CONTENTS PREFACE ... xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... xiv INTRODUCTION ... 1 Part Ⅰ The Early Reception, 1691-1700 1 Preface to Incognita, 1691 / <B><FONT color ... #0000 2 The Old Batchelour, 1692 / JOHN DRYDEN ... 58 3 Prefactory poems to The Old Batchelour, 1693 ... 59 4 The Gentleman's Journal, 1693 / PETER MOTTEUX ... 63 5 The Preface to The Wary Widdow, 1693 / HENRY HIGDEN ... 64 6 The Dedication to Examem Poeticum, 1693 / JOHN DRYDEN ... 66 7 'To Mr. Congreve. An Epistolary Ode Occasion'd by his late Play', 1693 / THOMAS YALDEN ... 67 8 'To Mr. Congreve', 1693 / JONATHAN SWIFT ... 70 9 Epistle Dedicatory to The Double Dealer, 1693 / <B><FONT color ... #0000 10 On the Double - Dealer, 1693 / JOHN DRYDEN ... 82 11 'To Mr. Congreve', 1693 / WILLIAM DOVE ... 84 12 'An Account of the Greatest English Poets', 1694 / JOSEPH ADDISON ... 85 13 'To Walter Moyle, Esp.', 1694 / CHARLES HOPKINS ... 86 14 The Mourning Poets, 1695 / ANON ... 87 15 The Proem to an Essay upon pastoral, 1695 / EDWARD HOWARD ... 88 16 'Concerning Humour in Comedy', 1695 / <B><FONT color ... #0000 17 An Epistolary Poem to N. Tate, Esquire, 1696 / WILLIAM PITTIS ... 98 18 'To Mr. Congreve, on his Tragedy, the Mourning Bride', 1697 / CATHARINE TROTTER ... 101 19 In the Preface to King Arthur, 1697 / SIR RIVHARD BLACKMORE ... 102 20 Dedication of Boadicea, Queen of Britain, 1697 / CHARLES HOPKINS ... 104 21 The justice of Peace, 1697 / ANON ... 106 22 A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage, 1698 / JEREMY COLLIER ... 108 23 A Defence of Dramatick Poetry, 1698 / ELKANAH SETTLE ... 115 24 Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations, 1698 / <B><FONT color ... #0000 25 A Letter to Mr. Congreve, 1698 / ANON ... 133 26 Animadversions on Mr. Congreve's Late Answer to Mr. Collier, 1698 / ANON ... 138 27 A Defence of the Short View, 1698 / JEREMY COLLIER ... 139 28 Some Remarks upon Mr. Collier's Defence, 1698 / ANON ... 160 29 A Letter to Mr. Congreve, Occasion'd by the Death of the Countess Dowager of Manchester, 1698 / CHARLES GILDON ... 163 30 'A Session of the Poets', 1698 / ANON ... 164 31 Reflections on the Stage, 1699 / JOHN OLDMIXON ... 165 32 The Ancient and Modern Stages Survey'd, 1699 / JAMES DRAKE ... 167 33 'An Epistle from Mr. Charles Hopkins to Mr. Yalden in Oxon.', 1699 / CHARLES HOPKINS ... 169 34 Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets, 1699 / CHARLES GILDON ... 170 35 A Satyr against Wit, 1699 / SIR RICHARD BLACKMORE ... 175 36 Dedication of The Way of the World, 1700 / <B><FONT color ... #0000 37 An Epistle to a Friend concerning Poetry, 1700 / SAMUEL WESLEY ... 179 38 Poetae Britannici, 1700 / SAMUEL COBB ... 180 39 A New Session of the Poets, Occasion'd by the Death of Mr. Dryden, 1700 / DANILE KENRICK ... 181 40 An Epistle to Sir Richard Blackmore, 1700 / ANON ... 182 Part Ⅱ The Eighteenth - Century Response, 1701-93 41 'Epistle to Mr. Congreve, occasion'd by his Comedy call'd The Way of the World', 1701 / RICHARD STEELE ... 184 42 A Comparison between the Two Stages, 1702 / ANON ... 186 43 The Tryal of Skill, 1704 / ANON ... 188 44 The Old Batchelour and 'Doris', 1709-13 / RICHARD STEELE ... 190 45 Remarks upon Mr. Pope's Translation of Homer, 1717 / JOHN DENNIS ... 193 46 'Of STUDY', 1719 / RICHARDSON PACK ... 195 47 The Poetical Register, 1719 / GILES JACOB ... 195 48 'To the Memory of Mr. Congreve', 1729 / LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU ... 198 49 A letter to Viscount Bolingbroke and Alexander Pope, 1729 / JONATHAN SWIFT ... 199 50 'A Poem to the Memory of Mr. Congreve', 1729 / DAVID MALLET ... 200 51 An Epistle to Lord Viscount Cobham, 1730 / ANON ... 205 52 Miscellanrous comments / ALEXANDER POPE ... 211 53 Letters Concerning the English Nation, 1733 / FRANCOIS - MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE ... 