Saturday Rave: The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

 Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1715 - 1816) was an appalling man: a gambler, a drinker, a womaniser, a vicious enemy - and at times a vicious friend, too.

He was also a dazzling wit and terrific political speech-maker who wrote one of the most successful, funniest plays in the English language.

How could anyone not hate him?

Here's a piece of a scene from A School for Scandal. 

(As I said, Sheridan was a famous wit, which makes it extra interesting.)

SIR PETER. Madam, madam, I beg your pardon—there’s no stopping these good gentlemen's tongues. —But when I tell you, Mrs. Candour, that the lady they are abusing is a particular friend of mine, I hope you'll not take her part.

LADY SNEERWELL. Ha! ha! ha! Well said, Sir Peter! but you are a cruel creature, —too phlegmatic yourself for a jest, and too peevish to allow wit in others.

SIR PETER. Ah! madam, true wit is more nearly allied to good-nature than your ladyship is aware of.

LADY TEAZLE. True, Sir Peter: I believe they are so near akin that they can never be united.

SIR BENJAMIN. Or rather, madam, suppose them to be man and wife, because one seldom sees them together.

****

Hmm...

Sheridan famously never paid his debts (he said that would just encourage his creditors) and he died alone, having told his last, much ill-used, terrified friend that he was going to haunt her. So at the least we must say that he wasn't a hypocrite.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was accorded the great honour of being buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. 

He was a horrid man. But thanks for the plays.

Word To Use Today: scandal. This word comes from the Latin scandalum, a stumbling block, from the Greek skandalon, a trap.