_Mr. Talbot._--"Then, how comes it to pass, if it be so, that these men still remain immoral?" _Mr. Falkland._--"Permit me to say, that the introduction of this question is no satisfactory reply to my argument. Answer that in the first place, and then you are at liberty to propose what queries you think proper. If the tendency of the theatrical profession be favourable to the cultivation and growth of virtue, how is it that it does not reclaim these profligate players? This is the question under debate, and let us keep to it. We may ramble after we have settled it." _Mr. Talbot._--"Why, Sir, there are two reasons which may be assigned--their extreme profligacy before they enter their profession; and the numerous and powerful temptations to which they are exposed after they have engaged in it." _Mr. Falkland._--"Then, Sir, theatrical amusements will not reclaim extreme profligacy, nor produce virtue where it is most needed?" _Mr. Talbot._--"Perhaps not." _Mr. Falkland._--"Then, Sir, you require a stock of virtue to insert your graft on, or you do not calculate on raising any good fruit?" _Mr. Talbot._--"Exactly so, Sir." _Mr. Falkland._--"Then, as men of high-toned virtue, with few exceptions, cannot be induced to engage in the theatrical profession; and as it is found incapable of reclaiming the profligate, we can never expect to find a preponderance of virtue amongst the members of that profession; and, consequently, we are reduced to the necessity of admitting this astounding fact--the men who are employed to chastise the vices of the age, and to cultivate its virtues, are, with few exceptions, the most profligate in their manners!" _Mr. Talbot._--"But, Sir, will you make no allowance for men and women who are necessarily exposed to so many temptations in the discharge of the duties of their profession?" _Mr. Falkland._--"Why, Sir, what peculiar temptations to vice ought to stand connected with the duties of a profession which is intended to promote private and public virtue?" _Mr. Talbot._--"Why, you know they often appear, when on the stage, in a rank far above the level of their condition, which may imperceptibly induce them to cherish those habits of extravagance in private life, for which they are so notorious. But the most fatal temptation to which they are exposed, is the too familiar intercourse which necessarily takes place between the actors and actresses on the stage, which cannot be avoided, unless the most popular plays are suppressed; and would it not betray an ignorance of human nature, to expect that this circumstance should produce no injurious effect on their moral character?"