[THE PLAYS OF]
WILLIAM WYCHERLEY
EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
By W. C. Ward
UNEXPURGATED EDITION
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1893
From the Picture by Sir Peter Lely.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| Introduction. | vii |
| William Wycherley, | |
| [by Thomas Babington Macaulay]. | xxiii |
| Love in a Wood; or, St. James's Park. | 1 |
| The Gentleman Dancing-Master. | 125 |
| The Country Wife. | 243 |
| The Plain Dealer. | 363 |
| Notes. | 508 |
As long as men are false and women vain,
Whilst gold continues to be virtue's bane,
In pointed satire Wycherley shall reign.
Evelyn.
INTRODUCTION.
William Wycherley was, beforeCongreve arose to surpass him, themost eminent master of that artificialschool of Comedy which commencedwith the restoration ofCharles II., and which may be said to haveperished, in a blaze as of a funeral pyre, withSheridan. Abandoning the beaten paths ofEnglish drama, the writers of this school found, inthe various intrigue of the Spanish theatre, in theverbal vivacity and piquant satire of the French, anew basis for their productions. Their works, as aclass, have been designated the Comedy ofManners, a title which aptly distinguishes themfrom the Comedy of Human Life, set forth byShakespeare. It is a title, nevertheless, of limitedapplicability. The manners por