Act II. Sc. 2 of Wycherley's _Love in a Wood_, and Act II. Sc. 2 of his

_Gentleman Dancing Master_, both take place in a French house. Cp. _Character of the Town Gallant_, 1675.

[1026] Vincent, _Young Gallants' Academy_, 1674, p. 44.

[1027] Flecknoe, _Characters_, 1673. The 1665 edition of his _Aenigmatical Characters ..._, 1665, contains a description in French of the _Tour à la Mode_: ". . . C'est une bataille bien rangée où l'on ne tire que des coups d'Oeillades, et où les premiers ayant fait leur descharge, ilz s'en vont pour donner place aux autres" . . ., etc. (p. 21).

[1028] Charles II. openly avowed his preference for the French drama. Dryden wrote his _Essay of Dramatic Poesy_, "to vindicate the Honour of our English writers from the censure of those who unjustly prefer the French before them." Pepys saw many of the French plays acted in English. Cp. H. McAfee, _Pepys on the Restoration Stage ..._, Yale Univ. Press, 1916.

[1029] A. Beljame, _Le Public et les hommes de lettres au 18e siècle_, Paris, 1897, p. 139.

[1030] As in Etherege's _Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub_, _Sir Fopling Flutter_, and the plays of Cibber, Vanbrugh, Mrs. Behn, Shadwell, Farquhar, Wycherley, etc.; _The French Conjuror_, 1678; _The Beau Defeated_, 1700?, etc.

[1031] A. Beljame, _Quae e Gallicis verbis in Anglicam linguam Johannes Dryden introduxerit_, Paris, 1881. On French influence in Restoration Drama, see Charlanne, _L'Influence française en Angleterre_, pp. 64 _sqq._

[1032] _Lettre à M. de la Chaussée_: _Lettres_, 1745, ii. p. 240.

[1033] _Narrative of her Life, written by Herself_, pub. in series of Autobiographies, London, 1826, vol. vii. p. 12. Most of the writers of the time were able to write some French. Flecknoe, for instance, wrote some of his _Characters_ in the language, and wrote a French dedication of his Poems (1652), "à la plus excellente de son sexe."

[1034] Dryden, "Prologue spoken at the opening of the new house, 26 March, 1674," _Works_, ed. Scott and Saintsbury, x. p. 320.

[1035] "Prologue to Arviragus and Phihera by L. Carlell, revival," _Works_, x. 405.

[1036] Shaw, _Calendar of Treasury Books, 1660-67_, p. 311.

[1037] _Ibid., 1672-75_, pp. 14, 24, 29, etc.; _1677-78_ (vol. v.), pp. 692, 803; _1684_ (vol. vii.), p. 1444.

[1038] Charles had granted two privileges: one to Henry Killigrew, who directed the King's company acting at Drury Lane, and the other to Sir William Davenant, who directed the Duke's company. The rival companies united in 1682.

[1039] Chardon, _La troupe du roman comique dévoilée et les comédiens de la campagne au 17e siècle_, Le Mans, 1876, p. 47.

[1040] Chardon, _op. cit._ p. 98.

[1041] _Revue Historique_, xxix., Sept.-Oct. 1858, p. 23.

[1042] _Historical MSS. Commission Reports_, v. p. 186. French dancers and singers also attracted the English from the performances of their own actors; cp. Cibber, Epilogue to _The Careless Husband_, and Farquhar, Preface to _The Inconstant_.