SOURCE: Biswanger, Raymond Adam. Introduction to Thomas D'Urfey's The Richmond Heiress: An Edition with Introduction and Notes, edited by Raymond Adam Biswanger, Jr., pp. xi-cxvi. New York: Garland Publishing, 1987.

In the following excerpt, Biswanger describes how the popularity of Durfey's songs lasted longer than that of his plays, and discusses Durfey's contribution to the development of the sentimental comedy as a dramatic genre.

Thomas D'Urfey was a prolific writer. Taken as a whole, this list of plays would seem to be a tremendous achievement, numbering as it does, twenty-three comedies, five tragedies, three operas, a burlesque opera, and a tragi-comedy, but the truth is that few of these works have any literary merit whatever. Comedy is D'Urfey's dramatic forte, but even the majority of his comedies are little more than farces. His real skill is exhibited in his songs, of which there are hundreds, written throughout his career...