William Congreve was the leading comic playwright of the English Restoration, celebrated for Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700). His single tragedy, The Mourning Bride (1697), was a huge stage success and is now remembered almost entirely for two lines it gave the language: this one and “Musick has Charms to soothe a savage Breast.” He largely gave up the theatre in his thirties and lived out his life on official sinecures and literary friendships.