characters. Sir Fopling was said to be drawn for one Hewit, a beau of
those times, who, it seems, was such a creature as the poet ridiculed,
but who, perhaps, like many other coxcombs, would never have been
remembered, but for this circumstance, which transmits his memory to
posterity.

The character of Dorimant was supposed to represent the earl of
Rochester, who was inconstant, faithless, and undetermined in his
amours; and it is likewise said, in the character of Medley, that the
poet has drawn out some sketch of himself, and from the authority of Mr.
Bowman, who played Sir Fopling, or some other part in this comedy, it
is said, that the very Shoemaker in Act I. was also meant for a real
person, who, by his improvident courses before, having been unable
to make any profit by his trade, grew afterwards, upon the public
exhibition of him, so industrious and notable, that he drew a crowd of
the best customers to him, and became a very thriving tradesman. Whether
the poet meant to display these characters, we cannot now determine, but
it is certain, the town's ascribing them to some particular persons, was
paying him a very high compliment; and if it proved no more, it at least
demonstrated, a close imitation of nature, a beauty which constitutes
the greatest perfection of a comic poet.

Our author, it seems, was addicted to some gay extravagances, such as
gaming, and an unlicensed indulgence in women and wine, which brought
some satirical reflexions, upon him. Gildon in his Lives of the Dramatic
Poets, says, that upon marrying a fortune, he was knighted; the
circumstances of it are these: He had, by his gaming and extravagance,
so embarrassed his affairs, that he courted a rich widow in order to
retrieve them; but she being an ambitious woman, would not condescend to
marry him, unless he could make her a lady, which he was obliged to