"THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL: 1909-14" Book Cover Design

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816). The School for Scandal.

The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Scene I

Act First

LADY SNEERWELL’S Dressing-room

LADY SNEERWELL discovered at her toilet; SNAKE drinking chocolate.

Lady Sneerwell

THE PARAGRAPHS, you say, Mr. Snake, were all inserted?

Snake.They were, madam; and, as I copied them myself in a feigned hand, there can be no suspicion whence they came.

Lady Sneer.Did you circulate the report of Lady Brittle’s intrigue with Captain Boastall?

Snake.That’s in as fine a train as your ladyship could wish. In the common course of things, I think it must reach Mrs. Clackitt’s ears within four-and-twenty hours; and then, you know, the business is as good as done.

Lady Sneer.Why, truly, Mrs. Clackitt has a very pretty talent, and a great deal of industry.

Snake.True, madam, and has been tolerably successful in her day. To my knowledge, she has been the cause of six matches being broken off, and three sons being disinherited; of four forced elopements, and as many close confinements; nine separate maintenances, and two divorces. Nay, I have more than once traced her causing a tête-à-tête in the “Town and County Magazine,” when the parties, perhaps, had never seen each other’s face before in the course of their lives.