A Dialogue Between Tom and Dick Over a Dish of Coffee Concerning Matters of Religion and Government, issued also as Crack-fart and Tony; Or, Knave and Fool,[9] is a parody following closely the format and arguments of Citt and Bumpkin. Having appropriated the framework employed by L'Estrange, the author of Tom and Dick adjusted it by a series of simple substitutions from an attack on the Protestant Plot, Dissenters, Schism, and republicans, to an assault on the Popish Plot, Papists, Roman Catholicism, and loyalists. The parallels in setting and characterization are established immediately, when Tom and Dick meet in a coffee house and agree to hold a conversation in which Tom will speak, write, invent, and hold forth as Citt had done, while Dick will hear, believe, and speak in his turn (but to little purpose) like Bumpkin. The parody breaks down, however, when one compares Trueman with Goodman, who endorses Trueman's arguments rather than misrepresenting or opposing them. Nor does Goodman observe Trueman's scrupulous care in replying to all the issues raised by the other two characters. Throughout the dialogue, the author manages to maintain dramatic realism and to sustain a mock-serious tone in the absurd-but-credible verbal exchange between his two buffoons.
The second rebuttal was released three months later on 14 June. Signed E. P. (possibly Edward Phillips), The Dialogue Betwixt Cit and Bumpkin Answered replies not only to Citt and Bumpkin, but reflects upon several other polemic tracts by L'Estrange, and attacks him ad hominem from beginning to end. A long prefatory letter discussing the powers and privileges of city corporations and the faults of L'Estrange's Popery in Masquerade precedes the dialogue, which preserves the same general format and style of its target. The roles of the characters are only roughly analogous, however, and the development of the argument is retarded and obscured by the abuse of L'Estrange. All too often, the argument is neither pertinent nor incisive. Unfortunately, E. P. lacks all the vitality, wit, and imagination of his polemic adversary. Incensed by E. P.'s scurrility, L'Estrange replied within three days to all of his charges in A Short Answer to a Whole Litter of Libels.
Although it does not appear in Luttrell's Popish Plot Catalogues, the third reply to Citt and Bumpkin, Crack upon Crack: Or, Crack-Fart Whipt with his own Rod, by Citt and Bumpkin, can be dated approximately upon the basis of internal evidence. References to L'Estrange's flight to escape a sham plot against him in October, 1680, imply a late autumn publication date. Purporting to answer both parts of Citt and Bumpkin, this pamphlet does not deal with any of the arguments raised in either work. The author abandons any attempt at parody, and instead borrows details of setting from the popular Letter from Legorn pamphlets which appeared that year. The characters pursue the absconded Trueman (i.e., L'Estrange) aboard a Mahometan (i.e., Papist) ship and lure him ashore in order to seek revenge for their recent humiliation at his hands. The dialogue contains four pages of unimaginative abuse of Trueman which culminates in his drubbing by Citt and Bumpkin. Largely scatological, this uninspired attack upon L'Estrange does not strike a single telling blow against Citt and Bumpkin.
In fact, Citt and Bumpkin enjoyed unqualified success despite the best efforts of its various detractors. And its popularity was well deserved. Appearing just when the unrest over petitioning was at its height, Citt and Bumpkin captured the interest and imagination of the public with its cogent argument and witty satire.
NOTES
[1] J. R. Jones, The First Whigs (London, 1961), p. 117; Roger North, Examen, or an Enquiry into the Credit and Veracity of a Pretended Complete History (London, 1740), p. 542.
[2] North, p. 542.
[3] Jones, pp. 119-20.
[4] Eugene R. Purpus, "The Dialogue in English Literature, 1660-1725," ELH, XVII (1950), II. 58.