ABSTRACT
First published in The Examiner, III, 27 May 1810, pp. 331–2. The insistence upon morality in comedy is a repeated theme in Hunt’s criticism and in the writing on the theatre of the period as a whole. For earlier pieces on comedy, see, for example, the News, III, 30 August 1807, pp. 279–80; 6 September 1807, p. 289; 13 September 1807, p. 297; and Critical Essays, pp. 48–59. For Hunt’s later views on Restoration comedy, see his edition, The dramatic works of Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar (London: E. Moxon, 1840).
