Note 21 — [THE PLAYS OF] WILLIAM WYCHERLEY

Wycherley's "slowness" has been denied by both Pope and Lansdowne. The former declares that "he was far from being slow in general, and, in particular, wrote The Plain Dealer in three weeks." And Lansdowne observes, "If it had been a trouble to him to write, I am much mistaken if he would not have spared himself that trouble." It seems certain, however, that he revised and altered his plays before committing them to the public, and he by no means belonged to the class of so-called Easy Writers, with respect to whom a bon-mot of his is recorded in the ninth Tatler. "The town has for half an age been tormented with insects called Easy Writers, whose abilities Mr. Wycherley one day described excellently well in one word: 'That,' said he, 'among these fellows is called Easy Writing, which anyone may easily write.'"—Ed.