traced directly to a real scientific experiment of the day, most reported either in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia or Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Hooke himself actually attended a performance of the original production and, humiliated, identified himself as the specific target of Shadwell's satire. While many critics interpret the play as a direct attack on the Royal Society, others argue that, far from satirising the Royal Society, Shadwell was actually focusing on specific follies that the Royal Society expressly rejected, or that, as members of the Royal Society at that time included both serious scientists and amateur virtuosos, Shadwell was striking a deathblow against the virtuosos specifically, but that the serious scientists were above attack and thus unharmed by Shadwell's satire. References 1676 plays Satirical plays Restoration comedy Plays set in the 17th century Plays by Thomas Shadwell