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The Rivals
English BooksWhale Edition by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
A sparkling comedy of language, romance, vanity, duels, and theatrical misunderstanding.
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Book introduction
The Rivals
The Rivals introduces Sheridan’s famous comic world of romantic schemes, inflated language, social ambition, and verbal absurdity, including the memorable Mrs. Malaprop. This original English edition is useful for readers of classic drama, eighteenth-century comedy, and public-domain stage literature.
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This edition is based on a public domain text and has been prepared for digital reading by BooksWhale.
Public domain basis
Why this edition can be shared
Richard Brinsley Sheridan died in 1816, and The Rivals was first performed in 1775. These dates support the public-domain basis for the original English text used in this edition.
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The Rivals
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The RIVALS A Comedy
By Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Preview chapterPREFACEPreview
A preface to a play seems generally to be considered as a kind of closet-prologue, in which--if his piece has been successful--the author solicits that indulgence from the reader which he had before experienced from the audience: but as the scope and immediate object of a play is to please a mixed assembly in representation (whose judgment in the theatre at least is decisive,) its degree of reputation is usually as determined as public, before it can be prepared for the cooler tribunal of the study. Thus any farther solicitude on the part of the writer becomes unnecessary at least, if not an intrusion: and if the piece has been condemned in the performance, I fear an address to the closet, like an appeal to posterity, is constantly regarded as the procrastination of a suit, from a consciousness of the weakness of the cause. From these considerations, the following comedy would certainly have been submitted to the reader, without any farther introduction than what it had in the representation, but that its success has probably been founded on a circumstance which the author is informed has not before attended a theatrical trial, and which consequently ought not to pass unnoticed.
I need scarcely add, that the circumstance alluded to was the withdrawing of the piece, to remove those imperfections in the first representation which were too obvious to escape reprehension, and too numerous to admit of a hasty correction. There are few writers, I believe, who, even in the fullest consciousness of error, do not wish to palliate the faults which they acknowledge; and, however trifling the performance, to second their confession of its deficiencies, by whatever plea seems least disgraceful to their ability. In the present instance, it cannot be said to amount either to candour or modesty in me, to acknowledge an extreme inexperience and want of judgment on matters, in which, without guidance from practice, or spur from success, a young man should scarcely boast of being an adept. If it be said, that under such disadvantages no one should attempt to write a play, I must beg leave to dissent from the position, while the first point of experience that I have gained on the subject is, a knowledge of the candour and judgment with which an impartial public distinguishes between the errors of inexperience and incapacity, and the indulgence which it shows even to a disposition to remedy the defects of either.
It were unnecessary to enter into any further extenuation of what was thought exceptionable in this play, but that it has been said, that the managers should have prevented some of the defects before its appearance to the public--and in particular the uncommon length of the piece as represented the first night. It were an ill return for the most liberal and gentlemanly conduct on their side, to suffer any censure to rest where none was deserved. Hurry in writing has long been exploded as an excuse for an author;--however, in the dramatic line, it may happen, that both an author and a manager may wish to fill a chasm in the entertainment of the public with a hastiness not altogether culpable. The season was advanced when I first put the play into Mr. Harris's hands: it was at that time at least double the length of any acting comedy. I profited by his judgment and experience in the curtailing of it--till, I believe, his feeling for the vanity of a young author got the better of his desire for correctness, and he left many excrescences remaining, because he had assisted in pruning so many more. Hence, though I was not uninformed that the acts were still too long, I flattered myself that, after the first trial, I might with safer judgment proceed to remove what should appear to have been most dissatisfactory. Many other errors there were, which might in part have arisen from my being by no means conversant with plays in general, either in reading or at the theatre. Yet I own that, in one respect, I did not regret my ignorance: for as my first wish in attempting a play was to avoid every appearance of plagiary, I thought I should stand a better chance of effecting this from being in a walk which I had not frequented, and where, consequently, the progress of invention was less likely to be interrupted by starts of recollection: for on subjects on which the mind has been much informed, invention is slow of exerting itself. Faded ideas float in the fancy like half-forgotten dreams; and the imagination in its fullest enjoyments becomes suspicious of its offspring, and doubts whether it has created or adopted.
Preview chapterDRAMATIS PERSONAEPreview
As originally acted at COVENT GARDEN THEATRE in 1775
Sir ANTHONY ABSOLUTE
Table of contents
Inside this edition
- 01Full text
- 02PREFACE
- 03DRAMATIS PERSONAE
- 04CAPTAIN ABSOLUTE
- 05FAULKLAND
- 06ACRES
- 07FAG
- 08DAVID
- 09THOMAS
- 10LYDIA LANGUISH
- 11JULIA
- 12LUCY
- 13SCENE--Bath.
