89 228 Fire-office: A term used in England for "the office of a fireinsurance company," but here, of course, misused by David in a way worthy of Mrs. Malaprop. 90 246 Derbyshire Putrifactions: Probably Mrs. Malaprop means 'Petrifactions," for Derbyshire is famous for curious rock formations. Oulton, The History of the Theatres of London, 1796, records (I, 75) under date of January 8, 1779, the production at Drury Lane Theatre of a successful pantomime, The Wonders of Derbyshire: or, Harlequin in the Peak. ACT V. SCENE 2 90 1 A sword seen in the streets of Bath: Beau Nash passed stringent rules against dueling. Cf. Introduction, Eighteenth Century Bath, p. lx. "A duel, fought by torch-light in the Grove between Taylor and Clarke, two notorious gamesters, gave Nash an opportunity of making the law absolute,' that no swords should on any account be worn in Bath." Meylers' Original Bath Guide (Bath, n. d.), p. 14. ACT V. SCENE 3 94 34 The Abbey: The Abbey Church at Bath. EPILOGUE The Epilogue to The Rivals attracted general commendation. The Morning Chronicle (January 18, 1775) calls it "one of the most excellent and poetical epilogues we ever remember to have heard"; a contributor to The Morning Chronicle (January 20) declares that the epilogue" after a vein of elegant humour, runs to the conclusion in some as beautiful lines as ever did credit to our language." Many others join in the chorus of praise. 1039 Cit: "Citizen." THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL DEDICATION 107 A Portrait; addressed to Mrs. Crewe : This was at first circulated in manuscript. In a letter to the Countess of Ossory, Horace Walpole writes, October 8, 1777 [Toynbee edition (1903-5), X, 134]: My nephew, George Cholmondeley (for I am uncle to all the world), dined here to-day, and repeated part of a very good copy of verses from Sheridan to Mrs. Crewe. Has your Ladyship seen them? I trust they will not long retain their MS.-hood." Frances Anne, daughter of Fulke Greville, married, in 1776, John Crewe. She was a famous beauty of Sheridan's day. At Crewe Hall she frequently entertained Sheridan, Burke, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Frances Burney writes, describing her meeting with the Sheridans, January 27, 1779: "The elegance of Mrs. Sheridan's beauty is unequalled by any I ever saw, except Mrs. Crewe." For proofs of the intimacy between the Crewes and the Sheridans see Fraser Rae, Sheridan, II, 125, 128–9, 132, 140–1, 159, 183. 108 25 Amoret: Mrs. Crewe is celebrated under the name Amoret in Fox's verses printed at Walpole's Strawberry Hill Press, in 1775. 108 36 Reynolds: Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), the famous portrait-painter. "While the comedy of The Rivals was applauded and the talk of the Town, Sir Joshua Reynolds was finishing Mrs. Sheridan's portrait as St. Cecilia." Fraser Rae, Sheridan, I, 283-4. (See also I, 279.) 108 39 Granby: Mary Isabella, Marchioness of Granby. In 1779, four years after their marriage, her husband became Duke of Rutland. 108 40 Devon's eyes: Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire. She married the fifth Duke of Devonshire in 1774. The especial beauty of her eyes is illustrated by the story told of a certain dustman who was so far affected as to cry out, "Lord love you, my lady, let me light my pipe at your eyes." In Madame d'Arblay's Diary, June 26, 1781 (Austin Dobson ed. 1904 -, II, 3) is this passage: "Among other folks we discussed the two rival duchesses, Rutland [i.e. Granby] and Devonshire. The former,' he [a certain Mr. Crutchley] said, 'must, he fancied, be very weak and silly, as he knew that she endured being admired to her face, and complimented perpetually, both upon her beauty and her dress'. . . The Duchess of Devonshire, I fancy, has better parts." An extended discussion is given in Notes and Queries, March 28, 1896 (8th S. IX, 256). Cf. Anstey's Envy, a Poem (Works, 1808, p. 250): She breathes her gently-warbling lays To beautiful GEORGINA'S praise. 110.96 Greville: Mrs. Greville, wife of Fulke Greville, envoy extraordinary to the elector of Bavaria, in 1766, and mother of Mrs. Crewe, wrote some verse, notably an Ode to Indifference. Sheridan, in dedicating to her The Critic, speaks of Mrs. Greville's "dislike to the reputation of critical taste, as well as of poetical talent," and implies that sle makes " a fastidious concealment of the most elegant productions of judgment and fancy." 110 99 Millar: An eighteenth-century variant for Miller- Lady Miller. Her literary court is fully described in the passages quoted from Horace Walpole and Frances Burney (Introduction, pp. Ixi-lxii). A satirical poem, BATH; its BEAUTIES and AMUSEMENTS (in The Annual Register, 1777), speaks of the "mystic vase with laurel crown'd," and the "consecrated ground" where Her followers are Sappho's hands the last sad rites dispense All Apollo's sons from top to bottom Tho' poor Apollo wonders where he got them. Anstey has a poem (Works, 1808, pp. 259–262) entitled Winter Amusements, an Ode, read at Lady Miller's Assembly, December 3, 1778. DRAMATIS PERSONE 111 In addition to the rough indications of Sheridan's manuscript as to Dramatis Persona, the original cast of The School for Scandal included Moses, Mr. Baddeley; Snake, Mr. Packer; Careless, Mr. Farren; Sir Harry Bumper, Mr. Gawdry; Lady Teazle, Mrs. Abington; Maria, Miss P. Hopkins; Lady Sneerwell, Miss Sherry; Mrs. Candour, Miss Pope. Young Surface, in Sheridan's list, is, of course, Joseph Surface. The part of Miss Verjuice was blended with that of Snake. Spunge became Trip, a part taken by Mr. Lamash. PROLOGUE 111 5 Vapours: An exceedingly common ailment of fashionable ladies of the eighteenth century, differing from " an attack of the blues chiefly in its superior exclusiveness. tr 111 8 Quantum sufficit: "As much as suffices," i.e. plenty." 