an architect
as well as a dramatist, but not great in either role. His principal dramas
are _The Provoked Wife_, _The City Wives' Confederacy_, and _The Journey
to London_ (finished by Colley Cibber). His personages are vicious and
lewd, but quite real; and his wit is constant and flowing. _The Provoked
Wife_ is so licentious a play that it is supposed Vanbrugh afterwards
conceived and began his _Provoked Husband_ to make some amends for it.
This latter play, however, he did not complete: it was finished after his
death by Cibber, who says in the Prologue:

This play took birth from principles of truth,
To make amends for errors past of youth.

* * * * *

Though vice is natural, 't was never meant
The stage should show it but for punishment.
Warm with such thoughts, his muse once more took flame,
Resolved to bring licentious life to shame.

If Vanbrugh was not born in France, it is certain that he spent many years
there, and there acquired the taste and handling of the comic drama, which
then had its halcyon days under Moliere. His dialogue is very spirited,
and his humor is greater than that of Congreve, who, however, excelled him
in wit.

The principal architectural efforts of Vanbrugh were the design for Castle
Howard, and the palace of Blenheim, built for Marlborough by the English
nation, both of which are greater titles to enduring reputation than any
of his plays.

FARQUHAR.--George Farquhar was born in Londonderry, in 1678, and began his
studies at Trinity College, Dublin, but was soon stage-struck, and became
an actor. Not long after, he was commissioned in the army, and began to
write plays in the style and moral tone of the age. Among his nine
comedies, those which present that tone best are his _Love in a Bottle_,
_The Constant Couple_, _The Recruiting Officer_, and _The Beaux'
Stratagem_. All his productions were hastily written, but met with great
success from their gayety and clever plots, especially the last two
mentioned, which are not, besides, so immoral as the others, and which are
yet acted upon the British stage.

ETHEREGE.--Sir George Etherege, a coxcomb and a diplomatist, was born in
1636, and died in 1694. His plays are, equally with the others mentioned,
marked by the licentiousness of the age, which is rendered more insidious
by their elegance. Among them are _The Comical Revenge, or Love in a
Tub_, and _The Man of Mode,