A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Farquhar, George
Farquhar, George (1678-1707).—Dramatist, b. at Londonderry, s. of a clergyman, and ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, on leaving which he took to the stage, but had no great success as an actor. This, together with an accident in which he wounded a fellow-actor with a sword, led to his relinquishing it, and giving himself to writing plays instead of acting them. Thereafter he joined the army. Love and a Bottle (1698) was his first venture, and others were The Constant Couple (1700), Sir Harry Wildair (1701), The Inconstant (1703), The Recruiting Officer (1706), and The Beau's Stratagem (1707). F.'s plays are full of wit and sparkle and, though often coarse, have not the malignant pruriency of some of his predecessors. He made an unfortunate marriage, and d. in poverty.