| 1/24/1729 |
|
Congreve, Fondlewife, Maskwell....
On this day in 1670 English playwright William Congreve was born. His "comedy of manners" toasted and tilted at the "gala day of wit and pleasure" enjoyed by those who lived in the inner circles of power, or wished they did -- "men and women of quick brains and cynical humours," says the Cambridge History, who talk "with the brilliance and rapidity wherewith the finished swordsman fences." |
 |
