Act iii, sc. II, where it must
be confessed that, in spite of her protestation, Mrs. Behn gives the
stage direction--Sir Feeble 'throws open his Gown, they run all away, he
locks the Door.'

p. 186 _Oedipus_. Dryden and Lee's excellent tragedy was produced at
Dorset Garden in 1679. Betterton created Oedipus and his wife Jocasta.
It was extraordinarily popular, as, indeed, were all the plays Mrs. Behn
marshalls forth in this preface. The scene particularly referred to is
Act ii, I: 'Oedipus enters, walking asleep in his Shirt, with a Dagger
in his Right-Hand and a Taper in his Left.' A little after 'Enter
Jocasta, attended with Lights, in a Night-Gown.'

p. 186 _City Politicks_. This comedy by Crowne is a mordant satire upon
the Whigs. It was produced with great success at the Theatre Royal and
printed quarto 1683. A certain Florio feigns to be dying in order to
prevent the Podesta suspecting an intrigue between his wife, Rosaura,
'the Lady Mayoress', and so impotent an invalid. Artall is in love with
Lucinda, who is married to a toothless old lawyer, Bartoline. Says
Genest: 'The Podesta and Bartoline are as well cuckolded as any Tory
could wish.' cf. The conclusion of Act ii and the commencement of Act
iii; also the discovery of Florio and Rosaura in Act v.

p. 186 _London Cuckolds_. This immensely popular play, five merry
side-splitting acts which kept the stage for a century, was produced in
1682 at Dorset Garden. Ravenscroft has no less than three cuckolds in
his Dramatis Personae: Doodle, Dashwell, and Wiseacre. The intrigues and
counter-intrigues are innumerable. At the end the cuckolds all jeer one
another.

p. 186 _Sir Courtly Nice_. This witty comedy, Crowne's masterpiece, was
produced at the Theatre Royal in 1685. Mrs. Behn's allusion is to Act
ii, II, where Crack, disguised as a tailor, visits Leonora. The language
is often cleverly suggestive.

p. 186 _Sir Fopling_. Etheredge's third comedy, _The Man of Mode; or,
Sir Fopling Flutter_ was produced at the Duke's Theatre in 1676. It met
'with extraordinary success'. Mrs. Behn points at Act iv, II.

p. 186 _Valentinian_. The reference is to the Earl of Rochester's
_Valentinian_, altered from Fletcher, which was produced with great
applause at the Theatre Royal in 1684. The Court Bawds, Balbus,
Proculus, Chylax, Lycinius, with the 'lewd women belonging to the
court', Ardelia and Phorba, are important characters in the tragedy. The
direct allusion is, perha