William Congreve

William Congreve (1670-1729) was an English playwright and occasional poet. A key writer of the Restoration period, his five stage plays helped develop the comedy of manners. Comedic misunderstandings and impersonations drive many of the events, motifs echoed in later works ranging from the P. G. Wodehouse stories to Frasier. Lines from his plays have entered the common vernacular, often paraphrased or misquoted. Other notable works include a pastoral to mark the death of Queen Mary II and translating plays by Molière into English. He was a close friend of fellow satirist Jonathan Swift, dating to their school days. 
Congreve's most famous passages include "Musick has charms to soothe a savage breast" and "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd/Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned" (with only the last part usually remembered), both from The Mourning Bride (1697). 1695's Love for Love has Tattle (a typical halfwitted Congreve lover) chiding Miss Prue that "you must not kiss and tell," coining the phrase.
==References==
* The Muppet variety show sketch "Music Hath Charms" is built on a common rephrasing of Congreve's most famous line as "Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast." 
* After the performance of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" in The Muppet Show episode 320, Waldorf repeats the misquote: "I always heard that music can soothe the savage beast." 
* The Muppets comic strip installment of January 4, 1982 has Kermit stating that "Hell hath no fury like a grumpy grapefruit!"
* Kermit, interviewed about his love life in 2011: "I never kiss and tell: I might kiss; I wouldn't tell.""Kermit the Frog On the Muppets Comeback and His Famous Flirtations" by Scott Huver, nbcphiladelphia.com, November 20, 2011
* In a ABC video on the set of Popcorn with Peter Travers, Kermit says, "Hell hath no fury like a pig scorned."ABC Video. February 12, 2016.
==Sources==
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Category:Literary References