29 DECEMBER 1888, Page 24

The Works of Sir George Etheredge. Edited by A. Wilson

Verity. (John C. Nimmo.)—In Etheredge we have the Restoration period of our literature at its morally worst, but also at its "politest." He was, as Hazlitt maintained, the true precursor of Sheridan, and, indeed, as one reads once more The Comical Revenge, She Would if She Could, and Sir Fopling Flutter, one does find a great deal of genuine comedy, and of dialogue the sprightliness of which is not all artificial, in the midst of shameless intrigue and coarse debauchery. Etheredge's poems, however, are decidedly worthless. Mr. Verity has done his work of editing with great judgment, and the paper and type of this issue, which is a limited one, are of the best quality.