William Wycherley

William Wycherley was born in 1641, the son of a Shropshire gentleman. Sent to France at fifteen, he converted to Catholicism there, returned to study law without ever practising it, and became one of the comic writers protected by the court of Charles II. He produced four plays in five years, then fell silent. A marriage to a countess cost him his patrons; he spent several years in prison for debt, from which James II released him, and lived another forty years without giving anything to the theatre, publishing poems in 1704. He died in 1716.

In the catalogue 1

• TheatreThe Country WifeWilliam Wycherley · 1675LiteraturePublic domain