Incognita: Or Love and Duty Reconciled (Hesperus Classics) - Softcover

'If it is not perfection in itself, Incognita is perfect of its kind... a very accomplished performance, designed to display Congreve's not inconsiderable skills as a narrator and a stylist... it is both stylish and witty.' --Peter Ackroyd

'Think of this as an audition piece for a young spark on the make. Congreve was only 22 when Incognita was published in 1692, and he appears to have aimed it at the theatrical world where he would soon make his name with comedies like Love for Love and The Way of the World ...He keeps challenging the conventions of the genre, tartly observing that by the way, sighing is as catching among lovers as yawning among the vulgar , only to animate his contriving characters with a romantic sigh.' --Plays International

Returning to Florence on the occasion of his 18th birthday, Aurelian—together with his sworn companion Hippolito—dons his disguise in anticipation of the most famous Florentine ball. Once there, the two are soon separated, and each finds himself paired off with a beautiful—and masked—woman. While Aurelian yearns to learn the true identity of his “love,” Hippolito is mistaken for another and brazenly plays along with the conceit. Chaos abounds as masks are dropped, truth revealed, and, somehow, all ends happily. Dramatist and novelist William Congreve is best remembered for his comedy The Way of the World.