Arcadópolis
Act I
Scene I
Lady Sneerwell’s dressing-room
Lady Sneerwell discovered at her dressing table; 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 Sneerwell
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 Sneerwell
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-á-tête in The Town and Country Magazine, when the parties, perhaps, had never seen each other’s face before in the course of their lives.
Lady Sneerwell
She certainly has talents, but her manner is gross.
Snake
’Tis very true. She generally designs well, has a free tongue and a bold invention; but her colouring is too dark, and her outlines often extravagant. She wants that delicacy of tint, and mellowness of sneer, which distinguish your ladyship’s scandal.
She Stoops to Conquer
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Hamlet
Macbeth
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest
The Playboy of the Western World
An Ideal Husband
The Importance of Being Earnest