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man without a shilling, who would not be induced by straitened means to permit his wife to become the public gaze. Sheridan determined from this time forward to live by the exercise of his abilities, but he was too inexperienced to fathom the art of acquiring wealth, and the more difficult process of keeping it when obtained. Long after, when speaking of his early struggles with an intimate friend, who alluded to the events of his life, he said, that if he had stuck to the law, he believed he should have done as much as Tom Erskine; but, he added, "I had no time for such studies. Mrs. Sheridan and myself were both obliged to keep writing for our daily leg or shoulder of mutton, or we should have had none." 66 Ay," replied the other, "I see it was a joint concern." The first effort made by Sheridan to obtain a livelihood through his brains, was the production of the comedy of The Rivals, at which he worked long and diligently before it was acted. From the ease of his language, and the natural exuberance of his humour, it would appear that he composed rapidly; but the contrary was the fact. His most flowing periods were elaborated and corrected with fasti

dious care. He began this play before he had completed his twenty-second year. About the same period of life, or a little earlier, and with equal inexperience, Congreve wrote The Old Bachelor, one of the wittiest compositions in the whole range of the English drama. Sheridan's comedy is fully equal to Congreve's in construction, incident, and dialogue, while it far surpasses it in the absence of impurity or coarse allusions. The Old Bachelor is banished from the stage; The Rivals lives in active popularity, and, during the two last seasons, has been performed above thirty times at the Princess's Theatre, under the management of Mr. C. Kean. Yet this play, of the highest character in every essential point, met with very harsh treatment on the first night, and with difficulty obtained a second representation. On the 17th of January, 1775, The Rivals was acted at Covent Garden, and repeated on the 18th, when it was withdrawn for alterations and curtailment. On the 28th it was re-produced, and from that date has maintained an unshaken hold on public favour. The opening failure

was attributed to the immoderate
length, to the character of Sir Lucius
O'Trigger, which was considered by a
portion of the audience as a national
reflection, and to the miserable acting
of Lee, in the pugnacious baronet,
which excited repeated bursts of dis-
approbation. Clinch superseded him
when the play was brought forward
again, and gave infinite satisfaction
both to the public and the author.
The original prologue, in the form of
a dialogue between a sergeant-at-law
and an attorney, was spoken by Wood-
ward and Quick; but, on the tenth
night, Sheridan replaced it by another,
more appropriate, and consigned to
Mrs. Bulkeley. The plot and charac-
ters of The Rivals are undoubtedly
the pure invention of the author; but
resemblances may be traced, as in al-
most every other instance, where a
close examination is instituted. Sir
Anthony Absolute and Mrs. Malaprop
bear some relationship to Matthew
Bramble and his sister Tabitha. The
latter is more obviously suggested by
Mrs. Slipslop, in "Joseph Andrews,"
or Termagant, in Murphy's farce of
The Upholsterer. Rigid critics call
it a gross caricature; but there is
good reason to suppose that the por-
trait is drawn from life without exag-
geration. If so, then must Nature
herself be pronounced a caricature.
There are some remarkable coinci-
dences in the dialogue, which can
scarcely be accidental. Acres, in the
third act, says" "Tis certain I have
most anti-Gallican toes." The same
thought occurs in the "Wasps" of
Aristophanes, where the old man, on
being desired to put on a pair of La.
cedemonian boots, endeavours to back
out by saying, that one of his toes is
πανω μισολακων.
-a bitter enemy to
the Lacedemonians. Again, when
Acres speaks of swearing, in the se-
cond act, and ends by saying that the
"best terms will grow obsolete," and
that damns have had their day,"
the idea seems to be suggested by the
following old epigram of Sir John
Harrington:-

In elder times an ancient custom was,
To swear, in weighty matters, by the mass:
But when the mass went down, as old men note,
They sware then by the cross of this same groat;
And when the cross was likewise held in scoru,
Then by their faith the common oath was sworn.
Last, having sworn away all faith and troth,
Only G-damn them is their common oath.
Thus custom kept decorum by gradation.
That, losing mass, cross, faith, they find damustion."'

The friends of Mrs. Sheridan wished it to be understood that the epilogue to The Rivals was written by her, but there can be little doubt that it proceeded from the pen of her husband. The point throughout is the supremacy of woman in every class and situation of life, and a woman could scarcely laud up her own sex with such unmeasured panegyric.

