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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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The School for Scandal
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(1777) Comedy by *Sheridan in which the title relates to the malicious gossiping salon presided over by the young Lady Teazle, with Lady Sneerwell as a star performer. The plot centres on two brothers, Charles and Joseph Surface. Charles is good-hearted but recklessly extravagant, whereas Joseph is a model of good behaviour and a hypocrite; both are courting Maria (the ward of the elderly Sir Peter Teazle), Charles for love and Joseph for her money. Their real characters are revealed when their rich uncle, Sir Oliver Surface, arrives from India and disguises himself to test them. The comic climax of the play is the 'screen scene', in which Joseph's attempt to seduce Lady Teazle involves him in a farcical sequence of concealment, false explanations and ultimate embarrassment.
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