I have
proved that it cannot possibly be mine: and in so doing, that it must
be theirs by consequence. Under this shadow all the vices of the
French king are charged by those libellers (by a side-wind) upon ours;
and it is indeed the bottom of their design to make the king cheap,
his royal brother odious, and to alter the course of the succession.
Now, after the malice of this sputtering triumvirate (Mr Hunt, and the
two Reflectors), against the person and dignity of the king, and
against all that endeavour to serve him (which makes their hatred to
his cause apparent), the very charging of our play to be a libel, and
such a parallel as these ignoramuses would render it, is almost as
great an affront to His Majesty, as the libellous picture itself, by
which they have exposed him to his subjects. For it is no longer our
parallel, but the king's, by whose order it was acted, without any
shuffling or importunity from the poets. The tragedy (cried the
faction) is a libel against such and such illustrious persons. Upon
this the play was stopt, examined, acquitted, and ordered to be
brought upon the stage: not one stroke in it of a resemblance, to
answer the scope and intent of the complaint. There were some
features, indeed, that the illustrious Mr Hunt and his brace of
beagles (the Reflectors) might see resembling theirs; and no other
parallel either found or meant, but betwixt the French leaguers and
ours: and so far the agreement held from point to point, as true as a
couple of tallies.
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