were form'd of ", the vindicator said, "I'm sorry the gentleman who writ this speech of Amanda's is not here to defend himself; but he being gone away with the Czar, who has made him Poet Laureate of Muscovy &c.", on the principle, no doubt, of answering a fool according to his folly.

Yet Vanbrugh did his best to engage Collier seriously. The divine had laid down that "The business of plays is to recommend virtue and discountenance vice". Vanbrugh had thought it was to counteract the depressing effect of wives and taxes, and to get full houses; but since everybody seemed to admit the truth of that part of Collier's argument, he too must rank himself upon the side of the angels. A little thought made it quite plain that The Relapse was a tract. Was not its second title Virtue in Danger? Slowly he developed the theme that he had been moved to write this play entirely by the touching and satisfactory conclusion of Love's Last Shift. He yearned for the happy couple to remain happy; it would be heartbreaking to think of further conjugal misunderstandings. But on the other hand, they must not live in a fool's paradise. Over confidence might bring temptations. And it was solely to warn them against these temptations, out of a sheer desire for good, that The Relapse had been written. Of course the object of plays was to recommend virtue, but how can one discountenance vice without portraying it? "For the business of comedy is to show people what they should do, by representing them on the stage doing what they should not." Could any reply be simpler, more triumphant than that?

We need not farther follow this conflict, at once so entertaining and so sad, in which feelings were screwed up to the height of bitterness, and men of intellect failed

to answer fools. A host of scribblers sided with Collier against Congreve, and the parson, not content to look on with his sleek smile and supercilious glance, once more rushed into the fray with A Defence of the Short View. Like his opponents, he got in a few shrewd side blows, but they did nothing to better his case. Indeed, it needed no bettering, for it was already judged. When art and morality are forcibly made bed-fellows, it is usually art that has to yield the place. Certainly on this occasion morality remained in the bed, its pillow smoothed by Addison and Steele, its quilt arranged by Cibber. And as for art, it sought refuge first in the satires of Pope and Swift, and then in the novel. But the result was not brought about all at once. Numbers of pamphlets, signed or anonymous, whitened the booksellers' stalls with their idle leaves, and Dryden wrote a few scathing lines in prologues and epilogues. On the one hand sprung up The Society for the Reformation of Manners, while on the other there appeared in 1699 a timid little sheet modestly showing that swearing and references to child-bearing really had been heard upon the stage before

the Restoration.

The controversy rumbled on through the eighteenth century, Dr. Blair declaring that the immorality of The Provok'd Wife "ought to explode it out of decent society", while William Law in 1726,2 and later the Reverend Doctor John Witherspoon, not so sure of the ballistic qualities of vice, declared the stage an altogether unchristian amusement. But the immediate battle was not confined to words. In November 1701 information was brought against twelve of the players, including Mrs.

I See Aitken's Life of Steele.

2 For an example see Gibbon's Memoirs of my Life and Writings, World's Classics, p. 16.

Barry, Mrs. Bracegirdle, Mr. Betterton, and Mr. Verbruggen, "for using indecent expressions in some late plays, particularly The Provok'd Wife", Betterton and Mrs. Barry being actually fined. Yet these measures were not altogether efficacious in cleansing the heart of the people of London, for as late as about 1706 the author of Hell upon Earth, or the Language of the Playhouse, confessed that a public was still attracted by 'horrid comedies '. "The more they have been exposed by f Mr. Collier and others ", he lamented, "the more they seem to be admir'd."3 Nevertheless, at the time of Queen Anne's accession the attacks of vexatious busybodies grew so fierce as to endanger the very existence of the theatre, and the Queen herself found it advisable to interfere. She placed the licensing of public shows entirely in the hands of the Master of the Revels, forbade the wearing of masks, and enjoined that "no Person of what Quality soever, Presume to go Behind the Scenes, or come upon the Stage, either before or during the Acting of Any Play". For which signal service to the drama, though one which must have interfered not a little with the activities of some of the peers, she received the thanks of the Lords.4

1 Luttrell V. iii, 20th November 1701.

3 Quoted by Ward.

4 Ashton, II. xxv, from Luttrell, 20th January 1704.

2 Baker.

3

The Kit-Cat

THE rapidity and ease with which Vanbrugh now mounted the steps of Parnassus is, among other things, to be accounted to the excellence of Christopher Catling's pies, and to the sharpness of Jacob Tonson's nose. That organ could smell out not only rich meats, but enriching copy; and if a man was well-bred and good-humoured, had no inconvenient views on the Revolution Settlement, and seemed likely to write saleable matter, he was almost sure to become a member of the Kit-Cat Club, of which the publisher was the father and president.

Jacob Tonson was possessed of one of those sinewy natures for which men feel either a great liking, or a profound, unreasoning antipathy. At this time success had not yet mellowed him enough to earn for him Pope's affectionate title of ' genial Jacob', and the shrewdness of his look, combined with a malformation that gave him the nickname of 'left-legged', made upon many an unpleasant impression. Business came first with him, and although he had some reputation for gallantry, he was able to suppress the promptings of his heart, even when it came to dealing with so famous, beautiful, and witty a lady as Mrs. Aphra Behn. He was credited with a haughty temper, so much so that Dryden was afraid to be left alone with him when verses were overdue, and took his revenge by describing him

With leering looks, bull-faced and freckled fair;
With two left legs, and Judas coloured hair,
And frowzy pores that taint the ambient air.3

Summers, Introduction to edition of Behn: Letter.

2

Johnson's Dryden.

3 Scott's Dryden; also Faction Display'd.