William Congreye, an English dramatist, born at Bardsey, near Leeds, in February, 1670, died in London, Jan. 19, 1729. He received his early education in Ireland, and proposed to study law, but applied himself to writing for the stage. His first comedy, "The Old Bachelor," was received with great favor at the Drury Lane theatre in 1693. In the following year appeared "The Double Dealer;" in 1695, "Love for Love;" and in 1697, his tragedy of "The Mourning Bride."The opening line of the latter, "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast," has often been quoted; and Dr. Johnson considered the description of a cathedral which occurs in the play as the most poetical in the whole range of the English drama.' His writings have been severely censured for their licentiousness; but his comedies abound in witty dialogue and lively incident; they secured for him a high reputation, and the admiration of Dryden and of Pope, the latter of whom dedicated to him his translation of the Iliad. Disappointed at the unfavorable reception of his last comedy, "The Way of the World" (1700), and worried by a contest with Jeremy Collier in regard to the morality of the English stage, he became disgusted and ceased to write plays. The munificence of Lord Halifax had placed him in easy circumstances.

He had appointments in the public service worth £600 a year, and afterward he obtained the office of secretary for Jamaica, which raised his emoluments to £1,200. He wished to forget that he was an author; and when Voltaire waited upon him while he was in London, and took occasion to compliment his works, Congreve said that he would rather be considered a private gentleman than an author. "If you had been merely a gentleman," retorted Voltaire, "I should not have come to visit you." He was on intimate terms with the duchess of Marlborough, to whom he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune, amounting to about £10,000; and she dedicated a monument to him, and showed her regard for him in the most eccentric fashion. He was interred in Westminster abbey, the pall being borne by some of the most distinguished noblemen of England. Besides plays, his works comprise a romance and miscellaneous poems. A fine edition of his complete works, printed by Bas-kerville, appeared in Birmingham in 1761, and several others subsequently; the latest of these, edited by Leigh Hunt (London, 1849), gave occasion for Macaulay's essay on "The Comic Dramatists of the Restoration." His comedies have been translated into French and German.