The Parson's Wedding
Encyclopedia
The Parson's Wedding is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy
written by Thomas Killigrew
. Often regarded as the author's best play, the drama has sometimes been considered an anticipation of Restoration comedy
, written a generation before the Restoration
; "its general tone foreshadows the comedy of the Restoration from which the play is in many respects indistinguishable."
in Switzerland
. Killigrew may have been in the city in December and January in the winter of 1635–36, and perhaps began to draft the play at that time. Yet Killigrew apparently was also in Switzerland, in Geneva
and Basel, in March 1640, and in Switzerland again in April 1641.
The play was performed in 1641
, by the King's Men
, in the Blackfriars Theatre
. In Act V, Scene i, Killigrew refers to Joseph Taylor
, the long-time leading man of that company; here, Killigrew is imitating Ben Jonson
, who played the same trick of reference in his The Devil is an Ass
(1616
). In that play, Jonson mentions Richard Robinson
, a King's Man actor who was cast of the play in which he's mentioned.
) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
. Some critics have also noted resemblances with Shackerley Marmion
's The Antiquary
(c. 1635) and Lording Barry
's Ram Alley (c. 1607).
In the text of his play, Killigrew inserted prose paraphrases of poems by John Donne
. Speeches in II,i borrow from Donne's "A Lecture Upon the Shadow" and "Breake of Day," while a speech in IV,i is indebted to "Loves Alchymie." "Killigrew probably intended his audience to catch the borrowings as part of an added level of wit."
in 1664
. In that volume, each of the plays is identified with the European city in which Killigrew wrote the given work, mainly during his periods of foreign travel; and the collected edition assigns The Parson's Wedding to Basel.
It is an open question as to how much of the 1664 text of The Parson's Wedding represents the original Caroline-era work, and how much is the result of later revision. The play's apparent anticipation of Restoration drama may be, to some significant degree, an illusion inspired by post-1660 revision.
The play was dedicated to "Lady Ursula Bartu, Widow."
The Prisoners
and Claricilla
and The Princess
, may have been a reaction to the highly artificial cult of Platonic love
favored at the Caroline era
court of Queen Henrietta Maria
. [See: The Shepherd's Paradise
.] Biographers have also speculated that the play's dark outlook on sexuality and marriage may have been part of Killigrew's reaction to the 1638 death of his first wife, Celia Crofts.
Many plays in English Renaissance drama
exploit bawdy humor and risqué subject matter; but they normally maintain at least a formal commitment to the established morality of the social order. Westward Ho
and Northward Ho
, two early Jacobean comedies by Thomas Dekker and John Webster
, and the city comedies
of Thomas Middleton
, provide good examples of this tendency, as do many other dramas of the era. In The Parson's Wedding, Killigrew abandons even a lip-service acceptance of socially-approved morality; he is overtly and even gleefully cynical about the moral claims and sexual mores of society — especially in regard to marriage.
The two characters in the play who come closest to representing the established order, Lady Loveall and the Parson, are the biggest hypocrites, and fare the worst. Without being heavy-handed, Killigrew expresses the hostility toward the Puritan
s that is typical of the drama of the age. The minor character Crop is a Brownist
who is given rough treatment; and the thoroughly-humiliated Parson is compared to leading Presbyterian divines like Stephen Marshall
.
Bawds, Servants, Drawers, Fiddlers.
When the Parson enters, the Captain attacks him with lush and imaginative verbal abuse. The Parson responds in kind. Wanton takes the Parson's side in the argument, and the Captain pretends to storm off. The Parson impulsively renews his suit for Wanton's hand in marriage.
