I. CONTEMPORARY CRITICISMS OF THE RIVALS II. THE WORD-BLUNDERS OF MRS. MALAPROP INTRODUCTION RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, 1751-1816 LIFE Ancestry. Richard Brinsley Sheridan inherited in full measure the Anglo-Irish traits of the Sheridan family — wit, ability, geniality, improvidence. His grandfather, the Reverend Dr. Thomas Sheridan, is best remembered as the friend of Swift. The Earl of Orrery unfairly described Dr. Sheridan as "a punster, a quibbler, a fiddler, and a wit,"1 but paid a somewhat grudging tribute to his merits as a schoolmaster.2 The most familiar anecdote of Dr. Sheridan's life, however, has perpetuated his failure as a cleric. Through Swift's influence, he had been appointed one of the chaplains to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. When he preached at Cork, on August first, the anniversary of the accession of George I, his text ran, (6 Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Though the sermon was void of political offense, the text cost him both his place and his hope of preferment. "It is safer for a man's interest," wrote Swift to him in cold comfort, "to blaspheme God, than to be of a party out of power, or even to be thought so."3 Careless good-nature and thriftlessness in money matters offset Dr. Sheridan's ability as a scholar 1 Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, . . . in a Series of Letters from John Earl of Orrery to his Son (1752), p. 86. 2 Ibid., p. 84. 3 Thomas Sheridan, The Life of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift (1784), p. 382. and success as a teacher. He was, in his son's phrase, a perfect child as to the knowledge of the world." In the last year of his life he incurred the enmity of Swift, and the Character" which the great satirist wrote of him after his death lacks the usual blunt justice which he was wont to mete out to his friend. Swift was godfather to Dr. Sheridan's third son, Thomas, the father of the dramatist. Thomas Sheridan the younger has been damned with the faint praise of Dr. Johnson, and the hasty judgment of many biographers. It has been somewhat the fashion to exaggerate his defects as a scholar and his vanity as an actor. The truth is that at Westminster school he distinguished himself as a scholar, and later, like his father, took his degree at Trinity College, Dublin. He won marked success, too, both on the Dublin and on the London stage. Even Churchill, the discriminating critic of The Rosciad, though rightly pronouncing him inferior to Garrick, concluded his critique of Sheridan as an actor with the couplet, Where he falls short, 'tis Nature's fault alone; 2 Dr. Johnson, comfortable in his own success, disparaged Sheridan's project of a pronouncing dictionary and his attempts to teach oratory. "What influence can Mr. Sheridan have upon the language of this great country, by his narrow exertions? Sir, it is burning a farthing candle at Dover, to shew light at Calais." Yet Dr. Johnson was roove being piqued when the king granted Sheridan a per of the dictionary.1 A romantic incident introduced T 1 Fraser Rae, Sheridan, I, 4-5. 2 Vv. 1025-1026. ་ 8 Boswell, Life of Johnson, Macmillan ed. (1900), I, 3. 4 Ibid., I, 279–280. couragement to his future wife. After early successes as an actor, he had become manager of the Theatre Royal in Dublin, where he had conscientiously effected many needed reforms. Resolute defense of one of the actresses of the company from the insults of a drunken spectator named Kelly, who with his friends retaliated by wrecking the theatre and its furnishings, won for Sheridan some anonymous verses of praise. Their author, Frances Chamberlaine, the accomplished daughter of a wellknown clergyman, as a pretty sequel to Sheridan's discovery of her identity, became his wife. Some years later the opposition in Dublin culminated in a still more serious riot, and turned the Sheridans toward England. Settling eventually in London, they soon numbered among their friends many of the literary folk, notably Dr. Johnson and Samuel Richardson. Through the friendly interest of Richardson, Dodsley was led to publish Mrs. Sheridan's novel, Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph (1761). Critic and general reader hailed it with equal favor. Boswell records Dr. Johnson's unusual compliment: "I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so much."1 Two years later Garrick produced with marked success a comedy by Mrs. Sheridan, The Discovery, in which he himself took a leading part. Other literary efforts were less successful, but Mrs. Sheridan's merits as an author must not be overlooked in tracing the influence of heredity upon her son Richard. Birth and Schooling. Richard Brinsley Sheridan was born in Dublin, October 30, 1751. The varying tide of his father's fortunes as manager of the Theatre Royal was then at its height. Presently, however, it ebbed to low-water mark in the disastrous riot at his theatre, in 1754. After two years' absence from Dublin, Thomas Sheridan did indeed resume for a season his old post. But the warmth of his welcome 1 Boswell, Life of Johnson, Macmillan ed. (1900), I, 283. soon cooled, and in 1758 he took up permanent residence in England. Richard, with his sister Alicia, remained in Dublin eighteen months longer, attending Mr. Whyte's private school. In 1762, the lad was sent to Harrow, where he became a leader with his mates and a laggard with his masters. Boyish letters from Harrow show that he owed his schooling chiefly to his uncle, Richard Chamberlaine, after whom he had been named. Despite the pension of two hundred pounds a year granted to him in 1762, and his receipts from acting, lecturing, and teaching, Thomas Sheridan was constantly in financial distress. Careless generosity and extravagance were always. unheeded enemies in the household of the Sheridans. If circumstances ever grew easier, debts grew heavier. Thomas Sheridan had left behind him in Ireland such debts that his name was generously included in a bill introduced into the Irish House of Commons in 1766 for the relief of insolvent debtors. Two years previous he had sought to economize by settling at Blois, in France. The added hope that the change of climate would benefit Mrs. Sheridan proved ill-founded. She died in 1766, while Richard was still at Harrow. In 1769, Thomas Sheridan reunited his family, two sons and two daughters, in a London home. The boys had instruction in Latin and mathematics from Mr. Ker, a retired Irish physician, and in fencing and riding from Henry Angelo, a famous teacher, whose friendship with the Sheridan family had been of long standing. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, then, although not a university man, was reasonably schooled to enter the world of society and of letters. Early writings. Sheridan's formal introduction into the world of letters was in company with his former schoolmate, Nathaniel Brassey Halhed. At Harrow they had collaborated in some translations from Theocritus. In 1770, letters from Halhed, now an Oxford undergraduate. to Sheridan testify |