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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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William Wycherley
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(c.1640–1716) The earliest writer of *Restoration comedy to survive in today's repertoire. With Lord *Rochester he was part of the dissolute court circle of *Charles II, and his plays satirize a cynical world which he knew intimately. His best, The Country Wife (1675), brings together two themes brimming with potential for bawdy comedy: the arrival in town of Pinchwife and the young country girl he has married, Margery, who has heard much of the wickedness of London and would like to hear more; and the subterfuge of the libertine, Horner, who puts it about that he is impotent and therefore the perfect man to chaperone the wives of jealous husbands.
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