The farce of his negotiation.

Killegrew was a man of very great humour, and frequently diverted
king Charles II, by his lively spirit of mirth and drollery. He was
frequently at court, and had often access to king Charles when admission
was denied to the first peers in the realm. Amongst many other merry
stories, the following is related of Killegrew. Charles II, who hated
business as much as he loved pleasure, would often disappoint the
council in vouchsafing his royal presence when they were met, by which
their business was necessarily delay'd and many of the council much
offended by the disrespect thrown on them: It happened one day while the
council were met, and had sat some time in expectation of his majesty,
that the duke of Lauderdale, who was a furious ungovernable man, quitted
the room in a passion, and accidentally met with Killegrew, to whom he
expressed himself irreverently of the king: Killegrew bid his grace be
calm, for he would lay a wager of a hundred pounds, that he would make
his majesty come to council in less than half an hour. Lauderdale being
a little heated, and under the influence of surprize, took him at his
word;--Killegrew went to the king, and without ceremony told him what
had happened, and added, "I know that your majesty hates Lauderdale,
tho' the necessity of your affairs obliges you to behave civilly to him;
now if you would get rid of a man you hate, come to the council, for
Lauderdale is a man so boundlessly avaricious, that rather than pay
the hundred pounds lost in this wager, he will hang himself, and never
plague you more." The king was pleased with the archness of this
observation, and answered, 'then Killegrew I'll positively go,' which
he did.--It is likewise related, that upon the king's suffering his
mistresses to gain so great an ascendant over him as to sacrifice for
them the interest of the state, and neglect the most important affairs,
while, like another Sardanapalus, he wasted his hours in the apartments