Congreve William

Congreve, William, dramatist, was born in 1670 at Bardsey, near Leeds, and educated at Kilkenny and Trinity College, Dublin. He subsequently entered at the Middle Temple, and began to devote himself to literature. His first work was Incognita, a novel of an amusing character, and published under the pseudonym of Cleophil. In 1693 was produced the Old Bachelor, under the auspices of Dryden, between whom and Congreve there existed great friendship, and this met with a brilliant success. It was followed towards the end of the same year by the Double Dealer, whose reception, however, was not so happy. At the "theatre in Little Lincoln's Inn Fields" in 1695, Love for Love was brought out and obtained for its author still higher popularity, which was, if possible, added to in 1697 on the appearance of the Mourning Bride, a tragedy. The Way of the World, 1700, was his last production for the stage, though he continued to write verses, and in 1710 he published a collection of his poems and plays. This he dedicated to Lord Halifax, who had been an early patron and useful friend. He amassed a fortune, which, on his death in 1729, he bequeathed to the Duchess of Marlborough.