The following scenes introduce a profusion of other characters. The main players are:
Most of the play is devoted to repartee among these characters. While the play contains some physical humor (in a scene in mid-play, Crop the Brownist is abused and ejected from London's Devil Tavern), it is dominated by verbal wit. The characters converse, quarrel, and flirt with each other, scheme with and manipulate each other, between eating and drinking. A small sample can be extracted from II,vii:
The Captain's plot against the Parson comes to fruition when the Parson goes to bed drunk; the plotters slip the elderly Bawd into his bed in place of Wanton, then burst in disguised as watchmen and constables. They drag him before a supposed Justice of the Peace (actually Mr. Wild in disguise). The Parson confronts social and professional ruin for his apparent sexual misconduct; even when the trick is revealed, he risks profound embarrassment over its possible exposure. The frightened Parson is cowed into the status of a wittol, a complaisant cuckold
, as Wanton pursues her erotic adventures; he even joins in some of the further schemes of his tricksters.
Constant and Sad work their own scheme to trap Lady Wild and Mrs. Pleasant into matrimony; they exclude the two women from the Lady's own house by pretending that her coachman has died of the plague. (Killigrew's humor is bold enough to use bubonic plague
as a casual element in his comedy.) The two women find refuge in the house of the Lady's nephew, Mr. Wild. Masters Careless and Wild work their own trick on the women, spreading the rumor that their marriages have already taken place and arranging appearances to that effect. To avoid public shame, the two women accept the two men as their husbands — marriages which are appropriate in the social world of the play. The Parson performs the ceremony that unites Mr. Careless with Lady Wild, and Mr. Wild with Mrs. Pleasant. (And Mrs. Wanton goes off with Mr. Jolly.)
This long prose play (it must have been cut significantly for stage performance) includes a range of noteworthy features. The character Faithful, who runs a charity hospital for the sufferers of sexually transmitted diseases, is one striking example.
; and he gave his Parson's Wedding two of the more remarkable productions of the era. Twice, in October 1664 and in June 1672, he staged the play with all-female casts. Given the fact that women performers had been appearing regularly on the English stage only since 1661, the all-female productions were sensational and revolutionary in their day.
called it "an obscene, loose play"). Traditional critics regularly condemned the play for "coarseness" and "vulgarity." Modern-day critics have judged the "libertine picaresque" aspect of the drama less harshly, and have praised the play as "energetic" and "unbridled" — "a loose, lively, bawdy city play." Mrs. Wanton's praise of sexual freedom is not offensive to modern readers who tend to accept her values.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
written by Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew
Thomas Killigrew was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England.-Life and work:...
. Often regarded as the author's best play, the drama has sometimes been considered an anticipation of Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...
, written a generation before the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
; "its general tone foreshadows the comedy of the Restoration from which the play is in many respects indistinguishable."
Date and performance
Firm evidence for the play's date of authorship is lacking. Scholars have generally dated the play to c. 1637 or to the 1639–41 period. The play was allegedly composed in BaselBasel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Killigrew may have been in the city in December and January in the winter of 1635–36, and perhaps began to draft the play at that time. Yet Killigrew apparently was also in Switzerland, in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and Basel, in March 1640, and in Switzerland again in April 1641.
The play was performed in 1641
1641 in literature
The year 1641 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Pierre Corneille marries Marie de Lampérière.*Sir William Davenant is convicted of high treason.*Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon becomes an advisor to King Charles I of England....
, by the King's Men
King's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
, in the Blackfriars Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre
Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. The theatre began as a venue for child actors associated with the Queen's chapel choirs; in this function, the theatre hosted some of the most innovative drama of Elizabeth and...
. In Act V, Scene i, Killigrew refers to Joseph Taylor
Joseph Taylor (17th-century actor)
Joseph Taylor was a 17th-century actor. As the successor of Richard Burbage with the King's Men, he was arguably the most important actor in the later Jacobean and the Caroline eras....
, the long-time leading man of that company; here, Killigrew is imitating Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, who played the same trick of reference in his The Devil is an Ass
The Devil is an Ass
The Devil is an Ass is a Jacobean comedy by Ben Jonson, first performed in 1616 and first published in 1631.The Devil is an Ass followed Bartholomew Fair , one of the author's greatest works, and marks the start of the final phase of his dramatic career...
(1616
1616 in literature
The year 1616 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Roman Catholic Church....
