During his great popularity, Sheridan reDecline. tained the management of Drury Lane, but was fast losing money and prestige. His life was saddened by the death of Mrs. Sheridan in 1792. Though he afterwards married again, he never recovered from the loss of the woman whose grace and charm and sympathetic companionship had meant so much to the sometimes wayward, yet always devoted, husband. Then troubles seemed to come "in battalions" the death of his infant daughter, Mary; financial ruin; an unfortunate friendship with the dissolute Prince of Wales; intrigue which effected his political downfall; finally, the burning of Drury Lane on the 24th of February, 1809. Nothing remained, then, to the man who had been a nation's

idol but neglect and ruin. Creditors pressed upon him, arrested him for debt, threw him into a spunging-house, and left him alone to die on July 7, 1816.

As is not uncommon in this fickle world in which we live, Sheridan was carried forth from the hovel, where all was mean and loathsome, and borne to England's great sepulchre by the most distinguished. men of his time, and accompanied to his resting-place in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey by a procession that would have done honor even to a British sovereign.

Character.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was a typical product of the eighteenth century. Graceful and charming in society, witty and amiable in conversation, versatile in achievement, he won deservedly great fame as man, dramatist, orator, and statesman. He was a devoted husband, a sincere friend, and a brilliant author and orator; but, like many of the men of his time, was generous to a fault, and was possessed of a rashness and improvidence in money matters that worked his ruin.

SOME WORDS UPON THE ENGLISH

DRAMA

A few words about the drama may not be out of place now when we are interested in this particular literary form. We all know more or less definitely certain facts of the development of the English drama. We have been amazed at the richness of the Elizabethan plays in the portrayal of many varied characters, in the handling of complicated situations, in passages of real poetic beauty, in the presentation in artistic form of great and permanent themes. Of course, a few men like Greene, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, and Webster were superior, and yet we are surprised to find in the plays of many other contemporary playwrights unusual pas

sages and a certain feeling for artistic effects. Such an observation induces one to conclude, with Symonds, that the characteristics of the age were enthusiasm, spontaneity, and versatility.

It is interesting to conjecture what would have happened to the theatre had the Puritan influence not borne down upon it and closed all the playhouses in 1642; but it is clear to see what did happen. Springing up in the Restoration period, the drama had a new character. It had divested itself of its Elizabethan' garb, and rapidly and eagerly sought to take on all the character of that superficial and corrupt court. Women entered upon the stage as actors; the greatest license was tolerated in the choice of subject and the use of language; the costumes became more elaborate; the playhouses more adorned. For the richness of imagination, the purity of atmosphere, the humor, the morality of the Elizabethan plays, the Restoration had to offer clever wit, fashionable repartée, plots of domestic scandal and social intrigue, and a dearth of fine poetry.

No one wonders that there should arise men like Jeremy Collier who were determined to strip off the disguise from the drama of the day and leave it in its real ugliness to be despised and rejected by the rising middle classes who were henceforth, in the coming century, to effect such mighty reforms. Again the

pendulum swung to the further side. This time we were left with the sentimental comedy, a form of play which tried to substitute humor and sentiment for wit and vulgarity. Richard Steele's plays are representative of this extreme. Indeed, the whole eighteenth century of drama and novel was pervaded by this excessive sentimentality.

As a reaction against this form of play came the work of Goldsmith and Sheridan, just as in novelwriting Fielding came to react against Richardson and Sterne. These men again went out into the pure sunshine and saw life whole, saw its weakness and its strength, its joys and sorrows, its reality and its superficiality. We are again in the region of pure comedy, perhaps not so profound and significant as in Shakespeare, but certainly real and inspiring.

THE RIVALS

The Rivals will probably always remain the most popular of Sheridan's plays, and with The School for Scandal and Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, the only old comedies since Shakespeare that really interest and delight us. In part this popularity may be due to our love for Joseph Jefferson as Bob Acres, and yet the abundance of wit and pervasive humor, ingenious grouping of the characters, and heartiness

of the fun from first to last, will help to keep the play alive forever.

The facts of the initial failure of The Rivals have been clearly presented by Professor Nettleton in the introduction to his admirable edition of the Major Dramas of Sheridan. The play was withdrawn, revised, and recast, and on its second performance scored great success.

THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

Since Sheridan's plays were first produced in the United States, December 16, 1785, they have always been popular. George Washington, who liked to go to the theatre, enjoyed most of all plays, it is said, The School for Scandal. The popularity of this play has been of equal persistence in all other countries; in France the play has been used as a text-book to teach the boys the English language. Many attempts have been made to deprive Sheridan of the honor of originating the chief characters of the play, the most amusing situations, in short, the entire play; but no one of the ingenious efforts has succeeded in disabusing us of the belief that to Sheridan, and to Sheridan alone, belongs this great comedy.