was then so fresh in people's memory, was an object too
horribly impious for a public entertainment;" and, accordingly, the
courtly poet Waller occupied himself in altering the catastrophe of
the story, so as to save the life of the king. Another opinion
prevailed, to the effect that the murder accomplished by the heroine
Evadne offered "a dangerous example to other Evadnes then shining at
court in the same rank of royal distinction." In the same reign also,
Nat Lee's tragedy of "Lucius Junius Brutus," "was silenced after three
performances;" it being objected that the plan and sentiments of it
had too boldly vindicated, and might inflame, Republican principles. A
prologue, by Dryden, to "The Prophetess," was prohibited, on account
of certain "familiar metaphorical sneers at the Revolution" it was
supposed to contain, at a time when King William was prosecuting the
war in Ireland. Bank's tragedy of "Mary, Queen of Scotland," was
withheld from the stage for twenty years, owing to "the profound
penetration of the Master of the Revels, who saw political spectres in
it that never appeared in the presentation.
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