IMMORALITY IN RESTORATION THEATER.


The London Gazette, numb. 3474. London: Edw. Jones, in the Savoy, [February 27], 1698. Double-sided broadsheet, 290 x 170 mm. Leaf disbound, some creasing and toning overall.The first column reports of an order from the King "to prevent the Prophaneness and Immorality of the State; several Plays have lately been Acted, containing Expressions contrary to Religion, and good Manners ... These are therefore to signify His Majesty's Pleasure, That you do not hereafter presume to Act any thing in any Play contrary to Religion or good Manners, as you shall answer it at your utmost Peril."This reportage predates by only a few weeks the publication of Jeremy Collier's A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage, an attack on the leading playwrights of the period, including William Wycherly, John Donne, and William Congreve, among others, accusing them of profanity, blasphemy, indecency, and inciting vice. Collier's screed launched a "pamphlet war"—an argument over the deleterious effects of theater on morals—between playwrights and critics that lasted for nearly 30 years.