Horner. A quack is as fit for a Pimp, as a Midwife for a Bawd; they are still but in their way, both helpers of Nature.—[aside.] —Well, my dear Doctor, hast thou done what I desired.

Quack. I have undone you for ever with the Women, and reported you throughout the whole Town as bad as an Eunuch , with as much trouble as if I had made you one in earnest.

Horner. But have you told all the Midwives you know, the Orange Wenches at the Playhouses, the City Husbands, and old Fumbling Keepers of this end of the Town, for they'll be the readiest to report it.

Quack. I have told all the Chamber-maids, Waiting women, Tyre women, and Old women of my acquaintance; nay, and whisper'd it as a secret to'em, and to the Whisperers of Whitehal ; so that you need not doubt 'twill spread, and you will be as odious to the handsome young Women, as—

Horner. As the small Pox.—Well—

Quack. And to the married Women of this end of the Town, as—

Horner. As the great ones; nay, as their own Husbands. (Act I, Scene I)

Basic set up:

This is the beginning of Wycherley's The Country Wife , which is about a trickster (Horner) out to seduce as many married women as he can. Yup, the prim n' proper reign of the Puritans in England was officially over by the time Wycherley wrote this bad boy.

Wycherley's The Country Wife , like many Comedies of Manners, focuses on sexual relations as its primary theme. Here we have Horner, the trickster hero of the play, who is determined to sleep around with married women and thereby cuckold their husbands. Yowch.

How does he do it? By convincing a "quack," a fake doctor, to spread the rumor that he's impotent. This way he can be left alone with the ladies, and can then work his charms on them until they give into him… without being afraid of getting knocked up.

It's a pretty scandalous basis for a play, especially by Puritan standards. It's farfetched and it's funny, and it was a big hit with audiences of the Restoration period.

Horner represents a figure that we'll see over and over again in Restoration comedies. He's a trickster figure, a cad, and a dirtbag. He's up to no good and he's really good at fooling people. We hate him (because he's such a liar), but we also love him, because it's so much fun watching him do his thing.

The focus on deceit in this passage is also something that we'll see over and over in Restoration Comedies of Manners. People pretend to be something they're not. There's a lot of trickery going on.