The Four Plays of William Wycherley: A Study in the Development of a Dramatist by W.R. Chadwick, and: Wedges and Wings: The Patterning of Paradise Regained by Burton Jasper Weber (review)

HUMANITIES 383 ally Somerset's reading does not better his original, as at Love 40 full for Q sale, 529 set for Qfet, 1029 So for Q Fa, and Lusty] 198, where Q's citation (Psalm 93) is to the Vulgate'S numbering, but my collation notes only a few minor errors: read Mankind 36 that for than, Love 1024 all in, Lusty! 162 shall I, and LikeW 61 with for and, 194 Why for When, 477 my my and 798 ye for you. Just as challenging as copy-text, at least in medieval and early Tudor texts, is modernization, which regularly means choosing between two possible substantive interpretations of an archaic spelling. Here, while old-spelling editions tolerate indecision, modern-spelling ones take risks for intelligibility. Somerset's enterprise, inevitably, leads to a few debatable choices: Mankind 139 lies (rather than lice) for MS lyse, 370 cell (rather than sell, 'time') for sell, 420 vain (rather than vane, 'absent,' as at 541) for vane; Love 595 a weight (rather than await; cf OED, sb 2) for awayt; Lusty] 70, 532 I met (where i-met seems better), and 421 coals (rather than cowls) for coules. Finding that Mankind's God 'made all thing of naught' (6), rather than of 'nought,' also stands out for correction , though J.Q. Adams, who edited out the play's Christmas song, among other lines, would have nodded agreement. So much of the editor's work lies in restoring such texts for the reader that one regrets the omission of textual notes from the Athlone Press series. In his Mediaeval Drama in Chester (1955) F.M. Salter said that, despite his first lecture's apparent effortlessness, he had been 'fighting Homeric battles in the Notes!' While textual work is more like guerilla warfare, no small part of this anthology's fine merit appears in Professor Somerset's concealed textual collation. (IAN LANCASHIRE) W.R. Chadwick, The Four Plays of William Wycherley: A Study in the Development of a Dramatist. Studies in English Literature, LXXXIII. The Hague: Mouton, 1975, 208, paper, Dutch Guilders 48 The purpose of his study, Professor Chadwick explains in the Preface, 'is to look at Wychedey's plays as stage pieces, to suggest what sort of plays they are and why they took the form they did, and finally to trace and account for the development of Wycherley's thought and dramatic technique .' Chadwick's greatest strength is his sense of the plays as stage pieces; his accounts would provide a director with unified concepts for production. Wycherley's development as a dramatist, complete with strengths and weaknesses, emerges clearly, and more rewarding readings of the plays are not to be found. The strongest chapters are those onThe Gentleman Dancing-Master and The Plain-Dealer. Chadwick takes The Gentleman Dancing-Master more seriously as a play than most critics and presents an impressive reading 384 LETTERS IN CANADA of Hippolita as a fully-developed character who progresses from an immature and insecure girl full of maidenly simplicity to a sophisticated and urbane young woman, the appropriate match for the rake Gerrard. Chadwick sees Hippolita as Wycherley's version of 'a typical Shavian heroine,' a sister 'under the skin' to Anne Whitefield. His analysis is strengthened by spotlighting the flaws in the play, such as Wycherley's characterization of Gerrard, who, because of Hippolita's strength and dominance, seems weak and dull. The humours of Don Diego and M. de Paris, too, become tedious, though Chadwick is probably right that they would be less so on stage - especially as performed by Nokes and Angel. Chadwick calls The Plain-Dealer 'a problem play,' and like all problem plays it resists coherent interpretation. The critic must isolate a central design, call it Wycherley's, and reject or ignore conflicting elements. Chadwick's Manly is a sympathetic satirist, 'a mulish champion of virtue , a glory, a jest and a riddle, and as such he is an entirely believable character.' From his view of Manly, Chadwick constructs a clear view of the main plot and neatly incorporates the Freeman-Blackacre subplot by pointing out a number of significant parallels. Responding to one of the Widow's...