SOURCE: Fujimura, Thomas H. “Sir George Etherege.” In The Restoration Comedy of Wit, pp. 75-116. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1952.

In the essay below, Fujimura discusses how Etherege employs wit in his plays to reflect Restoration intellectual attitudes toward such topics as naturalism, skepticism, and libertinism.

Sir George Etherege is generally credited with having originated a new type of comedy, and this belief need not be challenged, though there is reason to question modern opinion as to the type of comedy he inaugurated. To determine the nature of his contribution, however, we should first find out what sort of man he was. And here we are fortunate in having the Letterbook, the epistolary record of his last years at Ratisbon. From these letters, both personal and official, and also from contemporary records, there emerges a clear picture of Etherege as a Truewit—libertine, skeptical, naturalistic, and more...