R INTRODUCTION ICHARD BRINSLEY BUTLER SHERIDAN—to give his full four names to one who habitually used, and is usually known by, only three of them—was born in Dublin in the year 1751, probably about the end of September. His father was Thomas Sheridan, actor, elocutionist, dramatist, miscellaneous writer and (at one time) friend of Dr. Johnson. The accounts given of Thomas Sheridan differ in their appreciation of his qualities. Johnson (after Sheridan's proposal to compile a pronouncing dictionary had offended him) said of him that "Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, sir, is not in nature." It is, however, possible that this remark has lost none of its unkindness (to say the least of it) from its repetition by the malicious Foote; for Johnson on another occasion said, more kindly, that "There is, to be sure, in Sheridan, something to reprehend, and everything to laugh at; but, sir, he is not a bad man. No, sir, were mankind to be divided into good and bad, he would stand considerably within the ranks of the good. And, sir, it must be allowed that Sheridan excels in plain declamation, though he can exhibit no character." This estimate of Sheridan's histrionic powers is, however, lower than that of Charles Churchill, who placed him, as a tragedian, only second to Garrick : Just his conceptions, natural and great, His feelings strong, his words enforc'd with weight. His action's always strong, but sometimes such, Why is his right leg, too, forbid to stir, But, spite of all defects, his glories rise, And art, by judgment form'd, with nature vies. Where he falls short, 'tis Nature's fault alone; That admirable picture of Thomas Sheridan as an actor may be taken as proving that he was a good performer of what has always been (throughout the history of the stage) the "old school." As a man, we may take it (without further investigation) that he was a worthy soul, endowed with much chivalry and some talent, who yet never managed to make any great mark in the world. This character may also, perhaps, be allowed to stand for that of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's paternal grandfather, Thomas Sheridan the elder, Swift's friend, who is saved, even to-day, from total oblivion by some amusing stories of his tactlessness and by a number of verses, which are to be found in collected editions of the great Dean of St. Patrick's works and are still entertaining enough reading. Richard Brinsley Sheridan's mother was Frances, daughter of Dr. Philip Chamberlaine, archdeacon of Glendalough. She was the author of several plays and stories, one of the latter, Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, achieving a great success. It will be seen, therefore, that Richard Brinsley Sheridan (who, for the remainder of this essay, shall be Sheridan tout court) was born with literature and the theatre running in his veins. In 1758 his parents, theatrical business not being too favourable to them in Dublin, went to London, but Sheridan was left behind at school, and did not join them in England until some two years later. In 1762 he was sent to school at Harrow, where he remained until 1768, one of his school friends being Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, who was later to be collaborator with him in his first published work. After leaving Harrow Sheridan was for a time in the charge of a private tutor in London. In 1764 Thomas Sheridan had, to escape his debts, gone with his wife and family (leaving Richard Brinsley at Harrow) to France, and in France, two years afterwards, Mrs. Sheridan died. Later, Sheridan père was able to arrange matters with his creditors and to return to England, first to London, whence, in 1770, he moved to Bath to instruct the polite world there in his favourite art of elocution. It is at Bath that Sheridan first comes clearly before us, both as a personality and as a writer. Among the families with which the Sheridans associated at Bath |