A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage. Together with: Essays Upon Several Moral Subjects. In Two Parts.

A Short View 1698

Bound in contemporary blind stamped calf, Cambridge Style. Re-backed to style with six panels and five raised blind ruled bands. A red leather hand-stamped lettering piece in the second compartment from the top. Boards a bit scuffed with corners starting. Contemporary endpapers retained. 19^th C label for James R Ferguson.

Internally the pages are generally clean with no watermarks. A bit of foxing and the odd stain but generally very good.

The volume measures 20 x 12.5 x 3 cm. Each leaf measures 194 x 115 mm.

Essays Upon 1698

Bound in full contemporary blind stamped calf. The boards a bit scuffed with the corners bent. A rather attractive blind stamp in black design on the boards. The spine in five gilt lined compartments with four raised bands. With a red lettering piece in the second compartment from the top. The spine cracked in the middle affecting the label, but the cords quite sound and holding firm.

Scrap 16^th C. text pasted to front and rear board, contemporary endpapers. Internally very good to near fine with very faint foxing throughout.

The volume measures 19.2 x 12 x 5 cm. Each leaf measures 185 x 113 mm.

Per Wikipedia: Jeremy Collier (1650 – 1726) was an English theatre critic, non-juror bishop and theologian.

Collier Controversy

In the history of English drama, Collier is known for his anti-theatrical attack on the comedy of the 1690s in his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698), which draws for its ammunition mostly on the plays of William Congreve, John Vanbrugh, John Dryden, and Thomas D’Urfey. At the start of the English Civil War (1642) theatres were closed and in 1647 a law was passed to punish anyone who participated in or viewed drama. After the war, and during the English Interregnum, the Puritans, under Oliver Cromwell, had control of most of the English government. They placed heavy restrictions on entertainment and entertainment venues that were perceived as being pagan or immoral. In the English Restoration (1660), playwrights reacted against the Puritanical restrictions with much more decadent plays. The plays produced in the Restoration drew comparisons to the great Elizabethan dramas by critics of the day. However, these plays were considered vulgar because they mocked and disrespected marriage, morals, and the clergy. Furthermore, King Charles II allowed women to act on stage; some of the first actresses were of ill-repute. Collier’s pamphlets sought to stem the spread of vice but turned out to be the sparks that kindled a controversial flame between like-minded Puritans and Restoration dramatists.

Collier devotes nearly 300 pages to decry what he perceived as profanity and moral degeneration in the stage productions of the era. This ranged from general attacks on the morality of Restoration theatre to very specific indictments of playwrights of the day. Collier argued that a venue as influential as the theatre—it was believed then that the theatre should be providing moral instruction—should not have content that is morally detrimental. These pamphlets began a pamphlet war between Collier and some playwrights like Vanbrugh. Many of the playwrights responded with equally vehement attacks, but some were so deeply affected, they withdrew from theatre permanently or substantially changed their approach to writing comedies, Congreve amongst them.

Aftermath

Although the theatre styles of the Restoration lasted a while even after Collier’s pamphlets, a new and more restrained theatre began to develop due, in part, to Collier’s critiques. Due to the strict morals of the Puritans as well as others such as Collier, neo classism drama began to emerge even while Restoration drama was still flourishing. During Collier’s time, Societies for the Reformation of Manners dedicated themselves to maintaining honour in playhouses.