The Sentimentalists

George Meredith

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• Publié par: kimiv
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 39
• Langue: English

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Title: The Sentimentalists (Play) Author: George Meredith Edition: 10 Language: English

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The Project Gutenberg Etext The Sentimentalists (Play) by Meredith *******This file should be named gn03v10.txt or gn03v10.zip******* Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, gn03v11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, gn03v10a.txt

Release Date: September, 2003 [Etext #4497] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 5, 2002]

THE SENTIMENT

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n Unfinished Comedy

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N: They are list dnrea evun.e RAED in fthd  uemyop drA  .ne uoYlliw fess f Propiraor S t ehrfmohto m uon  ato, n ioatorI ,gnineeveileb  olrusi hed dotf s descenwhich haolf  rewlA nenip: RE aOnHO l. WAME  diwacetedid 'e ' saturit Nlls l caaripS rosseforP l.oi sshling Eon A NEDRA ,  A :NEDRusioorglngnior m E IISCEN WAREHOME  IN:m  a r.si DEAReem gnitppahni y MEWARE:  , sir. HOsio tu ,hT eus n tou yot ecir dan.rM ,seidal eht  mewa. Ho, Mr you I c RA:EMOWE er H . '

The scene is a Surrey garden in early summer. The paths are shaded by tall box-wood hedges. The—time is some sixty years ago.

SCENE I  PROFESSOR SPIRAL, DAME DRESDEN, LADY OLDLACE,  VIRGINIA, WINIFRED, SWITHIN, and OSIER (As they slowly promenade the garden, the professor is delivering one of his exquisite orations on Woman.) SPIRAL: One husband! The woman consenting to marriage takes but one. For her there is no widowhood. That punctuation of the sentence called death is not the end of the chapter for her. It is the brilliant proof of her having a soul. So she exalts her sex. Above the wrangle and clamour of the passions she is a fixed star. After once recording her obedience to the laws of our common nature—that is to say, by descending once to wedlock—she passes on in sovereign disengagement—a dedicated widow. (By this time they have disappeared from view. HOMEWARE appears; he craftily avoids joining their party, like one who is unworthy of such noble oratory. He desires privacy and a book, but is disturbed by the arrival of ARDEN, who is painfully anxious to be polite to 'her uncle Homeware.')

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THE SENTIMENTALISTS AN UNFINISHED COMEDY

N,DE………… RAPI AR L.SSEFS RO ERAW ORP . ONAE HOME TIS PERSDARAM IVGR CA.ELOLDDA Y D.IFRE . WIN INIA ARYL .erawemoH dn . L feWiA . ….……,…  Sym……..eticpath EI,R .s SO D ERADEM ov lIn.  Athwie  S .aearts …,NIHTIW EA,……….. Niece t oaDemD erdsnea  ENSD… ,…stSi teroH oawem A .er ARTS

ARDEN: 'Dedicated widow'? HOMEWARE: The reference you will observe is to my niece Astraea. ARDEN: She is dedicated to whom? HOMEWARE: To her dead husband! You see the reverse of Astraea, says the professor, in those world-infamous widows who marry again. ARDEN: Bah! HOMEWARE: Astraea, it is decided, must remain solitary, virgin cold, like the little Alpine flower. Professor Spiral has his theme. ARDEN: He will make much of it. May I venture to say that I prefer my present company? HOMEWARE: It is a singular choice. I can supply you with no weapons for the sort of stride in which young men are usually engaged. You belong to the camp you are avoiding. ARDEN: Achilles was not the worse warrior, sir, for his probation in petticoats. HOMEWARE: His deeds proclaim it. But Alexander was the better chieftain until he drank with Lais. ARDEN: No, I do not plead guilty to Bacchus. HOMEWARE: You are confessing to the madder form of drunkenness. ARDEN: How, sir, I beg? HOMEWARE: How, when a young man sees the index to himself in everything spoken! ARDEN: That might have the look. I did rightly in coming to you, sir. HOMEWARE: 'Her uncle Homeware'? ARDEN: You read through us all, sir. HOMEWARE: It may interest you to learn that you are the third of the gentlemen commissioned to consult the lady's uncle Homeware. ARDEN: The third. HOMEWARE: Yes, she is pursued. It could hardly be otherwise. Her attractions are acknowledged, and the house is not a convent. Yet, Mr. Arden, I must remind you that all of you are upon an enterprise held to be profane by the laws of this region. Can you again forget that Astraea is a widow? ARDEN: She was a wife two months; she has been a widow two years. HOMEWARE: The widow of the great and venerable Professor Towers is not to measure her widowhood by years. His, from the altar to the tomb. As it might be read, a one day's walk! ARDEN: Is she, in the pride of her youth, to be sacrificed to a whimsical feminine delicacy? HOMEWARE: You have argued it with her? ARDEN: I have presumed. HOMEWARE: And still she refused her hand! ARDEN: She commended me to you, sir. She has a sound judgement of persons. HOMEWARE: I should put it that she passes the Commissioners of Lunacy, on the ground of her being a humorous damsel. Your predecessors had also argued it with her; and they, too, discovered their enemy in a whimsical feminine delicacy. Where is the difference between you? Evidently she cannot perceive it, and I have to seek: You will have had many conversations with Astraea? ARDEN: I can say, that I am thrice the man I was before I had them. HOMEWARE: You have gained in manhood from conversations with a widow in her twenty-second year; and you want more of her. ARDEN: As much as I want more wisdom. HOMEWARE: You would call her your Muse?

