The clergy saw with dismay that their own congregations
were thin and listless, while crowded and excited audiences rewarded
the exertions of the players. Mr. Stockwood, declining to discuss
whether plays were or not wholly unlawful, yet protested with good
reason that in a Christian commonwealth they were intolerable on the
seventh day, and exclaimed against the "horrible profanity" and
"devilish inventions" of the lords of misrule, morrice, and May-day
dancers, whom he accused of tripping about the church, even during the
hours of service, and of figuring in costumes which, by their texture
and scantiness, outraged ordinary notions of decency.
But notwithstanding this old-established opposition to the theatres on
the part of both Churchmen and Puritans, and the severe oppression of
the players by the authorities, it is yet indisputable that the
English were essentially a playgoing people; proud, as well they might
be, of the fact that they possessed the finest drama and the best
actors in the world. And, allowing for the licence and grossness which
the times permitted if they did not encourage, and a certain liberty
of speech and action allowed time out of mind to the clowns of the
stage, the drama suppressed by the Puritans was of sound and wholesome
constitution, rich in poetry of the noblest class.
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