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Untitled Article
which they dare not use , who adopt pursuits thoroughly unfitted for . them ; who with a well meant but mistaken notion of duty , live a life of continual sacrifice i In the church , in the law , in many other vocations , we see those , whose struggling existence is the effect of all this—who should have been actors , artists , or musicians ; when they would , in pursuing their own pleasure , have
been increasing the pleasure and improvement of others , in a far higher degree , than a forced acquiescence in duty could ever produce . And why is all this ? because of the world j what world ? Not the beautiful , bounteous world , which the beneficent Creator has given freely to all so richly to enjoy—not the world of feeling from which man ' s heart , like an urn , is filled over and over again , till the precious vessel be broken by his own rough usage , or the
carelessness of another—not the world of true charity , which * thinketh no evil , ' but would fain seek the * good' which is to be found « in everything . ' No!—it is the timid , the cold 5 the evilspeaking world , which too often checks , chills , and withers the fairest flowers of our life , and changes the moral garden of
man ' s mind into a barren waste ! Let us not be supposed to impute unchristian motives to all who , like the writer of the letter in * The Record , ' utter strongly their disapprobation of the cause for which we are so earnest . We know and honour many who differ from us , and will go with them , in deprecating the shameful abuses that do exist in our theatres—but no further .
We will not impute evil when no evil exists , —we will not argue that , because some things are bad , all is bad , —and that when things are imperfect , there can be no progression . That the stage has improved , all will allow , and that it is capable of such improvement is a great argument in its favour . And how much more might be achieved were all parties to unite in promoting the fulfilment of its utmost capability , and raising it to the glorious height it might attain ! Were dramatic authors , instead of
catering to the taste of the public , which they should warily lead , not servilely follow , to bring their noblest powers to the task , thinking more of the deathless fame of the poet , than the present fulness of the purse—were actors to prune themselves to their highest strength , loving the art for the sake of its power for good , more than for the short-lived applause which it gains for them —were the audience to endeavour , by individual control , to purify the theatre from those abuses which too often exist within its
walls—then would the drama become what it ought and will become , one of the highest means for promoting the virtue and happiness of mankind . Then would the weapon be dropped from the hand of the enemy . But now the continual war that is waged against it , prevents its being filled with that virtue and talent , * which would benefit , by its example , the hearts and minds of all who looked upon it . How is the stage to become pure while the outcry is kept up ? The moment an actress treads the boards
Untitled Article
40 B Archdeacon Glover and the Bottle . Imp .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/48/
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