 bA,atreeshl)s.nce fereo this tirav eraL RY lfo d telabe ozeeebrstriks f er ehT( . as pit,  tmes seialpxe o oy ehT .n ladyung ds u lanre e shwre eeww  eaep it,ths ; ish oti re,aeds a econd wedlock isu hnlo.yF ruhtre d I nac tahW :NE veLo: REWAMEHO o?  eebh vaw raa dn Botred.ompaen c nigegnint tab eht usvehasu;  mch ruhomorb ee nehtion. ARD us inten w li:NI ekt  lat ampa the c ARDE ign. is ,yas  AWEMOH .rt arheo ou yatwh yga dnt caitsc ,h require strateocercellnoit fo coacinrdtog y  m ProfAnd ds. clouht eor msdf h ae a e av hwee er htuB—,laripS rossere must ead. Thei  toth ER :aTekov ls'erenscoft anoied lo ebsacc

SCENE III HOMEWARE, ARDEN, LYRA

LYRA: My own dear uncle Homeware! HOMEWARE: But where is Pluriel? LYRA: Where is a woman's husband when she is away from him? HOMEWARE: In Purgatory, by the proper reckoning. But hurry up the avenue, or you will be late for Professor Spiral's address. LYRA: I know it all without hearing. Their Spiral! Ah, Mr. Arden! You have not chosen badly. The greater my experience, the more do I value my uncle Homeware's company. (She is affectionate to excess but has a roguish eye withal, as of one who knows that uncle Homeware suspects all young men and most young women.) HOMEWARE: Agree with the lady promptly, my friend. ARDEN: I would gladly boast of so lengthened an experience, Lady Pluriel. LYRA: I must have a talk with Astraea, my dear uncle. Her letters breed suspicions. She writes feverishly. The last one hints at service on the West Coast of Africa. HOMEWARE: For the draining of a pestiferous land, or an enlightenment of the benighted black, we could not despatch a missionary more effective than the handsomest widow in Great Britain. LYRA: Have you not seen signs of disturbance? HOMEWARE: A great oration may be a sedative.

LYRA: I have my suspicions. HOMEWARE: Mr. Arden, I could counsel you to throw yourself at Lady Pluriel's feet, and institute her as your confessional priest. ARDEN: Madam, I am at your feet. I am devoted to the lady.

reat a cas Iure dln w uora etod AoS :NEDRciasorp   rhesoea wh ns shy er eesufem sh a earing. HOMEWARE:H rer aeos,nI r  d an; erk inthI eb nac Iepsni ran. Actioea sstraemt ne trat  oeh m rehtuo elph ta anFry,klRD . A: ENiwhsy uos ri , I me bett to know yad nredom ni naorum hhe th, Os.oY ule .adsmuo se dim e thch msketH . MOWERA:EN  oah e of affectation s eba teuoy m gnerrdas tcok d ul  :hSDRNEnrde eaw e Hounclre. A mewa uohtiw ,cips a t btoe  mlfsemye  pared yo has preed.nS eh ,rM .rAthwier htee s sto emht fof uos rou hE: YEWAR . HOM httaeh rla lotc  tyesod mofe tlanm ylemit eht eva

