Queen Anne did not suspend the plays, but she issued an edict for the better regulation of the theatres. With a view to abolishing abuses and indecencies, it was commanded--
“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; that no woman be allowed or presume to wear a vizard mask in either of the theatres,”[58]
It was customary in the days of Charles II. for ladies to go to the theatre masked, the presumption being that the language of the plays was so coarse that no woman could sit and hear them in mixed company with her face uncovered. But it was a practice that was liable to lead to all sorts of disorders. Under the disguise of the mask women of all degrees accosted strangers, and there were always men ready enough to avail themselves of the general licence as to behaviour. Ladies then sat in the pit, which, after the boxes, was the most aristocratic portion of the house, for which the prices ranged from 2_s._ 6_d._ to 4_s._ in the money of that period.
The custom of having women to act was introduced from the Continent, where it had long prevailed. At the time when Corneille’s plays were constantly being acted, about 1633, there were a good many actresses on the French stage. There was much dramatic activity in Paris at that time. The French were very eager playgoers, and when a tragedy having, for its subject the story of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn was produced, there was such a rush to see the piece that four doorkeepers were crushed to death on the first night, greatly to the pride and delight of the author, Jean Puget de la Serre, who exclaimed with triumph: “Voilà ce qu’on appelle de bonnes pièces.” In his exultation he declared he would not yield the palm to Corneille, until his great contemporary had caused _five_ doorkeepers to be killed in one day.
In the prevailing state of easy morals in the England of the Restoration the appearance of actresses was an incentive to licence, and every advantage was taken of the innovation by the court gallants. The actresses were probably no worse than many of the ladies in the audience, but their mere existence gave occasion for evil. Evelyn, whose code of morals and taste were too high for that period, says, in 1666, that he hardly ever goes to the theatres--