William Congreve

William Congreve (1670–1729) was the leading comic dramatist of the English Restoration stage, author of Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700). He also wrote songs, odes and translations, and was admired by Dryden and Pope.

The 4 poems here are the pieces printed under his name in Frederick Locker's Lyra Elegantiarum (London: E. Moxon, 1867), an anthology of vers de société and vers d'occasion by deceased authors; the texts follow that first edition.