SEDLEY, Sir Charles (1639-1701), a noted “wit” and patron of literature in the Restoration period, the “Lisideius” of Dryden’s Essay of Dramatic Poesy. He was born in 1639, the son of Sir John Sedley of Aylesford in Kent. Like many other men of rank and fashion at the court of “the merry monarch,” Sedley had poetical ambition, and wrote comedies and songs. His most famous song, “Phyllis,” is much more widely known now than the author’s name. His first comedy, The Mulberry Garden, was published in 1668, but it does not sustain Sedley’s contemporary reputation for wit in conversation. He was probably too indolent to master the art of providing continuous opportunities for brilliant sayings, although he continued to try, wrote two more comedies, and left a comedy and two tragedies behind him to be published after his death. An indecent frolic in Bow Street, for which he was heavily fined, made him notorious in his youth, but later on he sobered down, entered parliament for New Romney (Kent), and took an active part in politics. A speech of his on the civil list after the Revolution is cited by Macaulay as a proof (which his plays do not afford) that his reputation as a man of wit and ability was deserved. His bon mot at the expense of James II. is another well-known fragment of his wit. The king had seduced his daughter and created her countess of Dorchester, whereupon Sedley remarked that he hated ingratitude, and, as the king had made his daughter a countess, he would endeavour to make the king’s daughter a queen. Sedley died on 20th August 1701.