piece. Honest Anthony Wood tells us, that it being too grave for the
king, and too scholastic for the auditory, or, as some have said, the
actors had taken too much wine, his majesty offered several times, after
two acts, to withdraw. He was prevailed to sit it out, in mere charity
to the Oxford scholars. The following humorous epigram was produced on
the occasion:--

At _Christ-church marriage_, done before the king,
Lest that those mates should want _an offering_,
The king himself _did offer_;--What, I pray?
He _offered twice_ or _thrice_--to go away!"




A CONTRIVANCE IN DRAMATIC DIALOGUE.


Crown, in his "City Politiques," 1688, a comedy written to satirise the
Whigs of those days, was accused of having copied his character too
closely after life, and his enemies turned his comedy into a libel. He
has defended himself in his preface from this imputation. It was
particularly laid to his charge, that in the characters of Bartoline, an
old corrupt lawyer, and his wife Lucinda, a wanton country girl, he
intended to ridicule a certain Serjeant M---- and his young wife. It was
even said that the comedian mimicked the odd speech of the aforesaid
Serjeant, who, having lost all his teeth, uttered his words in a very
peculiar manner. On this, Crown tells us in his defence, that the
comedian must not be blamed for this peculiarity, as it was an
_invention_ of the author himself, who had taught it to the player. He