Значение слова WYCHERLEY в Литературной энциклопедии

WILLIAM (1640?-1716).-Dramatist, was _b._ at Clive, near Shrewsbury, where his _f._ had an estate. He was at the Inner Temple in 1659, and at Oxf. in 1660. Part of his youth had been spent in France, where he became a Roman Catholic, but at the Restoration he returned to Protestantism. He wrote four comedies, _Love in a Wood_, _The Gentleman Dancing Master_, _The Country Wife_, and _The Plain Dealer_, all produced in the reign of Charles II., and nothing of consequence afterwards, a vol. of poems doing little to add to his reputation. About 1679 he _m._ the widowed Countess of Drogheda, who _d._ in 1681, and he entered into a second marriage eleven days before his death. In his later years he formed a friendship with Pope, then a boy of 16. W. was one of the founders of the Comedy of Manners. The merit of his plays lies in smart and witty dialogue rather than in construction. _The Plain Dealer_, his best, is founded upon Moliere's _Misanthrope_. His plays are notoriously coarse.