The First Edition of this acclaimed classroom text presented five distinguished comedies from an especially exciting and innovative period in English theater and society: William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, George Etherege’s The Man of Mode, William Congreve’s The Way of the World, Richard Steele’s The Conscious Lovers, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. This Second Edition builds on its predecessor’s strengths by adding a sixth play, Aphra Behn’s The Rover, a comedy that has clearly come into prominence in recent years. The plays are fully annotated for the modern reader and are accompanied by six illustrations.

The First Edition of this acclaimed classroom text presented five distinguished comedies from an especially exciting and innovative period in English theater and society: William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, George Etherege’s The Man of Mode, William Congreve’s The Way of the World, Richard Steele’s The Conscious Lovers, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. This Second Edition builds on its predecessor’s strengths by adding a sixth play, Aphra Behn’s The Rover, a comedy that has clearly come into prominence in recent years. The plays are fully annotated for the modern reader and are accompanied by six illustrations.

The close relationship between theater and society during the period continues to be the focus of“Contexts.”he editor offers contemporary discussions of the following topics: “On Wit, Humour, and Laughter: 1660-1775,”“ The Collier Controversy: 1698,”“Steele and Dennis: On The Man of Mode and The Conscious Lovers,” and “Stages, Actors, and Audiences.”

“Criticism” has been revised to reflect recent approaches in scholarly interpretations. Two seminal essays from the First Edition have been retained--Charles Lamb’s appreciation of the period’s comedy and L. C. Knights’s condemnation of it. New essays by Jocelyn Powell, Harriett Hawkins, Elin Diamond, Martin Price, and Laura Brown have been added.

The Selected Bibliography has been thoroughly updated.

Preface to the First Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

A Note on the Texts

The Texts of the Plays

U,LUSTRATION: The CountO, Wife, National Theatre, 1977

William Wychcrley · The Country Wife

George Etheregc · The Man of Mode

Aphra Behn · The Rover

ILLUSTRATIONS: The Way of the World, National Theatre, 1969

ILLUSTRATIONS: The Way of the World, National Theatre, 1969

William Congreve · The Way of the World

Richard Steele · The Conscious Lovers

ILUSTRATIONS: The School for Scandal, Haymarket Theatre,

    1962

Richard Brinsley Sheridan · The School for Scandal

Contexts

ON WIT, ttUMOUR, AND LAUGHTER: 1650-1775

Thonlas Hobbes · [On Laughter]

           · [On Wit]

           · [On Power]

John Dryden · Preface to An Evening’s Love: or, The

    Mock Astrologer

William Congreve · Concerning Humour in Comedy

Richard Steele · Epilogue to The Lying Lover

          · The Tatler, No. 219

Joseph Addison · The Spectator, No. 47

          · The Spectator, No. 62

Oliver Goldsmith · An Essay on the Theater

  THE COLLIER CONTROVERSY: 1698

Jeremy Collier · A Short View of the Immorality and

   Profaneness of the English Stage

John Dennis · The Usefulness of the Stage

William Congreve · Amendments of Mr. Collier’s

   False and Imperfect Citations

  STEELE AND DENNIS: ON THE MAN OE MODE

   AND THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS

Richard Steele · The Spectator, No. 65

          · The Theatre, No. 1

          · The Theatre, No. 3

John Dennis · A Defense of Sir Fopling Flutter

        · Remarks on The Conscious Lovers

  STAGES, ACTORS, AND AUDIENCES

Emmet L. Avery and Arthur H. Scouten · The Theatrical

   World, 16oo-17oo

Elizabeth Howe · The Arrival of the Actress

Emmet L. Avery and Arthur H. Scouten · The Audience

Charles Beecher Hogan · [Scenery and Lighting]

ILLUSTRATION: Model Reconstruction of Wren’s

    Design for a Playhouse, ca. 1674

ILLUSTRATION: The Interior of Drury Lane in 1775

Criticism

Charles Lamb · On the Artificial Comedy of the

    Last Century

L. C. Knights · Restoration Comedy: The Reality and

    the Myth

Jocelyn Powell · [Visual Rhythm in The Country Wife]

Harriet Hawkins · [The Man of Model

Elin Diamond · Gestus and Signature in Aphra Behn’s

    The Rover

Martin Price · [Form and Wit in The Way of the World]

Laura Brown · [The Way of the World]

Raymond Williams · [Sentimentalism and Social History]

Selected Bibliography