Lady Sneerwell monologue (Act 1) — The School for Scandal

[VERJUICE.?] An old Batchelor as Sir Peter was[,] having taken a young wife from out of the Country--as Lady Teazle is--are certainly fair subjects for a little mischievous raillery--but here are two young men--to whom Sir Peter has acted as a kind of Guardian since their Father's death, the eldest possessing the most amiable Character and universally well spoken of[,] the youngest the most dissipated and extravagant young Fellow in the Kingdom, without Friends or caracter--the former one an avowed admirer of yours and apparently your Favourite[,] the latter attached to Maria Sir Peter's ward--and confessedly beloved by her. Now on the face of these circumstances it is utterly unaccountable to me why you a young Widow with no great jointure--should not close with the passion of a man of such character and expectations as Mr. Surface--and more so why you should be so uncommonly earnest to destroy the mutual Attachment subsisting between his Brother Charles and Maria.