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of "a practical man," Mr. Turnstile.—I'm sorry that I must be going.—Sir, your servant.

Turnstile. (Rising and ringing.) [Enter servant.] Open the door for Mr. Tripes. [Exit Tripes.] D——d, double-faced, selfish blockhead!


Scene XI.The street, as before.

Enter Tripes, from Turnstile's house.

Tripes. (Putting on his hat.) He might have been more civil, too;—though he did count upon me for his chairman. But I'll show him that I'm not to be insulted; and if, MacLeech manages the matter well for Charles, this Mr. Philosopher Turnstile, though he thinks himself so clever, may go to the devil.

[Exit.

ACT II.


Scene I.Downing-street, after a Cabinet Meeting. Lord A.; Closewind; Shift; Smooth; and other Members of the Cabinet.

Lord A. That point being settled, gentlemen, the sooner you are at your posts the better. The King comes down to dissolve on Friday.[1] But, before we part, we had better

  1. Parliament is ordinarily dissolved by Proclamation, after having been previously prorogued. However, there is at least one modern instance to justify the historical consistency of the text, namely, that which occurred on the 10th June, 1818, when the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., dissolved the Parliament in person. The Dramatist cannot therefore be properly accused of drawing heedlessly upon his imagination, though even had he thus far transgressed the boundaries of historical truth, Horace's maxim might have been pleaded in excuse:—

    "Pictoribus atque Poetis
    Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas."