ININ N;A SHERIDAN RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN at the Warren H noting Trial, from the original portrait by G. Romney (in the possession of Lionel Phillips. Esquire). (The back ground is probably Deepdene.) SHERIDAN FROM NEW AND ORIGINAL MATERIAL; INCLUDING A MANUSCRIPT DIARY BY GEORGIANA DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE BY WALTER SICHEL WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IX TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. "Partisanship is a forced acquirement of belief a make- shift for it, since some sort or semblance of belief is necessary for action.' 1 LONDON CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD 1909 " Whose mind was an essence compounded with art, From the finest and best of all other men's powers, Who ruled like a wizard the world of the heart And could call up its sunshine, or draw down its showers." T. MOORE on Sheridan. [Copyright. All Rights Reserved.'] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. DEBUT (November, 1780 February, 1783) i New Whigs and old The political position: North : Shel- burne Rockingham and his household George the Third North's plight : Sheridan's debut : Brooks's Sheridan's speeches, 1781-2 A patriot Radical: Pitt's snub Exit North : enter Rockingham Sheridan's attitude : the peace Sheridan on the peace: On America On Ireland: Shelburne's ministry How the Coalition came in Its unpopularity. II. THE COALITION (March December, 1783) .... 38 Sheridan disapproves George, Prince of Wales The Prince's debts Sheridan and Pitt Fox's India Bill : Sheridan : Fox : Burke Sheridan's attitude An equivocal position Fox opens the Bill Its effects : Burke : Sheridan Sheridan's speech of retorts The Lords throw out the Bill The Coalition kicked. III. THE- FIGHT WITH PITT (January, 1784 March, 1785) . . 54 After the Coalition Sheridan on Pitt Sheridan as orator The Westminster election Sheridan's part: Mrs. Crewe The Westminster Scrutiny Pitt's India Bill Sheridan's criticisms Dundas : his hold on Pitt. IV. THE UPHILL ROAD. POLITICS, "THE ROLLIAD " SOCIETY, AND THE FlTZHERBERT INCIDENT (March, 1785 May, 1787) 72 In social sunshine Ireland again Pitt's Irish propositions Sheridan's fusillade On Pitt's " fourth proposition " Sheridan's unpublished speech Sheridan's outburst A passage at arms Contributors to " The Rolliad " George Ellis : Sheridan's verses Joseph Richardson Home dis- tresses Mrs. Sheridan's temptations Sheridan steeled against Mrs. Crewe The Bouveries and Mrs. Fitzherbert Sheridan's feeling : Fox : Pitt Newnham's motion : Sheridan and Rolle Sheridan : Pitt : Fox Sheridan the comforter : Fox's rashness Was Fox candid ? Sheridan's decision Sheridan explains Gainsborough's allegory. v CONTENTS CHAPTER )'AGE V. ' J'ACCUSE " (1787). THE PRELUDE TO THE TRIAL; SHERIDAN'S SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE BEGUMS OF OUDE AND THE PRESENTS RECEIVED BY WARREN HASTINGS 1.20 Warren Hastings's record Was Sheridan sincere ? Pitt's volte-face A new authority The story of Oude Sheridan's opening The Chunar Treaty Oude outrages Impey: The Treaty again Sheridan denounces Hastings Desolation of Oude : Peroration Sheridan's speech on the presents : Notes The speech on the presents Sheridan meets Hastings. VI. THE TRIAL (1788) 147 Contemporary praise Sheridan begins Impey satirised: The Chunar bribes The second day : Cheyt Sing A fine outburst: Tribute to Burke Third and fourth days Hastings's " Protection " The Oude atrocities A commercial Caligula The peroration and after Reply to the defence : Sequels. VII. THE THROW FOR POWER THE REGENCY QUESTION DURING THE KING'S MADNESS (November, 1788 March, 1789) . 172 The King's madness Sheridan and Thurlow : Fox's return Sheridan a vizier Portland and Sheridan Sheridan yields his claims : The King Sheridan deprecates " Right " : The Queen Sheridan : Fox : Thurlow The Lords' debate : Pitt's " resolutions " Burke's fury : Sheridan's theory : Pitt's message Sheridan's "letter to Mr. Pitt" How Sheridan wrote the letter More proofs of authorship The King recovers. VIII. JACOBINISM AND THE BREACH WITH BURKE [WITH SHERIDAN'S NOTES FOR A COUNTERBLAST] (1789, 1790) .... 198 Sheridan on Russia The issues of 1789 : Burke Sheridan's breach with Burke Sheridan answers Burke's innuendoes Burke's exasperation Attempts at reconciliation Burke repudiates Fox : Sheridan's counterblasts. IX. TRAGEDIES (1789 1792) [MRS. SHERIDAN IN DANGER HER ILLNESS AND DEATH SHERIDAN'S LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND LADY BESSBOROUGH] . . . .21 Mrs. Sheridan's " peccadillo "Sheridan's letter to Mrs. Canning- The tempter? Letters to the Duchess and her vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE sister Sheridan's diary : his wife's death-days Mrs. Sheridan's last hours The funeral : Tributes : Sheridan's comment Sheridan's grief " No more shall the Spring " : Mary's death. X. To THE MUTINY OF THE NORE (February, 1793 June, 1797) 231 The war against France : Pitt : Fox : Sheridan Sheridan for peace : his speeches The last tilt against Burke ' Liberty, the birthright of man " Sheridan on the panic- mongers The great speech of 1794 Sheridan on the war Sheridan on the Allies : Placemen Sheridan's attitude : 1797 The naval mutinies Sheridan on the mutineers Sheridan the seaman's friend Sheridan saves the situation : the sequels. XI. SURPRISES (1793 1801). [SHERIDAN'S SECOND MARRIAGE AND ITS SEQUELS POLESDEN DRURY LANE REBUILT " VORTIGERN AND ROWENA " " THE STRANGER " " PIZARRO" Fox's SECESSION SHERIDAN'S RELATIONS TO Fox SIR JOHN MACPHERSON'S UNPUBLISHED LETTER TO SHERIDAN IRISH AFFAIRS SHERIDAN AT THE O'CONNOR AND THANET TRIALS His ATTITUDE ON THE UNION PITT'S RESIGNATION] 263 Sheridan's second marriage " Hecca " The settlement and Polesdeu Charles Sheridan : Drury Lane rebuilt Theatre entanglements " Vortigern " : " The Stranger " : " Pizarro " " Pizarro " and melodrama Fox's secession : Xapoleon : Sheridan Macpherson's letter : Sheridan on Ireland Sheridan at O'Connor's trial Sheridan at Lord Thanet's trial Sheridan's equivoque Lady Holland's charge considered Pitt's resignation : the Grenvilles Sheridan on the Union Sheridan on the situation. XII. A DISSOLVING VIEW. [FROM THE ADDINGTON ADMINISTRA- TION TO THE DEATH OF Fox] (March, 1801 September, 1806) 298 The Addington ministry : Parties Intrigues : Pitt and Fox Sheridan and the Prince : Tom Sheridan diverges from Fox Sheridan on the Peace of Amiens The great " Army Estimates " speech Bonaparte's objective The peroration : Fox's anger Letters to Lady Bessborough Sheridan on Pitt " All the Talents " : Personal details Fox's death and Sheridan : " Prinny " " All the Talents " go out A rhymed remonstrance Candidatures for Ilchester, Wexford : Ireland again " Let Liberty bloom." vii CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END (February, 1809 June, 1812) Sheridan's political position, 1808 The theatre burns : Whitbread Drury Lane rearrangements : Oxford Regency crisis: Speech, 1811 The Prince's answer to Parliament Grenville's usurpations : Sheridan's draft The Grey-Grenville remonstrance Sheridan answers Grey and Grenville The Prince's banquet Sheridan's grapple with Grenville Failures to form Administration : Sheridan favours Grey Sheridan and the Catholic question Sheridan to the Prince on the Catholics Grievances against Whitbread: Stafford The Whigs worsted : Sheridan's part Sheridan's defence in Par- liament The sum of Sheridan's defence Sheridan's last speech. 330 XIV. FINIS 370 Ways and means Sans Parliament : Society Arrested : Appeals to \Vhitbread Hopes against hope " Ichabod " : Disease and distresses Sheridan's last days Sheridan's death: Byron's " Monody "Sheridan's funeral Moore's wrath : Byron's verdict The epilogue. APPENDIX I. MRS. SHERIDAN'S LETTERS FROM HARROW TO ALICIA LEFANU 390 ,, II. THE PRINCE OF WALES'S ANSWER (WRITTEN BY SHERIDAN) TO THE LETTER SENT TO HIM BY MR. PlTT AND DATED " DOWNING STREET, TUESDAY NIGHT, DECEMBER 30, 1788" 393 ,, III. GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S DIARY (November 20, 1788 January 12, 1789) . . . 397 ,, IV. LETTERS FROM SHERIDAN TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVON- SHIRE AND HER SISTER, LADY BESSBOROUGH . . 429 V. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SHERIDAN'S WORKS PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED 445 ,, VI. A NOTE ON SOME SHERIDAN PORTRAITS . . . 461 via LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE PAGE RICHARD BRJNSLEY SHERIDAN Frontispiece CHARLES JAMES Fox a GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES ........ 32 EDMUND BURKE 40 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN 54 MRS. SHERIDAN 96 MRS. BOUVERIE 102 R. B. SHERIDAN, THE PRINCE OF WALES, MRS. FITZHERBERT . 118 WARREN HASTINGS 120 A TICKET OF ADMISSION TO THE WARREN HASTINGS TRIAL . . 148 SHERIDAN'S SON TOM 212 GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE 218 " MATERNAL INSTRUCTION " 220 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN 262 THE SECOND MRS. TICKELL 264 THE SECOND MRS. SHERIDAN 268 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN 298 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN 370 BOOK II HIS POLITICAL CAREER AND AFTER [17801816] SHERIDAN CHAPTER I DEBUT (November, 1780 February, 1783) " C'est 1'art de creer des faits, de dominer en se jouant des evenements et les hommes ; 1'interet est son but, 1'intrigue son moyen : toujours sobre de verites, ses vastes et riches conceptions sont un prisme qui eblouit. Aussi profonde que 1'Etna, elle brule et gronde longtemps avant d'eclater au dehors. Mais alors rien ne lui r6siste. Elle exige de hauts talents ; le scrupule seul peut lui nuire." BEAUMARCHAIS ON POLITICS in ft La Mere Coupable." IF anyone were to ask for the immediate cause of the French Revolution, the simplest answer would be, the American War. Lafayette was baptised in its blood, though Lafayette little suspected to what orgies France would be led by its creed. But the American War and the stimulus which it gave to political thought, were only symptoms of a vast upheaval that long exercised England. During the decade preceding that war the rights of man and the potent fictions of social contract already found vehement expression. Wilkes, the opportunist, had gambled with them gaily. Reform, annual parliaments, were brought forward, Indian government was "regulated," Ireland was considered as human, twice were the Catholics relieved. In this very year of 1780 Burke sent his win- nowing fan to purge the stables of corruption. The royal prerogative was denounced. Revolution, agitation, were in the air, and the father of agitation was the young Charles James S. VOL. II. I B SHERIDAN Fox; so much so that he was publicly rebuked for being a rebel, and publicly denounced as Peisistratus, the King of West- minster, by one who called him out, but afterwards warmly espoused his cause. 1 His ideas were crude and abstract, nor could he calculate their issues. But Fox's mentor in the league against Lord North was a far finer spirit. If Fox was the father of agitation, Burke was the member for the Constitution which also came to be interwoven with Fox's theories. Freedom is a term far more elastic than authority. The abstract Constitution was Burke's holy of holies, the perfect unity of the Constitution his dogma. But in fact the Constitu- tion was not a definite, still less an unalterable system, nor a set of fixed rules, though Bolingbroke had formulated its doctrines. What it really meant, apart from its " checks " and" balances," was the supremacy of Parliament, while that predominance, or as some thought it, usurpation, stood for the reign and permanence of Law. The English Revolution ended one form of arbitrary power, though of a fresh kind it held the germs. Wealth lay behind Parliament. The Revolution had effected a fresh limitation of monarchy. To-day democracy limits the throne ; oligarchy limited it for the Georgians. The Whig oligarchs, the "great" Revolution families, purposed to perpetuate their dynasty, and against these, obstinate kings and a stagnant people struggled in vain. Their influence, yearly centred and cumulative, crept down, as it were, like a glacier into the green valleys of generous impulse ; so freezing and stealthy proved its march downwards. Burke, while he rested on Revolution logic, long abetted these monopolists, who eventually crushed him. 2 1 Adam. For the Peisistratus-comparison cf. Adolphus, Vol. III., p. 230. How much Fox was the father of agitation is shown by a letter of his as late as 1801 to Lord Holland, who had vainly tried to tempt him back to opposition by taking a house for him in town : " . . . It must be from movements out of doors and not in Parliament that opposition can ever gain any strength." a Horace Walpole wrote when Rockingham died that he told Fox : " My Whiggism is founded on the Constitution and not on two or three great 2 CHARLES JAMES FOX orating, from a caricature by Bunbury. NEW WHIGS AND OLD The deifier of Parliament 1 and crusader against Jacobins, never discerned that the rigid precedents which he invoked were themselves, like the Reformation, a halfway house to free thought and public opinion ; that the English Revolution had been the act of a few; that the ultimate contest, only postponed by a death-struggle for national existence, was bound to be one between youth and age, licence and bureaucracy, enthusiasm and statecraft ; between order without liberty and liberty without order. And long before that crisis, even in 1780, the hardened veterans were already faced by a phalanx of impetuous rebels. Enough has been said of Sheridan's attitude to forecast his political start. Fox the Fox who had once scathed Wilkes now exclaimed, " How long shall the sacred shield of majesty be interposed for the protection of a weak administration ? " Sheridan was heart and soul for the fulminating Fox in a word, he was a " new Whig," a modern Radical. Every fetter of political discipline was repugnant. The American War, with its foregone conclusion of the right to revolt, boded the new dawn of a freer day. If the English Revolution had seemed a pillar of precedent, if it continued tradition on a sound basis, none the less it proved a drastic precedent for change. It claimed to bind posterity : posterity would not be bound. The Whig aristocrats had long posed as exclusive philan- thropists, but government for the people, through the people, families ; my Whiggism is not confined to the Peak of Derbyshire [i.e., Chatsworth]." For Burke's awe of the families cf. his "Some Thoughts on the Present Discontents." Burke had never exalted the people, cf. (e.g.) his letter to Fox (about opposition) of October 8, 1777 (Russell's " Life of Fox," Vol. I., p. 152) : " As to that popular humour which is the medium we float in, if I can discern anything at all of its present state, it is far worse than I have ever known or could ever imagine it. The faults of the people are not popular vices. . . . The greatest number have a sort of heavy, lumpish acquiescence in government, without much respect or esteem for those who compose it." 1 Burke always insisted that Parliament should control America. The repeal of the Stamp Act in 1765, reserving Parliament's right to tax and legislate, is supposed to have been Burke's recommendation. 3 B 2 SHERIDAN and by the people, at once became Sheridan's watchword ; and even before his election he was appointed sub-chairman of the Westminster Association for Reform. This league, together with that for " Constitutional Information," now pressed a cause which linked Fox and Sheridan to the youthful and scornful Pitt. Two years later Sheridan warmly upheld Pitt's first motion for a purged representation; Burke alone stood aloof. On February 2, 1780, Fox and Sheridan, counte- nanced by the Dukes of Richmond and Portland, presided over a mass meeting in Westminster Hall to press the cause of universal suffrage and even of annual parliaments. Sheridan used afterwards to say that in such matters moderation was a mistake. " Once a year," said some, " and oftener if need be." He belonged to the " oftener-if-need-be's." Sheridan warmly admired Chatham, l who had embodied a nation and erased the local lines of party. But with Chatham's last disjointed ministry, which failing health had freed from his control, government had gone to pieces and parties had lost their savour. All the recent ministries had been kinds of coalition, patchworks or mosaics at best. 2 Indeed, there were no great parties, only splinters of them in the shape of gangs and groups for or against the King, attached to this or that political patron, and usually attached by turns. If Chatham had never got the gout, there would probably have been no American War, or at least its worst evils would have been averted. But Chatham's gout gave all the atoms a chance, and they shot hither and thither, gravitating at will, either towards the Court or the paying families. Unless a political aspirant were a King's man, he must be a Grenvillite or a Rockinghamite, a Grafton's man or 1 Cf. his remarks in a speech of April 10, 1790, on the tobacco excise duties (Speeches, Vol. I., p. 544). 2 Horace Walpole wrote to Lady Ossory at the beginning of 1775 : " Do I care for hearing how many ways Mr. Burke can make a mosaic pave- ment of an inlaid cabinet ? " Towards the end of Lord North's incoherent ministry, it was proposed that he should join with Shelburne ; cf. Hist. Man. Comm., Abergavenny MS., p. 51 (Dundas to Robinson, March 3, 1782). 4 THE POLITICAL POSITION : NORTH : SHELBURNE a Richmond's man, a dependant of the Rutlands or of the Bedfords, a nominee of the Bentincks or the Cavendishes. Two of Chatham's early lieutenants had emerged, the one, Lord North, the King's friend, a man of no convictions but invincible good humour ; the other, Lord Shelburne, Chatham's titular successor, like Chatham originally a soldier, but by no means the giant's counterpart : a man of subtle mind but small imagination : unsympathetic, burrowing, enigmatical, ambi- dextrous: a man of puzzling words, double meanings and crooked safeguards : l lacking in tact, unable to strike the public or the moment, incapable of confidence or of winning it ; after he had been thwarted as minister, 2 by turns a " King's friend," a supposed fomenter of the Gordon riots, and, ten years onwards, a declared semi-Jacobin. When Sheridan tried to express his abhorrence of one of Warren Hastings's agents, the worst word that he could write on the margin of his paper was "Shelburne." 3 Allied by marriage to Fox's best friend, Fitzpatrick, Shelburne now headed an opposition which Fox really led. He has been often maligned. His twist was more of intellect than of character, yet in strength and enlighten- ment of mind he surpassed most of his generation. His informa- tion, and his scientific schemes for obtaining it, were prodigious. His grasp of situation was only equalled by his knowledge of details ; and the mystery of his failures is perhaps explained by his lack of that mental sympathy which is to the faculties 1 Cf. (among countless literary allusions) J. Townshend in the " Rolliad" (on "Jekyll"): " A noble Duke affirms I like his plan : I never did, my Lords I never can ; Shame on the slanderous breath which dares instil That I, who now condemn, advised the ill. Plain words, thank HeaVn, are always understood : I could approve, I said but not I would." In the notes to the " Epistle of Joseph Surface to R. B. Sheridan " (1780) are many curious facts about Shelburne. 2 Under George Grenville in 1763. 1 Sheridan MSS. 5 SHERIDAN much as charity is to the virtues. This aloofness not only estranged his colleagues and perplexed his sovereign : it also prevented his ever founding a party (though young Pitt now served under his banner), or enlisting any real support from the political magnates (though Lord Temple now stood behind him and Grafton was his friend). 1 None would long back the dark horse, who never proved a winner; nor when he was finally excluded, would any stable receive him ; so that after 1783 both he and North (but fora strange rapprochement during 1789) were left out, grazing in the cold. So much for these almost opposite Chathamites. The hope of the old Whigs, on the other hand, was Rocking- ham, and he was also the hope of the new. Gentle, blameless, rich, and receptive, he offered a clean slate for Burke to write on. Comprehensive enough to have coalesced with Grafton, who afterwards clung both to North and Shelburne, dis- interested enough to have opposed a grant to the King's brothers, his width could harbour the left wing of the party, while his independence of the Crown completed the Whig ideal. But, in essence, Rockingham was a cipher. Only his amiable correctness kept the Whig household together a household which, when Rockingham came in, to die two years later, comprised Shelburne, its family lawyer ; Fox, its spendthrift heir ; Sheridan, its boon companion, and Burke, its dominie general and universal preceptor Burke, the high- 1 "Lord Shelburne, ambitious and impatient as he was [in March, 1782] to attain that eminence [the First Lordship of the Treasury], stood on too narrow a bottom to venture to close with his wishes. Followers of pro- perty he had none, or those so inconsiderable that they gave him no weight. The Duke of Grafton was the only peer of consequence with whom he was connected, yet a man who had been Prime Minister was not likely to prove a zealous second. . . . Lord Camden's eloquence, character and integrity made him by far the most considerable of Lord Shelburne's friends. Mr. Dunning was an able lawyer, and Colonel Barre as able a tool, but all these could not form an Administration or be called a party." Horace Walpole's Memoirs of George III.; cited, too, in Fox's Com, Vol. I., p. 308. Temple, too, was a Shelburneite, although now attached to Rockingham and protesting that he would never desert Rockingham's friends, cf. Fox's Corr., Vol. II., p. 248. 6 ROCKINGHAM AND HIS HOUSEHOLD minded and brilliant veteran, but also (in public) the brilliant bore, whose letters were essays and whose very epitaphs occupied a page : Burke, the length and delivery of whose magnificent speeches, marred by a rasping voice and strong accent, often dazed and sometimes cleared the House. " He thought of convincing, while they thought of dining," sang Goldsmith. " My parliamentary fervour," wrote Lord Sheffield in 1783, " cannot hold out more than ten days longer. Thank God, Burke is quiet." 1 Shelburne was soon to be at daggers- drawn with Fox, and seven years later Fox and Sheridan with Burke. No wonder that in 1788, when the Whigs prayed that the Prince of Wales might be Regent, Sheridan's desire was for a repetition of the old and accommodating Rockingham administration. 2 A fourth vignette remains, that of the King. George the Third was now forty-two years of age, and he had reigned twenty-two years without popularity. Aiming from the first at being a patriot king, he had been singularly unfortunate in his means. Chatham would have made him so, in his second administration came near to so making him, but George preferred the loyal but pedantic Bute, with his secret system of double Cabinets. Not till 1784 did the young Pitt manage to bring the monarch and the multitude together, despite the buffer of the " great revolution families," and even thence- forward the course of the French war, with its attendant burdens and reverses, prevented him from being what he was afterwards considered, the father of his people. It was Nelson in 1798 who first realty popularised the King. But it must not be assumed that George was a pig-headed bungler, nor must we forget with what obstacles he had to contend. Historians frequently fail to put themselves in his 1 Journal of Lord Auckland, Vol. I., p. 53. The length of Burke's per- formances, however, was nothing to that of " the dinner bell " David Hartley. Jenkinson said that he remembered the member for Hull rising to speak at five in the afternoon in the summer of 1779. Jenkinson rode into the country and, returning at nine o'clock, found that Hartley was still up and speaking. Cf. Wraxall, Vol. III., p. 125. 2 Cf. App. 3, Duchess of Devonshire's Diary. 7 SHERIDAN place, and regard him in the light of issues which at the time wore a different aspect. He wished to rule, not to reign. He was not a genius or a prophet, but he was a king every inch, with limited ideals which he strove faithfully to fulfil. His courage was conspicuous. He disliked show and pretence. He set an example of simplicity to his subjects, 1 and he relied on the household virtues. Affable to the crowd, he was yet a stickler for pedigree. 2 In his eyes nobody was a gentleman who could not show three generations, and he flatly refused to appoint any but such "gentlemen" to bishoprics. Even his antipathy to Fox was tempered by his admission that he was a " gentleman," and to this extent " not disagreeable in the transaction of busi- ness." Prejudiced himself, he had to stem the prejudice against his forbears, in his case aggravated by " the miseries of the American War." 8 Proud of being the first to be truly English and his heir used to boast the same he inherited some of those characteristics which had not recommended the House of Hanover. Colley Gibber had thus satirised George's father, the " poor Fred," who " was alive and is dead " : " Heaven spread through all the family That broad, illustrious glare That shines so flat in every eye And makes them all to stare. Heaven send the Prince of royal race A little coach and horse, A little meaning in his face And money in his purse. And as I have a son like you, May he Parnassus rule, So shall the Crown and Laurel too Descend from fool to fool." 1 Addington tells us in one of his letters that a mutton chop was the fare which he partook with the King. 2 One of his favourites was Sir John Irwine, the gentleman who gave his Majesty the retort already cited about " the bottle." In 1781, when feast- ing the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Sackville), he decorated the table with a confectioner's model of Gibraltar. His second wife wrote a treatise on " The Wines of the Ancients." 8 How unpopular he was on this and other accounts will be found in a 8 GEORGE THE THIRD Like his predecessors, too, George had to contend with a mutinous son ; like Queen Anne also, he was periodically confronted with his coffin in the shape of his successor's claim to be Regent. He had further to contend with his own superstitions. He believed in divine right fully as much as the Stuarts had believed in it. For him, America rebelled against God when she defied the Lord's anointed ; so did France, and he was ready to fight and make England fight for monarchy. He was an anti- Romanist fully as* fierce as Cromwell had been, and this caused his rejection of Pitt when the Irish union was to pave the way for Catholic emancipation. His main fault was ignorance, but he was ignorant even that he was ignorant. Above all, he had to wrestle with the Whig oligarchs, to whose dictation he was in thrall ; and Pitt, whom he admired but feared, enjoyed his confidence just because he stood un- fettered by these connections. Treachery lay all around him. He let Shelburne outwit the Duke of Portland only to see North outwit Shelburne. He saw North, whom he trusted, shake hands with Fox, whom he loathed both politically and as the perverter of his son. He saw Thurlow manoeuvring ministries and Loughborough undermining parties. He saw Dundas at the bottom of most things. And, after Bute retired from intrigue to travel abroad, he leaned on his twin reeds, John Robinson, the attorney's clerk, and Charles Jenkinson, appraiser of placemen by appointment. 1 He stood on his guard against lawyers and politicians. And so he came to play with them and on them, flattering their vanity and humouring their greed. 2 rhymed satire of 1783, " The Beauties of Administration," which is written in the manner of Churchill. 1 Robinson had been originally articled to Wordsworth's grandfather, who was a solicitor. He was rewarded by the Surveyor-generalship of Woods and Forests and died in 1802. Charles Jenkinson was created first Earl of Liverpool in 1796 (and Baron Hawkesbury earlier). He lived till 1808. Bute, after going abroad, still continued to solicit seats for his sons. Cf. Hist. Man. Comm., Abergavenny MS., p. 39. "Lank meanness sent her darling Jenkinson," says "The Beauties of Administration" (1783). 2 For an excellent instance, cf. Jenkinson's letter to Robinson of September 24, 1783, three months before the Coalition, so distasteful to the 9 SHERIDAN In such management he was as shrewd and astute an expert as his wife proved herself to be with the money-bags. His energy was immense. The more circumstance cramped it, the more his latent excitability found vent, and these upsets brought on those recurrent fits of madness which troubled the land. But even his lunacies could not silence his mother-wit. When Dr. Willis, the parson-doctor who quelled patients by " the power of his eye," attended him at Kew, the Duchess of Devon- shire relates how inquisitive the King was to ascertain why his keeper was both clergyman and physician. Willis profanely answered, " Our Saviour was both, sir." " Yes," retorted the King, " but He did not have six hundred a year from the Church." 1 Again, when Pitt returned to favour after an interval which began with another of the King's aberrations, he expressed his delight that George was now looking so well. The King replied that the cause was obvious ; when they last met he was losing an old friend, while now he had regained him. The August dissolution which saw Sheridan's return worsted and baffled the Northites. North himself found both his health and his forces failing. He wanted to make peace with America : the monarch thwarted him. Dutch and Indian affairs threatened : with the best intentions he was powerless. But for the King's insistence, he would gladly have resigned earlier in the year, and now the Gordon riots had dealt a fresh blow to his ill- cemented ranks and tottering Government. While Lord George was scraping psalms on his fiddle in the Tower, the violence of his incendiaries had terrorised the public. At one moment King, had ended : "... He complies with their advice in all publick matters, but they generally find him out of humour. He grants them whatever he can take from them again, but nothing permanent. I was always sure that he would refuse Ellis' peerage, and I am now curious to see what he will say to the Duke of Portland's request," etc. Cf. Hist. Man. Comm., Abergavenny MS., p. 60. 1 Cf. App. The Duchess of Devonshire's Diary, Devonshire House MSS. IO NORTH'S PLIGHT: SHERIDAN'S D&BUT : BROOKS'S North's majority sank to ten, later on it sank to less. He was worried to death. Dundas, his right hand, grumbled ; Sandwich, his mismanager of the navy, rebelled ; while all his adherents, anticipating his downfall, clamoured in crowds to pick the bones of the carcase. But the end of his long reign was not yet. When it came, the jumble of political grouping showed itself in three successive ministries within eighteen months. For the moment the Foxites raised their hopes, and redoubled their energies. But they were over-hasty. Had North resigned in 1780, Shelburne would certainly have stepped into his shoes. 1 Fox, through General Fitzpatrick, had brought Sheridan into the Whig sanctuary, Brooks's, and the House expected much from his fame, but he did not start by airing his brilliance: he bided his time. 2 His maiden speech on November 20, 1780, was a bald protest against a petition to unseat him for bribery, though Woodfall, the reporter, records that " he was heard with particular attention," and that " the House was uncommonly still while he was speaking." The speech, however, contained one significant passage of arms, for Sheridan was constant in maintaining the majesty of the People. He now declared that the petition traduced and insulted the "respectable majority" of his electors, and when Rigby sneered at such popular pretensions, 1 Cf. Abergavenny MS., passim. 3 For the general expectation cf. Wraxall, Vol. II., p. 51. Fitzpatrick proposed Sheridan for the club on October 12, exactly a month after his return for Stafford, and Sheridan was elected a member on November 2. The old canard, retailed by Wraxall and others, that Sheridan's membership of Brooks's was effected by the ruse of sending Lord Bessborough off to Cavendish Square on the pretence that his house was on fire, and George Selwyn to Cleveland Row by a false message that his " daughter " was ill, is unsupported by any evidence or likelihood, and may have been started by some rumours about Tickell's election five years later. Lord Bessborough was Sheridan's good friend and would be most unlikely to blackball him, nor is there a tittle of proof that Selwyn an arch-blackballer was hostile to Sheridan. Fox's influence in any case at this time would have been quite enough security for Sheridan's election. This story of the blackballing is repeated in " The Royal Register " (a gossiping characterisation of politicians), which appeared in 1784. II SHERIDAN Fox pulverised him, and the Speaker reminded the House that there was no question before it. To the rights of constituents Sheridan again referred, in a wider connection, fifteen months later. This petition business, instituted by Whitworth, the Tory member for Stafford, worried Sheridan for nearly two years. 1 Only once did he speak again during this session on the vote of thanks to Earl Cornwallis. In the following February he spoke casually on a motion affecting the Civil List. He reserved his real force for a longer effort a motion for the better regulation of the Westminster police, the real gist of which was a severe stricture on the alleged necessity for employing troops against the ravages of the Gordon rioters. This speech, and not the earliest, must surely have been the one of which the story is told that when Woodfall remarked that Parliament was " not his line," Sheridan, leaning his fore- head on his hand, replied, " It is in me, and, by God, it shall come out." 2 But even in this effort no fireworks appeared, and no phrasing except " the busy, bustling spirit of liberty." He argued seriously that a proper police would have obviated the recourse to arms, and that only in the case of sedition should the military be employed. The trials showed that only Lord George had been indicted for treason ; he was in truth at once " the leader and the army," and all his subordinates were accused of felony alone. Sheridan's resolutions were negatived. But 1 Cf. Mrs. Sheridan's Harrow letter in App. (i). 9 Moore, in his " Life" (Vol. I., p. 348), applies WoodfalPs comment to the first speech. In his "Journal," however, where the story is told in extenso (Vol. I., p. 251), he gives a Mr. Joy as its recounter. Joy he describes else- where (ibid., p. 179) as a good fellow but rather a coxcomb, and "as eternal a quoter as Dr. Pangloss." This Joy was an acquaintance of William Linley's and belonged to the set of Bowles, Byron's aversion. He is responsible for the story of Sheridan telling Tom after his marriage (with an heiress !) that he would cut him off with a shilling, and Tom's reply of " You don't happen to have the shilling about you now, sir, do you ? " But, on the whole, Joy is not a very trustworthy source. The Sheridan tradition sometimes transfers the son's wit to the father, and to Tom probably applies the anecdote related of Sheridan himself and his own father: "You had better settle down and take a wife." "Whose wife shall I take, sir ? " 12 SHERIDAN'S SPEECHES, 1781-2 amongst further deliverances during this and the beginning of the next year, were three, characteristic of his prolonged interest in the navy, a minute as to the state of which in 1777 survives among his papers. 1 That interest was perhaps quickened by the fact that his brother-in-law, Samuel Linley, had just died in the service. " If peace was made," ran the spirited peroration of Sheridan's third pronouncement, " If peace was made, while the House of Bourbon was equal in marine force to this country, there would be an end not only to the commerce and prosperity, but also to the civil liberties of the kingdom." Two other speeches of this period evinced and emphasised his independent spirit, for both ran counter to Fox, his political godfather, who in one instance roundly vented his annoyance. In the first he inveighed against gambling, and Fox was an arch-gamester. In the second, prompted probably by his wife's experience, he opposed his friend's clause to reduce the ages under the Marriage Act. " If girls were allowed to marry at sixteen," said Sheridan, " they would be abridged of that happy freedom of intercourse which modern custom had introduced between the youth of both sexes, . . . and boys in a moment of passion . . . might be prevailed upon to make an imprudent" or indecent " match." Fox answered that Sheridan's ingenuity could give any turn to any argument: for himself, he should defend "liberty." 2 1 The memorandum touches on the mutinous spirit already displayed and the lack of organisation : " Although we have had five years' peace, not one squadron has yet been sent to sea to exercise the crews of the guardships." The Speeches are: (i) May 17, 1781, on the second reading of the Bill for preventing desertions. (2) February 7, 1782, on the naval affairs of 1781, in which he calls Sandwich " a man born for the destruction of the British navy." (3) February 20, on Fox's motion about naval mis- management. He was "heard throughout with great attention." Cf. Speeches, Vol. I., pp. 15, 19, 20. In 1797 Sheridan referred with pride to his exertions for seamen in 1786 : " Sir," he said in a telling passage, " I have ever been their friend." Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 196. 2 June 20, 1781. The other instance was on May 15, on the Bill for pre- venting " Abuses and Profanations on the Sabbath Day," rather a strange occasion to rank Sheridan among the prophets. Cf. Speeches, pp. 15, 16. Next year he reverted to this subject on the report from the Committee of the " EO " Bill, ibid., p. 27. 13 SHERIDAN In Sheridan's first speeches and his early notes for them may be discerned the attitude of an imperialist democrat, or patriotic Radical ; and in this attitude, sometimes advocating the Radicalism and sometimes the patriotism, he never wavered. During 1780 to 1783 he is to be found almost passionately demanding a deference to the will of the nation, now requiring it in elections, and now as applied to foreign affairs. This double attitude is manifest from jottings of this date among his manuscripts. On the Radical side of his views, a whole bundle exists concerning his sub-chairmanship of the Westminster Association : he presses triennial parliaments and even universal suffrage. There are notes on the Long Parliament Statutes, and on a statute of the first year of James the First, where the quaint expression " We agnize on the knees of our hearts " preludes the statement that " we are all represented by our free election." On the patriot side, a scrap exists of pre- paration for a speech on France and the American War. " It is impossible," he exclaims regarding the former, " to separate contempt from resentment and ridicule from indigna- tion." * And these two aspects are equally patent in his published speeches. The Government, he said, complained of reform associations, of petitions to end the American War ; but unless they had been both feeble and cynical, no such manifestations would have been needed. And he used this opportunity to retaliate on Rigby, the placeman, in a passage which long afterwards bore fruit in "The Critic." Rigby's double front, he urged, arose from his double functions as Paymaster and Privy Councillor. The Privy Councillor had never been able to persuade the Paymaster, and " unfortunately, in whatever character he spoke, it was the Paymaster who always voted in that House." Clearly the Councillor softened, but the Pay- master was fixed, and Sheridan repaid Rigby more than tit for tat. 2 During Shelburne's brief spell of power, again, the patriot 1 Sheridan MSS. 2 Speech on Lord John Cavendish's motion of censure on ministers, March 8, 1782 (Speeches, Vol. I., p. 21). This speech also contained, so 14 A PATRIOT RADICAL: PITT'S SNUB in Sheridan burst out in discussing the projected terms between England and Holland. The negotiations, he urged, left France free but England bound, and despite young Pitt's angry protests, he called for the particulars of the unconcluded treaty. Immediately afterwards, in considering the pre- liminaries for the general peace, he not only justified his interposition by precedent, but poured fresh contempt on the proposed surrender of British "interests and glory." This was the speech in which Sheridan uttered the famed retort which Pitt, the youth who, in Romney's words, " turned up his nose at the world," never forgot. After complimenting Sheridan's " abilities," " the elegant sallies of his thought, the gay effusions of his fancy, his dramatic turns and epigrammatic points," the Chancellor of the Exchequer regretted that they were not reserved for their " proper stage," and sneered at the speaker's connection with the theatre. Whereupon Sheridan, deprecat- ing personalities and the questionable taste which had intro- duced them, rose off-hand to turn the tables against his censor: " Let me assure the right honourable gentleman that I do now, and will at any time when he chooses to repeat this sort of allusion, meet it with the most sincere good humour. Nay, I will say more. Flattered and encouraged by the right honourable gentleman's panegyric on my talents, if ever I again engage in the composition he alludes to, I may be tempted to an act of presumption, to attempt an improvement on one of Ben Jonson's best characters, the character of the ' Angry Boy ' in ' The Alchymist.' " * Four days afterwards, Shelburne quitted office, Burgoyne recorded, a sally against Dundas, the Lord Advocate, whom Sheridan termed the Demosthenes of the House. 1 Cf. Speeches, Vol. I., p. 30, February 17, 1783. In an " Advertisement extraordinary " addressed to Tickell, and still among the Sheridan Manu- scripts, he afterwards elaborated his jest into a whole play-bill The King is cast for the part of "Surly " (by which name Mrs. Tickell calls him long afterwards), and Shelburne for that of " Subtle." Cf. also Rae, Vol. L, p. 399. The speech, as reported, scarcely bears out the cause of Pitt's annoyance, for it contains only one trope about " the rumoured coalition which had been compared to a honeymoon, but ought rather to be styled a wedding." 15 SHERIDAN and Pitt only remained to carry on business till his successor should be appointed. The retort of " the Angry Boy " was to be remembered in the " Rolliad"; l nor did Sheridan ever forget Pitt's taunt. Seventeen years later he was even with him once more, when he told the story of Paterson, the Manchester trades- man, who painted " Pitt and Paterson " on his cart. Questioned as to his reason for thus enlarging his firm, " Ah," he replied, " Pitt has indeed no share in the business, but a very large share in the profits of it." But this is a peep into the future. On March 20, 1782, the Opposition onslaughts were shrewdly forestalled by Lord North's resignation. " The noble lord in the blue riband " laughed himself out of office, 2 and the King, hard pressed, but anxious to be popular, 8 reluctantly sent for Lord Rockingham. George the Third did not yield without a struggle. He twice summoned Lord Shelburne, but Lord Shelburne owned that he could not stand without Lord Rockingham, whereas Lord Rockingham could well stand without him. He tried Lord Gower, the then head of the Bedford connection, but he and that connection were too weak. And when at length the Whig was inevitable, he actually refused to see him until he kissed hands, and trans- 1 " Give me a horse, Cathcart should ne'er annoy, Nor thou, O Pitt, behold the Angry Boy." * It is only fair to recall North's defence of his administration when, in June, 1784, he answered the retrospective attacks of Sir Richard Hill : " I found the American War when I became minister : I did not create it. On the contrary, it was the war of the country, of Parliament, and approved by the people. But if the gentlemen opposite think otherwise, let them come forward and accuse me : I shall not shrink. . . . Nay. I demand it as a matter of justice. I am wholly unprotected. The minister of the day [Pitt] has a House of Commons to accuse me, a House of Peers to try me. . . . Almost all . . . my confidential friends [pointing at Dundas] are now become his friends. . . . I court the inquiry, but if when thus called on, they do not grant it, I must insist that they do not hence- forward argue upon the charge as if it were proved." It was said that the Rockinghamites bargained for North's neutrality by promising not to impeach him. 8 Cf. Fox to Fitzpatrick (then Irish Secretary), April 12, 1782, " The King appears more and more good-humoured every day," etc. Fox's Corr., Vol. I., p. 315. 16 EXIT NORTH: ENTER ROCKINGHAM acted all the preliminaries through Shelburne, who was appointed one of the Secretaries of State and a Knight of the Garter. Charles Fox, the other State Secretary, had stormed and cursed, but he did not move for North's impeachment, as he and Burke had vehemently threatened ; office, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, 1 and Fox's real ambition was to cripple the Crown. The crucial point during the next few months was the negotiation of a peace, and the race for it lay between the two jealous Secretaries of State. Shelburne took good care that Fox should not win. a In this mild administration Sheridan, as Fox's henchman, received his reward. He was appointed an Under- Secretary of State, and though (as became his habit) he sighed for the sweets of " the good Opposition," the choice of office was his own. " I take it for granted," he wrote to his brother, who scented emolument, " that you know from the newspapers that it is the Under -Secretary of State who has become thus punctual. Whether you may think I have chosen prudently or not, I can't tell, but it is the situation of all others that I have thought the rightest for me to take. I wanted to force myself into business, punctuality and information ; and when I resolved to be in this way, I resolved also to sacrifice every other object. The want of attention or knowledge of business shall not positively be an objection to me in anything I aim at hereafter as you shall see and hear and so also will you hear of Mr. Secretary 1 On November 27, 1781, Burke "trusted a day of reckoning would come, and whenever that day came, he should be able by impeachment to bring upon the heads of the authors of these unhappy affairs the punish- ment of them. The Nation as an animal was dead, but the vermin which fed on it had still an existence." On these points (inter multa alia} cf " Two Letters to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, by J. S." [Scott, later Eldon] (1783). 8 The metaphor of a race between Fox and Shelburne is employed in "The Heroic Race," a rhymed satire which follows "The Beauties of Administration " (1783). After the race is lost, it says of Fox : " Lost is his soul in scenes of blissful love, He half forgets that Sh e is above ; One oath he swore, to indignation fired, Frowned, turned his heel and with his Burke retired." S. VOL. II. 17 C SHERIDAN Fox." 1 As a man of business in the brief Rockingham ministry, Sheridan persevered. Like Fox, he was now as industrious as he had been idle. 3 He spoke seldom. He devoted himself, as Lord Sheffield bore witness, to routine, 3 and he took a keen interest in the two problems that now pressed for solution : the peace with America and the Continent, and some sort of Home Rule for Ireland, where the volunteer movement, caused mainly by England's neglect to defend her, had infused and concentrated a national spirit. Protestants and Catholics were united ; Grattan was their inspirer, and Grattan's parlia- ment was the result. To these main issues must be added two subsidiaries Burke's fresh measure for reforming offices, which Fox and Sheridan regarded as a means of clipping prerogative, and William Pitt's first of three motions for that reform of constituencies which had been dear to his father's heart. This proposal they heartily supported; but Burke condemned, though he would not vote against, it. 4 While the friends of freedom regarded American Indepen- dence as the dawn of a new era, 6 the old guard saw nothing but humiliation for England. Peace had to be made both with 1 Sheridan to his brother, April 2, 1782 [six days before Parliament met], Sheridan MSS., and cf. Rae, Vol. I., p. 382. This letter answered one from Charles Sheridan in Dublin of March 27, which alluded to Sheridan's regret at being in power, and, as has been noted, while rally- ing Sheridan on his will-for-the-deed habits, actually deferred the repay- ment of a debt and begged for a place, found for him in the shape of no less a post than Irish Secretary at War. 8 H. Walpole's words of Fox to Sir H. Mann, May 5, 1782. 8 Cf. the passage from Lord Auckland's Journal quoted in the " Overture" to this work (Vol. I., p. 78), as to Sheridan's early attention to parliamentary business. * It was a scarecrow to the King. For some sound criticisms on Pitt's measures, cf. " Lucubrations during a Short Recess," by a country member, ' London, 1782." For Fox's inconsistencies, cf. " Political Blossoms of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, London, 1788." Chatham had made an ineffectual effort for reform in 1770. Nowhere is the situation better shown than in two " Letters " of 1782 and 1783 from Thomas Paine in Philadelphia to Lord Shelburne on his speech of July 10 in the former year. These were published in pamphlet form by Ridgway in 1791. IS SHERIDAN'S ATTITUDE: THE PEACE France, Holland and America. The difficulty was, how to accommodate surrender to patriotism. Instant negotiations were in train. The original French terms had been of the haughtiest. European diplomatists looked on Britain, shorn of thirteen colonies and imperilled by France in India, as demoralised, well-nigh undone. Trincomali had been taken, and it was known that the one strong Governor who could save the Carnatic, by means however Eastern, was himself in imminent danger of being dethroned by his judges at home. France dictated to England as to a fallen foe, and hoped to nullify Chatham's great Treaty of Paris. Had it not been for Rodney's victory in this spring over De Grasse a conquest which electrified Europe after his partisan recall by the Whigs l the Treaty of Versailles would have been even worse than it proved. Even so, the ministry was divided. Shelburne had declared that the " sun of Great Britain would set " whenever Great Britain acknowledged American independence ; and now, voicing the King, he wished to delay, perhaps to avert, its formal recognition and to use it as a mere lever for wringing some trivial concessions from the French. Fox, whose group, through Ireland, was in the ascendant, 2 pressed for an instant and separate declaration lest France should gain any fresh credit with the New World by the definitive treaty. The schism of outlook was further accentuated by a schism between the British envoys in Paris, now closeted with Vergennes, but swayed and prompted by Franklin. Shelburne had sent Oswald, a Scots- man ; Fox's emissary was none other than Sheridan's old friend, Thomas Grenville. Cabals ensued, and Fox, who years later himself suffered his friend, Adair, to visit St. Petersburg 1 Keppel was the Whig admiral. Fox and Burke inveighed against Rodney's depredations in St. Eustatia. a The Duke of Portland was sent to replace Lord Carlisle as Lord Lieutenant in April. Fitzpatrick (whose sister was Fox's sister-in-law) had been appointed Irish Secretary. Burgoyne was made Commander- in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland. Sheridan's brother blossomed into the Secretary for War. Outside Ireland, Fox's uncle, the Duke of Richmond, by turns rabid and accommodating, a theorist and a gourmet, was Master-General of the Ordnance. 19 C 2 SHERIDAN while Pitt negotiated with Russia, never forgave Shelburne for what he chose to term his underhand dealing. 1 At no time in his brilliant yet ineffectual career could he bear to be thwarted, and he was always an enfant terrible in the political nursery. It is certainly more interesting to see where Sheridan diverged from Fox than where he merely repeated him, and the few surviving letters of his present correspondence with Grenville afford an opportunity. Sheridan's fervour for America, as already evinced in his "General Fast," outdid even that of Fox. Like Fox, he was for excluding any clause for American inde- pendence from the French treaty ; he would have none of the Shelburne leaven. But, like Shelburne, he still hoped that such a course might perhaps advantage Britain as against France. " Surely," he wrote on May 26, " whatever the preliminaries of a treaty with France may be, it would be our interest, if we could, to drop even mentioning the Americans in them ; at least the seeming to grant them as at the requisition of France. France now denies our ceding independence to America to be anything given to them, and declines to allow for it. In my opinion it would be wiser in them to insist ostentatiously (and even to make a point of allowing something for it) on the inde- pendence of America being as the first article of their treating. But since they do not do this, surely it would not be bad policy, even if we gave up more to France in other respects, to prevent her appearing in the treaty as in any respect the champion of America, or as having made any claims for her. . . . Were I the minister, I would give France an island or two to choose if it would expose her selfishness, sooner than let her gain the esteem of the Americans by claiming anything essential for them in apparent preference to her own interest and ambition. All people of all descriptions in America will read the treaty of peace, whenever it comes . . . , and if they 1 Something, too, it was said, in the East Indies, had been offered to France by Shelburne without the Cabinet's knowledge, and on this account the Duke of Richmond and Walpole's friend Conway were now disposed to break with the slippery minister, cf. Fox's Com, Vol. II., p. 10. 20 SHERIDAN ON THE PEACE: AMERICA should see there that she has claimed and got a good deal for herself, but has not appeared to have thought of them, however they may have profited in fact, it would certainly give us a great advantage in those sort of arguments and competitions which will arise after a peace ; whereas if it appears as a stipulated demand on the part of France that America should be independent, it will for ever be a most handy record and argument for the French party in that country to work with. And this, as things stand now, and as far as my poor judgment goes, appears not to be a very difficult thing to have either way And so these are my politics on that subject for you." l Thus, Sheridan, the sentimental yet foreseeing. Lord Shelburne's views prevailed, however, and America gave Europe the French Revolution in exchange. In Irish affairs he approximated to Fox. Yet, considering that his brother was Grattan's ally and in close touch with Sheridan, while he is often referred to in Fitzpatrick's letters, Sheridan may have influenced, nor did he always share, his leader's opinion. 2 Ireland was exasperated both at North's inac- tion in leaving her naked to France, and by his action in putting no fewer than five English Bills on her statute-book. Grattan demanded the repeal of the law named after Poynings in the reign of Henry the Seventh, which bound the country by English statutes. Fox, ready to repeal it, desired to do so in his own time and way. He deferred to the Duke of Portland, the newly appointed Lord Lieutenant, who feared to precipitate a crisis and, before he set out for the Castle in the place of Lord Carlisle, 1 Sheridan to T. Grenville, May 26, 1782; cf. Rae (who adds two other letters), VoL I., p. 388. Mr. Fitzgerald quotes this one from the " Buckingham Papers " in his " Lives of the Sheridans," Vol. I., p. 272. 8 In the following year Fox thus wrote (November i) to Lord Northington : " Peace is the natural period to the Volunteers, and if they are encouraged to subsist for any considerable time after this period, all is gone, and our connection with Ireland is worse than none at all. . . . Volunteers, and soon possibly Volunteers without property, will be the only government in Ireland unless they are faced this year in a manful manner. . . ." Cf. Fox's Corr.. Vol. II., p. 165. 21 SHERIDAN had summoned that nobleman home to advise him. With Carlisle returned his secretary, William Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland), who had held high offices under Lord North, and was closely associated with Ireland. Officious, as always, and now offended, as Sheridan tells us, by the use made of his chief, he threw a bombshell into the ministerial ranks by himself moving the repeal of Poynings's Act without warning or consultation. 1 More than this, he expatiated on the past history of Ireland, revealed the Government's plan, and declared that if his motion were evaded the worst mischiefs would follow. This was a bad start for the ministry, but Sheridan found a way out ; he voted under protest, upholding the principle but condemning the motion. Eden, wrote Sheridan, had acted " like a man of no understanding," and disliking to be thought an idiot, eventually withdrew the motion. 2 The course was clear for Rockingham, and one enduring act of his heroic legislators was Grattan's parliament, but even that was fated to disappear before twenty years had expired. Had Rockingham's rule been prolonged, it is quite possible that responsibility would have sobered Fox ; but suddenly, on July the first, Rockingham died of the influenza. 3 Shelburne, that necessary evil, was now a certainty, and with Shelburne Fox was furious, as furious as he had once been with North. Shelburne had played him false over the French treaty, and he would have neither part nor lot in any Shelburne adminis- tration. But though " the Jesuit " was a certainty through Chatham inheritance, Fox chose to fancy otherwise. Both Burke and the younger Whigs, extreme, impecunious, and able, 1 April 8, 1782. The cause of Eden's annoyance appears from an autograph letter of this time from Sheridan to his brother which in 1908 was in the possession of Mr. Daniell, of Mortimer Street. 2 Cf.the letter above cited, and Sheridan's speech (Speeches.Vol. I., p. 25). For Fox's attitude and the Duke of Portland, cf. Fox's Corr., Vol. I., passim. Fox was by no means a favourer of the Irish Volunteers. 8 In "The Tears of Yorkshire for the Loss of the Most Noble the Marquis of Rockingham," Doncaster, 1782, which is worth reading if only for its unconscious humour, the titles of the deceased occupy a whole page, and there are stories of his virtuous childhood which rival the style of Barlow in " Sandford and Merton." 22 ON IRELAND: SHELBURNE'S MINISTRY set their hearts on the Duke of Portland, a chief rich and blame- less as Rockingham, and Fox always averred that Shelburne now jockeyed them all again by secretly posting to Windsor. At this juncture Shelburne was not the sole minister acceptable to the King. The young Pitt, sedate though a reformer, and quite unfettered by antecedents, had shot up into prominence and was slowly laying the foundations of power. Shelburne thought wonders of Chatham's son, and if Fox was a marvel, what was "this new Octavius," ten years his junior? Fox was a states- man of impulse, and impulse was very inconvenient to George. Pitt, on the other hand, was already a statesman of purpose, and at the age of twenty-three Pitt found himself Shelburne's Chancellor of the Exchequer. Thus doubly crossed, Fox flatly refused to remain as Shelburne's colleague. Years before, he had dissuaded the anti-Northites from seceding ; years after- wards, at another hopeless moment, he was to secede. And he seceded now. Burke, Sheridan, Lord John Cavendish (a noble nonentity), and others, followed his retreating footsteps, and loud indeed was his wrath against his uncle, Richmond, for lingering in precincts where the new-fledged angels scorned to tread. There was nothing now for all of them but the old, uphill path, the path so familiar to Sheridan. "And so," he wrote to Grenville, " begins a new Opposition, but wofully thinned and disconcerted, I fear." 1 Charles and Dick, captain and lieutenant, became more friendly than ever, and friendlier because they were freer. The whole blame for their fiasco was laid on the shoulders of the Machiavelli in Berkeley Square. To Sheridan at this juncture Fox wrote in a letter preserved among Sheridan's papers, " I cannot help hoping that there is something like a chance of hanging Lord S. at last. O ! if The Englishman were alive now, how well might he explain to the world what natural conse- quences all these are of the neglect of ministers." 2 Their whole energies now concentred on Shelburne's overthrow. His short 1 Cf. Rae, Vol. I., p. 303. 2 The letter turns on West Indian affairs. This is the one, too, in which Fox defers to Mr. Sheridan's opinion as to the origin of the white and red rose. It is signed " Yours ever." 23 SHERIDAN reign proved but an interregnum. He could satisfy very few of his hungry on-hangers; North was agog to edge in; the Bentincks, the Cavendishes, awaited occasion. The canny Dundas, it is true, had already made his account with the newcomer, but then Dundas was quite ready to make his account with any successor who might stay. Lord Temple (afterwards Marquis of Bucking- ham) had made his account also, and replaced Portland in Ireland, for what could stop the Grenvilles in their barnacle-adhesion to any rock ? At the prospect of Shelburne's fall the greedy were at rest, and peace brooded over all the whited sepulchres in the cemetery of corruption. Some compromise, however, might still be effected. That old court-guide, Jenkinson, already manoeuvred to couple North and Shelburne, while the shifty Eden and supple Lord Loughborough thought of a junction between North and Fox. Dundas himself shrewdly inclined to one between Fox and Pitt. And so with peace provisions as yet at issue, the Opposition wrought cheerily on all these elements of discord. But things soon quickened towards a close. The preliminaries of the Versailles Treaty were signed on January 2, 1783 ; on the 27th copies of the conjoined provisional treaty with the United States were laid upon the table. On February 21 a vote of censure on the peace was carried by seventeen and seventeen were enough. Shel- burne, eclipsed by the rising Pitt, who eventually ignored him, flickered out in his socket. An interval of chaos ensued. For nearly six weeks England was without a Govern- ment. All the under-strappers were at work. The King himself implored Pitt to form an administration. He refused, well knowing that the King and the nation were not yet united ; willing, too, to give Fox, from whom he had finally parted, more rope to hang himself. The King then urged North to the rescue. North replied, " The Duke of Portland is ready to come in," and the King's comment was, "Then I wish you good- night." Next followed what can only be compared to a scrim- mage in an auction-room. Shelburne, hoping to remain, bid for Pitt ; North even meditated a bid for Shelburne ; Fox, plied to bid for Pitt, could not bring himself to the sacrifice, though half 24 HOW THE COALITION CAME IN a year later he was to long for Pitt's reinforcement. 1 The sum cancelled itself out ; there was nothing for it but oil and vinegar, Fox and North. Fox, it is true, had vowed that never while he breathed would he shake hands with such a scoundrel as North, but Shelburne's enormities effaced that feud, and, as Fox protested in Latin, his enmities were placable but his friendships eternal. And thus in an age of coalitions aggregated from segments an age which had seen Pitt's father joined to the fatuous Duke of Newcastle the unmixable got together, and Charles Fox, under Portland's nominal aegis, shared his power with North. The King was in despair. Portland was not to his taste; Fox was his abhor- rence. He sighed, he sobbed, he swore ; he even threatened a retirement to Hanover. 2 All along, he had sought for a " com- prehensive " ministry, but this was a thing which, like the Peace of Utrecht and the peace of God, "passed all understanding." The dividers of the spoil, however, were a match for George, who could only insist that his Lord Stormont should be President of the Council. On April 2. a new administration was named. His dear Thurlow was swept away ; the Great Seal was put into commission. North became Secretary for the Home Depart- ment ; Fox, again, for the Foreign. Burke was Paymaster of the Forces ; and Sheridan, with Burke's son, Secretary to the Treasury. 3 Townshend took the Ordnance, and the mediocre Lord John Cavendish, Selwyn's " learned canary-bird," who had even aspired to the Premiership, became Chancellor of the Exchequer. 4 The Earl of Northington ruled Ireland, and 1 Cf. Fox's Corr., Vol. II., p. 208. " Fox to Lord Ossory, September 9, 1783." " If Pitt could be persuaded (but I despair of it), what an amazing advantage it would be to the country," etc. 8 So he assured Thurlow in August, 1783 ; cf. Wraxall, Vol. III., p. 123. 8 According to Moore's informant, O'Beirne, Bishop of Meath (''Journal," Vol. II., p. 297), Sheridan had even hoped for the Chancellor- ship of Exchequer, and had shut himself up for three days to master figures. " This accounts for his taking the financial lint afterwards in his opposition to Pitt." But O'Beirne is not very trustworthy, as on the same page he says " positively " that Elliot wrote the " Prince's letters "in 1789, which we shall see was only partially the case. 4 Lord J. Cavendish was a younger son of the third Duke of Devonshire ; 25 SHERIDAN Windham, the delicate casuist, opened his career as Secretary at the Castle. But from the first the Coalition was unpopular. It was the last resort of shufflers. After all, Shelburne had made the peace and had been unfairly ousted. The exclusion of Thurlow estranged the King as much as the unnatural alliance which incensed the nation. Both the country, it was said, and the closet were dead against it. 1 Its virtue was not its own. It held the seeds of its own dissolution, which by the force of circum- stance must one day bring together the King and people. At present, it stood suspiciously between them. Some there were who hoped that its unwelcome variety might lend breath to the administration, but Pitt smiled a bitter smile and the King " sulky-Nobbs," as Mrs. Sheridan called him turned his back when Fox kissed hands, looking for all the world like the shying horse at Astley's just before it kicked off its rider. 2 The Grenvilles (especially Lord Temple) and the ex-Chancellor Thurlow, 8 vowed vengeance for their exclusion, while the former, who always held that the nation must starve because they were greedy, retired in dudgeon. And so, in a shower of patronage rained alike on Radicals and reactionaries, the Coali- tion rushed in, and Lord Shelburne, still scheming to be quits with it, hobbled out for ever. 4 Mason had been his Cambridge tutor. Horace Walpole wrote of him, 11 Under an appearance of virgin modesty he had a confidence in himself that nothing could equal, and a thirst of dominion still more extraordinary." His " fair little person " and priggish manner are responsible for Selwyn's sobriquet. 1 Adolphus, Vol. IV., p. 30. a " Turned back eyes and ears," says Lord Sheffield in Lord Auckland's " Diary." " See Thurlow stand, he sheds a secret awe And is, or seems, as gloomy as the Law, Like a huge bull, that, jealous of his reign, Gores and expels each rival from the plain, Then seeks the distant shade, or marshy pool, His chief delight to bellow and to rule." " Beauties of Administration " (1783). 4 In early June, Lord Temple (afterwards Marquis of Buckingham) had 26 ITS UNPOPULARITY Hill, afterwards the psalm-singing " Sir Richard " of " The Rolliad," compared the North-Fox alliance to that between Herod and Pontius Pilate. When Rockingham came in, he had been welcomed as an antidote to widespread corruption. But this Coalition was the freak of clandestine intrigue and the makeshift of cunning place-hunters ; it typified no cause and no necessity ; it was a union of talents and not of principles. From the nation's point of view it was a fraud, from the monarch's a monster. George never rested till he had undone it, by means unwarrantable as those which contrived its formation. But, curiously enough, those unwarrantable means proved the sole opportunity of reconciling the People to the Throne. to make room for Lord Northington as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His designs to overturn the ministry can be seen from his correspondence at this period with his brother, W. Grenville, in the Fortescue Papers (Dropmore), Hist. MS. Comm., passim. Shelburne's desire to edge in is apparent from the Abergavenny Papers, Hist. MS. Comm., p. 69, where, in the December of the next year, Jenkinson writes to Robinson that Shelburne will " not be satisfied till he is once more got into office." CHAPTER II THE COALITION (March December, 1783) ' How happy could I be with either Were t'other dear charmer away." THERE is an amusing skit written after the Coalition's down- fall and worthy of the pens that indited " The Rolliad." It is entitled " The Coalitional Rencontre Anticipated," and exhibits an excellent frontispiece by the caricaturist Bunbury. Fox as " Carlo Khan " l meets the fair " Northelia " by assignation in St. James's Park. " But why," exclaims the amorous swain : " But why so soon abroad, my dear, At this dull season of the year ? Why meet this early chilling breeze, Why stroll among these leafless trees ? " North was nicknamed Boreas from the north wind, and the " early chilling breeze " did not agree with the warmth of Fox. Legions had to be satisfied by a minister who for ten years of power had disappointed expectants, and in the Coalition Cabinet Fox soon found that the wind of promotion usually blew from the north. 2 Wilberforce said that the Coalition inherited the vices of both its parents : the violence of the one, the corruption of the other ; and Sheridan had grave doubts of this rencontre. He knew that the Coalition would stink in the 1 Fox was first so called from a caricature after the failure of his India Bill, which represented him entering the City on an elephant in Eastern magnificence. * Among many promotions Dartmouth was made Lord Steward, Hert- ford Lord Chamberlain, Townshend head of the Ordnance, and Lord North's complaisance to the Scottish onhangers once favoured by Bute, is mocked at in " The Beauties of Administration " (1783). Fox's friends, including the two Burkes, Sheridan and the uncouth Lord Surrey, were, of course, provided for, but his share of the spoil was comparatively small. 28 SHERIDAN DISAPPROVES nostrils of the country gentlemen and the middle classes ; he knew Fox's impatience for power ; he knew that his friend's headstrong temper would tempt him to pettish violence in return ; he doubted the bond and he misliked the security. Lord John Townshend, whose father raved against the Coalition, used long afterwards to protest (and the statement has been propagated) that Sheridan was a " vapouring rogue " for " impudently " affirming his original mistrust of Fox's wisdom in the league with North, and indeed so Lord John wrote in two letters to Lord Holland as late as 1830, adding that Sheridan was over-eager to get into office. But not only was Sheridan not eager on such precarious terms, and indeed congenitally inclined to opposition, but some ten months after the Coalition happened, and not ten weeks after it fell, he publicly and in a full House declared without contradiction that he advised Fox against it at the time ; while Moore in his " Journal " records a story that he had paced up and down for hours endeavouring to dissuade his friend from so rash a decision. " Mutual diffidence," he observed in his speech, "between men long accustomed to oppose one another might be expected. The prejudices of the public also concurred to prevent this Coalition. The middling class of people whom he highly respected, and to whom, sooner than to the great, the House of Commons must look for support in every emergency, were not certainly the best qualified to judge of nice and refined points of politics : accustomed to judge of measures by men, he apprehended that they would give them- selves no time to examine the principles, motives, and grounds of a Coalition, but would condemn it on its first appearance, merely because it was composed of men who had long been political enemies. On these grounds, full of apprehension for the character of his right honourable friend, he most certainly had given him his advice against a coalition." J This declara- tion is direct, and it should be noticed that Sheridan's observations were to reassure the doubtful Foxites, and not 1 Cf. Speeches, Vol. I., p. 68 (Speech of February 3, 1784, on the Cen- sure of Ministers), and cf. McCormick's " Memoirs " of Burke, p. 260. 29 SHERIDAN to protest his own prescience ; indeed, it would have been for his interest to have made out that from the first he had agreed on this matter with Fox. In one of his later speeches he again referred, and emphatically, to the House's knowledge of his averseness to the Coalition, 1 though in the earlier speech just cited he professed his joy at an event which he had originally deprecated. And, in addition, Warren Hastings's over- zealous advocate, Major Scott, whose lucubrations Macaulay has unfairly belittled, distinctly stated in a pamphlet of 1788 one too refuting a pamphlet by Sheridan that the latter was " said " to have " advised his friend Mr. Fox very strenuously not to assent to an union with Lord North," and that " ex- perience had proved that the advice was sound and wholesome." Not a whisper to the contrary is audible in any record from 1783 to 1788, and Lord John's prejudiced after-tattle must therefore be received with reserve and almost with suspicion. 2 " Damme, sir, they breed," once said the Duke of Cumberland about journals, and the rumours of Holland House have proved quite as prolific. Sheridan has enough of the equivocal on his shoulders without adding spurious imputations to the weight. 1 In the MS. notes for one of his speeches on the Additional Forces Bil 1 in 1802-4, he thus expresses himself, " If I am told I have been an enemy to Coalition, Yes ! But why not to revolt public opinion ? " a Major Scott's pamphlet is " Observations on Mr. Sheridan's Pamphlet entitled ' A Comparative Statement of the Two Bills for the Better Govern- ment of the British Possessions in India,' in a letter from Major Scott to Sir Richard Hill, M.P. for Salop. London. John Stockdale. 1788." For Sheridan's own statement cf. Speeches, Vol. I., p. 69 ("Censure on Ministers," February 3, 1784). Lord John Townshend's letters are to be found in Fox's Corn, Vol. II., pp. 21 28. In the second of these letters he makes a slip so manifest that it should be mentioned. He says Sheridan was the "loudest in his lamentations" over the Coalition "more than a twelvemonth afterwards," a statement disproved by Sheridan's speech of the date above cited. The story of Sheridan's walk with Fox is given by Moore in his "Journal," Vol. IV., p. 78. Its source was Lord John Russell, who, when he edited the " Journal," inserted a note that the story "does not appear to be true." His reason was doubtless the rumours above sum- marised, for he was dieted on the Holland House traditions. For Lord J. Townshend's father's antipathy to the Coalition, cf. Lord Auckland's "Journal," Vol. I., p. 54. 30 GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES Behind the Coalition lurked another league, which in the long run must have vitiated and, as a fact, nearly ruined the North and Fox administration. This was the secret pact of the extreme Whigs with the young Prince of Wales, on whom, in this June, an income was settled, confessedly inadequate compared with the revenues of his predecessors, the increased wealth of the country, and the fact that the King himself had not yet settled the debts of his own father. From this moment dates the Prince's active support of the " Fox-hounds," who, on their side of the bargain, tacitly agreed that his finances should be bettered. It was more than a silent understanding ; " no bad opportunity," wrote Lord Sheffield to Eden, " for ministers to oblige friends." Eighty thousand pounds for the Prince's income could be extracted, one hundred thousand were claimed. A concession of the difference would rivet His Royal Highness to the cause of Fox. 1 For the nonce the Prince was a popular card to play in the political game, and till 1793, when he severed himself from the extremists, the Prince's debts were periodically played off by Fox against the Crown, and eventually against Pitt. Sheridan, who about this time had met the Prince at Devon- shire House and struck up a fatal friendship that outlasted Fox's, advocated his cause, and clung to him through every vicissitude. It was an ill-starred alliance, that involved political principles in family feuds, and mixed up the party of progress with the extravagance of a royal rake. When Burke once discussed the shabbiness of a monarch who stinted his sons, he solemnly pronounced that three things alone were requisite for the state of the heir-apparent a fine dining-hall, an imposing chapel, and a magnificent library. What were these to the royal spendthrift, and what had Burke to do in that galere ? The Prince of Wales had just attained his majority, but he had been a man of pleasure in his teens. Mary Robinson, the once schoolmistress of Chelsea, was now fast ceasing to bewitch him, and was about to sink into the sad " Perdita " 1 Cf. Lord Auckland's "Journal," Vol. I., p. 53. The King wished to dis- lodge the Coalition on the Prince's affair, but Thurlow dissuaded him ; cf. ibid. 31 SHERIDAN of romance. She was replaced by the high-born Grace Dalrymple Elliott, whose record of the French Terror, which she witnessed and in which she suffered, remains the most graphic of any extant. He sighed for many, and he seldom sighed in vain. For in truth none made a braver show of generous impulse. The nation swallowed the son's errors the more easily because as yet they could not stomach his father. Little that he did (and he did most things but duty) was taken amiss, and with all his errors even Burke believed that his heart was in the right place. 1 After all, he was young, and Prince Hal had been the same. Handsome, athletic, graceful, unreserved, he fascinated the kliic, and conciliated the mob. At every belle- assemblee he aired his accomplishments. He was musical and literary ; he sang well, rode and shot well, danced well, talked well. He might be seen bowing, as only he could bow (it was said he was born bowing), in St. James's, or holding his own stoutly with bullies and prize-fighters in St. Giles's. If he " drank like a leviathan," it was only to outdo the smaller fry. The gardens of Carlton House resounded with Italian music, as the admired of all beholders bandied wit and compliment with Mrs. Crewe or Georgiana of Devon. At Devonshire House, the centre of its constellation, he shone in full lustre, a tinsel star in a pasteboard firmament. But his abilities were marked also. He was not merely accomplished, still less was he the fiddling fool of Thackeray's portrayal. Frivolous as he was, vulgar as he became, he was never stupid. Though he reacted against the over-rigour of his early training, he had studied, and even thought. His memory retained scholarship besides anecdote, 2 and he could hold his own with most. Years after- wards the hard-headed Erskine confessed that he had met his match in one who " picked the teeth out " of any argument ; and the clergyman, summoned, but summoned in vain, from 1 Burke did more : he urged Sir G. Elliot to cultivate the Prince's acquaintance. Elliot gives a very favourable account of him; cf. his "Life and Letters," Vol. I., pp. 327-8. 2 He was versed in Homer, but bis enemies used to assert that he had only one stock quotation from Virgil. 32 GEORGE, Prince of Wales, from an engraving after the portrait by Sir William Beechcy. GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES Lord North's to marry him, has recorded that " he was one of the best arguers in his own cause" he had ever known. He judged men quickly and, as a rule, with justice, till suspicion weakened his discernment. And he could read and render their characteristics : Fox digging his thumbs into his eyes when perplexed, and the Duke of Portland's hesitating air. His tact was notable. At this Coalition period, when an extreme Whig opponent tripped on entering the Prince's box at Drury Lane, he raised him, saying in words which his grandfather had once used to Bolingbroke " I am always happy to give my support to an honest man." 1 But his more solid gifts were spoiled by an itch for notoriety. He posed to himself perhaps as much as to others, and he mistook posing for popularity. As was well written of him, " He was ever too important to himself, saying finer things than his feelings prompted." 2 He longed to be popular, and, had his wish to govern Ireland been gratified, or, later, his desire to see active service, he might have succeeded. 3 Sheridan certainly purposed to make him a leader of the people. But his want of character ruined all ; he was hollow to the core. Of two things only was he incapable of awkwardness, and, by his own admission, of speaking the truth. He did not lack courage. He could face death boldly, and " This is death, my boy," was his salute to eternity, though his last hours were troubled by remorse at not having bestowed a baronetcy. 4 But he could never face anything that thwarted his whims, and truth must have often seemed awkward to the man who to the close wore next his bosom the miniature of his disowned Maria, and who, in his late craze for avarice, hoarded banknotes in the dainty portfolios that held the love-tokens of his prime. 1 Sheridan MSS., TickellCorr. The man who slipped was George Byng. 2 Cf. " Memoirs of George IV." (an authentic book written by an anony- mous and well-informed contemporary : Colburn, 1838), Vol. II., p. 407. 8 That was in 1798, but even his last visit to Ireland was well received, in spite of Byron's "Avatar"; cf. " Barrington's Sketches," Vol. II., p. 277. * For this curious detail cf. " Richardson's Recollections," Vol. II., p. 30. S. VOL. II. 33 D SHERIDAN His charm was the charm of the nicest tact, and of a manner which few could withstand. Certainly not Sheridan, to whom it appealed with increased effect alike as a mannerist, a wit, an actor's son, and a scion of the O'Sheridans. He made Sheridan feel that his Prince was proud of his esteem ; he signed himself " Your's affectionately." Sheridan's own manner towards the Prince was praised as never trespassing on their intimacy in public. 1 He upheld him, almost pitifully, as a model of honour, and he protested his trust, even when the fat and leering Adonis of fifty was about to throw him over. Sheridan never used him as a political counter, and on his factotum's dis- interestedness, as well as on his talent, the Prince counted and presumed. The patrician Fox, who at this early moment was his paragon's " dear Charles," behaved otherwise. Even after he had expressed his disgust, and much later when he refused to come up from the country to " listen to a lie an hour long," he still continued to approach and exploit him. What Fox did, half from natural rebelliousness, half from political interest, Sheridan did partly out of vanity, but mainly from friendship. That friendship he kept inviolate. It was the Prince who meanly forsook him, and Lord Holland himself owned that nothing surprised him more than the Prince's mysterious desertion of Sheridan. 3 But neither can Sheridan be absolved from abetting the follies which he screened or defended, though it should not be forgotten that the sterner Lord Moira was equally fascinated, 8 or that in future developments Sheridan gave sound advice to the prey of sharpers. Nor should it be 1 In 1805 Creevey writes, " I never saw Sheridan during the period of three weeks (I think it was) take the least more liberty in the Prince's presence than if it had been the first day he had ever seen him. On the other hand, the Prince always showed by his manner that he thought Sheridan a man that any prince might be proud of as his friend." Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 51. * "For he seemed to be really attached to him." Cf. Moore's "Journal," Vol. II., p. 307. This was in 1812. * In a letter of 1811 to Sheridan's son Tom, Moira warmly declares that the " Prince's heart " was " not at fault," and he adds that both he and Sheridan knew this. 34 THE PRINCE'S DEBTS kept out of sight that he was led to anticipate the arrears of revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall, which his father withheld while he was a minor, or that the prodigality of the French princes during their English visits tempted him to further excess. None the less, his orgies, though magnified by malice, were inexcusable. Those who palliated them did so in general terms only, while his vituperators were specific, and used language with Pitt's connivance which Pitt himself would never have dared to employ. 1 These things were to come. For the moment Fox promised the Prince an income of one hundred thousand and a payment of thirty thousand on account of his debts. When the demands were known, Lord Temple immediately descried an opening, and Shelburne, too, hoped that his enemies would be ruined. Thurlow acted as the stage manager behind the scenes. The King was furious. He wept before the Duke of Portland ; he conferred with Lord Temple, who would have replaced the Duke as First Lord of the Treasury had not Fox hurried to soothe the Prince into submission. The Prince, fretted by vexation into a fever, yielded, and the Coalition was saved, for the King and Temple were wise enough to perceive that royal niggardliness would be a bad pretext for a new ministry, and that ere long a better occasion might be found. 2 Fox was now paramount with the Prince. We are left to guess what part, if any, Sheridan bore in these transactions ; but from his future conduct we may be sure that his counsel also would have been to sink his claims and wait for a more 1 The Prince's affairs in 1784, 1789, 1795 and onwards were exploited by both parties, and a war of pamphlets ensued, in which Miles, Pitt's mer- cenary, played a prominent part. Cf. " Neptune to the P. of Wales " (1784), " A Letter to the P. of Wales " (by Miles), 1795, and a well-written defence (perhaps by Erskine) entitled " A Review of the Conduct of the P. of Wales from his Entrance into Public Life " (1797). Home Tooke himself, in his " A Letter to a Friend " (1787), declared that to degrade the revenues of the heir-apparent to those of a private gentleman was a national indignity. For some of these particulars cf. H. Walpole's " Memoirs of George the Third" under the dates June n 16, 1783. For the peril on this account of the ministers, cf. Fox's Corr., Vol. II., p. 88. 35 D 2 SHERIDAN favourable opportunity. His speeches throughout these summer months concerned the financial affairs belonging to his office, while, in the autumn, the sensation of Fox's India Bill excluded everything else. If, as was rumoured, Sheridan had tried to qualify for the Chancellorship of the Exchequer by studying figures, one of the results was almost a piece of humour. For it was Sheridan who suggested to Fox the tax on receipts, the debates on which mitigated a somewhat dismal session. 1 Such a tax on receipts would indeed be congenial. One of his utterances on the subject seems quite coloured by personal experience. He hoped " that the retail trader would honestly comply with the express letter of the Bill, and throw the tax on the consumer ; for if the consumer let the retail trader pay it, he was sure it would be charged to the consumer with addition in the price of the articles purchased." 2 Foreign affairs were stagnant, and Fox was manoeuvring a northern alliance, but on these heads, which were outside his present province, Sheridan held his peace. He did speak, how- ever, on one other subject. In May Pitt brought forward his second series of resolutions for the reform of representation. Fox and Sheridan always glorified reform, though at no time did either of them take a definite step in this direction. 3 They had welcomed Pitt's first project with enthusiasm. But now their attitude changed. Their breach with him had broadened ever since he took office under Shelburne. In 1782 Pitt's moderate proposals had been praised without criticism. Now Sheridan was " disappointed " ; Pitt, he said, did not 1 Lord Sheffield wrote that Fox's speech on this tax was the best ever made on any such question. Cf. Lord Auckland's "Journal," Vol. I., p. 53. 2 Speeches, Vol. I., p. 49. Speech of June 15, 1783. 8 Sheridan, however, may be said to have done so in the case of his per- petual care from 1790 onwards the reform of the Scots Royal Boroughs. Among his papers is a long letter of that date from a Mr. Fletcher, heartening and thanking him. And Sheridan recorded two bets on the English Reform question, one of May 5, 1793, with Fitzpatrick 100 to 50 guineas that in two years a bond fide measure of Reform would be passed; the other, of January 29, 1793, with Boothby Clopton that representation would be reformed in three years. 36 SHERIDAN AND PITT go far enough. The duration of parliaments should be shortened, since short parliaments " strengthen the intercourse and connexion between the representative and the constituent; and his station being more precarious, he is likely to be atten- tive to his trust." l It may be questioned whether the instigator of the receipt tax would have been overjoyed at annual elections, and in any case the personal note against Pitt was the more marked as the speech ended by twitting Dundas, " the friend of Shelburne and the guide of Pitt," 2 as one of the new converts to the august youngster. For august indeed consular Pitt was, even in his youth. In the words of " The Rolliad," " Above the rest majestically great, Behind the infant Atlas of the State, The matchless miracle of modern days In whom Britannia to the world displays A sight to make surrounding nations stare A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care." Already his youth irritated because it awed. He was con- sidered a superior person. 3 We have now reached the turning-point that first set an impassable gulf between Fox and Pitt, often as the former was to play with the chance of bridging over the chasm. And we have reached, too, the first of Sheridan's equivocal positions a position as yet unnoticed, one shared with Fox, and one, as will be seen, more due to temperament than to design. The India Bill which Fox brought forward in November, was his crossing of the Rubicon. He staked all, but, unlike Caesar, he lost it ; nor could he ever return to the vantage-ground from 1 Speeches, Vol. I., p. 44. 2 " Rolliad." 8 " I will never," he finely lectured Fox in February, 1783, " engage in political enmities without a public cause. I never will forego such enmities without the public approbation. Nor will I ever be questioned and cast off in the face of this assembly by one virtuous and dissatisfied friend. These, the permanent triumphs of reason and principle over the profligate inconsis- tencies of party violence ; these, the triumphs of virtue over success itself, all not only be mine on the present occasion, but throughout every condi- tion of my life." Yet Grenville, one of his " cousinhood," was so to " cast him off" to his own discredit. 37 SHERIDAN which he had set out. In this matter Sheridan stood between Burke and Fox, the two whirlpools of the vortex between the politics of Cicero and Catiline, between the principles of the English Lafayette and the promptings of the English Mirabeau. He had made up his mind a year earlier that one of two courses with regard to Warren Hastings's high-handedness ought to be adopted. Either he should be summoned home and called to account, or an India Bill should be brought forward with nothing retrospective about it. Either Warren Hastings must be prosecuted, or the Indian system reformed. A Bill followed by vengeance had never entered his mind. All this he thought in 1782, and he publicly stated these views in 1787 before the House of Commons. 1 Philip Francis had returned from India as Hastings's arch- enemy. He exerted his malign influence over Burke, and the secret Committees of 1782 the year of the Oude Begum scandal brought matters to a head, 2 though, even earlier, Lord North himself entertained thoughts of recalling Hastings. Fox's India Bill was not ,only an upshot of these committee reports, but also a test case against the Crown. It was levelled as much against the King as the proconsul, and the " King's friends" were Warren Hastings's supporters. In these matters, Burke and Fox, master and pupil, were at one, but they met on almost contradictory lines and in an opposite spirit. Both could be violent, but Burke's was the violence of an apostle, Fox's of a mutineer. Both were zealots, but their zeal differed in 1 Cf. Cobbett's Parl. Deb., Vol. XXV. (March 3 and 6, 1786), col. 1183 et seq. This is a point hitherto unnoticed. " With regard to Indian affairs, he had thought there were but two lines of conduct to be pursued after those emphatic resolutions of May 28, 1782 [following on Burke's Com- mittee], had been voted. The one was to call Mr. Hastings immediately by the strong arm of Parliament and punish him exemplarily, the other to bring in an India Bill in which, on grounds of expediency, on account of the times not bearing so strong a measure, and the difference of opinion respecting it, no retrospect should be had, but all the clauses should look to the future.'* * The effect of these reports is embodied and criticised by two very able " Letters to the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke, by Major Scott" (1783). 38 FOX'S INDIA BILL: SHERIDAN : FOX: BURKE tensity. That of Burke bordered on possession. Once seized by an idea or worked on by a person, he frenzied himself into ecstasies which lifted him up to the seventh heaven, or into a fanatical rage which gathered force as it rolled, and belied both his charity and his judgment. He seemed a Dante with the infernal vision spread out before him. For Burke, Warren Hastings typified Anti-Christ, and his dying injunctions were never to rest till the verdict in the devil's favour had been reversed. Burke was an imaginative idealist, yet, half-known to himself, a spice of moroseness and even of retaliation leavened his idealism. Fox was no such idealist ; he was cast in an earthy mould, but under his coarser clay heaved a volcanic sympathy which swept men off their feet. While Burke's finer eloquence was less human and read better than it spoke, Fox's haphazard periods 1 expressed a carousal of generous feeling that betrayed the Cavalier leaven in his democratic fibre. Burke, on the other hand, might be termed a Royalist-Puritan, sometimes austere, never licentious, for he had none of the cardinal vices. Both of them liked to shield suffering, to denounce oppression, to require redress ; but Fox's enthusiasm voiced the people, 2 Burke's the academy; and when Burke said, years afterwards, that he had met Fox on the road and travelled with him happily a great part of the way, he evinced his ignorance of human nature. Apart from political accidents, they had little in common. While Fox was intemperate physically, Burke was intellec- tually intemperate. His exalted imagination ran riot. " Burke raved like a Bedlamite for two hours," is the account of a shrewd ear- witness; 3 nor need we dwell on the mad words and 1 It was said that Fox began his sentences and God finished them. 2 Fox was, of course, dubbed the man of the people, and in this year of 1783 the following was written of him : " Voice of the people when he takes the chair, Voice of the devil when passion bids him swear," etc. Cf. "The Beauties of Administration." 8 Hist. MS. Comm., Abergavenny MS., p. 68. R. Atkinson [the con- tractor] to J. Robinson, July 30, 1784. The passage begins, "They have 39 SHERIDAN revolting images which used sometimes to befoul the clear stream of his rhetoric. 1 From the theoretical standpoint, too, Burke, it must be repeated, was nothing if not constitutional. For him " liberty " was only a branch on the tree ; he was a Whig of the Whigs, a true worshipper of the sacred oak. Fox kindled his glow for " liberty " from profaner fuel : his ardour was wayward, and "liberty" often meant little but licence. Constantly as he invoked the Constitution, it was as a political name that never entered into his being as it did into Burke's. And though he always believed that his new Whiggism was the true Whig doctrine, he was not a Whig at all, but a schismatic. His loose opinions were never articles of faith, and, in Burke's own phrase, he "coined Whig principles from a French die." Yet at this time so great was Fox's influence on Burke, that in one of his speeches this year on the India Bill, Burke made the sole assertion that is to be found throughout the range of his writings of " the natural equality of mankind." 2 Indian affairs, however, united them ; the instincts of the one chimed with the dogmas of the other. If the system was bad, the man was worse; Warren Hastings must be impaled. If the Crown influenced East Indian patronage, it was a gross abuse of prerogative ; Fox would tilt against the King, and Burke lop off an excrescence on the Constitution. 3 Next to the classics Burke loved best, he said, the story of unchained Burke." There were two brothers Atkinson in the firm, which dealt in grain and rum ; and Lord North, who thought them rascals, said that the one was a rascal in grain and the other in veneer. Jenkinson and Atkinson were styled in " The Rolliad " " the two Kinsons." 1 He spoke of " a foetus in a bottle," of " foul and putrid mucus in which are engendered the whole brood of creeping ascarides," of " excrement," of " vermin on a carcase " as applied to his opponents, of " offal " which fattened " the region-kites," of " Sir Elijah Impey's fox smell," and in a jocular vein he more than once spoke of " in three skips of a louse." 2 Burke's celebrated speech of November 25, 1783, on Fox's second Bill; cf. Parl. Deb., Vol. XXIIL, 1312; Burke's Works, Vol. IV., p. 3; and Adolphus, Vol. I., p. 52. 8 In his joint " Representation " with Windham of June 14 in the follow- ing year, Burke laboured to prove that all previous invasions of charters had proceeded from the Crown, and their redress from Parliament. 40 EDMUND BURKE (from an old engraving after a medallion). SHERIDAN'S ATTITUDE Little Red Riding Hood, and in that story he might find an allegory of the situation. Fox, too, in a speech so early as the February of this year the speech where he paused with dramatic emphasis in the Horatian tag about fortune, and striking the table, ended by protesting his quest after " dower- less poverty" Fox said that while the King's prerogative to choose ministers must be admitted, the people were privileged to annul his nomination. The unfortunate part of the business was that the moment chosen for such heroics was one jumping with political interest and not free from personal motives. Even Burke had resented the Company's treatment of a kins- man ; while, sad to relate, six years later, when the Prince was in the ascendant, even Burke asked for a seat on Pitt's Board of Control, pleading long service and "adherence." 1 Nor had Burke always been of the same mind regarding India. In 1774 he went so far as to censure the ministers for exposing the Company's affairs "with all the parade of indiscreet declamation," while he termed that year's two inquiries " our dear-bought East India Committees." 2 Fox, for his part, hoped, if his Bill succeeded, to emerge a dictator, wipe out his opponents and make all things new. If it failed, so much the worse for the pirates who might wreck it. Some oppor- tunism thus tinged their nobler aspects. Fox owned the ambition that " o'erleaps itself," and both, to quote Burke, could be " benevolent from spite." Sheridan's temper and attitude were in the middle line. He was hardly an enthusiast. True, he shared the sentimental 1 Hist. MS. Comm., Abergavenny MS., p. 70 : " 1789, January 29. The Prince is to give his answer to-morrow at three. There are apprehensions of Burke's being in the Board of Controul. He insists upon it for the ser- vices and adherence of thirty years. If they will agree, the fat will be in the fire. A hint to the P[rince] would prevent it. . . ." James Macpherson to John Robinson. The passage has been quoted, ante, Vol. I., p. 151. For Burke's kinsman a post had been created at Tanjore. It was said (and with some reason) that Burke wished the places of Hastings, Wheler and Macpherson to be filled by personal friends. Cf. the "Two Letters to Burke" of 1783, by John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon, p. 60. 2 Cf. his famous speech of April 19, 1774. 41 SHERIDAN sympathy and the insurgent instincts of Fox, but he was far less abstract in outlook or headstrong in bearing. He saw round the question. He believed in the India Bill's purport, he defended it most ably and vehemently, and he afterwards printed his arguments for its superiority to Pitt's both in detail and principle. The dramatic aspect of the problem naturally engrossed him. He melted at " the loud cry of trampled Hindostan," and he rejoiced to humiliate sleek monopolists gorged with their Eastern plunder. But, unlike Fox, he did not wish to stake political existence on the mere form of an Act of Parliament. And he had little or none of Burke's ideality. Much as he resented injustice and fumed over it, the comedian saw absurdity in extremes. He was unactuated by revenge and absolutely good-tempered. If Parliament checked Indian misgovernment, the mischief was over, and there would be no need for the sacrifice of an excep- tional governor whose reappointment had been ministerially confirmed, and whose resignation had been unanimously refused. If, however, Parliament refused to remedy the mischief, then Warren Hastings must be impeached. That was Sheridan's view, a tenable view that certainly was not Burke's, or Fox's if the opening of his speech on the India Bill be evidence ; and in connection with Fox, this attitude led Sheridan into the first of what we have termed his equivocal positions. -Sheridan, too, never shared Fox's opinion that the India Bill would perpetuate the Whigs : he knew that the Coalition was doomed. While Burke soared into the clouds, and Fox dived into the depths, Sheridan remained a man of the world; his wit and common sense were heartily at their service. Wraxall rightly observes, " There is good reason to believe that Sheridan deprecated from the beginning the too great energy, or rather the confiscation and ambition, which characterised the East India Bill," and what Wraxall says, Sir James Mackintosh afterwards confirmed. 1 1 Cf. Wraxall's "Memoirs," Vol. III., p. 374, and Moore's "Journal," Vol. II., p. 316 : " It is said Sheridan was against the India Bill." 42 AN EQUIVOCAL POSITION Just before Fox brought in his Bill a queer and unrecorded incident happened. It had occurred to Fox that the friends of Warren Hastings might be sounded, and to Sheridan that he might be saved. The "Bengal Squad" were powerful in the House; the Bill on which so much depended might be wrecked by their antagonism. Warren Hastings had not yet been called home, but his recall had been settled, and it was rumoured that he would soon return to England. At first Sheridan attempted some accommodation by an informal con- ference with Halhed, who had now come back from India, and then, with Fox's cognisance, he employed a mutual friend to seek an interview with the Governor's representative, Major Scott the butt of " The Rolliad " in punning conjunction with the future Eldon " the Major and the minor Scott." This mutual friend turned out to be none other than Sheridan's old Harrow pedagogue, Dr. Parr, while his old Harrow colleague, Halhed, was again present at this meeting. 1 Scott remained under the impression that a bargain was designed, but he had no power to treat. The whole question was raised in Parlia- ment a year after Warren Hastings had come back, and the year before his trial. Sheridan then fully explained his opinions and his conduct. The " intended India Bill was certainly," he said, " mentioned, but merely as a matter of conversation, and not as a proposition. There had not been the most distant idea of bartering with Mr. Hastings for his support of the Bill." He had only " sent a friend to the honourable gentleman opposite to know whether Mr. Hastings would come back if recalled." The Major, after re-consulting " the gentleman whom he had seen originally on the business," admitted his fault of memory and confirmed " every syllable " that had fallen from Sheridan's lips. Fox flatly repudiated the slightest idea of "proposal or accommodation." " It had been privately suggested in conver- sation that, Hastings being a very powerful man, it might make the 1 For the first meeting (which is new matter), cf . " Warren Hastings's Letters to his Wife," p. 314. For the second, cf. Moore's "Journal," Vol. II., p. 147. This information came from Parr himself. 43 SHERIDAN India Bill go easier, if the idea of prosecuting him were given up." * Fox had dwelt on " the necessity for his recall." Why then did he concur in a conference with Scott, and, by his own admission, what object apart from the India Bill could be served by an inquiry as to whether Hastings would return ? Idle curiosity was obviously no motive. A Morning Chronicle of November, 1783, had put the public in possession of Fox's motion for the Bill before the speech was delivered, and approaches or compromise were evidently in process. When we remember that in 1787 Fox as flatly denied the Prince's marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, and that Sheridan had then to smooth over the boggle much as he smoothed it over now, it is hard to believe that if the East India magnates had sup- ported the Bill, much more (but for Burke) would have been heard of Warren Hastings's impeachment. 2 The great gamble of Fox's venture began early in November. He introduced his East India Bill with loose statements about the Company's position, branding it as insolvent when, as a matter of fact, all acceptances could easily have been met. As the Bill itself emerged, however, and Pitt pressed the truth home, he withdrew these charges, which are only notable as betraying the haste with which the enactment had been framed. There were two alternative schemes, the last of which was mainly Burke's, and when the Bill's final form is dispassionately examined, it must be confessed that it met with extremely unfair play. Suspect as it was, mixed and personal in motive, it was none the less a genuine effort to solve an acknowledged scandal. What was objectionable in its details could easily have been mended, had any real wish to benefit India been the aim of its opponents, and it was thrown out not on principle but by 1 For the preceding facts, cf. Cobbett's Parl. Deb., Vol. XXV. (March 3 and 6, 1786), col. 1183 et seq. 2 In Moore's account of his conversation with Dr. Parr on the subject of the interview, he says : " Fox, who knew nothing of the matter, had nothing to say in reply," and " it appeared that the negotiation had been set on foot without the knowledge of Fox and that Sheridan was the chief agent in it" (cf. Moore's "Journal," Vol. II., p. 147), but such is not the effect of Fox's own words in the House. 44 FOX OPENS THE BILL cabal. For sixteen years the need had been owned of stricter parliamentary control over a close and unscrupulous corporation that administered a revenue of seven millions sterling, com- manded an army of sixty thousand men, and disposed of the lives and fortunes of thirty millions of their fellow-creatures. A Committee of the whole House had considered its reform during 1767; in 1772 two such Committees had been appointed, and in the years 1773 and 1780 Acts of Parliament had been passed to regulate its routine and guard against its abuses; while in pursuance of both those Acts fresh Committees had sat, and fresh recommendations had been made. Dundas, who aimed at engrossing the Indian patronage as he had already begun to absorb the Scottish Dundas, who already exercised over Pitt an influence far greater than he had wielded over Shelburne, had prepared a Bill of his own. Burke kept the scheme in his pocket which Fox adopted, and in the following year Pitt produced the successful measure which Burke again aided, 1 but which Dundas prescribed. Some reform was clearly inevi- table ; the sole question was the spirit in which it ought to be framed. Fox's experiment harboured grave defects as well as great merits. It was a patchwork of good and dubious inten- tions. It transferred the whole direction and property of the chartered Company to seven managers and eight "assistants"; the former represented the old directors, the latter the pro- prietors. The board was to be held at home under the scrutiny of Parliament. All was to be open, and most was in the nature of a trust. But Fox's eagerness to engross power protruded. For the present, Parliament was to name all the members of this board till four or five years or any "sufficient" time had elapsed ; ultimately their appointment was to be in the Crown. All that the proprietors might do was to fill up vacancies in the body of assistants. Here came the rub. When the names of its members were published, and Lord Fitzwilliam, Rockingham's heir, headed the list, they were all Government nominees. For an indefinite 1 Sheridan MSS., Mrs. Tickell's Coir. 45 SHERIDAN space the whole management and patronage were to be vested in the Coalition's bodyguard. Fox could, and it was urged would, be " the Emperor of the East," and by virtue of such influence a despot in the West. It was treason, confiscation, un-English, unconstitutional. 1 Nor did it go far enough for his friends. The anti-Court party, whom now Fox headed, was equally indignant. At the close of the " sufficient " interval the King, who claimed his right to choose ministers, would be able to lavish lacs and pagodas for their reward; prerogative was being wheedled. On the other side, again, the Court party was not hoodwinked by this eventual reversion to the Crown. It was a false pretence, and who knew how Fox might provoke his forces against the Throne, or even usurp it ? He had created " a fourth estate," and already (they main- tained, though Sheridan disproved it 2 ) the King's prerogative had been invaded. The nation at large knew not what to make of a Bill so two-edged, so like the Coalition itself. Country squires shook their heads and cursed the rascals. Traders scented theft, and swore that Hastings's patriot-exactions paled into insignificance beside it. Leadenhall Street trembled at the sight of a rival monopoly, and one of its magnates even died of the fright. It was remembered amid all the cant of disinterestedness and the rant about profusion, that, this very session, Pitt, bringing forward an Exchequer Regulation Bill, had specified a sum of 340 paid to the Secretary of the Treasury for " whipcord," and 1,300 for the First Minister's private stationery. Pitt and Grenville unmasked Fox's covert ambitions, and his proposed invasion of a charter. "The pre- tended relief to Asia," cried Pitt, "was grounded on injustice and violence in Europe. Property was menaced." Honest 1 Among other well-considered pamphlets on this point, cf. William Pulteney's " Effects to be Expected from the East India Bill " (1784), where, after careful examination of the clauses, he is convinced that perpetual patronage and power are intended. a Cf. p. 27 of his subsequent excellent criticism in his " Comparative Statement of the Two Bills for the Better Government of the British Possessions in India," London, 1778 (dedicated to his colleague Monckton). 46 ITS EFFECTS : BURKE : SHERIDAN Marten in the House of Commons wished for a starling that might din " Coalition, Coalition," into the ears of its members, and Sheridan remarked that a marten would obviously be apter for the omen than a starling. Outside the House, " No Grand Mogul, no India tyrant ! " hooted the rabble. The freeholders of Middlesex and even of Fox's stronghold, Westminster, pro- tested. 1 Everywhere alarm reigned, and suspicion. Panic for a moment united the people and their King. All this Sheridan felt. The Bill was too violent, but he thought it a right Bill, and its cause would triumph in the end. Huge majorities attended its every stage, and while Thurlow plotted in the palace, and Temple sat in cool counsel with his sullen master, his Majesty's faithful Commons cheered this dawning millennium to the echo. Burke did more. In the superb speech with which he crowned the proceedings, looking back on India's " map of misrule " and forward to an age of chivalry, his peroration heroised the " author " of the dream. The task, he said, had fallen to one worthy of it, who had risked his ease, his security, his interest, his power, even his darling popularity, for the benefit of a people he had never seen. He was traduced, but obloquy was precious to a prophet. " This is the road that all heroes have trod before him." " He is doing indeed a great good, such as rarely falls to the lot, and almost as rarely coincides with the desires, of any man. Let him use his time. Let him give the whole length of his reins to his benevolence. . . . He may live long he may do much. But here is the summit. He never can exceed what he does this day." Even his faults, he urged, had nothing in them to quench the fire of great virtues. " In those faults there is no mixture of hypocrisy, of pride, of ferocity, of com- plexional despotism." As the free-living Henry the Fourth of France had longed that he might survive the day when every peasant in his kingdom should have a fowl in his pot, so Fox wished to secure the rice in his pot to every ryot in India ; and 1 These latter instances happened a little later in February, 1784, when they induced Fox to say that he would modify his Bill, but they represent the feeling of a few months earlier. 47 SHERIDAN he quoted the sounding lines that celebrated Cicero's emanci- pating ardour: " Ille super Gangem, super exanditus et Indos Implebit terras voce, et furialia bella Fulmine compescit linguae," which may thus be rendered : " His voice beyond the Indies and their flood Resounding, fills the lands that suffer wrong ; Acclaimed above the battle and the blood, He stays them by the lightning of his tongue." l Yet only seven years were to elapse before Burke's philippics against Fox rang out as finely as this laudation. Sheridan spoke in a different key. True, he defended the Bill and attacked its enemies by contrast and comparison, just as he was to do some years later in his closely reasoned pamphlet. But now satire was his weapon. He turned the laugh against Dundas's project. The ex-Lord Advocate, he said, had gone through much of his Bill with him in the preceding year. That Bill had clothed Lord Cornwallis with power ten times more dangerous and despotic, as he could prove, did not the clock forbid ; so " plain " was this and " palpable," that he only wondered how Dundas could " keep his countenance." And then he opened his fusillade. A whole dictionary of quotations had been laid under contribution. On Fox's side, General Burgoyne had posted in hot haste from Ireland to cite the sixth ^Eneid and apply its pains of Tartarus to Hastings. 2 He, of course, was left untouched. But against the Bill, Wilberforce, Scott, and Arden had drawn on Milton, the Apocalypse, and 1 Speech of December i, 1783. A splendid passage also denounced the dereliction of India and the temptations to greed which its plunder offered to young Englishmen, " animated with all the avarice of age and the impetuous ardour of youth, while nothing presents itself to the view of the unhappy natives, except an interminable prospect of new flights of vora- cious birds of passage." " England has erected neither churches nor hospitals, nor schools nor palaces. If to-morrow we were expelled from Hindostan," nothing would remain to show its possession "by any better tenants than the orang-outang or tiger." 3 Cf. Adolphus, Vol. I., p. 47. 48 SHERIDAN'S SPEECH OF RETORTS Shakespeare. Sheridan hoisted each with his own petard, some- times by verses from the self-same page. Wilberforce had quoted " Fallen cherub, to be weak is miserable " ; Sheridan's reply is missing. Arden had quoted " He would be crowned " from "Julius Caesar," and Sheridan retorted by "the bright day that brings forth the adder." But Wilberforce had also com- pared the seven managers and eight " assistants " to " seven physicians and eight apothecaries come to put the patient to death secundum artem." And the future Lord Eldon's profane piety had ransacked the Book of Revelations. Fox was likened to the seven-crowned beast rising up out of the sea to whom "there was given a mouth speaking great things." "Alas, the great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships, in one hour is made desolate." Sheridan at once pointed out the discrepancy between the Scriptural beast's tenure of power and that conceded by the measure : " forty-and-two months " in the one case, forty-eight in the other ; and he reminded the House of a more fitting figure, that of the seven angels clothed in pure white linen, the spotless symbols of the new Com- missioners. Thus much of an impromptu which convulsed its hearers, may be revived by collation ; l nor should it be omitted that in 1788, when the India Control Bill was being agitated, he reverted to Wilberforce' s present illustration and applied the medical simile to Dundas, " the doctor of Control " who prescribed " Scots pills for Oriental disorders." It is to be regretted that so little survives of Sheridan's deliverances on the India Bill in the meagre reports available. " No individual distinguished himself more," says Wraxall, who heard him, "throughout the whole progress of these interesting proceed- ings, than Sheridan, whose matchless endowments of mind, equally adapted to contests of wit or of argument, and ever under the control of imperturbable temper, enabled him to 1 Cf. the three accounts which add to each other, Cobbett's Parl. Deb., Vol. XXIV., col. 51 ; Speeches, Vol. I., p. 59 (third reading of the Bill, December 8, 1783) ; and Wraxall, Vol. III., pp. 169, 170, where, though Sheridan is not named, the fragment in the published report of his speech is evidently supplemented. S. VOL. II. 49 E SHERIDAN extend invaluable assistance to the minister." l And yet in Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates (which Hansard edited in 1800) not a syllable stands of Sheridan's utterance at the thrill- ing moments which marked the progress of these India Bills, though he was twice a teller for the Noes, the second time, when Burke delivered his great oration. 2 On the night of December 8 the supreme moment of the third reading arrived. Fox would brook no delay, the division must be taken. In vain did Scott quote Desdemona's prayer (and with the more sting because Fox's complexion matched Othello's) " Kill me not to-night, my lord ! let me live one day." In vain did Wilkes, the demagogue, stigmatise the whole as an imposture. In vain, to the wonder of the House, did Henry Flood, fresh from the Irish Parliament and just elected for Winchester, rise to make his maiden speech, which cursed the Bill altogether. In vain did Aristides-Powys urge that its voice was the voice of Jacob, but its hands were the hands of Esau. The ministers triumphed. Only 102 followed Pitt into the lobby, 208 vindicated the Coalition. Fox, heading a jubilant procession, carried his Bill up to the Lords, where it was ordered to be read a second time and printed. He fondly fancied that he had secured its passage through the Upper House, and the royal veto never entered into his calculations. Strange to relate, some of the chief " King's friends," including Lord Stormont, his nominee in the Cabinet, had voted for Fox. But the victory was illusive. Underground workings had long sapped his citadel, and in less than a fortnight it tumbled to the ground. Two archbishops, an ex- minister, the ex-Chancellor and the head of Pitt's "cousin- hood," 3 were at the bottom of the plot, while Jenkinson and Robinson (the Taper and the Tadpole) pulled the wires with 1 Wraxall, Vol. III., p. 184, Arden cited. 2 On December i, the night of the motion for going into committee. He was one of the tellers also on December i. No speech of his is recorded on November 18, 20, 24 (when petitions against the Bill were presented), 27 (the long debate on the second reading), or December i. 1 Lord Temple's father was a brother of Pitt's mother. 50 THE LORDS THROW OUT THE BILL a secret influence which Fox denounced in vain. Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, like his brother-in-law, Eden, sup- posed to be a Foxite ; Markham, Archbishop of York, one of the Prince's first preceptors ; Lord Shelburne, who insisted that the Lords represented the people more truly than the Commons; 1 Thurlow, who had never forgiven his exile, and Temple, who had resolved to establish his kinsman, Pitt, were the confederates in this conspiracy. It could only be justified by Fox's overbearing precipitation, and his disaccord not only with the nation but with a Sovereign who, even if the Bill had passed, would have stubbornly withheld his assent. Thurlow glowered behind the scenes, but Temple went further, stretching his Privy Councillor's privilege to the utmost. He promptly circulated cards enjoining every peer who valued loyalty to throw out a Bill which would seat Charles Fox on the throne. On December 17 the House of Lords rejected Fox's India Bill by nineteen votes. And now George asserted his right to eject his servants. The next day, despite protests from the Commons, Lord Temple himself received the seals of the Under-Secretaries and dis- patched letters of dismissal to the rest. Assailed on all hands for his manoeuvre, he then resigned them ; and on the 22nd, not Shelburne, as had been feared, but the far-seeing Pitt, became First Minister at the age of twenty-four. First Minister, in no nominal sense, he was to remain. No commoner had won this distinction since, twenty-six years earlier, Pitt's father, at twice his age, had done the same. The son's eminence was more marked because, with three exceptions outside the law officers, 2 all his colleagues were peers. The East India Bill had rung the knell of the Coalition, and Fox, adopting Burke's 1 Speech of April 8, 1778, where he claimed that the Lords had a right to amend a money Bill. The Duke of Richmond too, Fox's uncle, stated in his address of 1783 to the Irish Volunteers, that when the people were restored by reform to their rights, the other branches of the legislature should also resume theirs, and that several of the powers exercised by the Commons were " usurpations." 3 Dundas, Grenville, and Sir George Young. 51 E 2 SHERIDAN Eastern imagery, exclaimed that a measure framed to eman- cipate thirty millions had been strangled "by an infamous string of bedchamber janissaries." But Dr. Johnson's soberer verdict was quite as true : the nation had decided in favour of the King's sceptre against the tribune's tongue. 1 " Dearest Moll," wrote Fox's intimate, Fitzpatrick, to his chere amie, Mrs. Benwell, then in Paris, " I send you the news of the day. On Thursday last Charles and Lord North were turned out, on Friday Lord Temple and Mr. Pitt kissed hands, and we all resigned. On Saturday and Sunday they tried to make a ministry and failed. On Monday Lord Temple resigned. It is supposed the old ministry must be reinstated, but I suppose there will be a long struggle first. Adieu, I am in eager expectation of a letter from you, for neither politics, business, nor revolutions of any sort can make me forget or cease for one moment to love you. Pray write." 2 Write, doubtless, she did, and with prayers that Charles the giant-killer might soon regain his post of vantage. Had the King but seen this edifying epistle, he would have felt doubly pleased in having thus outwitted the reckless abettor of a profligate son, who, however, since voting for Fox in November, now discreetly refrained from the princely interference in politics which Fox defended in public. 3 Events had borne out Sheridan's first misgivings. In vain did he try to prove that this Coalition was no worse than its 1 " Here is a man who has divided the kingdom with Caesar, so that it was a doubt whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George III. or the tongue of Fox." 2 Sheridan MSS. R. Fitzpatrick to Mary Benwell, " LONDON, Tuesday, December 22nd, 1783." He was in constant communication with her, and Fox in this very year addressed to the same frail partisan a curious docu- ment attesting his penchant for Mrs. Robinson. In January, 1784 (answering the pious Sir Richard Hill) : " God forbid that a royal personage should not participate in political concerns ! Where can he so well imbibe a knowledge of the principles of our Constitution as within these walls ? How can he better illustrate the excellence of his character than by thus blending personal respect for the King his father with attachment to his country ? " 52 THE COALITION KICKED forerunners ; that Pitt's Treasury bench also presented the same spectacle of incongruous union. 1 Once more he and Fox were thrown on their beam-ends, and twenty-two years had to elapse before they could resume office. But though the bell had tolled for the Coalition's funeral, it had not yet been buried. A First Minister daring to govern in the teeth of an enormous majority in the House of Commons was a case that might well inspire hope and redouble their energy. If only they could prevent the King, or rather Pitt, from dissolving (though this was the constitutional course 2 ), they might yet be revenged by making government impossible. The fallen angels had still a future : " all was not lost." " It is supposed that the old ministry must be reinstated." 1 Speech of Censure on Ministers, February 3, 1784, Speeches, Vol. I., p. 67 ; and cf. Wraxall, Vol. III., p. 287. 1 Lord Shelburne had so stated it some years before. Lord Somers's authority to the contrary could only apply to repeated dissolutions by the Crown, and the real recourse was to the nation. Cf. Lord J. Russell in Fox's Corr., Vol. II., pp. 229 231. 53 CHAPTER III THE FIGHT WITH PITT (January, 1784 March, 1785) " The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the Crown." A FIRST MINISTER defying the Lower House and standing for the Lords and the nation a House of Commons contra- dicting the country such was the position when Parliament assembled after a brief Christmas recess. The constituent limb of the body politic was out of gear with the representative. Pitt had succeeded through backstairs influence, and yet Fox dreaded an appeal to the people. That is his worst impeach- ment. If the King had abused his prerogative in arbitrarily dismissing ministers, Fox had been equally high-handed in pressing his Bill on an unwilling people, and he ought to have resigned. No doubt Pitt, too, should have lost no time in consulting the country ; but he was well advised in his short breathing space, for he knew how much the Coalitionists must continue to prejudice themselves. He had crept into power much as Harley had done in the last years of Queen Anne, and like Harley in 1711, he determined to dissolve when he should choose. 1 But for the moment he sought to govern in the teeth of overwhelming majorities, and Burke, surely, was right in arguing that ministers could not thus disregard repre- sentatives. Burke, however, always a fanatic for the Commons, now equally disregarded the electors of men whose acts had effaced confidence. And neither he nor Fox were justified in their pettifogging obstruction and intimidation. That Pitt 1 On December 22 and 23, when the House resolved itself into a Com- mittee on the state of the nation, Erskine made a motion for the express purpose of sounding Pitt on dissolution, and Pitt authorised Bankes to say that he had no intention either to prorogue or dissolve. Cf. Adolphus, Vol. IV., p. 68. 54 RICHARD BR1NSLEY SHERIDAN, from the original portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds (in the po^sassion of Algernon Sheridan, Esquire). AFTER THE COALITION should not dissolve they were determined. 1 Renewed though impossible efforts were momentarily made for a junction between Fox and Pitt. They had been seen, it was said, in amicable converse, and North had protested himself no obstacle to any accommodation between them. 2 But this attempt fell through. Day and night the Whig leaders assembled at Burlington House. Mrs. Tickell wrote that Sheridan was now the mainstay of his party ; that one of their meetings took place at his own abode ; and that he was on the spot, hard at work, when " friend Charles " was less creditably engaged on a night when they sent for him. Sheridan, she adds, was now of " more consequence to them than ever," and was "monstrously fagged with their nightly consultations." And so she consoled his wife, who languished alone at Delapre Abbey. The times were indeed anxious for what Sheridan soon termed the " ex-party," and a fight ensued that taxed each side to the utmost. " If Mr. Pitt succeeds," wrote the young Duchess of Devonshire, the centre and mouthpiece of the Foxites, " he will have brought about an event which he himself, as well as every Englishman, will repent ever after for if he and the King conquer the House of Commons, he will destroy the conse- quence of that House and make the Government quite absolute." 3 For a space Pitt behaved like a minister of the Crown, and party rancour mounted higher than ever since the days of Sacheverell. Even great ladies did not mince their words. " Damn Fox," roared the Duchess of Rutland before a full house at the opera ; " damn Pitt," rejoined Lady Maria Waldegrave, and Lady Sefton's raillery added that " this was a great Aria in the history of England." 4 Surely these were 1 Mrs. Tickell, in a letter of this period, says that the " country gentle- men " desired a " general coalition " with Pitt, but that in her opinion this would not do at all. " However, one thing we think ourselves sure of, which is no Dissolution." Even later she thinks " Pitt must resign at all events." Sheridan MSS. a Sheridan MSS., Tickell Corr. 8 The Duchess to her mother, Lady Spencer, February 8, 1784. (Printed in the Anglo-Saxon Review for September, 1899.) * The Duchess to her mother, March 20, 1784. 55 SHERIDAN elegant pastimes for a duchess who had just endowed two charity schools in commemoration of her first daughter's birth, composed a march for the music of " La Reine de Golconde," and vied with Mrs. Crewe in her fancy for negro pages. 1 But no partisans are more zealous than women, and at this very time Mrs. Tickell called Pitt " a poor half-devil that deserves to be scouted." In the House of Commons, which met on January 12, the proceedings were stormy. Pitt stoutly refused to give the slightest assurance that he would not dissolve, and he was vilified for his youth, his subservience to the King and the trickery which had worsted the Coalition. 2 Sheridan attacked him as "mean and hypocritical." Apart, he said, from the methods of supplanting the late ministry, Pitt had violated an express pledge, and he quoted an analogy from the journals in the reign of Charles II. to point the disasters of secret influence. It was not a little remarkable, he laughed, that the agent's name in that instance had also been Temple, and he rounded on Dundas for a speech that sounded like " hints for paragraphs and sketches for prints." Such was the right honourable gentleman's new style of an " appeal to the people." During the next few days, too, Lord Surrey (afterwards Duke of Norfolk) jumped up every two minutes with an aggressive motion, while Pitt found a strange champion in one of the members for London, Sir Watkin Lewis, who, thirty years onwards, was to prove Sheridan's companion in a spunging-house. On January 16 Sheridan rose again. He reminded the House that before Lord North went out for the first time, a member had quoted from Shakespeare : "... The times have been That when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end " 1 From the Duchess's MS. letters to her mother. Next year the Duchess of Gordon created a riot at the opera by kissing the Due de Chartres ; but these were days when Adhemar, the French Ambassador, got into a scrape for placing his palsied " leg on Lady Parker's lap," and being unable to remove it! a Mrs. Tickell wrote that her husband took " a chosen band " to witness the proceedings of "this great day." 56 SHERIDAN ON PITT Yet now the souls of the present ministry had vanished, though their bodies, like empty forms, still kept their places, and he might add to the former quotation : "... But now they rise again With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools, Threatening the House with fifty deaths or dissolutions." 1 Uproar of every description signalised the further debates, but Pitt stood his ground and moved to bring in his own India Bill, which was rejected on January 23. Fox sneered at it as an " individual opinion," and ten days later, Fox's faithful squire, Coke of Norfolk, moved to censure the ministers. Sheridan braced himself for an effort and made a powerful speech the one which referred to his disapproval of the Coalition when it was formed. Lord Mulgrave, in aid of Pitt, had affirmed that in the appointment of ministers the Crown ought not to regard the support of the House of Commons, and he had cited that Whig oracle, Lord Somers. But Sheridan exposed the precedent, which really referred to the case of an impeachment. Pitt, too, had asserted that he " stood firm in the fortress of the Constitution," but where, urged Sheridan, was the constitutional fortress that was not garrisoned by the Lower House ? " There might possibly indeed be a lieutenant-governor of the fort who, though he did not mix in the battle, was not less the commander, though his orders were not publicly delivered. The House of Commons ought to inspect the works and see that no sap was carrying on that might dismantle it. The present ministers were labouring to erect a fabric that might shield them against every attack ; but they were erecting it on ground that was already undermined ; and however strong the pillars might be, however solid and firm the buttresses, however well turned the arches, yet the founda- tion must be weak when the ground was undermined ; not only the building could not stand, but the very weight of it would precipitate its fall. Secret influence was what undermined the 1 For these two speeches cf. Sheridan's Speeches, Vol. I., pp. 62, 65. 57 SHERIDAN whole ; it constituted a fourth estate in the Constitution, for it did not belong to the King, it did not belong to the Lords, it did not belong to the Commons. . . . The King would have forced upon him an administration which he could not dismiss." The allusion to " a fourth estate " was a happy hit at those who impugned Fox for creating one. He warmly defended Fox and the late administration as disinterested. He had called Pitt a King's minion and compared him to James I.'s Duke of Buckingham ; he would not retract, for all who owed promotion to the personal favour of the Crown were favourites and deserved the name. But despite Sheridan's eloquence, the scales were already turning, and whereas three weeks before, the division had shown a majority of 142 against ministers, it was now reduced by nearly one-sixth. 1 Sheridan had already captured his audience, but he had not yet attained the commanding position which he held after 1788. He was regarded more as a great wit and rhetorician than as a great orator. Still more was he regarded as an indefatigable worker in the serious business of his party. He had yet to be lessoned in the magnitude of affairs and the width of view which alone can handle them. The present issues, unlike the world-wide problems that ensued, were mainly technical, and Sheridan brought ingenuity to tackle them. But one gift he owned, apart from fluent fancy or cool judgment, which already enchained his hearers. His voice, though occasionally tending to thickness, was singularly musical, vibrating to every mood that modulated it. Fox barked if contemporaries are to be trusted ; Burke shrieked, and Pitt, always stately and imposing, spoke sometimes as if "a ball of worsted was in his mouth." Sheridan had no such drawbacks; he sang his listeners into attention. And at this period his appearance prepossessed the most critical. " His countenance and features," wrote Wraxall, who now listened to him in the House, " had in them something peculiarly pleasing, indicative at once of intellect, humour, and gaiety. All these character- istics played about his lips when speaking, and operated with 1 Twenty-four. Cf. Speeches, Vol. I., pp. 67 71. 