IT is the opinion of some persons by no means deficient in good sense and respectability, that theatrical representations are injuri ous to the morals of a people. Imprest with this conviction they opposed the establishment of a theatre in this town, and now, in many instances, abstain from attending it. - Prejudices of this nature arise from a narrow education and ig norance of the world; since no civilized people ever existed, a mong whom the dramatick muse was not a distinguished favourite, whose smiles have been courted, and whose labours have been applauded by the best and wisest men of all nations.

It would be superfluous to recur to the sages of antiquity, and in form the reader, that Socrates and Cicero were in the habit of attending theatrical exhibitions, the latter of whom was bound by the closest ties of intimacy and affection to the celebrated Roscius. It might plausibly be objected, that these men, though virtuous and wise, were yet pagans, and consequently not obliged to lead the strict exemplary life which christianity requires. It ill becomes those, who have embraced the gospel, to encourage by their presence the idle amusements of a wicked world, and to sit listening for hours together, amidst a promiscuous crowd, to the studied humours and fictitious distresses of buffoons and mimicks. But if it can be shown, that the great teachers of christian morality, and defenders of christian doctrines, Vol. III. No. 4. Z

JOHNSON.

No. 8.

have not only attended, but written plays, it will follow, that theatres are by no means so dangerous as bigotry and ignorance apprehend. Addison, Young, and Johnson were not men, who would knowingly have encouraged immorality, or have lessened the influence of religion.

The first of these writers wrote in defence of revelation, and was not less distinguished by his piety than his literature. Since the invention of letters, no mortal author ever produced so wonderful an ef fect on the morals and manners of society. He brought philosophy from the libraries of the learned, and introduced her at the toilettes of ladies. During the publication of the Spectator, na tional improvement became visible, conversation took a more interesting and edifying turn, dulness and impertinence fled before the mighty magician, and even infidelity lost a portion of her audacity, and grew more modest and unassuming. Now this great sage not only attended plays, but in the immortal work alluded to, which was expressly written for the religious and moral improvement of a nation, frequently discusses theatrical subjects, and passes numerous encomiums on his contemporary dramatists. Nay, he wrote plays himself, and his tragedy of Cato, whilst it increased his reputation as a writer, in no respect diminished his authority as a moral and religious instructor.

Dr. Young was distinguished by a religious sensibility, which

bordered on enthusiasm. Yet christian and clergyman as he was, he thought it neither inconsistent with his profession, nor derogatory from his dignity, to write plays. His Revenge, one of the noblest productions in our language, will remain an everlasting monument of his genius, and will be read and acted as long as that language shall be understood.

If any man of the last century stands eminently high in his religious, moral, and literary char acter, that man is Dr. Samuel Johnson. This great moralist, notwithstanding the strictness of his principles, was fond of the drama, and was the intimate friend of David Garrick. He would probably have written many plays, had his Irene succeeded, but on the ill success of this piece turned his attention to other departments of literature.

Let none therefore, who do not surpass the moral and religious

worth of Addison, Young, and Johnson, inveigh against the inmoral tendency of dramatick exhibitions. The charge is not true at the present day, and were Jeremy Collier to rise from the grave, he might justly ridicule the insipidity, but could not truly arraign the morality of the modern drama. Unfounded censures of this nature ought to be confined to the monks of the cleister, or the fanaticks of the tabernacle. As Johnson expresses it in my motto, harmless mirth and salutary wo' are at present the innocent offspring of the theatre, and I have sometimes experienced as much edification from a good play as from a good sermon. But should the play chance to be some modern novelty, of no intrinsick worth, yet still I can derive much amusement from the talents of the more distinguished performers, the broad farce of Twaits, the chaster humour of Bernard, and the buskined dignity and electrifying energy of Cooper. C.

We sometimes meet in the world those pleasant originals, whose part here below seems intended to serve only for the amusement and instruction of their fellow creatures. I have just made an acquaintance with a being of this nature. His history might fill volumes; but as I have neither the time nor inclination to write, shall content myself with offering only a slight sketch of his charac

ter.

