, 1866-02-23
THE MORAL DRAMA.
True aud False Compared.

True aud False Compared.
Modern playwuchta, unsa!Isfied With the yattous
form. Of tt1cedy, comedy, melo drama, farce bur.
leta ctc, into which p1ays have in ttmes pa.t been
chased, have discovered two new headings for The
classification Of their most feeble hantlpes-1h
asenrauonal" " and the umosalf drama To tbe
frst Of these we have already devoted little atten-
tion, and the second deserves GONE consideration
and nnalyffe, which we now propose to briefly c1ye.
The '' sensational" play Il conlcssed]y Of rrade
lover than tie melo-dramatic, and is ot it-elf
though very noisy, not so otensiyely obtrneive as
he .ist Ss9fP'ioasX n ~ nd Ply
ycaInlns alter edeca and my 81 spologized for as
nothlpE more than m hgE1ayatou Of corrupt IA .te
,', e, dfansis ast9n-bSt he phi. In ad-
guilty in practically insulting every bctier thinr
which has gone before or VII come After IL BY is
PsaIas.saeA pfste1ee Of morality" 1t eioaks the
hioeons deformiues, and i shielded ID ereat
~ asure from attack People hesitate to attack a
thtng = Which y even only nomins!ly .mofnl'' for
portion Of the public, many OF whom are
met. met my mSthic ehslaeies as higher than
play, eye1J play which lives or Ia worth liyinE ft
in reality. moral play-tat Is, 1t teaches Lesson
Of the hideousnees Of vice and the beauty Of y7rtuc
and T. proportion as Ibis lesson Is made fotciblc
OF othcfWite, The dramatat ha8 been successful or
the revcrte- II is Impossible for aug one to po,nt
ont play which has been popular, and which great
likely to live, which has not been Of ,uoral char
ae1eE. The passions which sway men to the com
mission Of great Deeds either evil OF good-wntrh
eelses. but of thosc who tuzruuul them, have Iii
necessarily been made the basis for dram,tic
works. The Judgment which just Providence
t.. inst avar1oe and hypocrisy, and he hlcs-ine
and Triumph which finally crown houcsty, fde,ity.
tueot1uptihtly and yiFtuc ere efories which genius
has clothed ~ garments Of immortal beauty, and
placed upon the Stage In such form that teif ua-
cnce over tnens hearts must ever remain more DOW
eItnf than In any other.
10 be moral one, be called 60, and have bvmiIy
lacked TO Its conclusion like the well meant and
badly written little books with which most Sunday
School nbrnres are flooded. II good one, it tells
Ii indicative Of lbe evil Or The good which consti.
tutea the character Of the speaker and The mot1yes
psys ees he xeEea doa{ss e nd
Toes Al very .rae, but shas does not prevent he he
Sometimes. The drama1i.t smlnb:y rro7ms ii. ch,ef
yllniD. but ncycr Ii vice allowed finally to TRIUMPH
Such scfnlt would he at variance wIh every bciIcr
phketop and feeling IN the hearts Of the auditors
and ptay which would present euch IN innovation
were produced ihe1e IL no thea,re-psoperly 70 al-
condemnation Of my class OF patrons It Is foreign
to our puIposc, In This connection to diecust The
troubled question Of .he moral q immoral effect
with the porp0tes Of The true dtzu,atist aud
ihetc We claim 10 be always in the 1n1crerts OF mo-
sfs mo' Uns % has own sfen ona he r.
good IN preferences 10 tho evil. Eon]d compel him
10 do 20. Does sny ono imagine that u Macbeth"
even With al lhe crral ccnias Of Shakespeare Isy
ished upon ii. II the ambitious murderer had, &C.
en1e from punishment end fesr, been lefs at the
Any osher psys sht neh ne T. ao e.
equally vivid instances Of tht. truth. Macbeth
ttands not alone a. great one whose downfall and
sp,cd power of shakspesre has bern In In he be- pol
fraytnF OF the passions uhich have incited aud lie
mcntaI pangs which have pun.hed, such dark
md gs q e afa e M.