- 14PROLOGUE
- 15SERJEANT
- 16ATTORNEY
- 17SERJEANT
- 18ATTORNEY
- 19SERJEANT
- 20ATTORNEY
- 21SERJEANT
- 22ATTORNEY
- 23SERJEANT
- 24ATTORNEY
- 25SERJEANT
- 26ATTORNEY
- 27SERJEANT
- 28SPOKEN ON THE TENTH NIGHT, BY MRS. BULKLEY.
- 29THE RIVALS
- 30ACT I
- 31Scene I.--A street.
- 32FAG
- 33THOMAS
- 34FAG
- 35THOMAS
- 36FAG
- 37THOMAS
- 38FAG
- 39THOMAS
- 40FAG
- 41THOMAS
- 42FAG
- 43THOMAS
- 44FAG
- 45THOMAS
- 46FAG
- 47THOMAS
- 48FAG
- 49THOMAS
- 50FAG
- 51THOMAS
- 52FAG
- 53THOMAS
- 54FAG
- 55THOMAS
- 56FAG
- 57THOMAS
- 58FAG
- 59THOMAS
- 60FAG
- 61THOMAS
- 62FAG
- 63THOMAS
- 64FAG
- 65THOMAS
- 66FAG
- 67THOMAS
- 68FAG
- 69THOMAS
- 70FAG
- 71THOMAS
- 72FAG
- 73Scene II.--A Dressing-room in Mrs. MALAPROP's Lodgings.
- 74LUCY
- 75LYDIA
- 76LUCY
- 77LYDIA
- 78LUCY
- 79LYDIA
- 80LUCY
- 81LYDIA
- 82LUCY
- 83LYDIA
- 84LUCY
- 85LYDIA
- 86LUCY
- 87LYDIA
- 88LUCY
- 89LYDIA
- 90LUCY
- 91LYDIA
- 92LUCY
- 93LYDIA
- 94LYDIA
- 95JULIA
- 96LYDIA
- 97JULIA
- 98LYDIA
- 99JULIA
- 100LYDIA
- 101JULIA
- 102LYDIA
- 103JULIA
- 104LYDIA
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- 117JULIA
- 118LYDIA
- 119JULIA
- 120LYDIA
- 121JULIA
- 122LYDIA
- 123LUCY
- 124LYDIA
- 125JULIA
- 126LUCY
- 127LYDIA
- 128JULIA
- 129LYDIA
- 130LUCY
- 131LYDIA
- 132LYDIA
- 133LYDIA
- 134LYDIA
- 135LYDIA
- 136LYDIA
- 137LYDIA
- 138LUCY
- 139LUCY
- 140LUCY
- 141LUCY
- 142LUCY
- 143ACT II
- 144Scene I.--CAPTAIN ABSOLUTE's Lodgings.
- 145FAG
- 146ABSOLUTE
- 147FAG
- 148ABSOLUTE
- 149FAG
- 150ABSOLUTE
- 151FAG
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- 163FAG
- 164ABSOLUTE
- 165FAG
- 166ABSOLUTE
- 167FAULKLAND
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- 169FAULKLAND
- 170ABSOLUTE
- 171FAULKLAND
- 172ABSOLUTE
- 173FAULKLAND
- 174ABSOLUTE
- 175FAULKLAND
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- 177FAULKLAND
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- 179FAULKLAND
- 180ABSOLUTE
- 181FAULKLAND
- 182ABSOLUTE
- 183FAULKLAND
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- 185FAULKLAND
- 186ABSOLUTE
- 187FAULKLAND
- 188FAG
- 189ABSOLUTE
- 190FAULKLAND
- 191ABSOLUTE
- 192FAULKLAND
- 193ABSOLUTE
- 194FAULKLAND
- 195ACRES
- 196ABSOLUTE
- 197ACRES
- 198ABSOLUTE
- 199ACRES
- 200FAULKLAND
- 201ACRES
- 202FAULKLAND
- 203ACRES
- 204FAULKLAND
- 205ABSOLUTE
- 206FAULKLAND
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- 208ACRES
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- 211FAULKLAND
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- 213FAULKLAND
- 214ABSOLUTE
- 215FAULKLAND
- 216ABSOLUTE
- 217FAULKLAND
- 218ABSOLUTE
- 219ACRES
- 220ABSOLUTE
- 221FAULKLAND
- 222ACRES
- 223FAULKLAND
- 224ABSOLUTE
- 225FAULKLAND
- 226ACRES
- 227ABSOLUTE
- 228ACRES
- 229ABSOLUTE
- 230ACRES
- 231FAULKLAND
