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His personages are vicious and
lewd, but quite real; and his wit is constant and flowing. _The Provoked
Wife_ is so licentious a play that it is supposed Vanbrugh afterwards
conceived and began his _Provoked Husband_ to make some amends for it.
This latter play, however, he did not complete: it was finished after his
death by Cibber, who says in the Prologue:
This play took birth from principles of truth,
To make amends for errors past of youth.
* * * * *
Though vice is natural, 't was never meant
The stage should show it but for punishment.
Warm with such thoughts, his muse once more took flame,
Resolved to bring licentious life to shame.
If Vanbrugh was not born in France, it is certain that he spent many years
there, and there acquired the taste and handling of the comic drama, which
then had its halcyon days under Moliere. His dialogue is very spirited,
and his humor is greater than that of Congreve, who, however, excelled him
in wit.


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