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The Country Wife and Other Plays
William Wycherley's four comedies are admired for their satirical wit, farcical humor, vivid characterization, and social criticism. This edition includes Love in a Wood, The Gentleman Dancing-Master, The Country Wife, and The Plain Dealer. The texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction, a note on staging, and detailed annotation.
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
William Wycherley
143 books19 followersWilliam Wycherley was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.
Wycherley left Oxford University and took up residence at the Inner Temple, but gave little attention to the study of law. Pleasure and the stage were his only interests. His play, Love in a Wood, was produced early in 1671 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was published the next year. Though Wycherley boasted of having written the play at the age of nineteen, before going to Oxford, this is probably untrue. Macaulay points to the allusions in the play to gentlemen's periwigs, to guineas, to the vests which Charles ordered to be worn at court, to the Great Fire of London, etc., as showing that the comedy could not have been written the year before the author went to Oxford. However, even if the play had been written in that year, and delayed in its production till 1672, it is exactly this kind of allusion to recent events which any dramatist with an eye to freshness of colour would be certain to weave into his dialogue.
That the writer of a play far more daring than Etherege's She Would if She Could — and far more brilliant too — should at once become the talk of the court was inevitable; equally inevitable was it that the author of the song at the end of the first act, in praise of harlots and their offspring, should attract the attention of the king's mistress, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. Possibly Wycherley intended this famous song as a glorification of Her Grace and her profession, for he seems to have been more delighted than surprised when, as he passed in his coach through Pall Mall, he heard her address him from her coach window as a "rascal" and a "villain", and the son of a woman such as that mentioned in the song. His answer was perfect: "Madam, you have been pleased to bestow a title on me which belongs only to the fortunate." Seeing that she received the compliment in the spirit in which it was meant, he lost no time in calling upon her, and was from that moment the recipient of those "favours" to which he alludes with pride in the dedication of the play to her. Voltaire's story (in his Letters on the English Nation) that Her Grace used to go to Wycherley's chambers in the Temple disguised as a country wench, in a straw hat, with pattens on and a basket in her hand, may be apocryphal, for disguise was superfluous in her case, but it shows how general was the opinion that, under such patronage as this, Wycherley's fortune as poet and dramatist was now made. King Charles, who had determined to bring up his son, the Duke of Richmond, like a prince, sought as his tutor a man as qualified as Wycherley to impart a "princely education", and it seems clear that, if not for Wycherley's marriage, the education of the young man would actually have been entrusted to him as a reward for having written Love in a Wood.
It is, however, his two last comedies — The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer — that sustain Wycherley's reputation. The Country Wife, produced in 1672 or 1673 and published in 1675, is full of wit, ingenuity, high spirits and conventional humour.
It was after the success of The Plain Dealer that the turning point came in Wycherley's career. The great dream of all the men about town in Charles's time, as Wycherley's plays all show, was to marry a widow, young and handsome, a peer's daughter if possible — but in any event rich, and spend her money upon wine and women. While talking to a friend in a bookseller's shop at Tunbridge, Wycherley heard The Plain Dealer asked for by a lady who, in the person of the countess of Drogheda (Letitia Isabella Robartes, eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Radnor and widow of the 2nd Earl of Drogheda), answered all the requirements. An introduction ensued, then love-making, then marriage — a secret marriage, probably in 1680, for, fearing to lose the king's patr
Wycherley left Oxford University and took up residence at the Inner Temple, but gave little attention to the study of law. Pleasure and the stage were his only interests. His play, Love in a Wood, was produced early in 1671 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was published the next year. Though Wycherley boasted of having written the play at the age of nineteen, before going to Oxford, this is probably untrue. Macaulay points to the allusions in the play to gentlemen's periwigs, to guineas, to the vests which Charles ordered to be worn at court, to the Great Fire of London, etc., as showing that the comedy could not have been written the year before the author went to Oxford. However, even if the play had been written in that year, and delayed in its production till 1672, it is exactly this kind of allusion to recent events which any dramatist with an eye to freshness of colour would be certain to weave into his dialogue.
That the writer of a play far more daring than Etherege's She Would if She Could — and far more brilliant too — should at once become the talk of the court was inevitable; equally inevitable was it that the author of the song at the end of the first act, in praise of harlots and their offspring, should attract the attention of the king's mistress, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. Possibly Wycherley intended this famous song as a glorification of Her Grace and her profession, for he seems to have been more delighted than surprised when, as he passed in his coach through Pall Mall, he heard her address him from her coach window as a "rascal" and a "villain", and the son of a woman such as that mentioned in the song. His answer was perfect: "Madam, you have been pleased to bestow a title on me which belongs only to the fortunate." Seeing that she received the compliment in the spirit in which it was meant, he lost no time in calling upon her, and was from that moment the recipient of those "favours" to which he alludes with pride in the dedication of the play to her. Voltaire's story (in his Letters on the English Nation) that Her Grace used to go to Wycherley's chambers in the Temple disguised as a country wench, in a straw hat, with pattens on and a basket in her hand, may be apocryphal, for disguise was superfluous in her case, but it shows how general was the opinion that, under such patronage as this, Wycherley's fortune as poet and dramatist was now made. King Charles, who had determined to bring up his son, the Duke of Richmond, like a prince, sought as his tutor a man as qualified as Wycherley to impart a "princely education", and it seems clear that, if not for Wycherley's marriage, the education of the young man would actually have been entrusted to him as a reward for having written Love in a Wood.
