_Nov._ And me, that Novel was a name she would sooner change hers
for, than any title in England.

_Plau._ She has commended the softness and respectfulness of my
behaviour.

_Nov._ She has praised the briskness of my raillery in all things,
man.

_Plau._ The sleepiness of my eyes she liked.

_Nov._ Sleepiness! dulness, dulness. But the fierceness of mine she
adored.

_Plau._ The brightness of my hair she liked.

_Nov._ Brightness! no the greasiness, I warrant! But the blackness
and lustre of mine she admires.

_Plau._ The gentleness of my smile.

_Nov._ The subtilty of my leer.

_Plau._ The clearness of my complexion.

_Nov._ The redness of my lips.

_Plau._ The whiteness of my teeth.

_Nov._ My jaunty way of picking them.

_Plau._ The sweetness of my breath.

_Nov._ Ha! ha! nay there she abused you, 'tis plain; for you know
what Manly said: the sweetness of your pulvillio she might mean;
but for your breath! ha! ha! ha! Your breath is such, man, that
nothing but tobacco can perfume; and your complexion nothing could
mend but the small-pox.

CHAPTER IX.

Tom Brown--His Prose Works--Poetry--Sir Richard
Blackmore--D'Urfey--Female Humorists--Carey.

Whether it was owing to the commotions of the Civil War in which "fears
and jealousies had soured the people's blood, and politics and polemics
had almost driven mirth and good humour out of the nation," or whether
it was from a dearth of eminent talent, humour seems to have made little
progress under the Restoration. The gaiety of the Merry Monarch and his
companions had nothing intellectual in it, and although "Tom" Brown[61]
tells us that "it was during the reign of Charles II. that learning in
general flourished, and the Muses, like other ladies, met with the
civilest sort of entertainment," his own works show that the best wits
of the day could not soar much above the attempts of Sedley and
Rochester. Had Brown not acquired in his day the character of a
humorist, we should think that he equally well deserved that of a man of
learning, for whereas he shows an acquaintance with the classics and
modern languages, his writings, which are of considerable length,
contain little Attic salt. He was born in 1663, the son of a substantial
Shropshire farmer, and was sent to Christ Church, Oxford, where he
became as remarkable for hi