The indelicacy of which Charles and his companions was guilty, was not of a primitive and ignorant kind, but always of an amatory character, and at the expense of the fair sex; jests formerly so common as to obtain the name of "japes." The writers of that day are objectionable not merely for coarseness of this kind, but for the large amount of it, as one artiste in complimentary attire might be tolerated where a crowd of seminude performers could not. The poems of Sedley and Rochester are as abundant in indelicacy as they are deficient in humour. The epigram of Sedley to "Julius" gives a more correct idea of his character than of his usual dullness. "Thou swearest thou'll drink no more; kind Heaven send Me such a cook or coachman, but no friend." Rochester might have produced something good. His verses have more traces of poetry and humour than we should expect from a man who out of the thirty-four years of his life, was for five of them continually drunk. He nearly always attunes his harp to the old subject, so as to become hopelessly monotonous. Inconstancy has great charms for him, and he consequently imputes it also to the ladies-- "Womankind more joy discovers Making fools, than keeping lovers." Again: "Love like other little boys, Cries for hearts as they for toys, Which when gained, in childish play, Wantonly are thrown away." He seems to have been oppressed by a disbelief in any kind of good in the world. His philosophy, whenever he ventured upon any, was sceptical and irreverent. His best attempt in this direction was a poem "Upon Nothing," which commences: "Nothing! thou elder brother ev'n to shade, That had'st a being 'ere the world was made, And (well fixt) art alone of ending not afraid. Ere Time and Place were, Time and Place were not, When primitive Nothing, Something straight begot, Then all proceeded from the great united--What?" Sometimes he amused himself writing libels on the king, and some of his satires contain more or less truth, as-- "His father's foes he does reward, Preserving those that cut off's head, Old Cavaliers, the crown's best guard, He lets them starve for want of bread. Never was a King endued With so much grace and gratitude." Buckingham does not appear to have agreed with Rochester about Charles, for he writes, "He was an illustrious exception to all the common rules of physiognomy, for with a most saturnine and harsh sort of countenance, he was both of a merry and merciful disposition." Buckingham's humour was of a very poor description, but he wrote a Comedy "The Rehearsal," which was highly approved, mostly, however, because aimed at Dryden, and the heroic drama. From one passage in it, we observe that he noticed the difference between the effect of humour in the plot, and in the dialogue of the play--