The Way of the World: Comedy in Five Acts (The Heritage Press)

xix, [1], 108 pp. Introduction by Louis Kronenberger, illustrations by T.M. Cleland. "With piercing accuracy William Congreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of "society" where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation—and money—eased the passage to success. Through sparkling, witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation—Lady Plyant, Valentine, Lady Touchwood, Mirabell and Millamant—Congreve exposed the follies and vanities of that world, and suggested that behind the glinting mirror lay something more brutal."