ere 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
seems to have considered it as no ordinary invention, and was so pleased
with it that he has most painfully printed the speeches of the lawyer in
this singular gibberish; and his reasons, as well as his discovery,
appear remarkable.

He says, that "Not any one old man more than another is mimiqued, by Mr.
Lee's way of speaking, which all comedians can witness, was my own
_invention_, and Mr. Lee was taught it by me. To prove this farther, I
have _printed_ Bartoline's part in that manner of spelling by which I
taught it Mr. Lee. They who have no teeth cannot pronounce many letters
plain, but perpetually lisp and break their words, and some words they
cannot bring out at all. As for instance _th_ is pronounced by thrusting
the tongue hard to the teeth, therefore that sound they cannot make, but
something like it. For that reason you will often find in Bartoline's
part, instead of _th_, _ya_, as _yat_ for that; _yish_ for this; _yosh_
for those; sometimes a _t_ is left out, as _housand_ for thousand;
_hirty_ for thirty. _S_ they pronounce like _sh_, as _sher_ for sir;
_musht_ for must; _t_ they speak like _ch_,--therefore you will find
_chrue_ for true; _chreason_ for treason; _cho_ for to; _choo_ for two;
_chen_ for ten; _chake_ for take. And this _ch_ is not