George Etherege

Sir George Etherege (1635?–c. May 10, 1692 [1]) was an English dramatist. He wrote the plays The Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tub in 1664, She Would if She Could in 1668, and The Man of Mode or, Sir Fopling Flutter in 1676. Although he is seldom known, he distinguished himself in dramatic poetry and plays as an established writer, between the years of 1636 and 1689, when he lived. His wit and banter in his plays came out in a dull, dark age, which most uplifted and encouraged the people. He is often attributed to leading the way for notary playwrights such as William Congreve and Richard Sheridan, who utilized the comedy of intrigue, which Etherege invented.

Life

George Etherege was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, around 1635, to George Etherege and Mary Powney, being the eldest of six children. He was a scion of an ancient and distinguished Oxfordshire family, and living in the life of luxury and ease. He attended Cambridge University ; however, John Dennis, one of his educators, assures that to his certain knowledge he understood neither Greek nor Latin, thus rising doubts that he could hardly have been there. He then served as apprentice to a lawyer and later studied law at Clement's Inn, London, one of the Inns of Chancery.

Had he been poor or ambitious he might have been to England almost what Molière was to France, but he was a rich man living at his ease, and he disdained to excel in literature. His wealth and wit, the distinction and charm of his manners, won him the general worship of society. His worship success was not only prevelent within his plays, but extended to his winning personality as well. His temperament is best shown by the names his contemporaries gave him, of "gentle Gearge" and "easy Etherege."

Before his last play, he formed an alliance with the famous actress Mrs. Elizabeth Barry, who unhappily died in her youth. During her life she bore him a daughter, on whom he settled £6000, with her mother. Little else is known about his daughter or his relationship with her mother. After a silence of eight years, solely due to his class, which upbraided him for inattention to literature, Etherege came out with his final and most successful play, The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter. After this brilliant success Etherege retired from literature, and his gallantries and his gambling in a few years deprived him of his fortune. To provide for himself given his lack of money, he began to search for a rich wife. In 1683, he met with a wealthy elderly widow whom he intended to marry. She consented to marry him if he made a lady of her. In an effort to fulfill his part of the agreement, he was knighted in 1680, and gained her hand and her money.

After his marriage, he was sent by Charles II on a mission to the Hague, and in March 1685, where he was appointed resident minister in the imperial German court at Regensburg. He had collected a library at Regensburg, some volumes of which are in the theological college there. Since he was very uncomfortable in Germany, and after three and a half years of residing there, he left to move to Paris again. He died in Paris, though the cause and date of death are unknown. It was probably in 1691, for Narcissus Luttrell notes in February 1692 that "Sir George Etherege, the late King James' ambassador to Vienna, died lately in Paris. His manuscript despatches are preserved in the British Museum, where they were discovered and described by Mr Gosse in 1881. The find of such manuscripts adds very largely to our knowledge of Etherege's career.

Works

Soon after the Restoration in 1660, he composed the comedy, The Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub, which introduced him to Lord Buckhurst, afterwards the earl of Dorset. This was performed at the Duke's theater in 1664, and a few copies were printed in the same year. It is partly in rhymed heroic verse, but it contains comic scenes that are exceedingly bright and fresh, with a style of wit hitherto unknown upon the English stage. The success of the play on the stage was very great, but Etherege waited four years before he repeated his experiment. Meanwhile, he gained the highest reputation as a poetical beau, and moved into the esteemed social circle of Sir Charles Sedley, Lord Rochester and other noble wits of the day.

In 1668 he brought out She would if she could, a a comedy in many respects admirable, full of action, wit and spirit, but though by the general public at the time to be extremely frivolous and immoral. The premise of the play implored that we seem to move in an airy and fantastic world, where flirtation is the only serious business of life, upsetting many. The basis for the play is thought to have been taken from Etherege's own life, which at this point was no less frivolous and unprincipled than those of his own characters, Courtals and Freemans. Even though it was cast out by many, this play was the initial signifier of Etherege as a new power in literature, through his lack of interest in the rudeness of his predecessors or the grossness of his contemporaries.

After a silence of eight years, he came forward with one more play, unfortunately his last. The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter, indisputably the best comedy of intrigue written in England before the days of William Congreve, was acted and printed in 1676, and enjoyed an unbounded success. Besides the merit of its plot and wit, it had the personal charm of being supposed to satirize, or at least to paint, persons well known in London. Sir Fopling Flutter was a portrait of Beau Hewit, the reigning exquisite of the hour. One of the main characters, Dorimant, poked fun at the poet drew the Earl of Rochester, and the character Medley was intended to be a portrait of himself. Even down to the drunken shoemaker in the play was a real character, who made his fortune from being thus brought into public notice. Although he is little known in modern times, George Etherege was highly acclaimed and praised during his life for his work.

The Man of Mode

Due to the wit and charm of the play and Etherege himself at the time, The Man of Mode, also entitled Sir Fopling Flutter, by Etherege, listing one of the play's main characters, became his most successful play, not only in terms of ow wide spread it was, but also the level of enjoyment the audience received from it as well.

Excerpt

Page: Sir Fopling Flutter, madam, desires to know if you are to be seen.

Lady Townley: Here's the freshest fool in town, and one who has not cloyed you yet. —Page!

Page: Madam?

Lady Townley: Desire him to walk up.

Dorimant: Do not you fall on him, Medley, and snub him. Soothe him up in his extravagance. He will show the better.

Medley: You know I have a natural indulgence for fools, and need not this caution, sir.

Enter Sir Fopling Flutter with his Page after him.

Sir Fopling: Page, wait without. [To Lady Townley.] Madam I kiss your hands. I see yesterday was nothing of chance; the belles assemblées form themselves here every day. [To Emilia.] Lady your servant. —Dorimant, let me embrace thee. Without lying, I have not met with any of my acquaintance who retain so much of Paris as thou dost—the very air thou hadst when the marquis mistook thee i' th' Tuileries, and cried "Hé Chevalier!" and then begged thy pardon.

Dorimant: I would fain wear in fashion as long as I can, sir. 'Tis a thing to be valued in men as well as baubles.

Sir Fopling: Thou art a man of wit, and understandest the town. Prithee let thee and I be intimate. There is no living without making some good man the confidant of our pleasures.

Dorimant: 'Tis true; but there is no man so improper for such a business as I am.

The excerpt shows the frivolousness of Sir Fopling Fluter, which made the play so easy to enjoy, especially as it made fun of other people well known people in London, adding humor for those who knew of such people. The play itself pokes at Sir Fopling, through the characters Medley and Dorimant, encouraging the audience to do the same. Such light hearted humor created a name and position for Etherege in his society.

Legacy

Etheredge holds a distinguished place in English literature as one of the "big five" of Restoration comedy. He inaugurated a period of genuine wit and sprightliness. He invented the comedy of manners, and led the way for the masterpieces of Congreve and Sheridan.

Etheredge's portraits of fops and beaux are considered the best of their kind. His wit is sparkling and frivolous, his style picturesque. Etheredge is noted for his delicate touches of dress, furniture and scene; he vividly draws the fine airs of London gentlemen and ladies, perhaps better than Congreve; but he has less insight and less energy than Congreve. His biography was first written in detail by Edmund Gosse in Seventeenth Century Studies (1883).

References

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The article is available here: [2]

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