Histrio-mastix The players scourge, or, actors tragædie, divided into two parts. Wherein it is largely evidenced, by divers arguments, by the concurring authorities and resolutions of sundry texts of Scripture ... That popular stage-playes ... are sinfull, heathenish, lewde, ungodly spectacles, and most pernicious corruptions; condemned in all ages, as intolerable mischiefes to churches, to republickes, to the manners, mindes, and soules of men. And that the profession of play-poets, of stage-players; together with the penning, acting, and frequenting of stage-playes, are unlawfull, infamous and misbeseeming Christians. All pretences to the contrary are here likewise fully answered; and the unlawfulnes of acting, of beholding academicall enterludes, briefly discussed; besides sundry other particulars concerning dancing, dicing, health-drinking, &c. of which the table will informe you. By William Prynne, an vtter-barrester of Lincolnes Inne.

SCENA SEPTIMA.

[ 2] SEcondly, as Stage-playes are thus unlawfull, in re∣gard of the womannishnesse, so likewise are they in respect of the costly gawdinesse, the immodest lascivi∣ousnesse, the fantastiqu•• strangenesse, the meretricious, effeminate lust-provoking fashions of that apparell wherein they are commonly acted and frequented: from whence I shall deduce this 22. Argument against Stage-playes.

Those Playes which are usually acted and frequented in over-costly effeminate,* 1.1 strange, meretricious, lust-exciting apparell, are questionlesse unseemely, yea unlawfull unto Christians.

But our ordinary Theatricall Enterludes, are for the most part acted and frequented in such apparell.

Therefore they are questionlesse unseemely, yea un∣lawfull unto Christians.

The Major is warranted not onely by Deut. 22.5. Isay 3.16. to 24. Zeph. 1.8. 2 King. 9.30. Prov. 7.10. Ier. 4.30. Ezech. 23.40, 41. Luk. 7.25. 1 Tim. 2.4, 10. 1 Pet. 3.3.

which condemne all such apparell, as unbeseeming Christians: But likewise by Tertullian, De Habitu Mu∣liebri, & De Cultu Faeminarum. lib. Philo Iudaeus, De Fortitu∣dine, lib. pag. 1005.1006. & De Mercede Meretricis non accipienda in ••acrarium. lib p. 1161.1162. By Clemens Alex∣andrinus Paedag. lib. 2. c. 10.12. & * 1.2 lib. 3. cap. 1. to 9.11. By Cyprian De Habitu Virginum. lib. By Ambros. De Instit. Virginis, & De Virginibus. lib. 3. By Basil. Ascetica. cap. 12. & Comment. in Esay. c. 3. By Nazienzen Oratio 27. p. 460. & Adversus Mulieres ambitiosius sese ornantes. p. 992, &c. which I would our plaistered pompous Iezeb••ls would peruse. By Cyrillus Alexandrinus in Hesaiam. lib. 1. c. 3. By Hierom. Epist. 7. c. 3. Epist. 8. c. 5.10. Epist. 10. c. 2.3. Epist. 16. c. 2. Epist. 23. & Adversus Iovinianum. c 9. By Chryso∣stome Hom. 31. in Matth. & Hom. 8. in 1 Tim. 2. By Au∣gustine De Doctrina Christiana. l. 4. c. 21. & Epist. 73. By Ful∣gentius Epist. 3. ad Probam. By Bernard, De Modo Vivendi Sermo 9. By Primasius, Ambrose, Sedulius, Remigius, Theo∣doret, Deda, Haymo, Rabanus Maurus, Theophylact, Oecu∣menius, Anselme, Glossa Ordinaris, Lyra, Master Iohn Calvin, Marlorat, Aretius, Danaeus, Mayer, Byfield, and most o∣ther Commentators, on the 1 Tim. 2.9. and on the 1 Pet. 3.3. By Alexander Alensis, Theologiae Sūma, pars 4. Quaest. 11. Artic. 2. sect. 4. Alexander Fabritius Destructorium vitio∣rum pars 6. c. 2. P. Q. Alvarus Pelagius De Planctu Ecslesiae. lib. 2. Artic. 76. fol. 250. Lydij Waldensia, pars 2. pag. 358. AEneas Sylvius. Epist. lib. 1. Epist. 166. Ioannes Fredericus, De Luxu Vestium. lib. By. Bishop Hooper, Bishop Babing∣ton•• Master Calvin, Perkins, Dod, Downbam, Brinsly, Lake, Elton, Williams, on the 7. Commandement, and sundry o∣ther Diuines in their Treatises of Apparell, Pride and Lux∣ury, and in their Expositions on Isay 3 and the fore-quoted Scriptures; who absolutely censure, the very ••se and wea∣ring of such apparell (much more the ordinary abuse of it in lasciuious Enterludes) as a 1.3 being the incendiary of lust, the

fomentation of pride, the occasion of adultery, the b 1.4 badge of in∣continency: concluding it, to be altogether unlawfull for chast, for sober Christians, and fit for none but Strumpets, c 1.5 who are commonly most compt in their attires, most gawdy and new-fangled in their clothes. Whence they d 1.6 applaud the Lacede∣monians law; that none but common prostituted Strumpets should weare any costly or glorious apparell; the better to deter all chaste and sober persons from it. A law which would well befit our Nation, our times, which * 1.7 Proteus-like are alwayes changing shape and fashion, and like the Moone, appeare from day to day in different formes.

