George Etherege has usually been grouped with John Dryden, William Wycherley, and William Congreve as one of the significant writers of Restoration high comedy. The Man of Mode (1676), his best play, is still familiar to readers, although not as well known as Wycherley's The Country Wife (1675) or Congreve's The Way of the World (1700). Its author is less known; most of our information comes from letters written between 1685 and 1688, long after he ceased writing for the stage, and for some periods of his life contemporary references are few and scattered. Etherege was not a professional writer like Dryden; he wrote only three plays and a handful of unremarkable poems, spent more time as a minor diplomat than as a dramatist, and more time as a court wit than as anything else. Although The Comical Revenge (1664) and She Would If She Could (1668) are interesting, Etherege's reputation rests primarily on his...