Etherege, George

The Works Of Sir George Etherege: Containing His Plays And Poems

      London: Printed for H.H. And Sold by J. Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate, next Grays-Inn Lane; and T. Bennet, at the Half-Moon in St. PaulOs Church-yard, 1704. Octavo, 7.5 x 4.5 inches. First collected edition. [1]4, B-T8. 288 pages. This is a clean copy, in contemporary boards, rebacked. . This collection of EtheregeOs works contains the following plays: Love in a Tub; She WouOd if She CouOd; The Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter. The poems are two OLetters to the Earl of Middleton,O OA Song,O OThe Forsaken Mistress,O and OSong of Basset.O#11;#11;John Dennis commented on The Man of Mode in 1722. ONow I remember very well that upon the first acting this comedy, it was generally believed to be an agreeable representation of the persons of condition of both sexes, both in court and town; and that all the world was charmed with Dorimant; and that it was unanimously agreed that he had in him several of the qualities of Wilmot Earl of Rochester, as his wit, his spirit, his amorous temper, the charms that he had for the fair sex, his falsehood, and his inconstancy; the agreeable manner of his chiding his servants, which the late Bishop of Salisbury takes notice of in his life; and lastly, his repeating on every occasion the verses of Waller, for whom that noble lord had a very particular esteem.#11;#11;OOTis by the ridicule that there is in the character of Sir Fopling, which is one of the principal ones of this comedy, from which it takes its name, that he is so very well qualified to please and to instruct. What true Englishman is there but must be pleased to see this ridiculous knight made the jest and the scorn of all the other characters for showing, by his foolish aping foreign customs and manners, that he prefers another country to his own? And of what important instruction must it be to all our youth who travel to show them that, if they so far forget the love of their country as to declare by their espousing foreign customs and manners that they prefer France or Italy to Great Britain, at their return they must justly expect to be the jest and the scorn of their own countrymen.#11;#11;OTo conclude with one general observation, that comedy may be qualified in a powerful manner both to instruct and to please, the very constitution of its subject out always to be ridiculous. Comedy, says Rapin, is an image of common life and its end is to expose upon the stage the defects of particular persons in order to cure the defects of the public and to correct and amend the people by the fear of being laughed at. That therefore, says he, which is most essential to comedy is certainly the ridicule.O #11;