It is, however, his two last comedies — The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer — that sustain Wycherley's reputation. The Country Wife, produced in 1672 or 1673 and published in 1675, is full of wit, ingenuity, high spirits and conventional humour.
It was after the success of The Plain Dealer that the turning point came in Wycherley's career. The great dream of all the men about town in Charles's time, as Wycherley's plays all show, was to marry a widow, young and handsome, a peer's daughter if possible — but in any event rich, and spend her money upon wine and women. While talking to a friend in a bookseller's shop at Tunbridge, Wycherley heard The Plain Dealer asked for by a lady who, in the person of the countess of Drogheda (Letitia Isabella Robartes, eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Radnor and widow of the 2nd Earl of Drogheda), answered all the requirements. An introduction ensued, then love-making, then marriage — a secret marriage, probably in 1680, for, fearing to lose the king's patr
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 23, 2010
Historically, men have come up with some dodgy schemes for getting laid—etchings, roofies, the Michael Bublè catalogue—but this one from The Country Wife has a certain manwhorish cunning: a libertine hires a quack to spread the rumour that a botched operation for venereal disease has left him impotent. Counterproductive, you might be thinking. Pure genius, I tell you. See, 'cause now all the jealous husbands want to use him as a lapdog and chaperone for their wives. As an added bonus, his unfortunate “condition” makes it easy to spot the ladies who might be up for a game of hide-the-monster: they’re the ones who instinctively recoil from a eunuch.
I’m not a starry-eyed romantic or anything, but the sexual cynicism of Restoration comedy is breathtaking. Hell, it’s practically gangsta. Not Bill Cosby gangsta, but pretty hardcore. The prevailing attitude seems to be: married men are inherently ridiculous, married women are constitutionally unfaithful, and every bachelor is a rake out to screw other men’s wives. Structurally, these old plays are similar to today’s rom-coms, but with the romance and sentimentality drained right out of them. Sure, everything gets tied up in Act V with a convenient wedding or two, but the cheerful brutality of the first four acts kind of belies that feel-good ending.
Reading The Country Wife, where half the jokes are about adultery, I realized with a pang that the word "cuckold" has virtually disappeared from modern English usage. The reality is still with us, of course, and a lot of married guys still obsess over it (I've heard), but it’s almost as if we’d made a tacit gentlemen’s agreement not to get all pejorative about it. And so, though we cuckold each other all the time, we don’t call each other cuckolds, because that would be rude. Curious.
I’m not a starry-eyed romantic or anything, but the sexual cynicism of Restoration comedy is breathtaking. Hell, it’s practically gangsta. Not Bill Cosby gangsta, but pretty hardcore. The prevailing attitude seems to be: married men are inherently ridiculous, married women are constitutionally unfaithful, and every bachelor is a rake out to screw other men’s wives. Structurally, these old plays are similar to today’s rom-coms, but with the romance and sentimentality drained right out of them. Sure, everything gets tied up in Act V with a convenient wedding or two, but the cheerful brutality of the first four acts kind of belies that feel-good ending.
Reading The Country Wife, where half the jokes are about adultery, I realized with a pang that the word "cuckold" has virtually disappeared from modern English usage. The reality is still with us, of course, and a lot of married guys still obsess over it (I've heard), but it’s almost as if we’d made a tacit gentlemen’s agreement not to get all pejorative about it. And so, though we cuckold each other all the time, we don’t call each other cuckolds, because that would be rude. Curious.
September 22, 2024
re-read it and it was funnier when re-reading WITH the play adaptation in the background — i definitely got the jokes more readily.
February 4, 2025
If I could give this no stars I would. Hated this shit.
January 5, 2020
Lively characters, lots of plot twists, and so many great and funny lines. The introduction and notes are helpful and interesting. Thanks very much to all who worked on this.
February 6, 2021
Hilarious comedic drama.
December 8, 2021
The Country Wife, one of the off-beat plays. The play caused widespread controversy in its days. But it is interesting and polemical, cuckold, and the perversity of Women.