58 SHERIDAN AS ORATOR inconceivable attraction ; for they anticipated, as it were, to the eye, the effect produced by his oratory on the ear, thus opening for him a sure way to the heart or the understanding." l Of all spells, that of oratory is the hardest to revive, and these characteristics must be remembered in estimating the effects of his rhetoric. Events now quickened towards a close. Addresses against the ministers poured in from Middlesex and Westminster ; Fox was mobbed, Pitt was mobbed, the Opposition majority was reduced to seven, and Fox bitterly complained of deserters. Though Alderman Sawbridge renewed a motion for parlia- mentary reform, on which Sheridan spoke, nothing was heard but the dissolution of Parliament. Fresh efforts were tried to reconcile Fox to Pitt and to form a coalition between them. But the two extremes could not meet ; and matters were brought to a head by a daring theft of the Great Seal from Lord Thurlow's house in Great Ormond Street. " Old Hurlo Thrumbo," as they called him, stood thunderstruck. This happened on the morning of March 24, and on the same day Parliament was dissolved. Burke styled it " a penal dissolu- tion." 3 The Duchess of Devonshire announced the great news to her mother with the addition that she "was dressing" and that "the Duke of Portland and C. Fox" were writing in her room. The days, perhaps, have gone by when a political chieftainess can assemble the heads of her party in a dressing-room ; ladies then exercised more political influence, though they claimed it less. 1 Cf. Wraxall, Vol. III., p. 368. He confirms the general opinion of his voice as " singularly mellifluous," and he contrasts his countenance in his prime with its degeneration in later days. It should, however, be stated that drink was not the sole cause, for his sister Elizabeth, at the close of this very year of 1784, writes as follows : " Dick sat beside me the whole night and often renewed the subject of my father. He is, I think, greatly altered ; he is altogether a much larger man than I had formed an idea of has a good deal of scurvy in his face, in his manner very kind, but rather graver than I expected ; indeed, I should rather say melancholy than grave. He complains of Charles's neglect a good deal." LeFanu MS. On this occasion he spoke much to his sister about Ireland. a Cf. Fox's Corr., Vol. II., p. 245. " 59 SHERIDAN At the general election " Fox's martyrs " were hewed hip and thigh. Lord John Cavendish was beaten at York. Seats were lost by Coke of Norfolk, of whom (though he became Earl of Leicester) Sheridan used the phrase that he disdained to hide his head in a coronet ; and at Brentford by George Byng, of whom Sheridan then quoted " I could have better spared a better man." But Sheridan had the good fortune to head the poll at Stafford, a convincing proof of his popularity. The election bill of this contest remains among his papers. It amounted to over thirteen hundred guineas, and in these days it may be of some interest to record a few of the items. Forty pounds were spent in ale tickets, ten in " swearing young burgesses." The bulk of the whole went to the burgesses at large. Five guineas enriched the Infirmary, two rejoiced " clergymen's widows," another two, other beneficiaries. Beer covered a multitude of sins, and clearly prevailed over benevolence, though we learn elsewhere that so much as a hundred guineas was allotted to " charity." l Six years later an account was drawn up of Sheridan's total outlay for these years of parliamentary life. It amounted to 2,165 5 s -> and his annual expenses to about 143. These figures, naturally, meant much more then than they would mean to-day. But the great event of this year was Fox's historic West- minster election, in which the Duchess of Devonshire played her traditional part, the Prince of Wales appeared as the prince of democrats, and Sheridan, and his wife, as their unflagging supporters. Pitt's attempt to undo it nearly restored Fox to the favour which he had forfeited, while Georgiana of Devon, as the Phrygian-capped goddess of liberty, repopularised him. " E'en cobblers she canvassed, they would not refuse But huzza'd for Fox and no wooden shoes ; She canvassed the tailors, and asked for their votes, They all gave her plumpers, and cried ' No turncoats ! ' Then let each of us say, ' May the D 1 take Wray, And let Charley and Liberty carry the day.' " 1 " He wisely recollected," adds the squibster, " that charity covers a multitude of sins." Cf. " Westminster Election " (1785), p. 217. 60 THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION And she claimed her empire as the queen of hearts : " Arrayed in matchless beauty, Devon's fair In Fox's favour takes a zealous part, But oh I where'er the pilferer comes beware ! She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart." 1 She and her sister, Lady Harriet Duncannon, were called "the most lovely portraits that ever appeared on a canvass." An eighteenth-century election usually resembled an organised riot, but this critical contest took the shape of veritable Saturnalia. For forty days the neighbourhood of Covent Garden, where the hustings drew nightly crowds to hear the numbers, combined all the elements of a prize-fight and a masquerade. Fox and his opponents, Lord Hood and Sir Cecil Wray, "the Fox, the Lion and the Ass," were the spectacles of the hour, and for them the theatres were thinned and the Opera well nigh forsaken. Neither side stinted their lungs, their fisticuffs or their abuse, while a bevy of fine ladies cast decorum to the winds and plunged into the fray ; a kiss, a vote, and " The devil take the hind- most," were the mottoes. Bullies and chairmen elbowed bucks and dames of high degree. Fox, as " Black Reynard," moved everywhere, ready with his retort ; nor did he fail to make merry over the fact that his enemies always assembled in auction-rooms. 2 The voters for the " Man of the People " exhausted their coarse vocabulary against " Judas " Wray, the would-be destroyer of Chelsea Hospital, the would-be imposer of the maidservant tax " a bounty on bachelors," as Sheridan laughingly told the House of Commons. Those who upheld the " Men of Prerogative " not only jeered at Fox as a bankrupt knave and " the Jewish Messiah," but vented disgust- ing ribaldry on the Duchess's kisses and her sister's smiles. Mrs. Sheridan, however, escaped ; her " sweetness," they owned, " was irresistible," and the worst that they could do was to call her 1 Cf. " History of the Westminster Election " (1785), p. 476. 2 Christie's in Pall Mall, Suffolk's under the Piazza., and Petterson's in King Street. 61 SHERIDAN " the chairwoman of a petticoat-committee." As for Sheridan, they wondered why his creditors had not hung themselves, and indeed he now outran the constable in Bruton Street. 1 The plump Mrs. Hobart, on whom Fox turned his back, canvassed for Wray, but her charms did small execution, for Fox held all the queen-cards in his hand, and Covent Garden Market beheld its flowers eclipsed by the blaze of beauty. It was a ladies' battle : " All for Love," folks cried, " or The World Well Lost." While the hoarse mob roared, bandying jests and breaking bones round the Whig " Shakespeare Tavern " or the Tory " Wood's Hotel," they paused to stare at other fair ones than the quality. "Perdita" Robinson drove about beseeching the rabble to support Fox and Freedom till her chariot was distrained upon and vanished. Mrs. Armstead (eleven years hence to be Fox's devoted wife) bowed from the windows of a ducal carriage, while roughs huzzaed, for all that she had been Perdita's lady's- maid. 2 The Prince of Wales himself descended into the arena, wearing the cockade of a fox's brush entwined with sprigs of laurel 3 (as contrasted with the Pittite wreath of oak-leaves), and a black coat-collar as against their gaudier blue ones. He escorted the Duchess and her lovely train, he unbent to all, an Olympian in Hades. His friends, Captain Morris the singer, Sam House the bruiser, and Bate-Dudley the fighting parson, diversified the proceedings ; while the verses and speeches of Sheridan did much to quicken the fun of the fair. Sheridan himself was conspicuous, composing skits and nonsense-rhymes, 4 1 A year or so later Mrs. Tickell, while her sister stayed with the Crewes, told her that she noticed the grand preparations in Bruton Street for the coming season. The habits there were not regular, and the same correspondent remonstrates with Mrs. Sheridan for "going to bed at three, breakfasting at two, and taking no exercise." It is usually stated that this remarkable woman (for she became an example and a scholar) began as Mrs. Abington's waiting-woman, but the long and illustrated " Westminster Election," published in the next year, expressly says that she was Mrs. Robinson's. Cf. p. 233. 8 The ladies, too, wore these emblems. The Duchess speaks in a letter of her sister going to the Opera to " sport her cockade." * One of these runs 62 SHERIDAN'S PART: MRS. CREWE arranging surprises, attending dinners at the " Crown and Anchor," where he proposed his favourite toast, "the Liberty of the Press." Had it been his own election, he could not have exerted himself more. Everywhere he was to the front, and in the thick of the melee. And the thick of it was violent. A youth shouting " Fox for ever " was knocked down by " a brute in the shape of a constable." An officer of the peace, Nicholas Casson, was knocked down by Fox's rioters and died of his injuries. Sheridan tried to restore order and stood bail for the gang. Mock funeral processions, mock shows of every description, marked the disturbance. And on May 14, when the poll was declared, there stood Sheridan beaming with his friends. Two members had to be returned. Hood headed the list with 6,694 votes, Fox came second, only 60 votes behind him, and Wray, last by 36. Shouts of triumph rent the air, and Fox was chaired in a semi-royal procession led by mounted heralds, surrounded with flags and emblems, and brought up by six-horsed coaches conveying their fair graces of Devonshire and Portland. A few days later, Carlton House outdid itself " Mountmorres, Mountmorres, Whom nobody for is, And for whom we none of us care, From Dublin you came ; It had been much the same If your Lordship had stayed where you were." That it is by Sheridan is shown by a number of similar ones among his own papers and a few in the Holland House MSS. "The House that George Built " is also probably his, for a year or so later Mrs. Tickell mentions a similar effusion, which appears in " The Rolliad," and, later still, Sheridan introduced one into a speech. It begins as follows : " This is the House that George built, This is the malt, etc. LORD NUGENT [. P- 353- a Sir Gilbert Elliot wrote that the altercation " made more noise and occasioned more conversation throughout London than almost any event" he could recollect ; cf. his " Life and Letters," Vol. I., p. 350. 203 SHERIDAN were not " citizens," but " base hireling mutineers ; mercenary, sordid deserters, wholly destitute of any honourable principle." He felt genuinely concerned that " this strange thing called a Revolution in France should be compared to the glorious Revolution in England." He laboured to distinguish between "reform" and "innovation." For himself, he approached the end of his career, natural as well as political; he felt weak and weary; he longed for rest. In the Constitution itself he desired few changes happy if he left it none the worse for his exertions in its service. But much as it would afflict him were any friend of his implicated in measures like those of the French democracy, he would forsake his best friends and join with his worst enemies to oppose either the means or the end. Burke's speech was a splendid outburst, but even his warmest adherents deemed it " unguarded." l Fox did his utmost to appease his master. His counter- compliment was fine, and he was " almost seen to weep " in delivering it. Such was his sense and value of Burke's principles and judgment, such his esteem for his friendship, that if he were to put all the political information he had acquired from books, from science, and from knowledge of the world and its affairs into one scale, and the improvement derived from Burke's instruction and conversation in the other, he should be at a loss to say which would preponderate. But why should a few stray words in praise of an army no longer an instrument of despotism be construed into a design to democratise this country ? He was equally opposed to all absolute forms of government. He would never lend himself to any conspiracy for the introduction of dangerous inno- vations. As for the two Revolutions, they differed in their circumstances. The French despotism had been far harsher than the British, and much as he lamented scenes of cruelty and bloodshed, he believed that when France had once settled down the issues in that country would be for the benefit of this. He besought Burke to believe that his alarms were 1 Cf . the passage cited from Sir G. Elliot. 204 ANSWERS BURKE'S INNUENDOES groundless. Then Burke rose once more, asserting that the severance of a limb would not inflict greater pain on him than " a public and violent difference of opinion," yet he was glad to have elicited an answer " so satisfactory to himself, the House, and the nation." 1 These details form a necessary prelude to Sheridan's inter- vention. Burke impressed the House with a suspicion that Fox had yielded to younger and less fit advisers. 2 The innuendo pointed to Sheridan, who was afterwards accused of fomenting the irritation. His speech certainly provoked a final farewell from Burke to himself. But it cannot be read without discerning outside personal vexation, a feeling that Burke's utterance had taken the shape of rank political hypocrisy. Burke's brain was now possessed by France fully as much as by Warren Hastings. His invectives so Sheridan fancied extended to actual persons, to Lafayette and to Bailly. His distinctions of "reform " from " innovation " seemed quibbles. Nor did his flatteries march with his inner meaning. Everyone knew that he had come down prepared to anti-gallicise the situation. If he wished to be quit of his old friends, let him say so frankly and have done. Sheridan assailed Burke not for his " principles," which he exalted, but for his present application of them ; and by this line of argument he undoubtedly stung to the quick one who condensed the classics into a political dialectus. He upheld the French Revolution, so far as it had proceeded, as a move- ment quite as just as the English. He defended the National Assembly. How could it be said to have overturned the laws and revenues? laws, forsooth, that were "the arbitrary mandate of capricious despotism," revenues that were nothing but " national bankruptcy." The fundamental error of Burke's argument was in imputing to the Assembly those evils which " they had found existing in full deformity at the first hour of their meeting." Some radical amendment of a constitution 1 Cf. Adolphus, Vol. IV., pp. 466 473 ; McCormick's " Memorials " of Burke, pp. 329335- 2 Cf. Minto, " Life and Letters," Vol. I., p. 350. 205 SHERIDAN under which such ills flourished was inevitable. The " frame and fabric " had to be altered, and this was " the claim and cry of all France," not of the Assembly alone. In " abhorring the cruelties which had been committed," he joined heartily with Burke : " But what was the striking lesson, the awful moral that was to be gathered from the outrages of the populace ? What but a supreme abhorrence of that accursed system of despotic government which had so deformed and corrupted human nature as to make its subjects capable of such acts ; a govern- ment that sets at nought the property, the liberty and lives of the subjects, . . . that deals in extortion, dungeons, and tor- tures, shows an example of depravity to the slaves over which it rules ? And, if a day of power comes to the wretched populace, it is not to be wondered at, however much it may be regretted, that they should act without those feelings of justice and humanity which the principles and practice of their governors had stripped them of." " To traduce the National Assembly was to libel the whole French nation." With a fierceness which he afterwards regretted, 1 he inquired whether Burke " had found his doctrines amidst the stones of the Bastille, or collected them from the baggage of Marshal Broglie." Could the French King have given the French people a good constitution ? He denied it. " The French were naturally a brave and generous people : their vice had been their govern- ment." In radically amending it, however, he could not approve of their wanton persecution either of nobles or royalties. And Sheridan ended where he began, by controverting Burke's comparison of the Revolution in France with ours in England. " He had never been accustomed," he said, " to consider that transaction as merely the removal of one man and the substitution of another, but as the glorious era that gave a real and efficient freedom to the country, and established on a permanent basis those sacred principles of government and reverence for the rights of men which he, for one, could not 1 Cf. Sir G. Elliot's testimony, " Life and Letters," Vol. I., p. 351. 206 BURKE'S EXASPERATION value here, without wishing to see them diffused throughout the world." The tone exasperated Burke beyond measure. He publicly proclaimed that henceforward he and his honourable friend " as he had been in the habit of calling him " were separated in politics. Even so he might have expected more kindness. If Sheridan would not, " for the sake of a long and amicable con- nection," hear him with some impartiality, at least he might have done him the justice of stating his arguments fairly. He had charged him with advocating the despotism which he had blamed, and he was known to be its professed enemy. Again, had he " libelled " the National Assembly ? His remarks had not been aimed so much against that body as against "the republic of Paris, whose authority guided or whose example was followed by all the republics of France. It was this republic, and not the National Assembly, that commanded the army." The whole tenor of his life proved him a firm and sincere friend of freedom. But under that description he was concerned to find persons in this country who entertained theories not thoroughly consistent with the safety of the State, and were perhaps ready to transfer to this kingdom, and for their own purposes, a part of the anarchy which prevailed in France. Sheridan's comments were not such as fitted " the moment of departed friendship." It was clear that he had " sacrificed friendship for the sake of catching some momentary popularity." Greatly as he should continue to admire the honourable gentle- man's talents, he must tell him that his argument was chiefly an argument ad invidiam, and that all the applause which he could covet from clubs was scarcely worth the sacrifice which he had chosen to make for so insignificant an acquisition. It is impossible not to sympathise with the worn veteran the Whig Nestor towering among his fellows, yet baited by a band of new-fangled extremists. Yet his closing hints were virulent. What had been his own suggestions of democratic despotism but an argument ad invidiam, and how then could he murmur against Sheridan's ? The reference to clubs was not to the " Whig Club," though that too indulged in French sympathies. 207 SHERIDAN It concerned the propagandist assemblies. The old Society for Constitutional Information, once the prop of reform, had now turned pro-Gallic, and to it more violent associations were affiliated: the new Corresponding Society, which certainly plied an intercourse with the revolutionists across the Channel, and the Society of the Friends of the People, which was to become an affair wholly Jacobin. To all but the second of these Sheridan seems to have belonged; to the first of them Fox belonged also. Still another, the " Revolution Club," when Parliament met in this autumn, was to cheer the toasts of " May the Parliament of Great Britain become a National Assembly ! " and " When Mr. Burke shall be arraigned for a libel on the rights of men, may his trial be as long as Mr. Hastings's ! " l No great time elapsed before the real English Jacobins rallied round "Citizen" Stone and Helen Maria Williams in Paris ; before they were rumoured to have proposed Fox's health and Sheridan's; before French citizenship was offered, if declined. 2 Yet only three years hence, and Sheridan is to be found restraining Fox's ardour to champion these Societies in Parliament, and dissuading him from a challenge so rash and wilful. 3 Nor in this particular instance can Sheridan be truly charged with fanning the flame, which 1 Cf. " Life and Letters " of Sir G. Elliot, Vol. I., p. 365. * Sheridan denied that his health was drunk, though so went the rumour. Fox's letter is extant among the Sheridan MSS. : "Dear Sheridan, though you do not like the writing on this subject, yet I cannot go to bed comfortably without telling you that the more I consider what you have been saying, the less am I satisfied with the means you propose. I wish to see you again, but I own my present opinion is that the evil of a direct battle at the Friends of the People and Constitution which Grey mentioned, will be less than that of any Address to the Public acquiesced in by those members who think with me. Besides, there were some things in the pro- posed Address which, if I heard them right, I disapprove exceedingly. I mean that part which refers to the trials and acquittals [*.., of Payne, Home Tooke and others] . I wish to see you very much, but I think it fair to repeat that my present inclination is to promote opposition and, if that fails, secession as much as is in my power. [This he accomplished some four years later.] Yours ever, C. J*. Fox. Sunday night." 208 ATTEMPTS AT RECONCILIATION was bound in any case to blaze out on the part of Burke, as blaze out it did in a famous debate of the following year. While Sheridan listened to Burke's reproaches, he winced and changed colour a most unwonted self- betrayal. Burke, whom he had so lately lauded to the skies Burke, at once the Bayard and the Crichton of his party, had proclaimed that henceforth they were political strangers. He could not but be moved, and Burke owned afterwards that in private he bore him no ill will. Every effort was made for a recon- ciliation. A mutual friend, O'Brien another Irishman, who stood by Sheridan to the last repaired next morning to Burke's house as a mediator, and an appointment was made for ten o'clock that night. Burke, however, dined out, and found Sheridan departing from Gerrard Street just as he returned home. They drove off together to the Duke of Portland's. Burke shook Sheridan by the hand and told him that the matter should be publicly set right. As they conversed, however, in the carriage, some argument advanced by Sheridan and conceived by Burke to mean self-justification, revived all his asperity. When they descended at Burlington House, both Fox and the Duke received them. But a conference of an hour and a half failed to appease the disputants. Sheridan " expressed great penitence " and was willing to make " all necessary concessions," but Burke and Fox is the witness " broke off the treaty too abruptly." Next day Burke's son took his father's place at a fresh Burling- ton House meeting. Pelham was present, and Pelham thought " young Burke rather too hard with Sheridan." 1 That night yet a third attempt at reconciliation seems to have failed. Once more the Duke of Portland assisted. The interview lasted from ten at night till three in the morning ; but Burke remained "implacable." 2 On the evidence, it was not Sheridan's fault that Burke repulsed his apologies. They dined together not 1 Sir G. Elliot's " Life and Letters," Vol. I., pp. 351, 352. * Cf. a pamphlet, "Utrum Horum," cited by McCormick in his " Memorials " of Burke, p. 338. In a jotting left by Moore among the Sheridan MSS., he mentions this pamphlet among those that he wished to obtain. S. VOL. II. 209 P SHERIDAN long afterwards both at the Duke of Portland's and with the Prince of Wales, but Burke told Sir Gilbert Elliot that, while he " had no animosity " against Sheridan, their former friend- ship could not be restored even if this episode were to be patched over. The wound would admit of nothing more than a temporary cure. Fox had now taken his line, and the " foxhounds " followed his halloo. Things marched. " The lanterns of Paris " Burke wrote the phrase " made their light shine before men," 1 and while Fox basked in their beams, Burke illumined the world with the radiance of his anti-Revolution essays. He was bent on a final breach, and during May, 1791, the recommit- ment of the Quebec Bill, which opened out a comparison of various constitutions, gave the opportunity for one of the most dramatic and moving scenes that the House of Commons has ever witnessed. That historic debate cannot be detailed here, for Sheridan is not reported as taking part ; 2 but Burke, after warning all to "fly from the French Constitution," brushed away Fox's whisper that " there was no loss of friends " by shouting that there was. He knew the penalty of his conduct. He had done his duty at the price of his friend ; their friend- ship was at an end. In vain did Fox vindicate himself with a flood of tears. His arguments, Burke urged, obliterated his tenderness. The French " would go on from tyranny to tyranny, from oppression to oppression, until at last the whole system would terminate in the destruction of that miserable and deluded people. He sincerely hoped that no member of 1 Cf. the letter to Sir G. Elliot in his " Life and Letters," Vol. I., P- 365- a He did, however, try to stave off the dilemma by pleading in April for the postponement of the question; cf. Speeches, Vol. II., p. 48. And a MS. fragment exists among Sheridan's papers which is evidently meant for a contribution to this debate, for one of its sentences is " The Canadians have been thirty years in the wilderness, and you set up a calf of gold." Another (quoting Burke against Burke) runs : " What must Frenchmen think of Burke's abuse ? I cannot draw a bill of indictment against a whole People. Pitt helps the Revolution. For little purposes you shake the pillars of the Constitution. You tell them that there is a desperate faction on one side. ..." 210 BURKE REPUDIATES FOX that House would ever barter the constitution of this country, the eternal jewel of their souls, for a wild and visionary system which could only lead to confusion or disorder." * The results of this rupture were critical though not instant. Fox, who had learned everything from Burke, unlearned all, faster, daily. Burke, the mentor, the St. Paul of his party, withstood it to the face, and with Burke gradually went out the Duke of Portland, 2 the Grenvilles, Windham, Fitzwilliam and other great props of the cause. It was a Whig exodus, and the scattered Foxites were left alone. The Opposition votes, which had once num- bered quite a hundred and sixty in the House of Commons, sank in the end to fewer than twenty-five. Burke (in the letter to Elliot already cited) complained that Sheridan was to write against him. 3 Fragmentary notes for this unpublished counterblast survive among Sheridan's papers. Part of them must have been written in 1792, when the romantic Pamela was his guest, for " Pamela is here," finds a place on the manuscript. Some of the jottings criticise Burke's theories of the English Revolution. " There cannot," runs one, " be a greater fallacy than considering the Bill of Rights as the temperate accomplishment of the wishes of Freemen." Burke, says another, seeks to " bind our posterities." Burke's argument is " Don't attempt to be free, for you have no antiquity for it." The French " learned from Mr. Burke that they could not look to England for a Constitution " : " The French might have placed their Constitution like ours. We have not altered ours by the Revolution. They might have our Constitution under James the Second, but the man is of con- sequence, and we gained by changing. They might have kept their King in a reformed Constitution unfit, says Burke, to be an instrument of democracy. O how unfit to be the executive of machinating, arbitrary power ! Compare our mistakes in 1 Cf. Adolphus, Vol. IV., pp. 599 615. a As early as 1790 the Duke wavered, and Sir G. Elliot drew up a paper for his consideration on this subject. Among the Sheridan Papers remain several letters from Fox to Grenville, bitterly complaining of the desertions. 3 Elliot's " Life and Letters," Vol. I., p. 366. 2H P 2 SHERIDAN settling our Constitution, bastardising the Pretender, beheading Charles. This boasted Constitution is the offspring of a thousand times worse crimes and frauds. The principles of the Revolution were ours." " They [the French] are arraigned as if they had the ball at their feet, as if they might sit in tem- perate council. How were slaves to be animated ? How was the hypocrisy of acquiescence in despotism to be counteracted ? Burke, however, assumes the King's acquiescence to be all royal knavery." "Let us follow the melodious enchantment of his song." " Popular confidence is necessary." There are several sheets of these disjointed criticisms, and their rough outlines permeate his speeches. Henceforward he warmly censured the methods of the First Minister, who ruled " by Privy Council," whose ideal of discussion, said Sheridan, was to dispense with "information on the subject." Thus, Sheridan on Pitt, Burke, and the Jacobins. His utterances will receive fresh illustration hereafter. Both he and Fox aided the Duchess of Devonshire in her efforts to save the heroic Queen. Their names appear in the reports sent to her by agents, and the writer has seen letters from the Duke of Dorset regarding this effort to save " poor Mrs. B.," as Marie Antoinette is styled in the secret corre- spondence. When once Napoleon shot up, Sheridan ceased to plead for the French, though all along he pelted Pitt with indignation at his clandestine system of government, at his " cant of responsibility, as a perquisite of office rather than the peril of his situation," at his treatment of an Opposition who " were tired of enduring the scourge and being obliged at the same time to kiss the rod." l But ere then Fox was half estranged from him. Burke had quarrelled with Fox alike and with Sheridan ; Fox for a space had looked askance at Grey ; Fox and Grey had both come to mistrust Sheridan. Windham had gone over to Pitt. Such was the plight of that once proud and united Opposition to the great minister who lived and died for England's glory. ' Speeches of June 2 and April 12, 1791. Cf. Speeches, Vol. II., PP- 43. 6 4- 212 Sheridan's son TOM, from the portrait by Gainsborough (in the possession of Algernon Sheridan, Esquire.) CHAPTER IX TRAGEDIES (17891792) [MRS. SHERIDAN IN DANGER. HER ILLNESS AND DEATH. SHERIDAN'S LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND LADY BESSBOROUGH.] " Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory." SHELLEY. WHILE the world rang with Sheridan's rhetoric and the Sheridans tripped gay measures in the ball-room of society, tragedy lurked in the background and haunted their precincts. The minor tragedies and comedies of life were ever near them ; the perennial duns, the bottomless pit of theatrical finance, and, on the laughing side, the Bohemian revellers who mixed queerly with the grander folks. Then, too, there was the desultory education of Tom, who managed to elude the Argus- eyes of sententious Parr, got into boyish scrapes, abounded in dare-devilry and wit, shared the Linley gift of music, and was eventually to be seen " flourishing a quire of paper before breakfast and burning it sheet by sheet, drinking the cream and throwing wet wafers against the wall " the picture of a spoilt child. 1 But graver disasters and worse pitfalls now threatened their peace. Hardly had the spectre of Mrs. Tickell's death chilled the Sheridan household, than Mrs. Sheridan herself began to show signs of the hereditary curse. These, however, came and went, the physicians were hopeful, and she did not cease to overtax her strength in the nightly round of amusement. Admiration 1 " Early Life of S. Rogers," p. 401 (from the musician Jackson's information). 213 SHERIDAN still pursued her. More than one royal prince dangled in her train. Charles Fox's "passion," she wrote, had revived. As for Sheridan, hurrying between Deepdene and London, off here, there, and everywhere : what with worry, business, pre- occupations, and his " menus plaisirs," little, she told Mrs. Canning, was to be seen of him by her. 1 Already in her sister's lifetime hints of imprudence had been whispered. By mistake, Mrs. Tickell once opened a letter addressed to Mrs. Sheridan at Hampton Court, but she assured her that not a syllable of its contents would or could ever escape her lips. That was in 1786, but even now in 1789 something more definite came to light something which showed Mrs. Sheridan what risks she ran, which proved the affection which her husband bore her, and proved also that the taint of her surroundings was powerless to infect her heart. It will suffice to give two letters, one which Sheridan's wife now sent to Mrs. Canning, and one its pendant from Sheridan to the same tried and trusted friend. These two communica- tions will tell the story, and neither of them has hitherto been published. " Do you know," she writes, half jesting, " I was very near coming to spend a week with you some little time ago if I had not been afraid of my dear Sister Christian's purity bringing me and my peccadillos into a scrape that I know she would have been sorry for. Seriously, I was coming, but I thought if I did that S. would most probably pay me a visit, and then if he should have asked a question about the anonymous letter, I felt sure that your face at least would betray me, which, now that everything is blown over, would have been attended with very disagreeable consequences and I therefore gave up a scheme which would have given us both, I hope, great pleasure. So you see what you get, or rather what you lose, by your goodness." Remembering what Mrs. Sheridan had once confided about lax standards to her husband's sister, the meaning is obvious. An unsigned letter had been sent worthy of the 1 Sheridan MSS. Mrs. Sheridan's Corr. 214 MRS. SHERIDAN'S "PECCADILLO' School for Scandal, and Sheridan was jealous. There were circumstances to conceal, though nothing had passed but indis- cretion the sentimental, romantic escapades of the circle which monopolised her husband's attention. Absurd rumours had been afloat, earlier, that he beat and starved her, and, when she was ill, she had forced herself to go out with him into society in order to refute these calumnies of the Backbites and Sneerwells. 1 But now something hidden was in train, some- thing with which Mrs. Bouverie seems in some way connected, something that "Sister Christian" so censured that for a time she denied herself to her dearest friend, who well-nigh broke her heart at the interrupted companionship. It cannot have been long before Sheridan in his turn took up the pen ; his delicacy does him honour : " Saturday night. " Dear Mrs. Canning, Altho' I do not think it likely that I shall miss you to-morrow morning, yet I am so anxious to prevent any accidental engagement interfering with my seeing you that I send this to reach you very early, hoping that you will give me a leisure half-hour about twelve. " I wish exceedingly to speak to you about your friend and your answer to Mrs. B. [? Bouverie] . I am confident you do not know what her situation is or what effect may arise, or has indeed taken place on her mind from the impression or apprehension that the Friend she loved best in the world appears, without explanation even, to be cool'd and chang'd towards her. She has not seen your letter to Mrs. B., and I would not for the world that she should. My dear Mrs. Canning, you do not know the state she has been in, and how perilous and critical her state now is, or indeed you would upbraid yourself for harbouring one altered thought, or even for abating in the least degree the warmest zeal of Friendship ! of such friendship as nothing in Nature could ever have prevented her heart showing you. Pray forgive my writing to you thus; but convinced as I am that there is no chance of saving her Life but 1 LeFanu MSS. Elizabeth Sheridan's Corr. 215 SHERIDAN by tranquillising her mind, and knowing as I do, and as I did hope you knew, that God never form'd a better heart, and that she has no errors but what are the Faults of those whose conduct has created them in her against her nature, I feel it impossible for me not to own that the idea of unkindness or coldness towards her from you smote me most sensibly, as I see it does her to the soul. I have said more than I meant. When I have the satisfaction of seeing you to-morrow, I am sure you will enable me to heal her mind on this subject, or real love, charity, and candour exist nowhere. " Yours most sincerely, " R. B. Sheridan." Mrs. Sheridan, it will be remembered, when she revisited East Burnharn during her sister's lifetime, had already owned to having " eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Sorely now did she rue the giddiness of her fine friends, and henceforward she saw less of them daily. "Sister Christian" and she became once more inseparable, and when Mrs. Sheridan died that sweet woman tended her to the last. But she never quite forgot her friend's error. While Mrs. Sheridan was fast sinking in her decline, an allusion to it on Mrs. Canning's part threw Sheridan into a paroxysm. " Not a word of that kind," he said ; " she is an angel if ever there was one. It is all my fault; it is I I that was the guilty fiend," and he sank into a chair, covering his face with his hands, quite convulsed with the agony of his feeling. Thus the story is related on Mrs. Canning's authority by the son's tattling tutor, Smyth. 1 It is partly borne out by the letter-journal which Sheridan dispatched almost daily while his wife lay dying at the Hot Wells. We find him morbid and self-tortured to excess, writhing under the impending blow, pouring out all the love, sorrow, and repentance of his heart. And yet even there he writes, " I am confident if she can recover, there never was on earth anything more perfect than she can be; and, to be different, she says to me, for ever from 1 " Memoirs," p. 26. 216 SHERIDAN'S LETTER TO MRS. CANNING what she has been, makes her so seriously eager to live. 1 ' 1 Alas! pure St. Cecilia, and shame on the heartless world that even for a second could half-sully her white soul ! Who was the tempter? Curiosity must be baffled, though Smyth (who cites Mrs. Canning) more than intimates that Lord Edward Fitzgerald was the man, and Moore mentions an intimacy, which, however, he shields from the shadow of disgrace. Such random shafts hardly fit the stainless and chivalrous record of a hero, and they probably proceeded from the scandalous quiver of Madame de Genlis, who intrigued that Pamela might be Sheridan's wife. 3 A warm friendship between Mrs. Sheridan and the future husband of Madame de Genlis's "daughter" seems highly probable. His close acquaintance with the Sheridans is certain. 3 It was even said that, in the year of her death, she pointed to the fantastic girl and begged him to marry her when she was gone. But if it be true that Lord Edward first saw Pamela some six months later at a theatre-box in Paris, this story also must fall to the ground. It is known that Pamela's resemblance to his dead wife fascinated Sheridan, that she and her preceptress visited him, that he and Fox helped them homewards at a moment when journeys to France were beset with peril.* But there is no sound proof that Lord Edward was the man of the " anonymous letter," nor was Moore aware (or Smyth) of the circumstances just described. Smyth, too, without corrobora- tion, is never too safe a guide : his memory was loose, and he 1 Cf. App. (4) to this Volume. a Cf . Miss Ida Taylor's remarks in her " Life " of Lord Edward, p. 127. On the next page, however, she is mistaken in thinking that Sheridan's love cooled at the last. It was marked that never was he more devoted, and, indeed, his letters prove it. The writer has seen an account of a musical party that Sheridan gave some few years after his wife's death, where Lord Edward figures among the guests. 4 A letter from Fox to Sheridan on this subject remains among the Sheridan Papers. Madame de Genlis makes out that Sheridan played terrifying pranks on them when they departed on their road to Dover, in order to detain them. 217 SHERIDAN wrote at a distance from events which even at the time he had only superficially surveyed. There are many others who might have dared to invade Mrs. Sheridan's peace. That long and lonely time at Deepdene, her constant association with those who saw no harm in frolics of the kind, would readily lend themselves to congenial meetings. Handsome young secre- taries there were of noble dukes who would not fail to sym- pathise with the sometimes neglected wife. But silence is the truest charity ; in silence this episode must pass. With Georgiana of Devonshire, her bosom friend Lady Elizabeth Foster, and her sister Lady Bessborough, the Sheridans had been intimate for years. How intimate Sheridan was is apparent not only from the tragic letters which must soon absorb our attention, but from two sprightly ones before the cloud of impending death had darkened his homestead. " I don't know," writes Sheridan, " whether you are all out, giddy, gay, and chirruping like linnets and yellowhammers, or settling at home soberly like pretty bantams and peafowl on your perches. Pray send me a line if you receive this, dear T. L. Dear Bess, I called to-day." The precise purport of " T. L." cannot be ascertained ; it signifies the Duchess, and unkind gossips might construe it as " true love," though it is often used openly in correspondence. The next letter, to Lady Bessborough, is in a more whimsical vein, and it contains a witty passage. It seems to have been written at a country house where all were staying, and it gives some idea of the badinage that commended Sheridan to the Duchess's romping set : "Tuesday night. I must bid 'oo good-night, for by the lights peeping to and fro over your room, I hope you are going to bed and to sleep happily with a hundred little cherubs fanning their white wings over you in appreciation of your goodness. Yours is the sweet untroubled sleep of purity. " Grace shine around you with serenest beams, and whispering angels prompt your golden dreams and yet, and yet, beware ! Milton will tell you that even in Paradise serpents found their way to the ear of slumbering innocence. 218 GEORGIANA, Duchess of Devonshire, from the original drawing by J. Downman (in the possession of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire). LETTER TO LADY BESSBOROUGH " Then, to be sure, poor Eve had no watchful guardian to pace up and down her windows, or clear-sighted friend to warn her of the stealthy approaches of T.'s [? Townshends], and F.'s [? Fitzpatricks], and W.'s and a long list of wicked letters and Adam, I suppose, was ... at Brooks's. " ' Fye,fye, Mr. S. ! ' I answer, Fye, fye,fye, Lord D[uncannon]. Tell him to come with you, or forbid your coming to a house so inhabited. Now don't look grave. Remember it is my office to speak truth. I shall be gone before your hazel eyes are open to-morrow, but (pray) for the sake of the Lord D. that you will not suffer me to return. Do not listen to Jack's elegies, or smile at F.'s epigrams, or tremble at C. W.'s powers, but put on that look of gentle firmness, of proud humility, and pass on in maiden meditation fancy free. Now draw the curtain, Sally." There are other less sportive utterances of about the same date concerning joint speculations with Martindale the punter, and Sheridan's attempts to set the Duchess free ; l others again relating to Georgiana's poems, which Sheridan assisted with such lively interest. But as we reach the year 1792 his correspondence becomes truly tragic. Mrs. Sheridan was almost despaired of, the Duchess and her sister were away in Savoy, and to both he daily disclosed his anguish. Mrs. Sheridan had long sighed for a little girl to remind her of the vanished sister and to bind her closer to her husband. In the spring of 1791, at Cromwell House, Brompton, whither she had gone, doubtless for quiet, her desire was at length gratified, and the child was baptised Mary, in memory of Mrs. Tickell. Mrs. Sheridan had a true mother's heart. At this 1 In Eg. MS. 1976, f. i, is a letter from a Mr. J. R. Corker to Sheridan about a note for 500 left with him by a Mr. Pearson of Tavistock Street. Pearson being " distressed," was about to " apply in an unpleasant manner " to the Duchess, which the writer prevented by giving him ^200. This he did on Sheridan's assurance that he should be repaid when the Duchess returned to England. This sentence enables us to date the letter as of 1792. He sent the note some time ago, he writes, to Lady Duncannon, but now wants it back in order to proceed against Pearson. 219 SHERIDAN time she was tending the Tickell children, and amid all her gaieties she would read to the little Crewes at Crewe Hall. The tenancy of Cromwell House was one more sign of Sheridan's extravagance, for at this date, besides Bruton Street, he had already leased a large house at Isleworth, the scene of his bygone revels with young Lacy, and now the property of Mrs. Keppel. 1 Mrs. Sheridan's health seemed re-established after the child's birth, but suddenly the old symptoms returned, and in sore distress her husband first took her to Southampton, whence he sent the subjoined letter of melancholy self-reproaches : " ... I am just returned," he writes, " from a long solitary walk on the beach. Night, silence, solitude, and the sea com- bined will unhinge the cheerfulness of anyone, when there has been length of life enough to bring regret in reflecting on many past scenes, and to offer slender hope of anticipating the future. . . . There never has been any part of your letter that has more my attention and interested me so much as when you have appeared earnestly solicitous to convey to my mind the Faith, the Hope and the Religion which I do believe exist in yours. . . . How many years have passed " (he proceeds, look- ing back on his elopement) " since on these unreasoning, restless waters, which this night I have been gazing at and listening to, I bore poor E., who is now so near me fading in sickness, from all her natural attachments and affections ; and then loved her so that had she died, as I once thought she would in the passage, I should gladly have plunged with her body to the grave. What times and what changes have passed, . . . what has the interval of my Life been, and what is left me but misery from memory, and horror of Reflection ! " a On May 3 he again took up his pen, and unburdened his heart to those whom he regarded as alone able to afford it relief. He wrote from Spean Hill on the road to the Bristol Hot Wells. His wife was " in bed, very ill, eager to get there and sanguine of the event." " But," he adds, 1 Cf. Eg. MS. 2137, f. Hgd. Cf. App. (4). 22O .E 5 SHERIDAN'S DIARY " many gloomy omens have told me our hopes will be dis- appointed. I have been in long and great anxiety about her, flying from my fears, and yet hoping, one event safely over, that all would be well. . . . Since Friday, when the infant was christened, she has been rapidly falling back. Her impatience to get to Bristol made all delay impossible. I was to have followed her in a week, but yesterday she was so sunk and alarmed that she begged me not to leave her, though, before, she had stipulated that I should settle my affairs in town, and I was only to come with her to Maidenhead Bridge, so I returned to town, and have overtaken her to-day at this place." Mrs. Canning was with her, and Sheridan has no praise high enough for the self-sacrifice of this true-hearted woman. On the next Monday he resumes his journal from Bristol. 1 She had borne the journey well. Dr. Bain (a young physician who was to attend his own death-bed) gave them hopes. " I do not feel," writes Sheridan, " as if I should pursue my plan of writing to you and sharing the melancholy moments I pass here, for the only time I am away from her at night, I get into such gloomy fits I can do nothing. If you were with me now, you would not think it necessary to bid me reflect, or look into my own mind." He tells Lady Bessborough how they had passed Kingsdown, the scene of his second duel for her who now lay dying. He recalls the romantic circumstances and surroundings : how near death he had been ; what good resolves he had made, which, alas ! he had broken ; how the recollection of "the irregularity" of all his "life and pursuits" made " reflection less tolerable to him than even to those who have acted worse." His diary is one of hopes and fears and panics and despair. He was summoned to her at four in the morning ; she had a violent pain in her side. Next day she was bled and blistered. 1 Mr. J. Sturge Cotterell in 1898 did his utmost to trace the house where the Sheridans stayed at the Hot Wells, but without success. He con- jectured with likelihood, however, that they took up their abode in the favourite Colonnade behind the " Pontoon." Among those visiting the place at the same time Sheridan mentions Lady Sarah Napier in these letters. 221 SHERIDAN " I cannot describe to you," he moans, " how horrid the solitude of the night is to me." Now she shows a gleam of returning strength, and again her forces ebb away. She longs after heavenly things. " Ever since her child was born," he recounts, " she has turned her mind almost wholly to think and talk and read on religious subjects, and her fortitude and calmness have astonished me. She has put by every other contemplation." She is eager to live that she may be all in all to him ; should she recover, who could be more perfect ? " But she cannot be deceived about the danger of her situation. The affection and kindness of her words and manner to me make me more unhappy, and do not comfort." And then follows a pathetic picture : " Last night she desired to be placed at the pianoforte. Looking like a shadow of her own picture, she played some notes with the tears dropping on her thin arms. Her mind is become heavenly, but her mortal form is fading from my sight, and I look in vain into my own mind for assent to her apparent conviction that all will not perish. I mean to send for my son, and she wishes for him." She received the sacrament some weeks before the end, and she confided a paper to Mrs. Canning which may have been the directions that she drew up by way of informal will, or, more likely, the paper which com- mitted the care of her infant daughter to her dear, dear Mrs. Canning. 1 1 So Mrs. Canning says in a letter. The other document (Sheridan MSS.) is dated " April 14, 1793. Hot Wells, Bristol," but from Sheridan's letters the Hot Wells were not reached till May, and Mrs. Sheridan probably began her instructions before she reached her destination and added the name of the place afterwards, or perhaps " April " is a slip for June. The following is a summary of its contents. To Eliza Canning her god-daughter she left her watch, chain, and some jewels ; to Jane Linley her pearls. The " fine linen of all kinds which she had lately made up was so far as suitable to be reserved for her dear little infant," the rest to be divided between the beneficiaries just named. To a servant she bequeathed much of her wardrobe, and she specially requested that her mother might not interfere. The 50 or more in a brown silk pocket-book at Isleworth was to be disposed of in mourning rings for the Leighs and the LeFanus ; while the " fausse montre, containing my dear husband's picture," she left to " my 222 MRS. SHERIDAN'S LAST HOURS Sheridan's letters have shed light on his own feelings. Of the closing scenes Mrs. Canning and Dr. Bain are our witnesses. Both agree that nothing could exceed his tenderness. 1 His devotion, said Dr. Bain, was "that of a lover." The son in whom they delighted arrived. The Linleys, then at Bath, visited her on one of her better days, and departed. But on June 27 a turn came for the worse; she could no longer rise, and Sheridan hurriedly recalled them. Here Mrs. Canning takes up the tale in a letter to Sheridan's sister : " They were introduced one at a time at her bedside and were prepared as much as possible for this sad scene. The women bore it very well, but all our feelings were awakened for her poor father. The interview between him and the dear angel was afflicting and heart-breaking to the greatest degree imaginable. I was afraid she would have sunk under the cruel agitation she said it was indeed too much for her. She gave some kind injunction to each of them, and said everything she could to comfort them under this severe trial. They then parted in the hope of seeing her again in the evening, but they never saw her more. Mr. Sheridan and I sat up all that night dear and beloved friend, Mrs. Canning," also a portrait of herself, to be painted by anyone but Cosway, and a ring both to her and her daughter. She desired that " the picture of my dear Mary " should be " unset, and one copied of me joined to it, and the hah: blended, and this, I trust, Mrs. Tickell will permit my dearest Betty to wear in remembrance of her two poor Mothers." To her own mother she gave a "new black cloak which will be comfortable for her in the winter." She disposed of all her ornaments, and desired that 25 should be settled on George Edwards (Sheridan's butler) and on the woman-servant " Faddy " already benefited. " There are other circumstances," she concludes, " which I have mentioned to Mrs. Canning which I hope will likewise be considered as my earnest wish I am now exhausted." 1 Cf. the documents in Moore's Life, Vol. II., pp. 160 166. Mrs. Canning's letters were addressed to Alicia LeFanu (" Lissy "), who cannot here be mistaken for Elizabeth. Smyth also relates what he was told on this head by Mrs. Canning : " No attention was ever equal to his during the last stages of her illness. He bore her in his arms to the spring, he was never absent from her, he watched by her bedside, read the Scriptures to her, joined in her devotions, and rendered her every office of tenderness and duty. ..." Cf. " Memoirs," p. 27. 223 SHERIDAN with her, indeed he had done so for several nights before, and never left her one moment that could be avoided. About four o'clock in the morning we perceived an alarming change, and sent for her physician. She said to him, ' If you can relieve me, do it quickly ; if not, do not let me struggle, but give me some laudanum.' His answer was, ' Then I will give you some laudanum.' Before she took it, she desired to see Tom and Betty Tickell, of whom she took a most affecting leave. Your brother behaved most wonderfully, though his heart was break- ing ; and at times his feelings were so violent, that I feared he would have been quite ungovernable at the last. Yet he sum- moned up courage to kneel at the bedside, till he felt the last pulse of expiring excellence, and then withdrew. She died at five o'clock in the morning. . . . For my part I never beheld such a scene never suffered such a conflict much as I have suffered on my own account. While I live, the remem- brance of it and the dear lost object can never be effaced from my mind." l Till her last moments she was perfectly tranquil and sensible. " She talked," writes Mrs. Canning again, " with the greatest composure of her approaching dissolution, assuring us all that she had the most perfect confidence in the mercies of an all-powerful and merciful Being, from whom alone she could have derived the inward comfort and support she felt at that awful moment, and she said she had no fear of death, and that all her concern arose from the thoughts of leaving so many dear and tender ties, and of what they would suffer from her loss." Sheridan left a striking thought on a scrap of paper : " The loss of the breath from a beloved object, long suffering in pain, and certainty to die, is not so great a privation as the last loss of her beautiful remains, if they remain so. The victory of the Grave is sharper than the sting of Death." a Her wish was to lie near her sister. The funeral took place on the I3th at Wells. It proved a function. A long and 1 Mrs. Canning to Alicia LeFanu, July 19, 1792. Moore, Vol. II., p. 161. * Ibid., p. 164. 224 FUNERAL: TRIBUTES: SHERIDAN'S COMMENT representative cortege attended the hearse, and the populace lined the road all the way from Bristol to the cathedral. 1 Such a parade grated against his feelings. Writing nearly fourteen years afterwards, when Jane Linley, then Mrs. Ward, was laid to rest in a quiet village, Sheridan owned how much he preferred that simplicity to the pomp that had jarred on his desolation when St. Cecilia was buried. 2 But the pageant of her funeral marked the wide-spread homage to one so variously endeared, both in public and private. Tributes to her sweet form, voice, life and character abounded, and not the least touching was the Latin "ode" or epitaph composed in her honour by Dr. Harrington, the friend of her childhood. 3 How Sheridan descended into the vault when 1 There is a contemporary account in Eg. MS. 2137, f. 153, in the British Museum. Mrs. Canning wrote that they could hardly move for the con- course of people. Mr. Leigh, an old friend, read the service. A tablet once in the cloisters, now in the cathedral, is not far from the site of the Linley vault. 2 " I have been to-day at Iver attending poor Jane's funeral with Tom. It was particularly decent and affecting. If you remember, she lived directly opposite the church of that very neat and seemingly innocent village, and like that was her burial no hearse or coach. Her sister's was a gaudy parade and show from Bristol to Wells Cathedral, where all the mob, high and low, were in the church surveying and surrounding the vault. The recollection of the scene and of the journey has always pained me, independently of the occasion itself, and has decided me, who am a friend without superstition to attention and attendance on these occasions, to prefer the mode I witnessed this morning and so shall be my own passage to the grave " (Sheridan to his second wife, Wednesday night, January 16, 1806). Sheridan MSS. 8 It was published in the Rev. Richard Graves's "The Reveries of Solitude" in 1793. Graves lived at Claverton, Bath. It runs as follows : " In obitum Dom. Eliz. Sheridan, Forma, voce, atque ingenio, Inter ornatas ornatissimae, Ab imo amores ita suspirat Amicus. S. VOL. II. 225 Q SHERIDAN Eheu I Eheu 1 Lugeant mortales 1 Eja vero gaudent celestes ! Dulces ad amplexus, Socians jam citharae melos, Redit pergrata, En 1 iterum soror Suaviusque nil manet Hosannis." And it was thus ill-translated : " Sure every beauty, every grace Which other females share, Adorned thy mind, thy voice, thy face, Thou fairest of the fair ! Amidst the general distress Oh 1 let a friend his grief express. But whilst, alas ! each mortal mourns, Rejoice, ye heavenly choir ; To your embraces she returns, And, with her social lyre, Eliza now resumes her seat And makes your harmony complete." The translator quite misses the allusion to her sister. In Felix Farley's Bristol Journal of July 14 appeared some conventional lines of commemoration : " Ah, pay the tribute of a tender tear, As o'er those salutary springs you bend, To her whom, late to every heart most dear, No stream could save, no medicine could befriend. Might virtue stay the clay-cold hand of Death, Might beauty, elegance, the foe disarm, Eliza had not yet resigned her breath, Still had she lived, and still retained each charm. For me, who ne'er like Sheridan have loved, Yet oft in others' sorrows take a part, Well can I guess (altho* I ne'er have proved) What 'tis to lose the partner of one's heart. Yet while reclining o'er Eliza's urn, Should Albion's welfare claim a Patriot's care Swift let him to his guardian charge return, And in the arduous tasks of Duty share," and so forth ; cf. Dufferin Papers. William Linley, however, now in 226 SHERIDAN'S GRIEF all was over and lingered long in prayer and silence, has been already told. 1 He stayed alone with his son for a few days, almost dreading to desert the spot. Then he joined Mrs. Canning and the Leighs at Bath. In July Mrs. Canning accompanied him to Isleworth, leaving him with his children shortly afterwards. " He suffered a great deal," she records, " in returning the same road, and was most dreadfully agitated on his arrival at Isleworth. His grief is deep and sincere, and I am sure will be lasting. He is in very good spirits and at times is even cheerful, but the moment he is left alone he feels all the anguish of sorrow and regret. The dear little girl is the greatest comfort to him. He cannot bear to be a moment without her. . . . Tom behaves with constant and tender attention to his father." Sheridan's agonies were great, he was heard sobbing and moan- ing the whole night long ; Smyth relates that even two years afterwards he could not hear Jane Linley sing without exclaim- ing ' Oh heavens ! if you had heard Mrs. Sheridan sing that song ! " ; and Kelly saw him cry like a child as he sang to him, "They bore her to her grassy grave." While his wound was yet raw, Sheridan composed some tender lines which the same Kelly picked up under the table in his room and set to music. Sheridan was musing on the springtide of his courtship, and he India, composed a long and pathetic elegy. The three last stanzas may be quoted : " When at last ah ! then when hope had flown, Thy mind unchanged, its best monition gave, It seemed to speak a lesson scarce its own, To breathe a purity beyond the grave. That lesson, fixed for ever in my breast, Shall teach me now my sorrows to suppress ; Drive feverish fancies from my couch of rest, And picture brighter scenes to soothe and bless. So shall my soul, resigned to Heaven's decree, To virtue's tranquil meed once more aspire, Nor will my thoughts, though fondly turned to thee, Bid pleasure leave me, and be mute my lyre." 1 Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. no. 227 Q 2 SHERIDAN told his second wife that " the first spring day makes me melancholy always, for a particular reason." How like to Thackeray's ballad-vein are the verses which run as follows : l " No more shall the spring my lost treasure restore ; Uncheered, I still wander alone, And, sunk in dejection, for ever deplore The sweets of the days that are gone. While the sun, as it rises, to others shines bright, I think how it formerly shone ; While others cull blossoms, I find but a blight, And I sigh for the days that are gone. I stray where the dew falls through moon-lighted groves, And list to the nightingale's song; Her plaints still remind me of long-vanished loves, And the sweets of the days that are gone. Each dew-drop that steals from the dark eye of night Is a tear for the bliss that is flown ; While others cull blossoms, I find but a blight, And I sigh for the days that are gone." 2 He made much of those whom his wife had loved and who had best loved her. Linley soon came down to Isle worth ; and Mrs. Canning, who had returned to comfort Sheridan, writes that he seemed " more his child than any one of his own." It was at this time too that Sheridan engaged the meddlesome Smyth (afterwards professor of history) to be tutor to his son. He threw himself into his work with redoubled energy to efface the grief which agonised him. Yet Sheridan was a sentimentalist, and his emotions were moods. Only a few months elapsed before he feted Pamela ; 3 only three years more, and with romantic fervour, he had taken a young girl for his second wife. Another act, however, of this deep tragedy remained. Eighteen months later the little girl who reminded him of her mother, 1 Sheridan MSS. Sheridan to his second wife, April 12, 1797 (cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 202). Rae points out Sheridan's comment. * Ibid., citing Kelley's " Reminiscences," but in my edition of them I cannot find the verses, which however are manifestly Sheridan's. In Eg. MS. 1975 are cuttings describing this "elegant"/^, which six hundred persons attended. 228 "NO MORE SHALL THE SPRING" and who alone reconciled him to existence, rejoined her. He had brought the children to stay with Mrs. Canning, in a small house rented by him at Wanstead in Essex. 1 Mrs. Canning had solemnly promised her dying friend that she would bring up her Mary. Towards the close of October, 2 a large party of young people were assembled at a dance for Tom's benefit, when the disaster happened. Mrs. Canning, after relating how gentle the host was and considerate, " doing the honours," " filling her place so well, . . . attentive to everybody and everything, though grave and thoughtful," thus gives the catastrophe : " We were all in the height of our merriment, he himself remarkably cheerful and partaking of the amusements, when the alarm was given, that the dear little angel was dying ! It is impossible to describe the confusion and horror of the scene : he was quite frantic, and I knew not what to do. Happily there were present several kind good-natured men who had their recollection, and pointed out what should be done. We very soon had every possible assistance, and for a short time we had some hope that the precious life would have been spared to us but that was soon at an end ! " The dear babe never throve to my satisfaction : she was small and delicate beyond imagination, and gave very little expecta- tion of long life ; but she had visibly declined during the last month. . . . Mr. Sheridan made himself very miserable at first from an apprehension that she had been neglected or mis- managed ; but I trust he is perfectly convinced that this was not the case. He was severely afflicted at first. The dear babe's resemblance to her mother, after her death, was so much more striking that it was impossible to see her without recalling every circumstance of that afflicting scene, and he was con- stantly in the room indulging the sad remembrance. In this manner he indulged his feelings for four or five days ; then 1 It belonged to Mr. Wellesley Pole Long. 2 Cf. the cuttings in Eg. MS. 1975. The death of Sheridan's infant daughter, aged eighteen months, is chronicled as " on Sunday last." Smyth notes how extravagant Sheridan had been over the child's attire. 229 SHERIDAN having indispensable business, he was obliged to go to London, from whence he returned on Sunday, apparently in good spirits and as well as usual. But however he may assume the appear- ance of ease or cheerfulness, his heart is not of a nature to be quickly reconciled to the loss of anything he loves. He suffers deeply and secretly, and I daresay he will long and bitterly lament both mother and child." l Many and striking condolences commemorated both these occasions: Tickell and Alicia indited letters honouring the man, and pointing out silver linings within the cloud. Poignantly as Sheridan grieved, he never lost hope. The hand of Fate lay heavy on him indeed, and henceforward a distinct dividing line can be marked. For the future his restraint is less, and more and more he abandons himself to the fatal incitements of drink. Some of his greatest political feats were in store ; anguish urged him to effort. But the light had gone out of his life, and though in a foolhardy renewal of youth he contracted fresh ties, the old, the romantic Sheridan had vanished. 1 Moore, Vol. II., pp. 173, 174. 230 CHAPTER X TO THE MUTINY OF THE NORE (February, 1793 June, 1797) " The Water-world, though not the property, is the Manor of the British Empire, and over that we still stalk triumphant." SHERIDAN, Notes for a speech against Napoleon. THE country was by no means at one when Pitt joined issue with Jacobinism. Many thought the stroke of 1793 premature, and the allies were considered as not only doubtful but dangerous. True, the massacres of the noblesse, the arrests, as a secret agent informed the Duchess of Devonshire, of almost every Parisian who "wore a clean shirt," the execution by ruffians of their hapless King and Queen, had inspired Europe with horror. True, also, the French proclamation in the pre- ceding November that their new-found creed must be propa- gated with Mahomedan zeal, had provoked a feeling which France anticipated by declaring war. But Pitt acted in haste ; delay would have offered opportunity. A neutral Britain might soon have put her weight into the scale, and have avoided a state of things which enabled her enemy to throw down the challenge. Fox and Sheridan called Pitt's hurried campaign " a war of opinion," though they must have known that on such a war France deliberately embarked. But they were right in deprecating the moment which Pitt had chosen for conflict a moment which interrupted the course of pro- gress, saddled the country with unexampled burdens, and spread misery to Ireland. Had Mirabeau lived, the issues might have been different ; had Napoleon never been born, the war could not have been prolonged. But one thing all these statesmen failed to perceive the invincible power of a nation united against foreign aggression. This it was that had sealed 231 SHERIDAN the doom of a weak but well-meaning King. And it was this that, as if by miracle, bred generals, organisers, and heroes out of a ruthless and brutal mob. Pitt, who in 1792 had looked forward to a long vista of peace, now fancied that one campaign would restore the Bourbons, though afterwards he denied this aim, and only demanded some " stable " government. 1 Burke thought France bankrupt and blotted from the map. Fox and Sheridan alone foresaw the length and strength of the struggle, though even they never anticipated the imminence of a new Iliad. They welcomed the throes of emancipation. Amid all the immoral orgy, they only discerned the moral force. France was one, France was free. Nor was Pitt in 1793 quite so secure as he had been in 1789. The Russian imbroglio, the narrow escape from a Spanish war, the menace of the King's lunacy, had weakened confidence. There had been fresh talk of a junction between Fox and Pitt, 2 and it has been already pointed out that Sheridan himself had been approached. 8 Had he complied, he might have left Fox, and joined Pitt, as some of his party had done, and many more were ready to do. But despite Fox's jealous suspicions, nothing was ever further from Sheridan's wishes. Amid all his vagaries, an extreme Whig he was, an extreme Whig he remained. Not all the wealth of all the Indies would tempt the stout contro- verter of Burke to cross over to Pitt, though Burke now taunted the Opposition remnant as a " phalanx." The Duke of Brunswick published his manifesto, on November 5 the battle of Jemappes was fought, and on the same day Burke finished his essay entitled " Heads for Con- sideration on the Present State of Affairs," in which he urged 1 In 1794 Pitt declared England's object to be " the destruction of the French Government." * It was said that they had an interview "in which an objection was raised to Mr. Sheridan by Mr. Pitt, and that Mr. Fox honourably adhered to his political friend." But the real reason for the breakdown of the negotiation was this: that Fox insisted that Pitt should quit the Treasury in favour of Lord Fitzwilliam. Cf. Russell's "Life" of Fox, Vol. II., p. 289. Cf. ante, Vol. I., pp. 39 and 40. 