ABSTRACT
The Dutch Lover: A Comedy was performed on 6 February 1673 and was the first of Aphra Behn’s plays to be staged at Dorset Garden, the new playhouse of the Duke’s Company. Despite being an advance both technically and dramatically on her first two plays, The Dutch Lover was not well received. Gerard Langbaine in Momus Triumphans stated categorically that Behn’s plot in The Dutch Lover came from Don Fenise. Don Fenise is a collection of interlinked and embedded short stories, several of which Behn uses. Unlike Behn’s Silvio, Lucian is a complete Edmund-style villain who wants to seduce his sister Olinde as the height of his wickedness. For her play Behn uses only part of Don Fenise and, although she employs many of the same names, she changes them round a good deal for example, Eufemie has become Hippolyta and Teodore becomes Euphemia, while Pedro has dwindled into a servant.
