ABSTRACT
Augustan comedy strives for a peculiar blend of warmth and morality. The note already sounded in Southerne's Sir Antony Love recurs in the Irish humour of George Farquhar. Fresh airs blow through Farquhar's writing. The action of his two best plays is set in the country: people are no longer prisoned by London. The Beaux' Stratagem has action and life. The opening in a country inn and an atmosphere of highwaymen and robbery breathes picaresque adventure, and the amatory escapades of our two young adventurers are highly entertaining. Sir Charles Easy, a pleasant man of irregular behaviour, is made to realize the wrong he is doing to his patient and gracious wife. Lady Betty's cruelty is admirably diagnosed. Her main delight is power; in her wit duels with her lover she shows strength; however, she fights a losing battle.
