That we walk not from henceforth as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds, who having their understandings darkened, and being alienated from the life of God, and past all feeling, have given themselves over unto all lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. That we put off concerning our former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and that we put on the new man which after God is created in holiness and true righteousness. That we take heed unto ourselves, lest at any time (how much more at times of greatest devotion) our hearts be overcome with surfeiting and drunkenness, and that day come upon us at unawares. That we crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof, and abstain from fleshly lusts which war against our souls, since the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles; when as we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquettings, and abominabl • idolatries: That we give up our souls and bodies as an holy and living sacrifice unto God; not fashioning ourselves to the course of this present evil world, but keeping ourselves unspotted from it: walking circumspectly as in the day, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil; and making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Did we (I say) but seriously ponder and unfeignedly believe all this, it would soon turn our dissolute Christmas laughing, into mourning ; our bacchanalian jollities into sinlamenting Elegies; our riotous grand-Christmasses into such pious Christian duties, as would both honor our Savior's birth-day, and make it welcome to our souls. Let us therefore cordially meditate on all these sacred Scriptures, on the ends of our Savior's blessed incarnation, (which was, to redeem us from all these our sins and sinful pleasures; to crucify our lusts, to regenerate and sanctify our depraved natures, to make us holy even as he is holy, and to conform us to himself in all things: ) and then this inveterate heathenish common custom of profaning Christ's Nativitie with all kind of lasciviousness, wickedness and delights of sin, (which should be • pent in honoring, blessing and praising of our gracious God for all his mercies to us in his Son: in Psalms, in hymns and spiritual songs; in holy and heavenly contemplations of all the benefits we receive by our Savior's blessed incarnation, in charitable relieving of Christ's poor members, and mutual amity one towards another:) will become most execrable to your pious souls. The damnablenesse of which much applauded unruly Christmas keeping that you may more evidently discern, I shall for learning and religions sake discover whence it sprang; and that was, originally from the Pagan Saturnalia, from whence Popery hath borrowed and transmitted it unto us at the second hand.

The ancient Pagan Romans, upon the Ides of December, consecrated to Saturn, and their Goddess Vesta, (not in the Moneth of January, as Macrobius misreports) accustomed to keep their Saturnalia, or annual Feast of Saturn for 7 days together, which they spent in feasting, drinking, dancing, Plays and Interludes: at the end of which they celebrated their Festum Kalendarum, on the first of January, (now our New-years day) to the honor of their Idol Ianus, which they likewise solemnized with Stageplayes, Mummeries, Masques, dancing, feasting, drinking, and in sending mutual New-years gifts one to another, for divers days together. In these their Saturnalia and feasts of Ianus, all servants were set at lihertie, and became check-mates with their masters, with whom they sat at table: every man then wandered about without control, and took his fill of pleasure, giving himself over to all kind of luxury, epicurisme, deboistnesse, disorder, pride and wantonness; to pastimes, Interludes, Mummeries, Stage-plays, dan-cing, drunkenness, and those very disorders that accompany our grand unruly Christmasses: which Saturnalia and Festivalls the ensuing Authors thus describe. Servicum Saturnalia caenant (writes Plutarch ) aut Liberalia, in agro vagantes celebrant, ululatio eorum et tumultus ferre non possis prae gaudio et imperitia rerum pulcrarum, talia agentium et loquen •• um:

Saturnalibus tota servis licentia permittitur: ludi per urbem in compitis agitantur (writes Macrobius: )

The first of these describes it thus.

The second, thus.

The third, thus.