aster of the Revels, who saw political spectres in
it that never appeared in the presentation." From Cibber's version of
"Richard III.," the first act was wholly expunged, lest "the
distresses of King Henry VI., who is killed by Richard in the first
act, should put weak people too much in mind of King James, then
living in France." In vain did Cibber petition the Master of the
Revels "for the small indulgence of a speech or two, that the other
four acts might limp on with a little less absurdity. No! He had not
leisure to consider what might be separately inoffensive!" So, too,
some eight years before the passing of the Licensing Act, Gay's ballad
opera of "Polly," designed as a sequel to "The Beggar's Opera,"
incurred the displeasure of the Chamberlain, and was denied the
honours of representation.

Nor was it only on political grounds that the Lord Chamberlain or the
Master of the Revels exercised his power. The "View of the Stage,"
published by the nonjuring clergyman, Jeremy Collier, in 1697, first
drew public attention to the immorality and profanity of the dramatic
writers of that period. The diatribes and rebukes of Collier, if here
and there a trifle overstrained, were certainly, for the most part,
provoked by the nature of the case, and were justified by the result.
Even Cibber, who had been cited as one of the offenders, admits that
"his calling our dramatic writers to this strict account had a very
wholesome effect upon those who wrote after this time. They were now a
great deal more upon their guard ... and, by degrees, the fair sex
came again to fill the boxes on the first day of a new comedy, without
fear of censure." For some time, it seems, the ladies had been afraid
of venturing "bare-faced" to a new comedy, till they had been assured
that they could do it without risk of affront; "or if," as Cibber
says, "their curiosity was too strong for their patience, they took
care, at least, to save appearances, and rarely came upon the first
days of acting but in masks, then daily worn and admitted in the pit,
the side-boxes, and gallery." This reform of the drama, it is to be
observed, was really effected, not by the agency of the Chamberlain or
any other court official, but by force of the just criticism,
strenuously delivered, of a private individual. But now, following the
example of Collier, the Master of the Revels, in his turn, insisted
upon amendment in this matter, and oftentimes forbade the performance