same
that prevails in our own day. We do not, indeed, stigmatize managers
and actors as rogues and vagabonds, even if they should happen to give
a theatrical performance without the fully ascertained permission of
the authorities, and we no longer keep up the monopoly of what used to
be called the patent theatres. But the principle of Walpole's Act is
the principle of our present system. A play must have the permission
of the Lord Chamberlain before {97} it can be put on the stage; and
while it is in course of performance the Lord Chamberlain can insist on
any amendments or alterations in the dialogue or in the dresses which
he believes necessary in the interest of public morality. A manager
is, therefore, put under conditions quite different from those which
surround a publisher; an actor is fenced in by preliminary restrictions
which do not trouble an author. There is no censorship of the press;
there is a censorship of the theatre. If a publisher brings out any
book which is grossly indecent or immoral or blasphemous, he can be
prosecuted, and if a conviction be obtained he can of course be
punished. But there is no way of preventing him from bringing out the
book; there is no authority which has to be appealed to beforehand for
its sanction.

"Is this right?" The question is still asked, Why should the people of
these countries submit to a censorship of the press? What can be the
comparison between the harm done by a play which is seldom seen more
than once by the same person, and is likely to be forgotten a week
after it is seen, and the evil done by a bad book which finds its way
into households, and lies on tables, and may be read again and again
until its poison has really corrupted the mind? Again, a parent is
almost sure to exercise some caution when he is taking his children to
a theatre. He will find out beforehand what the play is like, and
whether it is the sort of performance his daughter ought to see. But
it is out of the question to suppose that a parent will be able to read
beforehand every book that comes into his house in order to make sure
that it contains nothing which is unfit for a girl to study. Why then
not have a censorship of the press as well as of the theatre, or why
have the one if you will not have the other? The answer to the first
question is that a censorship of the press is impossible in England.
The multitude of publications forbids it. The most imaginative person
wou