Giacomo Della Rocca was born in Italy on the banks of the Tiber, and not far distant from the most

teemed; in another all was dissimulation; this was composed only of speculators; that of proud supercilious nobles and as to all the others it was difficult to deter mine what they were. Though he had a choice, and though the forms of government were very various, yet S. Della Rocca, from these circumstances, was not more happy. Sole heir of an immense fortune, he was highly caressed by his parents, who,observing with anxiety the gloomy and discontented character of their son, proposed that he should travel.

But alas here was another embarrassment! what climate could find attractions for him who was born under the mild skies of Italy, in the bosom of that country, the nursery of the arts, on that fertile, favoured soil! He might indeed seek for other men in order to compare them with his fellow countrymen, to gain experience and knowledge of human nature; but to seek a country more blessed by the orb of day, more caressed by nature! .... this would be madBess. No matter; it is the wish of S. Della Rocca to travel it is indeed the only means of diverting his mind. His parents agree to it, and consent to the departure of their son.

To what country shall he go? This is not easy to decide upon. To England? There the weather is too cold, the atmosphere is thickened with fog; there they burn coal; the people are so independent, that they can insult you with impunity; in that country they live on flesh; a most horrible repast for S. Della Rocca. No, we will not go to England.

Shall we to the North? Then we should perish with cold. I will not hear of Scandinavia, Prussia is too military. In Germany there

is too much ceremony. The ice of the North is melancholy and danger. ous. The Helvetian is not polished enough. Batavia is a low marshy country. The air of Brabant is damp, thick, and unhealthy. In Turkey the women are condemned to seclusion, or only permitted to appear veiled. Poland is a flat,uniform country, and S. Della Rocca loves variety. All that might have determined him for this last country is, that his mother possessed a great estate there. But interest was not his inducement for travelling, and in this respect all countries were indifferent to him. Assailed by a thousand desires, he sees only a tiresome uniformity in the happiness he enjoyed: a mild, temperate climate was necessary to Gia como, where there was a variety of seasons; a land inhabited by amiable, lively, graceful, sensible women, and by men of an affability of manners, whose occupations were varied, and to whom the ennui of life was unknown. . . . . Behold then S. Della Rocca in the road to Paris.

However teeming with pleasures is this theatre of wonders, it is yet incompetent to fulfil the wishes of a madman, whose misfortune is an eternal desire of novelty. The women were not such as his imagination had painted them: there was to much assurance in their air; no modesty bowed down their heads; they possessed the talent of smiling,without the inclination; of being absent from design; of looking upon one object without perceiving it, only to contemplate another to which their eyes were not apparently directed; of listening, without hearing; of welcoming with kindness those, for whom they. felt only disgust; one held negli gently to her eye an opera glass, for which she had no need; an

other supported the gaze of the beholder with an air of ignorance that she was the object of contemplation, and, in order to shew a delicate hand, knew how to remove a lock of hair which in no way incommoded her; in short, the eyes of this one would have ap peared entirely lifeless,without the fire of voluptuousness, or the lightning of envy; and the red and white had replaced on her complexion the roses and lilies. He did not tell me under what aspect he beheld the men, or what he thought of them; all that I know is, that he soon embarked for America.

The war had just ceased, and the new world offered to the old a form of government which possibly might satisfy S. Della Rocca. But he carried also into this country his melancholy character. Life appeared to him only a moment, tediously prolonged; the air was always too thick or too sharp; the foliage had not variety enough of shades; the morning was scarcely different from the evening, and one day constantly resembled another. Besides,they might have formed much better laws at Philadelphia; the people had not sufficiently profited by their lessons of experience; they ought to have better consulted the manners and relations of the state. As to the country, it was in vain that the striking beauties of an immense view, varied by the luxuriant hand of nature, offered themselves to his eye. It was not for him that bloomed the enamel of the meadows, that the birds warbled their songs of melody, that the flowers exhaled their perfumes, or the rivulets meandered through verdant plains.

