# Restoration Comedy Monologues: Speeches From Congreve, Wycherley, and Sheridan > Fifteen comic speeches from The Country Wife, The Way of the World, The School for Scandal, and The Conscious Lovers, nine for men and six for women, each with the setup, what the character wants, a short excerpt checked against Project Gutenberg, and a run time, plus which plays are truly Restoration, which came later, and how to play the style. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/restoration-comedy-monologues - Published: 2026-11-02 - Last updated: 2026-11-02 The notice says "classical comedy," you've done your Shakespeare clown, and you want something with a different flavor: lace cuffs, fast talk, people scheming over dinner. Restoration comedy is the obvious place to look. Then you search, and in our experience the lists feel short, lean toward women, and are happy to call anything with a wig "Restoration." That's a shame for men in particular, because the plays themselves are full of fops, rakes, jealous husbands, country squires, and servants with opinions. The short version: check whether the notice wants verse, know which of these plays are actually Restoration, and pick a speech where the character wants something from someone right now. Below are fifteen speeches, nine for men and six for women, from four plays in our library, each with the setup, the want, a short excerpt, and a run time. Every excerpt was checked word for word against the Project Gutenberg editions linked in the next section. ## Sort the plays by date before you call them Restoration "Restoration" names a period, not a look. The monarchy was restored in 1660, and the theaters, closed by the Puritans for eighteen years, reopened. The comedy written over the next half century is usually dated [1660 to 1710](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_comedy): sexy, cynical, and built on wit. Two of our four plays sit inside that window. Wycherley's *The Country Wife* was published in 1675; the notes in W. C. Ward's edition, on [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55426), date its first staging to some time between 1672 and 1674. Congreve's *The Way of the World* was [first performed in 1700](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-congreve/the-way-of-the-world), near the end of the period, and wasn't well received at the time. Our excerpts come from the 1895 Methuen text on [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1292). The other two came later. Steele's *The Conscious Lovers* opened at Drury Lane in 1722 and is [generally called the first sentimental comedy](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/richard-steele/the-conscious-lovers). In his preface, Steele defends moving his audience to tears, with "a joy too exquisite for laughter." That's a deliberate turn away from Wycherley's world. Sheridan's *The School for Scandal* came in 1777, and Standard Ebooks calls it [one of the most celebrated English comedies of manners](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/richard-brinsley-sheridan/the-school-for-scandal). It borrows the Restoration's gossip, wit, and fops, but it's a Georgian play, written a century after *The Country Wife*. Call it a comedy of manners in the Restoration tradition, not a Restoration comedy, and you'll be right in any room. Its [Project Gutenberg text](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1929) follows Sheridan's own manuscript. ## Check what the notice means by classical All four plays are prose comedies from before 1800, and whether that counts depends on who's asking. Juilliard's [2020-21 monologue FAQs](https://www.juilliard.edu/sites/default/files/monologue_faqs_2020_21.pdf) said classical pieces could come from the Greeks and other pre-20th-century writers whose text is poetic or heightened. Shaped, witty prose from before 1900 can fit that description. The same FAQ also asked for at least one classical piece in verse, and none of these speeches is verse. Other schools draw a tighter line. RADA's [BA Acting admissions guide for 2026](https://www.rada.ac.uk/documents/1342/BA_acting_admissions_procedure_2026.pdf) asks for a classical piece from Shakespeare or an Elizabethan or Jacobean playwright, such as Jonson, Marlowe, or Webster. A Restoration speech doesn't meet that rule at all. So read the notice first. Where it just says "classical," these are fresh choices that let you show comic speed. Where it says verse, or names Shakespeare's period, bring one of these as your contrasting piece only if a second slot allows it. Our guide to [classical monologues that aren't Shakespeare](https://www.offbook.com/blog/classical-monologue-not-shakespeare) covers the other options. ## Speeches for men A note on times: we counted the words in each speech in our [play library](https://www.offbook.com/plays) text, which uses Standard Ebooks' editions, left out stage directions, and divided by 150 words a minute, a conversational pace. Comedy of this period usually wants a quicker tempo, so treat each time as a ceiling, and check your own run with our [monologue timer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/monologue-timer). ### Horner, on his plan ([*The Country Wife*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-country-wife), Act 1, Restoration) Horner has had his doctor spread the rumor that he's impotent. The doctor asks how that will help him meet women. Horner explains: the women who now pretend to be disgusted by him are the ones worth chasing, and the rumor will get him into ladies' rooms past their husbands. *Women of quality are so civil, you can hardly distinguish love from good breeding.* What he wants: the doctor's admiration for a brilliant plan. It's 180 words, about 70 seconds. Play it as strategy, not smut, and the jokes take care of themselves. ### Sparkish, "Damn the poets!" (*The Country Wife*, Act 3, Restoration) Sparkish, the fop of the play, has just been reminded that the poets damned his songs. He explains why playwrights are the enemy: they put fools on stage, and lately the fools are all knights. *Damn the poets! they have turned 'em into burlesque.