212 54 The Prompter, 1735 / WILLIAM POPPLE ... 213 55 The Daily Gazetteer, 1737 / ANON ... 216 56 The Champion, 1739 / HENRY FIELDING ... 217 57 The Roman and English Comedy Consider'd and Compar'd, 1747 / SAMUEL FOOTE ... 218 58 The Reformer, 1748 / EDMUND BURKE ... 219 59 Congreve's translation of Homer, 1750 / WILLIAM MELMOTH ... 220 60 Biographia Britannica, 1750 and 1789 / JOHN CAMPBELL ; ANDREW KIPPIS ... 224 61 The Adventurer, 1754 / JOSEPH WARTON ... 229 62 The Gray's Inn Journal, 1754 / ARTHUR MURPHY ... 230 63 Three reviews in The London Chronicle, 1757-8 / ARTHUR MURPHY ... 231 64 The Rosciad, 1761 / CHARLES CHURCHILL ... 236 65 'An Essay on the Life and Genius of Henry Fielding, Esq.', 1762 / ARTHUR MURPHY ... 237 66 Lord Kames in Elements of Criticism, 1762-3 / HENRY HOME ... 239 67 The Life of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D., by James Boswell, 1769 / SAMUEL JOHNSON ... 245 68 The Dramatic Censor, 1770 / FRANCIS GENTLEMAN ... 246 69 Review of THe Way of the World in The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 1775 / ANON ... 250 70 'Memoire of the Life and Writings of Mr. Gray', 1775 / WILLIAM MASON ... 252 71 'Thoughts on Comedy', 1775-6 / HORACE WALPOLE ... 253 72 Review of The Way of the World in The Morning Chronicle, 1776 / ANON ... 255 73 Evelina, 1778 / FANNY BURNEY ... 256 74 'Congreve', 1781 / SAMUEL JOHNSON ... 260 75 Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, 1783 / HUGH BLAIR ... 271 76 Dramatic Miscellanies, 1784 / THOMAS DAVIES ... 273 77 Review of The Way of the World in The Public Advertiser, 1784 / ANON ... 292 78 Reviews of Love for Love and The Mourning Bride in The World, 1787 / CHARLES ESTE ... 293 79 'Censor Dramaticus' In The Thespian Magazine 1792 ... 296 Part Ⅲ The Nineteenth Century and After 1802-1913 80 Reviews of the Double - Dealer and The Mourning Bride in The Monthly Mirror, 1802-7 / ANON ... 300 81 'On the Character of Congreve as a Writer of Comedy', 1804 / ANON ... 302 82 Love for Love, 1808 / ELIZABETH INCHBALD ... 310 83 Congreve, 1816-19 / WILLIAM HAZITT ... 311 84 The British Drama, 1817 / RICHARD CUMBERLAND ... 319 85 Lord Byron in his letters to John Murray, 1820-1 / GEORGE GORDON ... 328 86 The London Magazine, 1822 / CHARLES LAMB ... 329 87 Congreve, 1827-31 / JAMES BOADEN ... 333 88 Biographia Borealis, with the annotations of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1833 / HARTLEY COLERIDGE ... 342 89 Introduction to The Dramatic Works of Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar, 1840 / LEIGH HUNT ... 351 90 'Comic Dramatists of the Restoration', 1841 / THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY ... 364 91 Reviews of Love for Love and The Way of the World on The Times 1842 ... 377 92 The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century, 1851 / WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY ... 387 93 'Congreve and Wycherley', 1871 / CHARLES COWDEN CLARKE ... 393 94 'On the Idea of Comedy, and of the Uses of the Comic Spirit 1877 / GEORGE MEREDITH ... 402 95 'Congreve', 1877 / ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE ... 405 96 English Comic Dramatists, 1883 / OSWALD CRAWFURD ... 409 97 The Life of <B><FONT color ... #0000 98 Reviews Edmund Gosse's <B><FONT color ... #0000 99 The English Novel, 1894 / WALTER RALEIGH ... 425 100 Introduction to The Comedies of <B><FONT color ... #0000 101 English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century, 1904 / SIR LESLIE STEPHEN ... 438 102 Reviews of The Way of the World in the Times Literary Supplement, 1904 / A. B. WALKLEY ... 443 103 Introduction to <B><FONT color ... #0000 104 The Cambridge History of English Literature, 1912 / CHARLES WHIBLEY ... 463 105 The Comedy of Manners, 1913 / JOHN PALMER ... 475 INDEX