Unrecorded Allusions to Dryden in Thomas Southerne's The Wives Excuse (1691)
2009; Oxford University Press; Volume: 56; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/notesj/gjp044
ISSN1471-6941
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Literary Studies
ResumoTHOMAS SOUTHERNE's appreciation for his dramatic predecessors is well known. Perhaps more than most, he valued John Dryden for both his friendship and his art. That Dryden returned Southerne's affection and respect is equally well known. He defended Southerne's The Wives Excuse after a disappointing opening, and based on his appreciation of Southerne's abilities, an ailing Dryden enlisted Southerne to help him complete Cleomenes (perf. 1692).1 In recent years, Southerne's play has received new appreciation. In fact, it has been vaulted to the top of the canon as one of the period's most ‘considerable’ plays.2 Thanks largely to the work of Robert Jordan and Harold Love, readers now have a standard edition, and more recently Michael Cordner included the play in his Oxford World Classics edition of Four Restoration Marriage Plays (1995).3 Given the renewed interest and editorial expertise that Southerne's œuvre has enjoyed, it is perhaps a fascinating oversight that an allusion to Dryden's Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards (part I, 1670, part II, 1671) has remained undetected. The passage in question appears in Act IV where Lovemore engages in open courtship with Mrs Friendall: For the first three acts Lovemore executes a Machiavellian plot to brand Mr Friendall a coward in order to force his wife to cuckold him out of contempt. As in an elaborate chess game, Mrs Friendall craftily manipulates other characters to save her husband's reputation, thwarting Lovemore's seduction at the same time. She is aware of Lovemore's indirect machinations, and her parries to render them ineffectual are praised by Lovemore as ‘a Masterpiece indeed, / And worthy Admiration’ (146–7). Mrs Friendall's wit serves as a staunch bulwark against Lovemore's siege.
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