Sheridan was so pleased with Clinch for his excellent performance of Sir Lucius O'Trigger, that when his benefit occurred, on the 2nd of May, 1775, he made him a present of the first night of a new farce, entitled, St. Patrick's Day, or the Scheming Lieutenant, to add to the attraction. The trifle succeeded, and is in every respect better calculated for representation than perusal. It added nothing to the literary fame of the author, and a point is strained when we admit that nothing was detracted. The object

was to assist a deserving man on a particular occasion. Larry Clinch, as he was familiarly called, had been a brother-actor and intimate friend of Sheridan's father. He was a native of Dublin, and obtained an engagement from Garrick, at Drury-lane, very early in his career. He came out as Alexander the Great; but his success was small, and Garrick, in his disappointment, after trying to buy him off with money, forced him into disagreeable characters, until he removed in disgust to Covent Garden. His success in Sir Lucius O'Trigger established his reputation, and in a short time after he returned to Dublin, and became the hero of the Irish stage. Having married a lady by whom he was rendered independent, he performed when and on what terms he pleased; and about 1780, disapproving of the manager's (Daly's) conduct, he declined playing the number of nights for which he was engaged. The manager took the usual method of complaint in the newspapers; but Clinch preserved a dignified silence, and disdained to reply. Unluckily, however, his wife died, and her fortune with her, so that a diminished income compelled him thenceforward

to become more amenable to constituted authority.

On the 21st of November, 1775, Sheridan rose again to a high point, by the production of The Duenna a comic opera of the first order, whether as regards the dramatic arrangement, dialogue, or music. The composers of the latter were Linley, Rauzzini, and Dr. Harrington. No piece was ever more successful. It ran seventy-five nights during the first season, and still continues a favourite with the public. The popular airs were sung in the streets and ground upon every barrel-organ throughout the kingdom. Harris gave a large sum for the copyright, and would not allow the opera (except the songs) to be printed. But no precaution can evade piracy. Tate Wilkinson obtained a surreptitious copy of some scenes, and between memory and invention, concocted a Duenna of his own, which he gave to the public as Sheridan's, in the York circuit; and thus it found its in Great Britain and Ireland. way into many of the leading theatres this reason all printed copies, up to a very late period, were denounced by the author, and are undoubtedly spurious. As in the subsequent case of The School for Scandal, the substituted passages were so inferior to the scarcely be recognised. But the result true originals, that the piece could answered the purpose of the pirates, prietors. although annoying to the lawful pro

For

Profound criticism has told us that the plot of The Duenna is borrowed from Il Filosofo di Campagna, of Goldoni, Le Sicilien of Moliere, and The Wonder of Mr. Centlivre. It may be so, but it requires very minute comparison of probability also have been severely to detect the relationship. The violations castigated; yet, if the improbable is to be banished from the drama, we know not what materials are to be found for an exciting or interesting story. The songs of The Duenna,* both in music and words, are of the highest order; but if they were omitted altogether, we should still retain a most

When George IV. visited the Theatre Royal, Dublin, in state, on the 22nd of August, 1821, he commanded, as a national compliment, Sheridan's opera of The Duenna, with his farce of St. Patrick's Day. George IV. seldom committed an error in taste, whatever mistakes he may have made in more important matters.

amusing comedy: unlike the majority of more modern operas, which are merely so many pegs on which to hang a melody, a duet, or a concerted finale three-quarters of an hour long.

In 1776, Garrick retired from the stage and from all active participation in the cares of management. However uneasy he might have found his theatrical seat of sovereignty, it was well stuffed with bank notes, for he made a large fortune in the same speculation which impoverished his successors. But he possessed advantages which they had not, without reckoning his exclusive superiority as an actor capital, experience, punctuality in business, a constant eye on the exchequer, and what Miss Strickland calls "great regnant abilities." He looked after everything himself too, and trusted nothing to deputies without supervision. Sheridan adopted as his maxim through life, "never do to-day what you can put off until to-morrow." Garrick, on the contrary, never delayed for an hour what could be carried through on the instant. He knew the value of time, and threw away as little as most men.

Garrick, as will be remembered, was joint monarch of Drury-lane with Lacy. He sold his own moiety of the patent and property to Sheridan, his father-in-law Linley, and Dr. Ford, for £35,000. In 1778, Sheridan was coerced into the purchase of Lacy's share for £45,000. To complete this, he consented to divide his original portion between Dr. Ford and Linley, so as to make up each of theirs a quarter; but the price at which they purchased from Sheridan was not at the rate at which he bought from Lacy, though at an advance on the sum paid to Garrick. Sheridan afterwards contrived to possess himself of Dr. Ford's quarter for £17,000, subject to the incumbrance of the original renters. By what spell he conjured up all these thousands it would be very difficult to ascertain with accuracy. From nothingness, he stepped into the practical working of an enormous property, which had hitherto proved a mine of wealth to the specu lators. Moore has given the best account he could of all these money transactions, gathered from the correspondence and papers placed in his hands for the purpose; but he has not furnished a full solution of the mystery, for this simple reason, that it was never

thoroughly known to any one.

