1676


 * A Discussion of the Happenings of 1676 **

Several major events and issues were covered with regularity in //The London Gazette// over the course of 1676. First and foremost, the paper monitored the daily events and maritime movements of the Franco-Dutch War, which lasted from 1672 to 1678 and was fought chiefly by France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic over territorial and trade issues. On a regular basis, the paper would cover major military ship movements, piecing together witnesses’ accounts of the disposition, location, and principal leaders of the Dutch, Spanish, and French fleets (“Melazzo”). As such, the paper extensively covered the pivotal Battle of Palermo, which was fought on June 2 and saw the defeat of the Spanish and Dutch fleets at the hands of the French, leaving “four Spanish and three Dutch men of war” destroyed (“Naples”).
 * The Franco-Dutch War**

Of course, alongside discussing the major events of the war, much of the paper’s news articles describe the mundane daily arrival and departure of maritime commercial shipments; for example, the arrival of wines from Bordeaux or the delay of a vessel containing salt and brandy due to poor weather. The frequent characterization of these shipments as being undertaken by Dutch or Spanish merchants almost invariably accompanied by warships (“men of war”) illustrates the hostile maritime environment that the Franco-Dutch War had created.

In response to the “seditious libel” circulating about his Majesty, Charles II issued a proclamation mid-January concerning coffeehouses: “Requir[ing] all manner of persons, from and after the Tenth day of this instant //January//, to forbear to Sell or Utter byRetail (to be spent within their respective Houses) any Coffee, Chocolate, Tea or Sherbet,” and “not to grant any new Licenses to that purpose, and to revoke Licenses formerly granted” (“An Additional Proclamation”). Charles saw the coffeehouses as a natural venue for libel, and sought to quash the forum entirely by prohibiting the sale of their goods. Naturally, the people expressed their concerns to the king that their already-purchased, unused resources would go to waste if they were not given proper chance to sell them, and they struck an agreement with him whereby if they were given six additional months to sell their goods, they in turn would “take Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy” (“An Additional Proclamation”). His Majesty agreed and disaster was averted.
 * The Prohibition of Coffeehouse Goods**

**Strife in the Colonies** In addition, the paper covered episodic events in “New England,” for example documenting a conflict that occurred when “1400 men, under the command of Major Winslow, marched to find out the Indians, and to fight them” (“London”). Mention was also made of a “considerable fleet of ships” bound for Virginia with much-needed supplies (“Falmouth”). Similar conflicts in the colonies were documented throughout the year, though were certainly of secondary interest to the Dutch-Franco War.




 * A Summary of the Theater Season of 1676 **

The year 1676 was a prolific one in English drama. On March 2, George Etherege's play //The Man of Mode// debuted, and the comedy “being well Cloath’d and well Acted, got a great deal of Money” (Van Lennep 243). John Dennis said of the play: “I remember very well that upon the first acting this Comedy, it was generally believed to be an agreeable Representation of the Persons of Condition of both Sexes, both in Court and Town; and that all the World as charm’d with Dorimont” (qtd. in Van Lennep 243). Thomas Otway’s //Don Carlos, Prince of Spain// was also met with instant success, and ran ten days straight in June. Later on December 11 London saw the first performance of William Wycherley’s //The Plain-Dealer//, which was met with more tentative praise. According to John Dennis, “And when upon the first representations of the //Plain Dealer//, the Town, as The Authour has often told me, appeared Doubtful what Judgment to Form of it; the foremention’d gentlemen [The Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Rochester, Earl of Dorset, Earl of Mulgrave, etc.] by their loud aprobation of it, gave it both a sudden and a lasting reputation” (qtd. in Van Lennep 253). The year also saw several Shakespeare adaptations, including //Othello//, //The Tempest//, //Julius Caesar//, and //Macbeth.//

During the season of 1676-1677, the two principal theater companies—the Duke’s Company at Dorset Garden and the King’s Company at Drury Lane—underwent significant structural changes. William Smith replaced Henry Harris as co-manager of the Duke’s Company, while the King’s Company faced more serious dissensions that eventually prompted the Lord Chamberlain to intervene by appointing four new managers (Van Lennep 247). These tensions fostered such widespread dissatisfaction within the company “that the players sought and secured a degree of autonomy, by which they might govern themselves,” a significant step for the rights of the actors (Van Lennep 247).


