ABSTRACT
Restoration comedy of manners may be defined in terms so definite that they may serve as a legitimate test of comparison for the purpose of relating this drama to earlier forms of comedy. In the comedy of Etherege the fashions of the specialized society are illustrated with a precision which seems to indicate that Etherege was not responsible for their first intrusion into English comedy. Society became thoroughly adjusted to an artificial mode of life, of which wit and gallantry were the great realities. Even to the casual reader, the comedy of Etherege and William Congreve inevitably suggests questions as to the literary origin of this type of drama. In brilliant dialogue, in vivid contrasts of social types, in the expression of that eager, yet formal urbanity of temper which characterized Restoration society at its best, Congreve triumphed over all other comic dramatists of his age.
