s any man's, in the
lower regions; that he was indifferent as to their constancy, and only
valued them for the sensual pleasure they could yield."

Lord Rochester's frolics in the character of a mountebank are well
known, and the speech which he made upon the occasion of his first
turning itinerant doctor, has been often printed; there is in it a
true spirit of satire, and a keenness of lampoon, which is very much
in the character of his lordship, who had certainly an original turn
for invective and satirical composition.

We shall give the following short extract from this celebrated speech,
in which his lordship's wit appears pretty conspicuous.

"If I appear (says Alexander Bendo) to any one like a counterfeit,
even for the sake of that chiefly ought I to be construed a true man,
who is the counterfeit's example, his original, and that which he
employs his industry and pains to imitate and copy. Is it therefore my
fault if the cheat, by his wit and endeavours, makes himself so like
me, that consequently I cannot avoid resembling him? Consider, pray,
the valiant and the coward, the wealthy merchant and the bankrupt; the
politician and the fool; they are the same in many things, and differ
but in one alone. The valiant man holds up his hand, looks confidently
round about him, wears a sword, courts a lord's wife, and owns it; so
does the coward. One only point of honour, and that's courage, which
(like false metal, one only trial can discover) makes the distinction.
The bankrupt walks the exchange, buys bargains, draws bills, and
accepts them with the richest, whilst paper and credit are current
coin; that which makes the difference is real cash, a great defect
indeed, and yet but one, and that the last found out, and still till
then the least perceived.--Now for the politician; he is a grave,
diliberating, close, prying man: Pray are there not grave,
deliberating, close, prying fools? If therefore the difference betwixt
all these (tho' infinite in effect) be so nice in all appearance, will
you yet expect it should be otherwise between the false physician,
astrologer, &c. and the true? The first calls himself learned doctor,
sends forth his bills, gives physic and council, tells, and foretells;
the other is bound to do just as much. It is only your experience must
distinguish betwixt them, to which I willingly submit myself."

When lord Rochester was restored again to the favour of King Charles
II, he continued the