Prince's every wish and object, I could neither have respected the gift, the giver, or myself; but when I consider how recently it was my misfortune to find myself compelled by a sense of duty, stronger than my attachment to him, wholly to risk the situation I held in his confidence and favour, and that upon a subject* on which his feelings were so eager and irritable, I cannot but regard the increased attention, with which he has since honoured me, as a most gratifying demonstration that he has clearness of judgment and firmness of spirit to distinguish the real friends to his true glory and interests from the mean and mercenary sycophants, who fear and abhor that such friends should be near him. It is satisfactory to me, also, that this appointment also gives me the title and opportunity of seeing the Prince, on trying occasions, openly and in the face of day, and puts aside the mask of mystery and concealment. I trust I need not add, that whatever small portion of fair influence I may at any time possess with the prince, it shall be uniformly exerted to promote those feelings of duty and affection towards their Majesties, which, though seemingly interrupted by adverse circumstances, I am sure are in his heart warm and unalterable -and, as far as I may presume, that general concord throughout his illustrious family, which must be looked to by every honest subject, as an essential part of the public strength at this momentous period. I have the honour to be, with great respect and esteem, Right Hon. Henry Addington. Your obedient servant, R. B. SHERIDAN. SHERIDAN'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE. WHEN young, he was generally accounted handsome; but in later years his eyes were the only testimonials of beauty that remained to him. It was, indeed, in the upper part of his face that the spirit of the man chiefly reigned, the dominion of the world and the senses being rather strongly marked out in the lower. In his person he was about the middle size, and his general make was robust and well proportioned. It is remarkable that his arms, though of powerful strength, were thin, and appeared by no means muscular. His hands were small and -on The offer made by the Prince of his personal services in 1803, — which occasion Sheridan coincided with the views of Mr. Addington some what more than was agreeable to his Royal Highness. delicate; and the following couplet, written on a cast from one of them, very livelily enumerates both its physical and moral qualities: Good at a Fight, but better at a Play, THE PRINCE ON MOORE'S "LIFE OF SHERIDAN." FROM a work called "Sheridan and his Times" the following is extracted: "Watson, the Prince Regent's purse-bearer, having approached his royal master when the latter was busily engaged in scanning the pages of Moore's Life of Sheridan,' the Prince, rising from his seat, said,— "Let your business wait a little until you have answered my question. Have you seen Moore lately, or does he keep himself hidden from public observation ?' "I have not seen Mr. Moore lately, your Royal Highness, but I understand he is staying at Lansdowne House,' was Watson's reply. "On which the Prince rejoined, 'Look him out, sir, if you have any charity for the man. Bid him abscond, if he would avoid the penalty of the law, and escape indictment under Lord Ellenborough's Act rendering cutting and maiming a capital felony.' "With a look of astonishment, Watson exclaimed, 'Impossible, your Royal Highness !' "Impossible, sir! Why, I have before me,' retorted the Prince, the most conclusive evidence of his having barbarously attempted the life of Sheridan.'" LORD BYRON AND SHERIDAN. MONODY ON THE DEATH OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE R. B. SHERIDAN. By Lord Byron. Spoken by Mr. Rae, at Drury Lane, on the 7th September, 1816. WHEN the last sunshine of expiring day With a pure feeling which absorbs and awes, Her breathing moment on the bridge where Timc A glorious sympathy with suns that set? A mighty spirit is eclipsed-a power Hath pass'd from day to darkness, to whose hour In whose acclaim the loftiest voices vied The praised, the proud, who made his praise their pride When the loud cry of trampled Hindostan Arose to Heaven in her appeal from man, His was the thunder, his the avenging rod— The wrath, the delegated voice of God! Which shook the nations through his lips, and blazed Till vanquished senates trembled as they praised. And here, oh, here! where yet, all young and warm, The glowing portraits fresh from life that bring Which still the splendour of its orb betrays. But should there be to whom the fatal blight Hard is his fate on whom the public gaze These are his portion; but if, joined to these, If the high spirit must forget to soar, And stoop to strive with Misery at the door, Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given, By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne, But far from us, and from our mimic scene, Ye orators, whom yet our councils yield, EXTRACT FROM LORD BYRON'S LETTERS. "WHATEVER Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been, par excellence, always the best of its kind. He has written the best comedy, 'The School for Scandal;' the best opera, 'The Duenna' (in my mind far before that St. Giles's lampoon, ‘The Beggars' Opera'); the best farce, 'The Critic'-it is only too good for a farce; and the best address, the 'Monologue on · Fox, Pitt, Burke. |