"I'll wait till her just resentment is abated--and when I distress her so again, may I lose her for ever! and be linked instead to some antique virago, whose knawing passions, and long-hoarded spleen, shall make me curse my folly half the day, and all the night!"
— Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Wilkie
Date
1775
Metaphor
"I'll wait till her just resentment is abated--and when I distress her so again, may I lose her for ever! and be linked instead to some antique virago, whose knawing passions, and long-hoarded spleen, shall make me curse my folly half the day, and all the night!"
Metaphor in Context
FAULKLAND
In Tears! stay, Julia: stay but for a moment.--The door is fastened!--Julia!-- my soul--but for one moment:--I hear her sobbing! --'Sdeath! what a brute am I to use her thus! Yet stay.--Aye--she is coming now:--how little resolution there is in woman!--how a few soft words can turn them!--No, faith!--she is not coming either.--Why, Julia--my love-- say but that you forgive me--come but to tell me that--now, this is being too resentful:--stay! she is coming too--I thought she would--no steadiness in any thing! her going away must have been a mere trick then--she sha'n't see that I was hurt by it.--I'll affect indifferenc. --
(hums a tune: then listens)
--No--Z---ds! she's not coming!-- nor don't intend it, I suppose.--This is not steadiness , but obstinacy! Yet I deserve it.--What, after so long an absence, to quarrel with her tenderness! --'twas barbarous and unmanly!--I should be ashamed to see her now.--I'll wait till her just resentment is abated--and when I distress her so again, may I lose her for ever! and be linked instead to some antique virago, whose knawing passions, and long-hoarded spleen, shall make me curse my folly half the day, and all the night!
[Exit.
In Tears! stay, Julia: stay but for a moment.--The door is fastened!--Julia!-- my soul--but for one moment:--I hear her sobbing! --'Sdeath! what a brute am I to use her thus! Yet stay.--Aye--she is coming now:--how little resolution there is in woman!--how a few soft words can turn them!--No, faith!--she is not coming either.--Why, Julia--my love-- say but that you forgive me--come but to tell me that--now, this is being too resentful:--stay! she is coming too--I thought she would--no steadiness in any thing! her going away must have been a mere trick then--she sha'n't see that I was hurt by it.--I'll affect indifferenc. --
(hums a tune: then listens)
--No--Z---ds! she's not coming!-- nor don't intend it, I suppose.--This is not steadiness , but obstinacy! Yet I deserve it.--What, after so long an absence, to quarrel with her tenderness! --'twas barbarous and unmanly!--I should be ashamed to see her now.--I'll wait till her just resentment is abated--and when I distress her so again, may I lose her for ever! and be linked instead to some antique virago, whose knawing passions, and long-hoarded spleen, shall make me curse my folly half the day, and all the night!
[Exit.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
First performed January 17th, 1775. 14 entries in ESTC (1775, 1776, 1785, 1788, 1791, 1793, 1797, 1798).
Sheridan, R. B. The Rivals, a Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden (London: John Wilkie, 1775). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Sheridan, R. B. The Rivals, a Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden (London: John Wilkie, 1775). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
11/02/2003
Date of Review
06/29/2012
