ABSTRACT
The Debauchee: Or, the Credulous Cuckold, A Comedy was published anonymously and was never acknowledged by anyone. It may have been commissioned by Betterton and may indeed have been collaboration between him and Aphra Behn. The Debauchee is a slightly shortened revision, or rather translation, into more modern, elegant and abstract English, of Richard Brome’s City comedy, A Mad Couple Well Match’d, published in 1653 in a volume entitled Five New Playes. The prologue of The Debauchee was provided by a ‘Person of Quality’ and the epilogue by Mr. E. R. This has been taken by some to be Rochester, but it is far more likely to be Edward Ravenscroft. The Debauchee was licensed in February 1677 and probably performed later in the Spring. Since a copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, has a signature of W. K. Blount and the date May 1677, it seems to have been speedily published.
