_Play_;[293] This Spark the _Poet_ would pass for a Person of Virtue, but he speaks to late. 'Tis true, He was hearty in his Affection to _Angelica_. Now without question, to be in Love with a fine Lady of 30000 Pounds is a great Virtue! But then abating this single Commendation, _Valentine_ is altogether compounded of Vice.[294] He is a prodigal Debauchee, unnatural, and Profane, Obscene, Sawcy, and undutiful, And yet this Libertine is crown'd for the Man of Merit, has his Wishes thrown into his Lap, and makes the Happy _Exit_. I perceive we should have a rare set of _Virtues_ if these _Poets_ had the making of them! How they hug a Vitious Character, and how profuse are they in their Liberalities to Lewdness? In the _Provoked Wife_, _Constant_ Swears at Length, solicits Lady _Brute_, Confesses himself Lewd, and prefers Debauchery to Marriage. He handles the last Sybject very notably and worth the Hearing. _There is_ (says he) _a poor sordid Slavery in Marriage, that turns the flowing Tide of Honour, and sinks it to the lowest ebb of Infamy. 'Tis a Corrupted Soil, Ill Nature, Avarice, Sloth, Cowardize, and Dirt, are all its Product_.--But then _Constancy (alias Whoring) is a Brave, Free, Haughty, Generous, Agent_. This is admirable stuff both for the Rhetorick and the Reason![295] The Character _Young Fashion_ in the _Relapse_ is of the same Staunchness, but this the _Reader_ may have in another Place. To sum up the Evidence. A fine Gentleman, is a fine Whoring, Swearing, Smutty, Atheistical Man. These Qualifications it seems compleat the _Idea_ of Honour. They are the Top-Improvements of Fortune, and the distinguishing Glories of Birth and Breeding! This is the _Stage-Test_ for _Quality_, and those that can't stand it, ought to be _Disclaim'd_. The Restraints of Conscience and the Pedantry of Virtue, are unbecoming a Cavalier: Future Securities, and Reaching beyond Life, are vulgar Provisions: If he falls a Thinking at this rate, he forfeits his Honour; For his Head was only made to run against a Post! Here you have a Man of Breeding and Figure that burlesques the _Bible_, Swears, and talks Smut to Ladies, speaks ill of his Friend behind his Back, and betraies his Interest. A fine Gentleman that has neither Honesty, nor Honour, Conscience, nor Manners, Good Nature, nor civil Hypocricy. Fine, only in the Insignificancy of Life, the Abuse of Religion and the Scandals of Conversation. These Worshipful Things are the _Poets_ Favourites: They appear at the Head of the _Fashion_; and shine in Character, and Equipage. If there is any Sense stirring, They must have it, tho' the rest of the _Stage_ suffer never so much by the Partiality. And what can be the Meaning of this wretched Distribution of Honour? Is it not to give Credit and Countenance to Vice, and to shame young People out of all pretences to Conscience, and Regularity? They seem forc'd to turn Lewd in their own Defence: They can't otherwise justifie themselves to the