The Comedies of William Congreve: Volume 1 [of 2]
The Comedies of William Congreve: Volume 1 [of 2]
The Comedies of William Congreve: Volume 1 is a collection of comedic plays written in the late 17th century, showcasing the wit and charm of Restoration-era comedy. The plays explore themes of love, relationships, and social satire, featuring characters like the old bachelor Heartwell and the capricious Vainlove as they navigate romantic entanglements. This volume includes an introduction discussing Congreve's perspective as a writer and addresses criticisms of immorality in his work, emphasizing the artistic pursuit of societal critique through humor and clever dialogue.
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“But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old.””
— William Congreve
“One no more owes one's beauty to a lover than one's wit to an echo””
— William Congreve
“True, 'tis an unhappy circumstance of life that love should ever die before us, and that the man so often should outlive the lover. But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old. For my part, my youth may wear and waste, but it shall never rust in my possession.””
— William Congreve
“Of those few fools, who with ill stars are curst,Sure scribbling fools, called poets, fare the worst:For they're a sort of fools which fortune makes,And, after she has made them fools, forsakes.With Nature's oafs 'tis quite a different case,For Fortune favours all her idiot race.In her own nest the cuckoo eggs we find,Over which she broods to hatch the changeling kind:No portion for her own she has to spare,So much she dotes on her adopted care.Poets are bubbles, by the town drawn in,Suffered at first some trifling stakes to win:But what unequal hazards do they run!Each time they write they venture all they've won:The Squire that's buttered still, is sure to be undone.This author, heretofore, has found your favour,But pleads no merit from his past behaviour.To build on that might prove a vain presumption,Should grant to poets made admit resumption,And in Parnassus he must lose his seat,If that be found a forfeited estate.””
— William Congreve
“Well, I shall understand your lingo one of these days, cousin.””
— William Congreve