Col

man wasy ver anxious to become the sole purchaser of Drury-lane, as he objected to divided sway; but he had not the means of buying autocracy, and gave up the negotiation to the more successful triumvirate. Garrick continued still a sort of sleeping partner, or consulting counsel; the new managers were too glad for a time to listen to his suggestions, and occasionally to profit by his advice, while he, on his part, was well enough disposed to retain his old habits of dictatorship, although he had seceded from personal labour or responsibility. Sheridan was young, ardent, full of hope and ambition, with the innate consciousness of talent, and a reliance on his own resources, which admitted no calculation of the possibility of failure. But his habits were extravagant and thoughtless; his associates were far above him in wealth and station; and he reciprocated entertainments without any visible means of competition. From this date onwards, his life became progressively an unceasing series of shifts, subterfuges, apologies, endeavours to stave off embarrassments, contrivances to elude arrest, breaches of contract, practical jokes in place of ready money, and the gradual laxity of principle which winds up at last in total recklessness. The anecdotes which have been fathered on him fill a goodly volume, and have been compiled as "Sheridaniana." Many are true, some are exaggerated, and a considerable balance are invented altogether. Lord Byron says he once found him at his solici tor's, where his business was to get rid of an action, in which he succeeded. "Such," adds the poet, "was Sheridan! He could soften an attorney: there has been nothing like it since the days of Orpheus." But even Sheridan never executed a feat of adroit diplomacy equal to that recorded of a living eccentric genius, cast somewhat in the same mould, who being once arrested by two bailiffs at the same time, on two separate writs, actually cajoled the one son of Agrippa to pay the other.

The commencement of Sheridan's career as a manager conveyed an unfavourable impression, and gave rise to comparisons between him and his predecessor, much to his own disadvantage. The first novelty produced was an alteration by himself of Van

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burgh's comedy of The Relapse, under the title of A Trip to Scarborough, which made its appearance on the 24th of February, 1777. The piece was received with considerable opposition, but held its ground, though without much popularity or attraction, for several succeeding seasons. It was acted for the last time at Drury-lane, in 1815. Sheridan's success in The Rivals and Duenna had already made him an object of jealousy. There were not wanting mouths to carp at the "modern Congreve," as his admirers designated him, and the newspapers of the day almost unanimously condemned what they called his gratuitous mutilation of Vanburgh. In 1779, he was asked by an editorial article in one of the journals, if he did not consider his dealings with The Relapse as an illustration of what his own Dangle says in The Critic, that "Vanburgh and Congreve are obliged to undergo a bungling reformation." The editor of the "Biographia Dramatica' also censures Sheridan's alteration severely, but, like many other critics, he pronounces the sentence without stating the evidence. He adds that the alterer admitted himself, in conversation, that he had spoiled Vanburgh's play. Beyond this vague assertion we have no proof that such words were ever spoken, but Sheridan might have contradicted the statement had he thought it worth while. The opinion is unjust. We have many alterations of old plays, but few so good as this. Sheridan has retained everything in the original that was worth retaining, has omitted exceptionable passages, and his additions are improvements. We may name particularly the first scene in the fifth act, which concludes that part of the plot regarding Loveless, Colonel Townley, Amanda, and Berinthia, much better than it is wound up in The Relapse. It must be confessed that it is highly improbable (as Collier was the first to observe) that Sir Tunbelly and Lord Foppington should negotiate a match through the medium of such a person as Mrs. Coupler. This, however, is a fact radically inherent in the piece, and it certainly lies at Vanburgh's door, and not at Sheridan's. The latter makes Loveless say-"It would surely be a pity to exclude the productions of some of our best writers for want of a little wholesome pruning; which might be effected by

any one who possessed modesty enough to believe that we should preserve all we can of our deceased authors, at least till they are outdone by the living ones."

On the 4th of January, 1777, Sheridan produced an alteration of Shakspeare's Tempest by himself, retaining some of Dryden's version, with some new songs by Thomas Linley the younger, his brother-in-law. There was no particular strength in the cast. Bensley as Prospero was the best, but he was not more than respectable. The singers were indifferent, and the attempt altogether must be considered a failure.

