The controversy between the Puritans and the stage

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Plato and the fathers -- English sentiment against the stage, previous to the establishment of regular theaters. Early church sentiment -- Early English hostility of native growth -- Causes of the growth of this English feeling -- Evidence of early Elizabethan objection to the stage, in legislation and in literature -- This sentiment was maturing, but still moderate -- Northbrooke, the leader of the active campaign -- The heat of the controversy : the Gossonlodge debate -- Philip Stubbes -- Minor aspects of the controversy of these years -- The academic dispute -- The theological attack -- Indications of public sentiment, with further causes for its growth -- Legislation on the stage; 1576-1603 -- Summary; 1576-1603 -- The period of calm -- Renewal of the literary contest -- Feeling behind this later literary campaign -- William Prynne -- Closing years of the controversy -- Conclusion -- The actors and the Martinists -- Main characteristics of the dramatists’ reply -- Review of the dramatists’ reply -- Conclusion.