THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL文学意识流_爱尔兰戏剧.docVIP

THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL A COMEDY A PORTRAIT1 ADDRESSED TO MRS. CREWE, WITH THE COMEDY OF THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL BY R. B. SHERIDAN, ESQ. Tell me, ye prim adepts in Scandals school,Who rail by precept, and detract by rule,Lives there no character, so tried, so known,So deckd 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 declareA fixt antipathy to young and fair;By cunning, cautious; or by nature, cold,In maiden madness, virulently bold!—Attend! ye skilled to coin the precious tale,Creating proof, where innuendos 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 beautys fame);Come—for but thee who seeks the Muse? and whileCelestial 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 createOf her, or slightest charm couldst imitate—Could thy blest strain in kindred colours traceThe 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 giveTo Natures best and Heavens superlative:On GRANBYS cheek might bid new glories rise,Or point a purer beam from DEVONS eyes!Hard is the task to shape that beautys praise,Whose judgment scorns the homage flattery pays!But praising Amoret we cannot err,No tongue oervalues Heaven, or flatters her!