Marriage A-La-Mode

Dryden''s audiences in 1671, both aristocratic and middle-class, would
have been quick to respond to the themes of disputed royal succession,
Francophilia and loyalty among subjects in his most successful
tragicomedy. In the tragic plot, written in verse, young Leonidas has
to struggle to assert his place as the rightful heir to the throne of
Sicily and to the hand of the usurper''s daughter. In the co...