July 28, 2011
Firstly, top marks to the Oxford editors for the background and notes in this anthology.
restoration plays are absolutely fascinating, though they usually get overshadowed by their earlier cousins in the Renaissance. What interests me most about these plays--I've read The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer--is the self-consciousness of the theater. I mean, each play comments on contemporary theater culture (which was very different than Renaissance theater culture), and even on the Wycherly and his plays. For instance, The Plain Dealer features a (tongue in cheek) condemnation of The Country Wife as an immoral play (because of the insular nature of Restoration theater culture everyone who saw The Plain Dealer would likely have seen The Country Wife as well). By contrast, few if any Renaissance plays came directly out and commented on theater culture or mentioned a playwright/play by name. It's a fascinating evolutionary move in meta-dramatic conventions.
restoration plays are absolutely fascinating, though they usually get overshadowed by their earlier cousins in the Renaissance. What interests me most about these plays--I've read The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer--is the self-consciousness of the theater. I mean, each play comments on contemporary theater culture (which was very different than Renaissance theater culture), and even on the Wycherly and his plays. For instance, The Plain Dealer features a (tongue in cheek) condemnation of The Country Wife as an immoral play (because of the insular nature of Restoration theater culture everyone who saw The Plain Dealer would likely have seen The Country Wife as well). By contrast, few if any Renaissance plays came directly out and commented on theater culture or mentioned a playwright/play by name. It's a fascinating evolutionary move in meta-dramatic conventions.
July 13, 2012
Was prompted to read Wycherley's The Country Wife after seeing a great production of the play at The Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Dubbed 'The filthiest play in London' when staged in 1675, it's a rollicking Restoration Carry On of a play
February 16, 2009
**** for The Country Wife
August 26, 2012
Have read THE COUNTRY WIFE and THE PLAIN DEALER.
Very bawdy and funny.
Reminiscent of Shakespeare with the sexual innuendo and women disguised as men.
Very bawdy and funny.
Reminiscent of Shakespeare with the sexual innuendo and women disguised as men.
June 23, 2011
Have read THE COUNTRY WIFE and THE PLAIN DEALER.
Very bawdy and funny.
Reminiscent of Shakespeare with the sexual innuendo and women disguised as men.
Very bawdy and funny.
Reminiscent of Shakespeare with the sexual innuendo and women disguised as men.
January 31, 2017
Another farce in the great records of literature.
Read
November 29, 2017Do not waste your time or effort. I summarize my critique by using Wycherley’s line from The Country Wife: I wonder at the depraved appetites of witty men. His plays are appalling exercises in immorality. No human relationship is sacrosanct. All humanity operates on animal instinct only. We are all conceited hypocrites.
Love in a Wood
Seldom have I read any play with so many intolerable degenerates. Out of a cast of 16, only three appear in any sense moral. But what should I expect from a mediocre playwright who dedicated this play to his lover, the Duchess of Cleveland (favorite mistress of Charles II)? This “comedy” has a concentrated ‘ick’ factor – mothers procuring for daughters and lechers trolling for whores. It is pathetic that any talent was wasted on such garbage.
The Dancing Master
This play revolves around a fourteen-year-old virgin vixen duping her father and fiancé in order to run away with an unknown man – unknown until she meets him after tricking her fiancé. The fiancé is an Englishman so impressed with French culture that he mimics a Frenchman. The father is an Englishman so impressed with Spanish culture that he mimics a Spaniard. The eventual lover mimics a dancing instructor in order to – within a 48 hour period – elope with the vixen. Everyone is fooled and I was a fool to endure this read.
The Country Wife
A renowned rake fakes impotence so he can have sex with the willing wives, daughters and sisters of his friends. Pretty sick.
The Plain Dealer
Forewarned is forearmed. Revived after 250 years? In God’s name why? The first performance resulted in no reaction from the audience until friends of the playwright stood and applauded. It is a horrendously long play (the revival shortened it considerably). The dedication is to the madam of a whorehouse and the plot is depicted in the introduction as being a very rough and cruel indictment of humanity which elicits shame and discomfort in the audience. So, since I trudged through the first three plays in this compilation, why should I read this one if it is just going to be an even worse read? Exactly right. I won’t suffer this.
Love in a Wood
Seldom have I read any play with so many intolerable degenerates. Out of a cast of 16, only three appear in any sense moral. But what should I expect from a mediocre playwright who dedicated this play to his lover, the Duchess of Cleveland (favorite mistress of Charles II)? This “comedy” has a concentrated ‘ick’ factor – mothers procuring for daughters and lechers trolling for whores. It is pathetic that any talent was wasted on such garbage.
The Dancing Master
This play revolves around a fourteen-year-old virgin vixen duping her father and fiancé in order to run away with an unknown man – unknown until she meets him after tricking her fiancé. The fiancé is an Englishman so impressed with French culture that he mimics a Frenchman. The father is an Englishman so impressed with Spanish culture that he mimics a Spaniard. The eventual lover mimics a dancing instructor in order to – within a 48 hour period – elope with the vixen. Everyone is fooled and I was a fool to endure this read.
The Country Wife
A renowned rake fakes impotence so he can have sex with the willing wives, daughters and sisters of his friends. Pretty sick.
The Plain Dealer
Forewarned is forearmed. Revived after 250 years? In God’s name why? The first performance resulted in no reaction from the audience until friends of the playwright stood and applauded. It is a horrendously long play (the revival shortened it considerably). The dedication is to the madam of a whorehouse and the plot is depicted in the introduction as being a very rough and cruel indictment of humanity which elicits shame and discomfort in the audience. So, since I trudged through the first three plays in this compilation, why should I read this one if it is just going to be an even worse read? Exactly right. I won’t suffer this.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews