St. Quintin, a town about half way between this and Calais, where I purpose to leave my children, in the hands of Protestants, to whom they are strongly recommended. As soon as I have settled them, I shall set out for London, and thence proceed to Dublin as speedily as possible. I thank you for your last letter and the remittance, without which I should not have been able to have made this arrangement.-Sam! you have lost a friend who valued you much. I have lost what the world cannot repair, a bosom friend, another self. My children have lost-oh! their loss is neither to be expressed nor repaired. But the will of God be done. I am ever sincerely and affectionately yours, THOMAS SHERIDAN. MRS. SHERIDAN TO MR. WHYTE. DEAR SAM, London, February 25th, 1762. It is so long since you and I have corresponded, that I really do not recollect whether you are a letter in my debt, or I in yours: for my own credit's sake, I wish it may be the former: but be that as it may, I will not omit the opportunity of Mr. Rainsford's return, to send you Mr. Sheridan's Dissertation, which includes part of his plan. 'Tis addressed, as you see, to a great man: when you read it, you will not be at a loss to discover, that the person addressed is our present first minister. It has been as well received by him as we could possibly wish, and even beyond the expectation of our friends. He expressed himself highly pleased with the design, and sent Mr. Sheridan word it should receive all countenance and encouragement. Lord Bute is a man of his word, and every body knows his great influence; so that the affair now seems likely to become of great importance. The course of lectures which Mr. Sheridan is now reading in the city is attended in a manner that shows the people more warm and earnest on the subject than can well be conceived; his auditory seldom consisting of less than five hundred people, and this is the utmost the hall will contain; many have been disappointed for want of room, and he is strenuously solicited to repeat the course again immediately in the same place. This I believe he will comply with, though he is to give another course next month at Spring Gardens. Last Monday evening, Charles, for the first time, exhibited himself as a little orator. He read Eve's speech to Adam, from Milton, beginning— O thou! for whom, and from whom, I was formed, &c. As his father had taken a deal of pains with him, and he has the advantage of a fine ear and a fine voice, he acquitted himself in such a manner as astonished every body. He purposes in his next course to show him in all the variety of style that is used in English composition, and hopes in a very little time to make him complete in his own art. Dick has been at Harrow school since Christmas: as he probably may fall into a bustling life, we have a mind to accustom him early to shift for himself: Charles's domestic and sedentary turn is best suited to a home education. This is the present system of your little old acquaintance. I shall be glad of your opinion on the Dissertation, as also to know what progress you yourself have made in this particular branch in your school, which I am very glad to hear by Mr. Rainsford is in great reputation. I am obliged to break off, as I have been interrupted a dozen times since I sat down to write. Indeed I am so distressed for want of a room to myself, that it discourages me from attempting any thing, though I have this winter made a shift to scribble something that you shall hear of another time. Adieu, dear Sam. I am yours, sincerely, FRANCES SHERIDAN. some P. S. My sister Chamberlaine desires me to inform you (you may be assured I did not hint the subject) that she had paid Mrs. money that you had left in her hands for that use, which she expects you'll acquit her of. my brother Dick to answer for himself. I leave DR. SMOLLETT TO AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN. London, May 8th, 1763. SIR, I AM favoured with yours of the 26th of February, and cannot but be pleased to find myself, as a writer, so high in your esteem. The curiosity you express with regard to the particulars of my life, and the variety of situations in which I may have been, cannot be gratified within the compass of a letter; besides, there are some particulars of my life which it would ill become me to relate. The only similitude between the circumstances of my own fortune, and those I have attributed to Roderick Random, consists in my being born of a respectable family in Scotland; in my being bred a surgeon, and having served as a surgeon's mate on board a man of war during the expedition to Carthagena. The low situations in which I have exhibited Roderic I never experienced in my own person. I married, very young, a native of Jamaica, a young lady well known and universally respected under the name of Miss Nancy Lascelles, and by her I enjoy a comfortable, though moderate estate in that island. I practised surgery in London, after having improved myself by travelling in France and other foreign countries, till the year 1749, when I took my degree of doctor in medicine, and have lived ever since in Chelsea (I hope) with credit and reputation. No man what time I em knows better than Mr. |