The Minor is evident by experience; which findes an whole Wardrobe of all gawdy, pompous vestments; a confluence of all whorish, immodest, lust-provoking attires; a strange variety of all effeminate, lewde, fan∣tastique, outlandish apish fashions, (or disguises rather) at the Play-house; sufficient to excite a very hell of noy∣some lusts in the most mortified Actors and Spectators bowels: To this we may adde the verdict of the Fa∣thers, who censured the Playes in their times, even from the quality of the apparell in which they were acted. Witnes Clemens Alexandrinus; who as f 1.8 he reiects all costly immodest apparell, as fit for no place but the Stewes, or S••age: so he condemnes, not only g 1.9 Playes themselves; but even the g 1.10 delicacy, the effeminacy, the costlinesse and lust••ul∣nesse of that apparell wherein they were acted. Witnes h 1.11 Ter∣tullian, who writes; That in all Enterludes there is nothing

more scandalous, more pernicious, then the over-curious attire of men and women (both Actors and Spectators) which did blow up sparkes of lust. Witnes S. Chrysostome, who in∣formes vs, i 1.12 That the apparell used in Play-houses is most lewde, lascivious, filthy; whence he stiles it, Vestitus Sata∣ni••us, Satanicall array. Witnes k 1.13 Synesius who gives the title of Scenicus ornatus, to gawdie, new-fangled, swaggering apparell, because Players array was such. Witnes Theophilact, Oecumenius, Chrysostome, on the 1 Tim. 2.9. viz. In like manner also, that women adorne themselves in modest apparel; not with broidered haire, or gold, or costly attire; (a text which our English Ladies have long since forgotten, if not reiected, as savoring of Purita∣nisme and over-strict precisenesse;) where thus they write: That women must come to Church (and I would our frizled, pouldred, shorne, swaggering Lasses, l 1.14 who are never gawdier or compter then in Churches, would remem∣ber it) m 1.15 not with broidered haire, or gold, or costly attire; for they come there, to pray, not to dance. They come to crave the forgivenesse of their sinnes, and shall they then adorne themselves like comicall women, as if they were entring into a Play-house to act a part? Cut therefore from thee all this counterfeiting, circumcise from thee all this demeanour of the Stage and Players: for God is not mocked. These things are to be left to Players and Dancers, and to those who are conversant in the

Play-house: no such thing is sutable to a chaste and sober wo∣man. An unanswerable Argument, that lascivious dres∣ses, and rich immodest, new-fangled apparell misbe∣seeming Christians, were much in use in Playes and Play-houses. This n 1.16 Theodoret, o 1.17 Vopiscus, p 1.18 Ovid, q 1.19 Horace, r 1.20 Iuvenal, with s 1.21 sundry others testifie, of which you may reade more largely in the third and sixt Scene of this present Act. All which sufficiently evidence the truth of the Assumption; and so by consequence of the Conclusion too; which needs no further proofe to backe it.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Argument. 22.
• * 1.2

  Non est mu∣lieris sed mere∣tricis illud ni∣mium sui or∣nandi studium. Ibid c. 2. Mulie∣rem minim•• deceat tortos habere c••ines, & pectus suum nudare ne sui decoris & offi∣cij oblita vi∣deatur, &c. Indignum est enim mulieres Christianas, quas decet cum verecundia & sobrietate or∣natus, pietatem per bona opera profiteri, mere∣tricio more in∣to••tis crinibus nudatis capi••i∣bus & pectore, se velu•• nundi∣na••itias populo exponere. Ideo non tan••ū vir∣gines sed e••iam mulieres intor∣tis crinibus, ac nisi velatis ca∣pitibus ac pe∣ctore (po••issi∣mū in E••clesi••) incedere pro∣hibemus, &c. Syn••dus Tur••nica. An 1583. Apud Boch••llū. Decreta Eccle. Gal. l. 6. Tit. 9. c. 11. Vid. Concil Bitur. 1584. Ibid. c. 12.
• a 1.3

  See My Vnlovelinesse of Love-locks. p. 49. to 58.
• b 1.4

  Non de inte∣gra conscientia venit studium placēdi per de∣corē, quē natu∣raliter invita∣••orē libidinis scimus. Textul. De Cultu Faemi∣narum. cap. 2.
• c 1.5