* What he wants: to be thought a wit, while proving he isn't one. It's 148 words, about a minute. The fun is that Sparkish is talking about himself without noticing. Don't wink at the panel. He's sincere, and that's the joke. ### Mirabell, "with all her faults" ([*The Way of the World*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-way-of-the-world), Act 1, Restoration) Fainall teases Mirabell for seeing Millamant's flaws so clearly. Mirabell explains that he once listed her faults on purpose, to cure himself of her, and learned them so well that he came to love them. *I like her with all her faults; nay, like her for her faults.* What he wants: to admit to a friend, without losing face, that he's in love. It's 177 words, about 70 seconds, and a leading-man speech in this style that isn't a seduction. ### Mirabell, alone after Millamant leaves (*The Way of the World*, Act 2, Restoration) Millamant has just walked out on him mid-sentence, telling him to think of her. He can't stop. *Think of you? To think of a whirlwind*, he begins, and he ends by calling love being wise in reason and still playing the fool by instinct. His closing line greets two servants as they come in, so stop at "force of instinct." That cut is 120 words, under a minute. ### Sir Wilfull Witwoud, "The fashion's a fool" (*The Way of the World*, Act 3, Restoration) Sir Wilfull, a country knight from Shropshire, arrives in London, and his younger half-brother Witwoud pretends not to know him because it isn't fashionable to know relations. Sir Wilfull lets him have it, mocking the way Witwoud's letters have changed since he came to town. *The fashion's a fool and you're a fop, dear brother.* What he wants: his brother back, or at least an apology. It's 156 words, about a minute. He's a part where a big, warm voice is right. Avoid his drunk scene in Act 4: RADA's guide tells applicants to steer clear of characters who are mad, drunk, or wildly out of control. ### Fainall, on his marriage (*The Way of the World*, Act 3, Restoration) Fainall has just learned that his wife was Mirabell's lover. His mistress, Mrs. Marwood, asks how he feels about her. He reasons it through like an accountant. *I am married already; so that's over.* What he wants: to turn the injury into a plan. It's 146 words, about a minute, and a chance to play a cold, clever villain in a comedy. ### Sir Peter Teazle, six months married ([*The School for Scandal*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-school-for-scandal), Act 1, later: 1777) Alone, Sir Peter complains about the young wife he married from the country, who now spends his money and contradicts everything he says. Worse, he suspects he loves her. In the Gutenberg text, which follows Sheridan's manuscript and differs in wording from our library edition, he sighs that *'Tis now six months since Lady Teazle made me the happiest of men*. What he wants: sympathy, from someone, anyone. It's 192 words in our library text, about 75 seconds. It suits an older actor, and it's also in our list of [short comedic monologues](https://www.offbook.com/blog/short-comedic-monologues), so it's a known choice. ### Bevil Junior, before meeting his father ([*The Conscious Lovers*](https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-conscious-lovers), Act 1, later: 1722) Bevil has been reading *The Spectator* in his lodgings that morning, and he's about to agree to marry a woman he doesn't love, confident that she'll refuse him. He opens on the essay: *These moral writers practise virtue after death.* What he wants: to talk himself into one honest lie. It's 181 words, about 70 seconds, and it shows a softer, thoughtful lead, the kind of hero Steele's sentimental comedy was built around. ### Tom, the servant in love (*The Conscious Lovers*, Act 3, later: 1722) Bevil's servant Tom needs to know if the maid Phillis delivered his master's letter. She's giving him airs, so he gives them back. *I would not be a bit wiser, a bit richer, a bit taller, a bit shorter* than he is, he tells her. It's 139 words, under a minute. In Aitken's edition, on [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55922), the notes name Colley Cibber as Tom in the first production. ## Speeches for women ### Mrs. Pinchwife, "the London disease" (*The Country Wife*, Act 4, Restoration) Margery Pinchwife, the country wife of the title, is locked in by her jealous husband and alone with pen and paper. She diagnoses herself: *I have got the London disease they call love.* She's sick of her husband and in a fever for Horner, and she's going to write him a better letter than the last one. What she wants: to get to Horner, and the letter is the way. It's 146 words, about a minute. ### Lady Wishfort, rehearsing her entrance (*The Way of the World*, Act 4, Restoration) Lady Wishfort, who's well past her prime and won't hear of it, is expecting a suitor. She tries out ways to receive him: sitting, walking from the door, lolling on a couch. *There is a great deal in the first impression.* Then a coach arrives. What she wants: to be irresistible in the next thirty seconds. It's 151 words, about a minute, and a speech built for physical comedy. ### Millamant, her terms (*The Way of the World*, Act 4, Restoration) In the famous proviso scene, Millamant and Mirabell set conditions for marriage. Asked if she has more, she lists them: her own visits, her own letters, her own friends, her tea-table, and a husband who knocks. If he agrees, *I may by degrees dwindle into a wife.