 Spectators, we should have found an
equal Degree of Abhorrence, tho' less of Noise and Scurrility; yet here the good
Women gave Black George to the Devil, and many of them expected every Minute
that the cloven-footed Gentleman would fetch his own.
    The Pit, as usual, was no doubt divided: Those who delight in heroic Virtue
and perfect Character, objected to the producing such Instances of Villainy,
without punishing them very severely for the Sake of Example. Some of the
Author's Friends, cry'd - »Look'e, Gentlemen, the Man is a Villain; but it is
Nature for all that.« And all the young Critics of the Age, the Clerks,
Apprentices, etc. called it Low, and fell a Groaning.
    As for the Boxes, they behaved with their accustomed Politeness. Most of
them were attending to something else. Some of those few who regarded the Scene
at all, declared he was a bad Kind of Man; while others refused to give their
Opinion till they had heard that of the best Judges.
    Now we, who are admitted behind the Scenes of this great Theatre of Nature,
(and no Author ought to write any Thing besides Dictionaries and Spelling-Books
who hath not this Privilege) can censure the Action, without conceiving any
absolute Detestation of the Person, whom perhaps Nature may not have designed to
act an ill Part in all her Dramas: For in this Instance, Life most exactly
resembles the Stage, since it is often the same Person who represents the
Villain and the Heroe; and he who engages your Admiration To-day, will probably
attract your Contempt To-Morrow. As Garrick, whom I regard in Tragedy to be the
greatest Genius the World hath ever produced, sometimes condescends to play the
Fool; so did Scipio the Great and Lælius the Wise, according to Horace, many
Years ago: nay, Cicero reports them to have been incredibly childish. - These,
it is true play'd the Fool, like my Friend Garrick, in Jest only; but several
eminent Characters have, in numberless Instances of their Lives, played the Fool
egregiously in Earnest; so far as to render it a Matter of some Doubt, whether
their Wisdom or Folly was predominant; or whether they were better intitled to
the Applause or Censure, the Admiration or Contempt, the Love or Hatred of
Mankind.
    Those Persons, indeed, who have passed any Time behind the Scenes of this
great Theatre, and are thoroughly acquainted not only with the several Disguises
which are there put on, but also with the
