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The Theatre and its Destructive Influences, by William S. Plumer. The following contains an excerpt from his work, "Theatrical Entertainments, A Premium Tract".

The Theatre and its Destructive Influences.

O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
~ Deuteronomy 32:29

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
~ Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
~ Ecclesiastes 12:1

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
~ 1 John 2:15-17

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
~ James 3:15

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
~ Ecclesiastes 7:3

Driven from business, excluded from virtuous society, divorced from his broken-hearted wife, deserted by all his friends, he became an outcast and a beggar. O! methought while I stood over his dying body, if he had the ability to speak, and the inclination to communicate, he would address me in some such language as this:

“Beware of the theatre; it first led me in youth, and I was easily led, into immoral indulgences. It is no difficult task to trace the primary step of my destruction to the lobbies of the theatre, and its infatuating connexions, the bar and the coffee room. There I spent my evenings; Shakespeare and the British theatre became my only reading; actors and actresses my only associates. The tavern, the oyster house, and houses of pleasure finally drew me into their destructive labyrinths. I strove to avoid the earthly hell I saw myself plunging into; but its fatal chains were riveted too fast and too strong upon my poor soul. I attempted to plead with myself the innocency of my indulged pleasures. It was the gratification of a harm less desire that induced me for the first time to cross the threshold of the theatre. It would not do. I could not allay the pangs of an already wounded conscience. Well, do I remember, when the curtain rose for the first time to my astonished view, how my heart bounded for joy as I viewed the rich and dazzling scenery, and drank in the deceitful representations of the actors. The play was the Road to Ruin,' a true semblance of my future destiny; but little did I then think that I had taken the first step towards consequences fraught with my eternal destruction. The glittering attractions of the stage soon drew me there again, and too soon did I become infatuated with its seductive charms. One fatal step led on to another, until I found myself sliding rapidly down the steep abyss of ruin.”

A little restorative which I procured from the distant nurse of the ward aroused for a moment, in the struggling effort to swallow, the dying man from what appeared to be his sleep of death. I again called him by his own familiar name, he again, and for the last time in this world, looked at me; but, O! it was a fearful look! Heaving a deep-drawn deathly sigh, he put out his emaciated and cold hand, and attempted to speak; his voice failed him, he recovered himself and made a second effort, it was a desperate one"O W—" calling me by name, “the theatre, the first fruits of my transgression, is sending my poor lost soul to hell; O! admonish the the the "-young, he would have said, but his utterance and his breath were simultaneously interrupted by the death gurgle. After several ineffectual attempts to breathe freely, during which he firmly yet insensibly grasped my hand, he gave one long gasp and was no more-his unfettered spirit had forsaken its earthly tenement and fled to regions beyond the grave.

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