English playwright, poet, translator, man of letters, and Whig politician who is widely considered among the greatest comic writers of the Restoration period. Congreve's writings helped to shape the comedy of manners genre through his mastery of comic dialogue and satire. Congreve became the protégé of John Dryden at the age of 17, later to collaborate with him on his Satires of Juvenal and Persius (1693). Congreve's most notable plays include The Old Bachelor (1693), The Double Dealer (1694), Love for Love (1695), The Mourning Bride (1697), and The Way of the World (1700).