THE following is a selective and no doubt highly idiosyncratic list of plays written between 1660 and 1700, in which at least one plot features a major character who espouses libertine philosophy or enacts a libertine lifestyle (which is not necessarily the same as the philandering present in the farces, intrigue, or city comedies of the period). The dates are of the first known performance.
John Dryden, Marriage A-la-Mode (1671)
Thomas Shadwell, Epsom-Wells (1672)
Joseph Arrowsmith, The Reformation (c. 1673)
Edward Ravenscroft, The Careless Lovers (1673)
John Dover, The Mall; or, The Modish Lovers (c. 1674)
John Crowne, The Country Wit (1675)
Sir Francis Fane, Love in the Dark (1675)
William Wycherley, The Country-Wife (1675)
Thomas Shadwell, The Libertine (1675)
Sir George Etherege, The Man of Mode (1676)
William Wycherley, The Plain Dealer (1676)
Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso (1676)
Aphra Behn, The Rover (1677)
Thomas Durfey, A Fond Husband (1677)
Thomas Otway, Friendship in Fashion (1678)
Thomas Shadwell, A True Widow (1678)
Aphra Behn, Sir Patient Fancy (1678)
John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr Limberham (1678)
Nathaniel Lee, The Princess of Cleve (c.1680)
Edward Ravenscroft, The London Cuckolds (1681)
Aphra Behn, The City Heiress; or, Sir Timothy Treat-all (1682)
John Crowne, City Politiques (banned 1682; performed 1683)
Thomas Otway, The Atheist (1683)
Sir Charles Sedley, Bellamira (1687)
Thomas Southerne, Sir Anthony Love (1690)
Thomas Southerne, The Wives’ Excuse; or, Cuckolds make Themselves (1691)
Thomas Durfey, The Marriage-Hater Match’d (1692)
William Congreve, The Old Batchelour (1693)
William Congreve, The Double-Dealer (1693)
Sir John Vanbrugh, The Relapse (1696)