[75] "Covent Garden Drolery, Or a Colection of all the Choice Songs, Poems, Prologues, and Epilogues (Sung and Spoken at Courts and Theaters) never in Print before. Written by the refined'st Witts of the Age. And Collected by R[ichard] B[rome] Servant to His Majestie. London, Printed for James Magnes neer the Piazza in Russel-Street, 1672."--_Tarugo's Wiles, or the Coffee House_; a comedy by Sir Thomas St. Serle, produced in 1668.--_The Slighted Maid_, a comedy by Sir Robert Stapleton, produced in 1663. [76] A sweet-scented powder. [77] Carefully. [78] Succeeds. [79] Romp; tomboy. [80] A well frequented ordinary near Charing Cross, on the site of Drummond's Bank. [81] In Wycherley's time the square of Covent Garden must have presented an elegant appearance. The Piazza, designed by Inigo Jones, extended, like the modern piazza, along the northern and eastern sides; on the west stood St. Paul's Church, built by the same famous architect, and on the south the square was bordered by the gardens of Bedford House. "The area was inclosed with railings, at sixty feet from the buildings; and in the centre was a dial, with a gilt ball, raised upon a column." _Timbs' Curiosities of London._ In 1671 the market was established, but was held, originally, only on the southern side of the square, under the wall of Bedford Gardens. The houses within the Piazza were then occupied by persons of rank and fashion. [82] Paw, adj. naughty. An affected word fashionable in the latter half of the seventeenth century.--_Wright._ [83] "Lanterloo" or "langteraloo" was the name of a game at cards. [84] The glasses. [85] Or Knipp, the friend of Mr. Pepys. She played the part of Lady Fidget. [86] Ridicule commonly decides great matters more forcibly and better than severity.--_Sat._ i. 10, 14-15. [87] It cannot have been earlier than the latter year, as _Le Misanthrope_, upon which Wycherley's play is based, did not appear until 1666. [88] Dryden. [89] _Letters concerning the English Nation._ London, 1733. [90] It is, to say the least, doubtful if _Les Plaideurs_ were written before _The Plain Dealer_. The former was produced in 1668. This supposed discovery of a non-existent coincidence appears to have arisen from a misinterpretation of Voltaire's words in the French edition of his _Letters concerning the English Nation_: "On a encore lardé cette piece (_The Plain Dealer_) d'une Comtesse de Pimbesche, vieille plaideuse." But Voltaire clearly employs the title of "Comtesse de Pimbesche" only as a generic term for a litigious female. [91] Mother Bennet, a noted procuress. "The ironical commendation of the industry and charity of these antiquated ladies, these directors of Sin, after they can no longer commit it, makes up the beauty of the inimitable dedication to _The Plain Dealer_, and is a masterpiece of raillery on this vice."--Steele, in the _Spectator_, No. 266.