- 232ABSOLUTE
- 233FAULKLAND
- 234ACRES
- 235ABSOLUTE
- 236ACRES
- 237FAULKLAND
- 238ABSOLUTE
- 239FAULKLAND
- 240ACRES
- 241FAULKLAND
- 242ABSOLUTE
- 243FAULKLAND
- 244ABSOLUTE
- 245FAULKLAND
- 246ABSOLUTE
- 247ACRES
- 248ABSOLUTE
- 249ACRES
- 250ABSOLUTE
- 251ACRES
- 252ABSOLUTE
- 253ACRES
- 254ABSOLUTE
- 255ACRES
- 256ABSOLUTE
- 257ACRES
- 258ABSOLUTE
- 259ACRES
- 260FAG
- 261ABSOLUTE
- 262ACRES
- 263ABSOLUTE
- 264FAG
- 265ABSOLUTE
- 266ACRES
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- 286ABSOLUTE
- 287ABSOLUTE
- 288ABSOLUTE
- 289ABSOLUTE
- 290ABSOLUTE
- 291ABSOLUTE
- 292FAG
- 293ABSOLUTE
- 294FAG
- 295BOY
- 296FAG
- 297BOY
- 298FAG
- 299Scene II.--The North Parade.
- 300LUCY
- 301LUCY
- 302LUCY
- 303LUCY
- 304LUCY
- 305LUCY
- 306LUCY
- 307LUCY
- 308LUCY
- 309LUCY
- 310LUCY
- 311LUCY
- 312FAG
- 313LUCY
- 314FAG
- 315LUCY
- 316FAG
- 317LUCY
- 318FAG
- 319LUCY
- 320FAG
- 321LUCY
- 322FAG
- 323LUCY
- 324FAG
- 325LUCY
- 326FAG
- 327ACT III
- 328Scene I--The North Parade.
- 329ABSOLUTE
- 330ABSOLUTE
- 331ABSOLUTE
- 332ABSOLUTE
- 333ABSOLUTE
- 334ABSOLUTE
- 335ABSOLUTE
- 336ABSOLUTE
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- 340ABSOLUTE
- 341ABSOLUTE
- 342ABSOLUTE
- 343ABSOLUTE
- 344ABSOLUTE
- 345ABSOLUTE
- 346ABSOLUTE
- 347ABSOLUTE
- 348Scene II--JULIA's Dressing-room.
- 349FAULKLAND
- 350JULIA
- 351FAULKLAND
- 352JULIA
- 353FAULKLAND
- 354JULIA
- 355FAULKLAND
- 356JULIA
- 357FAULKLAND
- 358JULIA
- 359FAULKLAND
- 360JULIA
- 361FAULKLAND
- 362JULIA
- 363FAULKLAND
- 364JULIA
- 365FAULKLAND
- 366JULIA
- 367FAULKLAND
- 368JULIA
- 369FAULKLAND
- 370JULIA
- 371FAULKLAND
- 372JULIA
- 373FAULKLAND
- 374Scene III--Mrs. MALAPROP's Lodgings.
- 375ABSOLUTE
- 376ABSOLUTE
- 377ABSOLUTE
- 378ABSOLUTE
- 379ABSOLUTE
- 380ABSOLUTE
- 381ABSOLUTE
- 382ABSOLUTE
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- 391ABSOLUTE
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- 393ABSOLUTE
- 394ABSOLUTE
- 395ABSOLUTE
- 396ABSOLUTE
- 397ABSOLUTE
- 398LYDIA
- 399ABSOLUTE
- 400LYDIA
- 401ABSOLUTE
- 402LYDIA
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- 404LYDIA
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- 406LYDIA
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- 414LYDIA
- 415LYDIA
- 416LYDIA
- 417ABSOLUTE
- 418ABSOLUTE
- 419ABSOLUTE
- 420LYDIA
- 421LYDIA
- 422LYDIA
- 423ABSOLUTE
- 424ABSOLUTE
- 425LYDIA
- 426Scene IV--ACRES' Lodgings.
- 427ACRES
- 428DAVID
- 429ACRES
- 430DAVID
- 431ACRES
- 432DAVID
- 433ACRES
- 434DAVID
- 435ACRES
- 436DAVID
- 437ACRES
- 438SERVANT
- 439ACRES
- 440ACRES
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- 456ACRES
- 457ACRES
- 458ACRES
- 459ACRES
- 460ACRES
- 461ACRES
- 462ACRES
- 463ACRES
- 464ACT IV
- 465Scene I--ACRES' Lodgings.
