William Wycherley

The Restoration comedies of the English dramatist William Wycherley (ca. 1640-1716) ridiculed the manners and morals of sophisticated ladies and gentlemen who delighted in illicit intrigue.

William Wycherley was born at Clive, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, where his father, a royalist, owned a small estate. Because the Puritans were in power, Wycherley was sent to France for his education. He spent several years there studying with the Duchesse de Montausier and her circle of intellectuals. As was the case with many who followed the Stuarts to France, Wycherley was converted to Roman Catholicism. However, he reverted to Protestantism upon his return to England just before the Restoration.

Wycherley entered the Inner Temple, of which his father was a member, ostensibly to study law. But he was more inclined toward literature and later settled in Oxford at the provost's quarters of Queen's College to study at the Bodleian library. He left Oxford without taking a degree.

Early in 1671 Wycherley's first play, Love in a Wood, was produced at the Theatre Royal, London. It attracted the attention of Charles II's mistress, the Duchess of Cleveland, who introduced Wycherley to court circles. His second play, The Gentleman Dancing Master, a comedy of intrigue based on a play by Pedro Calderón, was performed at Covent Garden late in 1671. It was not well received. Shortly after this Wycherley probably served as a naval officer in the Dutch War.

The Country Wife, Wycherley's best-known play, was first performed in 1672 or 1673. It centers on the attempts of a jealous husband named Pinchwife to keep his young and naive wife out of society because of his fear that she will prove unfaithful. This play was a great success and is still performed today. The next year The Plain Dealer was performed with equal success. In both plays he was much influenced by Molière, although his satire is fiercer than Molière's. After The Plain Dealer Wycherley stopped writing for the stage.

Wycherley fell ill in 1678, and Charles II sent him to France to recuperate. When he returned, the King entrusted the education of his illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond, to Wycherley, but he lost the appointment a year later because of Charles's displeasure at his absence from court. This absence was occasioned by his secret marriage to the Countess of Drogheda, who died about a year later. Litigation over her estate proved so expensive that Wycherley was imprisoned for debt. About 7 years later King James II secured his freedom, paid his debts, and gave him a pension.

In 1697 Wycherley succeeded to his father's estate. In 1704 he published Miscellany Poems, which caught the attention of young Alexander Pope, who later helped Wycherley to revise them. He died on Jan. 1, 1716.

Further Reading

An excellent, annotated edition of Wycherley's work is The Complete Plays of William Wycherley, edited by Gerald Weales (1966). The only full-length biography is Willard Connely, Brawny Wycherley (1930). The best study of his plays is Rose A. Zimbardo, Wycherley's Drama (1965). More general discussions of Restoration comedy include John Palmer, The Comedy of Manners (1913; repr. 1962); Kathleen M. Lynch, The Social Mode of Restoration Comedy (1926); Norman N. Holland, The First Modern Comedies (1959); and Virginia Ogden Birdsall, Wild Civility: The English Comic Spirit on the Restoration Stage (1970).

Additional Sources

McCarthy, B. Eugene, William Wycherley: a biography, Athens: Ohio University Press, 1979. □

William Wycherley , 1640?–1716, English dramatist, b. near Shrewsbury. His first comedy, Love in a Wood (1671), was a huge success and won him the favor of the duchess of Cleveland, mistress of Charles II. His next play, The Gentleman Dancing-Master (1672), was followed by his two masterpieces, The Country Wife (1674?), in which the hero feigns castration as a cover for his affairs, and The Plain Dealer (1676), an exposé laden with satirical irony on the deception inherent in love and friendship. His brilliant wit and savagely clever satire give him a prominent place in the history of English Restoration drama. He lost court favor by his marriage (c.1680) to the countess of Drogheda, and after her death he spent several years in prison for debt. With the accession of James II he was released from prison and given a pension. The publication of his Miscellany Poems in 1704 led to a friendship with young Pope, who revised many of the elder poet's verses.

Bibliography: See his complete plays, ed. by G. Weales (1966); biography by W. Connely (1930, repr. 1969); studies by R. Zimbardo (1965), U. Santz (1978), and E. McCarthy (1985).

Wycherley, William (1641–1715), dramatist, whose first play, Love in a Wood, or, St James's Park, a comedy of intrigue, was probably acted in 1671, and published in 1672. His second play, The Gentleman Dancing-Master, was probably acted 1671, published 1673; The Country Wife was published and probably first acted 1675; his last play, The Plain-Dealer, was probably acted 1676, published 1677. His Miscellany Poems (1704) led to a friendship with Pope, who revised many of his writings.

Wycherley's plays, admired by Lamb but condemned by Macaulay as licentious and indecent, are highly regarded for their acute social criticism, particularly of sexual morality and the marriage conventions; his characterization and thematic organization are also strong, and his last two plays have been successfully revived many times. (See also Restoration.)

Wycherley, William (1641–1716). English poet and playwright, aptly said to have ‘fondled his age whilst abusing it’. Educated in France, at Queen's College, Oxford, and then in the Inner Temple before establishing his reputation for witty if risqué satire on contemporary morality with his four plays, Love in a Wood (1672), The Gentleman Dancing-Master (1673), The Country Wife (1675), and The Plain-Dealer (1677), Wycherley incurred Charles II's displeasure by his secret marriage in 1679 to the widowed countess of Drogheda. By the early 18th cent., largely on account of his Miscellany Poems (1704), Wycherley had become mentor to aspiring poets such as Alexander Pope. Wycherley's Posthumous Works were published in 1728. The Country Wife and The Plain-Dealer are still regularly performed.

J. A. Downie

Wycherley, William (1641–1716). English poet and playwright, aptly said to have ‘fondled his age whilst abusing it’. He was educated in France, at Queen's College, Oxford, and then in the Inner Temple before establishing his reputation for witty if risqué satire on contemporary morality with his four plays Love in a Wood (1672), The Gentleman Dancing‐Master (1673), The Country Wife (1675), and The Plain‐Dealer (1677),