A Trip to Scarborough; and, The Critic

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

SNEER.
I am at your disposal the whole morning!—but I thought you had been a decided critic in music as well as in literature.

DANGLE.
So I am—but I have a bad ear. I’faith, Sneer, though, I am afraid we were a little too severe on Sir Fretful—though he is my friend.

SNEER.
Why, ’tis certain, that unnecessarily to mortify the vanity of any writer is a cruelty which mere dulness never can deserve; but where a base and personal malignity usurps the place of literary emulation, the aggressor deserves neither quarter nor pity.

DANGLE.
That’s true, egad!—though he’s my friend!

SCENE II.—A drawing-room in DANGLE’S House. MRS. DANGLE, SIGNOR PASTICCIO RITORNELLO, SIGNORE PASTICCIO RITORNELLO, INTERPRETER, and MUSICIANS discovered.

INTERPRETER.
Je dis, madame, j’ai l’honneur to introduce et de vous demander votre protection pour le Signor Pasticcio Ritornello et pour sa charmante famille.

SIGNOR PASTICCIO RITORNELLO.
Ah! vosignoria, not vi preghiamo di favoritevi colla vostra protezione.

FIRST SIGNORA PASTICCIO RITORNELLO.
Vosignoria fatevi questi grazie.

SECOND SIGNORA PASTICCIO RITORNELLO.
Si, signora.

INTERPRETER.
Madame—me interpret.—C’est à dire—in English—qu’ils vous prient de leur faire l’honneur—