The seventeenth century English playwright George Farquhar has long been noted as one of the best representatives of late Restoration comedy. As such I thought it was important to briefly point out that in his relatively few works– he died aged only 30 in 1707 – he exhibits an interesting attitude to the jews.
In his play ‘The Two Rivals’ for instance he brings in a side character called Mr. Moabite the Jew and then has the main character mention how Mr. Moabite had entrusted his son to him. This then enables the main character to save Mr. Moabite’s son from the ‘barbarity’ (i.e. circumcision) that his father is desperate to practice on him.
Clearly Farquhar took so dim a view of jews and Judaism that he decided to lampoon the rite of circumcision in one of his comedies.
Similarly in his comedy ‘Sir Harry Wildair’ Farquhar has his main character state as follows:
‘Humph! – Tell a Wife’s secrets to her Husband! Very pretty, Faith! Sure, Sir, you don’t think me such a Jew: Though I was never Christened, I have more religion than that comes to.’
So, in other words jews are untrustworthy, sneaky and completely irreligious.
While I don’t think Farquhar was anti-Semitic in the academic sense.
By any modern colloquial definition: he would certainly be so!