in the breast of a Chinese Confucius, as it did of old in the bosom of the Athenian Solon.

To revert once more to the Heathen philosophers and church fathers, there seems something very unaccountable and perverse in our rigid sectaries, looking up to them for instruction upon any subject. Why should they require any other guide than that set down and bequeathed to us, by our great master and his disciples?

Why should they, upon every trivial occasion of life, refer us to the scripture for instruction and information, and yet upon the subject oF STAGE, or NO STAGE, a subject they have themselves magnified, as a matter of the greatest importance; WHY wish to deprive us of every advantage the gospel may hold forth, and, by collecting a heap of rubbish, endeavour to hide it from our view?

What claim to our attention can the Heathen philosophers, or early christian fathers possess, upon a present speculative point?—I mean, Madam, it is so far speculative, that a nation can exist, and probably flourish without a theatre-so it could if deprived of poetry-of paintingof music of statuary or even of METHODISM!For my own part, the philosophers and fathers I boldly reject ; I disclaim subjection to their jurisdiction in theatricals, and make my appeal at once to the scripturc, the proper guide for christians! If the practice of the present stage be not at variance with the precepts of our Saviour and his disciples, if that divine record does not positively condemn. our pursuits, I shall remain as perfectly indifferent upon this subject, to the opinions of Tertullian and Cyprian, as I should be to the ipse dixit of TOM O'NOKES, or JOHN O'STYLES!!!

H

And now, Madam, with every sense of gratitude for your attention and perseverance, I respectfully take my leave, by subscribing myself,

Madam,

Your most obedient,

Much obliged, humble Servant,

Robert Mansel.

HULL, JANUARY, 1814.

Father Caffaro's Letter

UPON THE

Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of the Stage;

WITH A

BRIEF INTRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION.

WHEN I had the good fortune to encounter Father Caffaro's discourse, it struck me as a most suitable prolegomena to a stage-defence.-I hailed him as a powerful ally-I congratulated myself upon meeting with an ecclesiastic who had undertaken the task of investigating the objections started by the earlier churchmen, and combating them upon their own grounds. I conceive (however the world might despise my feeble efforts, or condemn the liberties I have taken with opinions rendered venerable by antiquity and sacred by prescription) the religious and conscientious would pay some degree of deference to one of their own community.-Nor must my illustrious coadjutor be rejected because he was of a different persuasion to our

present adversaries, nor reproached with the terms of PAPIST and JESUIT to depreciate his candour, industry and information. It was my design (as I have premised) to have made him my introducer to the public, and under his venerable protection, I might perhaps have more certainly commanded respect and attention, but some considerable time having elapsed from the final arrangement of "Free Thoughts," to the period of delivering the work into the hands of my publisher, I had leisure, opportunity, and inclination to collect fresh matter, and I was tempted to throw it into the form of a prefatory letter, by which means the learned professor is removed from the van to the centre. He therefore (to pursue the metaphor) loses the post of honour, and my antagonists may take advantage of the undisciplined state, and badly marshalled system, evident in the van and rear-but my centre will remain inviolable, and bid defiance to all their arts and all their efforts.

Father Caffaro's letter, or rather the translation, is prefixed to a tragedy written by a Mr. Motteur, called BEAUTY IN DISTRESS, published in the year 1698-It appears the English dramatist was himself labouring under some conscientious scruples, and applied for satisfaction on that head, to a DIVINE of the CHURCH of ENGLAND, who favoured him with the following answer.