232 THE WAR AGAINST FRANCE most vehemently that England must be "the soul" of any confederacy against France. The French marched on Brussels; each city in the Netherlands, except Luxembourg, was soon reduced, Holland was threatened, the navigation of the Scheldt was to be opened, and the British ministry resolved on war. Every tyrant's throne shook in Europe. But before definite hostilities broke out, Fox moved to send a minister to treat with the provisional government in Paris. Windham ironically asked if Fox was the ambassador-designate, and Lord Sheffield avowed himself ashamed of the enthusiasm once felt for the British Jacobin. Sheridan made a big speech. Pitt was absent, and Burke remarked on the impropriety of discussing the matter till he returned. " This," urged Sheridan, " was a tender respect to the dignity of office in the right honourable gentleman, but he must be permitted to say that the representation of the country was indeed placed in a degraded light, if it was to be maintained that the great council of the nation was not in this momentous crisis a competent court to discuss the dearest interests of the people unless a certain minister were present." What exertion that he could have furnished had been left unsupplied? Not an atom of information (it was Pitt's habit) could any present member of the Government furnish. It was alleged that England was insurgent. " Doubtless, therefore, the insur- rection was a secret deposited in the breast of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and he had taken in his pocket all the proofs, to assist his election at Cambridge." Was it absurd to try a negotiation for peace before we plunged into the horrors of war ? A terrible fate hung over the French monarch which might still be averted if we ceased to irritate France. It had been said that by treating with the French we should be supplicating forbearance. Was " petition " then the sole alternative to war ? Had we petitioned Spain in the affairs of Nootka Sound, or France in 1787, during the dispute regarding this very Holland for France now claimed to set free the Scheldt ? Or was the First Minister so " meek, pliant, and bending," that he could not " assume a lofty tone or a haughty air for any 233 SHERIDAN purpose " ? Then Sheridan dealt with Windham's argument that " moral propriety precluded any negotiation with France, which, if it ever happened, should be a thing not of choice but necessity." But some time or other France must be treated with, for " eternal war or the extirpation of the nation was not yet avowed by anyone." " Happy, dignified opportunity to treat when we should be completely at their mercy ; unquestion- ably we should then be justified, and certainly we should be undone." To his mind the sole ground for war " must be the defence of the country and the Constitution " ; for that purpose he would support the executive government, " in whatever hands it might be reposed." Not one drop of British blood ought to be shed to restore an obsolete despotism. " The real object of this war was one thing ; the fiery declaration which was to whet our valour was another." Mr. Burke had warned the House to be tender in advising the King as to the exercise of his prerogative, yet it had been usurped by declaring the nation to be actually in arms. At the very moment, too, when the minister deprecated one grain of compromise, he " was actually negotiating not only through Holland, but directly with agents from the French Executive Council." If he should tell the House that the issue was favourable, and that Britain might adhere to an applauded neutrality, were we to detest his peace and brand him as the duper of his King ? As for the plea that all peace-endeavours must fail, because Dumouriez had been ordered to open the Scheldt, dates easily refuted it : these instructions preceded the knowledge of our resolve to support the States-General at Paris. Why had no represen- tation on the subject been made to the French? In 1785, when the Emperor seized the Scheldt, the French determina- tion to support Holland had been subsequently notified to him, and negotiation had disarmed force. But now, if a real war were really purposed, our preparations ought to be instant and vigorous. " The French had been uniformly partial, and even prejudiced in English favour. What manly sense, what united feeling communicating with them might have done, above all, what fair truth and plain dealing might have effected, he 234 SHERIDAN FOR PEACE: HIS SPEECHES believed it was hard to calculate. But to withhold all these from that nation by our hollow neutrality would prove, he felt certain, an error ever to be lamented." l On February 7 of the next year he loudly complained once more that Pitt burked information, and for many years it was true that the proud minister claimed a blank cheque of confidence and disdained to impart the secret knowledge which prompted his action. This long speech of Sheridan's only preluded a great one which dared Burke's vaticinations a Voutrance. For Burke predicted ruin, and played the part of Cassandra on the Westminster ramparts. Shortly earlier on the second reading of the Bill for preventing an asylum for aliens in the home of liberty he had cast down his Birmingham dagger on the floor of the House to point the machinations of treason, while Sheridan had asked with a smile why the spoon and fork were missing from this theatrical cutlery. And next day, when the man whom Burke had charged with manufacturing the weapons called to remonstrate on his gross exaggerations, " Get out of my house ; get out of my house," had been the patriot's infuriated reply. Sheridan's oration was delivered on February 12, when Pitt moved that an humble address should be presented to His Majesty, of national accord in the necessity for meeting the French acts of aggression. Fox met it by an amendment expressing concern at hostile acts against Britain, the Commons' resolve to maintain the honour of Great Britain and to " vindicate the rights of the people " by the support of "a brave and loyal" nation, either in war or in "such other exertions" as might induce France to consent to "terms of pacification " consistent with national honour. Fox led the way ; Sheridan rose to risk a fresh duel with Burke. He began by defending Fox against Burke's " ungoverned bitterness and spleen towards the man whom he still, occa- sionally, professed so much to respect." Burke had twitted their sparse ranks as " a phalanx," yet he called Fox's 1 Cf. Speeches, Vol. II., pp. 133 140, Speech on Fox's motions for sending a minister to Paris, December 15, 1792. On December 20 he added that Burke insisted on a "volunteer Crusade of Vengeance "; cf. ibid., p. 143. 235 SHERIDAN amendment a " stratagem " to rally that phalanx together, and " to make up for the smallness of their numbers by the con- trariety of their opinions." Surely, laughed Sheridan, this was an odd definition of a word that implied compactness. As for stratagem, who less prone to it than Fox ? Windham, Pitt's future War Secretary, whom Sheridan described as the sport of fastidious paradox Windham, Dr. Johnson's pupil, the sincere casuist who coddled his conscience had borne Burke out. But Windham, now urged Sheridan, "was sometimes apt to spin a little too fine." Burke had further reproached Fox for failing to advert on the alarming growth of French power. How did this tally, however, with Burke's opinion that France was blotted out from the map of Europe ? And were the petty aggressions of the French Assembly against us the true cause of this war ? No. It was a war against principles, as Pitt must own. Sheridan reprobated Burke's ground, but even if his ground were proved, his censure must extend to Pitt, who discussed these principles on Fox's footing, though he differed in his deductions. It was therefore " unmanly and unwarranted " in the minister "to sit still and listen to these inflammatory rants, and even to cheer the war-song of this honourable gentleman : ' Quo non praestantior ullus Acre ciere viros, Martemque accendere cantu,' l though at the same moment he knew, and had even just asserted, that " the war was undertaken upon principles and for purposes, diametrically opposite to those upon which he suffered the House to be heated and misled by a spirit of vengeance and quixotism, which it was his duty to oppose and restrain." Every prejudice that could be imported from the " wrong- headed or disgusting things said or written by individuals in France," " all the cruel and unjust proceedings against the late unfortunate monarch," had been foisted by Burke into the 1 " Than whom none better knew the way To rouse with song and cymbals to the fray." 236 THE LAST TILT AGAINST BURKE controversy. And then the House was assured that at " an idle dinner of English and others at White's in Paris " Fox's health and his own had been drunk. " The anecdote," trifling in itself, " wanted only one little ingredient to produce possibly some effect, namely, fact." The toast had not been given, for " though friends to the reform of abuses they were considered expressly as against all idea of Revolution in England, and known to be attached to the form of the existing Constitution." Burke had laid stress on French ambition, but, said Sheridan, he should have been more careful in details. He had ascribed "a proposition," adopted by the Convention, and fixing the boundaries of the future as the Rhine, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Ocean, to Danton, the Minister of Justice. Danton was not that great personage, the Minister of Justice ; if he had been he could not have been a member of the Convention, and so far from this proposition having been "adopted," it had been scarcely entertained. But then, religion invoked vengeance upon France. None, Sheridan protested, referring to the Propagandists, realised more strongly than he did, the evils and perils of proselytising infidelity. But was atheism a consequence of this Revolution ? " The philosophers had corrupted and perverted the minds of the people, but when did the pre- cepts or perversions of philosophy ever begin their effects at the root of the tree and afterwards rise to the towering branches ? Were the common and ignorant people ever the first disciples of philosophy, and did they make proselytes of the higher and most enlightened orders ?" The general atheism, he contended, did small honour to the higher orders of the clergy, and all the rank and fashion now emigrating to England were disciples of Rousseau and Voltaire. Here Sheridan was in the right. Burke had further pressed the need of an alliance with the Emperor, while Dundas looked for a league of Europe. But this appeared to contradict their chiefs position. We were taking the field, cried Pitt, " against the excesses and licentious- ness of liberty," but these potentates had taken the field " against liberty itself." " The effect of a real co-operation would be a more fatal revolt than ever prejudice could 237 SHERIDAN paint in the case of France a revolution in the political morals of England, and the downfall of that freedom which was the true foundation of our power, prosperity and glory. Sooner than league with such allies, sooner than pledge our blood and treasure to such purposes, he would almost prefer to see England fight France single-handed. He feared the enemy less than our allies. He disliked the cause of war, but he abhorred the company of our intended colleagues. . . . Had Burke forgotten his own eulogy of the Polish revolu- tion ? ' That glorious event,' he had once termed it, ' which had bettered the condition of every man there from the prince to the peasant, and had rescued millions . . . from actual chains and even personal bondage.' Who had marred this lovely prospect ? . . . Who had hypocritically first approved the Revolution . . . and had now marched troops to stifle the groans of those who dared even to murmur at its destruction ? These allies, these chosen associates and bosom counsellors in the future efforts of this deluded nation. . . . Had Burke ever arraigned these things? . . . Why had he never come to brandish in that house a Russian dagger, red in the heart's blood of the free constitution of Poland ? No, not a word or a sigh ; not an ejaculation for the ruin of all he had held up to the world as a model for reverence and imitation ! In his heart is a record of brass for every error and excess of liberty, but on his tongue is a sponge to blot out the foulest crimes and blackest treacheries of despotism." Allowance, he urged, must be made for the novelty of the situation. It was a narrow view which would ascribe the French orgies to any other cause but the despotism which degrades and depraves human nature, rendering it, on the first recovery of its rights, unfit for the exercise of them : " But was the inference to be that those who had long been slaves ought therefore to remain in servitude for ever ? . . . No ; the lesson ought to be a tenfold horror of the despotism which had so profaned and changed the nature of social men ; and a more jealous apprehension of withholding rights and liberty from our fellow-creatures, because in so doing we risked 238 "LIBERTY, THE BIRTHRIGHT OF MAN" and became responsible for the bitter consequences. . . . After all, no precautions of craft and fraud can suppress or alter this eternal truth that liberty is the birthright of man, and whatever opposes his possession of it is a sacrilegious usurpation." l Fiercer encounters ensued. Sheridan's cause of conten- tion was double a war which halted, even failed, until the stinted navy could triumph, and a disaffection at home minimised by him and Fox, but exaggerated by Pitt, who was driven into an inquisitorial system of coercion. The truth lay between the two extremes. Undoubtedly a traitorous corre- spondence existed between the French leaders and some of the English Radicals, but the results seemed small, and contin- gencies were more to be dreaded than facts. The Marquis of Buckingham himself made light of these commotions. 3 Two years later, and amid fresh developments, Sheridan thus frankly stated his views to the House: "That there are among some of the members of those societies dispositions hostile to the established Constitution, I will not deny ; a few desperate and abandoned individuals will always exist in every community. That there have likewise been some who have shown their attachment to French principles, or rather have gratified their own absurd vanity by the adoption of French phrases, I am equally prepared to admit. . . . But what has been the conse- quence ? That these infatuated men have shown themselves as ignorant of the genius of the English character and of the rooted attachment to the Constitution as ministers themselves when they apprehended any danger from those proceedings." 3 On March 4, 1793, Sheridan made his motion regarding " the existence of seditious practices " in a speech which displayed his full powers, and this speech may stand for many others 1 Speech of February 12, 1793, Speeches, Vol. II., pp. 147157. 2 Cf. Hist. Man. Comm., Dropmore Papers. 1 Speech on the Treason and Sedition Bills, December 3, 1795. Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. u. There is an interesting prtcis of the proceedings of these societies and that of the United Irishmen, in the " Annual Register" for 1799, app. to "Chronicle," pp. 154 182. 239 SHERIDAN delivered in days when the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and free-thinkers and free-writers were brought to book by ministers intent on gagging opinion. 1 There were, said Sheridan, three points of view entertained on this subject. The first was that the danger was real, the second that it was a false alarm, the third that the ministry intended a system which should delude the sense and sap the spirit of the country. Granting the first position, then a committee of inquiry ought to follow ; granting the second, the same precaution would be equally indispensable ; granting the third, a committee of inquiry would be indispensable. If treason stalked abroad, if the associations for popular reform were those of republicans and levellers, if conspiracy was rampant, very little was visible. Paine had published a book ; someone had written " The Jockey Club," 2 another had shouted "What care I for the King's birthday?" But had anything actually happened, and were the ministers who alarmed the country themselves alarmed ? How had Pitt acted ? " In the course of the summer he proceeded with due solemnity 1 In May, 1794, Sheridan delivered three strong speeches on this topic ; cf. Speeches, Vol. II., pp. 378 390. On January 5, 1795, speaking again on the subject, he reminded the House that Chatham, when asked whether he would submit to a tyranny of forty days, answered, " No ; he could not con- sent that the people of England should be fettered and shackled even for an hour " ; cf. ibid., p. 439. Speaking again on the Treason and Sedition Bills on November 17, 1795, Sheridan stoutly denied that the Correspond- ing Society was treasonous, though he admitted that it might be responsible for some disaffection. This, however, he attributed " to the general state of pressure arising from the war, to the apprehension of approaching scarcity, and in some instances, to the actual ravages of famine " ; cf. ibid., p. 537. On this occasion Wilberforce supported Pitt, and immediately posted up to York, where he delivered an inflammatory harangue in favour of the minister's principles. 2 A pamphlet against royalty in connection with the Prince of Wales's suspected turf transactions, of which his jockey Sam Chifmey had pub- lished a defence. In 1790 the Prince was actually warned off the course. It seems likely that he was more a victim than an offender. Sheridan defended him. Among documents mentioned in the Sheridan MSS. as retained by Moore was some account of this defence, which has vanished. 240 SHERIDAN ON THE PANIC-MONGERS to take the weight on himself of the laborious office of Warden of the Cinque Ports. He had conducted himself in a manner equally pleasing to his hosts and his guests, and had returned to town without any great apprehension of danger, but as the meeting of Parliament approached, things became more and more alarming, until at last the whole country was said to be threatened with destruction." He was convinced that this panic was manufactured ; indeed, a general panic was already created by phantoms and imaginary evils. " It had always been so in the case of armies. . . . He believed that there was not once to be found in history a case in which the panic of an army had proceeded from real danger ; it always proceeded either from accident or some stratagem of the enemy. Indeed, the thing bore evidence for itself; had the danger been real, there must have been a difference of opinion as to the amount of it, for while there was a difference in the size and character of the understandings of men there must be a difference in their opinions." But those who believed in these alleged seditions, believed everything reported, " and that of itself proved the fallacy. There were numerous instances recorded both in prose and verse where the nations had been misled and had acted upon such false alarms ... in which a panic had been com- municated by one class of men to the other." The Latin quotation was inevitable : " Sic quisque pavendo Dat vires famse : nulloque auctore malorum, Quae finxere timent. Nee solum vulgus inani Pereussum terrore pavet ; sed curia et ipsi Sedibus exituere patres, invisaque belli Consulibus fugiens mandat decreta senetus." l But had the ministers chosen the third position, and consti- 1 " Thus rumour gathers force from dread, And flight adopts what fancy bred. Nor only is the rabble scared, But reverend senates thus have fared And, flying, trumpet blasts have blown For foes unseen and ills unknown." S. VOL. II. 241 R SHERIDAN tuted panic a means of popularising the war ? He would be sorry to think so. But at least, had they inflamed the country? Pitt himself had said that the nation reproached the Govern- ment for supineness rather than blamed it for promptitude. The lamentable execution of the French King had been turned into fuel to the fire, but all who loved freedom must ever deplore that transaction " because by one act they had armed despotism and given a fatal blow to the general interests of mankind." Such was his opinion now and such it always had been on that subject. Sheridan proceeded to indulge his humour. Was there still another ministerial motive, that of diverting public attention from the question of parliamentary reform ? This did, he believed, enter into their plans. The Duke of Richmond had once descried nothing but danger in the absence of such a reform. But of late he had so elevated himself on fortifications of his own erecting, and had given such a range to his great power of discernment, that he could now discover plots, con- spiracies, and treasons under the garb of a parliamentary or of any other reform. The alarm had been sounded with great pomp and form on Saturday morning. At night all the mail- coaches were stopped ; the Duke stationed himself, " among other curiosities," at the Tower. 1 A great municipal officer too had made an experiment exceedingly beneficial to the people of this country he meant the Lord Mayor of London, who had discovered that at the " King's Arms" in Cornhill was a debating society, where principles of the most dangerous tendency were propagated, where people went to buy treason at sixpence a head, and where it was retailed to them by the glimmering of an inch of candle, and five minutes, to be measured by the glass, were allowed to each traitor to perform his part in overturning the State. And yet, coarse and ridiculous as they were, these things had their effect with the public for a time, and certainly did create a general impression of fear. He went on to deride 1 Sheridan referred again to these matters on January 5, 1795 ; cf. Speeches, Vol. II., p. 447. 242 SHERIDAN ON THE PANIC-MONGERS kindred mare's-nests. Not a soul had been charged with treason. " The whole was a miserable fabrication to deceive the credulous. Suspicion indeed had been entertained : many letters, he believed, had been stopped at the post- office, and he had no doubt that some of his were among the number. He did not wish to speak of himself, but hints had been thrown out of correspondence with foreign Powers. All he could say was that if the Government should think it worth their while, he should not have the slightest objection to publish every letter of his on politics. He had drawn up a paper relative to the trial of the late King of France. It was one that he would show everywhere and on any occasion, and he only wished that no necessity could have existed for declaring how much he abhorred the prin- ciple of the decree of November 19 last, issued by the National Convention. Nothing, he hoped, would deter ministers from one day publishing his sentiments, of which doubtless they had preserved copies. " Then the Government had contributed to the general scare by advertising a Mr. John Frost and Captain Perry. People were told that these two gentlemen were traitors, and a hundred pounds reward was offered for their apprehension. The former of them was on bail and awaiting trial ; the latter was only charged with having printed on reform in a newspaper what Pitt himself had spoken in the House. Here, surely, was evidence of ' a system of delusion.' And more, a story had been trumped up of a French plot for taking the Tower ; the whole of our constitution was to be overturned, and the royal family murdered ; that most execrable character Marat was to be placed at the head of this conspiracy. And as if this fiction were not enough, French hirelings were to destroy the people, and it was even rumoured that attempts had been made to poison the New River. The proprietors of that corporation had suffered such hardship that they had to repudiate the falsehood in the journals. Furthermore, a portion of the Press, instructed by the ministers, retailed daily abuse of every- thing connected with France," and Sheridan quoted the Latin 243 R 2 SHERIDAN motto of the Sun newspaper, adding a succeeding line which made for his point : " Solem quis dicere falsum Audeat ? Ille iterum caecos instare tumultus Saepe monet, fraudemque et operta tumescere bella." * Sheridan made merry over examples. An insurrection had been scented at Edinburgh, which was to happen by corrupting the soldiers. The " corruption," however, resolved itself into a sixpence expended for porter. Scotsmen had burned Dundas in effigy, which perhaps accounted for the bias evident in that statesman's recital of the supposed tumult. A ruffian named Rotundo was said to have escaped from France on a sanguinary mission to England, but he was proved to have been a mere fugitive from justice. It was bruited that seditious mercenaries were being drilled and disciplined by a sergeant in a brown coat. Then there had been the planting in Dundee of a tree of liberty. But this was like " Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane," for the tremendous event seemed to have origin- ated in a few schoolboys, and chastisement had restored them to loyalty and averted a downfall of the Constitution. Next, somebody, in a quite indefensible fit of humour, had acquainted Sir Charles Yonge of an entente at Salisbury : the city was undisturbed. As for the Shields uprising, troops had been dispatched only to find these rebels voluntarily assist- ing to get off a King's ship that had run aground. A trifle had been magnified into a revolt at Yarmouth. No public discontent had been proved, and the public mind should be quieted by an official inquiry. Then there were addresses from pot-house patriots to the National Convention : a long list of them had been made under the auspices of the Treasury. "One was signed by Mr. Hardy, an honest shoemaker, who little dreamed, God help him, how near he had been to over- turning the Constitution. Such chimeras caused real hardship 1 " Who dares to call the sun False harbinger ? yet oft it will forerun The threat of tumults blind, and plots accurst, And strifes that swell to warfare ere they burst." 244 SHERIDAN ON THE PANIC-MONGERS to the innocent ; publicans had been warned as to conversa- tions in tap-rooms, and even interrogated as to what papers they took in : ' Do you take in the Morning Chronicle or Post ? ' ' Yes, sir ' ' Take care there is no sedition in it : for if there is you are liable to punishment.' A strong instance in point had arisen in the case of the 'Unicorn' in Covent Garden, where an innocent society assembled to discuss reform. The magis- trate was satisfied, yet he had to caution the owner against any further meetings, lest they might offend the sensitiveness of the higher powers. The same nonsense had distinguished projected prosecutions of booksellers for selling unexpurgated editions of Paine's ' Rights of Man.' Attorneys had been suborned as spies in this business, 1 yet once none had launched out for parliamen- tary reform more freely than Pitt and the Duke of Richmond, or more grossly against monarchs than Burke. In the zeal against private inquiry Protestant dissenters had even been represented as unworthy the name of fellow-Christians. Riots had dis- graced Birmingham and Cambridge, but they were due to the manipulated panic. It was owing to that panic that . . . Mr. Windham had brought his mind to approve what his heart had for years abhorred the erection of barracks. It was owing to that panic that that right honourable gentleman had prevailed upon himself to support a minister because he had a bad opinion of him. It was owing to that panic that Lord Loughborough in the other House had given his disinterested support to Government and had eventually accepted the seals of an administration which he had reprobated from its com- mencement." To that panic it was owing that Burke had lost all his fine taste and " had become the slave of the most 1 On Pitt's spying system Sheridan delivered himself in January, 1795 : " I will not say that there is no Government in Europe which does not need the assistance of spies, but I will affirm that the Government which avails itself of such support does not exist for the happiness of the people. ... It resembles in its operation the conduct of the father of all spies and informers, the devil, who introduced himself into Paradise not only to inform his own pandemonium of the state of that region, but to deceive and betray the inhabitants." Cf. Speeches, Vol. II., p. 450. 245 SHERIDAN ridiculous pantomimic trick, . . . that he carried about with him daggers and knives to assist him in efforts of description." Through panic again, " the milk of the Christian religion had lost its mildness," as Windham's farewell letter to the Whig Club demonstrated to the full. Panic was " the root of all these evils, and party warfare had been exacerbated by Burke, who, protesting that he belonged to no party, had gone from the living Whigs to the dead." Sheridan would not (and he certainly did not) spare any whose conduct seemed calculated to throw discredit on the principles of his friends. 1 Still a third speech out of many claims a notice before the Nore mutiny, and it deserves to be quoted as one of the most trenchant that Sheridan ever delivered. Like the rest, it concerned the French Revolution, and it took place on the occasion of the debate on the King's address in 1794 at the opening of the January session. Lord Mornington had pleaded in a long and laboured discourse for the continuance of the war. Sheridan's answer is the sole instance of revision that survives among his papers. The speech amounts even in its condensed and printed form to no fewer than thirty pages, and some of its periods are involved, but it presents almost the best example of Sheridan's general standpoint and attitude, while it certainly impressed both the House and the country as statesmanlike. He spoke of the allies and their compact at Pilnitz, much as Gladstone spoke when he looked back on the " Holy Alliance," or when he uttered the warning, " Hands off, Austria." Sheridan had been well primed from France before he delivered this oration. 2 He began by exposing some of Lord Mornington's fallacies, and by traversing his statement that this war had been based on the 1 Speeches, Vol. II., pp. 161 178. * Cf. Hist. Man. Comm., Dropmore Papers, Vol. II., p. 458 an enclosure by Francis Drake to Lord Grenville : " Que d'une part on est assur6 que M. Sheridan prouvera par les documents les plus surs fournis de ses bureaux, et qui lui parviendront par la voie la plus directe (car on ne peut pas nouer aucune relation immediate avec lui), que cette guerre ne regarde en rien les allies de I'Angleterre ; que. suivant les circonstances, la Convention pouvra se conder la verit6 de cette proposition par les declarations qui la laisseront sans replique," etc. 246 THE GREAT SPEECH OF 1794 enormities which had just been recited from a voluminous pamphlet by Brissot. Had we now to dread a transfer of Gallic frenzy to other countries ? No ; " wild and unsettled " as the sudden grasp of power had made the French Govern- ment, "the surrounding States had goaded them into a still more savage state of madness, fury, and desperation. We had unsettled their reason, we now reviled their insanity. . . . We baited them like wild beasts until at length we made them so." The royal conspirators against the rights of nations " had in truth to answer for all the additional misery, horrors, and iniquity which had since disgraced and incensed humanity." "Such has been your conduct towards France," he concluded, " that you have created the passions which you persecute. You mark a nation to be cut off from the world ; you covenant for their extermination ; you swear to hunt them in their inmost recesses ; you load them with every species of execration. And now you come forth with whining declamations on the horror of their turning upon you with the fury which you inspired." He analysed Brissot's pages, and he contrasted the effects of Jacobinism on America with its influence on England, in a passage which has been cited at the opening of this work. The war had been termed one of defence and of necessity ; if so, self- defence and necessity must continue it. The ministers in vain tried to evade the question of peace by arguing that it was not in our power. From this fallacy the public mind should be rescued. All the professed objects for which war was under- taken had been attained. Holland was safe, Brabant recovered, and France would now treat with us on the sole principle " of being left to the exercise of their own will within their own boun- daries." Let the experiment be made. And Sheridan demanded a plain answer to a plain question : Had France abstained from acts of aggression on England and Holland, should we have remained inactive spectators of the conflict ? If not, he pointed out Pitt's dilemma. The war was being prolonged for the sake of abstractions. " This war is called a war unlike all other wars that ever man was engaged in. It is a war, it seems, commenced on a different 247 SHERIDAN principle, and carried on for a different purpose. ... It is a war in which the interests of individual nations are absorbed in the wider consideration of the interest of mankind. It is a war in which personal provocation is lost in the outrage offered generally to civilised man. It is a war for the preservation of the possessions, the morals, and the religion of the world, . . . for the maintenance of human order and the existence of human society. Does he then mean to say that he would have sat still that Great Britain would have sat still with arms folded and reclining in luxurious ease on her commercial couch, have remained an unconcerned spectator of this mighty conflict, leaving the cause of civil order, government, morality, religion and its God, to take care of itself, 1 or to owe its preservation to the mercenary exertions of German and Hungarian barbarians, provided only that France had not implicated Great Britain by a special offence, and forced us into this cause of divine and universal interest by the petty motive of a personal provocation ? He will not tell us so : or if he does, to answer a momentary purpose, will he hold the same language to our allies? . . . Will he tell them that we are not volunteers in this cause that we have no merit in having entered into it that we are in confederacy with them only to resent a separate insult offered to ourselves, which redressed, our zeal in the cause, if not our engagements to continue in the alliance, must cease ? Or if he would hold this language to these Powers, 2 will he repeat it to those lesser States whom we are hourly dragging into this perilous contest upon the only plea by which such an act of tyrannical compulsion can be attempted to be palliated, namely, that a personal ground of complaint against the French is not necessary to their enmity, but that since the league against that people is the cause of human nature itself, every country where human feelings exist has already received its provocation in the atrocities of this common enemy of human kind ? " Sheridan showed that Prussia herself treated the war as one for England's 1 Notes for this passage exist among the Sheridan MSS. Prussia and Austria. 248 SHERIDAN ON THE WAR interest, demanding English subsidies, and he challenged Pitt, who applauded the principles of English aggression, to deny that, in Prussia's purview, Great Britain was attacked. And then he discussed the possibilities of peace. Pitt had changed his conditions precedent to peace. What did he now put forward ? "A stable and responsible government." Could British arms effect this requisite ? could the present Govern- ment of France be altered ? for its form was not for us to prescribe. " A stable government ? Where then were the men that we hoped to see come forward ? "We commenced with reprobating and reviling Lafayette, Rochefoucault, and the whole party of reforming Royalists. Brissot and the tenth of August Republicans overthrew and destroyed that party. We may boast of having assisted Robespierre and Danton in the destruction of Brissot and those Republicans. Robespierre and Danton now possess the lead. Are you waiting till such men as Hebert and Chaumette shall have destroyed Robespierre and Danton ? Would such a change," he urged with truth, " give you the stable responsibility and trustworthy government you desire, or do you see any class of men still under them, which, in the revolution of enormities, gives you a fairer promise of your object ? No man will hold out such an expectation. Whence then can arise the sort of Government with whom you would condescend to treat ? I affirm, from only one possible source : from a general reforma- tion in the public mind of France, founded on a deep sense of their calamities and a just abhorrence of their past crimes. Then will cease their bloody, internal enmities, . . . the selfish, factious contests of their leaders, . . . their revolting system of plunder, rapine and impiety. Then, in other words, will be established their republic on the immortal and unconquerable principles of wisdom and of justice which, without diminishing the invincible enthusiasm which even now animates their military exertions, will supply those exertions with copious and imperishable resources; and then truly we shall have no objection to acknowledge them as a nation and to treat with them. Admirable prudence ! Consummate policy ! Whilst 249 SHERIDAN the certain seeds of internal discord . . . are sown among them and are checked in their rank growth only by the counteraction of stronger feelings against the foreign enemies that surround them, we will not stoop to treat, because we cannot have security for the future. But if, fortunately, our perseverance in assailing them shall at length eradicate all that is vicious and ruinous in their internal system, strengthening, as at the same time it must, the energies and solidity of their Government, then our pride will abate, respectful negotiation will follow, and a happy peace may be concluded a happy peace for the terms of which we must be left in future for ever at their mercy." l At some length Sheridan reviewed the course of the war, and pointed out how weakly facts answered to the professed aims of the struggle. He dissected the internal condition of France. He examined the state of the grand alliance : "The force of Austria unbroken, though compelled to abandon Brabant ; and the power of the veteran troops of Prussia absolutely untried, though the seasons and disease had induced them to retire from Champagne. What is their state now ? Defeat has thinned their ranks, and disgrace has broken their spirit. They have been driven across the Rhine by French recruits like sheep before a lion's whelp, and that, not from the mishap of a single great action lost, but after a succession of bloody contests of unprecedented fury and obstinacy. Where now is the scientific confidence with which we were taught to regard the efforts of discipline and experience when opposed to all untrained multitudes and unpractised generals ? The jargon 1 Windham of course strongly opposed any peace with France, but even Windham wrote to Mrs. Crewe from Fulham on September 30, 1796: "... Yet this is the consummation, a consummation from which nothing but new wars can save us, what the booby politicians in this country are all wishing for and holding out as the only means by which our ruin is to be averted." Windham was still under Mrs. Crewe's spell. He thus concludes this letter, after a mention of Irish politics : " Farewell 1 and count upon me as your Redde-Cross Knight to the end of the adventure. " ' For knights in knightly deed should persevere, And still continue what at first they were, Continue, and persist in honour's fair career.' " Cf. his " Diary," p. 352. 250 SHERIDAN ON THE ALLIES: PLACEMEN of professional pedantry is mute, and the plain sense of man is left to its own course." Neither the " valour and activity " of the Dutch, nor the Portuguese squadron, nor the " Indian States whom we have bribed or bullied into our cause," had made " any sensible impression." " Our great ally " the Russian Empress had contributed nothing to the common cause but " praises and prayers." The present prosperity of France, it had been urged, was illogical. The French had no right to beat their enemies as they had done. " This," said Sheridan, " reminds me of the story of a tradesman who had a very admirable timepiece made by a person who had never learned the business, and neither knew it mechanically nor scientifically. A neighbouring clock- maker, exasperated at this intrusion of natural genius, took great pains to convince the owner that he ought to turn his clock out of doors. It was in vain that the man assured him that it went and struck truly ; that he wound it up like other clocks, and that it told him the hour of the day precisely. The artist replied, ' that all this might be very true, but that he could demonstrate that it had no right to go like other clocks, for it was not made upon sound principles.' The contest ended by his cajoling the poor man to part with his timepiece, and to buy from him, at three times the cost, a clock that did not answer half as well." Lord Mornington had instanced the ruin of French com- merce, but " Perish our commerce, live our Constitution," was a watchword known in England. At any rate, France did not lack the sinews of war. If she was over-taxed, she submitted cheerfully to her burdens. Would such sacrifices appeal to pensioners and placemen at home ? But ministers assured us that the war must be supported at any sacrifice and without a murmur. This gave Sheridan a fine opening for scorn : " The time is come when all honest and disinterested men should rally round the throne. For what, ye honest and dis- interested men ? To receive for your own private emolument a portion of those very taxes which you yourselves wring from the people on the pretence of saving them from the poverty 251 SHERIDAN and distress which you say the enemy would inflict, but which you take care no enemy shall be able to aggravate. O shame, shame ! Is this a time for selfish intrigue and the little dirty traffic in lucre and emolument ? Does it suit the honour of a gentleman to ask at such a moment ? Does it become the honesty of a minister to grant it ? . . . Nay, even from those who seem to have no direct object of office or profit, what is the language which their actions speak ? ' The throne is in danger, we will support the throne; but let us share the smiles of royalty. 1 ' The order of nobility is in danger, I will fight for nobility,' says the viscount, ' but my zeal would be greater if I were made an earl.' ' Rouse all the marquis within me,' exclaims the earl, * and the peerage never turned forth a more undaunted champion in its cause than I shall prove.' ' Stain my green riband blue,' cries out the illustrious knight, ' and the fountain of honour will have a fast and faithful servant.' What are the people to think of our sincerity ? what credit are they to give to our professions ? . . . Is there nothing that whispers to the right honourable gentleman that the crisis is too big, that the times are too gigantic, to be ruled by the little, hackneyed, and every-day means of corruption ? Or are we to believe that he has within himself a conscious feeling that disqualifies him from rebuking the ill-timed selfishness of his new allies ? . . . Let him take care that the corruptions of the Government shall not have lost the public heart ; that the example of selfishness in the few has not extinguished public spirit in the many. Let him not be too confident ; his informers, his associations, his proclamations or prosecutions have driven from their post . . . those who lawfully watch the conduct of the King's servants in their stations and their own servants in this House." And then after long invectives against "the price of political apostasy," " No," exclaimed Sheridan ; " it seems that from this side of the House alone the country could be properly served, or the favours of the Crown duly repaid." 1 1 These are only a few excerpts. Sheridan investigated also the danders of the war, and he finally contrasted the " faction " of 1784 with the Foxite position of the moment. Cf. Speeches, Vol. II., pp. 245276. 252 SHERIDAN'S ATTITUDE: 1797 Sheridan always denied that the " rights of man " had caused the French Revolution, and he always blamed Pitt's terrorism of public opinion. In May, 1797, when Pitt extolled his conduct regarding the naval mutiny, Sheridan spoke vehemently for Grey's second motion for parliamentary reform ; he had advo- cated it as vehemently in 1793, when Grey first moved in the question. Parliamentary reform was Sheridan's corollary of the " rights of man." And while Pitt ceased his early zeal for this cause, and even Fox abated his, Sheridan never relinquished his ardour. His peroration of 1797 contains such an interesting retrospect of his views before Napoleon had modified his out- look, that a citation here will be quite in keeping with the subject in hand. He was a Whig of the Revolution : " He was not much of an egotist, he said, nor was he out of that House an arrogant man. He was almost ashamed of the praise the minister had bestowed upon him to-day for merely doing his duty when he spoke of the sailors. He hoped and he trusted that, much calamity as the country feels, we should never bend our necks to an insolent foe but . . . defend our rights with our lives. He must be allowed to say another word about himself, as it was now necessary. He had been accused of wishing to join those who wished for anarchy. He would ask those who charged him with so foul a wish, what temptation he had to do so? What provocation had he, to excite any opposition against the aristocracy of the land or against its monarch ? He had possessed at one time some confidence from the monarch while he filled an office of considerable trust. He had been treated with civility by many of the first families in this country. He knew no occasion he could have to regret the attention he had received in that House. He had no desire to break a lance with any orator in any other place. He therefore expected credit for sincerity, when he declared that he supported this motion from his heart, because he thought in his conscience it tended to restore to the people some of the purity of their original, excellent constitution, and to save the State from ruin." 1 1 May 26, 1797. Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 202. Sheridan was twitted for his change of front even earlier in a rhymed satire (rare, and absent 253 SHERIDAN Three years went by, nor is there space to pursue Sheridan's activities. The war creaked and lumbered onwards, though in this year of 1794, the " Glorious first of June " cheered the nation and revived the ministry. Sheridan commemorated it by a light piece at Drury Lane. For the Quiberon disaster he blushed in a philippic which ranks among his best, and during the next year he pleaded eloquently for Lafayette, immured by the Austrians at Olmiitz. He dealt again with the sordid burden of the Prince of Wales's debts. He urged reform, and pressed that Catholics should be eligible for army appointments. He re-criticised Pitt's loans, he re-censured the conduct of the allies and the subsidies lavished on them. He treated of the corn importation tax. He denounced the game laws, and the dog impost. In a series of speeches he discussed minutely and trenchantly the suspension of cash payments in March, 1797, by the Bank of England; 1 and here again in one material point he diverged from Fox. He approached all these subjects from the standpoint of the people ; in each of them the non-privileged found themselves voiced by Sheridan. 2 Naval affairs had long engaged him, and even in 1786 he had proved the seaman's friend. As recently as the January of 1795 he had gladly supported the ministry's efforts to increase the navy. 3 The spring of 1797 heard the first rumble of disaffection in the Channel fleet, despite Lord from the British Museum)" An Epistle from R-ch-d Br-ns-y Sh-d-n Esqre. > the Right Honourable H-n-y D-nd-s " (London. Printed for J. Owen, iccadilly, 1796), which turns on the wit's convivial approaches to the xhus of Wimbledon. The following is a sample : "Wonder not, sir, when now you learn from me That I'm the foe of Gallic anarchy, And blush to own that Freedom's sacred light, Which dawned on France, is turned to hellish night." 1 Windham specially mentions Sheridan's motion on March 10, 1797, for paying off the debt to the Bank ; cf. ' Diary " p 354 r some of these speeches cf. Sheridan's Speeches, Vol. II., pp. 393, 492, 517; Vol. III., pp. 70, 83, ioo, m, ,, I43 ^ 1 Speeches, Vol. II, p. 460. 254 THE NAVAL MUTINIES St. Vincent's earlier victory, nor long after Nelson's earliest prowess had pierced the war-clouds with a ray of hope. That ray was fleeting. In 1796 Spain had joined France, and Bonaparte, who in 1793 had wrested Toulon from the Royalists, burst upon the world and swept through Italy. Within a year it was riddled with his republics, and Vienna lay prostrate at his feet. Ireland, already pro-Jacobin, was singled out for attack. Wolfe Tone, active in Paris, co-operated with Hoche, and but for mists the French marine would have landed in Bantry Bay. The British Government again left Ireland wholly undefended. And in 1797 a French force even attempted a descent on Wales. 1 It was a time of anxiety and suspense. The two naval mutinies of 1797 illustrate with emphasis the incompetence of red tape and routine to cope with exceptional crises. Britain's empire over the seas was won in the teeth of Downing Street, and this rebellion on home waters would have been fatal, had Downing Street prevailed. While a supine Government wavered, Sheridan's perception and prompt- ness may be said to have saved Britain's wooden walls, and they earned the gratitude of Pitt. Lord Spencer, friendly to Sheridan, headed the Admiralty, but he was Downing Street incarnate. Already in March, petitions poured in from the sailors clamouring for an increase of their pay. Lord Howe, infirm in health, advanced in age, had retired to Bath and thought little of these com- munications. Lord Spencer slighted them. Yet, had Lord Howe recognised and dealt with the danger, it might have been averted, for the navy adored the man who just before his triumph, had replied to the crew clamouring for more grog, "Wait till it's over, and we'll all get drunk together." In April the fleet at Spithead received orders to put to sea, but when Lord Bridport gave the signal to his flagship, the Queen Charlotte, the men ran up the shrouds and gave three cheers ; those of the other vessels responded to the signal, 1 Windham specially mentions the attempt on Fishguard in February, 1797 ; cf. his " Diary," p. 354. 255 SHERIDAN and not an anchor was weighed. All command was wrested from the officers, delegates were appointed, and fresh petitions presented. The Board of Admiralty proceeded in solemn state to Portsmouth only to find the rebellion complete, under an organisation probably prompted by an English emissary from France. Higher pay was offered, but the delegates declined to treat till Parliament and the King had sanctioned and pro- claimed the concessions. Incensed at their stubbornness, Admiral Gardner rashly seized one of the delegates by the collar and swore he would hang them and every fifth man in the fleet. The bloody standard was hoisted on the Royal George. Consternation ensued ; Lord Bridport struck his flag, Lord Spencer wanted to board the Queen Charlotte and try the effect of his personal presence, but this was flatly vetoed as below the dignity of his office. Thereupon Downing Street, fussy and futile, marched back to its own place. The insurgents loaded all the guns and ordered a regular watch. Lord Bridport, however, whom they called " their father and their friend," explained the circumstances and received permission to increase their pay. A temporary lull ensued, and the Admiral once more hoisted his flag. But the crew petitioned for fresh redress, and sent an ultimatum refusing to weigh anchor till the King's sign manual and " gracious " assent had been accorded. This calm, however, did not last. The sailors mistrusted the Government. They did not believe that their wrongs would receive fair play. The insignia of rebellion were struck, and they proceeded with a squadron to St. Helens. On May-day Fox pressed for information, but his grounds were those of economy alone. Pitt even burked the discussion, only promising that in a day or two a vote of money would be proposed. The mutineers were incensed, and an admiral repulsed their deputation. The men rushed to arms, over- powered their officers, and were proceeding to hang a lieutenant, when the Admiral assumed the whole blame, and the insurgents relented. Some of the sailors spoke openly of carrying one of the ships to France, but their delegates forbade a scheme so rash, 256 SHERIDAN ON THE MUTINEERS and the mutineers contented themselves with sending all their officers ashore. The squadron was now completely in their hands. On May 5 Pitt submitted his estimate of expenses, and a debate arose which occupied several days. He demanded a silent vote. But Fox urged that in such case the House would resemble children "who shut their eyes and think nobody can see them." On the 8th Sheridan recalled the House to a broad sense of the real situation. " Why was it," he asked, " that this vote was to be proposed when information had been received of a new disturbance ? Why had not official promises been followed by instant performance? There had been a fortnight's delay. The seamen had been directed to weigh anchor and meet the enemy of the country. How could they do so till this crisis was adjusted? The first step ought to have been a parliamentary communication, when a unanimous vote would certainly have satisfied the men, while the representations that they had made would have met with consideration. In such a case the mutiny would have ceased. He rated their character too highly to think otherwise." The next day he spoke again. Things had been mismanaged : there had been contemptible incapacity. The minister waited for an estimate of expenses. " Did he really believe that the public were thus to be insulted ? " Why had he not brought this estimate down earlier, at the moment of the King's proclama- tion ? The Bank, the Emperor, were nothing to this emergency. Had not the sailors received a promise from the Admiralty, which the Government had now thought fit to neglect ? If this went on, what would become of the orders to sail ? His friend Whitbread had moved in the matter ; he called on him to stay his hand. Every opportunity for preparation should be given. " Be the claims of the sailors what they might, what was now proposed to be granted to them was nothing more than justice." At the same time these demands had been pressed unfairly, and in a manner unworthy of " the brave, generous, and open character of British seamen." He did not doubt that some " foul inter- ference " had perverted them, while means of the basest nature had been used to persuade them into the steps which they s. VOL. n. 257 s SHERIDAN had taken. The conduct of ministers was the cause, for the sailors doubted their promises. Had any measure been taken to avert future mischief ? They were told that a sullen silence ought to be observed. "What inference would the sailors naturally draw? Why, that the Parliament had passed this measure unwillingly. . . . He hoped therefore that it would be expressed as the general sentiments of the House, that they did give and grant this as the real right of the British Navy. ... It was a curious thing to see the minister whose negli- gence was responsible to see him still holding in his own hand the helm of the vessel which his pilotage had steered on to the rocks to see him tell the sailors, ' Hold your tongues, let not a word be spoken ; I will bring you safe through all your dangers ; and as a proof that I will do so, I am the person who brought you into them.' " This was no party question. Discipline was imperative, and he would propose the appoint- ment of a joint Committee which should deliberate without delay. The motion was rejected, and, pursuant to the King's advice, Lord Howe himself repaired to Portsmouth. "Black Dick" visited all the ships at Spithead and St. Helens. Authorised to promise some redress, insisting on penitent submission, he was able to restore the elements of order. The rebel squadron sailed for Brest, but a worse mutiny, headed by Richard Parker, immediately broke out in the Medway. He was appointed " Rear- Admiral." No man was allowed to leave his ship, and the usurper ordered the vessels to proceed to Sheerness and thence to the Nore. All this happened before May 19, on which day Sheridan delivered an effective speech in the House of Commons, after having himself issued a remonstrance to the rebels. His plan was to form a comprehensive commis- sion, empowered to examine all grievances, and reject all demands found to be dangerous or impolitic. At Pitt's request, however, he postponed his scheme, and then, on the evening named, came down to the House with the mutineers' " appeal " in his hands, and patriotically receded from his original purpose. He was convinced, he said, from internal evidence, that 258 this document could not be the composition of the delegates. It belied the traditions and temper of the fleet. If ever man loved man, if ever one part of the people loved another, the nation loved the seamen. The House loved them, and in that respect were their representatives. In the " appeal " a foolish and virulent invective had been aimed against himself. For this he could not blame the poor tars, who had been hood- winked and misled. " Sir," he concluded, " I cannot instance a greater proof of my endeavours to promote the advantage of the seamen than that in the year 1786, in the seventh session of the then Parliament, a gentleman did twice bring in a Bill before the House which I afterwards renewed for the general benefit of seamen ; and, although the principles of such Bills were objected to, it did happen that they had for their object the redress of those grievances which have of late been the subject of complaint. Sir, I have ever been their friend, but never more so than at this period in warning them against those artifices which have been practised to seduce them. When people tell them that the navy can be managed without subordination, they may as well tell them that a ship can be managed without a rudder; they had better pull down the masts and the shrouds and lay them on the deck than listen to such representations. At the same time, Sir, it should be understood that there are no farther grievances, if any exist, which we will not redress." He would work side by side with the ministers in every effort to restore harmony, and there- fore he would delay his motion, which was " of a consolatory nature," satisfied that he had now exploded the misrepresenta- tions in this mutineers' " appeal." Proclamations were published, and the Lords of the Admiralty resumed their vain methods of accommodation. Parker's insurrection was better led, more stubbornly planned, than its predecessor, and the fleet resembled a floating republic with a resolute rebel for president. To Lord Spencer's grave warnings the despot replied, " You may all be d d," and Pitt and Dundas were forthwith hung in effigy at the yard-arm. 1 1 Cf. Fitzpatrick's " Secret Service under Pitt," p. 112. 259 S 2 SHERIDAN Then Sheridan did more than speak. He acted. He called on Dundas and gave him wise counsel. The Neptune and other ships were armed, numerous gun-boats were fitted out, a mortar battery was erected on the Isle of Grain at a spot where the insurgents could be shelled, the shore was carefully guarded, and all the buoys and beacons that indicated the navigable passes of the Thames, were removed. Sir George Grey was sent down the coast; a price, set on Parker's head. These energetic precautions were largely due to Sheridan's foresight, and even- tually the crisis passed over, and the ringleader was executed. On June 2 Sheridan spoke again. He deprecated the conditions which had prevented his first scheme of a com- mission at once discriminating and conciliatory. But the persistence of the rebellion demanded an absolute surrender of party. Pitt must be supported, for " if there was a rot in the wooden walls of old England, her decay could not be very distant." Whether Britain succumbed to France or her own disunion was immaterial; the national commerce was the chief aim of French vengeance. At the same time he would not like to see our penal code largely increased. He pointed the moral. Such a system had created the miseries of Ireland and would equally injure England. Was not this mutiny itself a proof that repression could never check the elements of dis- loyalty ? The ministers had established a system of barracks, in order, he supposed, to isolate the army from contagion ; if the people could not be made dumb, the soldiers must be made deaf. But existing laws could well provide for present emergencies, and much as he differed in other matters from the administration, unanimity was now of prime importance, and he would support them to the full. 1 Pitt lavished encomiums on Sheridan's attitude. He had shown that he could act and think in the spirit of a great Englishman. Henceforward, in the face of a common foe, he 1 For the foregoing, cf. Adolphus's " History," Vol. V., pp. 561 588; Sheridan's Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 186 211; Parl. Deb. June 2, 1797; Rae, Vol. II., p. 198. Sheridan was called to order for his censure of the barrack system by Mr. William Baker. This session closed on July 20. 260 SHERIDAN SAVES THE SITUATION: THE SEQUELS looked for freedom more and more in the national spirit, while Fox, though sometimes patriotic, tended more and more to decry his country's battle. Intellectually, Fox remained a disciple of Rousseau, and a citizen of Geneva. But Sheridan would not forget Great Britain, nor did he assume a catchpenny patriotism. He persisted in it ever afterwards, and during the next year he gave it an expression which again drew forth Pitt's warm approval. The times were critical. It was feared that France would invade England, and the King's Speech pressed both domestic and foreign dangers on public attention. Sheridan then stoutly supported the Government, though he still traversed Pitt's view of " traitorous correspondence," and loyally maintained his adherence to Fox. But he would not hail Bonaparte as an emancipator of peoples, or the Directory as republican Romans. " Do we not see," he exclaimed, " that they have planted the tree of liberty in the garden of monarchy, where it still continues to produce the same rare and luxurious fruit ? . . . It is not glory they seek for, they are already gorged with it; it is not territory they grasp at, they are already encumbered with the extent they have acquired. What is then their object ? They come for what they really want : they come for ships, for commerce, for credit and for capital. Yes, they come for the sinews and bones, for the marrow and for the very heart's blood, of Great Britain." It would be puerile to wait till the enemy had landed. All classes must unite in preparation, and two especially might contribute to defence, the one " composed of those sturdy hulking fellows whom we daily see behind coaches " ; the other, " those young gentlemen of high rank who are daily mounted on horses of high blood." He was ashamed, he said, to breathe a word about himself, though public spirit was now unfortunately taxed with private motive. He should be " the meanest and basest of mankind " if he preferred " some party principle " to the complete protec- tion of England. " Every measure," he was proud to own, " that invigorates the spirit of the people, and strengthens the Crown to resist the ambition of the enemy and to relieve us from our present perilous position," had his " cordial respect," 261 SHERIDAN and ought to have that of such as impugned his ability. 1 Not Fox himself could be more opposed to the policy of Pitt, but he would never sacrifice the commonwealth to faction. Napoleon had wholly transformed his view of the French Revolution. He had thought Britain aggressive and interfering, but now Britain herself lived on sufferance, and Sheridan would not clamour for peace when defence was imperative. He was a strange Whig, belonging neither to those who followed Burke into their Government haven, nor to such as maintained their consistency at the expense of their country. 1 Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 240 254 (Speech of April 26, 1798). 262 RICHARD BR1NSLEY SHERIDAN from an engraving, after a portrait by Hiclwy CHAPTER XI SURPRISES [SHERIDAN'S SECOND MARRIAGE AND ITS SEQUELS POLESDEN DRURY LANE REBUILT "VORTIGERN AND ROWENA " " THE STRANGER " " PIZARRO " Fox's SECESSION SHERIDAN'S RELATIONS TO Fox SIR JOHN MACPHERSON'S UNPUBLISHED LETTER TO SHERIDAN IRISH AFFAIRS SHERIDAN AT THE O'CONNOR AND THANET TRIALS His ATTITUDE ON THE UNION PITT'S RESIGNATION.] " Men start to find what changes on them wait, And self-surprise is named both whim and fate." ANON. SHERIDAN would indeed have been surprised had he been told some years before his St. Cecilia's death that in less than the space of three years from that event he would be married again ; that within one, Tickell would have committed suicide ; that in three years too old Linley would have departed, and Drury Lane Theatre be rebuilt ; that shortly afterwards he would be deluded into producing a spurious Shakespeare tragedy on its boards. Still more incredulous might he have been had someone prophesied that within five years Fox would have seceded from Parliament, and left his ragged regiment to their own devices ; that, further, he himself in six years' time would figure as a witness for the rebel O'Connor, half urge him to escape, and be suspected of having ruined the cause of his acquaintance Lord Thanet at his trial for a plot to rescue Edward Fitz- gerald's comrade. Nor, with his indolence, would he have been less amazed to have heard that in the next year he would see performed and published a version by himself of Kotzebue's melodrama, which would reap a harvest as golden as his most 263 SHERIDAN original compositions. But the sentimentalist need never be surprised. His life is a cockle-shell on the tide of feeling, with the waves and winds of which it tosses. Sheridan was over forty-three and his bride not yet turned twenty, when, on April 27, 1795, he wedded Esther Jane Ogle, the youngest daughter of Newton Ogle, Dean of Winchester, by a wife, who was daughter to a bishop of the same diocese, and once the King's preceptor. 1 The Ogles were of Northum- brian stock and hailed from Kirkley. Esther had three sisters, Anne, Kate and Susan, to whom (and to whose nephews 2 ) Sheridan was uniformly kind and affectionate. It was a romantic match. Sheridan fell madly in love when he met her so ran the rumour at Devonshire House ; while she, at first reported to have exclaimed, " Keep away, you terrible creature," ended by declaring, so testifies Thomas Grenville, that Sheridan was the "handsomest and honestest man in England." 8 The Ogles were then staying at Southampton, always a favourite resort of Sheridan's, and the newspapers of March and April teem with titbits about the courtship and the wedding, which took place in that city. It had been deferred so as to succeed the nuptials of the Prince of Wales with the luckless Caroline of Brunswick, who had rejected his proffered hand on their way from the ceremony; while on that night 1 The Dean died in January, 1804, aged 78, at the Prebendal House of Durham. He was a brother of Sir Chaloner Ogle, and their sister, the Baroness de Stark, died in February of the following year ; she is described as of "literary attainments." Grey's wife and Whitbread's were both cousins of the second Mrs. Sheridan. Cf. cuttings in Eg. MS. 2136, ff. i6id. and 162. Mrs. Sheridan's age is ascertained from her tomb in Old Windsor churchyard. That she was the youngest daughter appears from the obituary notice among the cuttings in Eg. MS. 1975, f. 186. Her mother, who became blind, and broke her leg in 1799, died at Bath, aged 86, in March, 1820; cf. cuttings in Eg. MS. 1975, ff. 185, ig6d. 1 Harry and Nathaniel. In Add. MS. 29764, f. 9, is an interesting letter from Nathaniel Ogle to Sheridan, sending a copy " of the vigorous verses written by the great Sir Walter Raleigh after his condemnation." These of course are "The Soul's Errand,' beginning, "Go, soul, the body's guest." Cf. Moore's Journal," Vol. IV., p. 134. 264 THE SECOND MRS. TICKELL. from a mezzotint, after the portrait by G. Romney. fBy kind permission of Messrs. Agnew.~\ SHERIDAN'S SECOND MARRIAGE is great gentleman tumbled drunk into the fire-grate. 