الفهرس 
Sentimental ComedyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The history of drama in the eighteenth
ntury shows the unavailing efforts of a handful
writers to break the stranglehold of
’ntimentality. If moral literature is that which
es a true picture of life, and immoral literature
t which gives a false picture, the audience are
und to conclude that sentimental comedy is
:mparatively immoral, and the comedy of’
ycherley and Congreve comparatively moral.
t the sentimentalists believed their plays
uld have a beneficial effect on the morals of
•diences, even if they were not improved. The
amatist in the eighteenth century was forced to
come an entertainer in order to appeal to the
w kind of audience. He no longer had a patron
please; and his new audience was less well
ucated. He was in the hands of the managers,
ose choice of play was vitally important to
The effect of these changing conditions
on the kind of comedy that was written and
roduceddn the eighteenth century was to make
, in gentral terms, sentimental. That is to say,
s cynical immorality left the stage, morality,
’efinement and virtue set in and the theatre was
need of sentimental drama after the decline of
rnedy, The sentimental movement may be