fashionable town, its lounges, its early hours, its circulating libraries, its abbey thickly peopled with the dead, are the natural results of the observation which even a superficial stranger might make, without it being attributed to him that a love of scandal and of satire was predominant in him. The least interesting of his delineations, Falkland and Julia, partake of the same talent; and although they have been objected to as unnecessary to the general action of the comedy, yet they exhibit an intimate acquaintance with the springs that guide the lover's heart, and the peculiar form of jealousy which is held up to reprobation is one that required castigation. The language which the lovers express themselves in has been considered to exhibit false finery by one who has himself given to the world much more elaborate ornament and much more of false taste than any other author of our age.

The youth of Sheridan must be borne in mind when we pass any critical remarks upon the "Rivals," and we then shall be disposed to view it as the production of natural genius. At the age of twenty-three, a comedy remarkable for its wit, its ingenuity, and its knowledge of the world must be the result of innate powers. There had been no time for deep observation, reflection, and the study of human nature. There must have been a quick perception of character, a power of adaptation, and a rapid insight into the effects produced upon an audience by dramatic skill. We find individuals brought before us whom we recognise as the fair objects of legitimate comedy, their peculiarities, their foibles presented to us so as to excite our laughter, without any of that harshness or asperity which demands severe chastisement. In the midst of all their extravagances they have some re

deeming good qualities, which make us pleased that they sufficiently suffer by the exposure of their follies, and the same holds good with his more matured comedy, the "School for Scandal." If the "Rivals" does not abound with the same sparkle, if there be less polish in the dialogue, if the turn of satirical wit be less epigrammatic, there is much more of the character of common life about it, there is more ingenuity in the several contrivances, the peculiarities of each individual lead to more decided ends, and are more skilfully combined to produce an effect. It is more like the usual comedies of the stage, and there are more of those conventional personages to whom time has reconciled us, and given to them its acknowledged sanction. We have had most of them placed before us by other comic writers, but they have not been so dexterously managed, nor have they appeared in so vivid a light, or been so cleverly brought together. The materials are of a very slight texture, yet the whole is woven into a solid fabric well suited to the ordinary taste. We are told that Sir Anthony Absolute and Mrs. Malaprop remind us of honest Matthew Bramble and his sister Tabitha, and that Acres is a distinct descendant of Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Granted that it is so, the greater the praise due to Sheridan in having placed in so ingenious a form before us our old favourites; and as much right have we to complain of the want of variety in the lovely flowers that are created by the hand of nature, because the petals of some of them are distinguishable in shape only by very slight apparent variations, and yet when we examine them we find they possess colouring totally distinct, and qualities quite at variance. The Irish fortunehunter, the romantic loving girl, the poltroon, and the

dictatorial father, are subjects with whom we daily meet in novels and in plays; but it cannot detract from the originality of Sheridan that he has ingeniously introduced them into a drama, made them act and react upon each other, until they produce a most agreeable impression upon the mind, and give us rational amusement by the display of the singularities which it is the peculiar province of the dramatist to depict.

The "Duenna" was brought out on the 21st of November 1775, and immediately became a favourite with the public; it had, at the outset, a much longer career than the "Beggar's Opera," which was looked upon as the most successful drama of its class ever placed upon the stage. For the progress of the composition, dramatic, poetic, and musical, a reference must be made to Moore, who has given the letters which passed between Sheridan and Linley previous to its performance. We believe that the popularity of this opera has never been exceeded, and even to this hour the common quotations from its songs prove how much they were in the thoughts of every one. Many sayings which have become proverbial, and whose origin is altogether forgotten, have their source from this old favourite of our forefathers, to which they listened with rapture, and from which it was at one period considered fashionable to repeat lines. Indeed, independently of the conversation, which is of no ordinary cast, there are so many beautiful expressions in the songs, that we cannot be surprised at their reception, nor that many should be committed to memory. We are astonished at the many comments which have been made as to the direct violation of probability in the plot of the "Duenna." It is con

tended that no Spanish nobleman would allow his daughter to marry a Jew recently baptized, and that it is inconsistent that Seville, the very seat of the Inquisition, should be laid down as the scene of the adventure described. So far from a recently converted Jew being an object of either suspicion or dislike, every favour was shown in Spain to those who abandoned the faith of their fathers from conviction, and they became persons of weight and respectability. Nor do we see the force of the objection that a man hackneyed in the world should marry an old duenna instead of a young and lovely girl, whose description indeed he had just heard; but the person who had drawn the picture was the parent, and naturally enough might have been supposed to have viewed his own offspring with a father's predilection, whilst the sordid lover only thought of the wealth he was to obtain, and to him the want of beauty was a secondary consideration. Whatever may be the objections which have been raised, the "Duenna" has maintained a high reputation; and should we ever again have to boast upon the stage the talents and the powers of Leoni or Braham, it will again be brought forward, its dialogue be listened to with delight, its airs refresh the memories of the old, and kindle enthusiasm in the young.

Neither prologue nor epilogue seems to have been thought necessary for an opera, but a playful poetic finale sung by the various characters on the stage brings it to a happy conclusion. It appears that it was first printed in 1794, but upon what authority we cannot trace, for Sheridan himself disavowed ever having revised any edition. In 1807, we learn from Kelly that he performed the part, in the "Duenna," of

Ferdinand. It was customary with him, when he played at night, to read his part over in the morning, in order to refresh his memory; one morning, after reading the part of Ferdinand, he left the printed play of the "Duenna," as then acted, on the table. On his return home he found Sheridan reading it, and with pen and ink before him correcting it. He said to him, "Do you act the part of Ferdinand from this printed copy?" To this Kelly replied in the affirmative, and added that he had done so for twenty years. Then said he, "You have been acting great nonsense." He examined every sentence, and corrected it all through before he left him. The corrections Kelly preserved in Sheridan's own handwriting; but, he observes, what could prove his negligence more than correcting an opera, which he had written in 1775, in the year 1807, and then abusing the manner in which it was printed. Kelly, however, had many more opportunities of becoming acquainted with Sheridan's sins of omission, which he does not fail to communicate to his readers in those reminiscences which he has written to the great satisfaction of the lovers of music and the drama. Whatever may have been the carelessness with which the dialogue of the "Duenna may have been produced, such was not the case either with the poetry or the music; they both of them are exquisite of their kind, and the airs were borrowed from Linley, Rauzzini, and Dr. Harrington. The letters which are preserved of all the parties interested in the success of the opera show that no pains were spared; in those of Sheridan, which are given by Moore, we see that he was laborious, anxious, and painstaking. We are let almost too much behind the scenes, for we find that Sunday was fixed for a