I shall not follow our discontented friend threugh all his travels,

and the reader will permit me to leave him to pay a visit, alone, to the East and West Indies, and to Africa, that he might there disapprove of whatever was done, blame all customs, all institutions, finding that the man of nature was too savage, and that civilized people were too far removed from nature.

After an absence of ten years, he returned to Europe; and arrived just at that period, when the division of Poland took place, three portions of which had been made without its consent. The estates of our traveller's mother, situated in a palatinate of the centre, were divided into three lots, and each of them confiscated; one by the empress of Russia, who was not enriched by it; another by the king of the Romans, who had no expectation of advantage from it; and the third by the king of Prus sia, who rendered justice only to his ancient subjects. Here certainly was sufficient to offend a far more gentle disposition than that of S. Della Rocca. But, by an inconceivable contradiction, he was only moderately affected by it, and as he saw nothing more than an abuse of the generality of institutions, and being most singuJarly whimsical, he consoled himself by arguments that would have discouraged any other being but himself. "Had I to contend with but one crowned head," said he to himself, "I would hazard a few remonstrances; but to complain to three different princes, one of whom might send me into Siberia, another imprison me, and the third make me a proposition to enter his army....I find that either of these rewards is not worth the trouble that I should give myself in obtaining them."Therefore he remained quiet.

This diminution of his fortune,

seemed to render him more reasonable. What was the cause of his reconciliation with mankind would have been for others a motive for renouncing all connexion with them. But he learns that the most powerful nation of the world has suddenly changed its government,and is desirous of giv ing itself new laws. Here is a fine opportunity for a visionary reformer of constitutions, in whose eyes all are bad or imperfect! S. Della Rocca suffers it not to escape, and behold him anew in the capital of this regenerated people. He mingles among schemers, he examines, he approves, he comments, he adopts. But the work, in which he has been assisting, is soon replaced by some other. His labour commences anew and this project has the fate of the first; that is to say, it is adopted, overthrown, and replaced.

Whilst he mingled in what did not concern him, those things which ought to have occupied him were disposed of without his knowledge. To be brief, his large fortune is annihilated. The blow had been felt as far as his native country, and his estates no longer belonged to him in consequence of a measure,about which it had been forgotten to ask his advice.

The result of this event, was, very happy,because it obliged him to call into exercise his resources and his talents to gain a subsistence. He soon contracted the habit of employment, and this habit dissipated the ennui, which till then had overwhelmed him. Every moment being occupied, there remained no time for him to blame, or, like too many other idlers, to regulate the state.

Having followed all the periods of the revolution of the country

that he inhabited, he had remarked that he had in no one of them discovered a single being contented with himself or with those around him. At first loud exclamations were uttered; then,frozen by terror, all where hushed to silence, and driven to concealment : was there a change, they inveighed against it; was it followed by another, they complained. At length order appeared on firm foundations, property was secured and respected, the adversary was deprived of the means of injuring, the inclination only remained to him. The fugitives were recalled, and the honest man retired to his evening's rest, without being tormented by the recollection of the past, or fear of the future. Very happily for S. Della Rocca, and without doubt for the people in the bosom of whom he lived, this new order of things coincided with his ideas. But what was his astonishment at the sight of these men, who had ardently desired the reestablishment of order, and of those, to whom it restored tranquillity! Some shook their heads, others shrugged their shoulders, a third appeared to suppress something even while he approved, a fourth spoke mysteri ously, and without explanation.

Impatient of these ifs and these ands, S. Della Rocca, having become a man of gallantry since he had inhabited a country famed for the reign of the fair sex, culti vated the society of the la dies. It was quite another thing! The old found not the French of the present day sufficiently gallant; the young complained of the reforms that were wished to be introduced among some very agreea, ble customs, that had come into vogue within the last seven or eight years.