The Belle's Stratagem (Annotated)

Hannah Cowley's The Belle's Stratagem (1780) is a lively comedy of manners in which Letitia Hardy, confronted with an arranged marriage to the seemingly cold Doricourt, devises an ingenious plan to win both his affection and her freedom within the constraints of fashionable society. Combining sparkling repartee, mistaken impressions, masquerade, theatrical disguise, and scenes of emotional revelat...