FOOTNOTES:
[78] This refers to the attack upon Dryden in Rose Street, Covent Garden, in December 1679—made by order of Rochester in consequence, it is supposed, of Dryden being reputed the author of the Essay on Satire. The preceding verse probably contains an allusion to the stabbing of Mr. Scroop by Sir Thomas Armstrong, in the pit of the Duke's Theatre, which is mentioned by Langbaine (Dram. Poets, p. 460).
[79] The same incident is referred to by other writers. The Duke of York's picture had been cut from the legs downwards.
[80] The Duke was then in a sort of exile in Scotland.
APPENDIX.
The following letters were first published among a collection of Familiar Letters by Lord Rochester and others, &c. 8vo, 1697; and were afterwards subjoined to an edition of Otway's Works in 1727, under the title of "Love Letters." They have no superscription, but are supposed to have been written to Mrs. Barry, the actress.