1770s London Society
At the time of our play, London was a populous city abundant in knowledge and culture but deeply segregated. The wealthy lived in comfort in the West End while the poor lived in filth and dealt with high crime rates in the East End. Our playwright, Richard Sheridan, was among the rich as are the characters in his play. In the 18th century, the generationally wealthy were joined by the nouveau rich, who made their fortunes in banking, commerce, the wool trade, or abroad in service to the East India Company or one of its lesser competitors. Because marriages were mostly financial arrangements, the nouveau rich were able to marry into titles and secure their places in high society.
The West End
Richard Sheridan lived and worked in the West End of London. The map above shows the West End as it was in 1770 including the approximate location of the theater Sheridan managed, Drury Lane, which is still operational today. The characters in School for Scandal also likely "lived" somewhere on this map.
Wealthy Londoners often lived in "squares," which were neighborhoods built around an enclosed garden. Many squares were set among fields and had views of the open countryside. Famous squares in London included Hanover Square (below on the right), Cavendish Square, and St. James's Square (below on the left).
Enlightenment Salons
During the Enlightenment period in France, social gatherings called salons flourished. These gatherings were held by educated, aristocratic women known as salonnières in their private residences. The salons served as intellectual and cultural hubs where philosophers, writers, artists, politicians, and other gathered to engage in stimulating conversation about literature, politics, science, and the pressing ideas of the day.
These salons played a crucial role in spreading Enlightenment ideals and fostering intellectual discourse during a time of significant social and philosophical change. They were unique spaces where social hierarchies were temporarily suspended, allowing for relatively free exchange of ideas between nobles, bourgeoisie, and intellectuals. Notable salonnières like Madame Geoffrin, Madame du Deffand, and Julie de Lespinasse hosted gatherings that helped shape public opinion and advance revolutionary ideas about reason, individual rights, and social progress. When salons spread to London, English salonnières like Elizabeth Montagu (1718-1800) were dubbed the Blue Stockings Society. Their elite social gatherings provided a rare opportunity for women to play a dominant role in influencing culture.
Scandal
With a boom in print media beginning in 1702 with London's first daily paper, politics, controversies, and scandals were being widely spread in print for the first time. Newspapers were typically four pages and largely reported on politics, while pamphlets, similar to today's magazines, were nearly 100 pages long and included portraits of prominent people, newsworthy episodes, and fashions.
Perhaps the most notable print media in the 18th century though were satirical prints. These were sold as single sheets of various sizes, the standard being 250mm x 350mm and made fun of politicians, fashions, and toward the end of the century, society's most salacious scandals. Some would do anything to stay out of these satirical prints, buying up as many copies as they could themselves, while others solicited caricatures of themselves, for it's better to be made fun of than be forgotten.
Sir Richard Worsley vs Captain Bissett
In 1782 Sir Richard Worsley sued Captain Bissett for adultery with his wife Seymour. In court, it came out that Worsley had actually assisted Bissett in courting his wife, including once lifting Bissett onto his shoulders to gaze through a window at Seymour bathing naked. The caricaturist James Gillray had a field day with this.
George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV) and his marriage to Maria Fitzherbert
The Prince of Wales, Richard Sheridan's good friend, made quite the faux pas when he secretly secretly married Maria Fitzherbert, a Catholic widow a few years older than him. When the news leaked out, some 34 caricatures followed.
The School of Manners
In 1774, a series of letters written by Philip Dormer Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, to his son, Philip Stanhope, was published and distributed to the public. The letters were titled, Lord Chesterfield's Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, and quickly became popular for giving honest, if a bit scandalous, advice on how to navigate society. The letters have been a guide for prominent men ever since.
The Earl had an almost physical aversion to those who lacked the graces of good breeding and admitted frankly that he cared more for the clothing of ideas than for their intrinsic worth. Awkwardness was for him a sign of worthlessness.
Explore some of the Earl of Chesterfield's advice
"Manner is all, in everything; it is by manner only that you can please, and consequently rise."
"Frivolous curiosity about trifles, and laborious attention to little objects, which neither require nor deserve a moment's thought, lower a man, who from thence is thought, and not unjustly, incapable of greater matters."
"When a man seeks your advice he generally wants your praise."
"If a speaker should ungracefully mutter or stammer out to me the sense of an angel, deformed by barbarisms and solecisms or larded with vulgarisms, he should never speak to me a second time if I could help it."
"Those whom you can make like themselves better, will, I promise you, like you very well."
"Prepare yourself for the world, as the athletes used to do for their exercise; oil your mind and your manners, to give them the necessary suppleness and flexibility; strength alone will not do."
"Look in the face of the person to whom you are speaking if you wish to know his real sentiments, for he can command his words more easily than his countenance."
"Let blockheads read, what blockheads wrote."
"A man's fortune is frequently decided by his first address. If pleasing, others at once conclude he has merit; but if ungraceful, they decide against him."
"People will, in a great degree, and not without reason, form their opinion of you, upon that which they have of your friends; and there is a Spanish proverb, which says very justly, tell me who you live with, and I will tell you what you are."
"Choose the company of your superiors whenever you can have it; that is the right and true pride."
"It is often more necessary to conceal contempt than resentment, the former being never forgiven, but the latter sometimes forgot. Wrongs are often forgiven; contempt never."