 * A Summary of //The Plain-Dealer// **

William Wycherley’s fourth and final comedy, //The Plain-Dealer//, debuted on December 11, 1676. Put on by The King’s Company, the play explores the piteous misadventures of Captain Manly and his exploitive mistress Olivia. Manly is, as the title suggests, a true plain dealer—that is, he abhors pretense, affectation, flattery, and foppery. A simple man, he has but two confidantes in the world that he believes live up to his ideals of candor and plain dealing: his mistress Olivia and his best friend Vernish. Manly naively believes that Olivia espouses the same beliefs as he, though her interactions with Lord Plausible, Mr. Novel, and her cousin Eliza clearly contradict this assumption. While abroad fighting in the Dutch War, Manly leaves his pirated fortune to Olivia, whom he intends to marry upon his return. Once back in London, however, he finds that Olivia not only does not share his ideals, but also has married his best friend, Vernish, and squandered his money. The plot is further complicated by the character Fidelia, a woman in love with Manly who dresses up as a young boy in an attempt to get close to him. Fidelia adores the qualities about Manly against which Olivia rails—his barbaric honesty and unaffected nature—and attempts to convince him that Olivia neither loves nor deserves him, and that the best thing for Manly to do is to move on. Heartbroken and outraged, Fidelia’s message falls on deaf ears, and a dumbfounded Manly instead contrives a plot to take revenge on Olivia by making her new husband a cuckold. Manly notices that Olivia has taken an interest in his “male” servant, Fidelia, and he utilizes this to his advantage by having Fidelia to seduce Olivia and then swapping places in bed with her to achieve his goal. Still uncertain of Olivia’s new husband’s identify, Manly unwittingly brags about his secret plan to cuckold Olivia’s husband to Vernish. Enraged, the next day Vernish lies waiting for Manly, the two duel, and Manly wins. Amidst the scuffle, Fidelia’s hair comes undone and her wig falls off, revealing her true identity. Manly, amazed by Fidelia’s selflessness and fidelity, proposes to her immediately, and the happy couple leaves to start a new life together in the West Indies.

The play also features a comic subplot in which the Widow Blackacre, a notoriously litigious relative of Olivia’s, is courted by Manly’s friend Freeman in an unabashed attempt to get her money. The widow, however, is so caught up in her papers and “green bags” that she overlooks Freeman’s advances entirely, prompting Freeman to form an alliance with her son Jerry in an attempt to secure her wealth indirectly by becoming her son’s legal guardian. In typical fashion, the widow responds by threatening to take the matter to court to prove that Jerry is in fact a bastard and not her legal heir. Drama ensues, but finally the widow agrees, albeit reluctantly, to provide Freeman with an annuity and her son with an allowance. One of the primary themes of the play is the insidious and destructive nature of hypocrisy. Olivia’s hypocrisy is brought to light in Act II by her cousin Eliza, although the full extent of her hypocrisy is only later realized. Fidelia, on the other hand, embodies the constancy and transparency that her name suggests. Though it takes Manly a while to be convinced of Olivia’s hypocritical nature, he eventually comes to despise her and the worldview she represents in favor of Fidelia’s unequivocal candor.

Another theme that //The Plain-Dealer// explores is the idolization of wealth, which is particularly evident in the Widow Blackacre subplot. Her inordinate greed makes her at once an unsavory yet pathetically comical character. Even Olivia divulges that what “makes all the world flatter and dissemble” is “money,” and that the only reason she professed her love to Manly was to secure his wealth (4.2). Wycherley rails against the excessive love of money and cautions his audience against succumbing to its allure.


