Farquhar, George (fär`kər, –kwər), 1678–1707, Irish dramatist, b. Londonderry (now Derry), Ireland. After his short career as an actor ended when he severely wounded a fellow actor in a stage duel, he wrote (1698) his first comedy, Love and a Bottle. His next play, The Constant Couple (1699), established his reputation. His experiences as an army officer are reflected in The Recruiting Officer (1706). He was on his deathbed when he completed his masterpiece, The Beaux' Stratagem (1707), a witty, realistic comedy set in the country. His plays, written in an atmosphere of genial merriment, represent the transition between the licentiousness of Restoration drama and the sentimentality of the 18th cent.

Bibliography

See his complete works (ed. by C. A. Stonehill, 1930); studies by E. Rothstein (1967) and E. James (1972).

Farquhar, George

(born 1678, Londonderry, County Derry, Ire.—died April 29, 1707, London, Eng.) Irish playwright. His early experience as an actor in Dublin was the source of the originality of dialogue and stage sense that gave his work its great comic power. His plays, written for the London stage and enthusiastically received, included Love and a Bottle (1699), The Constant Couple (1699), and Sir Harry Wildair (1701). His real contribution to English drama came with The Recruiting Officer (1706) and particularly The Beaux' Stratagem (1707), in which he introduced a verbal vigour and love of character reminiscent of Elizabethan dramatists.