CHAPTER III.
THE LICENSER OF PLAYHOUSES.
The Act of 1737 for licensing plays, playhouses, and players, and legalising the power the Lord Chamberlain had long been accustomed to exercise, although readily passed by both Houses of Parliament, gave great offence to the public.

The Abbe Le Blanc, who was visiting England at this period, describes the new law as provoking a "universal murmur in the nation." It was openly complained of in the newspapers; at the coffee-houses it was denounced as unjust and "contrary to the liberties of the people of England." Fear prevailed that the freedom of the press would next be invaded.

In the House of Lords Chesterfield had stigmatised the measure both as an encroachment on liberty and an attack on property.

"Wit, my lords," he said, "is a sort of property.

It is the property of those that have it, and too often the only property they have to depend on.