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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2021
In searching for the source of Sheridan's Rivals, a critic ventures upon literary quicksand. Professor Nettleton in his edition of the comedies is inclined to minimize the persistent charges of plagiarism made against Sheridan by his biographers.
1 G. H. Nettleton, The Major Dramas of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1906, p. lii
2 Percy Fitzgerald, The Lives of the Sheridans, 1886, I, 126-27.
3 L. C. Sanders, Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1890, p. 34.
4 Cf. Sanders, op. cit., p. 34.
5 The descriptions of the dramatis personae were originated, and applied to the characters in both plays by the present writers.
6 David, servant to Bob Acres, had become a traditional type a century before Sheridan's day.
7 The similarities between Biddy and Lydia. it must be admitted, are not so close as those between Lydia and other heroines of contemporary plays and novels. “Since the ultra-romantic heroine is a stock comedy character it is not surprising that critics have found originals for Lydia Languish almost as readily as for Mrs. Malaprop. Among the most frequently suggested prototypes of Lydia Languish are Smollett's Lydia Melford in Humphrey Clinker, Colman's Polly Honeycombe in the comedy of the same name, and Steele's Biddy Tipkin in The Tender Husband.” (Cf. Nettletdh, op. cit., liv.) Nettleton has developed in detail the likenesses between Lydia and her sentimental prototypes.
8 Cf. Nettleton, op. cit., pp. lvi, lvii.
9 Cf. Ernest Bernbaum, The Drama of Sensibility 1915, p. 352.
10 Cf Walter Sichel, Sheridan, 1909, I, 490.
11 Cf Thomas Moore, Memoirs of the Lift of the Right Honourable Richard Brinslty Sheridan, 2 vols. 1825, I, 142.
12 Cf. Nettleton, op. cit., pp. lvi, Ivii.
13 Cf Bernbaum, op. cit., p. 352.
14 Cf Fitzgerald, op. cit., I pp. 125,126
15 Cf Sichel, op. cit., I p. 490.
16 Cf. Sichel, op. cit., I, 249. The most complete treatment of the extent to which Sheridan is indebted to his mother's unfinished play, A Journey to Bath, for the character of Mrs. Malaprop, may be found in Sichel (I, 491-493). For purposes of this article, it should suffice to assert that Sheridan made comparatively slight use of his mother's handiwork.
17 Cf John Palmer, The Comedy of Manners, Chapter III. Although no bonds of affection yoke David, Tag, and Lucy, the three servants in The Rivals, we recall the relationship existing between Jasper, Puff, and Tag, as we listen to Sir Lucius O'Trigger trifle with Lucy. (Sheridan, The Rivals, Act II, Scene 2.)