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SPECIAL PUBLIC EVILS.

[Part VI.

5. The stage has in all past time been a school of corruptmorals. The profession of an actor has never been consideredrespectable, much less honorable. There has always been amoral taint resting upon it. If this had been the case in one ora few ages and countries only, it might have been plausibly as-cribed to unreasonable prejudices ; but it is the estimate in whichactors and actresses have been held in all ages and in everycountry. The conviction has been strong and universal, thatthere are circumstances in the profession of an actor, which tendto degrade his personal, and especially his moral character. Itdoes not belong to me to inquire what the causes are, which tendso powerfully to degrade the character of actors, that few haveescaped their influence. They lead a wandering and unsettledkind of life ; they have no very definite prospects before them ;their success in their profession does not very much dependon their character for moral worth ; their gains are but verypartially the reward of industry and virtue ; they are subject topopular caprice, prejudice, and passion ; to alternate hopes and

the Christian faith, were, at one lime, dramatized by the clergy, and representedin public. How extensive those representations were in Italy, France, England,and other Christian countries, in the thirteenth and succeeding centuries, iswell known to every one who is familiar with the history of literature. Thescenes, events, characters, and doctrines of Scripture were not only adapted todramatic representation by the clergy, but this was conducted under theirdirection. The churches were used as theatres, in which to exhibit these “ sa-cred or spiritual dramas,” as they were called, and the actors were often, if notgenerally, the clergy themselves. In fitting up and patronizing such repre-sentations, the clergy, we may presume, acted from the best possible motives, towit, the desire to communicate religious knowledge, and to impress the greatscenes, transactions, and doctrines of revelation on the minds of the people, byavailing themselves of the powerful aid of dramatic representation to effect thisobject, and by thus bringing this most perfect of the imitative arts into the ser-vice of religion. Still, with such motives, and under the direction of the hierar-chy, powerful as it was in those days, the inherent vices of alt representationsof this kind were found to cling to them , and they were gradually relinquished,from the conviction that they were worse than useless. Architecture, music,poetry, painting, and statuary have all been brought into the service of religion,and have greatly contributed to its hold on the respect and affections of man-kind ; but it has been proved, after a full and fair actual experiment , that neitherreligion nor morals have any good to expect from any kind of dramatic repre-sentations. (See Bouterwek’s History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature,Vol. I. pp. 501-521; Vol. II. pp.89-99; Sismondi, La Literature du Midide l’Europe, Vol. I. pp. 337-349; Edinburgh Encylopasdia, art. Drama.)