The town was beginning to express loudly its regret for the retirement of Garrick, and to complain of vapid entertainments, when, on the 8th of May, 1777, The School for Scandal was announced. The drop had not fallen on the first act before the whole house felt that they were sitting in judgment on a master-piece — one of those rare productions which appear once in a century, an inspiration of real genius, and an exhibition of truthful character, drawn from nature, without reference to age, country, local manners, or ephemeral fashions. A full account of the gradual progress by which Sheridan expanded a slight sketch into a perfect comedy is given by Moore, and will be considered by many readers as the most interesting portion of his book. We are not of that opinion, and would rather the details had been spared. We delight to look on the finished picture, but are not much attracted by the rough outline. When we ascertain that the author has laboured so artificially, although we are impressed with his diligence, we lose something of our admiration for his genius. The passage of Moore's biography might be spared in which he tells us that The School for Scandal "was the slow result of many and doubtful experiments, and that it arrived step by step at perfection." The play came out so late in the year, that when the theatre closed with it on the 7th of June, there had only been a run of twenty nights. During the next season it was performed sixty-five times. Perhaps no comedy was ever so perfectly acted in all its parts, neither has such a company ever again been collected as that which then graced the boards of old

Drury. Great actors have since represented all the principal characters, but none have ever been reputed to come up to the originals.

On a fair comparative estimate, The School for Scandal may perhaps be placed at the head of all recent comedies, not only in the English, but in any European language. There are blemishes, doubtless, but they are as specks on the sun. The play may not be altogether original; some portions of the plot the author himself admitted he had borrowed from his mother's novel of 66 Sydney Bid

dulph." Others may revive recollec tions of Wycherley's Plain Dealer. Charles and Joseph Surface bear a strong resemblance to Fielding's Tom Jones and Blifil, with a splendid varnish of modern manners and fashionable refinement. The scandalous coterie are not sufficiently connected with the action. The hiding Lady Teazle behind the screen, and exactly before the window commanded by "a maiden lady of such a curious temper," is undoubtedly a great mistake, scarcely to be excused by the sudden confusion into which Joseph is thrown by the unexpected visit of Sir Peter; and the fifth act is comparatively weak, and constructed on the principle of anticlimax. But making full allowance for all these drawbacks, there stands this imperishable monument of Sheridan's genius, alone, on a pedestal by itself, attractive, popular, and on the acting list of every leading theatre; fresh and brilliant as in its first infancy, and without rival or competitor to stand in the same file. It has been approached, but never equalled. Envy usually follows merit as its shadow. An idle rumour was propagated that Sheridan was not the real author of this incomparable play; it was said to be taken almost verbatim from a manuscript previously delivered at Drurylane by a young lady, a Miss Richardson, daughter of a merchant in Thames-street. The story went on to say that, being in the house on the first night, she recognised her own production, was taken out fainting with surprise and mortification, and died not long after of a rapid consumption, produced by chagrin. Isaac Reed first alluded to this report in the "Biographia Dramatica." Dr. Watkins, in his "Life of Sheridan," expatiated on it with an impression that

it was true; and Galt, in his "Lives of the Players," has very unnecessarily repeated the assertion, after Moore had completely proved that it was absurd, and based upon no foundation.

Garrick evinced the most unbounded satisfaction at the success of The School for Scandal. He was proud of Sheridan, and this event indicated his judgment in resigning the theatre into such able hands. A caviller observed to him" It is but a single play, and will not long support the establishment. To you, Mr. Garrick, I must say, that the Atlas that propped the stage has left his post." "Has he?" replied

Garrick; "if that be the case, he has found another Hercules to succeed him." During the run of The School for Scandal, a passenger, walking past Drury-lane on the side of Russellstreet, about nine o'clock at night, was suddenly startled by a terrific noise, which resembled the concussion of an earthquake, accompanied by peals of distant rolling thunder. He asked in dismay what it was, and received for reply the intimation that it was the applause of the audience on the falling of the screen, in the fourth act of the new comedy.

The writer of this notice once saw the screen fall in an important theatre without producing the slightest effect on the select assembly, who appeared utterly unconscious of what was intended. A ludicrous incident occurred one evening in connexion with this scene, at the Hawkins'-street house, in Dublin, then under the management of William Abbott. When the screen was pulled down, Lady Teazle was not there, and thus the great point of the play was lost. She had gone into the green-room to gossip or rest herself, and calculated on being at her place in time. Before the house could recover from their astonishment, or evince disapprobation, Abbott, who played Charles Surface, and loved a jest, with great readiness added a word to the text, and exclaimed, "No Lady Teazle, by all that's wonderful!" A roar of laughter followed, in the midst of which the fair absentee walked deliberately on, and placed herself in her proper position, as if nothing had happened.

But brilliant as had been the success of The School for Scandal, it proved but a passing meteor, and very

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