In this respect the _Stage_ is faulty to a Scandalous degree of Nauseousness and Aggravation. For
_1st._ The _Poets_ make _Women_ speak Smuttily. Of This the Places before mention'd are sufficient Evidence: And if there was occasion they might be Multiplyed to a much greater Number: Indeed the _Comedies_ are seldom clear of these Blemishes: And sometimes you have them in _Tragedy_. For Instance. The _Orphans Monimia_ makes a very improper Description; And the Royal _Leonora_ in the _Spanish Friar_, runs a strange Length in the History of Love _p._ 50. And, do Princesses use to make their Reports with such fulsom Freedoms? Certainly this _Leonora_ was the first Queen of her Family. Such raptures are too Lascivious for _Joan_ of _Naples_. Are these the _Tender Things_ Mr. _Dryden_ says the Ladys call on him for? I suppose he means the _Ladys_ that are too Modest to show their Faces in the _Pit_. This Entertainment can be fairly design'd for none but such. Indeed it hits their Palate exactly. It regales their Lewdness, graces their Character, and keeps up their Spirits for their Vocation: Now to bring Women under such Misbehaviour is Violence to their Native Modesty, and a Mispresentation of their Sex. For Modesty as Mr. _Rapin_[1] observes, is the _Character_ of Women. To represent them without this Quality, is to make Monsters of them, and throw them out of their Kind. _Euripides_, who was no negligent Observer of Humane Nature, is always careful of this Decorum. Thus _Phædra_[2] when possess'd with an infamous Passion, takes all imaginable pains to conceal it. She is as regular and reserv'd in her Language as the most virtuous Matron. 'Tis true, the force of Shame and Desire; The Scandal of Satisfying, and the difficulty of parting with her Inclinations, disorder her to Distraction. However, her Frensy is not Lewd; She keeps her Modesty even after She has lost her Wits. Had _Shakespear_ secur'd this point for his young Virgin _Ophelia_,[3] the _Play_ had been better contriv'd. Since he was resolv'd to drown the Lady like a Kitten, he should have set her a swimming a little sooner. To keep her alive only to sully her Reputation, and discover the Rankness of her Breath, was very Cruel. But it may be said the Freedoms of Distraction go for nothing, a Feavour has no Faults, and a Man _non Compos_, may kill without Murther. It may be so: But then such People ought to be kept in dark Rooms and without Company. To shew them, or let them loose, is somewhat unreasonable. But after all, the Modern _Stage_ seems to depend upon this Expedient. Women are sometimes represented _Silly_, and sometimes _Mad_, to enlarge their Liberty, and screen their Impudence from Censure: This Politick Contrivance we have in _Marcella_,[4] _Hoyden_,[5] and Miss _Prue_.[6] However it amounts to this Confession; that Women when they have their Understandings about them ought to converse otherwise. In fine; Modesty is the distinguishing Vertue of that Sex, and serves both for Ornament and Defence: Modesty was design'd by Providence as a Guard to Virtue; And that it might be always at Hand, 'tis wrought into the Mechanism of the Body. 'Tis likewise proportioned to the occasions of Life, and strongest in Youth when Passion is so too. 'Tis a Quality as true to Innocence, as the Sences are to Health; whatever is ungrateful to the first, is prejudicial to the latter. The Enemy no sooner approaches, but the Blood rises in Opposition, and looks Defyance to an Indecency. It supplys the room of Reasoning, and Collection: Intuitive Knowledge can scarcely make a quicker Impression; And what then can be a surer Guide to the Unexperienced? It teaches by suddain Instinct and Aversion; This is both a ready and a powerful Method of instruction. The Tumult of the Blood and Spirits, and the Uneasiness of the Sensation, are of singular Use. They serve to awaken Reason, and prevent surprize. Thus the Distinctions of Good and Evil are refresh'd, and the Temptation kept at proper Distance.