). In that play, Jonson mentions Richard Robinson
Richard Robinson (17th-century actor)
Richard Robinson was an actor in English Renaissance theatre and a member of Shakespeare's company the King's Men.Robinson started out as a boy player with the company; in 1611 he played the Lady in their production of The Second Maiden's Tragedy. He was cast in their production of Ben Jonson's...
, a King's Man actor who was cast of the play in which he's mentioned.
Sources
Killigrew based his play, loosely, on the Spanish drama La Dama Duende (The Phantom LadyThe Phantom Lady
The Phantom Lady is a play written by the Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. It was written and performed in 1629. It was published for the first time in the Primera parte de comedias de don Pedro Calderón de la Barca ....
) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
. Some critics have also noted resemblances with Shackerley Marmion
Shackerley Marmion
Shackerley Marmion , also Shakerley, Shakerly, Schackerley, Marmyon, Marmyun, or Mermion, was an early 17th-century dramatist, often classed among the Sons of Ben, the followers of Ben Jonson who continued his style of comedy...
's The Antiquary
The Antiquary (play)
The Antiquary is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Shackerley Marmion. It was acted in the 1634–36 period by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre, and first published in 1641. The Antiquary has been succinctly described as "Marmion's best play."-Contemporary...
(c. 1635) and Lording Barry
Lording Barry
-Works:Barry is known as the author of one comedy, ‘Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks,’, 1611 and 1636, which was included in the second and subsequent editions of Robert Dodsley's ‘Old Plays.’ Anthony Wood says it was acted by the Children of the King's Revels before 1611....
's Ram Alley (c. 1607).
In the text of his play, Killigrew inserted prose paraphrases of poems by John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
. Speeches in II,i borrow from Donne's "A Lecture Upon the Shadow" and "Breake of Day," while a speech in IV,i is indebted to "Loves Alchymie." "Killigrew probably intended his audience to catch the borrowings as part of an added level of wit."
Publication
The Parson's Wedding did not appear in print until the collected edition of Killigrew's dramas, Comedies and Tragedies, was published by Henry HerringmanHenry Herringman
Henry Herringman was a prominent London bookseller and publisher in the second half of the 17th century. He is especially noted for his publications in English Renaissance drama and English Restoration drama; he was the first publisher of the works of John Dryden...
in 1664
1664 in literature
The year 1664 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir William Davenant's "dramatic opera" Macbeth, adapted from Shakespeare's play, premiers on November 5....
. In that volume, each of the plays is identified with the European city in which Killigrew wrote the given work, mainly during his periods of foreign travel; and the collected edition assigns The Parson's Wedding to Basel.
It is an open question as to how much of the 1664 text of The Parson's Wedding represents the original Caroline-era work, and how much is the result of later revision. The play's apparent anticipation of Restoration drama may be, to some significant degree, an illusion inspired by post-1660 revision.
The play was dedicated to "Lady Ursula Bartu, Widow."
Sexuality and religion
The bawdy tone of the play, notably different from Killigrew's earlier tragicomediesTragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
The Prisoners
The Prisoners (play)
The Prisoners is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Killigrew. It was premiered onstage c. 1635, acted by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre; and was first printed in 1641...
and Claricilla
Claricilla
Claricilla is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Killigrew. The drama was acted c. 1636 by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre, and first published in 1641...
and The Princess
The Princess (Killigrew)
The Princess, or Love at First Sight is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Killigrew. The play was most likely written c. 1636, while Killigrew was travelling in Italy, and was acted on the stage c...
, may have been a reaction to the highly artificial cult of Platonic love
Platonic love
Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...
favored at the Caroline era
Caroline era
The Caroline era refers to the era in English and Scottish history during the Stuart period that coincided with the reign of Charles I , Carolus being Latin for Charles...
court of Queen Henrietta Maria
Henrietta Maria of France
Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...
. [See: The Shepherd's Paradise
The Shepherd's Paradise
The Shepherd's Paradise was a Caroline era masque, written by Walter Montagu and designed by Inigo Jones. Acted in 1633 by Queen Henrietta Maria and her ladies in waiting, it was noteworthy as the first masque in which the Queen and her ladies filled speaking roles...
