Lady Castlemaine, and close to a woman that comes into the pit, a kind of loose gossip, that pretends to be like her, and is so, something. And my wife, by my troth, appeared I think as pretty as any of them; I never thought so much before; and so did Talbot and W. Hewer, as I heard they said to one another. The King and the Duke of York minded me, and smiled upon me at the handsome woman near me; but it vexed me to see Moll Davis, in the box over the King's and my Lady Castlemaine's, look down upon the King, and he up to her; and so did my Lady Castlemaine once, to see who it was; but when she saw Moll Davis she looked like fire, which troubled me."
To complete the picture which Pepys has left us, we have only to turn to "The True Widow," of Shadwell, where, in the fourth act, the scene is laid in "the Playhouse," and stage directions of this character occur: "Enter women masked;" "Several young coxcombs fool with the orange-women;" "He sits down and lolls in the orange-wench's lap;" "Raps people on the backs and twirls their hats, and then looks demurely, as if he did not do it;"—such were daily occurrences at both theatres in the reign of Charles II.
Such were our pleasures in the days of yore,
When amorous Charles Britannia's sceptre bore;
The mighty scene of joy the Park was made,
And Love in couples peopled every shade.
But since at Court the moral taste is lost,
What mighty sums have velvet couches cost![1]
We are now less barefaced in our immoralities,
- ↑ Gay to Pulteney.