  Ornamētorū insignia & leno cinia fucorum, non nisi prosti∣tutis & impu∣dicis faeminis congruit; & nullarum ferè praeciosior cul∣tus est, quàam quarum pudor vilis est. Cyp••ian De Habitu Vir∣ginum. lib.
• d 1.6

  Laudo ego & admiror vete∣rum Lacedae∣moniorum ci∣vitatem, quae solis meretri∣cibus floridas vestes & aurū mundū gestare permisit, à probis mulieribus mundi studium auferens, quod solis meretricibus se ornare concederet. Clemens Alexandr. Paedag. l. 2. c. 10. See Athenaeus Dipnos. lib. 12. cap. 6.
• * 1.7

  See Purcha•• Pilgr. c. 26.27, 51.
• f 1.8

  Paedag. l. 2. c. 10. & l. 3. c. 2.3.11.
• g 1.9

  Paedag. l. 2. c. 11.
• g 1.10

  Fractis quidem & enervatis his saltatoribus, qui cynaedicam turpitudinē mutam in scenam transferunt, vestem cum tanto dedecore diffluentiū despicantibus, quibus exquisitae vestes, fimbriarū{que} dilationes, & curiosi figurarū numeri, illiberalē ac sor∣didā syrmatū mollitiem indicant. Vestes autem quae sunt floribus similes Bacchicis nugis, & initiorū mysterijs relinquendae sunt: deinde verò purpura & vasa argentea, sunt, ut dicit Comicus, Tragaedis, & non vitae utilia, &c. Paedag. l. 2. c. 10.
• h 1.11

  Imo in omni spectaculo nullum magis scandalum occurret, quàm ipse ille virorum ac mulierum accuratior cultus, scintillas libidinum constabellans. De Specta∣culis•• cap. ••5.
• i 1.12

  Cu••cta sim∣pliciter quae ibi fiunt turpissima sunt, verba, ve∣stitus, &c. om∣nia inquā turpi lascivia plena sunt. Hom. 38. in Mat••h Tom. 2. ••ol. 298. C.D.
• k 1.13

  De Regno. l. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 5. pars 1. pag. 49. F.
• l 1.14

  Vt candida••ae templa ••ubean•• dant operā di∣ligenter ema∣culatis amictae vestibus, men∣tem vero ma∣culosam in ipsa sacraria peni∣tissima inferre non verentur. P••ilo Iudaus De Cherubin. p. 175. Prope periculosius est lascivis puellis, ad loca religionis, qu••m in publicum proce∣dere. Heirom Epist. 8. cap. 10.
• m 1.15

  Non intortis crinibus, &c. Venit enim ut oret, non ut tripudiet; Venisti petitura peccatorum remissionem, at tanquam scenam sis in∣gressura comica mulier, te exornas? Theophilact. Ibid. Non intortis crinibus. Non enim in Thea••rum, inquit, venisti, sed ut peccata tua defleres: non est autem pre∣ciositàs supplex habitus, ne{que} lugentis peccata, est ornamenti in te arrogantia. Quod si haec prohibuit quae divitias tantum ostendunt, multô magis curiosa ac perversa, veluti sunt insectiones genarum, picturae oculorū, perfractus incessus, mere••••icius tuniculae amictus, Zona curiosior, calcei distracti, sive disscissi. Nam haec omnia, in eo quod dixit, In amictu decenti. O••cumenius Ibid. Non in tortis crinibus, &c. Am∣puta omnem e••usmodi simulationem, circumcide abs te omnem illum scenae atque histrionum gestum. Deus enim non irridetur. Ista mimis & saltatoribus, & his qui in scena vertantur, relinquenda sunt: sobriae atque ornatae mulieri, nihil tale con∣gruit. Chrysost. Hom. 8. in 1 Tim 2. Tom. 4. Col. 1348. A. vid. Ibidem.
• n 1.16

  Ecclesiast. Hist. l 2. c. 27. Tō. 2. p. 175. H.
• o 1.17

  Fl. Vopisci. Carinus p. 449.
• p 1.18

  Spectatum ve∣niunt, veniunt ipectentur ut ipsae, &c. De Arte Amandi. lib. 1.
• q 1.19

  Mox traliitur manibus regum fortum retortis, Esseda festināt, pilenta, petorrita, naves; Captiuum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus, Divitiae{que} pe∣regrinae Epist. l 2. Epist. 1. p. 284.
• r 1.20

  AEqualis habitus illic, similemq, videbis, Orche∣stram & populū: Hic ultra vires habitus inter: hic aliquid plus quam satis est, &c. Satyr. 3. p. 23.
• s 1.21

  Plutarchus De tarda Dei vindict. lib. Pollux, lib 4 cap. 18. Sidonius, lib. 2. Epist. 2, Bulingerus, De Theatro, lib. 1. cap. 56. D. Hackwels Apologie, lib. 4. c. 8. se••t. 34.