published in Sheridan's lifetime, there seems unusual justification
for reproducing the text of the play itself with absolute fidelity
to the original manuscript. Mr. Ridgway, who repeatedly sought to
obtain a copy corrected by the author, according to Moore's account
(LIFE OF SHERIDAN, I. p. 260), "was told by Mr. Sheridan, as an
excuse for keeping it back, that he had been nineteen years
endeavouring to satisfy himself with the style of The School for
Scandal, but had not yet succeeded." Mr. Rae (SHERIDAN, I. p. 332)
recorded his discovery of the manuscript of "two acts of The School
for Scandal prepared by Sheridan for publication," and hoped, before
his death, to publish this partial revision. Numberless unauthorized
changes in the play have been made for histrionic purposes, from
the first undated Dublin edition to that of Mr. Augustin Daly.
Current texts may usually be traced, directly or indirectly,
to the two-volume Murray edition of Sheridan's plays, in 1821.
Some of the changes from the original manuscript, such as the
blending of the parts of Miss Verjuice and Snake, are doubtless
effective for reasons of dramatic economy, but many of the "cuts"
are to be regretted from the reader's standpoint. The student
of English drama will prefer Sheridan's own text to editorial
emendations, however clever or effective for dramatic ends.


THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

A COMEDY

A PORTRAIT<1>

ADDRESSED TO MRS. CREWE,