1 n March n, Mr. Sheridan's union with Miss Ogle "was pected in a few days"; on March 14, he had returned to wn, and the marriage was to happen on the same day as the rince's ; on April 3, "the patience of the happy pair was nearly :hausted"; on April 30, Sheridan's delay was ascribed to anagement, and he was reported to have an opera and a imedy ready for the stage our old friends " The Foresters " id "Affectation." The honeymoon was passed at the old house Wanstead, a so lightly had the memories of his ordeal gone by, ough Sheridan told tutor Smyth that " he had no other place put her in." Nor should it be forgotten, when we bear " the an of feeling " in mind, that he was married only a fortnight ter, and in the same month as, the anniversary of his first tion. Of Sheridan's own mysterious movements during the eceding weeks, Smyth, then supervising Tom, has given us aphic glimpses : a letter bidding the son to meet him at uildford at an inn, the name of which he of course forgot ; Dm's excitement in the hopes of an heiress or even of a .rliamentary career; his arrival at Guildford only to find no ther and no money nothing to look at but " the stable and reet " ; his rage when the oblivious Sheridan was seen lirling up to town in a lit coach with four horses ; finally, a :ter (franked by Sheridan) from the pupil to the tutor, in which deplored that it was his father's marriage, not his own, that y at the root of all these escapades. " My father," he wrote, :alked to me two hours last night, and made out to me that was the most sensible thing that he could do. Was not this ry clever of him ? . . . You should have been tutor to him, iu see. I am incomparably the most rational of the two." len followed Sheridan's honeymoon-letter to Tom with his lip of " Your aged mother sends her blessing," and his .tient persuasion of Smyth to be the boy's mentor at 1 Cf. the authentic accounts in a well-informed and most interesting book anonymous authorship, " Memoirs of the Times of George IV." olburn, 1838 ; edited by Gait). ' Cf. newspaper cuttings in Eg. MS. 1975. 265 SHERIDAN Cambridge. 1 It was the case of the conspirators in "The Critic " over again : " Assist us to accomplish all our ends, And sanctify whatever means we use To gain them." Sheridan never ceased to be " Pierrot," but surely he had passed the age for such excursions. He joked over these sentimental journeys, and when Pitt complained of his long absence from the national council, he retorted by saying that it was due to a cause which would hardly enlist that cold- blooded minister's sympathy. It was an unwise marriage. Good though she was and hand- some, she could not have been his helpmate, even if he had been only half as erratic and only half as impossible to live with. She was capricious, and Sheridan over-indulged her whims. She was desperately fashionable, and extravagant in proportion, and she must have been pleased to be welcomed by Lady Bess- borough, and to receive the Duchess of Devonshire's " ever- lasting love." 2 She sang well and danced well, 8 but in things 1 " Memoirs," pp. 45 64. * Sheridan in his letters to her, especially the long ones of apology and explanation, makes it quite clear how willing he had been to stint himself for her benefit. In one he protests his " indifference to what the world calls comforts, much more its luxuries," and he shows how by a rearrangement of his affairs, she could keep her carriage, for which he allotted two hundred and fifty pounds. In another (cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 209) he writes, " The delight of my life is to see you cheerful and without care ; but ... we must be as careful as ants. I employed Tom's man to collect for me the bills at Richmond. The amount is frightful, more than four times what I expected, for since the short time I had it, I had twice cleared them off." This must have been in 1807, when Richmond figures as the address on several of his letters. In 1811 Miss Berry (as Rae points out, ibid.) notices her recklessness, a conversation one day on retrenchment, the next at Mrs. Villiers's, " waltzing away there, the gayest among the gay." Cf. Miss Berry's "Journals and Corn," Vol. II., pp. 483, 484. ' Sheridan in one of his letters mentions a conversation with the King about waltzing, and the royal remark that fortunately Charlotte's corns prevented it. Sheridan was as averse to that dance as Byron. Rae 266 " H E C C A " intellectual she seems to have taken scanty interest. Though he writes to her, with enthusiasm, of " Waverley " and " Peter Plymley's " letters, and insists how much she could help him in the construction of a play, it is touching to read her confession of ignorance towards the close. 1 To politics she was indifferent, and Sheridan himself once assured her, " God made the country but the House of Commons Oh ! " 2 She hunted for celebrities, and lived to bore Lord Byron. She liked to feel that she had caught an illustrious man. Yet she was brave and loyal, bearing much that would have broken a stouter heart with silent dignity. And at the end, after half-separations and many carking troubles, her devotion knew no bounds. Wasted for five years, by a fatal illness, she thought only of her " dear " Sheridan ; " honour, glory and truth for Sheridan " was her demand after his death. Writing to Lord Holland in 1812, "My whole heart and soul," she exclaimed, "is with Sheridan." 3 Sheridan himself never fell out of love with his " Hecca," as he named her. " My soul's beloved," My only delight in life," " My own Gypsey," " My own dear bit of brown Holland," " prettiest of all my eyes ever thought pretty, dearest of all that (Vol. II., p. 210) quotes the following by Sheridan from Thomas Grenville's Album at Stowe : " The Waltz : an Apostrophic Hymn. " While arts improve in this aspiring age, Peers mount the coach-box, horses mount the stage And waltzing females with unblushing face Disdain to dance but in a man's embrace, While arts improve and modesty is dead, Sound sense and taste are, like our bullion, fled." 1 " I am not handsome, I am full of faults and very ignorant. I have a tolerable heart, and not a little mind, and I adore merit in others, and that is all I can say for myself." Mrs. Sheridan to Mrs. LeFanu, October 24, 1816, cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 358. The " Plymley Letters" (on Catholic emancipation) were of course by Sydney Smith, and came out in 1806. a " But Heccate does not care for politics, and I must go and attend a meeting at Lord Fitzwilliam's, so Heaven bless thy heart." Sheridan to his wife, February 9, 1801 (Sheridan MSS.). 3 Holland House MSS. 267 SHERIDAN ever was dear to my heart," are among his caresses. He tells her that her " white wings" will brush away his cares. He dotes uxoriously on every feature, her " emerald " eyes or " green beads," which he " will kiss on Saturday " ; her " low forehead, round plump elbows and flowing tresses." " Bless your eye- lids," he writes ; " my beloved, bless you ever and ever and all over," "Bless thy heart, my only real pleasure on earth," " Bless your days and nights." l Sorry as the life was that he led her, he is constantly to be found caring for her health, scheming for her pleasures, and fretting over her safety. Later on, when she discussed his affairs with Whitbread, Grey, and others, he tells her how hurt he is by her want of respect. But the mere thought of estrangement distracts him. "At no time," he wrote in 1799, " has your kindness been more necessary to me. Do not fail me, my dearest." If he did not hear from her regularly, he became frantic : " Gracious God," he exclaimed, " not a single line. If a voice from heaven had told me that any human being should have treated me thus, I should not have believed it. No matter." But, as she owned, her difficulty in writing sprang from the simple fact that she had nothing to say. " Pray, my dear S., write, for I like of all things to hear from you, and when you write, I feel as if I had some- thing to say " ; to which he replied, " When your dear letter this morning began ' My dear S.' as formerly, I felt my gloom- sprite more cleared away than by any other circumstance." Throughout his communications not one cross word ever escapes him ; indeed, he expressly says, " Nothing shall ever induce me to write an unkind or even an expostulatory expres- sion towards you." All these excerpts are from late letters, but there is one which from internal evidence must have been written a year or so after their marriage. It refers to Wilmot, member for Coventry, to whom Sheridan had evidently taken a dislike ; while we know from another letter that he considered Mrs. Wilmot, Hecca's relation, as her very counterpart : " What a sweet evening ! O Sheridan, if you were but here, 1 Sheridan MSS., cited with others by Rae, Vol. II., p. an. 268 The Second Mrs. SHERIDAN (Hester Ogle : " Mecca"). from an old engraving after the portrait by Hoppner. " H E C C A " Hecca would be quite happy. I give you leave to hate Wilmot is much as you like. I stood up for him from gratitude, but as [ think my gratitude misplaced, I stand up no longer. He is ny acquaintance but not my friend, and I don't care one pin vhat he thinks. When I think of all his professions, I confess t does divert me. I could make him appear rather in a ridiculous light, but I won't. Sheridan, how much better you ire than anything on earth, and how well I love you. I will kate everything you hate, and love everything you love, so God bless you." l The birth of a son on January 14, 1796, was a source of great rejoicing. He was christened Charles Brinsley, at " the font Df Opposition," laughed the newspapers, for Grey and Fox were his godfathers, and Dr. Parr himself officiated. 2 Sheridan was devoted to the child, whom he nicknamed " Robin," and Hoppner painted him pickaback with his mother. 8 Over his education he perpetually brooded. He was sent to Winchester and Cambridge ; Bloomfield was his private tutor at home. "Application, application, application," insisted the father anent his training ; but Rochefoucauld has well said that " old age, when it can no longer set a bad example, gives good advice." None the less, at his worst hour he suffered hardships to provide for the son's education and the mother's comfort,* while he told her that, to ensure her happiness, he would gladly with one hand cut off the other. Charles inherited the gift of verse, and Tom, as much devoted to his new brother as to his sympathetic " mater," penned long and critical letters on his early efforts. 1 Sheridan MSS. 2 Cf. the cuttings Eg. MS. 1975, f. isod. s Sheridan, referring to this portrait in a letter to Anne Ogle, says, " I have made Hoppner alter what you mentioned in the picture, and he was quite obliged to me for the remark and saw the fault directly. It is really the loveliest thing that ever was seen immensely admired." About Charles, Sheridan speaks of their home as " Robin's nest." From the mention in a letter of a " babe " as well as Robin, there would almost seem to have been another child. 4 Sheridan MSS. Sheridan to his second wife (whom there he addresses as " Hester " ). " RICHMOND, April 20, 1810." 269 SHERIDAN During many vicissitudes Charles Sheridan remained a link of attachment between his parents. Yet the day came, some eight years later, when for a time they were estranged. His nomad habits ; her treatment of the theatre as a Fortunatus's purse ; above all, the bouts in which he drowned his distresses, though twice he gave up liquor and worked night and day to retrieve their embarrassments ; l her quick temper, which, however, never exhausted his courteous patience all these causes of friction helped to set up a temporary barrier. She had much to bear. Allowing for every exaggera- tion,* the subjoined letter from Lady Bessborough to Lord Holland in 1804, tells a melancholy tale, and proves that the false stimulus which he craved was no mere fiction of his enemies : " Poor Richardson is dead. Sheridan (if Richardson's death does not frighten him) will do the same, for he is never sober for a moment ; and his affairs, worse than ever. Pour comble, he has quarrelled with Mrs. S. A sort of separation took place, but I believe it is partly made up again at least I believe they live in the same house again, but not very good friends. I am very sorry for it, for she was the only chance there was of stopping his drinking." 8 Sheridan closed a brilliant letter to the same lady dashed off in the House during a debate, " I am half drunk and can write no more perhaps had better not have written half so much." His irregularities led him to lean on others, and after Tickell's death in 1793, Richardson became 1 Even at other times in his letters to his second wife he speaks of only taking a " pint of wine," and when he stayed at Woburn in 1803, he says, " Wine in all moderation." Towards the end, however, he relapsed, and Lady Holland declares that during his periodical stays at Holland House he took up to bed what was alleged to be a book, but was really a bottle of brandy ; but then Lady Holland was always acid (especially in her journal), and Sheridan in one of his letters to Hecca tells her that Lady Bessborough remarked that Lady Holland had at length been " amiable." 1 Creevey records that when Lady B., about this time when Fox was wroth with Sheridan, sent a message to him to give up drink and tell the truth, Sheridan answered that she was not a good example of the latter virtue. 1 Holland House MSS. 270 THE SETTLEMENT AND POLESDEN more than ever his second self, his associate in Parliament and the theatre, his factotum at home. To his first wife Sheridan had been " Sheri," to his second he was plain " Dan," " poor Dan," who was " all alone /^melancholy as a tomb," or as " a yew tree in a church- yard," 1 and the transference from the more romantic to the prosier appellative is not without significance. There are ninety-six of his letters to the second Mrs. Sheridan. Their allusions political and social have interest, but intrinsically they lack salt, and at times they are even dull. Mecca's inspiration was not that of St. Cecilia. At the outset was mentioned the queer settlement that Sheridan himself made on his marriage, restraining him from touching the capital till a large sum had accumulated. It further empowered his trustees (as had been the case when he married Miss Linley) to vary the investments. In 1796 a tempting property Admiral Geary's estate of Polesden in Surrey came into the market. It amounted to three hundred and forty-one acres, and Sheridan's trustees, Grey and Whit- bread, his wife's connections, sank a substantial part of the settlement money in it, and were repaid by Sheridan for so doing : 2 he pulled down the old house, built a new homestead, 1 Cf. his letters to her " Monday night " ( ? 1797), " Hertford Street, Monday night " ( ? 1799). Sheridan MSS. a Among the Sheridan MSS. is the following undated memorandum : " ; T >5o paid by Mr. Adam to Trustees for marrage settlement to com- pleat the 4,000 3% stipulated. I take the interest on the 8,000 lent on Polesden, only as if it remained in the stock, though I have added 6,000 more in purchase of Polesden [and] take no advantage for other survey nnade of timber, etc., though very advantageous, [and] paid for by me as :hey were mortgaged, except Marshall's Farm. ..." Writing to his wife years later from Richmond, on April 20, 1810, he says 3f Polesden, "... Were I to calculate the average of my annual loss >ince Edwards [his old man-servant] has had the management of it at 400 [ should be very much under the fact, and though I have made good surchases which have greatly increased the value of the estate, as Charles, [ trust, will one day experience, yet through the blunder or worse of Dunn, fOUT trustee's solicitor, these efforts on my part have occasioned in their jrogress a loss to me of certainly not less than seven or eight thousand 271 SHERIDAN and gradually acquired much surrounding land. It was said afterwards and the report has been pressed against him that Admiral Geary bitterly complained of delay in payment, and of Sheridan's evasions. But the purchase, though insti- gated by Sheridan and extended afterwards, was primarily a trust-purchase, and almost immediately it was even bruited that the estate had been redisposed of at a thousand pounds profit. Sheridan hoped to be fortunate as a farmer, but he succeeded in agriculture no better than Burke, though as the years passed he often fancied that what he let others mis- manage would turn to gold ; and with him Eldorado was always in sight. He liked to play the squire as much as Sir Walter Scott liked to play the laird. He bought bargains for his dairy. He took a personal interest in his tenants, visiting, assisting, and sympathising with them. His harvest-homes were chronicled, and his letters display keen anxiety about rainy Septembers. 1 With the peasantry he was most popular, and he fought for their rights of common as if he had been fighting against Warren Hastings. 2 It cannot be too often emphasised that his whole outlook was the people's. Mrs. Sheridan's dowry was only 8,000, but Sheridan, to the general surprise, managed to add 12,000, as was noted in our prologue. Despite Polesden, which eventually became valuable, the untouched accumulations under a clause in the contract from which even his father-in-law in vain tried to dissuade him, amounted to 40,000, of which Mrs. Sheridan stood possessed when she died. 3 Polesden then passed to their pounds." Sheridan MSS. In 1810 Sheridan tells his wife that Polesden, then " directed " by a Mr. Metcalfe, yielded him a thousand a year. " Rain . . . which made my bones ache for my harvest. O ye gods that my ricks had been thatched even with ' fern and green boughs.' " Sheridan MSS., Sheridan to his second wife, September 5, 1804 (cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 205). " There is a meeting on the business of enclosing all the Commons, Ransmore, Bookham, etc., and if I am not on the spot, they . . . will perhaps ruin the beauty of Polesden. . . . But I will see real justice done to the cottagers and the poorest claimants." Sheridan MSS., November 15, 1804 (cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 205). For the amount of the settlement which was in the three per cents., cf . 272 CHARLES SHERIDAN: DRURY LANE REBUILT son and only child, whose philhellenic tastes found expression :>oth in travels and verses before, on November 29, 1843, he :oo passed away. But we must turn aside to things theatrical. In 1791 it )ecame plain that the old theatre was no longer safe or idequate, and it was resolved to rebuild and reorganise it. A eu d'esprit by Sheridan remains on the life and death of the ' venerable Madam Drury," while masses of complex documents sxist as to the attendant projects and agreements. Amid all heir verbiage several clear facts emerge. The new house was be surrounded by shops and taverns capable of producing . good rental, but this important part of the scheme never natured. The rates of admission were to be reduced, while he subscribers for new capital were to have free passes and ither privileges. From one memorandum it appears that the rice to be paid for the theatre was 130,000, subject to an nnuity of 3,500 to the old shareholders and a ground rent of "500. Even as matters then stood Sheridan's Drury Lane icome (however forestalled) amounted to over 5,000, and part from his "renter" shares, the capital value of his own boxes eached the sum of over 60,000. But the estimates made for tie new structure fell below the mark by some 70,000^ ie cuttings in Eg. MS. 1975, f. 154 (July 28, 1796). When Mrs. Sheridan ied at the close of October, 1817, the following appeared in a newspaper: Mrs. Sheridan left at least 40,000. Her family made a very secure argain with Mr. S. before she was allowed to give him her hand. To ie 8,000 which constituted her fortune, he was required to add 12,000, ad it was stipulated he should not touch the interest till the 20,000 were inverted by it to 40,000." This had been effected at the time of her ;ath ; cf. ibid., f. 1850!., which corroborates Sheridan's own statement to his ife, cited in full ante in Vol. I., p. 44. There was endless gossip as to 3w Sheridan could have raised the 12,000 which the family demanded. : was insinuated that he had impoverished the Linleys by alienating >me of their interest in the theatre. But he was then their trustee, and leir Bath property which he administered certainly brought them in a good :venue. It may be conjectured that he mortgaged or granted annuities 1 some of his own renter shares or private boxes a pet device of his in nergencies. Certain of these boxes alone were valued at no less than 300 a year. 1 Including law expenses. Cf. several documents in the Sheridan MSS. S. VOL. II. 273 T SHERIDAN and this deficit sorely involved Sheridan's future. In 1794, and again in 1796, he assigned all his theatrical property to trustees, of whom Adam, one of the managers at the Hastings trial and a friend of the Prince, was chief: the Prince himself took a warm interest in the affair. The second compact, under which Sheridan assigned "fifty-seven new Proprietors' shares," was necessitated by the great excess of building costs over the original estimates as well as by " unfore- seen law expenses " ; while it was further aggravated by the intervention of the bankers Hammersley. Nor, if his statements are correct, was Sheridan's liability limited ; he complained in 1797 that the balance due to him from the theatre was actually charged to his own account, while as the last straw, after a few years, Drury Lane had again to face a huge debt to its new promoters. Even the windfall of Betty, the boy prodigy, who for a short spell proved a mine of wealth, could not retrieve the position, and in 1802 a Chancery suit was filed against Sheridan, which he eloquently defended in person. He had hoped that Kemble would purchase his moiety in 1800, and in October, 1806, he resigned the direction in favour of his son j 1 yet he voluntarily and needlessly assumed his large proportion of this deficit, and finally paid another gratuitous 5,000 or 6,000 to the new "renters," solely to satisfy his sense of honour, as he assured his wife in a long letter of retrospect and apology. 3 In the end he retained a conditional interest, and received a proportion of salary which even in 1810 amounted to some 1,400. The new theatre opened on March 12, 1794, but meanwhile 1 Cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. i6 4 d. " RICHMOND, April 20, 1810." Cf. the facts already adduced in the 4 Overture " to Vol. I., ante, p. 45. There is also a memorandum among his papers dated February 16, 1802, to the effect that he did not mean the settlement then laid before the Chancellor to cause the invalidation or withdrawal of any securities "which can be fairly shown to have been given by him to Messrs. Hammersley & Co. for any debt not paid off." t further appears that he held the bills of one Grubb (a regular name in the Drury Lane imbroglios), and that the theatre had left these unnego- tiated. For Tom's part in the new arrangements, cf. post, p. 303, n. 2. 274 THEATRE ENTANGLEMENTS resh arrangements had been made with the King's Opera louse in the Haymarket, where the Drury Lane actors tem- orarily performed, and with the Pantheon, whose competition uring this interval would have been formidable. These corn- acts entailed fresh worries and misunderstandings. 1 Sheridan, tiough still retaining valuable assets, had lost his way in a laze of mortgages that form a veritable Chinese puzzle. As Don as one rearrangement is disposed of, another with its ^adjusted " securities " crops up encumbrance within encum- rance till the eyes are dazed and the mind reels. He counted le sum of his losses by the long course of theatrical entangle- lents at no less than 60,000 and the huge expenses, which he lared, as amounting to 27,ooo. a And, in addition, he told is Hecca that the lawyers' delays in completing the pre- minaries to a theatre, much too large when finished, had lost im 30,000 3 more. What with scheme piled on scheme, ttorney and banker outvying banker and attorney, it was hard )r him or for any one else to realise either property or position, hrewd as Sheridan was with figures, he had raised the wind D often that he drifted at random, though henceforward he Dntracted very few fresh obligations. Nothing, however, Duld daunt his hopes. As projects multiplied, paper after aper remains inscribed with triumphant proofs, not only of erfect solvency, but of certain profit. In the spring of 1796 Sheridan was victimised by William reland, a lad of nineteen, who, ill-emulating Chatterton, had 1 There are drafts of the agreement with the Haymarket Theatre both i the Sheridan MSS. and in Eg. MS. 2134, f. 75. The Drury Lane irection promised its best efforts to re-establish the Italian operas there, here is a long memorial too about the Pantheon misfeasances to Lord alisbury, the Lord Chamberlain, and some rough notes on this matter, uong which Sheridan writes, " I had rather have given them the theatre " ; iuch fuss and threats of litigation arose about " the dormant patent" 2 The sum is named in the memorial just mentioned of the Drury ane and Covent Garden Proprietors to Lord Salisbury about the antheon : " We actually paid Messrs. Wallis & Troward above 27,000 ir law expenses." s When Wallis died, Sheridan wrote to his second wife that out of his ill-gotten gains " he owed him (Sheridan) thousands. 275 T 2 SHERIDAN palmed off a new Shakespearean manuscript, not only on the dramatist and John Kemble, but on tried experts like Person and Malone. The play was entitled " Vortigern and Rowena," and its production proved the sensation of literary circles ; Boswell kissed the sacred pages, and declared that he could now die happy. 1 On the night of its one performance April 2 (and perhaps the preceding day would have been a more suitable date) all the world thronged Drury Lane to hear Kemble and Mrs. Jordan in this resurrectional masterpiece. Pitt's friend, Sir James Burges, composed its prologue, and the mincing Merry, an epilogue, which was fated never to be spoken. In the fifth act, where a line "And when this solemn mockery is o'er " had already preluded disaster, another which Kemble delivered, " Death with his icy hand now drags me down," gave the forgery its quietus. A deluge of howls swamped an imposture which the unerring instinct of a large audience had at once detected. " No common cause your verdict now demands, Before the court immortal Shakespeare stands," formed a distich of the prologue. The jury found Shakespeare " not guilty," and the brazen Ireland was hooted out of court. 2 It was said that Sheridan treated this fiasco with indifference, but this can scarcely have been the case, since he complains in his papers that the whole loss two hundred and fifty pounds was debited to himself. Sheridan cast about for new sources of sensation. German windiness and Kotzebue's full-blooded sentiment were fast supplanting the calmer influence of French comedy ; Benjamin Thompson had translated "The Stranger." This Sheridan altered how considerably may be seen from an existing facsimile of the corrected text and in 1798 Mrs. Siddons achieved a great success as Mrs. Haller, its heroine. Sheridan wrote a song for it, " I have a silent sorrow here," the song transferring some lines from an earlier lyric of his own. Georgiana of 1 Cf. Rae, Vol. II., p. 178. * Cf . the " Octogenarian " who was present and Rae's excellent summary in VoL II., pp. i 79 , T 8o. 276 'VORTIGERN": "THE STRANGER": " PIZARRO " Devonshire set it to the music with which it was published, 1 .nd green-room gossips rumoured that during rehearsal Sheridan jointed to his pocket, and was heard to mutter, " I have a ilent bottle here." The stanza runs as follows : " I have a silent sorrow here, A grief I'll ne'er impart. It breathes no sigh, it sheds no tear, But it consumes my heart. This cherished woe, this loved despair, My lot for ever be, So, my soul's lord, the pangs I bear Be never known by thee." He had been solicitous for fresh dramas, 2 but cheered by the uccess of this new departure, he set about another paraphrase n the same direction. Kotzebue's " The Spaniards in Peru ; >r, the Death of Rolla," offered a great spectacular and patriotic nelodrama at the supreme hour of the battle of the Nile. It iad been ill-translated both by Thompson and by Anne D lumptre, but Sheridan adopted neither of these versions. He mployed a Miss Phillips to render the play, 3 which he not only :hanged and transposed but partially re-wrote. The climax liffers wholly from that of the original ; new passages and songs yere introduced, all the declamatory fervour of his floweriest peeches found repetition, and "Pizarro: a Tragedy" was iroduced on May 24, 1799, with a prologue apologising for lelay, and including a passage from his earlier one to Lady Craven's " Miniature Picture." The future Lord Melbourne ivolved an epilogue, which treated of " A monarch's danger ind a nation's fate." Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, and Mrs. Jordan, .s Pizarro, Elvira, and Cora, were well fitted, and rapturously tpplauded. 4 Their heroic tirades hit off the intense patriotism of 1 " The Favourate Song by Mr. Bland in ' The Stranger.' The Words by i. B. Sheridan, Esqre., the Air by Her Grace the Dutchess of Devonshire, irinted by Longmans Clementi & Co., No. 96 Cheapside, Price 2s. 6d." 2 Cf . the agreement with F. Reynolds in Add. M S. 27925, f . 14 ( January, 1797) . 8 Cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 130. 4 Sheridan's letters mention rehearsals and appointments both with regard o " The Stranger " and to " Pizarro." He hurried off to the country to catch ATS. Siddons. Sheridan used one of the pieces of declamation for an 'Address to the Surrey Volunteers " ; cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 81. 277 SHERIDAN a year when peace overtures had failed, and Nelson was in the glorious ascendant. Over the pageants Sheridan bestowed infinite pains. The Temple of the Sun with its procession of priestesses, the Spanish and Peruvian warriors, the picturesque pathos, too, of the female characters, the child borne aloft by Rolla. his funeral dirge all these excited a furore belonging to their moment. The piece ran for thirty nights, and Sheridan received at least one thousand pounds. 1 It was at once pub- lished, and satirised in a skit entitled, " The Adventures of Pizarro," where "Pizarro" meant Sheridan. The play was the talk of the day ; the same year it was printed in Philadelphia, 2 and in the evolution of modern melodrama it long lingered on the stage. Pendennis, it will be remembered, used to admire the Fotheringay when she presented its stale splendours at Chatteris. Sheridan enhanced the opportunity by a dedication to his youthful wife : " To Her whose approbation of this Drama, and whose peculiar delight in the applause it has received from the public, has been to me the highest gratification its success has produced, I dedicate this play." The new motive given to Elvira in the second scene of the third act is Sheridan's own, so is Alonzo's declamation : " No ! Deserter I am none ! I was not born among robbers, pirates, murderers ! When those legions lured by the abhorred lust of gold, and by thy foul ambition urged, forgot the honour of Catalans and forsook the duties of humanity, they deserted me. I have not warred against my native land, but against those who have usurped its power. The banners of my country when first I followed arms beneath them, were Justice, Faith, and Mercy. If these are beaten down and trampled under foot I have no country, nor exists the power entitled to reproach me with revolt." 1 Cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 160. " Pizarro, a Tragedy in Five Acts as performed at the Theatre Royal >rury Lane, taken from the German Drama of Kotzebue, and adapted English stage by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Philadelphia, printed for H. & P. Rice, 16 South Second Street." " Genuine edition." The author has a copy of this rare imprint. 278 < P I Z A R R O ' AND MELODRAMA Here we catch Sheridan's voice against Napoleon. His manuscript is preserved among the papers at Frampton "ourt ; part of it is in his wife's handwriting. It contains an Iternative song for that which is printed in the fifth act, the ' Yes, yes, be merciless, thou tempest dire." This discarded yric appears in a sort of blank verse intended to be transformed o rhyme : " On a sad bed of leaves and moss my child is laid, Yet better bed than this chilled bosom, for Thou sleep'st, my babe, nor heed'st the tempest wild. This bosom is no couch for Peace or thee. Alas, alas ! my babe, if thou wouldst rise, Seek any cradle but thy mother's breast." In his paraphrase of " PLzarro " Sheridan gave full rein to hat sentimental tempest which his own taste and the temper )f an earlier time restrained in his comedies. But the fault of ;uch melodrama is that sentimentality does not suit tempest ; t is only fit for showers, and a " Pierrot "-epic, so to speak, is mpracticable. Nevertheless, though the romantic outbursts of Bulwer Lytton and of Disraeli do not touch moderns as they used to do, sentiment lies at the root of English humour, fastened in Thackeray, who mocked it, exuberant in Dickens, who revelled in that element. On the stage, however, tragic sentimentality must fail, for there humour cannot accompany it, and in " Pizarro," as in Lytton's " Lady of Lyons," it is the lack of such an alliance that ruins vitality and causes one generation to sneer at what the other applauded. The bombast that Sheridan travesties in " The Critic " is only a stiffer and more cramped edition of what posterity calls fustian in " Plzarro." Kotzebue was the grandfather of that Adelphi melodrama, which Sheridan first naturalised in England. But we must revert to politics, and to the moment equally melodramatic of Fox's secession. In 1795 he had gone so far in his hankerings after office as to treat even with Lansdowne. 1 1 Cf. Fox's Corr., Vol. III., p. 112. Fox loved coalitions, and declared that they were the best form of government. 279 SHERIDAN He had failed twice and was to fail thrice again in coming to any solid understanding with Pitt. His popularity had waned, his ranks were dispersed, and the giant, metamorphosed into a dwarf, grew sulky and retired from the fray. All the petulance of his hesitation and all his half-jealousy of those whom he professed to leave free, are reflected in the frank pages of his correspondence. He longed yet loathed to unite with Pitt. In 1797, he would and he would not. Circumstances prompted his withdrawal from a scene where he was no longer " useful " ; yet not for worlds would he fetter his friends. Grey remained as his vicegerent, Sheridan would not be shackled, Tiern^y tacked himself on to Grey. There were the wonted tiffs and misunderstandings, and the Hollands waxed furious whsn Sheridan blabbed of Tierney's stratagems with Grey. Their fury was quite needless. If the Foxites had been left to their own devices, the fault lay in the moody leader who wanted to have the cake that he would not eat, and to drag his followers off to his own isolation. Never was he less dignified, and the absurdity of his attitude culminated in 1798 after Lord Malmesbury had bungled the Lille peace, and Pitt's resignation seemed imminent. Fox renewed his coy approaches to the Premier, whose effigy had been burned by an indignant mob. Yet at that juncture Sheridan expressed himself in a letter to his Hecca, as positively dreading a return to power. He had never tampered with the great minister whose unbending bulk was his invariable target, but Fox edged in and out, only to find that Pitt disdained to admit him on equal terms. Then he hurried up from the sweet solitude of St. Anne's to worst his mortal enemy at one fell blow ; he returned worsted himself, and was eventually forced to cabal with his ancient foes, the Grenvilles. Fox persisted in his demands for peace even after Napoleon had transformed the whole scene of action. In 1799 perhaps he was right, for the offer of peace which Napoleon then mooted in his dramatic letter to the King of England afforded some chance of security, and in any case it would have yielded a truce far more beneficial than the paltry Peace of Amiens. Yet when that treaty was patched up, Fox 280 FOX'S SECESSION: NAPOLEON: SHERIDAN denounced it, simply because Addington had made it. Sheridan, on the other hand, never favoured half-measures with the genius who terrorised the world, and Fox damned him accordingly. But while Holland House looked sourly on Sheridan's lapses, he seems to have pursued a course which they themselves would have praised. It has escaped notice that, all this time, Sheridan wished to persuade Fox into return. Among the Sheridan documents is a very long letter of June, 1798, from Sir John Macpherson, Indian worthy and Prince's friend, on the sequels of the French Revolution ; and his remarks chime with the change that had overtaken Sheridan's outlook. The question, he wrote, was no longer one of monar- chical but one of anarchical prerogative : the " sovereign animal " had been "let loose in France." Had the French been content with achieving freedom, none could have complained, but, under the Directory, " assignats, not liberty," were conceded. The war, therefore, must now be waged, not to re-seat the Bourbons but to re-establish freedom. Pitt had contrived to make the Opposition seem the advocates of democratic despotism, and with this brush their leader was tarred ! Sheridan was urged to turn Fox into a true patriot, and so to terminate the false situation. Fox, as a true Whig, Macpherson pointed out, should detest the present rulers of France as much as his ancestors had execrated Louis XIV. " I hope it is true," he writes, "that vou have induced Mr. Fox to appear among us before our summer dissolution. It is a real misfortune to the world that he does not avail himself of a mind to do the direct good within his sphere. Were he a traveller, or a spectator of the scene like me, he could easily see the arts on the one side of others, and the inattentions on his own side, by which the Opposition has been made to shift sides to the Administration in the popular estimate of their political chances. To do good, he must regain his place. You have opened the way for him. I give you joy of French abuse. Will he not recollect that it is not of the stretches of the prerogative of Hampden's day, nor of the corruptions or Excise of a Walpole, that the proprietor-people of this country are now afraid ? No, it is ... the spoliation 281 SHERIDAN of the Directory that they dread. Administrations have had the address to declare themselves the opposition to the Tyrant, and, in imputations of a disposition to favour him on the part of their opponents, they have reversed the former state of things, and the Opposition has become unpopular." He pro- ceeded to propound a remedy not much to Sheridan's taste, a sheer coalition between Pitt and Fox. 1 Yet at the start of this very year Sheridan had attended Fox's birthday banquet at the " Crown and Anchor," where the Duke of Norfolk proposed his toast of " our sovereign's health the Majesty of the People," for which he was drummed out of his regiment and dismissed from his lord-lieutenancy. Nor was it long before Fox, who really disapproved, rashly followed suit and was promptly struck off the Privy Council. 8 Macpherson's letter concerned Ireland also, and 1798 was one of Ireland's worst-omened years, for the heroic Lord Edward Fitzgerald, despairing of constitutional methods, had headed a conspiracy, been betrayed, wounded and done to death. Lord Clare led the forces of repression, and Sheridan had raised a vehement voice against his conduct. " You have begum-ed the Chancellor-governor of Ireland," Sir John con- cludes ; " I heard your speech. If it is printed and published like his own, he must end in impeachment. I conjure you to print it for the sake of a million of people. ..." The speech which Sir John lauded was one of June 18, on the state of Ireland. Sheridan reminded the House that Ireland had been loyal when treated with sympathy, and that Burke himself, believing in Parliament, had repudiated the roughness of unreason. He reprobated the force misused, the artifice which had played on "religious distinctions"; the rejection too of his own measure to relieve Roman Catholic soldiers from unjust disabilities. " To keep Ireland," he urged, Sir John Macpherson to R. B. Sheridan, " BROMPTON, 21 June, 1798." ' It was on May 25, 1798, that the King drew his pen across Fox's name ; cf. " The Annual Register," 1798, " Chronicle," p. 41. Pitt from policy was >ch disinclined to martyrise him ; cf . his letter to Lord Grenville of May 5, 1798, in Hist. MS. Comm., Dropmore Papers, Vol. IV., p. 187. 282 MACPHERSON'S LETTER: SHERIDAN ON IRELAND "against the will of the people is a vain expectation. With eighty thousand troops armed and disciplined against an unarmed and undisciplined multitude, is it not clear that the contest lies between the Government and the people ? With- out reversing the system, therefore, Ireland, as the phrase is, cannot be ' saved.' The struggle is one not of local discontent and partial disaffection, but it is a contest between the people and Government. In such a state of things, without entering into a particular inquiry, the fair presumption is that the Government is to blame." 1 Wise and understanding words these, nor wholly inapplicable at any time. But the ways of bureaucrats are seldom the ways of wisdom. Among his notes some exist for a fine speech in 1807 on Ireland. " Never trust any Government," he writes, " with the reform of any abuse. . . . One half of the real work of the State is done for half-price." And again, in a fresh note for a different speech stands a principle which truly animated him in Parliament : " I will guard the poor man. The care of mitres and of coronets I will leave to the nation." The rigours of government bred and fomented treason. Before the tragedy of Fitzgerald's end, his bosom friend Arthur O'Connor, with a conspiring priest named O'Coigley (or Quigley), had landed in England to concert fresh measures with France for the United Irishmen. From February to May they went unmolested but observed in London. But a traitor named Turner supplied Pitt with information, and Arthur O'Connor, his brother Roger, and the priest, who made no secret of his errand, were arrested on the point of embarking at Margate. They were conveyed to Maidstone. O'Connor's brother and the priest were treated with cruel severity, but Arthur O'Connor was considered more as a con- stitutional rebel, and Lord Edward Fitzgerald wrote to Fox that " he had nothing odd about him but twelve hundred guineas." The trial was fixed for the twenty-first of May. Fox, Sheridan, Grattan, Thanet, the Duke of Norfolk, with other Whig leaders, 1 Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 261 270. 283 SHERIDAN repaired to the assizes, and Sheridan himself gave an account of the trial in two letters dispatched to his wife. Buller was the judge. The " fray" mentioned in one of them greatly concerned Sheridan, for O'Connor, at first acquitted, was bidden to run for his life, only to be re-arrested on a new charge inside the Court. He had no wish to fly, but Lord Thanet and Mr. Fergusson (the Judge-Advocate-General), who were impli- cated in the fracas, apparently plotted to contrive an escape. At Holland House it was whispered (nor was the whisper amiss) that this message had been managed by Sheridan, himself a witness in O'Connor's favour. It urged him to jump over the bar, and make off, while his friends created a diversion. Not a word of this, however, transpires in his own story, but it will be found that next year, when he gave evidence at the further trial of Lord Thanet and Fergusson, for attempting O'Connor's rescue, it formed part of some nasty charges against him. Sheridan's letters to his wife represent the riot as an impromptu " hustle " caused by the gross injustice of the re-arrest : "22 May, 1798, Maidstone. My Heart's Beloved, knowing how anxious you will be I send [this], though the Trials will be over some time to-night. Matters, we think, look well for O'Connor, but I am resolved not to be too sanguine. I got to speak to him this morning. His mind is composed, but his nerves, sadly shaken. He was greatly affected when his poor brother was brought into Court yesterday, and when the other took his hand, he burst into tears. The usage of Roger O'Connor, who is one of the finest fellows I ever saw, has been merciless beyond example. We are all very anxious and very busy, for the Counsel want assistance. Here is Fox, Grey, Erskine, Grattan, Moira, Norfolk, etc. When I got to Wrotham yesterday, I was obliged to change horses again, and the intelligence there was that the Trial was nearly over, and that they were all tried together. The latter turned out to be the case, and in my life I never spent a more miserable half-hour for I believe I was 284 SHERIDAN AT O'CONNOR'S TRIAL not longer getting to Maidstone. But when I arrived, the first thing I saw was a group of friends who gave me a welcome that convinced me I was in time. In fact, the Crown did not finish till twelve at night. The Defence has been on since, and this morning you may rely on seeing me to-morrow morning : send me a line, my soul I was up at six, ma'am. Show the inclosed to Mr. Streatfeild, 1 the rest of the letter is still more infamous. He may rely on its authenticity. It was produced in Court yesterday, and made a great sensation. The Attorney- General behaved very well and pledged himself to prosecute the writer with the utmost rigour, and Duller said there was no punishment on earth too much for him. He is a Clergyman and son to the agricultural Arthur Young. Indeed, myself, you must wish for your poor Friend. R. B. S." A second letter is dated the next morning " Wednesday." It resumes the chronicle, and describes a dramatic meeting : " My Soul's Beloved, I know your green eyes will grieve when I tell you it is indispensably necessary for me to go to Town as well for a matter of my own as on O'Connor's account, a meeting being fixed there with Fox, Erskine, etc. Your Juryman of course told at Chiddingstone that O'Connor and all but Quigley were acquitted, and I suppose also of the fray that ensued on their attempting to execute a second movement for High Treason the moment the Verdict was given. He had no thought of escaping himself, but three or four injudicious friends, provoked at this un- expected second proceeding, endeavoured to hustle him out of Court. There were many blows struck and swords drawn : and when the soldiers got in I thought there would have been serious mischief which I was of some use in preventing, [and] for which Buller thanked me. You may imagine that Fox and all of us were in sufficient indignation at this horrible Persecu- tion. When O'Connor got to the Jail, he entreated the under- Sheriffs to [let] him see me. He applied to the High Sheriff, 1 Mr. H. Streatfeild, of Chiddingstone, Sevenoaks, Kent, was her host. 285 SHERIDAN who went to the Judges. Buller sent me a very handsome message that, though their Commission was ended and they exceeded their authority, they would direct that I might see him alone. By the time I got to the Jail, O'Connor was in bed in the dark under a hundred Locks and Bolts the Jail full of soldiers, the Jailor, who had been struck in the Fray, in a furious Rage, and all pretending that they apprehended a Rescue. At last however I got to him, and was with him alone an hour. Notwithstanding his renew'd imprisonment, he was in extremely good spirits, though he had had nothing to eat or drink, the jail was in such confusion and full of gratitude to his Friends. I shall see him again this morning, and then I set off for Town, where I believe we shall settle something to be done in the House of Commons to-morrow. When seized in the Court, he made a very forcible appeal to the Court. He saw there were those who were determined to have his Life, right or wrong ; and the only Favour he asked was to be con- fined in the same dungeon with his brother. My Life's Heart, I have not a moment more, I will write from town. Peremp- torily fix the Hour when I will see your eyes at Chiddingstone. We pant for a few quiet days. R. S." 1 Next year, and in Parliament, Sheridan warmly defended his evidence at O'Connor's trial against hints of disloyalty: he never retracted it, and he maintained that O'Connor's favourers were those least likely to connive at foreign intervention in British affairs. 3 Through these letters the scene rises before us more vividly than its sequels. O'Coigley was hanged and beheaded in the June of the following year, and he died like a hero. Dr. Parr wept over his fate, and when Mackintosh called him a rascal, the Doctor made his famous reply, " Yes, Jamie, he was a bad 1 For the foregoing cf. Sheridan MSS., " Annual Registers " for 1798 and 1799,^ Fitzpatrick's "Secret Service under Pitt," and Rogers's "Table- Talk " ; the trial of course was reported. 1 Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 321 (Speech of February n, 1799, on the Irish Union). 286 SHERIDAN AT LORD THANET'S TRIAL man, but he might have been worse. He was an Irishman, but he might have been a Scotsman ; he was a priest, but he might have been a lawyer ; he was a Republican, but he might have been an apostate." After four months' confinement in Ireland Arthur O'Connor was pardoned, not however without strong insinuations by the United Irishmen that a price had been paid for his reconciliation with Pitt. He subsequently went abroad, and died in 1852 at Bignon. In 1799 Lord Thanet and Fergusson were themselves charged before Kenyon with endeavouring O'Connor's rescue, and Sheridan's evidence on that occasion when he paused and halted in some of his answers was viewed with more than suspicion at Holland House, and indeed supposed by its Sibyl, to have been responsible for Lord Thanet's fine and imprisonment. But ere Lady Holland's imputations are cited, it will be well to repeat Sheridan's actual words in the witness-box, and to remember that Lord Thanet was a kinsman of the Dorsets, his father's befrienders. Sheridan's examiner was his too-clever friend Erskine, and his cross-examiner was Law, Warren Hastings's champion. The dialogue presents a dramatic colloquy : " ERSKINE. Do you know Mr. Fergusson ? SHERIDAN. Perfectly. E. If he had been upon the table flourishing and waving a stick in the manner that has been described, in his bar dress, must you not have seen it ? S. Yes ; it must have been a remarkable thing indeed for a counsel in his bar dress to have a stick flourishing in his hand. He had a roll of paper in his hand. E. Does that enable you to swear that Mr. Fergusson was not in that situation ? S. Certainly. E. Do you think if he had taken such a part in the riot in the presence of the judges that you could have observed it? S. I must have observed it." So far, be it noted, Fergusson's acts were defended. Then followed a tough tussle with the future Lord Ellenborough : ' L. You have said you saw Lord Thanet going towards the judges as if he were going to complain. Did you hear him make any complaint to the judges ? 287 SHERIDAN S. I did not hear him, certainly. L. (beating round the bush). I will ask you whether you do or do not believe that Lord Thanet and Mr. Fergusson meant to favour O'Connor's escape, upon your solemn oath ? S. (with hesitating caution). Am I to give an answer to a question which amounts merely to an opinion ? L. I ask as an inference from their conduct as it fell under your observa- tion whether you think they or either of them meant to favour Mr. O'Connor's escape, upon your solemn oath ? S. (fencing). Upon my solemn oath I saw them do nothing that could be at all auxiliary to an escape. L. That is not an answer to my question. S. I do not wish to be understood to blink any question, and if I had been standing there and been asked whether I should have pushed or stood aside, I should have no objection to answer that question." Law reiterated his query, and once more reminded Sheridan that he was on oath. This is the section of Sheridan's evidence that Lady Holland makes answerable for Lord Thanet's conviction. " S. The learned counsel need not remind me that I am upon my oath : I know as well as the learned counsel that I am upon my oath, and I will say that I saw nothing that could be auxiliary to an escape." Law pressed the question home as regarded both the defen- dants, and he asked if from observation Sheridan believed that either of them had connived at O'Connor's escape. " S. (pausing). I desire to know how far I am obliged to answer that question. I certainly will answer it in this way, that from what they did, being a mere observer of what passed, I should not think myself justified in saying that either of them did. Am I to say whether I think they would have been glad if he had escaped ? That is what you are pressing me for." " No man can misunderstand me," shouted Law, and when Sheridan replied that he " should have no right to conclude that they were persons assisting the escape," Law insisted on know- ing whether Sheridan " believed " that they intended to favour it. Sheridan then justly retorted that he had already answered. But Lord Kenyon interposed and told him that unless he gave a direct reply they " must draw the natural inference." " I have no doubt," said Sheridan, " that they wished he 288 SHERIDAN'S EQUIVOQUE night escape, but from anything I saw them do I have no right conclude that they did." Law persevered in his " I must have an answer," and Sheridan tssured him that he was mistaken if he thought he could ' entrap " him. Erskine intervened with " It is hardly a legal juestion," and Lord Kenyon curtly remarked, " It is not an llegal question." More fencing on the old lines took place intil Law suddenly questioned him on facts : on facts Sheridan rtood firm. 1 L. I will ask you whether it was not previously intended that he should escape if possible ? " The "previously" sounds ambiguous, for whether or not Sheridan himself at a late moment had urged O'Connor to be )ff, his whole point in the letter to his wife was that under he provocation of a second arrest, " injudicious friends " had * hustled " O'Connor out, and that every movement had jeen spontaneous ; nor in Court was any suggestion made of Sheridan's connivance. " Certainly not," answered Sheridan, ' the contrary." Asked next if he had any intimation that :he attempt was designed, he denied it, adding " there was 1 loose rumour of another warrant, which was afterwards :ontradicted." Not till then had it been debated whether such i writ could be issued before O'Connor was discharged. Positively, there was no idea of a rescue. " There was no iriend of Mr. O'Connor's, I believe, but saw with regret any ittempt on his part to leave the Court." Sheridan's position was doubtless equivocal, nor was the last sentence quite candid; but surely it was not a sentence that could harm Lord Thanet. Erskine, who stuck to facts, not opinions, re-examined his man. He inquired whether he had seen any overt act ; Sheridan returned an emphatic negative. He had stated upon oath that everyone in the narrow gateway endeavoured to stop O'Connor, and he had remarked this the more particularly because " there being a common feeling among Englishmen, and he being acquitted," he thought " they might form a plan to let him escape." He persisted that he s. VOL. ii. 289 u SHERIDAN had seen no definite act, and that he did not believe that the defendants had taken part in rescuing O'Connor. Now let us listen to Lady Holland's " Journal " and observe that she is silent as to Fergusson, who was associated with Lord Thanet in Sheridan's cross-examination, though she circulates the rumour that Sheridan, after pushing a note of warning over to O'Connor, induced Fergusson to be silent about it when he came to read his own defence to the Court : " The Duke of Bedford and Lord Thanet called in their way back from St. Anne's, where they had been to consult with Mr. Fox upon the propriety of the measure suggested by Erskine. The measure was that Lord Thanet should write a letter to the Attorney-General declaring upon his honour that he was innocent of the charge against him, etc., etc. Mr. Fox disapproved of that scheme, as it seemed like begging for mercy. The evidence was so contradictory that even Kenyon, who is bitter against them, acknowledged in his summing-up the difficulty of ascertaining the truth. There is no doubt whatever that Lord T.'s activity was merely defensive ; nor is there any more that Sheridan's evidence got him found guilty. When questioned by Law, S., instead of answering immediately, paused, and then replied satisfactorily to the interrogation ; but this silence of several minutes previous to replying sufficed in the minds of the jury, and it is allowed on all hands that their verdict proceeded from their conviction that Sheridan was wavering between falsehood and truth, and that the first triumphed. This was confirmed by Law, in a solemn, impres- sive manner, repeating, ' You will recollect, Mr. Sheridan, that you are upon your oath.'. . . Those who were really the stimulators of the enterprise were Sheridan himself and Dennis O'Brien. 1 It is even a doubt whether Fergusson was apprised of the scheme. S. was adroit enough to persuade him to suppress in his defence the truth of a circumstance that, as it appeared in the charge, made against him. Just before 1 D. O'Brien was a great friend of Fox and Sheridan, and it was he who while Sheridan lay dying wrote an indignant letter as to the neglect of him to the Morning Post. 2QO LADY HOLLAND'S CHARGE CONSIDERED ihe scuffle F[ergusson] leaned across the table to whisper D'Connor. The truth of the whisper was an endeavour to leliver unseen a note from Sheridan to O'Connor, the words >f which were as follows : ' As soon as the sentence is >assed, leap over the bar, run to the right, and we will manage he rest.' Had this been stated, F. might have escaped, but le was persuaded it would have been unhandsome to involve an insuspected person, for so little was S. supposed to have issisted, that in court he received thanks from the judges for laving exerted himself to quell the disturbance. S. since he gained such credit as a witness in the State trials (Home fooke's) by his wit and repartee can never give a direct answer, ind is always more occupied to gain applause by his reply than o serve those in favour of whom he is called." 1 Sheridan is here taxed with the hideous treachery of lacrificing one friend by acting a hesitating part, another, by nducing him to burke the blame which belonged to himself, ind both, by leaving them to suffer rather than lose an ipportunity of displaying his powers. It is hard, however, perceive where Sheridan " shone " in his answers, or what ihance was afforded for " repartee." And Lady Holland's 1 there-is-no-doubt-whatevers " are scarcely legal tender. It vould be absurd to think that Lord Thanet was fined and ent to the Tower solely or mainly through Sheridan's manner, lor would the jury have condemned him save for distinct >roof of actions exceeding "self-defence." Fergusson received L mild sentence, so he was uninjured, 2 and Sheridan's missive o O'Connor could not have been the signal for the riot. Moreover, his hesitation in the box only occurred when he vas asked his opinion and was entitled to pause. He spoke jositively enough when interrogated as to facts. It is clear hat Lady Holland was unacquainted with the whole evidence, .nd ignorant of the details. Sheridan had been dare-devil :nough to urge O'Connor to fly, but he did not join in the 1 Holland House MSS., Lady Holland's "Journal," since published and dited by Lord Ilchester. 2 He was afterwards Attorney-General at Calcutta. 2QI U 2 SHERIDAN tumult, nor is it probable that his evidence prejudiced the jury. On the other hand, it was dubious on Sheridan's part to have prompted escape and then to have been thanked by the judge for helping to quell the disturbance. But if Lady Holland really deemed Sheridan a double-dyed traitor, and did not merely retail the rumours of prejudice and vexation, why did she perpetually invite him years afterwards not only to dine, but to stay at her house ? Once more, in all the stories adverse to Sheridan afterwards told by Lord Thanet to Moore, not one regarding this incident is mentioned, nor does he impugn Sheridan's good faith to his friends ; on the contrary, he was among those who paid a last tribute of respect at his funeral. Holland House was long a whispering-gallery against Sheridan, and we refuse to believe these odious accusations just because they seem to fit neither the facts nor his character. The scandals and irritations of a moment are never proof positive, and it is always hard to pronounce judgment in such ambiguous cases. But the reader is now in full possession of the material and must decide for himself. In the March of 1801 fell the startling blow of Pitt's resignation, or of his abdication as it might well be styled. This is not the place to track either his attitude towards the Catholic question, which was his alleged reason for retirement, or the intrigues which Lord Auckland and his brother-in-law, Archbishop Moore, set on foot to prejudice the King. Sheridan certainly never believed that the King's resistance to Pitt's pro-Catholic inclinations was the true cause of the First Minister's unexpected withdrawal. He declared that he would as soon believe that the ministry had gone out " because they had discovered the longitude." They had, he continued, circulated a paper in Ireland attributing the failure of a certain measure to the Sovereign's opposition, and directing the Irish Catholics to look to them for hope of relief. And he added that their stalking-horse perilously approached high treason. 1 All Pitt's real motives will perhaps never be revealed, 1 Cf. his statement on May 14, 1802 (Speeches, Vol. III., p. 413) 292 PITT'S RESIGNATION: THE GRENVILLES but the state of his health was one. And the ply of the Grenvilles adds another. Everyone remembers the promise of a golden age for Ireland when Pitt sent Lord Fitzwilliam over in 1795 to replace Lord Westmoreland, but few know, perhaps, that his sudden recall on the plea that his zeal for Catholic relief had compromised the Government, was due as much to the pique of the Grenvilles at exclusion from the Castle, as to graver causes. 1 All but Lord Grenville were now both hungry and angry, and Pitt had to propitiate his cousins. Sheridan advocated justice to the Catholics and redress for Ireland with might and main, just as he advocated even in 1787 the cause of the slaves, and from first to last the freedom of the Press. 2 He took the Irish view, the stand- point of sympathy. But Pitt took the English view, and his strong point was security. True, had it not been for the King's revived prejudices, he would have palliated his measure of union by a full Catholic emancipation the proposal which Lord Grenville himself combated as he had combated even Parliamentary reform. 3 But Pitt's purposed concession sprang from policy and not from feeling ; he still symbolised " my three per cent, consols," as Lord Mornington (writing in 1798) 1 Cf. the letters and documents in Hist. MS. Comm., Dropmore Papers, Vol. II., pp. 597, 637, 647, 649, 653, 655, 683 ; and Vol. III., pp. 2, 1114, *7i 34 and 35. 2 On April 4, 1798 (Newspaper Regulation Bill), he made a stirring speech on this subject. He asked if his young friend Canning's Ant\> Jacobin were included in this effort to restrain newspaper freedom. Cf' Hansard, XXXIII., 1418. The message quoted from this speech by the D. N. B. does not appear in Hansard's report. Sheridan (according to Hansard) spoke also on the third reading (June 13), when the extreme Sir F. Burdett quoted the King to the effect that " the Press, like the air, is a chartered libertine," adding that " the puny chastity of the son's character will not admit of any libertine excess." Wilberforce then " felt shocked at the language used by the hon. baronet," but Wilberforce was not always regarded as a paragon. Windham termed him "a malicious little imp/ Notes for some of Sheridan's utterances on the slave-trade survive among his Papers. 8 In 1792. Cf. Russell's " Life of Fox," Vol. II., p. 283, and for the other instance, Hist. MS. Comm., Dropmore Papers, Vol. IV., p. 43. 293 SHERIDAN styled his pet minister after the duel at Wimbledon with Tierney. 1 Sheridan spoke often and fiercely on Pitt's projects for Irish union. From one speech, a fine passage on the merits has already been given in connection with Pitt's commercial propositions fifteen years earlier. Another passage on the sentiment may be cited here : " My country," he urged on January 23, 1799, " has claims upon me which I am not more proud to acknowledge than ready to liquidate to the full measure of my ability. Is there any man who can wish to do less, or has the whole system of human connection and the economy of human passions been changed and perverted with those changes in the political world, from which some derive rank and emolument by the prostitution of integrity and all the virtues ?" There was a time, he said, when a question of this nature would have been denounced as an interference with the independence of the Irish Parliament. The question now, was the very existence of that Parliament. The present measure really invited France to share in the plunder of Irish liberties. " Sir, I do say, it is the conduct of English ministers towards the Irish nation from which only we can have any reason to apprehend danger. By dividing the native and constitutional defenders of Ireland, they sow among them the seeds of treason, and encourage the attempts of the enemy on that unfortunate country." He regretted the recent conspiracies. "There might have been much of the cause of the revolt concealed under the measures of the Government, but if the Irish should at any future period awake from the slumbers of that sloth which the slavery of union is to occasion, how are they to be replied to if they should say, ' You offered to us your assistance against domestic and foreign enemies ; we accepted of it and gave you affection and gratitude, and the irreproachable pledge of all the support in our power to return. But having enabled us to repel invasion and suppress rebellion, you took from us our Parliament with 1 Cf. Russell's " Life of Fox," Vol. II., p. 385. 294 SHERIDAN ON THE UNION your forty thousand soldiers, and dissipating our independence, you inflicted on us a union, to which our fellow-subjects, famished and bled, could give no opposition, and this not by force, but by an act of negative intimidation ' ? " And he scathed the proposal that Ireland's Parliament should, for the name's sake, be turned into what would now be called a county council : " A parliament ! A sort of national vestry for the parish of Ireland, sitting in a kind of mock-legislative capacity after being ignobly degraded from the rank of representatives of an independent people, and deprived of the functions of an inquisi- torial power, exercising and enjoying the greatest authority that any parliament can possess. . . . With respect to the enemies of the British Government, it had two enemies in Ire- land, ' Poverty and Ignorance,' and unless it could be shown that the present measure could remove these or prevent scenes of distress like those in Dublin alone, where twelve thousand labourers out of employment lived or starved with their families on the raspings of bread, he must be unfriendly to the measure. As to the cavil of party opposition, he respected too much the memory of Burke, he respected himself too much, though of no importance, to sing a death-song in this instance over the manes of party." In a later speech he commented on the disproportion of those Irish who supported and those who opposed the measure. The former were only in Cork and Limerick, and they were to be sopped by a new dockyard. The minister, to gain his ends, " held out a bribe to the South, and threw out a threat to the North some inducements are also held out to the Roman Catholics, a diminution of tithes and an establishment for their clergy." " But why not realise such promises now P 1 As 1 In a still later speech of February u, he went at length into the Catholic question and asserted that Lord Fitzwilliam had only been sent over to dupe the Catholics for a time. He believed neither in the promise nor the performance. Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 311. In a speech too of February 7, he discussed what the position would be of the Catholics under English domination. Cf. ibid., p. 308. This was the speech which the Russian ambassador, writing to Lord Grenville, styled " une declamation inflammatoire ": cf. Hist. MS. Comm., Dropmore Papers, Vol. IV., p. 461. 295 SHERIDAN for ' French principles,' which were always foisted into the argu- ment, what did Jacobinism mean ? Was it not Jacobinism that pretended to make other states more free, independent and prosperous than it found them, that called on other countries to resign their freedom, their independence and their constitution, with a promise to substitute something better in their place ? Who now were the Jacobins ? " And in a sub- sequent speech he summed up the substance of the matter, from whatever side it was approached, by saying that the ministerial aim was the destruction of Grattan's Parliament " delenda cst Carthago" 1 Pitt's measure was eventually thrust on an unwilling people by wholesale bribery and promotions. His own ranks were at loggerheads, cabals abounded, and, abroad, Duncan's Dutch victory had hardly compensated for the disasters of the Helder expedition. The worn pilot who weathered the storm resigned under a compact to support the son of his family doctor at the helm. Addington's succession was a stroke of burlesque, and Sheridan thus wrote to his wife : " . . . Pitt, Grenville, Windham, Dundas and Lord Spencer are gone out. The Duke of Portland remains, and Addington, the late Speaker, for he resigned the chair to-day, is First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. I find it very ridiculous, and no one thinks it can last, though I think Fox has contrived to put us out of the question at present. However, while Hecca likes, better that it should be so. I am happy in our exclusion. There is a grand ferment, great cabals and great speculation. My own surmise is that it will end in their calling in Lord Lansdowne to their aid, and introducing Tierney, and (but say 1 Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 270 324. In another speech of February 17, 1800 (ibid., p. 350), he twitted the Government for calling the Associations Jacobins, and yet treating with Jacobins at Lille. The Jacobins, he said, were extinct. " They had stung themselves to death, and died by their own poison." It was after the former speeches that Sheridan supported Burdett on his motion for a report on the Coldbaths Fields Prison. And, as he was then reproached for appearing, he said that there was no pleasing people : he was blamed when he stayed away, and not welcomed when he came. 296 SHERIDAN ON THE SITUATION his to no one), Grey on the pretence of making peace with a ort of approbation from Fox." 1 He was mistaken. The pompous manikin, who once trutted across the House in a military uniform, lasted for hree years longer, and Sheridan grew fond of his good sense .nd good humour. Lansdowne was impossible, but Fox and jrey the peace party soon found other combinations. The varlike Grenvilles reinforced them, nor was it long before even 3 itt, sick of his substitute, lent them informal assistance. ' Pigging it, three in a truckle bed," Sheridan styled this un- ;anny league, and it will be remembered that some forty years ater Disraeli spoke in his Maynooth speech of the main benefit iroposed for the Irish priesthood as the improvement of " two n a bed." " Adversity makes strange bedfellows," and this last surprise 5 not the least in a long chapter of surprises. 