William Wycherley

WYCHERLEY, William (1641-1715), of a Shorpshire family. He was educated first in France, then at the Queen's College, Oxford, but he never matriculated, afterwards enrolling as a student in the Inner Temple. His first play, Love in a Wood, or, St James's Park, a comedy of intrigue set in St. James's Park, was probably acted in 1671, and published in 1672, and brought him the favour of the duchess of Cleveland, the king's mistress. In 1679 he secretly married the widowed countess of Drogheda, daugher of the first earl of Radnor, and incurred thereby the displeasure of Charles II, who had offered him the tutorship of his son, the duke of Richmond. 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. His Posthumous Works appeared in 1728.

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. The standard edition is by A. Friedman (1969). (See also RESTORATION). 




The Country Wife, a comedy by *Wycherley, published and probably first performed 1675. It is now considered by many to be his finest play, a sharp satiric attack on social and sexual hypocrisy and greed and on the corruption of town manners, but even in the author's time (see his own jokes on the subject in *The Plain Dealer) was attacked for its alleged obscenity. *Garrick's version, The Country Girl (1766), aimed to remove the original's 'immorality' and 'obscenity', and with them cut the character of Horner, a central figure of the plot, a witty libertine who spreads a false report that he is impotent as a result of an operation for the pox, and thus gains access to the favours of various women, each of whom believes he has sacrificed reputation for her sake. 

The main plot concerns Mr Pinchwife, who comes to London for the marriage of his sister Alithea, bringing with him his artless young wife Margery; his excessive warnings against wrongdoing put ideas into her head, and she is eventually seduced by Horner, innocently protesting the while that she is merely behaving as town ladies do. Alithea's suitor Sparkish loses her to a new lover, Harcourt, through the opposite fault of excessive credulity. Pinchwife's conclusion, as he apparently accepts the excuse of Horner's impotence, is 'Cuckolds like Lovers shou'd themselves deceive.'



 The Plain-Dealer, a comedy by *Wycherley, probably performed 1676, published 1677. It was highly praised by *Dryden and *Dennis, though from the start it was criticized for obscenity, and in the 18th cent. was performed in a version bowdlerized by *Bickerstaffe.

 It is loosely based on *Molière's Le Misanthrope; Wycherley's hero Manly, an honest misanthropic sea-captain (from whom the playwright took the nickname 'Manly' Wycherley), corresponds to Molière's Alceste, and his treacherous, worldly beloved Olivia to Célimène. Manly, returned from the Dutch wars, has lost faith in all but Olivia, to whom he has confided his money, and his friend Vernish; he finds Olivia married to Vernish, and faithless even to him. Manly is beloved by Fidelia, a young woman who has followed him to sea in man's clothes; she intercedes with Olivia on his behalf, in a scene reminiscent of the Olivia-Viola scene in *Twelfth Night, is discovered by Vernish, who attempts to rape her, and is finally wounded in an attempt to defend Manly from Vernish. Manly forswears Olivia and pledges himself to Fidelia. There is a sub-plot in which the litigious widow Blackacre, who has a passion for legal jargon, trains up her son Jerry (a literary ancestor of Tony Lumpkin in *She Stoops to Conquer) in her footsteps, and thereby overreaches herself. 

The Plain Dealer is also the name of a periodical established by A. *Hill.

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