The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1821-03-01
From the Boston Daily Advertiser.

4 MIR. HALE nave request 10 make Oh lhe
managers Of the theatre, rather some advice
to offer them, and | do il through your paper,
because If my reasons are sound and my objects
right, would call upon the public to sanction
aud enforce them.
! 1 have often beard of late, and with great
pleasure, many gentlemen complain OF evil,
| which they thinA " it'll me, might be easily rem
| edied, and should therefore no longer be borne.
| | mean SIR, the gross indeli acy, the licentous
ailnsions aud expressions, the open and obtrasiye
Ii4purity with which most of the acting plays nd
| asaespiscss tilied. u carry 20 the theatre
our wives, cur daughters, our sisters, aud see
them compelled ia almost every scene, 10 leok
upon their psybll, or their handkerchief, or any
thing else, rather than seem 10 listen TO the inis-
nous and disgusting language which they cannot
choose but hear | should be sorry u have aEnong
my acquaintance a lady who would tell me she
had sat through nights entertainment, without
feeling her taste and her celcacy offended and
! insulted. Few believe would have the hardI-
hood TO say this.
Obscenity is not wit. and vulgsrity is not hu-
mour. And ii is rather pity that the comfort
OF those who know and feel this, should be sacr-
/ feed to the gross and vulgar pleasure Of those
who d. not. But if the harm stopped here II IL
ceased when the curtain fell, and nore oft went
home with the auditors. might De met with the
reply, that none need 20 70 the theatre but those
who choose. But sir, the evil is not of 50 tran
sient nature il is impossible that any Of either
sex should hear so much Of this vile ribaldry and
such constant allusions to every species Of ude-
| cency and vice, repeated night after night, with
| out having their hearts in some degree tainted.
II i idle to talk Of purity Of principle which
| cannot be 'suliied; Of rectItude OF thought
feeling and purpose which cannot be perverted
sir there IS no such thing, il there ID, surely
IT Is not Zoe expected al that period Of life when
these amusements are enjoyed most keenly dive Ii
| upon most fondly, and remembered most dis
| tinctly. We see the boxes filled with pure and
innocent beings, just emerging from childhood,
with hearts opening to receive all the ideas and
| feelings OF youth, and in whom therefore this
poison may work with most fatal activity. You
might as ely cast into the furnace and
T! expect it keep cold and white while flames
are around and upon it, as hope that their purity
will be unsuIled by the poliuting expressions
| and alluson they hear at the theatre. 1t would
be but sorry exchange TO give up the innocence
I OF ignorance for this early initiation into the
] knowledge of all impurIty and vice f; this would
/ De bad enough, but TO make it worse, these dis
gusting scenes and expressions are 20 strongly
| associated with their most delightful amusen ents
| that they can hardly be severed IN their recol-
| lection.
4 nope 60 not make 100 muCn OF THIS matter
| 1t is surely important enough to be thought OF
and talked about and acteG upon. | hope too
that ] do not say too much when | call upon
every father or brother who takes with him to
the theatre his young and innocent daughter or
| sister, to remember that her life is Just coming
| into flower and to beware how he casts upon its
expanding beauty an inefaceable and whitening
! stain.
! do not imagine that any thing which have
| said will be denied it is all too clear, too evi
dent; but it may be said that this i. an irremed-
| liable evil, and therefore should submit to il
patiently. This is not true; and shall in an
other paper give some 81 the reasons aud facts
which have convinced me that it is an abuse,
which need not and should not longer be tolera
ted. T.
| BosToN, FEB. "a.
| Theatrical Novely.-To prevent the riotou:
| scenes which have disturbed the peace of the
town in the vicinity of the theatre for several
days and nights past, in efforts 10 forestal Tickets
| the Managers directed that the box tickets d
| the whole lower tier, and fourteen Of the second
row next to the stage, for last evening to be sold
| at Public Auction.
0rThc Premium p0id for B0res at the sal.
| of Theatre Tickets yesterday, amounted to $500
| 50.-This sum, after deducting atriaing expense
attending the sale, will be given to the Trustee
of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
GFThe premium on the sale OF tickets, thi
| day, amounted to fire hundred and sirty hre
dollars and is 10 be given to tie Boston nispen
sary.
From Bell's Weekly Messenger of Dec. %.
! Baron Scharf-On the 28th November ar
rived at the hospital of Sirasburg sort Q
pIapquin accompanied by gens-d'aTmes, il
which lay man Of about forty years q age
II appears from his papers that he J. Baror
| Schars, formerly Leutenant Colonel 10 the
service Of Russia. He scales, that IN the late
war against the TuTkes, he had the misfortune
TO have been taken prisoner, and thrown
with thirty of bIs companions, into small
dungeon that shortly after body oiexecu
TONERS. attended by soldiers, entered anc
rnutlated al the prisoners ~ the most crUe
manner Onl, himself and two of bis com
rades survived their wounds. All the res
bled to death. Baron SchsH remained four
teen yeas in this dungeon. lie was al length
put on board French ship which landed blu
last autumn al Marseilles. From lieHce he
was carried from hrigaGc 10 brigade, accom-
panied hv grnsd 'arInes, IA q carriage con
strucIed puFposeiy for hisn. This unfortunate
man lies constantly Cd hi back, aud 4 So
able 10 take any other position. lis limb
n