1777

THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

AS ORIGINALLY ACTED AT DRURY LANE THEATRE IN 1777 -

SIR PETER TEAZLE . . . . . Mr. King.

SIR OLIVER SURFACE . . . . Mr. Yates.

SIR HARRY BUMPER . . . . . Mr. Gawdry.

SIR BENJAMIN BACKBITE . . . . Mr. Dodd.

JOSEPH SURFACE . . . . . Mr. Palmer.

CHARLES SURFACE . . . . . Mr. Smith.

CARELESS. . . . . . . Mr. Farren.

SNAKE . . . . . . . Mr. Packer.

CRABTREE . . . . . . Mr. Parsons.

ROWLEY . . . . . . . Mr. Aickin.

MOSES . . . . . . . Mr. Baddeley.

TRIP . . . . . . . Mr. Lamash.

LADY TEAZLE . . . . . . Mrs. Abington.

LADY SNEERWELL . . . . . Miss Sherry.

MRS. CANDOUR . . . . . . Miss Pope.

MARIA . . . . . . . Miss P. Hopkins. -

Gentlemen, Maid, and Servants. -

SCENE- LONDON.

A PORTRAIT; ADDRESSED TO MRS. CREWE, WITH THE COMEDY

OF THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL -

By R. B. Sheridan, Esq. -

TELL me, ye prime adepts in Scandal's school,

Who rail by precept, and detract by rule,

Lives there no character, so tried, so known,

So deck'd with grace, and so unlike your own,

That even you assist her fame to raise,

Approve by envy, and by silence praise!

Attend!- a model shall attract your view-

Daughters of calumny, I summon you!

You shall decide if this a portrait prove,

Or fond creation of the Muse and Love.

Attend, ye virgin critics, shrewd and sage,

Ye matron censors of this childish age,

Whose peering eye and wrinkled front declare

A fix'd antipathy to young and fair;

By cunning, cautious; or by nature, cold,-

In maiden madness, virulently bold;-

Attend, ye skill'd to coin the precious tale,

Creating proof, where inuendos fail!

Whose practised memories, cruelly exact,

Omit no circumstance, except the fact!-

Attend, all ye who boast,- or old or young,-

The living libel of a slanderous tongue!

So shall my theme, as far contrasted be,

As saints by fiends or hymns by calumny.

Come, gentle Amoret (for 'neath that name

In worthier verse is sung thy beauty's fame),

Come- for but thee who seek the Muse? and while

Celestial blushes check thy conscious smile,

With timid grace and hesitating eye,

The perfect model which I boast supply:-

Vain Muse! couldst thou the humblest sketch create

Of her, or slightest charm couldst imitate-

Could thy blest strain in kindred colours trace

The faintest wonder of her form and face-

Poets would study the immortal line,

And Reynolds own his art subdued by thine;

That art, which well might added lustre give

To nature's best and heaven's superlative:

On Granby's cheek might bid new glories rise,

Or point a purer beam from Devon's eyes!

Hard is the task to shape that beauty's praise,

Whose judgment scorns the homage flattery pays?

But praising Amoret we cannot err,

No tongue o'ervalues Heaven, or flatters her!

Yet she by fate's perverseness- she alone

Would doubt our truth, nor deem such praise her own!

Adorning fashion, unadorn'd by dress,

Simple from taste, and not from carelessness;

Discreet in gesture, in deportment mild,

Not stiff with prudence, nor uncouthly wild:

No state has Amoret; no studied mien;

She frowns no goddess, and she moves no queen,

The softer charm that in her manner lies

Is framed to captivate, yet not surprise;

It justly suits the expression of her face,-

'Tis less than dignity, and more than grace!

On her pure cheek the native hue is such,

That, form'd by Heaven to be admired so much,

The hand divine, with a less partial care,

Might well have fixed a fainter crimson there,

And bade the gentle inmate of her breast-

Inshrined Modesty- supply the rest.

But who the peril of her lips shall paint?

Strip them of smiles- still, still all words are faint!

But moving Love himself appears to teach

Their action, though denied to rule her speech;

And thou who seest her speak, and dost not hear,

Mourn not her distant accents 'scape thine ear;

Viewing those lips, thou still may'st make pretence

To judge of what she says, and swear 'tis sense:

Clothed with such grace, with such expression fraught,

They move in meaning, and they pause in thought!