Choice Review

No one planning to write papers or books on Restoration drama will ignore this work. Developed from a series of articles, and complementing and expanding Robert Hume's The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century (CH, Sep'76), it is an admirably detailed study of "all surviving plays" of the period. Hughes's very economical and considered critiques (up to five pages for major plays) concisely place each play in the context of influence, genre, history (theatrical, political, and social), religion, and philosophy, yet he also offers acute comments on language structures. This close attention to chronology and to shifting and contrary tastes and influences makes Hughes's survey authoritative and persuasive. The dozen chapters alternate comedy and tragedy; a conclusion regales the reader with deft and fascinating observations. An extensive bibliography of nondramatic texts precedes an index of all mentioned plays and a general index. This masterful work is in many ways the culmination of the careful research in this period by many scholars over the last two decades. B. E. McCarthy College of the Holy Cross