1 Sheridan MSS., "Tuesday" ? March, 1801. 297 CHAPTER XII A DISSOLVING VIEW [FROM THE ADDINGTON ADMINISTRATION TO THE DEATH OF Fox.] (March, 1801 September, 1806) " Oh me ! with what strict patience have I sat To see a King transformed to a gnat ; To see great Hercules whipping a gig And profound Solomon to tune a jig, And Nestor play at push-pin with the boys, And critic Timon laugh at idle toys 1 " SHAKESPEARE, "Love's Labour's Lost" Act IV., Sc. III. IT was a farce to install Addington, and till his tyrant sent him packing, the political scenery shifted every minute. Those out were eager to slip in ; those in office constantly changed places. Everything seemed in flux, and yet never was the need of leadership more urgent. The old scarecrows of the French Revolution had been swept away by the hurricane of Napoleon that shook Europe with its intermittent gusts. Addington was shabbily treated ; Pitt used, abused, and finally deposed him. Yet his head for figures was far better than Pitt's, and indeed he and the mediocre Perceval seem the sole financiers of that unfinancial hour. Pitt had issued Consols at a price which meant five per cent, interest for the nation. Addington at least tried to unify the debt. And his war preparations, though ridiculed, were well advised, far better grounded than Pitt's abortive Additional Forces Act, which failed to raise a territorial army. But Addington was insignificant. None would believe in him, though he held himself up on a ridiculous pedestal, and indeed was the pink of commonplace a man after the King's own heart. George was once more half mad when Addington came in ; he was sane 298 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN from the original portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence (in the possession of Sir E. P. Stracey)- THE ADDINGTON MINISTRY: PARTIES enough when he went out, but, sane or mad, he always cherished one whom he could trust and who never played the perplexing game of political blind-man's-buff. Addington's Cabinet remained weak. Its main pillars were Jenkinson's son (Lord Hawkesbury, later Lord Liverpool), who rilled one of the secretaryships, and Lord Chancellor Eldon the dull embodiment of Hanoverian Toryism. The Secretary- at-War was Charles Yorke, a Harrow schoolfellow of Sheridan, chiefly known for his exclusion of strangers from the House during the debate on the Walcheren expedition nine years onwards. The Duke of Portland, vacuous as ever, and amiable, presided over the Council, 1 the dilatory Chatham looked after the Ordnance, and the shuttlecock Tierney was Treasurer of the Navy. Most of the rest were pedantic triflers, particular in small things, but, on the whole, " nothing in particular " ; Sheridan compared their elements to the dregs at the bottom of a good bottle of Tokay. And, arrayed against this com- bination, the strength of the strong was frittered away by being splintered into ten or fifteen factions. 2 One day Sheridan called to discuss matters with Fox at South Street, and was amazed and amused, as he told his wife, to discover his friend already closeted with Lord Grenville. Fox, who stood out for peace at any price, with Grenville, Pitt's bellicose Foreign Secretary : Fox, the warm and wilful, with Grenville, the cold and calculating a curious alliance. And one fraught with far-reaching influence on the future, for when once Grenville managed to absorb some of Fox's popu- larity, Grey, Fox's political heir, found his enthusiasms chilled, and in 1811 and 1812 lived to rue this unnatural coalition. But if Fox had failed to melt the gods above, he was now ready to move the infernal deities rather than not upset Addington. Sheridan at last knew what to expect. And on Pitt's side the . l A ribald wit asked the riddle, " Why is the Duke of Portland like an old woman ? " with the answer, " Because he is past bearing." 2 Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 405 (Speech of May 14, 1802). Among the Sheridan Papers given by Moore is a document of 1804 by Sheridan on the then state of parties in the House. 299 SHERIDAN intrigues proved as bewildering. Lord Auckland, who could seldom forego mystery, worked underground to procure Pitt's consent to return, and his " paper " conspiracy, which failed, became notorious. Canning, Sheridan's early fosterling, mano3uvred also : Canning, who loved strokes and surprises, who, it was said, acted the actor in all his speeches : Canning, the all-accomplished and consummately clever, but the inherently little, though he showed flashes of greatness: Canning, the misunderstood man of ideas among the plain men of prejudice, the artistic Celt, who no more than Sheridan was ever trusted by Anglo-Saxons Canning, too, tried secretly to contrive Pitt's recall to place, for Pitt's power had not departed. The ex- minister had pledged himself to uphold Addington ; the giant had promised to carry the pigmy on his broad shoulders. Yet after Pitt had been scared by the chance of a fresh Regency in 1803, he threw his weight into the scale of the Fox-Grenville alliance, and it was said that the price of Addington's over- throw was its admission into Pitt's Cabinet. A letter from the Prince of March 30, 1804, exists among Sheridan's Papers, apparently about Erskine's inclusion as Attorney-General in these premature arrangements. In a speech of sad and sorry explanation which Sheridan was to make during 1812, he reiterated how much he had always disapproved of coalitions, how he had misliked the great league of Fox with North, and this later projected union of Pitt with Fox. Throughout the three next years it would be interesting to trace Fox's fluctuating feelings and Pitt's fluctuating actions. No sooner had the Amiens Peace been ratified than Pitt grew restive and not over-scrupulous as to the means of upsetting his adhesive dwarf. Always distant, he gradually took a tone of offence with Addington. Accommodations were tried, the phantom minister by turns whined and condescended. But when it was clear at last that nothing could avail, and that the King must lament the loss of his trusty Addington and Eldon, the resigner of office conscientiously provided for all his on-hangers, promptly joined the Cabinet of his recon- ciled foe, only to quit it a few months afterwards, received 300 INTRIGUES: PITT AND FOX his peerage, and eventually flourished in Perceval's feeble administration. As for Fox, glimpses of his moods have appeared in our prologue, and they may be found throughout the contemporary memoirs. Despite Napoleon's omnipresence, he thundered for peace ; whereas Sheridan, quick to feel the national pulse, was fierce for war. Whenever Sheridan was warlike and Addingtonian, Fox decried, mistrusted, and sneered at him. Whenever Sheridan helped Fox in his stock test-trials of strength the Catholic Church or the state of the Nation, or, even now, the iniquities of Pitt (with whom, however, Fox would vote to outdo Addington), then he half-praised him. Then he was " going right." At all other times his " levity " and " vanity " were " disgusting " and incurable. He met him at mutual friends' houses, and at such times Sheridan, he said, looked " sheepish." The schoolboy knew that he was a truant, while Fox, as he neared his end, played the political pedagogue with a vengeance ; often sublime, sometimes petty, always narrow, even in his widest causes; the friend of all mankind, the devotee of insurgent freedom, but, at home, a complaining and sequestered taskmaster. Such, broadly speaking, seems to have been his attitude during this interval before his last, brief spell of power. And another element again pervaded the stage. The Prince, who had perforce turned King's friend directly the French Revolution alarmed the Throne, reappeared as a political factor, and at this moment he wavered between Pitt and Fox. Once more Sheridan played his old part of Grand Vizier at Carlton House, 1 whither he was now frequently summoned for secret confabulations that lasted from midnight till four in the 1 Among the letters preserved at this time is a copy, in Add. MS. 29764, f. 73, which runs as under : " Dear Sheridan, Pray call upon me, be it but for five minutes, as soon as you return home or receive this note, as I have something of consequence to say to you. Sincerely yours, G.P. I dine at home and alone, if you wish for a mouthful of dinner." About this time (as we know from a note in his papers) Sheridan wrote a letter for the Prince to the King. 301 SHERIDAN morning, and often without supper or " a drop of wine." 1 At the opening of 1803, when the King's state was parlous, it was thought again that the Prince might be Regent, and that Fox would step into Addington's shoes. Fox, who affected to despise the Prince, none the less waited on and listened to him. 9 Pitt kept aloof, but his emissaries were active. As for the Grenvilles, their haste to treat was almost indecent, and they posted down for a great conference at Stowe, only to find that all had ended in smoke, while the world laughed over their solemnity. But Sheridan, though high in favour, by no means bent the knee to all his Prince's whims. He even dared his displeasure by opposing his wish for active military service. And, a little later, when Queen Caroline's affairs had been subjected to the "delicate investigation " (a printed record of which had to be suppressed), he refused to humour him at the expense of a wronged and warm-hearted, if erring and slatternly, 1 Sheridan MSS., "Sheridan to his wife, February 27, 1804 " (when the Prince had just recovered from a serious illness). Cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 249. * Among the Holland House MSS. and copied in Add. MS. 29764, f. 73, is a most friendly letter from Fox to Sheridan of January 12, 1803, about a meeting at Lord Moira's. It shows how much Sheridan now counted with the Prince, and it runs as follows : " Dear Sheridan, I am not writing to dun you for a letter, as I conclude by not hearing there is nothing more going forward. Is the doctor [Addington] to take office, and what office ? Is he to remain with us or to be a Peer ? I hope such of our friends as see Canning take care to rub his Nose in all this well. Your's ever, C. J. Fox. N.B. The meeting will be at Lord Moira's if he is in town on Monday at two. Bonaparte has certainly sent an offer to negotiate. It is said to be con- tained in a letter to the King. Mulgrave is, I believe, to write to Talleyrand civilly, and say they are waiting to hear what he has to propose. I know no more. I had a long conversation with Lord St. Vincent and find your old friend the Doctor to be a still more impudent Rogue than I supposed him. . . . P.S. I am told the Prince has heard rumours that the Queen and the Duke of York are to associate with him in the Regency. Both he and Mrs, Fitzherbert are alarmed to the last degree. Surely he ought, after what you told him, to be easy about so senseless a report. I think it worth while for you to see her at least, if not him, to tranquillise them." He goes on to say that the rumour as to the Duke is quite unfounded, and he con- cludes, " There can be no doubt of our kicking it to the Devil. Do put these poor people at ease if you can." 302 SHERIDAN AND THE PRINCE: TOM woman. Yet his influence still prevailed in the princely counsels. George was always requiring, dining, flattering, exploiting the inexhaustible Sheridan. And over and over again he begged, and begged in vain, to mark his sense of gratitude. All that Sheridan would now hear of was for the son whose desperate scrapes had become as public as his brilliant gifts and social acceptability. Sheridan had to pay 1,500 for young Alcibiades in a divorce suit. He took, and with a pang, 8,000 from his royal friend to forward that son's political career, while further sums had to be expended on the debts of one who, when in straits, would sign himself " temporally yours." 1 Creevey once saw the unruffled Sheridan, whose calm and unpresuming manner left nothing to be desired, supplicate the heir-apparent with tears in his eyes for assistance to Tom ; and yet he twice refused posts for him which, according to his foes, were furtively assigned to others. In 1804 Tom had been made aide-de-camp to Lord Moira in Edinburgh ; he was now appointed Muster- Master-General of Ireland. During the previous year he had eloped with the fair Scotch heiress, Miss Caroline Callander, and settled down in a happy marriage, which founded a long, illustrious line. 2 But he can never be said to have settled up. 1 Cf. Eg. MS. 1976, f. 1 6, Tom Sheridan to Major Downe. For the divorce suit, cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 164. Tom at first stood for a Cornish borough ; cf. ibid., f. 197. 2 Tom was married on June 21, 1805. Cf. Eg. MS. 2137, f. 162. The newspapers rang with his elopement. His children included, of course, the mother of the late Lord Dufferin, Mrs. Norton, and the charming Duchess of Somerset, who was queen of beauty at the Eglinton Tournament. His eldest son Brinsley himself eloped with Miss Marcia Colquhoun Grant, also an heiress, and through him Frampton Court in Dorsetshire descends to his son Algernon, the present head of the Sheridan family. He had two other sons, Frank and Charles, both literary, who died bachelors in 1826 and 1847 respectively. Brinsley's elopement nearly caused a duel, and the papers concerning it are now in the British Museum ; cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 211 et seq. In iSoi Tom had been allotted an income of 500 a year from the theatre, while Sheridan retained an annual e,ooo ; in 1806 Tom was made sole manager of Drury Lane, and about the same time he also became joint proprietor with Arnold of the Lyceum ; cf. ibid., ff. i6od., 164, i6sd. Lord Kinnaird built " a very elegant cottage " for Mr. Thomas Sheridan in 1813 ; cf. ibid., f. 168. 303 SHERIDAN And already the first seeds of that awful, inherited ailment, which sent him roaming in search of sunshine, had begun to increase his father's distresses a sorrow enhanced by his general popularity, for nobody, not even the moralists, had a bad word for Tom Sheridan. 1 Nor were minor forms of vexation wanting. In 1803 Sheridan had hoped for admission into the sacred band of the French Academy, but Haydn (or, as some said, the scholar Heyne) was chosen in his stead, and the man who could loom large in politics and arrange a prince's policy, stooped to vent his vexation in epigram on epigram about this disappointment. The verses are not good, but their incentive was worse, and such trifles only intercept the political prospect which re-demands our survey. The dilemmas which now hampered the Prince were two. In the first place, while he wanted to shake hands with Fox, he dared not, in the face of his father's relapse, run counter to Addington. And, in the second, he feared any reopening of the Catholic question, which he would have favoured but for that father's recurrent lunacies. He had learned the lesson of 1789, and he knew that George's return- ing senses would brand any compromise with that problem as rank treason to his coronation oath and his conscience. Some rapprochement between Fox and Pitt was still held probable, for on this matter of Catholic relief both might still be united. 8 At this juncture Sheridan steadied the Prince to Foxite leanings. He studied the prejudices of a King whose gratitude 1 There are many anecdotes about him in the tattle of the time, and in Eg. MS. 1975, f. 212, is a coloured caricature of the young aide-de-camp at Edinburgh returning early in the morning, while the enraged Lord Moira in a dressing-gown opens the door. The authorities for Tom's scrapes and debts come partly from Sheridan's letters, especially the late one of retro- spect dated "RICHMOND, April 20, 1810"; some of Tom's letters and numbers of newspaper cuttings in the Eg. MS. at the British Museum. Among the Sheridan MSS. are several letters from the Prince to Sheridan, beseeching his presence and advice, and one from Sheridan to the Prince about Tom. Cf. post, p. 318. 304 SHERIDAN DIVERGES FROM FOX he had earned at last; for when a madman had fired at George in Drury Lane, he it was who had calmed the princesses, secured the offender, and improvised an extra verse for the National Anthem, which he promptly ordered to be played. 1 But Sheridan, though never weary of praising Fox, refused to endorse his policy of peace at any price. He could not approve of terms with Napoleon. When the Volunteer movement was started, none was a more enthusiastic Volunteer, and the Foxites of Devonshire House which he still frequented scoffed at him accordingly. 2 In these respects 1 Hadfield's attempt in 1800. The verse began "From the Assassin's blow." Among the Holland House MSS. is a letter describing the scene. " The King," it says, " was so delighted with Sheridan's behaviour to the Princesses. He prevented their going into their box by saying that a pick- pocket was taken in the Pit which made a riot and required his presence, and he begged their Royal Highnesses to wait in the room. The King will be grateful to his latest hour for this sensibility." Sheridan and Tom were to go to Court. Later on the King spoke to Sheridan, and told him that he (the King) in keeping unmoved had only done his duty. Sheridan answered that the people followed His Majesty's cue. The caricatures made the most of this situation. Sheridan has left (Holland House MSS.) a number of jingling verses on the National Anthem applied to politics. Two examples will suffice : " From Pepper Ardens law, From Bonaparte's maw, God save the King, French war, and want of bread, From Portland's stone and lead God save etc., From Roses Knavery, From Indian slavery God save etc., From Chatham's nonsense And Eldon's conscience God save the King." 2 " I hear an admirable quotation of yours upon S. and his prepared uniform," wrote Fox from St. Anne's to the mocker Georgiana in August, 1803, "Motley, your only wear, should be his motto"; cf. "The Two Duchesses," p. 185. Sheridan's speech on the Volunteers of August 10, 1803, was loudly applauded ; cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 443. In it he emphasised a "contempt of death," and in enumerating the spaces that could be devoted to drill, he named Lord's Cricket Ground, " hired at an S. VOL. II. 305 X SHERIDAN he backed Addington, and many were his dinners with the placid platitudinarian at the White House in Richmond Park, which the King had presented to the man whom he delighted to honour. Though fitful in his attendances at the House, Sheridan made some of his greatest anti-Napoleonic hits after Nelson had triumphed at Copenhagen. 1 Two speeches of 1802 may be recalled : they sound something of an Imperial note. The first, delivered on May 14, violently assailed the truce of Amiens. The previous ministers, he said, had left no choice between "an expensive, bloody and fruitless war" and "a perilous and hollow peace." Was it a peace that could yield " real repose " ? " It is lamentable," urged Sheridan, " to see you all split up into miserable parties, when your great enemy is uniting every possible means of extending his power. You are squabbling about the measuring of ribands and tapes and the paltry revenues of Malta, when much greater objects are before you. The events of every day seem to call more and more for the expression of the public feeling that a time will come when French encroachments and oppression must cease, and when the voice of this country must be clearly raised against their atrocious and tyrannical conduct. The right honourable gentleman (Dundas) says, ' We have preserved our honour.' Honour depends more on the manner of doing a thing than on the thing itself. We had a great armament at the time of the negotiation, but I do not hear that it carried any point what- ever. ' This,' says he, ' is a peace in which we relinquish nothing and gain much.' Will any man of common sense undertake to prove that ? . . . What did we go to war for ? Why, to prevent French aggrandisement. Have we done that ? No. Then we were to rescue Holland. Is that accomplished or relinquished ? No. Brabant was a sine qud non. Is it enormous expense." For the preceding, cf. the MS. authorities already cited in the "Overture" to this work, Part II.; various memoirs of the period ; and the Prince's much later statement to Croker. 1 After Nelson's death Sheridan composed an inscription for his monument. No trace of it, however, has been found. 306 SHERIDAN ON THE PEACE OF AMIENS gained ? No. Then some security or indemnity. Are they obtained ? No. The late minister told us ' that the example of a Jacobin Government in Europe, founded on the ruins of the holy altar and the tomb of a martyred monarch, was a spectacle so dreadful and infectious to Christendom, that we could never be safe while it existed, and could do nothing short of our very last effort for its destruction.' Now, sir, let us see what we have got. What have we laid out for all these fine words which at last gave way to security and indemnity ? Why, near two hundred thousand lives and three hundred millions of money. And we have gotten Ceylon and Trinidad. Ceylon should be named ' Security ' and Trinidad ' Indemnity.' ... Is this armed repose, this hollow peace, then, the fruit of our long and glorious war ? " Was Bonaparte an extirpator of Jacobinism? Would " the child of sin destroy his mother ? . . . Suppose you make him King of Europe at once, he will soon extirpate all the Jacobinism that infects it. My alarms begin when the alarms of some persons cease." Bonaparte was the great peril. ... "I would rather have given Malta to France, and have taken the Cape, than have made this absurd arrangement." The Cape was surrendered, yet Dundas had said that he who surrendered it ought to lose his head. " There sits the minister, however, with his head safe on his shoulders. ' Let France have colonies,' was now the cry. ' Oh, yes ; let her have a good trade that she may be afraid of war,' says a learned member, ' that is the way to make him love peace.' . . . But could this hollow treaty be broken off ? Who, as a fact, was the real minister ? " Is there then an interior and exterior minister? one who appears to the world, and another secret, irresponsible, directing minister ? . . . The ex-ministers are quite separate and distinct, and yet they and the new ministers are all honourable friends. What is the meaning of this mysterious connection ? . . . I should like to support the present minister on fair ground, but what is he ? A sort of outside passenger, or rather a man leading the horses round a corner, while reins, whip and all are in the hands of the coachman on the box (looking at Pitt's elevated 307 X 2 SHERIDAN seat three or four benches above that of the Treasury}. I remember a fable of Aristophanes ; it is translated from Greek into decent English I mention this for the country gentlemen. It is of a man who sat so long on a seat . . . that he grew to it. When Hercules pulled him off he left all the sitting part of the man behind him." This is the quotation to which reference was made in a part of our prologue concerning oratorical plagiarism ; but Sheridan pursued his comments on Pitt in a higher strain, and his praises evoked repeated salutes from the ruling spirit : "Of that ex-minister I would just say that no man admires his splendid talents more than I do. If ever there was a man formed and fitted by nature to benefit his country and to give it lustre, he is such a man. He has no low, little, mean, petty vices. He has too much good taste and talent to set his mind upon ribands, stars, titles and other appendages and idols of rank. He is of a nature not at all suited to be the creature or tool of any Court. But while I say of him no more than his character and great talents deserve, I must tell him how grossly he has misapplied them in the politics of this country ; I must tell him how he has augmented our national debt, and of the lives he has lost in this war. I must tell him he has done more against the privileges of the people, increased more the power of the Crown, and injured more the constitution of his country than any minister I can mention." 1 The pendant to this speech was that of December 8 on the Army Estimates for the ensuing year. It attracted great attention, was described as " one of the most elegant, argu- mentative, vigorous and impressive speeches ever made in Parliament," and was printed in separate form. 2 It was to hear this speech that Sheridan's wife dressed up as a man. Take it 1 Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 405413. Sheridan said at the opening that he "hardly expected a single vote . . . beyond that little circle of a constitutional party who have for the last ten years been the objects of so much unqualified abuse." For the quotation, cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 100. "For Stockdale, Piccadilly, Price sixpence, or per Hundred, One Guinea and a half." There was a " new edition " in 1803, and a Birmingham one in 1802. The speech, as given in his Speeches, Vol. III., p. 417, omits one or two salient passages. 308 THE GREAT "ARMY ESTIMATES" SPEECH all in all, in spirit, in statesmanship, in vivid invective, it is one of the best that he ever delivered. And if Sheridan at this period indulged in freer libations than for some time before or after- wards, they certainly did not quench his fire or dull his brain. The Peace of Amiens fast crumbled away; France had attacked Switzerland, and it was clear that the First Consul would soon make occasion to burst through a false and flimsy stopgap. Addington at least endeavoured to prepare for the event, and with Addington, Sheridan was in accord. From Fox, twice named in this speech with attached and almost passionate respect, he differed. He besought the House to rise above party and not to squander time in factious disputes as to which minister could best save the nation. 1 With all his might he pressed on his countrymen the stupendous menace of the universal invader. There had been discord in the Cabinet. The ministers rowed different ways, but they acted not like men in a boat at sea, but like men in the boat of a balloon. Up ascended the ex-Secretary of War [Windham] to the clouds, while Mr. Dundas was opening the valves and letting out the gas to descend. While the one was throwing out ballast and mounting up to the most chivalrous heights, the other was attempting to drop his anchor on a West Indian island. But persiflage did not long keep Sheridan from the gravity of the juncture. " Sir," he argued, replying to such as discriminated between degrees of danger, " Sir, if I see a purposed contempt of the independence of a nation, a perfidious disregard of the faith of treaties; if I see a Power withdraw her assistance only to return and entrap a country of free men with greater certainty, why, then I say, there has been a change, and a great change too, and I say that such a Power we ought to watch." He would not invent grounds for war; so far he was with Fox. " If a war spirit be springing up in this country, if a chivalrous position be observable, if a sentiment of indignation be rising 1 This was a favourite theme in several of his earlier speeches on the French Revolution. He always contended that the country must save itself by a national spirit. 309 SHERIDAN upon the subject of the treatment of Switzerland, I for one shall contend that the treatment of Switzerland is no cause for war. ... I repeat, therefore, peace if possible. But I add, resist- ance, prompt, resolute, determined resistance, to the first aggres- sion, be the consequences what they may." Fox held otherwise ; the emergency had not arisen, it had been argued that preparation could wait : " When the army is upon your shores, when the trumpet of the enemy sounds at your gates, then it is time to be prepared." But some had said, Discard armaments altogether. " Sir, when every house in my neighbourhood has been attacked and robbed by a gang of ruffians, how my having no arms is to save me from a visit, I must leave the honourable gentleman to explain." But, again, it was urged that it was unreasonable to presume a purpose on the part of France to meddle with England. " Look at the map of Europe there, where a great man [Burke] (who, however, was always wrong on this subject) said he looked for France, and found nothing but a chasm. Look at that map now, and we see nothing but France. It is in our power to measure her territory, to reckon her population, but it is scarcely within the grasp of any man's mind to measure the ambition of Bonaparte. Why, when all Europe has bowed down to him when he has subdued the whole continent, why he should feel such great respect for us, I am at a loss to discover." The Bourbons were ambitious, but they had the attachment of tradition and were not constrained to feed their subjects with plunder. With Bonaparte there was " a physical necessity" to prolong "this barter." "Russia, if not in his power, is at least in his influence, Prussia is at his beck, Italy is his vassal, Holland is in his grasp, Spain at his nod, Turkey in his toils, Portugal at his foot. When I see this, can I hesitate ... in giving a vote that shall put us upon our guard against the machinations and workings of such ambition ? " And if it were urged that commercial rivalry is his objective, it would not seem to form part of his plan. He wants Louisiana, and the ports of San Domingo for trade : we might have to cede all our commerce without a stroke. " An 310 BONAPARTE'S OBJECTIVE ignorant observer may see two armies, and may say there is no war because there is no battle. Yet one of them may make such movements as to compel the other to surrender without striking a blow " : " No, sir, instead of putting his nation apprentice to commerce, he has other ideas in his head. My humble appre- hension is, that though in the tablet and volume of his mind there may be some marginal note about cashiering the King of Etruria, yet that the whole text is occupied with the destruction of this country. This is the first vision that breaks upon him through the gleam of the morning : this is his last prayer at night, to whatever deity he addresses it, whether to Jupiter or Mahomet, to the goddess of battles or the goddess of reason." "But then he is a great philosopher and philanthropist; he pro- claims that 'we all belong to the Western family.' . . . To this family I do not wish to belong. . . . He may toss a sceptre to the King of Etruria to play with, and keep a rod to scourge him in the corner. He may have thought at first his Cisalpine republic a fine growing child, and may have found it a rickety bantling. . . . Let us speak the truth. . . . Let us be visiting acquaintance, but I do implore him not to consider us as one of the family." Pitt, they cried, was the only saviour. Sheridan's comment deserves to be remembered : " No single man can save the country. If a nation depends only upon one man, it cannot, and, I will add, does not deserve to, be saved. It can only be done by the parliament and the people. Sir, I say therefore that I cannot believe that there is a back and a fore door to this Egerian grotto. We have all heard, I daresay, of a classical exhibition in this town, The Invisible Girl. Here, however, I hope, we shall have no whispering backwards and forwards, no speaking through tubes, no invisible agency." When the Lille negotiation had fallen through, when Lord Grenville had penned his ambiguous letter, and each minister was allowed to " nibble at " fresh descents upon French coasts or a new sugar-island, the people took "a deep and settled 3" SHERIDAN disgust"; yet now, after three years, "the mouths of the people are shut and gagged." And then he turned to Fox : " I shall proceed no further. I perfectly agree with my right honourable friend that war ought to be avoided, though he does not agree with me as to the means best calculated to produce that effect. From any opinion he may express I never differ but with the greatest reluctance. For him my affection, my esteem, and my attachment are unbounded, and they will end only with my life. But I think an important lesson is to be learned from the arrogance of Bonaparte. He says he is an instrument in the hands of Providence an envoy of God . . . to restore happiness to Switzerland, and to elevate Italy to splendour. . . . Sir, I think he is an instrument in the hands of Providence to make the English love their Constitution the better, to cling to it with more fondness, to hang round it with truer tenderness. Every man feels, when he returns from France [and Fox had there parleyed with Napoleon], that he is coming from a dungeon to enjoy the light and life of British independence. ... I believe too that he is an instrument . . . to make us more liberal in our political differences, and to render us determined with one hand and heart to oppose any aggression that may be made upon us. If that aggression be made, my friend will, I am sure, agree . . . that we ought to meet it with a spirit worthy of these islands ; that we ought to meet it with a conviction of the truth of this assertion, that the country which has achieved such greatness has no retreat in littleness ; that if we could be content to abandon every- thing, we should find no safety in poverty, no security in abject submission ; finally, sir, that we ought to meet it with a fixed determination to perish in the same grave with the honour and independence of the country." Such are a few fragments of this famous speech, and pos- terity can judge between Sheridan and Fox, who, after hearing it, had the taste and the heart to write thus to his nephew : " Sheridan made a foolish speech, if a speech full of wit can be with propriety so called, upon the Army Estimates, of which all who wish him ill are as fond as I, who wish him well, am 312 THE PERORATION: FOX'S ANGER vexed at it. He will, however, I do not doubt, be still right in the end." 1 Looking back now on the impending conflict, we can perceive that Sheridan was right and Fox mistaken, yet it is not the error that calls for blame, but the veiled pride and selfishness that held any divergence from its own obstinacy " foolish." These are the two great speeches of this period. Sheridan made many others in the same strain, and more than once he had to defend the renewed claims for pecuniary aid which the importunate Prince still presented. In one of them he urged a telling appeal to the national sense of proportion which should rule the status of an heir-apparent, periodically called upon to perform the social functions of the Crown. It had been objected (and this, too, was Fox's opinion) Let all state perish : well, then, " Let the Speaker's chair be removed, let the other badges be stripped off, let that bauble, the mace, be taken away, let the fine house that was building him, where he hoped he would soon entertain the members with his accustomed hospitality, ... be demolished. Let the State coach be laid down, and instead of proceeding in it to St. James's, attended by a grand procession of members in their private coaches, let him go on foot with the addresses, covered with a warm surtout, and honoured with the privilege of an umbrella in case of rain. Let the judges be conducted by no sheriffs, or sheriffs' attendants, to the assize town ; let the Chief Justice go down in the mail- coach, and the Puisne Judges content themselves with travelling as outside passengers. Let the Lord Mayor, instead of coming to Westminster in the State barge, ... let him come in a plain wherry without any attendants, and instead of going back to feast on turtle at Guildhall with the great officers of State and foreign ambassadors, let him content himself with stopping on his way back, and taking a beef-steak at Dolly's chop-house." 2 1 Fox's Corr., Vol. III., p. 206. 2 Speeches, Vol. III., p. 438 (March 4, 1803). 313 SHERIDAN Nor here should be omitted some notice of the two trenchant letters written to please Lady Bessborough from the House of Commons, and included in the new letters at the end of this volume. Dealing with debates between 1801 and 1803, they exhibit Sheridan's power of presentation, and his generous estimate of those who depreciated himself. In the first of them he tears himself away for five minutes from listening to Fox, a thing which he tells her he would do " for no one breathing " but her. " He has spoken," he proceeds, " not only wonderfully well, but with the greatest possible dexterity, prudence, management, etc., qualities he has not always at command. He began by putting the House in the best possible humour with him, joking about the temporary cessation of hostilities from Pitt's friends, Canning and such like ; and he has gone on conciliating the House more and more, taking the most judicious line, too, in abusing Bonaparte and his govern- ment and his ' Acts.' ... It has been hitherto a dry, dull debate, not worth detailing to you. Canning's speech had nothing, I think, good in it, even in declamation, not even lively, which he generally is. Tom Grenville spoke tolerably well, but not very on the whole a sensible dull speech. He made rather an odd avowal in one part of it, that he saw nothing objectionable in the amendment. This raised a great cry of ' Hear, hear,' as you may imagine, on our part." The second letter, scribbled " half seas over," extols Grey to the skies, and the more so as he had succeeded a great speech " one of the most brilliant pieces of declamation that ever fell from that rascal Pitt's lips. Detesting the dog as I do, I cannot withhold this just tribute to the scoundrel's talents. I could not help often lamenting in the course of his harangue, as I have frequently done before, what a pity it is that he has not a particle of honesty in him." Lord Hawkesbury had opened calmly and sensibly, though neither with taste nor brilliance. " Erskine followed, agreeing and disagreeing, contradicting and confusing himself, alternately entertaining and tiring and disgusting the House. . . . Pitt raised the war-whoop most vehemently and eloquently and the cry was loud. He took 314 LETTERS TO LADY BESSBOROUGH very sly opportunities, as you may imagine, of ridiculing poor Tom Erskine, whose nonsensical contradictions he treated with a degree of scorn and contempt that was probably not quite so palatable to the learned counsel, as they were relished by the House. . . ."* In May, 1804, Addington went out and Pitt returned for the last time to sway the destinies of England. His broken health and the fatalities that closed the following year the year of Nelson's immortality sounded his knell. He had never recovered the degradation of Dundas. Ulm and Austerlitz dealt the final blow, and he died in January, 1806, with the " Austerlitz " look on his careworn countenance. " As some proud column, though alone, Thy strength had propped the tottering throne. Now is the stately column broke, The beacon light is quenched in smoke, The trumpet's silver sound is still, The warder silent on the hill." After that disaster Sheridan, who had pelted the minister with rattling volleys against his Additional Forces Bill, 2 paid a noble tribute to his memory, on the day which saw its repeal. "As for me," he said, "there were many who flattered him more than I, and some who feared him more, but there was no man who had a higher respect for his transcendent talents, his matchless eloquence, and the greatness of his mind. I may have considered that there was too much of loftiness in his mind which could not bend to advice, or scarcely bear co- operation ; I might have considered that as a Statesman his measures were not adequate to the situation of the country in the present times ; but I always thought his purpose and his 1 Cf. App. (4) (o) i and 2. 2 Especially in the great speech of March 6, 1805, where he said that nothing had struck Talleyrand more than that " this banking, luxurious, mercantile people were not contented with lolling on the couch of indolence, or with putting their hands in their pockets, but trusted to their own energy and spirit." Cf. Hansad, III., 723; Speeches, Vol. III., p. 477. A preceding one of June 18, 1804 (ibid., p. 469), is also powerful. 315 SHERIDAN hope were for the greatness and security of the Empire. Let not his friends, then, suppose they are dealing fairly with this House in representing that we seek a triumph over the memory of that illustrious man when we now move the repeal of a measure which he would himself have repealed if he had lived. A right honourable gentleman (Wilberforce) who had many oppor- tunities of knowing his intentions has told you that he intended to repeal it if it failed in getting men. It has failed. Let the failure of the measure be buried in his grave, and never remembered in his epitaph." 1 Nothing can exceed the grace and dignity of this homage from a lifelong antagonist. But in one of his speeches during the March of the preceding year Sheridan had made even Pitt blanch by taunting him with his treachery to the Catholics. This was the time when it was said that Pitt glared and turned pale. " The right honourable gentleman," said Sheridan, " retired from office, because, as was stated, he could not carry an important question which he deemed necessary to the just claims of the Catholics ; and in going out he did not hesitate to tear off the sacred veil of majesty, describing his Sovereign as the only person that stood in the way of this desirable object. After the right honourable gentleman's retirement, he advised the Catholics to look to no one but him for the attainment of their rights, and cautiously to abstain from forming a connection with any other person. But how does it appear now that the right honourable gentleman is returned to office? He declines to perform his promise, and has received, as his colleagues in office, those who are pledged to resist the measure they feel that he comes back to office with a character degraded by the violation of a solemn pledge given to a great and respectable body of the people upon a particular and momentous occasion ! Does the right honourable gentleman imagine either that he returns to office with the same character for political wisdom, 'Speeches, Vol. III., p. 504. It will be remembered that Fox opposed a e monument to Pitt. He did not recognise the test, applied by (tone to Disraeli, that a statesman who had unquestionably borne a great part in great transactions, deserves this honour. 3 l6 SHERIDAN ON PITT after the description which he gave of the talents and capacity of his predecessors, and after having shown by his own actions that his description was totally unfounded? " Nor did he fail to point out Pitt's maltreatment of Addington and that deputy's henchmen. " I approved," he said, " of their measures, and I thought besides that their continuance in office was a security against the right honourable gentleman's return to power, which I always considered as the greatest national calamity. If, indeed, I had, like him, recommended Mr. Addington to His Majesty and the public, as the fittest person to fill his high station, because it was a convenient step to my own safety, in retiring from a station which I had so grossly abused, and which I could no longer fill with honour and security; if, having done it from such unwarrantable motives, I should have tapered off by degrees from a promised support, when I saw the minister of my own choice was acquiring a greater stability and popularity than I wished for ; and if, when I saw an opening to my own return to power at a safer period than when I had left it, I had entered into a combination with others, whom I meant also to betray, from the sole lust of power and office, in order to remove him ; and if, under the dominion of these base appetites, I had then treated with ridicule and contempt the very man whom I had before held up to the choice of my Sovereign and the approba- tion of this House and the public, I should indeed have deserved the contempt of all sound politicians, and the execration of every honest private man. I should indeed have deserved to be told not merely that I was hollow and insincere in my support, but that I was mean, base, and perfidious." l Among Sheridan's notes stand some fine sentences regard- ing the Catholic problem. He there distinguishes between the King's conscience and those who played on it for personal ends. It had been thought that Pitt might have joined hands with 1 Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 499, 500. This is the speech on the Additional Forces Bill which contained the story of Garrick and Johnny M'Cree, the Scotchman who was good for neither tragedy nor comedy. Sheridan applied it to the incompetence of the Secretary-at-War. 317 SHERIDAN Fox, that the Prince would then favour Catholic emancipation, and that " a bridge might be found." But Sheridan mistrusted coalitions, and once more he denounced them. Pitt's death and Lord Hawkesbury's failure to form a Government at length brought Fox and "All the Talents" into power ; nor, if Pitt had forsaken the Catholics, were they much better considered by their professed champions. Sheridan, with some indignation at the breach of Fox's long- standing promise to compensate him by Cabinet rank, took the post which had been appointed for him in 1789, the Treasurer- ship of the Navy. Fox was sole Foreign Secretary. Lord Grenville received his reward for abetting him by presiding over the Treasury ; Windham, the Foxite and Pittite, came back to the fold as War Secretary. Petty, the heir to Lansdowne, accepted the Chancellorship of the Exchequer; Addington, now Sidmouth, was Privy Seal ; Grey, now Lord Howick, supervised the Admiralty. Moira, as Master of Ordnance, together with Sheridan, represented the Prince of Wales. Erskine was Lord Chancellor; Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice with Cabinet rank. The Rockinghamite Lord Fitzwilliam presided over the Council, while Lord Spencer was Home Secretary. Never was there an administration more miscellaneous. Of Pitt's legatees who were finally to engross the whole political reversion only Canning, Castlereagh, and the non-official Wilberforce were absent. Every prominent Foxite, except the amphibious Tierney, found posts or influence. Addington's control over his tribe of parasites was recognised, and the Lansdowne element, too, had been considered. Yet this coalition of coalitions proved ill-starred and ephemeral, only lasting from January 26 to March 25 of the succeeding year. Meanwhile, on September 13, 1806, Charles Fox completed the death-roll of distinction, and consigned the immediate future to the sway of great measures and little men. One of Sheridan's motives for clinging to opposition was that office tempted him to extravagance. A document remains among his papers which shows how he was living before he "ALL THE TALENTS": PERSONAL DETAILS took up his official quarters. It is the receipt for his house- tax he inhabited George Street and on it stands the col- lector's demand for arrears, with Sheridan's characteristic comment, " Answer civilly." Forty windows, five male servants, two four-wheel carriages, five superior, and ten "husbandry" and "Doss" horses, "armorial bearings" and "hair powder" for three, make up an amount of taxation (125 IDS. gd.) which in this year of grace 1806 exceeded the house-rent by nearly three pounds. Nor was Sheridan's lavishness restricted to the needs of his establishment. Fancy- ing Fox to be firmly seated, he immediately launched out into expense. Not only did he refurnish his official dwelling with extravagance, but he gratified pride and anticipated revenue by restoring a large and unnecessary sum to the renters of Drury Lane, while he gave a magnificent reception to the Prince and the party in honour of his grandchild's christening. 1 All his conjugal breezes were now allayed, and he ceased his piteous petitions that his wife should never leave or neglect him. He laboured to put his affairs in order, called in his friends Graham and Hosier to reorganise them, and took a fit of exemplary temperance. But embarrassed he remained. In 1805 the Prince had conferred on him the Receivership of the Duchy of Cornwall, a post that in good years brought in an income of over 900. But, as was noticed at this book's outset, the original letters prove that for years its benefit 1 Cf. (inter alia) Eg. MS. 1975, ff. I4gd., 160, 167 (newspaper cuttings). The fete was given for the double event of the christening both of Tom's child and that of Mr. Henry Scott. The sponsors of the former were Lord Moira, Lady Westmoreland, and Sheridan himself. It was also a farewell party to Tom Sheridan, who was just starting with Lord Moira for Ireland. Palms and orange trees were the decorations. There were a dance and a concert where Rovedino and Kelly sang. "The delicacies of the table were under the skilful management of Mr. Gunter." For the other matters cf. Sheridan MSS. (his letter of April 20, 1810, to his wife); also a list of repairs at Somerset House, and the distribution of his pictures, including sketches by Gainsborough. According to Creevey, who recounts a fire on the premises, Sheridan kept two cooks; cf. "The Creevey Papers," Vol. I., p. 81. 3*9 SHERIDAN was deferred, while Sheridan did his utmost to shield the Prince against imputations of insincerity. 1 Indeed, in one of his letters to his wife he tells her on no account to " suspect or decry " the paragon, who " was acting as honourably as man can do," and reposing in Sheridan " his entire and unqualified confidence." 2 So affairs marched till Fox, soothed by his wife and at peace with the world, made an edifying end in the Chiswick villa of the Cavendishes ; in the same year, too, which saw the death of his worshipper, Georgiana the beautiful Duchess. No one felt Fox's loss more than did Sheridan. It was gossiped that the dying statesman declined to see him in his last moments, and, again, that he admitted him, but with reluctance. As a matter of fact, however, Sheridan was charged with the whole pageant of the funeral, and was one of the chief mourners. His dearest wish a wish ungratified was that in his turn he might be suffered to rest beside him in Westminster Abbey. There is something pathetic in Sheridan's persistent devotion to Fox, when we read both his and his nephew's side-hits against the detached adherent who still profited the cause. Both in 1799 and in 1803 Sheridan met them and the whole Whig crew at Woburn under the roof of the Duke of Bedford. 3 His letter describing the second visit revels in the affectionate welcome of his old associates. They chatted, played tennis, and 1 The offer is dated February 20, 1804, on the death of the former Receiver, Lord Elliot. " You well know that I never forget my old friends," it begins, and he signs himself " Ever affectionately yours." It afterwards transpired that Lord Lake had been promised a reversion of the post, and until his death in 1808 Sheridan surrendered the income. Moreover, he could only have been appointed Lake's deputy by the Privy Council, and obstacles were raised. Sheridan's letters of 1808 to the Prince's secretary, MacMahon (including one for transmission to Lake shortly before his death), show that Sheridan's one object was to screen the Prince from a public misconception of faithlessness. Moore has given some of these letters. And cf. ante, Vol. I., p. in. Sheridan MSS., cited by Rae, Vol. II., p. 249. For the 1799 visit cf. the newspaper cuttings in Eg. MS. 1975. Sheridan's long letter to his wife about the later visit has been given by Fraser Rae. 320 FOX'S DEATH AND SHERIDAN: "PRINNY' caroused, " in all moderation," as he assures his Hecca. Fitzpatrick, too, was among the guests, nor was it long before death claimed him also : only the sinister Francis the man who now fawned on the Prince at the Pavilion was "laughed at." And yet behind Sheridan's back, these loyal friends were already sneering in their sleeves. True, he had tried them sorely and often, nor was it always pleasant to know him, but what he said of them in public he said of them in private. He had not two voices. The mention of the Pavilion recalls those festive nights when plump " Prinny," reunited to his " only Maria," presided over the revels and prescribed the deportment. The best account of them has been furnished by the fetch-and-carry Creevey, who luxuriated in self-importance. Nor can the bumpers of those banquets have been wholly fatal, for who that has read it can forget the page, worthy of Pepys, that tells how Creevey and Sheridan, a trifle mellow, burst into Mrs. Creevey's bed- room during the small hours and entertained her till daybreak with their witty stories P 1 Mrs. Creevey was a kinswoman of Mrs. Sheridan, and the wife, too, must sometimes have been equally regaled. Francis has bequeathed his own version of the Brighton saturnalia, where he baited the hero of the Warren Hastings trial in a contest of repartee. It is no dignified spec- tacle " Prinny" terming Francis "the wise man of the East," Sheridan retorting that this was " d peu pres comme sagefemme," and the caustic malignant cutting him to the quick by nick- naming himself "the man in debt to Sheridan," while he dubbed him " the man who extends England's credit, or the man of the papers." The Prince remarked that this was " un peu fort," said to Sheridan, " Don't mind him, old fellow," and exacted the penalty of a name for himself. " The man," was 1 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 83, under date August 25 (1806) : " . . . They all adjourned to Melbourne House to supper. At two o'clock in the morning that terrible Sheridan seduced Mr. Creevey into Brooks's, where they stayed till four, when Sherry affectionately came home with him, and upstairs to see me. They were both so very merry and so much pleased with each other's jokes, that though they could not repeat them to me very distinctly, I was too much amused to scold them as they deserved." S. VOL. II. 321 Y SHERIDAN the renegade's answer, but he got no further. : Let us hope that he rolled under the table. Fox's death, so closely succeeding Pitt's, not only transformed the relations of his party (since henceforward Grey, leagued with Grenville, practically broke with Sheridan), but it may also be said to have effaced the eighteenth-century landmarks. With it the aftermath, the age of Epigoni, begins. And all England felt that a new order was in train. Another great spirit had vanished, and Scott linked his requiem to Pitt's : " Mourn genius high, and lore profound, And wit that loved to play, not wound, And all the reasoning power divine To penetrate, resolve, combine. * * * If ever from an English heart, O here let prejudice depart, And, partial feeling cast aside, Record that Fox a Briton died. * * * Drop upon Fox's grave the tear, 'Twill trickle to his rival's bier. * * * The solemn echo seems to cry, ' Here let their discord with them die.' Speak not for those a separate doom, Whom Fate made brothers in the tomb, But search the land of living men, Where wilt thou find their like again ? " Sheridan spoke little while he held office. His main efforts were an appeal on the motion of thanks to the Volunteers and a stirring speech on the slave trade, the repeal of which he had advocated since 1787. It was in 1807 that he ended by quoting the lines : " I would not have a slave to till my ground, To fan me when I sleep and tremble when I wake, for all that human sinews, bought And sold, have ever earned." a | Cf. Fitzgerald's " Lives of the Sheridans," Vol. II., p. 82 ; the source is evidently Francis's " Memoirs." 2 Cf. Speeches, Vol. III., p. 513. Among his notes are some fragments apparently intended for this speech. 322 "ALL THE TALENTS' GO OUT When Fox died his ambition had been to replace him as Member for Westminster, and after a fierce contest he succeeded, with Sir Samuel Hood for his colleague. But Stafford never quite forgave this desertion, nor did that fight, with all its dust and sparring, resemble the signal combat of more than twenty years earlier. Filibusters abounded, but somehow the gloss had worn off from those tearing, roystering times, and a day less picturesque was dully creeping in. The dissolution at the close of 1806 brought back thinned ranks for the Ministerialists, and the King only waited oppor- tunity to end a combination so distasteful. Compared with the dictatorship of Grey and Grenville, Fox had been almost welcome, and now to Grenville and to Grey both King and Prince were exposed : it was an ominous conjunction one of ice and fire and it was known that the calculation of the one and the violence of the other would soon bring the Catholic question to a head. Fox had pledged himself to the Prince not to disturb his royal father by raising the ghost of Emancipation. The Prince himself has described how these assurances were renewed after his death, and by what cabals and high-handed persistence they were broken. 1 The Catholics, however, were betrayed once more, and the mountain of promise only brought forth a mouse, though that mouse sufficed to chase the adminis- tration out. The old measure for enabling Catholic promotions was revived, but the moment chosen hardly favoured a step for which Grey was chiefly responsible. In March the ministry was wrecked. Sheridan's mot on this occasion is familiar. He had often heard, he said, of people knocking out their brains against a wall, but he never before knew of anyone building a wall expressly for the purpose. Less familiar, however, are the verses which were then circulated against him : " ' I've heard very often,' shrewd Sheridan said, ' Of a man who against a stone wall ran his head, But my friends had no wall, so with wonderful pains They built one on purpose to beat out their brains.' 1 Cf. the Croker Papers, Vol. I., pp. 297 300. 323 Y 2 SHERIDAN No, no, Master Sherry, though pleasant thy wit, For once it has failed the true matter to hit ; For men who thus wantonly build up a wall, Have convinced the whole world they have no brains at all." ' But Sheridan did not only jest at the withdrawal of the Bill. He wrote a letter to the Prince on the whole transaction, 2 and in Parliament he took a statesmanlike view of its impolicy. " I think," he said in August, 1807, " they began at the wrong end. They should have commenced the measure of redress to Ireland at the cottage instead of at the park and the mansion. To have gone first to the higher orders of the Catholics, to have sought to make them judges, peers and commoners, I do not know that such a proceeding, had it taken place, would not rather have served to aggravate discontent, as it might have been construed into a design to divide the interests of the Catholics. Sure I am that with a view to serve or to conciliate the Catholic population, I mean the poor, the peasantry, its effect would be nothing. It would be like dressing or decorating the topmasts of a ship when there were ten feet of water in the hold, or putting a laced hat on a man who had not a shoe to his foot. The place to set out to in Ireland for the relief of the people is the cottage. . . . " 8 The whole Catholic question was really dear to his heart, and it will be found that it underlay his final downfall. The result of the dissolution was disastrous to Sheridan. Partly through Grenvillite selfishness, he found himself worsted at Westminster by Sir F. Burdett, in league with the tailor- demagogue Paull, aided by Cobbett and Home Tooke. He took refuge in Ilchester, a borough found for him by Lord Grenville. 4 1 Cf. Colonel Disbrowe's papers on "Stirring Times," edited by Mr. Montgomery Campbell (1908). 1 Moore said that while Fox was alive Sheridan had also penned a letter for the Prince to the King, but this the Prince denied ; cf . Croker Papers, VoL I., p. 296. Speeches, VoL III., pp. 533 , 534 ( State of Ireland," August 13, 1807). For his letter to the Prince (which does not survive) cf. Moore's " Journal," Vol. IV., p. 301. In the Sheridan MSS.and the Holland House MSS. are letters, speeches and notes respecting both of Sheridan's Westminster Elections. Lord 324 A RHYMED REMONSTRANCE Throughout their short reign, "All the Talents" had been mercilessly quizzed in the Anti-Jacobin and the All the Talents Garland. The following lines from the latter were directed against Sheridan in a rhymed letter to Grey (Lord Howick), the supposed recipient of his woes : " Alas ! I cannot write or speak, The tears run hissing down my cheek, My burning bosom vomits sighs Like fumes which from Vesuvius rise. Boiled by the flames of face and nose, My brain a melted lava grows ; And like two meteors in the skies, When Northern lights disastrous rise, Glare in their fiery sphere mine eyes. Howick, as I'm an honest man, It was thy inconsiderate plan Which kindled this destructive fire And filled me with combustious ire. * * * * Have I not cause to deprecate Measures which brought me to this state, Which left me leafless, fishless worse, Left scarce a guinea in my purse, Left all my duns, a clamorous throng, Hopeless who lived on hope so long; And left that little humbug Paull To sneer and glory at my fall ? What shall I do ? My cash is gone, And credit I alas ! have none. My wits may furnish me again With Burgundy and rich Champagne, But driven out of Place and Court, Ah ! where shall Sherry look for Port ? " But his political misfortunes did not end here. On March 25, 1807, the presidency of the Duke of Portland again sheltered a ministry in tatters. Spencer Perceval, the financial barrister Grenville (who afterwards owned that he had made a mistake) wished to reserve all his influence for Lord Percy, and a letter of remonstrance to Grenville about his (Sheridan's) exclusion from the second election conflict remains among his papers. A petition was set on foot to displace the members, and Sheridan twice spoke on it in the House of Commons. Nowhere did Sheridan honour Fox more than in his Westminster Election speeches. 325 SHERIDAN who converted the three per cents, into terminable annuities and made banknotes legal tender, was his Chancellor of the Exchequer, and on the Duke's death in October, 1809, eventually replaced him at the helm. But meanwhile, in 1808, another general election occurred. Sheridan, exiled from Stafford, ill at ease in the Grenvillite Ilchester, was nominated as " the great Sheridan " by the independents of Wexford. Ireland was eager to do him honour. Even in his personal absence, however, his evil star seemed to blight a prospect which outwardly seemed fair. His enthusiastic colleague, Mr. Colclough, was rapidly absorbing every vote under the magic of his name, when their opponent, Mr. Alcock, complained that supporters had been enticed from his side, challenged Colclough to mortal combat, and, in the presence of eleven justices of the peace who raised neither voice nor hand, shot him through the heart. 1 Member for Ilchester Sheridan remained, and though he dispatched his son to Stafford as his substitute, and himself, at the last, courted its suffrages, here too adversity pursued him. He would gladly have represented an Irish constituency, and the Irish question came daily into prominence. In 1807 he spoke twice on Ireland, in March on the Irish Arms Bill, in August on the state of Ireland. This was a great oration, and his nomination for Wexford may have been an acknow- ledgment of his services to the cause which he called "that of justice and my country." Rebellion and coercion stalked abroad, and Sheridan rightly complained that governments went on "legislating for Ireland in the dark," rejecting light and information upon a subject to which they were called upon to apply the law, and that law, too, most penal and severe in its character." 2 They repressed disorder before they had ascertained its nature or its remedies. He pointed out the many symptoms of Irish loyalty ; he pointed out also 1 Cf. Harrington's " Sketches" (1827), Vol. I., pp. 298309. These sentences appear in Hansard, but are missing from the published 326 ILCHESTER: WEXFORD: IRELAND AGAIN that the so-called " French party " in Ireland was one " of family connection abstracted from all political views " : " Since the days of Elizabeth, from the very commencement of those foul and tyrannous measures which originated in national jealousy, political prejudice, or religious dissension, but particularly the latter, which drove Catholics of high spirit from their native country, numbers of such exiles (his own family had ranked among them) found an asylum in France, and hence a correspondence between them and their relations in Ireland which naturally led to the creation of a French party in Ireland, and an Irish party in France." But there was likewise a Danish party, and Irish exiles had found asylum in America. Would the contingency of a war with Denmark or America be any reason for suspending the Irish Constitution ? "Let us," he said, "diminish and not aggravate the cause of this exile and emigration." 1 The real basis of discontent was never examined; a total ignorance of actual circumstances prevailed : " The fact is that the tyranny practised upon the Irish has been throughout unremitting. There has been no change but in the manner of inflicting it. They have had nothing but variety in oppression extending to all ranks and degrees of a certain description of the people. If you would know what this varied oppression consisted in, I would refer you to the penal statutes you have repealed, and to some of those which you have not. There you will see the high and the low equally subjected to the lash of persecution, and still some affect to be astonished at the discontents of the Irish." He illustrated his grave meaning by a ludicrous story. An Irish drummer was employed to punish a soldier. "When the boy struck high, the poor soldier exclaimed, ' Lower, bless you,' with which the boy complied. But soon after, the soldier exclaimed, * Higher, if you please,' and again he called out, ' A little lower,' upon which the accommodating boy addressed him ' Now, upon my conscience, I see you are a discontented man, for, strike where I may, there is no pleasing you.' " 1 This again appears in Hansard alone. 327 SHERIDAN Promises to Ireland, Sheridan resumed, were like the parent's promises to a child. An armed people is much more peaceable than one unarmed and defenceless. 1 The troops in Ireland, he urged, should be placed there as mouthpieces and protectors of the people, not " to act as executioners, but as a guard of honour." The prerogative of the Crown should prove a sufficient appeal to loyalty without Bills, which were only " martial law in masquerade." The abominable cry of " No Popery " had been revived, although Catholics had been urged to look for satisfaction to the promoters of the Union. And Ireland required subsidies, the subsidies which had been lavished on Prussia : " Why do you not subsidise Ireland ? And all the subsidy I would ask for her is your confidence, affection and justice to her people. These I call on you to grant before it is too late. . . . The first character of courage is to look at danger with a fearless eye, and the next to combat it with a dauntless heart. If with this resolution we front our dangers, history will do justice to our feelings and our character, whatever may be the exertions or success of the formidable tyrant who would destroy us, or of those who succeed to his power and his views. ... If faithful to ourselves, if united, we shall, in these two little islands, to which, as to an altar, freedom has flown for refuge, be able to fight with all the valorous fury of men defending a sanctuary. . . . Let Liberty bloom in all her beauty where exists a soil in which she is capable of flourishing. ... If you want the attachment of the Irish, begin by giving them some reason to love you. But the other way to deprive them of their consti- tution in the meantime was " ' Propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.' a ' You ask Ireland for bravery, and take away the motives it; for loyalty, and deprive them of the benefits of the Consti- tution. By the hapless Bill proposed but defeated, at least a Catholic officer might have been enabled to make a career, and 1 Contained in Hansard alone. " For sake of life to lose what makes life dear." 328 "LET LIBERTY BLOOM' need no longer rise to his own degradation. Charles the First had asked Selden what was the best way to put down rebellion ; to which Selden answered, ' Remove the cause.' Remove the cause of disaffection in Ireland, and disaffection would end." * These feelings marked his political outlook to the close. Politically, he became wider, firmer, more generous as he grew older. But privately, though ever genial and brilliant, still welcomed, too, by the flower of society, he already began to sink, while the fickleness of his Prince added to that loss of foothold which weakened his character. Was it for this that he had so long and often withstood strong political temptations, that even now his sympathies were to bar him from success ? Had sturdy pride no power to keep him from dark solitude, crapulous cabals, and dingy corners ? The despair of his gradual decline resembles the last flicker of an expiring lamp. 1 Speech of August 13, 1807, Speeches, Vol. III., pp. 522 543. This is the speech which contains the florid passage against Napoleon ; cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 15. Hansard's report comprises an addition to this outburst : " I should ask you to look at your statute book and to study the means of conciliating the alliance of your own subjects, while Bonaparte is grasping the nations, and while he is surrounding France not with that iron frontier for which the unwise and childish ambition of Louis XIV. was so eager, but with the kingdoms of his own creation, securing the gratitude of higher minds as the hostage, and the fears of others as pledges for his safety." On July 15, Sheridan had also spoken in favour of a grant for Maynooth College. 