- 466DAVID
- 467ACRES
- 468DAVID
- 469ACRES
- 470DAVID
- 471ACRES
- 472DAVID
- 473ACRES
- 474DAVID
- 475ACRES
- 476DAVID
- 477ACRES
- 478DAVID
- 479ACRES
- 480DAVID
- 481ACRES
- 482DAVID
- 483ACRES
- 484SERVANT
- 485ACRES
- 486DAVID
- 487ACRES
- 488DAVID
- 489ACRES
- 490ABSOLUTE
- 491ACRES
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- 507SERVANT
- 508ABSOLUTE
- 509ACRES
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- 513ACRES
- 514ABSOLUTE
- 515ACRES
- 516ABSOLUTE
- 517ACRES
- 518ABSOLUTE
- 519ACRES
- 520ABSOLUTE
- 521Scene II--Mrs. MALAPROP's Lodgings.
- 522LYDIA
- 523LYDIA
- 524LYDIA
- 525SERVANT
- 526LYDIA
- 527ABSOLUTE
- 528LYDIA
- 529LYDIA
- 530ABSOLUTE
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- 561LYDIA
- 562LYDIA
- 563ABSOLUTE
- 564LYDIA
- 565ABSOLUTE
- 566LYDIA
- 567ABSOLUTE
- 568ABSOLUTE
- 569ABSOLUTE
- 570Scene III--The North Parade.
- 571ABSOLUTE
- 572ABSOLUTE
- 573ABSOLUTE
- 574ABSOLUTE
- 575ABSOLUTE
- 576ABSOLUTE
- 577ABSOLUTE
- 578ABSOLUTE
- 579FAULKLAND
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- 591FAULKLAND
- 592ABSOLUTE
- 593FAULKLAND
- 594ABSOLUTE
- 595FAULKLAND
- 596ABSOLUTE
- 597FAULKLAND
- 598ACT V
- 599Scene I--JULIA's Dressing-Room.
- 600JULIA
- 601JULIA
- 602FAULKLAND
- 603JULIA
- 604FAULKLAND
- 605JULIA
- 606FAULKLAND
- 607JULIA
- 608FAULKLAND
- 609JULIA
- 610FAULKLAND
- 611JULIA
- 612FAULKLAND
- 613JULIA
- 614FAULKLAND
- 615JULIA
- 616FAULKLAND
- 617JULIA
- 618FAULKLAND
- 619JULIA
- 620FAULKLAND
- 621JULIA
- 622FAULKLAND
- 623MAID
- 624LYDIA
- 625JULIA
- 626LYDIA
- 627JULIA
- 628LYDIA
- 629JULIA
- 630LYDIA
- 631JULIA
- 632LYDIA
- 633JULIA
- 634LYDIA
- 635JULIA
- 636LYDIA
- 637JULIA
- 638LYDIA
- 639FAG
- 640LYDIA
- 641FAG
- 642LYDIA
- 643LYDIA
- 644FAG
- 645LYDIA
- 646FAG
- 647LYDIA
- 648FAG
- 649LYDIA
- 650JULIA
- 651FAG
- 652JULIA
- 653DAVID
- 654JULIA
- 655DAVID
- 656JULIA
- 657DAVID
- 658LYDIA
- 659FAG
- 660FAG
- 661FAG
- 662Scene II--The South Parade.
- 663ABSOLUTE
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- 676ABSOLUTE
- 677DAVID
- 678DAVID
- 679DAVID
- 680DAVID
- 681DAVID
- 682DAVID
- 683DAVID
- 684Scene III--King's-Mead-Fields.
- 685ACRES
- 686ACRES
- 687ACRES
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- 706ACRES
- 707ACRES
- 708ABSOLUTE
- 709FAULKLAND
- 710ACRES
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- 713FAULKLAND
- 714ACRES
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- 720ACRES
- 721ACRES
- 722ABSOLUTE
- 723ACRES
- 724ABSOLUTE
- 725DAVID
- 726ABSOLUTE
- 727ABSOLUTE
- 728ABSOLUTE
- 729LYDIA
- 730LYDIA
- 731ABSOLUTE
- 732ACRES
- 733LYDIA
- 734ABSOLUTE
- 735ACRES
- 736JULIA
- 737FAULKLAND
- 738JULIA
- 739FAULKLAND
- 740ACRES
- 741FAULKLAND
- 742ABSOLUTE
- 743LYDIA
- 744JULIA
- 745EPILOGUE
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