.] Biographers have also speculated that the play's dark outlook on sexuality and marriage may have been part of Killigrew's reaction to the 1638 death of his first wife, Celia Crofts.
Many plays in English Renaissance drama
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
exploit bawdy humor and risqué subject matter; but they normally maintain at least a formal commitment to the established morality of the social order. Westward Ho
Westward Ho (play)
Westward Ho is an early Jacobean era stage play, a satire and city comedy by Thomas Dekker and John Webster that was first published in 1607...
and Northward Ho
Northward Ho
Northward Ho is an early Jacobean era stage play, a satire and city comedy written by Thomas Dekker and John Webster, and first published in 1607. Northward Ho was a response to Eastward Ho by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston, which in its turn was a response to Westward Ho Northward...
, two early Jacobean comedies by Thomas Dekker and John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
, and the city comedies
City comedy
City comedy, also called Citizen Comedy, is a common genre of Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline comedy on the London stage from the last years of the 16th century to the closing of the theaters in 1642...
of Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
, provide good examples of this tendency, as do many other dramas of the era. In The Parson's Wedding, Killigrew abandons even a lip-service acceptance of socially-approved morality; he is overtly and even gleefully cynical about the moral claims and sexual mores of society — especially in regard to marriage.
The two characters in the play who come closest to representing the established order, Lady Loveall and the Parson, are the biggest hypocrites, and fare the worst. Without being heavy-handed, Killigrew expresses the hostility toward the Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
s that is typical of the drama of the age. The minor character Crop is a Brownist
Brownist
The Brownists were English Dissenters and followers of Robert Browne who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England in about 1550.-Origins:...
who is given rough treatment; and the thoroughly-humiliated Parson is compared to leading Presbyterian divines like Stephen Marshall
Stephen Marshall
Stephen Marshall was an English Nonconformist churchman.His sermons, especially that on the death of John Pym in 1643, reveal eloquence and fervour...
.
Dramatis personae
The Dramatis personae of the 1664 edition:- Mr CARELESS, a Gentleman, and a Wit.
- Mr WILD, a Gentleman, Nephew to the Widow.
- Mr JOLLY, an humorous Gentleman, and a Courtier.
- The CAPTAIN, a leading Wit, full of designs.
- The PARSON, a Wit also, but over-reached by the Captain and his WANTON.
- Mr CONSTANT, Mr SAD, two dull Suitors to the Lady Widow and Mrs PLEASANT.
- CROP, the Brownist, a Scrivener.
- Lady WILD, a rich (and somewhat youthful) Widow.
- Mrs PLEASANT, a handsome young GentlewomanGentlewomanA gentlewoman in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin generosus and generosa...
, of a good fortune. - Mrs SECRET, her (indifferent honest) Woman.
- Lady LOVEALL, an old Stallion-hunting Widow.
- FAITHFUL, her (errant honest) Woman.
- Mrs WANTON, the Captain's livery Punk, married to the Parson by confederacy.
Bawds, Servants, Drawers, Fiddlers.
The plot
The play opens on a heated conversation between the Captain and his paramour, Mistress Wanton. (In the seventeenth century, the title "Mistress," or "Mrs.," was applied to both married and single women; Wanton is single, beautiful, clever, and highly desirable.) The Captain is "in choler," angry at the conduct of his erstwhile friend the Parson. In past periods of poverty, the Parson was a humble acquaintance of the Captain and Wanton; but now that he has obtained a comfortable clerical benefice (a "fat living") through the patronage of Lady Loveall, the Parson looks down on his old friends. When Wanton reveals that the Parson once proposed marriage to her, the Captain is struck with an inspiration: they will arrange a marriage between the Parson and Wanton, as a way of working their revenge.When the Parson enters, the Captain attacks him with lush and imaginative verbal abuse. The Parson responds in kind. Wanton takes the Parson's side in the argument, and the Captain pretends to storm off. The Parson impulsively renews his suit for Wanton's hand in marriage.
