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the Drama had never like to have fall’n, but that and Liberty ſtumbled almoſt together.
In the time of the late Civil Wars, when the Bigotry of Hypocritical Zeal had once ſuppreſs’d our Theatres, a Military Government ſoon follow’d, which is the worſt of Slaveries.
And when in the Reign of King Charles II, upon the breaking out of the Popiſh Plot, the Theatres were both abandon’d, it was not long before all the Charters were ſurrender’d.
And yet tho’ the Reformation and Liberty and the Drama were eſtabliſh’d among us together, and have flouriſh’d among us together, and have ſtill been like to have fall’n together; notwithſtanding all this, at this preſent Juncture, when Liberty, and the Reformation are in the utmoſt Danger, we are going very bravely to oppreſs the Drama, in order to eſtabliſh the luxurious Diverſions of thoſe very Nations, from whoſe Attempts and Deſigns both Liberty and the Reformation are in the utmoſt Danger.
That ſo unhappy a Change will be as little conducive to the Glory of England, as it will be to its Intereſt, is not in the leaſt to be doubted; for what muſt thoſe Strangers ſay who arrive among us, if they have any taſte, when they behold a People ſo lofty, ſo fierce, and formerly ſo famous for their Contempt of Foreign Manners, forgetting their old Pride to ſo ſtrange a degree, that very Pride by which they have ſo long maintain’d their Liberties, to imitate the prodigious Luxury of Italy with an awkward and vile Imitation, and ſome Men of the greateſt Parts in the Kingdom, applauding and encouraging that vile Imitation with all their Induſtry and all their Diligence, and in order to that diſcountenancing inſtructive Comedy, in which the En-
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