Cummings Study Guide: The Way of the World
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides8/Wayof.html
Another study guide on the play with additional historical context
William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700)
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/william_congreve.htm
Another study guide with more information on Comedy of Manners archetypal characters
The Comedy of Manners
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/trsanders/units/comedy/comedyofmanners.html
More information on the genre of Comedy of Manners.