vine they improve By Keeping; willie
i9@sss ssssi eS es % ss Il those nc1. ssta ss sI
and are forgotten or only remembered a stencil
f. on. pe:,1ils; u DE elhes hand, P!a!s IKE
and mxuy otbezr. although either brliisnt in vii,
fnl Of lively incident or ueh In grand scenic caect
OF perhaps in rare 1nsfances combining fn good
the rage and forgocn.becanfc their letton oI nor
degenssatea tn1o tmmotaltt5: TO the sraaer who
and Fls.chers plays, these wotEs an s never io.e
their Interest; 6nt there Is not stage IN Ensand
Or IN fh3H country On which they could be pfpduce
becsuse they badly inculcate thc grest
lessons Of morality and good which inspire Ill of
1ndenesr'es and paesages provocative Of bad pas-
stons are not 1hfteqnent, even In Shakspearc'e
phys, and that these are certainly not h
he interest Of merall.y: TO tnis I IS only
rude times IN which these works were pruluced-
1hat they were not the foTere Of his gentuA but the
sands which pleased the public Of that age, and
good In The Development Of the plot--and that
long ner The evil war forgotten the good would Re-
main and be thc germ Of virtue md honor in the
ever eltngs to the purest gold. the Irregularities
which slightly deiczm the rough diamond. What
higher tribute to the innate good OF human hearts
onld be desired, than the mere fact that 80 much
was taught OF virtue md honor, and in euch DOW
sTtui way tn time 50 generally corrupt es that Of
y Of the aec like tho pure and beautiful lotus from
the nala1ions 1nite or an Indian swamp, and that
~ 6eanfy haa rendered It immorta1l What
aint through thai "a or fashiensGle imuoasfSi
Even the tacred scriptures have been corrupted BY
those who professed 10 be most emtnenty the
those teachers paadaed 10 cour vices, humore3 TIC
iot6les Of their worldly masters tackled and reer-
sd n The interests Of the btcotzy Of the sects to
presented the lessons which they should have
lsneht. and hi. sermons became tight set upon
hill, which could not be hid.
the drama, are fond Of quoting Taifourd's ion,s'
as an instance Of q chntte and highly moral drama,
which They say did not sufficiently pander to Vice,
and yheletore Nas not acceptable TO the p1ayrolnc
public .'Ion's'' public 1ailu1e uas By no means
attributable to tho cause which they assign, hat
was-aside from some faults, peculinly ''stagey,''
tIrely 10 ie excessively c1n.sic style borc more
the ar Of an ancient Greek play thau modern pro-
ousuon and VIZ, In point Of fact, beyond the COM
who sts down IN biz closet esndy it. Ii must eycr
speecaes, 60 perfect in their eonfiinction md,
truth and originality, are then only appreclacd, hui
on the stage there Is not e,snre for the deliberate
thought which they require. The fault then Of
The truly legitimate drama i then The truly
moral " aud DOW Tor little analysis Of the Eo-
chilled moral" modern plays. For their existence
good folks who hesitate to sttcnd theales, and prs
Ter place which Is called muscum OF lyce-
nm" Or somc bad cnphcmtsm Of that sort and salve
which they love to ree Al Dc head II pro programme
second. q breed OF weakly writer's ~h1, incompc-
tent TO Construct nays which may cha1sense fxr c1f
IN dithng up the species Of play 10 which that
word may be lacked Tor the deiecta5on OF The frst
c!as- whom We have noted. Sueh plays as They
produre afe no whit more ozal than etpcrs In their
tion, become decidedly less 70. They arc generally
made up Of fragments Of other plaza, unskijfuijY
wo1so :s1 s1sthe n9d sely foly Upon one g,ece q
length. The want Of ability On tbe par1 ~ Of thc
authors inevitably leads TO cosr-cncss and vul.
gatity, md Gepnsez them OF the power TO point
with moral the tale thcy cannot adorn In the
whole range Of so-catled .'moral d.amss'' we c1n-
not recall 10 mind an instance in which the feeling
ie not LETT IN the minds Of auditors that VICE has
A1H 9TfA I'D u 1yrS
cldenl.. and not In consequence Of my divine
md innutsble Laws, ordaiatng thus. The
msss,s, esne for ,r,ts soncGsins one Ct tas.s
young man, II poor, 70 much the bsttcf-a despe-
nate villain. who should be rch, in accordance with
the universal law that villains 1tc sth-a Fery beau
yonne female person, with whom both The preyi-
ou*ly Mentioned characters are In love; sectbc
them IN mexa Of mort unlikely trouble; rttr in
the rich villain !or auv had porpose; seas0n with
my number Of blarkEua.ds. poor but hopcst peo.
P}sS 5,S s ,,tl saas there's 81
both ee1es, and serve up With a. many bad ioles
stolen from old hools, n!ays and novels clap
tap speeches about the nobility Of labor the honor
.bs di1 Vii hold. Be vefy csreIul L. e ia eooE1ns ~
Your ola podrida to make every e1age Of ITS py0r.
rest a. unlikely and improbable As possible, AID
tfely IL M result n Of pu, cbarse Wib ,,,1s sI,
neither Providence nor the Evil One could ie
Eeaf onably imagined to hive anything 10 do. Ono
@ mi .asa & ees n 5s 1o1f
there Is of true morality in it, beyond the rle, he
bettcr. fou may make yonf hero. by fozcc Of CIR
ambe9 q e pesse iong ~ Il.
natye goodness c0mea ont In The last scene when
he patf1et the girl who loves him ull through he
,teet, and rceetSe6 large fortune BY some u1ex-