329 CHAPTER XIII THE BEGINNING OF THE END (February, 1809 June, 1812) " I've seen the day, with my good, biting falchion I could have made them skip. I am old now, And these vile crosses spoil me ; out of breath, Fie, oh ! quite out of breath and spent." SHAKESPEARE, " King Lear" SHERIDAN flung himself with ardour into championship of the Peninsular War. Again and again, while ministers inclined to starve the campaign, he urged on his countrymen the sheer necessity of fighting to the death. At last, he told them, and for the first time Napoleon faced a patriot people struggling to be free. He was no longer sweeping across divided and despotised nations. Great Britain's mission was to arm the hand of liberty in its death-grapple with a tyrant. Nor did he insist less on the Catholic and Irish questions, and on the freedom of the Press. Spain and Ireland are the watchwords of his final phase ; one of the last speeches that he was to make expatiated on the blessings of an untrammelled public opinion ; the glory of freedom at home and abroad was his last refrain. But as he grew in statesmanship, he became more and more excluded from his customary outlets, possessed more and more by the demon of drink. Indeed, exclusion forms the motto of these three dismal years : exclusion from his theatre, exclusion from his party, exclusion eventually from Carlton House, and exclusion from St. Stephen's. Beyond the fatalities of Drury Lane, which first call for notice, and outside his own degenera- tion, two main causes contributed to Sheridan's ruin : the haughtiness of the high and dry Whigs, whom Grey now hoped to lead in opposition, and the caprices of the Prince, whom his servitor almost worshipped. Undoubtedly Sheridan was not without incentives to outwit the former; doubtless he 330 SHERIDAN'S POLITICAL POSITION, 1808 was ready to sacrifice everything but his political independence to the latter ; nor can either of these very human impulses be deemed sublime. But it will appear that his censors they of his own household were insolent, grasping and vindictive. Those young and ardent Whigs of Fox's prime had been hardened into the haggling monopolists of Grenville's market, and Tierney, who had resumed office under Grenville, now reinforced his master in opposition, and aided him by intrigues. 1 Grey always liberal had been led by intense ambition to shake hands with Grenville, and the pair now regarded office as their hereditary, almost hallowed, perquisite. They had been rude and high-handed ever since Fox's death, and Sheridan and Lord Moira were made to feel that since the Prince had ceased to be "a party man," the Whig chieftains held themselves haughtily aloof. 2 They now only awaited the speedy rout of Perceval's ill-assorted legions. As for the Prince, he suspected most of those who surrounded him, perse- cuted his wife, bullied his daughter, made friends with his time-serving mother and pined for emancipation from the pupilage boded by a return to power of those hectoring Whigs. The documents written for and by the Prince during the successive machinations of 1810 to 1812, and the counter-manifestoes issued by the Whig leaders, air all the pretentious and pretended jargon of personal attachment and constitutional duty, but their real meaning was, on the one hand, the stern dictation of the great families ; on the other, the sly [resentment of a princeling eager to prove himself a king. The precipitous places down which Sheridan slipped were slimed with royal and official hypocrisy. On the evening of February 24, 1809, while he was sitting in his accustomed place in the House, and about to speak on Mr. Ponsonby's motion relative to the war in Spain, a red and 1 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 137. 2 Cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 384. Lord Holland confirms this, and comments on the impolicy of Grey, and Grenville's slight of Sheridan. Cf. " Further Memoirs of the Whig Party," p. 72. 331 SHERIDAN lurid blaze streamed through the windows. It was soon known, with the proverbial haste of ill news, that Drury Lane was on fire. An adjournment was proposed in Sheridan's honour, but he besought the House to waive this mark of sympathy and not to postpone the interests of empire to his private disasters. Calmly he left his place and went to survey the scene. He is said to have looked on the catastrophe undismayed, and even to have exclaimed, " Surely a man may enjoy a glass of wine by his own fireside." But none knew better what ruin was portended. All that he had embarked and re-embarked was lost, for the insurance of his theatre was trifling ; and to bankruptcy was added the destruction of relics very dear to him, which had been removed from Somerset Place to be stored. The harpsichord on which St. Cecilia had played turned to ashes with the rest. Yet, with characteristic optimism, he immediately set him- self to retrieve adversity. There may even have been some sense of relief in the chances of readjustment. The enormous excess of the actual cost of rebuilding over the last estimates had precluded the expected defrayal of old liabilities ; one hundred and fifty thousand pounds subscribed in 1793 had barely sufficed to liquidate the new expense. A fresh start might prove a blessing ; and, besides, there would now be some likelihood of checking the competition which had hitherto damaged a theatre remote from the fashionable quarters of the town, and antiquated in times of performance that trenched on the new dinner-hour. Covent Garden Theatre owned a " dormant " as well as an actual patent. It was proposed that this patent should be revived so that united interests might be enabled to obviate rival performances. 1 1 Sheridan had opposed the patent for another new theatre in the House of Commons on March 25 and May 9, 1811. The latter speech was very eloquent. His paper about this regulated theatre survives (Sheridan M SS., and cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 377). At the end he writes, " 'Fore Heavens the plan's a good plan ! I shall add a little epilogue to-morrow. R. B. S. Tis now too late, and I've a letter to write Before I go to bed and then, good-night." 332 THE THEATRE BURNS: WHITBREAD Under these circumstances he wrote to a trustee of his marriage settlement, one long friendly with him, and linked, moreover, by marriage, both with Grey and with Sheridan's own wife. Samuel Whitbread, the inheritor of that brewery which had once been Thrale's, had long been a leading figure of Opposition. In 1805 he had led the attack on Dundas (then Lord Melville) which conduced to his impeachment (of which Sheridan had been a manager), 1 and eventually to his virtual acquittal. But the blow to Pitt had been serious, and it placed Whitbread in the forefront of the Foxite group. Enthu- siastic, yet cool and clear-sighted, he was a man on whom none could impose, though his hard head balanced a soft heart. But as time went on the enthusiasm predominated. He took a vehement course in the Regency events which soon rekindled passions that had slumbered for nigh a quarter of a century. Later still, he as violently espoused the cause of the Princess Caroline, and of the daughter, whom her father denominated " a firebrand." His calm exterior belied his head- strong nature, which eventually disturbed his brain, till, in 1815, he died by his own hand. 3 Sheridan's letter of deep regret on that occasion is among his papers ; but for three years earlier, developments which neither of them could really control infuriated the despairing sentimentalist against the man of facts and figures. Sheridan always skips details when he generalises over finance or misfortunes, and he now attributed both to arrangements which had in truth little to do with them. But Whitbread, too, erred on the side of that considered caution which leaves the improvident to starve while philanthropists pursue their inquiries. This, however, belongs to the future. At present Sheridan His confidential intermediary in many of these theatrical arrangements was Henry Burgess of Curzon Street, solicitor and political go-between. 1 Cf. " The Trial, etc., of Henry, Lord Viscount Melville, etc. Before the House of Peers in Westminster Hall, between the zgth of April and the jyth of May, 1806. London. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1806." 2 Brougham said that though Whitbread was good at administration, for counsel he had " no head " ; cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 181. 333 SHERIDAN besought Whitbread as friend, politician and man of business to form a committee to re-build, re-cast and re-finance Drury Lane. Whitbread acceded to his request with zeal. Lord Holland, Douglas Kinnaird and others put matters in train ; the committee, which Byron eventually joined, was powerful ; some of the money was soon found; the old actors, who petitioned Sheridan for redress in language justifying some of his keen sarcasms on the paper, were propitiated; a scheme was set on foot, and plans for a fireproof structure, prepared. It was believed that the old lessons of 1793 would not be lost, that estimates could be kept within bounds, and that the new building, of which Wyatt was architect, would not be too big for practical requirements. The first stone was laid in October, 1811 ; the theatre was opened in the same month of the following year, and one of its early productions was an adaptation of " Nourjahad," the Arabian tale which Sheridan's mother had composed while he was a boy at Harrow. The keen competition for a prologue to inaugurate the cere- mony produced the undying satire of the " Rejected Addresses." Charles Sheridan tried for it; William Linley tried for it, 1 even Whitbread tried for it, and of his poem, which, like most of them, descanted on the Phoenix, Sheridan said in Moore's hearing that it was the work of a rhapsodising poulterer. Byron, who had scorned to enter the lists, volunteered the poem which was eventually recited and which originally contained the line, " When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write." The young poet, who does not seem to have met and been charmed by Sheridan till he dined with him at Rogers's in June, 1813, was thus thrown with the veteran wit, and spent many a jocund evening in his company. Thirty years divided them, but none could better understand Sheridan than Byron. He felt for and with him ; he understood his political surroundings. He admired his powers, and had early apostrophised him in " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." He was intimate with the children of his oldest friends. He now constantly saw him at Devonshire or Holland Houses, in the 1 Cf. Add. MS. 27900, where the really rejected addresses are given. 334 DRURY LANE REARRANGEMENTS: OXFORD snug breakfast-room of Samuel Rogers, or at William Lamb's, whose young and wilful wife was the " Caro " Ponsonby whom Sheridan had petted in the Bessborough nursery. By the close of 1811 the proposals under which Sheridan was to part with his half-interest in Drury Lane were such as fully contented him. He was to receive twenty-four thousand pounds, out of which the Linleys and other claimants were to be reimbursed. A further sum of four thousand was to be paid for the property of the Fruit Offices, and the rever- sion of boxes and old shares ; while Tom Sheridan, for his quarter of the patent, was to get no less than twelve thousand pounds. 1 Sheridan never doubted that his co-operation would be retained even if no official post could be allotted. His long services, proved tact, and general skill would, he made sure, prove indispensable. He brimmed over with gratitude to the kind, the able, the infallible Whitbread. Barely a year, however, sufficed to convert his thankfulness into indignation. And even now, in 1809, he waxed wrathful over other matters. In July Lord Grenville was installed Chancellor of Oxford, and it was thought right that Sheridan should attend with other personages to receive an honorary degree. The notion met with general approval, but at the last moment " three churlish non-placets of Corpus," as a lampoon styled the dissentient masters, opposed the resolution, and despite the university's disgust and Mr. Ingram's Latin harangue on the disgrace of secretly with- drawing so illustrious a name, withdrawn it had to be. No sooner however had Sheridan modestly taken an ordinary seat in the theatre than loud cries of " Sheridan among the Doctors ! " transferred him, unrobed though he was, to the chairs occupied by the honorary graduates. This voluntary acclaim gratified him more than almost any other ovation. 2 At the close of 1810, the death of Princess Amelia (his favourite daughter) found the poor old King irretrievably disordered; and the worn Regency problem at once revived. Grey naturally thought the times ripe for a repetition, with better success, of 1 Cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 410. 2 Ibid., p. 379, and newspaper cuttings passim in Eg. MS. 335 SHERIDAN bygone manoeuvres. Though he had cooled in his ardour for domestic reform, just as Grenville had now abated his passion for foreign alliances, he had not yielded Fox's doctrine of princely right. Grenville, on the other hand, neighbouring Windsor, and early informed of the King's disease, still held by Pitt's doctrines of the Revolution. " Parliament and the People " must be sole arbiters, and Parliament and the People meant practically Grenville and his friends. Sheridan aptly hit off the situation in verse : " In all humility we crave Our Regent may become our slave ; And being so, we trust that he Will thank us for our loyalty. Then if he'll help us to pull down His Father's dignity and Crown, We'll make him in some time to come The greatest Prince in Christendom." Nothing could better condense the great Revolution families' first article of faith. The document to which these lines point must presently be mentioned. But, meanwhile, in a striking speech which has hitherto escaped notice, Sheridan handled the whole Regency question. 1 He recapitulated Pitt's arguments of 1788. These had now reappeared, but they were in truth only " the phantoms of Lord Thurlow supported by the ghost of Mr. Pitt " : so much for the arbitrary attitude assumed by Lord Grenville. Fox had played a great part in these old transactions, and Fox had always stood for emancipation, though Wilberforce, only the day before, had meted out to him a scant " parsimony of praise." What follows, with its analogy drawn from French affairs, can have been no more acceptable to the Prince's would-be jailors than to the Percevalites in office : " We are at this moment no House of Commons. The men who dare to execute the functions of the Government are guilty of usurpation. . . . They are a new Directory, self- elected and self-constituted, upheld by nothing but their own 1 January 2, 1811. Hansard, XVIIL, 660. 336 REGENCY CRISIS: SPEECH, i 8 i i forcible seizure of the attributes and prerogatives of the Crown. There is no other distinction between them and the executive Directory of France in the year 1795, than that the latter owed their appointment to the appearance at least of popular choice. . . .We seem to act under the impression that what the monarchy has lost has been divided amongst ourselves ; whereas the royal power is so fundamentally interwoven with every other interest in the State, that by even its temporary interruption, the life and power of Parliament is paralysed." And when the foreign situation was examined, little but the phantoms of royalty was to be found. It was impossible not to feel for " those unhappy persons who, temporarily raised to thrones and sceptres, have been disgraced and cashiered for the abomination of exercising over their subjects a more mitigated tyranny than Bonaparte's vile policy dictated. He places the executioners of his vengeance on a platform, and calls that a throne. He puts a whip of scorpions in their hands, and calls that a sceptre. He tells the peoples that they must hate kings. Shall I then by my vote this night give currency to such a doctrine ? Shall this House furnish him with additional arguments in support of such principles ? . . . Will you allow him the power of saying to the nations of the earth, ' Has not my opinion been well founded ? . . . Can you doubt when you see Great Britain, notwithstanding its boasted excellence of constitution, greedily seize the first opportunity that has occurred to curtail the legitimate powers of the Sovereign, and, in such an emergency, to dismember almost the Monarchy itself?' Will this House then become the instrument of Napoleon to furnish him with an illustration favourable to his detestable objects ? It is a libel false as hell to describe such to be the feelings of the people of these realms, or to attribute to the Prince any qualities which in the remotest degree can warrant suspicion. Whatever are my hopes and views of reform, I say now, as I have ever said, that we are struggling to preserve a condition of society far above that which the other civilised nations of the world have attained. Is this then the moment to fetter or restrict the constitutional s. VOL. ii. 337 z SHERIDAN powers of him whom the public voice has unanimously called to preside over our destiny during the unhappy disposition of his Sovereign and father? Shall we send him forth with a broken shield and half a spear to that contest on the issue of which depends not alone the safety of Great Britain, but the preservation of the rights and happiness of mankind ? " Prolonged cheers greeted this conclusion. It was, in fact, a critical moment. The Whig oligarchs were playing that game in opposition which Pitt had long ago played in power. They demanded restrictions and limitations, because they feared that the Prince's intimates might supplant them. They repeated the old, dreary tricks of adjourned proceedings on the old, dreary routine of the distraught King's medical exami- nations. The Prince, aloof and impenetrable, at first coun- tenanced these delays, and he told Lord Holland that his views remained what they had been twenty-three years earlier. But Sheridan refused to comply, and again in this instance pursued his own line and voted with the majority. He addressed a manly letter of explanation to the Prince, whose unpartisan attitude he had counselled, whose best interests he had at heart, and eventually he managed to satisfy him. 1 But a more delicate 1 Some passages may be quoted. After expressing his infinite satisfaction that the Prince had not disapproved his " line of conduct," and his certainty that the Prince would always give him credit for being actuated by " no possible motive but the most sincere and unmixed desire to look to Your Royal Highness's honour and true interest as the object of my political life, directed as I am sure your efforts will ever be, to the essential interests of the Country and Constitution," he records himself "prompted by every motive of personal gratitude, and confirmed by every opportunity which peculiar circumstances and long experience have afforded me of judging your heart and understanding to the superior excellence of which (beyond all, I believe, that ever stood in your rank and high relation to society) I fear not to advance my humble testimony, because I scruple not to say for myself that I am no flatterer, and that I never found that to become one was the road to your real regard." He assures the Prince that on a " practical knowledge of the public mind and character " alone " must be built that popular and personal estimation of Your Royal Highness, so necessary to your future happiness and glory and to the prosperity of the nation you are destined to rule." And then he states his reasons for the course adopted. He " saw no policy or consistency in unnecessarily giving a general sanction 338 THE PRINCE'S ANSWER TO PARLIAMENT juncture impended. Parliament would lay their proposals before the coming Regent, and he must formally answer them. Who should prepare that answer? When Lord Grenville waited on the Prince directly the Regency Bill had been passed, he was " graciously " commissioned to frame one in conjunction with Grey. They did so, but in a most objectionable manner. Grey's Foxite views of the Prince's rights had to be accommo- dated to Grenville's restrictive doctrines which he called con- stitutional, but which were really republican. The Prince's own " consistency " was most faintly indicated ; his powers were named, but they were defined as inherent in the King alone, and he was made to speak of " whatever degree of confidence you may think fit to repose in me." Moira, Sheridan, and the Prince's Attorney-General, Adam, now directed the Carlton House councils, and it would only be natural if the proceedings of 1789 were repeated if the Prince were first to draw up an answer himself, then to set the rest writing others for him, and finally to make Sheridan compile one out of the series. This is what seems actually to have happened. Adam had already penned the draft of a reply, and Sheridan had tried his hand also, when they learned (though perhaps they had no reason for learning), that Grey and Grenville had presented one of their own, which they held like a pistol at the Prince's head. The position in January, 1811, was peculiar. In the first place, the Regency Bill, with its " postponement clause," was a mystery. Perceval was not its author, if Creevey is to be credited, and Lord Eldon himself was perplexed. During its passage, too, through the two Houses, the Grenvillites and Canning voted with the ministry, while Grey, who remained a to the examination of the physicians before the Council, and then attempting, on the question of adjournment, to hold that examination as nought." He did not wish him to " stir an inch " from his " strong, reserved position," or " to give the slightest public demonstration of any future intended political preference." " I am sure," he concluded, " that the decisions of that judgment . . . have not at least been rashly taken up, but were founded on deliberate zeal for your service and glory, unmixed, I will confidently say, with any one selfish object or political purpose of my own." Cf. Moore, Vol. II., pp. 379382. 339 z 2 SHERIDAN Foxite, abstained. But Grenville held him in the hollow of his hand, and they soon acted together as if they were absolutely ministers in power. Already they divided the spoil, while Grenville, rapacious and unpopular, stipulated for the two offices and emoluments of First Lord and Auditor. 1 By virtue of these anticipations they claimed a monopoly of dictating the Prince's reply, and they afterwards stamped the presumption of anyone else who dared to put pen to paper as an " uncon- stitutional " act. But in reality they were merely the recog- nised leaders of Opposition, and the inner Cabinet of Carlton House was fully as much entitled to word the Prince's answer, and was certainly justified in resenting these Grey-Grenville usurpations. The Carltonites were also busy in counting chickens before they were hatched. Lord Moira was to have been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Sheridan, proud of his Irish connection, his Secretary. All concerned thought that Perceval was doomed. Then again, the Prince had never for- given or forgotten Grey's early favour with the Duchess of Devonshire, and he abominated Grenville ; while Sheridan, friendly with Grey, though adverse to Grenville, found it hard to forward his friend's interest, and at the same time to preserve the long and cherished ties of party association. 8 No sooner had Fox admitted the Grenvilles than the party itself had been transformed. And added to these complications was a wide- spread feeling that the Duke of York, who had suffered from the revelations of Mrs. Clarke and her accomplice Wardle, should be reinstated as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, which in times past he had so often led to disaster. 3 Sheridan's short reply (as in the past case of his pithy letter to Pitt) was eventually adopted, and on January n it was sub- mitted in the Prince's name to the House. It condensed his 1 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 137. Whitbread stood out and refused to join them. Afterwards Grenville seems to have conceded the First Lordship of the Treasury to Grey; cf. Plumer Ward, Vol. II., p. 335. 1 For proofs cf. post, pp. 343, n. i, 345, 353. Among the Holland House MSS. is a letter to Sheridan from Lord Lauderdale of April ai, 1811, urging that any delay in this step would be dangerous to the Prince. 340 GRENVILLE'S USURPATIONS: SHERIDAN'S DRAFT master's disapproval of the late proceedings, 1 and it was succeeded by another letter of Sheridan's composition from the Prince to Perceval. 2 He was the king of compilers, and knew better than any how to fine down and re-animate the rough crudities of his colleagues. The whole transaction too must have appealed to him as a comedian : it resembled a French farce. His main objection to the draft which had incensed the Prince, was its Grenvillite leaven ; for the man who had voted for the resolutions could hardly collaborate in expressing the Prince's disapprobation. But before Sheridan had completed his own answer, it was deemed advisable to return the Grey- Grenville document for correction, and a proposed revision in Sheridan's hand is among his papers. With this draft, Adam, followed by Sheridan, repaired to Lord Holland's house in Pall Mall. 3 The scene, as Lord Holland depicts it, with full anti-Sheridan animus, is amusing enough. The reply, be it remembered, was ostensibly the Prince's. Yet Grey, "with much propriety and good temper," argued that neither he nor Grenville could be made responsible for sentiments which they had not written. Adam and Sheridan, " flushed with wine, and irritated by dispute," argued the question " hotly," while Sheridan protested his ignorance (as he was again to protest it in a long recapitulation of the facts) of Grey and Grenville's warrant for a monopoly in such manufacture. This statement Adam traversed, but none the less it seems to have been true. The Prince had repented of his first commission, and when Sheridan entered into the concern, he may well have thought that the two lords' communication was one of those papers which he would be called upon to boil down. Be this, however, 1 Cf. Lord Holland's " Further Memoirs," p. 84. No draft for the letter to Perceval is to be found in the Sheridan MSS., but the document is given in Lord Colchester's " Diary," Vol. II., pp. 316, 317, and in Huish's " Memoirs of George IV.," Vol. II., p. 29. a On January 28, 1811; cf. R. Plumer Ward's "Memoirs," Vol. I., p. 379, and post, p. 348. 8 Moore (Vol. II., p. 388) errs in giving the site as Holland House. Cf. Lord Holland's " Further Memoirs," p. 84 et seq. 341 SHERIDAN as it may, the real point was that until Grey and Grenville should actually be ministers, they were not constitutionally privileged to advise, and that so far as Grenville was concerned, his views and conduct almost disqualified him from advising. This Sheridan stoutly maintained, and he was justified by the circumstances. Thereupon Grey and Grenville retired in dudgeon, breathing threatenings and slaughter against the interloper, whom they hoped to have hounded out of Carlton House. 1 Their next move was to draw up an apology for their conduct. Had they explained themselves personally to the Prince, no exception could have been taken ; but they chose a course which laid them quite open to the construction of malice. Lord Grenville, Lord Holland tells us, had a passion for pen and ink, and the remonstrance concerted by these candid friends bears strong traces of his ponderous hand. The pith of its matter pointed at the rebel who had dared to detach himself from their sway, and a paragraph of innuendo ran as follows : " But they would be wanting in that sincerity and openness by which they can alone hope, however imperfectly, to make any return for that gracious confidence with which Your Royal Highness has condescended to honour them, if they suppressed the expression of their deep concern in finding that their humble endeavours in Your Royal Highness's service have been sub- mitted to the judgment of another person by whose advice Your Royal Highness has been guided in your final decision on a matter in which they alone had, however unworthily, been honoured with Your Royal Highness's commands." 2 They claimed to be the old-established firm by special appointment. No doubt it was mortifying for these writers-in-extraordinary to find that another pen had prevailed ; but nothing could warrant their charges of a double Cabinet and unconstitutional 1 Cf. Plumer Ward, Vol. I., p. 335, and cf. p. 368. Charles Yorke said that Lord Grey openly expressed his wrath to Lord Liverpool at the Prince's preference : ibid., p. 336. s Cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 99. 342 THE GREY-GRENVILLE REMONSTRANCE behaviour. 1 The Constitution could not affect a concern unre- posed in ministerial hands, and Lords Grey and Grenville were not as yet "responsible advisers." Grey's right to interfere was one of usage, for he had long known the Prince and served him : Grenville had no right at all. Moreover, when all was over and Perceval's Government unexpectedly remained, Sheridan told Creevey at Brooks's that this was counter to his advice, and he was corroborated by Lord Hutchinson, who added that never had a man behaved better. The fact is that he wanted Grey without Grenville. 3 It was now Sheridan's turn to explain, and he did so in a long and lucid letter to Lord Holland, which can still be seen, interlined, among his manuscripts. He submitted it to the Prince, who endorsed it, and he again wrote to Lord Holland, begging that it should be shown to his revilers. 3 Once more 1 That these charges were made, or implied, at the interview also, appears from Moore, Vol. II., p. 388 et seq., and from the actual wording of the Grey- Grenville Remonstrance, where they styled themselves "public and responsible advisers," and spoke loftily of " the value of the Constitution." 3 Cf. Plumer Ward, Vol. I., p. 415 (under date February 18, 1812): "... Lowndes, member for Bucks, told me he had heard from Mr. Oliver, a great follower of the Grenvilles, that . . . the Prince could on no account think of employing the Grenvilles, and that ... if Lord Grey could not separate himself from Lord Grenville he was sorry he could not avail himself of his (Grey's) services." For Sheridan's efforts in 1811 to befriend Grey apart from Grenville, cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 138, under date February 2, 1811: "Sheridan" (fresh from the "conclave" at Carlton House) " was just sober, and expressed to me the strongest opinion of the injurious tendency of this resolution to the Prince's character. Lord Hutchinson said the same thing to me to-day, and added that never man had behaved better than Sheridan." That Sheridan sincerely desired Grey to be First Minister is shown by the interesting manuscript Diary of Mr. Grey Bennett, cited by Mr. Fitzgerald in his " Lives of the Sheridans," Vol. II., p. 176, where in the later developments of the following June, he records: "... Whitbread told me that Lord Moira told him that Sheridan had been working night and day for weeks to remove the impressions that existed in the Regent's mind against Grey, pressing that he should be Prime Minister." 8 Sheridan MSS. Lord Holland, in his " Further Memoirs," comments on the Grey-Grenville Remonstrance being shown to Sheridan. But from its wording it was plainly meant to be shown. 343 SHERIDAN the reader must strike the balance between Sheridan's protests and the pretensions of the two lords-in-waiting, who behaved like big schoolboys bullying one smaller, cleverer, and more independent than themselves. Sheridan records facts, few of which can either be gainsaid or verified. His statement is naturally ex parte; but though his generalising manner may have glossed over or toned down some of the particulars, his whole case is probable and coherent. Fox had overshadowed Sheridan by dint of personality, but who were these, to usurp his mantle ? Sheridan was the Whig scapegoat, and he was sent forth into the wilderness. He began by adverting to the pain caused him by suspicions that were poisonous. He denied that he had influenced the Prince in the first stages of this affair, and he pointed with pride to his independent vote against the adjournment. He approved, though he had not instigated, the " wisdom " which now led the Prince to seclude himself from rival politicians. And then he detailed the facts. On Monday, January 7, he had warned Adam and Moira of the impending address from both Houses of Parliament. He had no idea then of any personal interference on his part, nor had it been authorised. He was told before quitting Carlton House, that Lord Moira had been directed to sketch an answer. The next evening " it occurred" to him also "to try a sketch of the intended reply." [Was Sheridan quite frank here ?] Next evening he read it very hastily to Adam, before he saw the Prince, and whatever he might once have thought, he was now convinced of " the propriety of Adam's conduct." This last allusion invites an unknown and entertaining inter- lude. Years later, the Whig go-between, Michael Angelo Taylor, gave Moore a vivid description of what happened on the night before the representatives of both Houses waited on the Prince to receive his reply to their address. Though memory may have exaggerated the scene, it does not certainly add to the dignity of the actors, since it lifts the curtain of history (and Lord Holland) only to disclose a few low comedians. Taylor had been summoned, probably through Adam, and 344 SHERIDAN ANSWERS GREY AND GRENVILLE it was three in the morning when he arrived. The Prince, Sheridan and Adam were together, and Adam looked " very black." Nothing was finished. The Prince produced a draft partly in his own handwriting, partly in Sheridan's, saying that two fair copies were required instantly, and adding, " Those d d fellows (i.e., Lords and Commons) will be here in the morning." The Prince then went to bed, and Taylor, the hack, was bidden to copy the drafts. Sheridan and Adam paced up and down at the opposite end of the room. Dissension was evidently in process. Presently up came Adam to Taylor's elbow, and whispered, looking at Sheridan, " That's the d dest rascal existing." A little afterwards up came Sheridan and whispered, " D n them all," thus consigning Lords Grey and Grenville to perdition also. Taylor finished his copies, and returned in the day-time. The Prince, who was still in bed, then sent for him and asked, " Are those fellows come ? " " Yes, sir," he answered, " some of them are arrived." " D n them all ! " was the reply, while he instructed Taylor to prepare fresh copies as more changes had been made. Taylor saw clearly that mischief was brewing against the Whigs. Lord Grey, " all upon stilts at the prospect of coming into power," had begged for an appointment ; but soon afterwards off went the Prince to Windsor, where " the Queen and the Duke of Cumberland settled the whole matter." l This then was what had since convinced Sheridan of Adam's " perfect propriety." To resume Sheridan's document. He read the paper " he had put together " to the Prince, without having once heard Lord Grenville 's name mentioned as in any way connected with the answer proposed to be submitted. Indeed, he was under an impression that it would be unfair to require Lord Grenville to write one. When the Prince had sanctioned Sheridan's reply, with a few corrections, he told him casually that both Grenville and Moira had tried their hands. Sheridan asserts that he would never have undertaken to express the Prince's opinion had he known 1 Moore's "Journal," Vol. IV., pp. 288 290. Lord Holland too says that Adam when he came first to Pall Mall spoke of Sheridan with some " asperity." 345 SHERIDAN that Grey and Grenville considered themselves authorised to frame the answer. On the next day (Thursday) when he dined with the Prince and Adam, he learned for the first time that the Grey-Grenville draft had been transmitted. The Prince handed it over to him against his express entreaties, and the Prince also disregarded his petition to put his own draft into the fire ; Adam's reply he copied and corrected. The Prince strongly objected to every part of the two lords' projected answer; his objections were " radical and insuperable." Finding the Grey-Grenville mani- festo unalterable by its authors, Sheridan had ventured to suggest that both papers should be laid aside, and " a very short answer indeed, keeping clear of all topics liable to disagree- ment," should be drawn up for the approval of Lords Grey and Grenville. With this document, Adam and he had gone to Lord Holland's, where they related what had passed to Lord Grey, though they did not think fit to show him the Prince's marginal notes to the peers' joint document. Grey, disbeliev- ing that the Prince had touched their paper, fastened the whole blame on Sheridan, who was thus forced to let Adam substantiate his statement by producing proofs positive of the Prince's auto- graph. Moreover, even before the adoption of Sheridan's reply, Lord Grey had hurt him by observing that it was " drawn up in an invidious spirit " ; and not till that moment did he begin to criticise the handiwork of the two noble lords. That same night he and Adam saw the Prince, who at their request struck out everything in the final draft that could possibly offend Lords Grey and Grenville. On the Friday the day before the address was due the two peers again protested; and again the Prince cancelled more, although a fair copy had already been made. Such is the sum of Sheridan's recital. Grey and Grenville had been baffled, and when the address was presented to the Regent before a resplendent court, it was Sheridan who stood on his left hand. 1 The document had been so frequently altered 1 Cf. Huish's " Memoirs of George IV.," Vol. II., p. 26. 346 SHERIDAN ANSWERS GREY AND GRENVILLE that little of the original can have been left, and it should be marked that the date of its final revision coincides with the episode described by Michael Angelo Taylor. Sheridan's recital to Lord Holland reads like a speech, and a passage may be quoted from its peroration. It is eloquent, and it rings true. It knocks down the screen of Joseph-Surface-Grenville, and it reveals the real offenders. The remonstrance of the two peers aimed at ruining him in the eyes of the master whom he had long and only too faithfully obeyed : " And now, my dear Lord, I have only shortly to express my own personal mortification I will use no other word that I should have been considered by any persons, however high in rank or justly entitled to high political pretensions, as one so little ' attached to His Royal Highness,' or so ignorant of the ' value of the Constitution of his country,' as to be held out to hint whose fairly earned esteem I regard as the first honour and the sole reward of my political life, in the character of an interested contriver of a double government, and in some measure, as an apostate, from all my former principles which have taught me as well as the noble Lords, that ' the mainte- nance of the constitutional responsibility in the Ministers of the Crown ' is essential to any hopes of success in the adminis- tration of public interest. At the same time, I am ready to admit that it could not be their intention so to characterise me. . . . But I have yet to learn what part of my past public life and I challenge observation on every part of my present proceedings has warranted . . . any such suspicion or ... imputation. . . . To Lord Grenville I have the honour to be but very little personally known. From Lord Grey, intimately acquainted as he was with every circumstance of my conduct and principles in the years 1788-9, I confess I should have expected a very tardy and reluctant interpretation of any circumstance to my disadvantage. As to the nature of my endeavours at that time, I have the written testimonies of Mr. Fox and the Duke of Portland." * 1 Sheridan MSS., and cf. Moore, Vol. II., pp. 394 406. The letter, which begins " My dear Holland," is dated from " Queen Street." 347 SHERIDAN He alludes to his willingness to forego high office in Grey's favour, and he now wrote to his son that with every wish to further his party, he would not be played upon, or only used as occasion required. 1 That Sheridan's advice was disinterested was owned by Lord Liverpool, yet at this very moment Grey and Grenville were offering to be reconciled with the Prince at the price of enforcing Sheridan's disgrace. 3 On January 25 the Privy Council assembled at Carlton House, and the Regent took the oaths. After Fox's decease, he had proclaimed that his daughter should be trained in the principles of his hero, and now, as if to mark his abhorrence of false Whigs, Fox's bust held a post of honour in the apartment. 8 Then came the strange sequels of February, the cabals of Queen Charlotte and the Duke of Cumberland to prevent even Grey from succeeding; the Prince's forced surrender, despite Sheridan's efforts; the vain attempt to bring Grey and Perceval together ; the rage of Grey and Grenville, in the very act of forming an administration, at being told that they might spare themselves further trouble; 4 the respect of the stricken King's wishes by the continuance of Perceval ; the letter to him from the Regent (which Sheridan indited), plead- ing his dread of disturbing an afflicted father. 5 The Prince had been lectured, but he would not be flogged by his two schoolmasters. Henceforward he regarded himself as betrayed all round ; he measured all by his own feelings. He misliked Perceval. He detested Grey as much as Grenville. Already he felt less certain of Sheridan. In vain did his staunch friend 1 Cf. the letters already cited ante, Vol. I., p. 79. Cf. R. Plumer Ward's " Memoirs," Vol. I., p. 367 : "January 28, 1811. Sheridan, it seems, is dismissed from all confidence ... at Carlton House. The two aristocrats forced this sacrifice on the Prince as a condition of their forgiving him for preferring his answer to theirs." For Liverpool's favour- able opinion, cf. Younge's " Life and Administration of Lord Liverpool," Vol. I., p. 360. Lord Liverpool thought, however, that Sheridan wished Perceval to be retained. * Cf. Lord Holland's " Further Memoirs," p. 91. * Cf. the scene detailed by Plumer Ward, Vol. I., p. 383. * Cf. Lord Holland's "Further Memoirs," p. 91. 348 THE PRINCE'S BANQUET four times defend him in Parliament. 1 The poison of that joint Remonstrance had done its work. When the restrictions that manacled his Regency ended, fresh limitations were proposed. He was made to understand that the Grenvillite Whigs held the reversion of power; aided by Sheridan, he wrote his famous letter to the Duke of York, advising a Coalition, and was answered that Grey and Grenville (with whom he scorned intercourse) rested " on public measures." 3 But their itch for office did not desert them, and they were eager enough to reopen negotiations if only they could be assured that " some time or other the Catholics should be satisfied." 3 Once more the Whig leaders had proved intractable. And then, at the close of February, 1812, occurred a dramatic scene in which Sheridan bore a part. The Prince gave a banquet to his daughter which the Duke and Duchess of York (Tom Sheridan's firm friends), Lords Erskine and Lauderdale, and Sheridan attended. The wine circulated only too freely before the ladies retired, and the Regent in his cups uttered violent abuse of the two Whig oligarchs for rejecting his offers. Lord Lauderdale grew very angry. The little Princess, who adored Grey, and just afterwards kissed her hand to him at the opera, burst into tears. 4 Sheridan, it is said, gently led her out of the room. It was after this scene that the young and insurgent Byron, fresh from his maiden speech in the House of Lords, 1 On January 14, when Parliament opened ; on January 18 (Regency Bill); on January 23, when he said that ministers had set the Great Seal to a Commission to investigate the Privy Purse, and had " committed a sort of parliamentary burglary on the King's Exchequer " ; and on February 4, when, reviewing the analogies of 1789, he indulged his humour by remind- ing the House that a Speaker (Cornwall) had then died, and some might think that the present Speaker should be sacrificed. Cf. Hansard, XVIIL, 1123. Sheridan also made a speech deprecating the execution of convicts in cases where access to mercy was closed. * Sheridan seems to have been part author of this answer ; cf . R. Plumer Ward's " Memoirs," Vol. I., p. 426. The reply was the work of Grey and Grenville. 3 For the preceding cf. " Memoirs of R. Plumer Ward," Vol. I., pp. 416, 429; "Further Memoirs," p. 117; "Annual Register" for 1819, p. 329; Huish's " Memoirs of George IV.," Vol. II., pp. 95, 99. 4 Cf. (inter alia) Plumer Ward's " Memoirs," Vol. I., p. 432. 349 SHERIDAN indited his famous " Weep, daughter of a royal line." It may well have been that Sheridan's conversation inspired the poet. But these cross questions and crooked answers formed only the first act of a drama that came to a climax in the following June. Even during 1811 Sheridan had treated with Lord Holland and the old Foxites for a Government in which Grey and Grenville should not be the chief advisers. 1 On May n, 1812, Perceval fell by the hand of a mad- man. Sheridan was informed of the murder by his friend and factotum, Burgess, of Curzon Street, and to see Bellingham hung, Byron sat up all night, to Lady Caroline Lamb's intense horror next morning. Once again Lords Grey and Grenville plumed their crests and made certain of triumph. Once again Carlton House held those all-night sittings where wine and collaboration decided the Prince's ply and his counsellors' fate. From these, however, Sheridan now abstained, hoping that Grey and the Foxite remnant might at last come in untrammelled by any of the Grenvilles or Pitt's legatees. He judged amiss. What was to happen in the first days of Queen Victoria, transpired in the following June, and, after a series of futile combinations, a bedchamber plot ruined the schemes of statesmen. Nor was a strain which the reader will long have discerned in Sheridan the blend of a generous desire to benefit with that of an arch-tendency to outwit ever more evident than on this last and fatal occasion. One more influence, too, had now been added to the Regent's household. Through the renewed ascendency of Lady Hertford, 3 he fell under the sway of Lord Yarmouth, his red-whiskered vice- chamberlain, and the office-seeking Lord Yarmouth was at loggerheads with the rough and honest Lord Moira. Creevey relates how in July, 1811, he met "old Sheridan " at five in the morning, "half seas over" at Brooks's, and uneasy at the position of affairs. He abused Yarmouth to the top of his bent ; the 1 Cf. Lord Holland's " Further Memoirs," p. 109. * On November 3, 1811, Lord Grenville wrote to Grey that the Prince was completely under the thumb of Lord and Lady Hertford. Cf. Lord Auckland'* " Journals and Corn, " Vol. IV., p. 376. 350 SHERIDAN'S GRAPPLE WITH GRENVILLE new elements were obliterating the old, and he counselled Creevey to embark in his own boat, the boat of Moira piloting Grey and of the Prince at one with Whiggery the phantom that would never sail into port. 1 It remains to trace briefly the preliminaries to the crisis. All this while, during troubled years, on three things which do him honour, Sheridan remained resolute. In memorable words he passionately upheld the liberty of the Press, 2 nor least in Ireland, where unrest prevailed, while riots disturbed England. He stoutly upheld the Peninsular War. And he flatly refused to humour either the ministers or the Regent by ever engaging to vote against Catholic emancipation. Grey opposed the war, while the Premier had countenanced the cry of " No Popery." Lord Sidmouth went further, and favoured " No Dissent." Added to these isssue were the clamours raised by the rival adherents of Queen Caroline and the young Princess Charlotte, sour apples of discord for such as paid court to a Regent, detesting the mother and jealous of the child. And behind all this by-play the shrewd old Queen worked and plotted to reinfluence her son. Never had she evinced such statecraft and energy. She was certain that the King (who had seen Mr. Perceval) would recover; she was pleased with the Regent's conduct " pending the business." Not without reason did the alarmed son remark that this expression was "no woman's phrase, but a lawyer's." 3 Eldon was still active. Perceval's fate caused small national sympathy. His reac- tionary government and tessellated ministry disgusted the people while it failed to cement the traders in politics, who immediately opened their traffic of intrigue. Who was to succeed Perceval ? Canning, who had resigned office and was 1 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 146. 2 Cf. Hansard, Vol. XX., col. 314 (May 24, 1811). He deprecated the raising of the duty on advertisements, and he denounced the rise in price of cheap publications. " I fear," he said, " no corruption either in the State or in the Government, while the Press exists. Against venal Lords, Commons, or Juries, against despotism of any kind or in any shape, let me but array a free Press, and the liberties of England will stand unshaken." * " Further Memoirs," p. 89. 351 SHERIDAN now in the Regent's good graces, turned his supple mind towards coalition, and ran about ferreting out the rats and the rabbits. But the Regent commissioned the safe Lord Liverpool to find him a Government. Liverpool betook himself to Lord Wellesley, Perceval's spirited Foreign Secretary, the champion of the war and his heroic brother, a firm defender of the Irish Catholics. Wellesley called on Sheridan, who had just returned from canvassing Stafford, while for two months he had neglected attendance at Carlton House, partly from indo- lence, partly on purpose. He offered him a post. Sheridan declined it, 1 well knowing that office would tie him on questions of moment, and eager to purge himself of new-fledged suspicions. Wellesley tried hard for a ministry comprehending Grey, Grenville, Canning, Tierney and Moira in fact, a repe- tition of " All the Talents." But the task was hopeless. The Catholic question, the Peninsular War, blocked his way, and general agreement proved impossible. Above all, the Regent would have none of his bullies, the Grenvillite Whigs that was positive. His state was hysterical. He " cried long and loud," he nearly went into convulsions, and doubts were entertained of his sanity. 3 Lord Moira was next begged to form a Government, and declined. By June 3 Wellesley's com- mission had been revoked : " personal animosities," he said, " dreadful personal animosities," precluded " any amicable arrangement." The Regent told his commissioner that "Grey and Grenville were a couple of scoundrels," and he flew into a passion with Moira, though soon afterwards he besought his pardon, and cried like a child. What he probably feared was the reopening of the Catholic problem, what he certainly 1 Cf. Sheridan's own statement to the House, June 17, 1812 (Hansard, XXII., 551). This statement has never yet been thoroughly examined or repeated : " I did know what was going on. How ? By no means from Carlton House, but from the Marquis of Wellesley, who called at my house in the face of day, the morning he was authorised to form his administration, and showed me his written terms. In an hour he came again, offering a situation, and received a disinterested denial. I knew more from Moira, whom I shall always love for everything that is the boast and pride of man." Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., pp. 158, 159 (May 27 and 28, 1812). 352 SHERIDAN FAVOURS GREY dreaded was the seeming imminence of Grey, now " the Duke of York's friend and slave," and of Grenville, whose guiding principle was to secure both Auditorship and Treasury. 1 In this pass he threw himself upon Moira, who again con- sented to attempt the impracticable. In vain did he seek to combine the discordant elements. He offered no place to Sheridan, probably by his own request, for the orator publicly praised him, and, throughout, acted as a spectator who with full knowledge keeps quiet in the background. But one thin? Sheridan did. Directly Lord Wellesley failed, he had made a fresh effort to forward Grey's interests, and even earlier he had tried to influence the Prince in his favour. 2 He now warned the Regent against subjecting Grey to his "pro- scription " of Grenville : such a prejudice, he urged, would be " equally derogatory to the estimation of His Royal High- ness's personal dignity and the security of his political power." He added that this advice sprang from no " peculiar partiality to the noble Earl, or to many of those with whom he was allied, but was founded on what he considered to be best for His Royal Highness's honour and interest, and for the general interests of the country." And if he should incur displeasure, he thus justified his motives : " Junius said in a public letter of his addressed to your Royal Father, ' The fate that made you a King forbade your having a friend.' I deny his proposition as a general maxim. I am confident that Your Royal Highness 1 For the foregoing cf. Lord Holland's " Further Memoirs," pp. 134 142; Creevey, Vol. II., pp. 156 159. Even in 1807 the Regent said, " As to my own personal position, I saw that one or other of two things would happen either that I must submit to the Grenvilles' nomination of the persons who were to come in, and so connect myself subordinately with persons and a party I did not like, or else place myself at once at the head of the general party, liable to all its chances, accidents and variations. I did not like either alternative. ..." Cf. Croker's " Diaries," Vol. I., p. 297. 2 Mr. Grey Bennett, in the diary quoted by Mr. Fitzgerald in his " Lives of the Sheridans," expressly says, under the later date of June 17, 1812, " Whitbread told me that Lord Moira told him that Sheridan had been working night and day for weeks to remove the impressions ... in the Regent's mind against Grey, pressing that he should be Prime Minister." Cf. Vol. II., p. 176. S. VOL. II. 353 A A SHERIDAN possesses qualities to win and secure to you the attachment and devotion of private friendship in spite of your being a Sovereign. At least I feel that I am entitled to make this declaration as far as relates to myself, and I do it under the assured conviction that you will never require from me any proof of that attachment and devotion inconsistent with the clear and honourable independence of mind and conduct which constitutes my sole value as a public man, and which hitherto has been my best recommendation to your gracious favour, confidence and protection." 1 The allusion was to his known and declared attitude, which Grey shared, on the Catholic question. In January Wellesley had brought forward a motion in aid of the Irish Catholics, whose flood of petitions swelled the national unsettlement and the Regent's panic. Some unpub- lished notes by Sheridan for an undelivered speech on this wise departure, will show how sincerely he pressed the cause of Ireland and of the Catholic claims. They are scored on a copy of Wellesley's printed speech : only excerpts are possible : " I won't say," one passage runs, " that you hate them as Catholics, but you fear them. Of course you want to make Protestants of them. And what course do you take ? You fleece them to pay a Protestant minister, whom of course they hate. Their language is unheard, but do you make any progress ? . . . I will suppose you shall have exterminated their heirs and swept from the visible face of earth the two thousand clergymen, and then you will have before you four million of savages ; you would call back their clergy. . . . You set out with this fundamental blunder that you have never wronged Ireland. . . . You mistake relaxation of oppression as an act of grace. . . . What part did Perceval take in Pitt's attempts to favour the Catholics ? He was Solicitor-General to the Union. . . . You cannot respect the King's conscientious scruples without equally respecting the conscientious scruples of the lowest peasant. Whatever bodies may be, conscience is of God's own essence and differs not in quality whether | Cf. Moore, Vol. II., pp. 428, 429, from a copy. No trace of the original remains. 354 SHERIDAN AND THE CATHOLIC QUESTION lodged in a peasant's or a monarch's body. And how will you alter this ? Alter the Coronation oath." More than this, in a letter of this time to Lord Holland, he satirises the official zeal for " No Popery," and the official anxiety to fasten the riot of the day on Irishmen alone. By the March of this year, everyone knew that Sheridan meant to secede and vote no more except on the Catholic question. 1 For independence in such a cause he was quite ready to risk the Regent's favour. This is hinted by a further letter of remonstrance one which, from several of its allusions, may well belong to this period, though Moore (and Fitzgerald after him) refer it to some four years earlier. Its mention, however, of Sheridan's "reserve" is only applicable to the later date, while that of the royal coldness towards him in Oxford Street, tallies somewhat with the Prince's own recollection of this very time, imparted long afterwards to Croker. And, besides, the Regent's complaint that Sheridan had deserted him " both personally and politically" together with the stress laid on " Lord Wellesley's business," seem scarcely to fit a much earlier period. On the other hand, Sheridan speaks of "a circumstance that happened at Burlington House " as causing offence to his patron, and, unless (as is possible) this alludes to the past, it seems inconsistent with any year after the Duke of Portland's decease. But in any case this document is so typical of Sheridan's attitude, so germane to the issues of 1812, and so bound up with the causes of the Regent's desertion, that it is apposite here. Only parts need be cited : " It is a matter of surprise to myself, as well as of deep regret, that I should have incurred the appearance of ungrate- ful neglect and disrespect towards the person to whom I am most obliged on earth . . . and in whose service I would readily sacrifice my life. ... I was mortified and hurt in the keenest manner by having repeated to me from a quarter which I then trusted, some expressions of Your Royal Highness respecting me which it was impossible I could have deserved. 1 Cf. R. Plumer Ward's " Memoirs," Vol. I., p. 450. Tierney so informed Plumer Ward himself. 355 A A 2 SHERIDAN I suddenly discovered beyond a doubt that I had been grossly deceived and that there had not existed the slightest foundation for the tale that had been imposed on me. . . . Yet extraordinary as it may seem, I had so long, under this false impression, neglected the course which duty and gratitude required from me, that I felt an unaccountable shyness and reserve in repairing my error, and to this procrastination other unlucky circumstances contributed. One day when I had the honour of meeting Your Royal Highness on horseback in Oxford Street, though your manner was as usual gracious and kind to me, you said that I had deserted you privately and politically. 1 I had long before that been assured, though falsely, I am con- vinced, that Your Royal Highness had promised to make a point that I should neither speak nor vote in Lord Wellesley's business. My view of this topic and my knowledge of the delicate situation in which Your Royal Highness stood in respect to the Catholic question, though weak and inadequate motives, I confess, yet encouraged the continuance of that reserve which my original error had commenced. These subjects being passed by and sure I am Your Royal Highness would never ask me to adopt a course of debasing inconsistency it was my hope fully and frankly to have explained myself, and repaired my fault, when I was informed that a circumstance that happened at Burlington House, and which must have been heinously misrepresented, had greatly offended you-; and soon after, it was stated to me by an authority which I have no objection to disclose that Your Royal Highness had quoted with marked disapprobation words supposed to have been spoken by me on 1 The Regent, when he spoke to Croker about Sheridan's last relations to him in a money episode afterwards to be mentioned, said of this year 1812, " Three days after, I was on horseback in Oxford Road, and I thought I saw Sheridan at a distance. The person, whoever he was, turned down into Poland Street ... as if to avoid me." When we remember the Prince's extreme inaccuracy, the latter detail may well have been a confusion with some other meeting. The coinci- dence, at any rate, of this ride in Oxford Street does seem to point to the occasion here mentioned by Sheridan. Cf. Croker's " Diaries,' Vol. I., p. 308. 356 SHERIDAN TO THE PRINCE the Spanish question, and of which words, as there is a God in heaven, I never uttered one syllable." He proceeds to excuse himself for postponing explanation, and to plead " a nervous, procrastinating nature, abetted, perhaps, by sensations of no false pride, which, however I may blame myself, impel me involuntarily to fly from the risk of even a cold look from the quarter to which I owe so much " ; and he concludes with a protest of the purest attachment to his " gracious Prince and Master." 1 Nor, in estimating what approaches, should it be forgotten that for some years Sheridan's health had been precarious. In 1809, like Lord Brougham long afterwards, he had even been privileged to peruse his own obituary, and this was humorously touched in the satire of " ' Marmion ' Travestied." 2 Fits of giddiness and a suffocating cough sometimes drove him from the House, and he tells his wife often of a secret malady that will one day end him. It is sad 1 Cf. Moore, Vol. II., pp. 362 365. All the evidence previously adduced tends to substantiate a long conversation between Sheridan and the Regent, recounted by the " Octogenarian," in which Sheridan expressly told him that he would rather not sit in Parliament than violate his conscience by voting against the Catholic cause; cf. " Sheridan and his Times," Vol. II., p. 226. With regard to Sheridan's neglect in attending at Carlton House, the Sheridan MSS. include a letter from the Prince's secretary, Colonel John MacMahon, to Sheridan, of "Wednesday, i3th May" (evidently of this period), in which he says, " My dearest Sheridan, In consequence of your kind and welcome letter of Saturday evening, I did expect the happiness of seeing you on either Monday or yesterday. I have not failed to make your excuses in your own words to the Prince Regent for your absence at the last Levee, with which H.R.H. was highly pleased, though greatly concerned for the cause of that absence. Be assured, my dear Friend, that your letter has rejoiced me, for your long silence to my last, together with your not calling, . . . gave me all the pangs which must be attendant on rejected Friendship." 3 By Peter Pry ( " Teggs, Cheapside, 1809 "). It speaks of Sheridan as Phaethon, son of Apollo : " No longer on this theme I'll dwell, Farewell, then, Sheridan, farewell. May Drury's Theatre again Be soon rebuilt its sway maintain ; 357 SHERIDAN to watch the weight of his steps and spirits at the close of a career so long and brilliant, but the remedies which he chose, while they cheered for a moment, only deepened his melancholy and hastened his death. The silken chains which had bound him to the Prince were fast becoming bonds of iron. Mis- fortunes thickened. The irregularities of his life had once nearly parted the wife of his bosom, though henceforward she remained devoted ; his gifted son was forced by his malady to quit England for Madeira; and, above all, the affairs of his theatre oppressed him. Whitbread (himself implicated in the same political issues as Sheridan) found great obstacles in financing the theatre and carrying through his scheme. Sheridan now wholly dependent on his sinecure beset him for payments on account ; Tom Sheridan also claimed his cash, but the con- scientious precisian refused to yield a penny, till he should be satisfied that all prior liens on the Sheridan portion were abso- lutely assured. And in addition, even when the father and son received their due it was allotted in bonds or, as Charles Sheridan records, in " shares." No cash was forthcoming. Sheridan stormed furiously against Whitbread, accusing him of heartlessness. Funds were sorely needed for his last and vain trial to recapture Stafford, but he only remembered his own straits and not those to which he put Whitbread in the conflict between generosity and justice. On the other hand, he was shocked and vexed beyond measure when he learned that he would be left unconsulted, either formally or informally, in the future direction of the theatre that he was finally drummed out. He wrote piteously, yet with dignity, on this excommuni- cation, while he pleaded the use that might still be made of his long experience. 1 And all these grievances were aggravated by the fact that he had agreed to defer his claims till Whitbread's own difficulties had been adjusted from this voluntary compact May it out-top its rival near And of the renters too get clear. * * * # Farewell ; this trespass pray forgive, And long your death may you outlive" 1 Sheridan MSS. (cited by Moore). 358 GRIEVANCES AGAINST WHITBREAD Sheridan even tried to imply some right of control over the management. That Whitbread erred on the side of caution may be gathered from an appeal which about this time Mrs. Sheridan wrote to Lord Holland it is among the manuscripts preserved in his home, that ancestral treasure-house of memories it is headed " Cavendish Square, December 5, Thursday" : " Whatever reasons I may have had," she tells him, after some praise of his sympathy, " whatever reasons I may have had to complain of Sheridan, and however my comfort and happiness may have been thrown away, I never can see him as deeply wounded, as I have seen him lately, without feeling the full extent of my regard for him. The disagreement between him and Whitbread hurts me more than I can express, though I was from the first but too well aware that it must happen. What is most distressing to me is that Whitbread has urged me to employ all my influence to bring S. ' to reason,' when I confess that on the subject of debate yesterday my whole heart and soul is with Sheridan. I cannot express to you how much I wish to have half an hour's conversation with you before I go to Fonthill. This is the favour I would ask. ... I am at home at all hours, ... as I have been very ill, but as I should wish to see you when Sheridan is not in the way, as soon after twelve as you could make it convenient to come would be the hour best suited to me." But the worst of his distresses was his imminent exclusion from Parliament. He failed at Stafford simply from lack of the funds that Whitbread did not see his way to supply. No post, ministerial or theatrical, was forthcoming. Another seat was designed for him in connection with which the Prince Regent's conduct must be discussed before this chapter of disasters is closed. But for the present we must return to Lord Moira's failure to form a ministry. For a time his endeavours half prospered, but once more the insuperable element Grey and Grenville intervened, and this time Canning proved their coadjutor. Again they forestalled the rights which only office could justify. In 1811 they had con- stituted themselves the Regent's sole amanuenses ; in 1812 they 359 SHERIDAN dictated to him the dismissal of his household. The Prince Regent raved and declared that he would rather part with his life. It was still rumoured that Moira would be minister, that Grey and Grenville had pushed matters too far. 1 Lord Liverpool was treated with; Canning was sent to beat up recruits. But Moira broke off the negotiations by declaring that he would be no party to a restriction undictatable save by those actually in power ; he swore that the Prince should never consent to the removal of his friends, and he threw up the sponge. When he did so, and the Prince surveyed the list of intended appoint- ments, he coolly told his disappointed lieutenant : " You see, my dear Moira, they are chiefly Pittites, so the best way is to make it up with the present men, and you may settle it all with Eldon and Liverpool, who are waiting in the adjoining room." Eldon had played the part of Thurlow when the Coalition went out. In ten minutes Lord Liverpool kissed hands as First Lord of the Treasury. 