1674–1675

London continued to be the centre for literary publications ranging from cheap ephemera broadsides and ballads to works offering self-improvement, such as dictionaries, and new fiction, called novels, for entertainment. The ongoing wars with the Dutch resulted in satires and lampoons on the government and the court. Parliament was increasingly concerned with the royal succession and manuscript newsbooks carried information and gossip from London and the continent into the provinces, including the Indian wars in New England. The taste in theatre favoured witty contemporary comedies by William Wycherley, John Dryden, and Aphra Behn and sensational tragedies by new dramatists including Thomas Otway and Nathaniel Lee. Productions often featured spectacular scenery, music, and special effects. Didactic writers such as Richard Baxter and Samuel Clarke offered guidance for humble readers in everyday devotional situations.

Seen on Stage: Public Performances in London and the Court

The changing nature of London’s commercial theatres was seen in the increasing involvement of singers, dancers, and spectacular effects. Many playwrights including Dryden, Wycherley, and Behn were adapting earlier plays by Shakespeare and Molière. New playwrights including Nathaniel Lee and Thomas Otway relied on sensational violence and effects in their tragedies and created the proto-types for the ‘she-tragedies’ offering spectacles of female suffering.