Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...comedy and chose, as the basis of his plot, the marriage conflict between parent and child which had come down from Terence through Italian and French theatres.1 A father and an aunt arrange a suitable marriage for their respective son and niece, while the young people have already chosen for themselves. Out of this hackneyed situation he extracted the equally hackneyed humours of mistaken identity and of domestic discord, but with a dramatic sense which borders on genius. Miss Lydia Languish and Captain Absolute are the young pair destined for each other. Unknown to their elders, they are already mutually in love; but, as Lydia has fallen a victim to the craze for sentimentality, the wealthy captain pretends to be the penniless ensign Beverley, so that their union may be to her, unquestionably, a marriage of love. This attempt at a double impersonation brings about some brilliant complications. Familiar figures in domestic and social life are thrown off thenguard and betrayed, with admirable felicity, into weaknesses and absurdities generally hidden from the public eye, and the enjoyment of the spectators is all the more complete because the characters are working for the same end and frustrate their several efforts through misunderstandings. The Rivals (1775) is a comedy of incident, the excellence of which is partly to be found in the action. Its characterisation is, in essence, conventional and shows less knowledge of human nature than does Goldsmith's work. Captain Absolute the generous, impulsive youth, Sir Anthony the testy, headstrong father, Fag and Lucy the menials who minister to their employers' intrigues, are as old as Latin comedy; Bob Acres, the blustering coward, is akin to Sir Andrew Aguecheek and had trod the stage in...
