George Etherege
Sir George Etherege | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1636 ProbablyMaidenhead,Berkshire,England |
| Died | c. 1691 Paris,[1]France |
| Occupation | Playwright,poet |
| Literary movement | English Restoration Comedy |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives |
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Sir George Etherege(c. 1636 – c. 10 May 1692) was an Englishdramatist.He wrote the playsThe Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tubin 1664,She Would If She Couldin 1668, andThe Man of Mode or, Sir Fopling Flutterin 1676.[4]
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]George Etherege was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in about 1636, to George Etherege and Mary Powney, as the eldest of their six children.[5]Educated atLord Williams's School,where a school building was later named after him, he was rumoured to have attended theUniversity of Cambridge,[6]althoughJohn Dennisstates that to his certain knowledge Etherege understood neither Greek nor Latin,[4]thus raising doubts that he could have been there.[7]
Etherege served as an apprentice to a lawyer and later studied law at Clement's Inn, London, one of theInns of Chancery.[6]He probably travelled abroad to France with his father, who stayed with the exiled queenHenrietta Maria,and may have witnessed inParisperformances of some ofMolière's earliest comedies. An allusion in one of his plays suggests he may have been personally acquainted withRoger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy.[4]
Stage success
[edit]Soon after theRestorationin 1660, Etherege wrote his comedy ofThe Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub,which brought him to the attention ofLord Buckhurst,afterwards Earl of Dorset. This was performed at the Duke's Theatre in 1664 and a few copies were printed in the same year. It is partly in rhymed heroic verse, like the stilted tragedies ofthe HowardsandThomas Killigrew,but it contains comic scenes that are notably bright and fresh. The sparring between Sir Frederick and the Widow introduced a style of wit hitherto unknown upon the English stage.[4]
The success of this play was very great, but Etherege waited four years before repeating the experiment. Meanwhile he gained a high reputation as a poetical beau and moved in the circle ofSir Charles Sedley,Lord Rochesterand other noble wits of the day. His temperament is best shown by the names his contemporaries gave him: "gentle George" and "easy Etheredge".
In 1668, he brought outShe Would If She Could,a comedy of action, wit and spirit, although by some thought to be frivolous and immoral. Here Etherege first showed himself as a new power in literature. He presents an airy and fantastic world, where flirtation is the only serious business in life. Etherege himself was living a life no less frivolous and unprincipled.[4]
The Man of Mode
[edit]
Between 1668 and 1671 Etherege went toConstantinopleas secretary to the English Ambassador, SirDaniel Harvey.After a silence of eight years, he came forward with only one further play:The Man of Mode or, Sir Fopling Flutter,widely considered the best comedy of manners written in England before the days ofCongreve.It was acted and printed in 1676 and enjoyed success, which may be attributed to the belief that it satirises, or at least refers to well-known contemporaries inLondon.Sir Fopling Flutterwas seen as a portrait of Beau Hewit, the reigning exquisite, Dorimant to be a reference to theEarl of Rochester,and Medley a portrait of Etherege himself (or equally plausible, his fellow playwright and wit, Sir Charles Sedley). Even the drunken shoemaker was a real character, who made his fortune from being brought to public notice in this fashion.[4]
Life after the theatre
[edit]Etherege was part of the circle ofJohn Wilmot;both men had a daughter by the unmarried actressElizabeth Barry.[8](Recently all three have appeared as characters in the 2005 filmThe Libertine,based on a play byStephen Jeffreys.)
After his success, Etheredge retired from literature, and a few years later lost much of his fortune to gambling. He was knighted at some time before 1679, and married a wealthy widow, Mary Sheppard Arnold. In March 1685, he was appointed resident minister to the Imperial German Court atRatisbon.After three-and-a-half years' residence there, and after theGlorious Revolution,he left for Paris to joinJames IIin exile. He died in Paris, probably in 1691,[4]asNarcissus Luttrellnotes this as a recent event in February 1692, identifying Sir George Etherege as the late King James's Ambassador toVienna.[4]
Etherege's manuscript despatches are preserved in theBritish Museum,where they were discovered and described by Gosse in 1881.[4]Later editions were produced bySybil Rosenfeld(1928) and Frederic Bracher (1974).
Legacy
[edit]Etherege holds a distinguished place in English literature[4]as one ofthe "big five"inRestoration comedy,who invented the comedy of manners and led the way to the achievements of Congreve andSheridan.
Etherege's portraits of fops and beaux are considered to be the best of their kind. He is noted for his delicate touches of dress, furniture and scene, and a vivid replication of the fine airs of London gentlemen and ladies which may even better Congreve's. His biography was first written in detail byEdmund GosseinSeventeenth Century Studies(1883).[4]
References
[edit]- ^"Sir George Etherege (British dramatist) - Encyclopædia Britannica".Britannica.com. 3 November 2013.Retrieved25 February2014.
- ^A widow whom Etherege is rumoured to have married for her money. (The Dramatic Works of Sir George Etherege,ed. H. F. B. Brett-Smith, 2 vols (1927)).
- ^[1][dead link]
- ^abcdefghijkOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Gosse, Edmund(1911). "Etheredge, Sir George".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 807.
- ^H. F. B. Brett-Smith,The Dramatic Works of Sir George Etherege.Introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1927. pp. xi-lxxxiiii.
- ^abWilliam Oldys,Biographia Britannica.Vol. III, 1750. p. 1841.
- ^John Dennis,A Defence Of Sir Fopling Flutter, A Comedy.Pamphlet, London, 2 November 1722.
- ^Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
External links
[edit]
- Works by or about George Etheregeat theInternet Archive
- Works by George EtheregeatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)
