This highly acclaimed full-scale account of Restoration drama vividly chronicles the drama's changing patterns decade-by-decade from 1660 to 1710. Providing a detailed, chronological survey of some five hundred plays, Hume traces the emergence of numerous dramatic modes, studies their interaction and mutual influence, and fully explores the diversity of the plays as they reflect the fads and fashions of a small, highly competitive theater world constantly undergoing political and social change.