John Francis Waller

“ All the humour and spirit of a matchless comic style could neither redeem nor conceal the defects of a machinery at once violent and intricate. Nevertheless, in this unfortunate comedy, there are scenes of such wit and power as to eclipse Sheridan at his strongest, and Molière at his weakest; no slight praise for any dramatist. "Love for Love" was brought out on the opening of a theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields; it was the most successful of Congreve's comedies, and is all but the most perfect. ”

“ There is more weight and matter in Congreve than in any English dramatist since the restoration; and at worst he is no coarser than his time. In Congreve all is plain and clear, if hard and limited; he makes no effort to escape into the region of moral sentiment; if his world is not healthy, neither is it hollow;. ”

“ His style is a model of grace and accurate vigour, and his verbal wit the most brilliant and forcible in English literature. We do not say that it was pure and exalted; such properties belong to other times and other minds. ”