 * Conclusion **

Unfortunately, //The London Gazette// had little to say about the theater. While Etherege’s //The Man of Mode// was mentioned upon its debut, it was the only notable dramatic work included in the advertisements section for that year. No mention was made of Wycherley’s //The Plain-Dealer//. The //Gazette// was divided into two sections: international and domestic news (which accounted for about ninety percent of the paper) and a small advertisements section typed in extra small font at the end of the paper. The topics of these advertisements ranged dramatically, from the selling of commercial goods (including wine to volumes of natural history) to notifications of criminal activity. Yet the theater was hardly ever mentioned. This distinct editorial choice was in keeping with the //Gazette//’s reputation for no-nonsense journalism. Indeed, Samuel Pepys described the government publication in his diary entry for 22 November 1665 as “very pretty, full of news, and no folly in it” (305). It appears that the editors of the //Gazette,// in an attempt to disassociate the paper with bawdy entertainment and “folly,” intentionally overlooked the theater in order to maintain the newspaper’s international focus and prestige.

The //Gazette// had much to say, however, about the Franco-Dutch War in which Manly was fighting. In fact, its prevalence in the newspaper demonstrates the significance of the war to the lives of the English, and we likewise see this in Wycherley’s //The Plain-Dealer//. Olivia summarizes Manly’s exploits abroad: he “Met with the //Dutch// in the Channel, fought, sunk his ship, and all he carri'd with him” (4.1). This description no doubt evoked far more emotion in contemporary audiences than it does in readers today, for surely everyone, whether directly or indirectly, felt the effects of the war. By locating his play within a framework of current events, Wycherley elicits the sympathy of his audience and evokes a natural emotional connection to Manly and his woes. Another connection between //The Plain-Dealer// and its contemporary setting is the idea of courage, a term which surfaces frequently in both the play and the //Gazette//. Throughout //The Plain-Dealer//, the concept of courage emerges fifteen times, and on each occasion the characters discuss what it means to live courageously. For example, early in the play Mr. Novel and Captain Manly engage in a heated debate about the nature of courage. Novel contends that “these Sea-Captains make nothing of dressing: but let me tell you, Sir, a man by his dress, as much as by any thing, shews his wit and judgment, nay, and his courage too” (2.1). Manly question this assertion, arguing that courage is found not in men of “tame honour” known for their “slavish obsequiousness,” but in he who demonstrates courage by the sword (2.1). Novel and Manly’s dispute displays the contending views on courage at the time, and question whether true courage can exist outside of the bounds of war. This discussion is further elucidated at the end of the play, when Fidelia declares to Manly, “There is nothing certain in the World, Sir, but my Truth, and your Courage” (4.1). Though Fidelia certainly found Manly’s war exploits courageous, to her courage is defined as a man who lives by his ideals.

The concept of bravery is likewise delineated in several //Gazette// articles. One such example was a report from Copenhagen on June 16 detailing how Sieur Griffenfelt faced his day of execution “with great courage and resolution” (“Copenhagen”). In this context, the concept of courage is most closely aligned with Fidelia’s definition of sticking to one’s ideals. Another June article mentions the courage of the Imperial Army from the French camp at Hochfelt, which seems to follow Manly’s understanding of courage. Yet another article in July speaks of the English army’s great courage, and that “though they had the farthest way to go [of the other armies fighting the Dutch and Spanish], exposed all the while to the Enemies Shot,” they “behave[ed] themselves (as in all other occasions in this Siege) with the greatest Courage and Resolution possible” (“About One”). Significantly, all of these references underscore Fidelia and Manly’s definition of courage, yet none of them even faintly resemble Novel’s. Wycherley’s foppish character is especially ridiculous given the war-saturated climate of 1676, and the absurdity of his comments would have been all the more pronounced to a contemporary audience.

Despite the //Gazette//’s omission of all things theater, the connection between the Franco-Dutch War and the premise of //The Plain-Dealer// is significant. Wycherley’s drama utilized contemporary events to evoke an emotional and political response from the audience. Moreover, the play’s references to the Franco-Dutch War provided the context necessary to discuss broader themes of courage and bravery concomitantly explored in the //Gazette//. Clearly, Wycherley’s comedy and its themes of hypocrisy and courage were never more relevant than they were to its original audience in 1676.

by Meredith Maddox

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