Representative selections from Restoration and eighteenth-century drama, comedy, satire, tragedy, and farce are prefaced by descriptions of the theaters, acting styles, methods of play production, and audiences.

Author names not noted above: Oliver Goldsmith, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning, and Lord Byron. Originally published between 1909 and 1917 under the name "Harvard Classics," this stupendous 51-volume set-a collection of the greatest writings from literature, philosophy, history, and mythology-was assembled by American academic CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT (1834-1926), Harvard University's longest-serving president. Also known as "Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf," it represented Eliot's belief that a basic liberal education could be gleaned by reading from an anthology of works that could fit on five feet of bookshelf. Volume XVIII features six of the greatest plays of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century England writers: [ All for Love, the Shakespearean tragedy by JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700) [ The School for Scandal, the comedy of manners by RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN (1751-1816) [ She Stoops to Conquer, the satire by OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1730-1774) [ The Cenci, the controversial verse drama by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822) [ A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, the tragedy by ROBERT BROWNING (1812-1889) [ Manfred, the supernatural drama by LORD BYRON (1788-1824)

V. 49--Epic and saga.

What were the causes of Restoration drama's licentiousness? How did the elegantly-turned comedy of Congreve become the pointed satire of Fielding? And how did Sheridan and Goldsmith reshape the materials they inherited? In the first account of the entire period for more than a decade, Richard Bevis argues that none of these questions can be answered without an understanding of Augustan and Georgian history. The years between 1660 and 1789 saw considerable political and social upheaval, which is reflected in the eclectic array of dramatic forms that is Georgian theatre's essential characteristic.