In Act 1, Scene 1, Horner, Harcourt, and Dorilant shift from a misogynistic commentary on the role of mistresses to a cutting critique of Sparkish, whom all the men agree is foolish for erroneously claiming to be intelligent and quick. In the course of their critique, Horner employs personification to emphasize his point:
HORNER. Such wits as he are, to a company of reasonable men, like rooks to the gamesters, who only fill a room at the table, but are so far from contributing to the play that they only serve to spoil the fancy of those that do.
DORILANT. Nay, they are used like rooks too, snubbed, checked, and abused; yet the rogues will hang on.
HORNER. A pox upon ’em, and all that force nature, and would be still what she forbids ’em! Affectation is her greatest monster.
Horner personifies nature in the course of this conversation, using this as a means to legitimize his argument against Sparkish's behavior. Throughout The Country Wife, Horner displays a marked dislike of anyone attempting to masquerade as something they aren't. His implication here is that unintelligent people shouldn't pretend to be intelligent, since nature has apparently chosen to not make them intelligent. Of course, given the fact that Horner himself is pretending to be impotent, this sentiment is a good example of situational irony—he, after all, is effectively defying nature by pretending to be something he's not, which is exactly what he criticizes Sparkish for.
