Spanning the centuries from Ben Jonson to John Van Druten, this sparkling procession of prose comedies is calculated to excite in the reader every expression of felicity ranging between sly-cat amusement and the most earthy of belly laughs. Louis Kronenberger, distinguished critic, scholar, and director of this cavalcade, has staunchly refused admittance to any laughless failures of merely historical interest and has included only those plays which represent a truly happy union of art and merriment. Moving through these pages is a throng of ageless comic figues with whom all adherents of literary laughter will want to renew acquaintanceship at least twice a year. Congreve's Millamant, the wittiest heroine ever to impale a Restoration blood on a subordinate clause, is here with her incomparably suave Mirabell; Wycherley's Lady Fidget, holding aloft her piece of china, once more emerges from Horner's bedroom to begin one of the funniest scenes in comic literature; Sheridan's Lady Teazle is also present, trapped behind the most famous prop in stage history; and Synge's playboy, conquering his world with an axe and a wild Irish imagination; and O'Casey's Captain Boyle, industriously eluding employment to the dismay of the unforgettable Juno; Shaw's Androcles, meekest of early Christians and the lion's best friend; Thurber and Nugent's Professor Tommy Turner, battling college trustees and discoursing with alcoholic eloquence on the sex life of some improbable animals; and others -- a sportive, colorful company of characters who are very good company indeed. Some of these plays are deliciously urbane, and some are murderously so; some are bawdy, others lyrical; some are lighter than air, and some contain elements of tragedy. Richly diverse in theme and manner, they are all wonderfully good reading. - Jacket flap.