111 15 Sal volatile: See note on The Rivals, i, 2, 30 (p. 278). 112 18 Poz: A slang abbreviation of "positive," sometimes spelled "pos." Cf. "She shall dress me and flatter me for I will be flattered, that's pos." Addison: The Drummer, iii 2. For interesting comment upon the habit of slang abbreviation see The Tatler, No. 230 (written by Swift), and The Spectator, No. 135. 112 20 Dash and star : A frequent method of reference to the principals in fashionable intrigues. See especially note on the " Tête-à-Tête in the Town and Country Magazine,” p. 289. 112 22 Grosvenor Square: A fashionable residence section of London, not far from Hyde Park. 112 36 Don Quixote: The " hydra" which Cervantes took the road to seek was the extravagant romance of chivalry. Sheridan," our young “our Don Quixote," first took the road in The Rivals. Perhaps Garrick spoke wiser than he was ware of, for in The Rivals Sheridan had held up to ridicule the extravagant sentimental novel, as Cervantes in Don Quixote held up to ridicule the extravagant romance of chivalry. ACT I. SCENE 1 112 Stage direction: In the current texts, Lappet, the maid, does not appear, and the speeches of Miss Verjuice are transferred to Snake. 113 8 Demirep.: A woman of questionable character (demi+rep in reputation"). Cf." demi-monde.” 113 15 Pallmall: Pall Mall, the famous London street. 113 27 A Tête-à-Tête in the Town and Country Magazine: In Sheridan's day, a striking local allusion. The Town and Country Magazine, or Universal Repository of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment, appeared first in January, 1769. The Tête-à-Têtes were a series of monthly sketches of fashionable intrigues published uninterruptedly from the first number down to the year of The School for Scandal, as well as thereafter. A general explanation of their scope is given at the beginning of the first history, Dorimant and Maria, January, 1769: "The gallantry of the present period will, probably, make a greater eclat in the annals of the polite world than all the Histories of court intrigues that have engaged the attention of any preceding historian or biographer; and we flatter ourselves the anecdotes which we shall be able to furnish will be a means of handing down to posterity a lively idea of the prevailing beauties, and their most zealous admirers, of this æra." Sometimes assumed names are given, as in the first history. A few random titles will suggest other methods: Mrs. R and the Libertine Macaroni, Memoirs of Lord Le D- and Miss By, Miss P- -m and the Hibernian hero. The purpose of these histories is further explained in the Advertisements prefixed to subsequent volumes. In that of January, 1770, for example occurs this passage: "With respect to the History of Têtes-à-têtes, an article received with universal applause, we shall only remark, that it was not undertaken to gratify malignity, or to indulge impertinent curiosity but to hold up a mirror to the offending parties by which they might see their own likeness reflected in such a manner, as to force them to renounce the fashionable vices of the age; a reformation much more likely to be effected by ridicule than sober reasoning." The Advertisement, January, 1771, testifies to "the menaces that have been used on the one hand, and the allurements and bribes which have offered on the other, to suppress the appearance of particular memoirs." 116 130 Execution: Here equivalent probably to a sheriff's sale of property to pay debts." 120 256 Got rid of her dropsy: Possibly this may be a reminiscence of Mirabell's words, Congreve's The Way of the World, i, 1: "The imputation of an affair with a young fellow, which I carried so far, that I told her the malicious town took notice that she was grown fat of a sudden; and when she lay in of a dropsy, persuaded her she was reported to be in labour." 121 294 Conversazione: A meeting for conversation, "primarily on topics connected with literature or art." 122 308 Petrarch's Laura: Laura was the heroine of the verses of Petrarch, one of the illustrious classical Italian poets of the fourteenth century. 122 309 Waller's Sacharissa: Waller, a seventeenth-century English poet, gave the poetical name of "Sacharissa" to Lady Dorothy Sidney, for whose hand he sued without success. 123 343 Tunbridge: Tunbridge Wells, like Bath, a famous English Spa. 124 375 Old Jewry: A London street, near the Bank of England. The name, and the remembrance of Charles's dealings with Moses and Mr. Premium, amply explain the context. Cf. Transfer's speech in Foote's The Minor (1761), ii: “Then I totter'd away to Nebuchadnezzar Zebulon, in the Old Jewry, but it happen'd to be Saturday; and they never touch on the Sabbath, you know." 124 378 Irish Tontine: Tonti, an Italian banker, devised a kind of life annuity as a means of obtaining government loans. Essentially the tontine scheme provides for the regular distribution, to surviving members, of the income of a common fund contributed in the first place by the subscribers, the principal going ultimately to the last survivor. The Wrong Box, by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, is a laughable story of the struggles of the Finsbury brothers, the last survivors of a valuable tontine. Government tontines usually paid life annuities to surviving contributors, but took possession of the principal of the fund. In the ten years from 1763 to 1773 the Irish National Debt had almost doubled. Failure of the Absentee Bill in the Irish House of Commons cut off expected revenue. "In order to meet immediate wants, £265,000 was raised by the method of Tontine Annuities and Stamp |