The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets/Sir George Etheridge
Sir George Etheridge.
A Gentleman very famous in the Reign of King Charles the Second; his Country I am ignorant of; but his first Applications were to the Law; his Love in a Tub, and his Wit brought him into good Acquaintance, and general Esteem, till for Marrying a Fortune he was Knighted, and by King James the Second, he being in particular esteem with the late Queen his Consort, sent him Envoy to Hamburgh. After the Revolution he went for France to his Master, and dyed there, or very soon after his arrival in England from thence; He is the Author of three Plays; two of them are admirable; and were the first divided from the serious part, it would not want a considerable Praise, at least it still meets with a general Applause.
The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub, a Comedy, 4to. 1679. Acted at the Duke of York's Theatre then in Little Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. This Play, tho' part serious, and part Comical, yet (as before) met with a general Applause.
The Man of Mode; or, Sir Fopling Flutter, a Comedy, 4to. 1676. Acted at the Duke of York's Theatre, and Dedicated to his Dutchess. This Play met with extraordinary Success; all agreeing it to be true Comedy, and the Characters drawn to the Life.
She wou'd if she cou'd, a Comedy, 4to. 1671. Acted also at the Duke of York's Theatre. This Comedy is accounted by Mr. Langbain, with whom I agree, one of the first Rank, and by Mr. Shadwell (in his Preface to his Humorists) the best Comedy written since the Restauration of the Stage.