The Sentimentalists

The Sentimentalists (Play)
by
George Meredith

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Title: The Sentimentalists (Play)
Author: George Meredith
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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 Project Gutenberg Etext The Sentimentalists (Play) by Meredith
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This etext was produced by David Widger

[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

THE SENTIMENTALISTS
An Unfinished Comedy
By George Meredith

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
HOMEWARE.
PROFESSOR SPIRAL.
ARDEN,............. In love with Astraea.
SWITHIN,........... Sympathetics. OSIER,
DAME DRESDEN,...... Sister to Homeware.
ASTRAEA,........... Niece to Dame Dresden and Homeware.
LYRA,.............. A Wife.
LADY OLDLACE.
VIRGINIA.
WINIFRED.

THE SENTIMENTALISTS
AN UNFINISHED COMEDY
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.')

SCENE II
HOMEWARE, ARDEN
ARDEN: A glorious morning, sir.
HOMEWARE: The sun is out, sir.

ARDEN: I am happy in meeting you, Mr. Homeware.
HOMEWARE: I can direct you to the ladies, Mr. Arden. You will find
them up yonder avenue.
ARDEN: They are listening, I believe, to an oration from the mouth of
Professor Spiral.
HOMEWARE: On an Alpine flower which has descended to flourish
on English soil. Professor Spiral calls it Nature's 'dedicated widow.'
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