At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the London theatre world was changing in ways that greatly influenced satiric drama and theatrical censorship for the rest of the century. Traditional state control over the theatres was seriously eroded when private citizens initiated legal actions against the theatres on morals charges; satiric drama was changing from the urbane cynicism of Wycherley to the more "humane" satire of Farquhar; and Jeremy Collier's Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698) instigated a serious debate over the legitimate ...

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