* What she wants: to marry him without giving herself away. It's 150 words, about a minute. Strictly, it sits inside a duet, so it plays best when you know Mirabell's answer is coming: he has conditions of his own. ### Mrs. Candour, on gossip (*The School for Scandal*, Act 1, later: 1777) Maria says people who repeat scandal are as bad as those who invent it. Mrs. Candour agrees completely, and then repeats four scandals in a row. In the Gutenberg text she asks, *how will you prevent People from talking*, and then shows how not to. What she wants: to be thought kind while telling everything. It's 148 words, about a minute. ### Lady Teazle, behind the screen (*The School for Scandal*, Act 4, later: 1777) The screen has fallen, and Lady Teazle has been caught hiding in Joseph Surface's library. She refuses Joseph's cover story and tells her husband the truth: she overheard his tenderness for her, and she's done with Joseph, *that smooth-tongued Hypocrite*, as the Gutenberg text has it. What she wants: Sir Peter's trust back. It's 120 words, under a minute, and the one serious turn on this list. ### Lucinda, born to a fortune (*The Conscious Lovers*, Act 3, later: 1722) Lucinda, an heiress, orders her eavesdropping maid out of the room, then rounds on her fate. She's about to be married off to Cimberton, a pompous scholar who looks at her like furniture. *How unhappy are we who are born to great fortunes!* What she wants: someone to notice her as a person. It's 159 words, about a minute. Cut her opening line to the maid if you'd rather start alone. Need something closer to two minutes? Mrs. Marwood's revenge speech from Act 3 of *The Way of the World* runs about 235 words, and our guide to [two-minute classical monologues](https://www.offbook.com/blog/two-minute-classical-monologues) has the setup. For more comic speeches across periods, see our [comedic monologues](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/comedic). ## Speak it like your native tongue The fear with this style is that it needs a special voice, a fan, and three kinds of bow. It doesn't. Dakin Matthews, a veteran actor who gave a Restoration comedy masterclass at USC in 2016, put it simply, as [reported by the USC School of Dramatic Arts](https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/veteran-actor-dakin-matthews-shares-wisdom/): "speak that language as if it is your native tongue." He called it only slightly heightened language. The same report has his two practical notes. These sentences run long, so you need more breath than in a modern play. And Restoration actors need a large vocal range. Use that range to set one phrase against the next, since that contrast is where much of the wit sits. Our own tip: take a breath at each full stop. In Congreve, the joke often lands in the last few words, so don't drop the ends of sentences. Play the want, not the manners. Lady Wishfort isn't performing comedy; she's terrified of looking old. Fainall isn't being witty; he's doing sums. When the character is serious about the stakes, the audience gets to laugh. Our guide to [comedic timing](https://www.offbook.com/blog/comedic-timing-for-actors) has more on where the laugh sits in a line. ## Give the speech someone to talk to Several of these speeches are soliloquies: Mrs. Pinchwife with her letter, Mirabell after Millamant leaves, Sir Peter alone, Bevil with his newspaper, Lucinda once her maid is ordered out. A comic soliloquy like these can confide in the audience. In an audition, that means you can talk to the panel's side of the room, or to one point just over their heads, as if they were friends who'd understand. The others are answers to someone. RADA's guide also tells applicants not to build a speech from dialogue that depends heavily on another character's interruptions, and to imagine the person you're speaking to. Every speech above runs as a single block in the text, with no interruptions to cut. Know the line that cues you in, Fainall's tease for Mirabell, Witwoud's snub for Sir Wilfull, so you start from something. Keep movement simple. One choice of posture or a single gesture tells a panel you know the period. Lady Wishfort's couch business can be done with a chair. For period manners in more depth, see our guide to [acting in a period piece](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-act-in-a-period-piece). ## Learn the speech with its cue The hardest part of these speeches is the word order: long, balanced sentences where swapping two phrases kills the joke. Learn it out loud, and learn it with the line before it. In Offbook, you upload the scene, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character, then wait while you say your lines. When you're ready, hide your own lines while the others stay on screen, as the video below shows. Video: [Hide your lines](https://www.offbook.com/learn/hide-your-lines) (1:07) First-letter cues help with Congreve's rhythm, because they make you recall the exact order without the full words in front of you. Here is Millamant's last line as cues: > I m b d d i a w. > > *I may by degrees dwindle into a wife. (Millamant, The Way of the World, Act 4, Project Gutenberg text)* If you can say it from those eight letters, you have the build to "dwindle," and that's where the laugh lives. Our free [first-letter memorizer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/first-letter-memorizer) does this with any speech you paste in, and our guide on [how to memorize a monologue](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-memorize-a-monologue) walks through the full method. ## Questions actors ask ### Is Sheridan Restoration comedy? Not strictly. Sheridan wrote in the 1770s, and the Restoration period is usually dated 1660 to 1710. *The School for Scandal* is a comedy of manners that inherits a lot from the Restoration, so many reading lists group them together. On a form, "18th-century comedy of manners" is accurate. ### Are these plays free to perform from? All four were written between the 1670s and 1777, so the texts are public domain. You can read them free on Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, and our play library has the full texts. ### Should I use an English accent? Juilliard's 2020-21 FAQ said an accent was welcome but not required if the piece warranted one, and RADA's guide warns against using an accent you aren't confident in and asks for your natural speaking voice in the classical speech. Clear consonants and full sentence endings matter more than any accent. ### Can I rehearse a Restoration speech on my phone? Rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere.