RIVAL. The., Not long after his mar riage Sheridan was asked by the manager of Covent Garden Theatre to write a play for that theatre. He set to work with alacrity and finished
omedy of manners verging on the exaggera 'on of farce. The scenes made up of Julia's nd Faulkland's high-flown and sentimental love affair have no relation to this authentic comedy and were thrown in by Sheridan as a sop to the prevailing taste of the day; and it is worth noting that when he came to write 'The School for Scandal' he made no such concession. Not only the great Joseph Jeffer son and every high-school and dramatic society and stock company, but also the frequent quota-: tion of many of the lines, have helped to keep
Rivals' alive. Every part in the play is actable, the invention of the humorous situa tions inexhaustible, and the wit and portraiture and motivation cast so happily within the theatrical tradition as to pass unfailingly over any footlights.