Behn, Aphra (1640-1689) - Restoration dramatist, novelist, and poet; she
was the first English woman to earn her living as a writer. Behn served as
a spy in Antwerp and was imprisoned for a time for debt.
The Rover (1677) - Behn's best-known comedy is an entirely and openly
rewritten version of Thomas Kiligrew's "Thomaso, or The Wanderer." It is
the story of a band of cavaliers at Naples in carnival time during the
exile of Charles II. "The Rover" was a popular favorite in theaters.