The following scenes introduce a profusion of other characters. The main players are:
- Lady Wild and Mrs. Pleasant, two attractive, witty, and desirable gentlewomen. Both single, they are the main potential romantic conquests of the play.
- Master Wild, the Lady's nephew, and his friend Master Careless; the main protagonists.
- Master Jolly; he and the Captain support and aid Careless and Wild in attaining Lady Wild and Mrs. Pleasant respectively. Both Jolly and the Captain are among the lovers of Lady Loveall, and contend over the possession of a favor (a pearl necklace) that Jolly obtains from her; but they can put that rivalry aside in pursuit of other sport and wit.
- Mrs Constant and Mr. Sad, the two men who are the main rivals of the protagonists for the hands of Lady Wild and Mrs. Pleasant.
Most of the play is devoted to repartee among these characters. While the play contains some physical humor (in a scene in mid-play, Crop the Brownist is abused and ejected from London's Devil Tavern), it is dominated by verbal wit. The characters converse, quarrel, and flirt with each other, scheme with and manipulate each other, between eating and drinking. A small sample can be extracted from II,vii:
- Pleasant: I beseech you, sir, let us never be better acquainted.
- Jolly: I shall endeavour, lady, and fail in nothing that is in my power to disoblige you; for there is none more ambitious of your ill opinion than I.
- Pleasant: I rejoice at it; for the less love, the better welcome still.
The Captain's plot against the Parson comes to fruition when the Parson goes to bed drunk; the plotters slip the elderly Bawd into his bed in place of Wanton, then burst in disguised as watchmen and constables. They drag him before a supposed Justice of the Peace (actually Mr. Wild in disguise). The Parson confronts social and professional ruin for his apparent sexual misconduct; even when the trick is revealed, he risks profound embarrassment over its possible exposure. The frightened Parson is cowed into the status of a wittol, a complaisant cuckold
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
, as Wanton pursues her erotic adventures; he even joins in some of the further schemes of his tricksters.
Constant and Sad work their own scheme to trap Lady Wild and Mrs. Pleasant into matrimony; they exclude the two women from the Lady's own house by pretending that her coachman has died of the plague. (Killigrew's humor is bold enough to use bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
as a casual element in his comedy.) The two women find refuge in the house of the Lady's nephew, Mr. Wild. Masters Careless and Wild work their own trick on the women, spreading the rumor that their marriages have already taken place and arranging appearances to that effect. To avoid public shame, the two women accept the two men as their husbands — marriages which are appropriate in the social world of the play. The Parson performs the ceremony that unites Mr. Careless with Lady Wild, and Mr. Wild with Mrs. Pleasant. (And Mrs. Wanton goes off with Mr. Jolly.)
This long prose play (it must have been cut significantly for stage performance) includes a range of noteworthy features. The character Faithful, who runs a charity hospital for the sufferers of sexually transmitted diseases, is one striking example.
Epilogue
In the Epilogue to his play, Killigrew makes two references to his lack of formal education. He describes himself as "the illiterate Courtier who made this Play," and as "one that can scarce read, nay, not his own hand." This was an exaggeration; Killigrew was adopting the fashionable pose of the courtly amateur who lacks formal training.Restoration productions
In the 1660s and '70s, Killigrew was the head of the King's CompanyKing's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682.-History:...
; and he gave his Parson's Wedding two of the more remarkable productions of the era. Twice, in October 1664 and in June 1672, he staged the play with all-female casts. Given the fact that women performers had been appearing regularly on the English stage only since 1661, the all-female productions were sensational and revolutionary in their day.
Critical responses
Objections have been raised to The Parson's Wedding from its own time onward (Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
called it "an obscene, loose play"). Traditional critics regularly condemned the play for "coarseness" and "vulgarity." Modern-day critics have judged the "libertine picaresque" aspect of the drama less harshly, and have praised the play as "energetic" and "unbridled" — "a loose, lively, bawdy city play." Mrs. Wanton's praise of sexual freedom is not offensive to modern readers who tend to accept her values.