- I do. Here are
two young men, to whom Sir Peter has acted as a kind of guardian since
their father’s death; the eldest possessing the most amiable character,
and universally well spoken of—the youngest, the most dissipated
and extravagant young fellow in the kingdom, without friends or character:
the former an avowed admirer of your ladyship, and apparently your favourite;
the latter attached to Maria, Sir Peter’s ward, and confessedly
beloved by her. Now, on the face of these circumstances, it is utterly
unaccountable to me, why you, the widow of a city knight, with a good
jointure, should not close with the passion of a man of such character
and expectations as Mr. Surface; and more so why you should be so uncommonly
earnest to destroy the mutual attachment subsisting between his brother
Charles and Maria. (from Act, I, School
for Scandals)
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