Page:The Story of Nell Gwyn.djvu/133

Rh on a dark night in December, and his nose cut to the bone that he might remember the offence he had given to his sovereign. The allusion chiefly applied to Moll Davis and Nell Gwyn, and was made in the very year in which the latter gave birth to the Duke of St. Alban's; while the punishment was inflicted in the very street in which Moll Davis lived.

The players and dramatic writers required looking after. Shadwell brought Sir Robert Howard on the stage in the character of Sir Positive Atall, and in so marked a manner that the caricature was at once apparent. Mrs. Corey, (of whom I have already given some account) imitated the oddities of Lady Harvey, and was imprisoned for her skill and impertinence. Lacy, while playing the Country Gentleman in one of Ned Howard's unprinted plays, abused the court with so much wit and insolence for selling places, and doing every thing for money, that it was found proper to silence the play, and commit Lacy to the Porter's Lodge. Kynaston mimicked Sir Charles Sedley, and was severely thrashed by Sedley for his pains. The Duke of