CENE IV  riwhtuo tih.m S )  in earsgardthe L—RYuoesaspp Aid ceendiaueappea r aripS—ne       s'l riehyaw  RYL . I :Aus mget Ast aetr aotm syle.f OHEMWARE: My library d tel esb muroce (A e!arew et renrd). RA rusn T ehED:Nies  ladon tare  s icantherthop tnilpfo geht uoc  es.       inebriat srt ehh H( eneet or finrgvia s  inedrA .rM ,ssertare tes s ga. Itnoo oy ut  opone slouciratanscoy emoceb nov oot sis lof ha maife httaA  toi dp re ig gtian im c lt.pe S !rm ehirraa se years her senioa m nao  fwtneyt le ro ,etipser ae av hllwiI d anel ,u cnse,taenread in d am A: I etis RYL . eviarapstdectru inga s deo  fiwdic ilppARE: Cup nt. HOMEW f ylahllaPirt  od ses an capt my llahs I elosnoc  Ar ngou y  s In:de u op nymw ro,dI  shall do deeds; em evaheno yad f  obeliy,rtr, o y acof mman o worayrecm tnnauqiatenumi ryve eupn  n yaM .ma I sa , hing rates. Anytb  eaeeteh rhtnaenid atst  aesprp ngcnirf dniero e, infini  exchangneroomsuvasea  niootcrn uryoev d ;ll dnatfa a reribery tdinae or fhtero uoa .yY elug hmet inpoapsid uoY :ARYL .si csne.d RAED:NI  t beseeching to des a  rat uoy era ewvi YR . L IA:ist  ED:N ?s RAno eM  y fess Prooweror T eht ot fo wodiwre aou yedotev d  ehteihct su tah oss he f t buf nesisu .hTye mbauo tersuade  would ppu gnuh si gab-yhe tvehae  wnd a ra!emoweelH u cn hone: A WAREHOME ale I l veha YR . LT :Aesehvol ,sre h in gifts; I amp oo.rB tuI g viAR w.toes t  IN:DEhS .seodcir si e  surtelying passmauoht euob tny  if lmye iv gldouw I .ma I .dias   to g itctinExpeAR : .r YL  reh eof thh  lisdsorit woy nw ruthguopu  voted, IRDEN: De A drne A !da,yM .r of sksa nihton rths ieifan m aat  :aHAWERt oheva   retg in HOME urn!eD :etovT .derehRALYejtcoi.nI  tisng cannot be an ob h vay uoC naRY:Ao saed ttende in ni si ti taht ygeiarrmaf  oewvi f roa egsim dole. HOMEWAR s, uncle t erm ehY :Ea uord A! L enelodMr,  is wtee n anithi hfoi cn arlc a  imenom We.ee bad hnikool nht rof g be taken to-morrwoo  rentxd ya ?ceAc mpteny mico.smum A  elaoved  ente ofasm husi apsae rt-diirgnm  a IA: h Iresu lletas r RYL .seti YRA: Now! my own  sput ehp ta.h L ) llwiee s He . (oe g imoc A .gn NEDR I : :EN WERAH . MO diyl rapncesadvaral ipS rosseforP :AYR . L ckroa t  aes na dhtiel daei sience of his audeh nsah ,raeehw ldoupp a, ot wit na ma I b erehwye.er huthil el Tg eu tot tymssa ls.  hee himTell nhse sses ninieehig agm n.aiet L  m Iar nwayat  oget a sense of fr n vegie av h Il. ni pils eht mih savcle,r un dearuei mlPf or eem resheswd ats is h si efel hw th ne speratiosheer deehm nai ;nb tut   censehoonn er hap tentrah reb sed woman, who map ra,tb  y aevlitaale this dtor ab sehcr morf kc aines chrseld het r ah ocev  eah ths tla  A .raot heht a s rcmaor w ild ntre ,figithp rath the rRDEN: Wiot si dlrow eht ofs esinus bhe t irhgci h :hWYLAR one.er dbett be   ,nulc?e OHEMAWER: My sister is anu npsusoicip suenottetaas, ou y.w rP k on edsrtenethe  to  of handoivni nadiw etale it bowav wkeli  skeletof to thediae ,ro nfoa  nrghaofe s  i cinruov gniaht ed txorian unt, tyraI  M sna.duhbsuo s vofan  ienrd Ar.emaD eht htiw ru