2 And now comes Sheridan's part in this affair. As has been seen, he had long been working for Grey; but he knew that with Grey Grenville must be associated, and he now realised that the Regent would neither tolerate them nor any fair dealing with the Catholic demands. Sheridan was the Regent's dme damnec, and he stood wavering between attachment to his Prince and allegiance to his party. The arrogant dictation of the two peers was the last straw. Neither he nor Moira would make terms with them ; the household should not resign, and so far Sheridan's conduct was unequivocal. Mean- while, however, Lord Yarmouth, an old acquaintance, had planned things otherwise. He fancied he had won over the Regent's acquiescence in the hard condition. But all along it was only a condition precedent, nor was it to take effect till the two pedagogues should have come in. In that event the house- hold, he told Sheridan, would resign, and it was said that he even 1 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 165 ; and for the previous statement, p. 162. * Cf. Lord Holland's "Further Memoirs," pp. 143, 144; Lord Auckland's " Journal," Vol. IV., p. 384 ; R. Plumer Ward's " Memoirs," Vol. I., pp. 486, 487 ; Fitzgerald's " Lives of the Sheridans," Vol. II., p. 177. 360 THE WHIGS WORSTED: SHERIDAN'S PART commissioned him so to inform Ponsonby, the informal head of Opposition, the secret agent for Lords Grey and Grenville. Sheridan, when he defended himself in the House of Commons, positively denied that any such commission existed, or that he had himself been made a channel of communication in any way. Mr. Grey Bennett records in a manuscript diary, cited by Fitzgerald, that he had seen a correspondence between Yarmouth and Sheridan in which the former bore him out willingly in every particular a correspondence which satisfied Brougham as to the truthfulness of Sheridan's case. 1 Sheridan did know, however, that under a contingency the household would resign, and he did not acquaint Ponsonby with his information. On the contrary, he was heard prophesying at Brooks's that the household would remain ; Grey and Grenville would be dished, and he backed his prophecy by a wager. But the Regent took the bit into his mouth and kicked over the traces. Liverpool and the Tories entered on their kingdom, and the Whigs were out till the days of the Reform Bill. Sheridan said that the wand of office had been bartered for three white sticks. Where, sang Byron in " Don Juan " " Where are the Grenvilles ? turned as usual ; where My friends the Whigs ? exactly where they were." Moira, who had executed his commission only to find himself out-mano2uvred by the weakling who had commissioned him, behaved with his wonted high-mindedness. When he assured his Prince that he should soon make his bow and quit the country, this most precious gentleman began to blubber, as he once did when someone told him that Brummell disapproved of the cut of his coat : " You'll desert me then, Moira ? " " No, sir ; when the friends and counsels you have chosen shall have brought your throne to totter beneath you, you will then see me by your side to sink, if it should so please God, under its ruins with you." 2 In the end he received the ribbon of St. George and 1 Cf. Fitzgerald's " Lives of the Sheridans," Vol. II., p. 178. 2 Cf. Thomas Moore's letter to Miss Godfrey, " Friday, March 6, 1812," Moore's "Journal and Corr.," Vol. I., p. 272. 3 6l SHERIDAN set forth to govern Bengal, not the least illustrious of the Harrovians commemorated in these pages. A storm of obloquy, public and private, burst over Sheridan's head. He had betrayed his party, broken his word to Yarmouth, duped Tieraey, served the Prince for hire, and cajoled the world. The Tories were in, and the Regent turned his back. He was cast oat. The pith of Sheridan's case, which Whitbread confirmed, 1 ties in the fact that the household's resignation depended on an express condition, dairy less feasible. To the last Sheridan had hoped that Grey might adjust himself to Moira : with Grey and Moira for ministers, with Grenvflle excluded, no household stipulation would have been needed, and no one was more surprised than Sheridan himself when Lord Liverpool acceded to power. He had only seen the Regent once in two months, and he had often ventured on unacceptable advice. AD this was true, but Sheridan had not removed the false impres- sion that Moira's party was in the ascendant at Carlton House. He had told Lord Kinnaird on the eve of the Whig fiasco, that " the Regent ought not to give up the household, and he was sure and knew he would not."* His fault was not to have published Lord Yarmouth's views to Ponsonby, Grey and GrenviUe, who represented the party. He had preferred Moira and the Prince (whose treacheries lay concealed) to Yarmouth and his recent insnhers. He had outwitted the Whigs, he was even with GrenviDe, and he paid the penalty. The record of the three debates of public defence, interrupted by illness and even anguish, is the reverse of pleasant reading. The senate had ceased to respect or fear him. Twice did his inability to proceed necessitate adjournment, and on one occasion his jaw actually became locked. They patronised, they laughed and gibed and frowned at the veteran whom they had so often cheered when he had fought their losing battles. 1 C *be report of the debate oo Jane 19, 1812, in Hansaxd, XXTTT,-, 606. * CC. Grey Bennetts Dmy, died by Fifagenld, VoL IL, p. 176. VtMku Lord Aorkljiiil nor Cceevey makes any m-if the case, by an article in the Morning Post, which concluded, I say Life and Succour against Westminster Abbey and a Funeral." A sheriff s officer would actually have arrested Sheridan > his bed and was about to carry him off in his blankets, when his old friend Dr. Bain interfered and prevented this outrage. 3 Cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 45 6. * Cf. " Memoir," pp. 67, 68. " ?' M , re ' V l "" PP ' 458) 459 ' As re gards his works, he kept them in a trunk, and it was on this that Lady Bessborough sat when she last visited him. 380 SHERIDAN'S LAST DAYS It is true that when all was over Sheridan's son Charles wrote to his half-brother Tom that the newspaper reports of their father's privations were baseless ; that he " had every attention and comfort which could make a deathbed easy." 1 This may have been so at the last, though it is clear that Charles Sheridan wished to tranquillise Tom, and family pride might furnish a further motive. But Moore knew Dr. Bain well, he himself had seen Sheridan, and he is not likely to have been misin- formed in these particulars ; nor is Smyth, also an eye-witness, here to be mistrusted. More than this, Creevey, who knew all Sheridan's friends, believed that without question his death had " been hastened, if not caused, by his distress." 2 The public appeal evoked a widespread response, and, too late, the Dukes of York and Argyle, with Lady Bessborough, brought the fashionable world to sympathise with Savile Row. Sheridan's real friends, however, at this last crisis, were Peter Moore and Samuel Rogers. 3 The former was in constant attendance from beginning to end, and his account it is that the " Octogenarian " reproduces. 4 By mid-June Sheridan's state was critical. On the first anniversary of Waterloo Dr. Bain asked him if he had ever undergone an operation. " Yes," he replied, " when sitting for my portrait or to have my hair cut." At first surgical treat- ment was contemplated, and Sheridan laughingly told the doctor, whom he loved, that if the lancet routed his enemy it would be a victory greater than Wellington's. But there was danger in the scheme, and it had to be abandoned. Within a week his mind began to wander ; on the next day he became unconscious. He could take little nourishment, and 1 Sheridan MSS., and cf. Rae, Vol. II., p. 286. 2 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 257. He adds " by his fear of arrest." 8 There is a letter in the Sheridan MSS. from Sheridan to the band- conductor, Shaw, headed " Chancery Lane, Mr. Holloway's, Wednesday," in which Sheridan asks him to call at the "Albany" Tavern, or he would meet him at twelve next day. Shaw has endorsed on it that he did not see Sheridan. He was referred to " Mr. Moore," who was to have given him some money from Sheridan. But Moore had received none. 4 Cf. "Sheridan and his Times," Vol. II., pp. 301 312. SHERIDAN his countenance was convulsed. By the close of the month, however, his brain rallied. He sent for his son, he conversed with his wife, whose ministrations were relieved by Peter Moore and young Mr. Earl, who has recorded his recollections. On Thursday, July the fourth, he was raised in a reclining posture to take, as it seemed, his last leave of Mrs. Sheridan. They were left alone together, and the anguish of her face afterwards evidenced the bitterness of that parting. Howley, the Bishop of London, next day administered the Eucharist. 1 It was said that Sheridan followed the service devoutly. That night his slumber was undisturbed, and on the Saturday he could even converse briefly with friends. Once more Mrs. Sheridan sat and talked with him. It was near midnight when they parted. On Sunday, July the seventh, Peter Moore returned to Savile Row. It was about eleven. The church bells had ceased ringing as he passed up St. James's Street to give the sad bulletin at White's and at Brooks's. He saw Sheridan, who had spoken "good-bye "to all. This was his last word. As the clock of St. George's struck midday, he slumbered into death. He had gone, as a friend wrote to his sister, " before pity had withered admiration." He was " no longer before hard, mortal judges, who could only know his actions," but " before God, who knew the strong temptations of his nature, who would make account of when he resisted as well as when he yielded." 2 The Charles Surface of politics was no more, but the world could hardly believe it. He had grown into a daily habit. To cheer or hiss " old Sherry," to mock his caprices and caricature his blemishes had been the custom of the country for forty years. Yet despite all his feats of folly, it was recognised that Cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 172, which contains several particulars of Sheridan's closing days. The Bishop was with him on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Shortly before the end Sheridan begged a Mr. Bradley, who watched with him, to go home and take some repose. Sheridan's " power of deglu- tition" was "completely destroyed," and the "sensorium " "affected." For Sheridan's pious demeanour during the prayers, cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 174. 1 Mrs. Parkhurst to Mrs. LeFanu, Rae, Vol. II., p. 290. Bulletins, and an account of the funeral are to be found in Eg. MS. 1975, f. 168. For Peter M core's account, cf. the "Octogenarian's" "Sheridan and his Times," Vol. II., p. 312. It seems authentic. 382 SHERIDAN'S DEATH: BYRON'S "MONODY" something great had departed: one of the antediluvians had passed away. " There is no one," said Creevey, " to take the chair he leaves." 1 None forgot how patriotically he had sounded the clarion in 1797 and 1798, when he realised the nation's crisis and warned England to beware not only of internal discord, but of the would-be invaders who had " planted the tree of liberty in the garden of monarchy." It was recog- nised that the man who had hailed the first rush of the French Revolution as the throes of freedom, had also recoiled at its despotic sequels, and braved the wrath of his party for doing so ; that he had pursued his own path, and spurned the little arts of those who twitted him with roguery. 3 Nor was the universality of his mind forgotten, or the spell of a presence, only ruins of which can remain for after-ages. It was felt, and with truth, that a master of human feeling had ceased to breathe ; that the sorcery which had constrained the praise of the loftiest would never be renewed. Byron, who took up his pen at Diodati only ten days after Sheridan breathed his last, voiced the general feeling in the fine " Monody " which, in the autumn of this year, was to prelude a cycle of Sheridan's plays : 3 " A mighty Spirit is eclipsed, a Power Hath passed from day to darkness to whose hour Of light no likeness is bequeathed no name, Focus at once of all the rays of Fame 1 The flash of Wit, the bright Intelligence, The beam of Song, the blaze of Eloquence, Set with their Sun, but still have left behind The enduring produce of immortal Mind ; Fruits of a genial morn, and glorious noon, A deathless part of him that died too soon. 1 Cf. Creevey, Vol. I., p. 257. This is where he calls him " the last of the giants." a There was a story of one of these, a lord, who on meeting him in later days had asked, " Well, Sherry, which are you, a rogue or a fool ? " " Neither, but something between both," was the answer. 8 It was written at Kinnaird's request (cf . Byron's " Letters and Journals," Vol. III., p. 365) and recited at Drury Lane by Mrs. Davison on September 16. It had first been accredited to Lady Caroline Lamb's husband; cf. Eg. MS. 1975, ff. i76d., 180, and Byron's "Works (Poetry) " (Murray, 1901), Vol. IV., p. 70. 383 SHERIDAN But small that portion of the wondrous whole, These sparkling segments of that circling soul Which all embraced, and lightened over all, To cheer to pierce to please or to appal ; From the charmed council to the festive board, Of human feelings the unbounded lord ; In whose acclaim the loftiest voices vied, The praised the proud who made his praise their pride. * * * * * And here, oh ! here, where yet all young and warm The gay creations of his spirit charm, The matchless dialogue, the deathless wit Which knew not what it was to intermit ; The glowing portraits fresh from life, that bring Home to our hearts the truth from which they spring ; These wondrous beings of his fancy, wrought To fulness by the fiat of his thought, Here in their first abode, you still may meet Bright with the hues of his Promethean heat, A halo of the light of other days, Which still the splendour of its orb betrays." In a prose passage, affectionate towards one whom he thrice styles " poor, dear Sherry," Byron stated his conviction that even if a " falsity " had tinged some of Sheridan's positions, he had been driven down and down by " desperation." 1 The thought found touching expression in the poem : " But should there be to whom the fatal blight Of failing Wisdom yields a base delight, Men who exult when minds of heavenly tone Jar in the music which was born their own ; a Still let them pause ah ! little do they know That what to them seemed Vice might be but Woe. Hard is his fate on whom the public gaze Is fixed for ever to detract or praise. Repose denies her requiem to his name, And Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame. The secret enemy whose sleepless eye Stands sentinel accuser judge and spy, " Without means, without connection, without character (which might be false at first and make him mad afterwards from desperation), he beat them all in all he ever attempted." Byron's " Letters and Journal," Vol. IV., p. 239. For part of the context, cf. ante, p. 367. * Tennyson has expressed the same idea : " And judge all nature from their feet of clay." 384 SHERIDAN'S FUNERAL The foe the fool the jealous and the vain, The envious who but breathe in others' pain, Behold the host, delighting to deprave, Who track the steps of Glory to the grave, Watch every fault that daring Genius owes Half to the ardour which its birth bestows, Distort the truth, accumulate the lie, And pile the pyramid of calumny. These are his portion but if joined to these Gaunt Poverty should league with deep Disease, If the high Spirit must forget to soar, And stoop to strive with Misery at the door, To soothe Indignity and face to face Meet sordid Rage and wrestle with Disgrace, To find in Hope but the renewed caress, The serpent-fold of further Faithlessness : If such may be the ills which men assail, What marvel if at last the mightiest fail ? Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given, Bear hearts electric charged with fire from Heaven, Black with the rude collision, inly torn, By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne, Driven o'er the lowering atmosphere that nurst Thoughts which have turned to thunder scorch and burst." The funeral was fixed for the following Saturday. It was known that Westminster Abbey was to be Sheridan's resting- place. It was hoped that according to his desire his remains might repose among statesmen and next to Fox. For some reason never explained this was not permitted, and perhaps the Whig hierarchs prevented the profanation. It was decided that his grave should be by Garrick's, on the spot where he had himself stood as chief mourner at those long-past obsequies. And a fresh surprise was in store : a funeral of unsurpassed ostentation, followed by dukes and peers and princes. Sheridan's dislike of such pomp had been expressed ; nor was the parade by desire of his family. 1 The Whig party may be absolved from purposing a demonstration and exploiting the dead man whom they had so often exploited while alive, for 1 Creevey (Vol. I., p. 257) records, " Peter Moore invites people to attend, and several are going." Fifty "special invitations," however, were sent out by Charles Sheridan ; cf. Eg. MS. 1975, f. 172. S. VOL. II. 385 C C SHERIDAN Grey and Grenville were absent, while Lord John Townshend wrote with regret that he could not attend. But something of party display was palpable. Among the pall-bearers were the Duke of Bedford the Duke of Portland's successor as head of the party, Lauderdale, Mulgrave, Lord Holland and Lord Spencer. Among the Earls who attended were Thanet and Bessborough ; among the Lords, George Cavendish and Robert Spencer. The Bishop of London was a pall-bearer. Others there were whose presence was significant otherwise : Canning, whom Sheridan had protected as a boy ; Sidmouth, whom he had defended against Fox ; Yarmouth, the sole representative of the Prince's household ; personal friends like Erskine and Lynedoch, the Dukes of York, Sussex, and Argyle. Burgess, Bouverie, and Asgill followed. Wellesley and the Duke of Wellington both wrote feeling letters of condo- lence and regret. But the real friends outside his immediate circle, marched modestly and aloof in the long procession Peter Moore, Dr. Bain, and Samuel Rogers. The bier was deposited at Peter Moore's house, and thence, amid showers of rain and crowds of weeping onlookers, the cortege wended its way to Westminster Abbey. On the coffin's arrival at Poets' Corner, it was immediately lowered into the grave, since the Cathedral rules forbade a celebration of the whole service when the interment was not in the Church of the Abbey. The sub- Dean, Dr. Fynes, officiated in the succeeding rites, but his voice was so faint as to be scarcely audible. The large slab which now marks the vault was placed by Peter Moore " the tribute of an attached friend " : the stone was not ready till the twenty-fifth of the following month, and the Morning Chronicle published a poetical inscription. The tablet afterwards erected to Sheridan's father was the work of a comparative stranger. 1 It was the same now with the son. Poets com- memorated the brilliance, moralists deplored the lapses, patricians divided the honours, of genius. Peter Moore bore a nobler part in that last memorial scene. 2 1 It was not erected till 1823. Dufferin Papers. 1 Moore, who was the last to wear a pig-tail in society, failed 386 MOORE'S WRATH: BYRON'S VERDICT The splendour of the funeral, contrasting with the loneliness of the end, awoke a cry of indignation which Thomas Moore accentuated ; nor was his wrath without cause, though doubtless family pride had cast a veil over Sheridan's last necessities : " Oh 1 it sickens the heart to see bosoms so hollow, And friendship so false hi the great and high-born ; To think what a long line of titles may follow The relics of him who died friendless and lorn. How proud they can press to the funeral array Of him whom they shunned in his sickness and sorrow, How bailiffs may seize his last blanket to-day, Whose pall shall be held up by nobles to-morrow. Was this, then, the fate of that high-gifted man, The pride of the palace, the bower, and the hall The orator, dramatist, minstrel who ran Through each mode of the lyre, and was master of all ? "* The point emphasised at the beginning must be repeated at the close: Sheridan was the scapegoat of the Whig party. His debts, which were not great, were punctually paid by his survivors; but the debt to him of that party has never been paid, and remains a discredit to their past. Yet Sheridan's death was not out of keeping with his life. All along he had moved in slippery places, and concealed his circumstances in his eagerness to shine. Hard facts out- stripped his hopes, and the outward show belied the inward bitterness. When Moore was engaged on his biography, Byron well summed up the subject in a fine letter from Venice which has been cited already. " I do not know," he writes, " any good in the East India Company's service, helped Burke and Sheridan hi the Warren Hastings trial, and became a company promoter and adroit manager of private Bills hi Parliament. In 1825 he was ruined and escaped to France to avoid arrest ; cf. Mr. R. Prothero's note to his edition of Byron's " Letters and Journals," Vol. III., p. 202. For some of the preceding details, cf. Eg. MS. 1975, ff. 172, 174. Wellesley's letter of regret to Lauderdale is to be found in the latter of these folios. It pays a very high tribute to Sheridan's "talents, public merits, and amiable character." " Although," says Wellesley, " I had the misfortune to differ with him in public life, I received many testimonies of his favourable opinion." 1 These verses were published in the Morning Chronicle. 387 C C 2 SHERIDAN model for a life of Sheridan but that of Savage. Recollect however that the life of such a man may be made far more amusing than if he had been a Wilberforce. ... As for his creditors, remember Sheridan never had a shilling, and was thrown with great powers and passions into the thick of the world, and placed upon the pinnacle of success with no other external means to support him in his elevation. Did Fox** pay his debts or did Sheridan take a subscription ? Was the ***'s drunkenness more excusable than his ? Were his intrigues more notorious than those of his contemporaries ? And is his memory to be blasted and theirs respected ? . . . Compare him with the coalitioner Fox and the pensioner Burke as a man of principle, and with ten hundred thousand in personal views, and with none in talent, for he beat them all out and out ... in all he ever attempted. But, alas ! poor human nature ! Ml The tragedy of his death was not complete. On September 12, 1817, his son Tom died at the Cape, beloved by all who knew him. On October 27, the wife who had so heroically nursed Sheridan, succumbed to her fatal illness. She lies in Old Windsor churchyard, not far from the tomb which comme- morates her husband's old acquaintance, the hapless " Perdita" Robinson. 8 In the same year Sheridan's sister Alicia passed away. In little more than twelve months, all his immediate kindred but his son Charles and his sister Elizabeth 3 had perished. The record of Sheridan's life covers a long distance, a far country, and many devious tracks. It were vain to repeat the 1 Byron's " Letters and Journals," Vol. IV., p. 239. * Among the Dufferin Papers is an interesting account of Tom Sheridan's last days, and his relations as Colonial Treasurer to Lord Charles Somerset, the pompous Governor of the Cape. Another account of Tom Sheridan remains in Eg. MS. 1975, f. 192. For his death, cf. ibid., f. 180. On Mrs. Sheridan's tomb at Old Windsor is the following : " After enduring with unexampled resignation and heroism an illness protracted during five years, she was released on the 27th of October, 1817, aged 41 years." The illness was cancer. On Perdita's tombstone are some sentimental verses by Pratt the Della-Cruscan. ' She died in 1825. 388 THE EPILOGUE retrospect with which these volumes opened. In English political history Sheridan is unique ; he does not relate himself to the rules or traditions of his associates. As a minstrel he owned the lyrical fancy which as a satirist he pruned and pointed. His strains often sound formal to an age far removed from the artificiality of his time. To his contemporaries his verse seemed informal, and despite the set passages of his rhetoric, so often was his eloquence. He roamed at will. As a comic dramatist he achieved the highest distinction of the day which he embodied, and he surpassed that day by the power of his works to survive it. On this vitality of Sheridan I have dwelt, and it is not restricted to his compositions. There are beings who possess the talisman of survival. They con- tinue to live in a romance of their own, long after they have vanished from the stage. Their vividness, their picturesqueness, haunt the scenes of remote ages and pervade the imagination of mankind. They are themselves a drama. With them and of them, history becomes legend, and legend turns into history. A cycle of myth gathers round them, and they propagate their own fanciful essence in many forms and in divers places. Such was Byron, such has already proved Disraeli. It is not so with the abstract characters of the world. No after-plot will ever adhere to Locke, or to Newton, or to Bentham, or to John Stuart Mill. But this posterity of the personal is reserved for the dreamers and fantasts, for those who have the magnetic quality which always compels the future. Sheridan was no dreamer, but a fantast he certainly was ; nor will he ever cease to interest even those who cannot respect him. At this moment, both in England and America, the tragi-comedy of his life, and the living force of his plays attract many who know little of the inner circumstances that attended them. A sprite Sheridan remains, hovering above the puppet-show of existence. He belongs not to the white-robed immortals who sit radiant and aloft, but to the elfin band who have never faded from the atmosphere. His province is not history but wonderland. THE END. APPENDIX TO THE SECOND VOLUME I MRS. SHERIDAN'S LETTERS FROM HARROW TO ALICIA LEFANU (A) Friday, December zoth [1781]. MY DEAR LISSY, I suppose I may still take the liberty of calling you so tho 1 you are become a grave matron with a son nine years old ? I fear you have thought strangely of my long silence but will you believe me when I assure you that till yesterday I never received your letter it came while I was at Brighthelmstone, and was left as usual with Dick's papers at the House in Grosvenor Place, wb. I have never enter'd since it was one of Sherry's whims our going there and it prov'd the most inconvenient situation in the world for us all, he intended at that time not to have another Country House as our lease of Heston was expired, but has since chang'd his plan, and as he has taken a very pretty place at Harrow, for a long lease, where he means to put my dear Tom next year, he consented to our giving up the House in Grosvenor Place wh. was so far away from all his business and to our returning to our old house in Queen S' where we now are as we have never been able to let it and have still a year to come of the lease. Ever since I have known there was a letter for me from you I have entreated and teas'd Dick to no purpose to get it for me, for he will not allow a creature to touch his papers but himself, but I could not prevail so busy has he been since we came to town and, as I knew not whether I was to thank you for accepting my invitation or scold you for refusing it, you see I have been oblig'd to run the risk of appearing rude and neglectful but I think you will accept of my excuse and that I need not trouble you any more with apologies. My Congratulations come rather of the latest to be sure, but they are not the less sincere and I hope (as you have partly promis'd) in the Spring to have an opportunity of expressing my joy at 390 MRS. SHERIDAN'S HARROW LETTERS your happiness more forcibly than I can do at this distance by words. You will no doubt rejoice with us on Dick's triumph over the Ministry All their efforts to procure a petition against him have been overthrown by his spirited exertions and he had the satisfaction of bringing himself the intelligence of their ill success to the House of Commons on the last day of receiving petitions, when they were all waiting in expectation of its coming so that is one cloud removed which has for some time hung over his head. The sale of the Opera House is likewise a very great relief to him, as it was impos- sible for him to attend to so many concerns without being impos'd on at one or the other Drury Lane has been more successful this year than any yet. Mr. Tickell's Opera succeeds very well, and is very much liked. He is himself in Town but goes to Norwich in a day or two to bring his little big wife from thence She has been on a visit to her friend the Dean there these two months, but it is high time for her to return as she expects to lie in the end of next month. I am happy to assure you that your request in regard to Mr. H. Lefanu has been complied with notwithstanding the delay of the Letter as S. heard of his being in Town by Mr. Thompson and put his name on the list directly. I hear of your father often, but we never see him this quarrelling is very foolish. If poor Dick was as rich as he ought to be there would be no cause of complaint against him, I'm sure, but indeed your father is too severe on him. I am much oblig'd to Miss Cuningham for her anxiety in regard to my uncle's picture, and to you for taking so active a part in securing it for her. I believe indeed your conscience will not trouble you much on the occasion. I shall be happy to hear that she is settled according to her inclination it is impossible for me not to applaud her choice, since he has been very obliging in his com- pliments to me you may give my best wishes to them both. Mind now you are not to neglect your pretty comedy upon any account. I shall expect to see it quite complete in spring that it may be brought out early next year. Adieu dear Lissy give my love to Charles and Bess tell the former if he goes over to Ministry I'll never forgive him you dont know what a violent Politician I am perhaps. His Pamphlet is highly spoken of but it is not decided enough for me. Tell him I intend to turn them all out yet. (B) HARROW, December gth [1782]. Here I am still you see in spight of cold weather and all the Temptations that London contains. My sister and Mr. Tickell left us yesterday, after spending near a month with me they have taken a House in Town where I have promised to return their visit next week. Mr. O'Beirne came here with S. last Sunday and delivered me your packet which I thank you for very much. I had rec d your letter the day before but you judged right when you supposed that no other has reach'd my hand since the one I got at Crewe Hall, we have been so unsettled sometimes at my Father's, and sometimes here, that I am not much surprised at their miscarrying besides you know Dick hardly ever reads his own letters, so that if ever a letter of 391 SHERIDAN mine finds its way into his pocket unopen'd it might as well be in the bottomless Pit for any good I am ever like to reap by it. I am very sorry to find you have been so poorly but as you are going on so well I have no doubt that the much dreaded month of January will deliver you from all your complaints together, for I believe the wise people say that if once a woman in your situation gets into the habit of having Rheumatism or Toothache or any of those abominable companions she never gets rid of them till she is brought to bed. This would be bad comfort for you if you were not so near the end of your sufferances, but that prospect I should think delightful enough to make amends for everything. What does your friend Mrs. Cleghorn think of the matter now ? Does she make a pretty nurse ? or is she really so unfeminine as to dislike the tender offices of a mother? Apropos I have been scribbling since I saw you some foolish verses on this subject to my sister's little Bess. I will send them to you as you have flatter'd me you do not dislike my Poeoa-Trees ma'am and pray remember the promise you made me of sending me certain Poems about Lions &c. for I have begun my book and you cannot think what a respectable figure it cuts already. It is impossible my dear Lissy to say how much I feel your kindness and how gratefully my heart thanks you for those sincere professions of friendship which your Letter contains. I trust and hope you will be fully enabled to endulge every generous liberal feeling of your heart, tho' God forbid your dear brother should ever be so far abandon'd by his fortune and friends as to be an interrupter of your happiness by his distresses. His talents and integrity will always place him above those who have richer purses and more contracted minds. If he is happy I shall be so in any situation and I will yet hope that a time will come that will reward him for all his present vexations. When I wrote last some particular circum- stances had given me a fit of the glooms, I am sorry I infected you with them especially now when you want everything to cheer you up, and give you spirits. I dont know how politics are to go this winter but I fear not yet so favourable to us as your good wishes would fain make them how- ever I hope the best. L d Shelburne is very weak I understand and the Whig Party are in good spirits What this will produce, time only can discover, in the meantime we must "sprinkle cool patience" on our hopes. My poor friend Mrs. Canning has been dangerously ill, her life despair'd of, but thank God she is now recovering tho' but slowly. I saw her after her lying in, on her first coming down stairs perfectly well, and the next day she was seiz'd with a fever, which had like to have depriv'd me of the woman I love best in the world out of my own family. Do you ever see Mrs. Percival ? She is a ery pleasing woman too I think but not half the real good about her that Mrs. C. has. I will not ask you to write often to me now as I should suppose stooping must be very inconvenient to you, but pray beg Bess or Mr. L. to give me a line now and then to let me know how you go on and particularly the moment you are so happy as to be saluted mother. I 392 MRS. SHERIDAN'S HARROW LETTERS have been expecting the Play--but I suppose that too is obliged to be postponed for dearer considerations. Adieu dear Lissy. I wish I had any intelligence to give you that would amuse you, but situated as I am at present I know nothing of anybody or anything so you must be content with my assuring you that I am sincerely and affectionately Yours E. A. SHERIDAN. Remember me to Bess and Mr. Lefanu. (C) Thursday Morn [1782]. DEAR LISSY Your letter which I have this moment received has vex'd and surpris'd me beyond measure I have been in daily and hourly expectation of seeing you for these last ten days, and to tell you the truth have been very much piqued that you should prefer your society in London to that at Harrow. I commissioned Mr. Angelo to tell you this and likewise that my sister felt a good deal hurt that being at so very short a distance you express so little inclination to see her. With these tempers in regard to you you may easily suppose your announcing so quietly your intention of going to Ireland the day after tomorrow without seeing either of us has not a little disconcerted us, and if you persist in such a resolution I must be oblig'd to own it will not be consistent with your usual good nature and friendship for me, taking it therefore for granted that you will not refuse my request, (as a day or two more or less cannot make any material difference to Mr. L.) I send this by Dick who will I know add weight to my entreaties that you will return with him in the coach wh. went to town this morning and at least spend one day more with us before we part for so long a time, for tho' I am not quite so croakerish as to suppose we shall never meet again yet the chance of our seeing you in Ireland is too uncertain to build much hope on. Therefore I once more conjure you if you do not wish to make both Sherry and myself think unkindly of you that you lose no time in granting our request. Ever yours E. A. SHERIDAN. II THE PRINCE OF WALES'S ANSWER (WRITTEN BY SHERIDAN) TO THE LETTER SENT TO HIM BY MR. PITT DATED "DOWNING STREET, TUESDAY NIGHT, DECEMBER 30, 1788" [Transcribed from the draft in the Sheridan MSS. and from the " St. James's Chronicle " of Saturday, January 24 Tuesday, January 27, 1789.] THE Prince of Wales learns from Mr. Pitt that the Proceedings in Parliament are now in a Train which enables Mr. Pitt according to the 393 SHERIDAN Intimation in his former Letter, to communicate to the Prince the Outline of the Plan which his Majesty's confidential Servants conceive proper to be proposed in the present Circumstances. Concerning the Steps already taken by Mr. Pitt, the Prince is silent- nothing done by the two Houses of Parliament can be a proper Subject of his Animadversion ; but when, previously to any Discussion in Parlia- ment, the Outlines of a Scheme of Government are sent for his Considera- tion, 'in which it is proposed that he shall be personally and principally concerned, and by which the Royal Authority, and the publick Welfare may be deeply affected, the Prince would be unjustifiable were he to withhold an explicit Declaration of his Sentiments. This Silence might be confirmed into a previous Approbation of a Plan, the Accomplishment of which every Motive of Duty to his Father and Sovereign, as well as of regard for the publick Interest, obliges him to consider as injurious to both. In the State of deep Distress in which the Prince and the whole Royal Family were involved, by the heavy Calamity which has fallen upon the King, and at a Moment when Government, deprived of its chief Energy and Support, seemed peculiarly to need the cordial and united Aid of all Descriptions of Subjects, it was not expected by the Prince, that a Plan should be offered to his Consideration, by which Govern- ment was to be rendered difficult, if not impracticable, in the Hands of any Person, intended to represent the King's Authority much less in the Hands of his eldest Son; the Heir- Apparent of his Kingdoms and the Person most bound to the Maintenance of his Majesty's just Prerogatives and Authority, as well as most interested in the Happiness, the Prosperity, and the Glory of the People. The Prince forbears to remark on the several Parts of the Sketch of the Plan laid before him ; he apprehends it must have been formed with sufficient Deliberation to preclude the Probability of any Argument of his producing an Alteration of Sentiment in the Projectors of it. But he trusts with Confidence to the Wisdom and Justice of Parliament, when the Whole of the Subject, and the Circumstances connected with it, shall come under their Deliberations. He observes therefore only generally on the Heads communicated by Mr. Pitt, and it is with deep Regret the Prince makes the Observation that he sees in the Contents of that Paper, a Project for producing Weakness and Insecurity in every Branch of the Administrations of Affairs. A Project for dividing the Royal Family from each other; for separating the Court from the State; and thereby disjoining Government from its natural and accustomed Support. A Scheme disconnecting the authority to command Service from the Power of animating it by Reward ; and for allotting to the Prince all the invidious Duties of Government, without the Means of softening them to the Publick, by any one Act of Grace, Favour, or Benignity. The Prince's feelings on contemplating this Plan, are also rendered still more painful to him, by observing that it is not founded on any general 394 SHERIDAN'S "LETTER TO MR. PITT" Principle, but is calculated to infuse Jealousies and Distrust (wholly groundless, he trusts) in that Quarter, whose Confidence it will ever be the first Pride of his Life to merit and obtain. With regard to the Motive and Object of the Limitations and Restrictions proposed, the Prince can have but little to observe. No Light or Information is afforded him by his Majesty's Ministers on those Points. They have informed him what the Powers are which they mean to refuse him, not why they are withheld. The Prince, however, holding as he does, that it is an undoubted and fundamental Principle of the Constitution, that the Powers and Preroga- tives of the Crown are vested there, as a Trust for the Benefit of the People, and that they are sacred only as they are necessary to the Preser- vation of that Power and Balance of the Constitution which Experience has proved to be the true Security of the Liberty of the Subject, must be allowed to observe that the Plea of Public Utility ought to be strong, manifest and urgent, which calls for the Extinction or Suspension of any one of those essential Rights in the supreme Power of its Representative ; or which can justify the Prince in consenting that, in his Person, an experi- ment shall be made to ascertain with how small a portion of the Kingly Power, the Executive Government of this Country may be carried on. The Prince has only to add that if Security for his Majesty's repossessing his rightful Government, whenever it shall please Providence in Bounty to this Country to remove the Calamity with which he is afflicted, be any part of the Object of this Plan, the Prince has only to be convinced, that any Measure is necessary, or even conducive to that End, to be the first to urge it as the preliminary and permanent Consideration of any Settlement in which he could consent to share. If Attention to what it is presumed must be his Majesty's Feelings and Wishes on the happy Day of his Recovery be the object, the Prince expresses his firm Conviction, that no Event would be more repugnant to the Feelings of his Royal Father, than the Knowledge that the Government of his Son and Representative had exhibited the Sovereign Power of the Realm in a State of Degradation, of curtailed Authority and diminished Energy a State hurtful in Practice to the Prosperity and good Govern- ment of his People, and injurious in its Precedent to the Security of the Monarch and the Rights of his Family. Upon that part of the Plan which regards the King's real and personal Property, the Prince feels himself compelled to remark that it was not necessary for Mr. Pitt, nor yet proper to suggest to the Prince, the Restraint he proposes against the Prince's granting away the King's real or personal Property. The Prince does not conceive that, during the King's Life, he is by Law entitled to make any such Grant ; and he is sure that he has never shown the smallest Inclination to possess any such Power. But it remains with Mr. Pitt to consider the eventual Interests of the Royal Family and to provide a proper and natural Security against the mismanagement of them in others. 395 SHERIDAN The Prince has discharged an indispensible Duty in thus giving his free Opinion on the Plan submitted to his Consideration. This Conviction of the Evils which may arise to the King's Interests, to the Peace and Happiness of the Royal Family, and to the Safety and Welfare of the Nation, from the Government of the Country remaining longer in its present maimed and debilitated state, outweighs, in the Prince's Mind, every other Consideration, and will determine him to undertake the pain- ful Trust imposed upon him by the present melancholy Necessity (which of all the King's Subjects he deplores the most) in full Confidence that the Affection and Loyalty to the King, the experienced Attachment to the House of Brunswick, and the Generosity which has always distinguished this Nation, will carry him through the many Difficulties, inseparable from this most critical Situation, with Comfort to himself, with Honour to the King, and with Advantage to the Publick. 396 APPENDIX III GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S DIARY Ill GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S DIARY. November 20, 1788 January 12, 1789. PREFATORY NOTE. The subjoined Diary "a kind of incoherent journal" which the author found in his researches at Devonshire House, was written by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, during the crisis of the King's health and the political intrigues that attended it between November, 1788, and January, 1789. On November 20, when the two Houses met to adjourn for a fortnight, the tragi-comedy began in earnest. On December 4, the examination of the doctors by a Committee in the House of Commons preluded a series of manoeuvres that read like romance. The Diary only extends to January 12, 1789, but for some months afterwards until the King publicly returned thanks for his recovery, in St. Paul's, Pitt main- tained his mastery and the Opposition, their hopes and bickerings. This document sheds inner light on what history has revealed, and it establishes Sheridan's authorship of the " Letter to Mr. Pitt," which has hitherto been accredited to Burke. It seems to be pieced out of at least two journals. The principal one is in the form of a day-book, kept for the information of her mother. The duplicates which accompany it often supply additional matter, though they as often repeat the main Diary. They are here indicated by brackets, and the journal thus presents an appearance of double entry. It will be noticed that the Duchess is an adept in what Mrs. Malaprop styles " orthodoxy." The Duchess's preface was written as late as 1802, and the verdict on Sheridan is manifestly coloured by the later standpoint of Fox. Her portraits of the Prince of Wales and of Fox are highly characteristic. A second explanatory jotting indicates some omissions in the matter set down for her mother. A third is merely the statement of how she came up from the country to witness this exciting drama. A letter from Mr. Crawford, announcing the early rumours, accompanies them. To Adolphus's History, and the usual printed sources of information for this juncture, should be added Tomline's " Life of Pitt," and Louis Dutens's " Histoire de ce qui est passfe pour PEstablissement d'un Regence." Dutens, it may be remembered, was a witness at Lady Hamilton's wedding. France took the keenest interest in all the proceedings, and Calonne, then present in England, co-operated with the Whigs. WALTER SICHEL. 399 SHERIDAN THE DUCHESS'S PREFACE. Having found some fragments of a journal which I wrote during the King's madness and while the question of Regency was debating, I am resolv'd to collect them tho' very imperfect for however well known the great events of that period may be, yet the daily reports and opinions of a Society so much connected as mine was, with Opposition, cannot be uninteresting my situation also enabled me to judge of the various little interests that agitated the party. I was also frequently visited by the Prince and my connection with the Duke of Richmond gave me occasion to hear the opinions of the adverse party. I can only regret that these notes are so trif[f]ling and unconnected. Several circumstances render every remembrance of this time interesting. It offers a curious change of senti- ments in many of the actors, tho' distinguish'd by characteristic traits such as Mr. Burke's vehemence in his expressions about the King being as fully exhibited as it afterwards appear'd in his support of him. But whilst I read over with satisfaction the testimonies at that important moment in favour of the Duke and my Brother, I must lament the entire destruction of the Rockinghams, the Duke of Portland's dereliction from those original principles and original friends he seem'd so highly to value, and above all I read with concern those s[c]eeds of disunion in the opposition party which have since so fat[t]ally for itself and for the Country operated against it. And here too at the distance [of] 13 years I can trace that beginning ot negligence and want of ensemble which together with the indulgence of imprudent language has destroy'd the importance of the opposition and in the present circumstances of danger to the country seems to shut out the assistance of Men of the first talents and integrity. The Regency besides its own natural importance brought forward many of the present distinguished characters. The Duke of Bedford was very eager on the subject. Mr. Grey gave proof of his talents integrity and attachment to Mr. Fox and also of the imprudent warmth and eagerness that afterward[s] was the means of his being so shamefully misrepre- sented and misunderstood and Sheridan not only gave convincing evidence of his talents but at the same time evinc'd the danger of his character. I do not mean to accuse him of any duplicity ; in fact He has stood the test of even poverty and I feel convinc'd of the honor of his political sentiments but he cannot resist playing a sly game ; he cannot resist the pleasure of acting alone, and this, added to his natural want of judgment and dislike of consultation frequently has made him commit his friends and himself. In short in the picture the following fragments offer of Society at the important moment of the Regency I think one may trace the source of many of the succeeding events. From hence is to be trac'd the facility with which the Prince yields to the pleasure of making himself agreeable to those with whom he happens to associate his aptitude to yield over his better opinions to foolish, and even ridiculous counsellors if they happen to convince him, and the same facility that made 400 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY him promise places in the Regency, has since driven him into Society and Manners unworthy of him, for his talents are good, and his manner and deportment superior in grace to any thing I ever saw. And however he may have appear'd to deviate from strict honor, or to be capricious and unsteady, I cannot believe his heart to be bad but he has obey'd the Star of the moment which has unfortunately been in a general Malignant. We can trace in these fragments, the Virtues and foibles of Mr. Fox, the comprehensive mind, undaunted genius, and unaba [i]ting kindness, which added to the most unaffected simplicity, constitute his Character, but we may also trace what has told alas[s] so much against him ; a contempt for even necessary expedients, a great imprudence in conversation ; and a fear, which in him is superior to every thing of seeming to yield what he thinks right to the bias of public opinion. The same sentiments that made him urge unnecessarily, the question of Right on the Regency have le[a]d in later times to the agitation of questions at that moment offensive. Can his character be better explained than by the example of the Duke of Norfolk's toast at the Whig Club, which Mr. Fox disapproved of, and it was the fashion for opposition to ridicule themselves for the folly of allowing the D of N to take the chair. Yet Mr. Fox the next meeting repeats the very words which had given offence in the D of Norfolk. Whilst I have so long lamented, and often been provoked with his negligence, sometimes even to decent attention I must say that this kind of a carrage [src] in a Man whose Idol was popularity is perhaps the greatest proof of the real greatness of his mind and must give security of the sentiments he professes. These fragments I think prepare to the disunion and want of method which so soon brought the destruction of opposition about during the years 92 and 93. Yet I have heard many of the errours of the party attributed to their not having met or previously consulted and it will be apparent in these fragments that important as the question was, many of the subjects were brought before the house without previous consultation. Even during the King's illness, the Influence of the Court is apparent and, painful as at this distance of time (and when the infatuation of party has subsided), the King's dreadful calamity must appear and of course must excuse the kind of Influence made use of, to keep the Courtiers in activity yet I think it is evident now [that] this kind of power has increas'd Mr. Pitt in his turn is its victim ; and I must ever regret the loss of the Rockingham phalanx, who were ever ready to stem the advances of undue influence and to secure the Constitution on the basis established at the Revolution. For it appears to me that the overthrow of order from French principles, so far from giving rise to more power in the Crown ought to make us more jealous to keep our own within the limits, which alone have seem'd capable of binding and uniting the genius and sentiments of Englishmen. I think the following journal offers two epochas. The first when there seem'd to be no doubt of the Prince's being Regent, and that the formation of a new administration occupied the minds and produced the circumstances S. VOL. II. 401 D D SHERIDAN of rivalship and anxiety which attend a new Ministry. The second when the King's recovery revived the hopes of Mr. Pitt's friends, and when the opposition seem'd only to differ on the part the Prince and themselves were to take. The final blow was given on the [King's recovery] , and for 13 years 1 the King's situation has thrown still greater power into Mr. P's hands. At this distance of time and the effervescence and interest of the moment over, every memorial of the King's dreadful situation is affecting but at the moment itself so much was it consider'd as the foundation of the hopes and fears of either party, that the horror of the circumstance seem'd to be lost in the contemplation of its consequences. Tuesday the 2 d of December 1788. To make up Dearest M [other] for all my dabs of letters, I take the first leisure moment, to write extracts to you from a kind of incoherent journal I have kept ever since I came to town ; and as I shall leave out all secrets or what I ought not to name, you may read it to my Uncle or any body who will not mention till it is settled, the Conferences with the Prince &ccc. After this my letters will be a regular newspaper. Only read it to my Uncle 1 or L y [?] as it may get about. 1788. At the end of October we heard the first accounts of the King's illness ; we were at Chatsworth and we had letters from Lord Robert Spencer and Mr. Crawford. At the jubilee for the centenary of the Revolution we were at Chesterfield 3 and we heard the first reports of his insanity ; which came from Newmarket ; We went to Hardwicke.and the reports were soon confirmed. The Duke of Portland wrote to the Duke of Devonshire pressing him to come to town, as he had none of his original political friends to consult with ; As the Duke, tho' he wished much to go to Buxton, had written to promise him that he would come if he absolutely wish'd it ; we set out for London upon another letter of the Duke of Portland's and got to town the 19 of November. This dates this preface as written in 1802. * The Duke of Richmond. A full account of the Chesterfield celebration on November 5, King William's birthday, is given in the " Annual Register " for 1788, " Chronicle " (App.), p. 149. The stately procession that entered the town on Tuesday, November 4, was headed by the Duke of Devonshire. The Osbornes, Molyneuxes, etc., followed. There were members of eight Revolution Clubs, with flags, emblems, and mottoes. On November 5 at the " Crown and Anchor " in the Strand the Whig Club held a meeting, with the Duke of Portland in the chair. Sheridan made an eloquent address, and proposed the subscription for a statue to be erected in King William's honour on Romney Mead. The members subscribed 1,000; cf. ibid., p. 220. 402 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY [The following letter from J. Crawford ! to the Duchess, dated Friday, belongs probably to November 7.] Friday. 5 o Clock. My dr Duchess, I can give you no just account of the King's disorder. Nobody can get at the truth but he is certainly very ill and dangerously ill. Doctor Warren was sent for on Wednesday night and is not yet come back. The Prince has been for two days together at Windsor, and is still there. The Chancellor was sent for yesterday while he was at dinner, and came back this morning. Why he was sent for or whether he saw the King, I don't know. The truth is, I believe, that the King is quite disordered in his mind. My own opinion from all the different accounts I have heard, is that the humour to which his whole family is subject, has fallen upon his brain, and that nothing will save him except an irruption upon his skin. I understand that the Prince has desired Charles to be sent for, which ought to be a secret, but is none, for I heard it at Brooks's. It is however certainly true ; but nobody knows where Charles is ; He was at Venice about a fortnight ago, and talked of going to Rome. Adieu. Ever yours J. CRAWFORD. THE DIARY RESUMED. Thursday the 20 of November. We came to town upon a letter of the Duke of Portland's, Parliament adjourn'd for a fortnight. I heard y e following acc ts of the poor King's wretched situation that the Queen has long been supposed to know it, and some of his attendants perceiv'd an alteration even in May last he is in great awe of Dr. Warren and his madness is sometimes very touching and sometimes occasions his saying very clever things such as saying the Prince of Wales was dead, so Women may be honest &ccc The Courtiers all affect to have been mad Lord Fauconberg declares all the world saw him in a strait waistcoat and L d Salisbury says the King has as much sence as he has. The Prince behaves perfectly ; without hurry with temper, and kindness and attention to his poor Father and the Queen he seems to incline to our friends. The Duke of Richmond openly declares for a joint Regency Many instances given of the King's returning reason, one is a pun his having said of C 1 Manners " there's good Manners." 1 " Fish " Crawford, epicure, Whig-politician, art-patron, and a figure in society, belonged to the generation of Lord Spencer, the Duchess's father. He was also a friend of the Sheridans. 403 D D 2 SHERIDAN [Thursday] 2oth of November. [I heard the following account of the King's madness. The Queen is supposed to have known it in June and to have try'd to prevent his being much seen by his Ministers. Lord Lothian as early as May perceiv'd a change in his temper ; the foreign ministers especially Barthelemi perceiv'd it at the Levee, and on his return from thence he shew'd his backside to his attendants saying that he had not the gout. He pull'd off Sir George Baker's wig and made him go upon his knees to look at the star[r]s ; he begins by beating the palms of his hands, then crying and then howling ; he got naked out of Bed but C 1 Digby threatend him back. As Dr. Warren had been the first who had been s[c]evere with him ; he often says " dont speak loud for Dr. Warren will hear you." The Courtiers pretend it is nothing ; and it is a fashion amongst them to say that they have been all mad : Lord Fauconbridge declares every body must remember his strait waistcoat ; Mr. Robinson the same, and Lord Salisbury declares that the King has as much understanding as he has. The proofs given of his returning sence are that he knew C l Manners and made a pun saying that is good Manners ; that he is attentive at prayers and more cleanly in his person : Burke says it is a strange way for Reason to revisit a man, in the shape of a pun. The Prince of Wales behaves perfectly, seems in no hurry but shews a strong inclination to our party which is carry'd on by secret interviews with Sheridan ; He seems to have entirely forgiven the Duke of Portland for having oppos'd the payment of his debts. Sheridan who is heartily tired of [the] Hastings trial, and fearful of Burke's impetuosity says that he wishes Hastings would run away and Burke after him. Hervey Aston and Mr. Macnamara are to fight tomorrow on an Election quarrel ; the Westminster Election. 1 The houses of parliament met only to adjourn for a fortnight. Lord 1 In the preceding June Lord Hood's acceptance of a seat at the Admiralty Board had caused a vacancy. Lord John Townshend opposed him, and, contrary to general expectation, ousted the popular favourite after a fierce contest of fifteen days. Cf. Adolphus's " History of the Reign of George III.," Vol. IV., p. 32. When Elizabeth Sheridan came with her father to London at the close of July she found Mrs. Sheridan wearing and dis- tributing Townshend's cockades. LeFanu MSS. The duel mentioned in the text was occasioned by the quarrels about this election, for Townshend was a "ne'er-do-weel" who had eloped with E. Fawkener's wife. Hervey " cannot have been Lord Hervey, who was then in Italy, and no trace of the duel is to be found in the " Annual Register," or in contemporary emoirs occupied with the sensations of the King's health and the politics fected by it. Who Aston was, the writer is unable to ascertain, for it is jhly improbable that the reference can be to Joseph Aston, a miscel- aneous author. The other allusion remains obscure, but a Captain Macnamara (a noted duellist) was tried for manslaughter in 1803. Cf. "Life and Letters of the first Lord Minto," Vol. III., p. 314. There was also a ur-Admiral James Macnamara, who afterwards served under Nelson. 404 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Sidney had written to the Duke of St. Albans to attend. The Duke of Richmond talks openly for a joint Regency. The Prince has sent for Sheridan to meet him tomorrow at Bagshot.] [November 20.] [Burke says its an odd thing (in answer to their quoting the King's punning as a proof of reason) that it would be an odd thing, reason's revisiting a person in the Shape of a pun the Duke of St Albans had a letter from L d Sydney desiring him to attend the Duke of Richmond openly argues for a joint Regency The Prince this night has sent for Sheridan to meet him tomorrow at Bagshot.] Friday 2ist. I had a kind message from the Prince. The D. of Richmond told us y' the last time the King saw y e Queen, he almost set her on fire by pushing the candle in her face to see [ifj it was her. Friday 2ist Macnamara & Aston. 1 [I received a message from y 45 Prince thro Sheridan nothing new the King the same ; the Duke of Richmond said his eyes had been so bad y* before the Queen was oblig'd to leave him he pushed y e Candle in her face to see her.] Saturday the 22 d . I went with y e D 55 of Portland to enquire. She told me she had advis'd the D. of Portland not to be Minister, unless the proposal came absolutely from y e Prince himself, as the Prince is suppos d to be still angry with the Duke of P. having oppos'd him about paying his debts. M r Grey has an idea, but I believe a false one, that the King had taken quack medicines which had disordered him there is also a report y' he was suckled by a Woman who died mad. 22 Saturday Macnamara and Wellanger.* [I went with the D ss of Portland to enquire. She s d she sh d advise the Duke of Portland not to take any thing under the Prince who must have been angry with him, for opposing y e payment of his debts in 86, unless the P asked him himself; the D ss s d the Prince had been very imprudent in driving his sisters and L y Charlotte Finch about in a coach at Windsor 1 This refers to the duel about the Westminster election already mentioned. a ? Will Hanger, one of the Coleraines, brother perhaps to George Hanger, who was a great duellist. Hanger may have been a second to one of the parties. 405 SHERIDAN and breaking the lamps it was only giddyness and she should not have repeated [it]. The Duke of Bedford and Grey here of the Eve* the Duke of Bedford was vastly struck at the story of the King's telling S r L Pepys the Physician Who the Devil sent for you ? he s d the Prince well then said [he] , the Prince may pay you ; for I won't pay you post chaise. Grey thinks, but erroneously, that the King's madness may be owing to quack Medicines he has taken to stem the Evil especially Mendant's drops.] Sunday the 23"*. The idea of a new administration if the Prince is Regent is trying to be form'd on the true Rockingham principles but much depends upon L d John's being Chancellor of the Exchequer. I find from Calonne 1 that in the City he is e [a] rnestly wish'd for. The early proofs the poor King gave of madness are these ; at Cheltenham, he ran a race with a horse ; and asked a Mr. Clements if he was the man who ran away with L y S. Bunbury* when he was in Love with her at Windsor he told West the painter he w d teach him to mix Colours, and throwing some on the ground mixd y m with his foot and he w d sit with the young women who embroidered, pretending to play on the fiddle, all this was before he was avowedly mad. Sunday 23. [I saw Grey & Sheridan. Sheridan might certainly be Chancellor of the Ex. if he chuses, but prefers reaching it by degrees and when he has prov'd his capability to y e public he argued with Grey who would only accept the Chancellor of the Exchequer or Secretary of War. Grey says he will give way to L d John [Cavendish], Charles Fox or Sheridan but not to those Norfol[c]ks Wyndhams and Pelhams. Sheridan wishes it to be a true Rockingham administration. Very anxious for the Duke to be something.] Monday 24. Nothing new the King the same. M r Fox arriv'd after 8 days from Bologna when the express came to him there, he had just heard that his poor little Nephew L d H was dead 8 he was very sorry for the boy and saw all his parliamentary hopes destroy'd by being remov'd to y e upper house they told him an express was come he s d its my poor Nephew's death when Jim Hone ran up and told him y' it was an Express to return as the King was dying what a revolution in a man's Ideas ! Sheridan 1 Charles Alexandre Calonne, after convening the assembly of notables n 1787, retired to England, where he was feted by the Whig Society. the Quee? Lady Sarah Na P ier ^ Kin & >s flame before he married This was of course an unfounded report, and Lord Holland lived to be the legatee of Fox's anti-Sheridanism. 406 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY sup [p']d with us M r Fox was tir'd and c d not come in bed grown very thin and liked peoples talking to him to avoid thinking which puzzled him. Monday 24th. [Charles Fox is arrived, and much fatigu'd as he was only 8 days from Bologna he had heard y' his nephew L d Holland was dead and was lamenting the loss of the child as he loves him very much, and likewise was grieving at his political views being stop [p] 'd by his removal to the H of Lords ; when they told him an express was waiting for him at Lausanne the express soon came and he found it the news of the King's illness and a summons for him a great revolution in a Man's ideas was this! M r Fox is tir'd and grown very thin.] Tuesday 25th. Saw Sheridan a minute. Jack Payne 1 came to town saw Charles who is to go tomorrow. M r Pitt has insisted on the King's being seen by D r Addington his family Physician. Tuesday the 25th. [M r Pitt has insisted on the King's being seen by D r Addington, his own fami[l]y Physician.] Wednesday 26th. The Prince and Duke of York saw Charles and Sheridan at S l Anne's he desir'd them to shake hands from him with y e D of P(ortland) [and the] D. of Y(ork) [with] heartyness. [The] Prince s d we will pretend to trust the D of Gloucester and tell him nothing. [The] Prince wrote me a kind letter by Sheridan it is resolv'd he sh d send for all the privy Council and tell them to take charge of the King and move him on Saturday. 1 Sir John Willett Payne was now thirty-six years of age and the Prince's secretary and keeper of his papers. He played a considerable part as go-between in this crisis. He had served in the American War and was M.P. for Huntingdon. Afterwards he fought in the war of the French Revolution till 1798. He was made rear-admiral in the following year. He figured largely in society. In 1803 he was appointed treasurer of Greenwich Hospital. For some years he had been in failing health, and the year of this appointment was that of his death. Readers of the writer's " Emma, Lady Hamilton," will remember the part he is said to have played at the outset of her life. The Duchess of Devonshire had no high opinion of his talents. In the Sheridan MSS. also are many allusions in 1788 to his messages about the King's madness at this time. Erskine wrote the following distich upon him : " 'Tis true I am ill, but I need not complain, For he never knew pleasure who never knew Payne." There is also a long obituary of him in the " Annual Register " for 1803. 407 SHERIDAN Wednesday the 24th. [Slip for 26th.] [The Prince and Duke of York, who joins and acts with him, saw Charles Fox, and behav'd amazingly well ; the Prince has sent a very kind message to the D of Portland, entirely cancelling all former discontents. The Prince has summon'd all the Cabinet, that they may verify the King's situation and take charge of him.] Thursday the 25th. [Slip for 27th.] The poor King engaged a page to pretend sleep, because he s d then he c d sleep ; and immediately picked his pockets it is supposd in search of keys to find his money to bribe them to let him escape. I saw M r Payne ; the King had taken y e Duke of York's regiment from him and given it to y e Duke of Richmond. Thursday 27. . . . [King's pretending to sleep. Sheridan I saw at Burlington House and then at home he is teaz'd by Grey Fitzpatrick and L d John Towns[h]end and sore on the subject [of] M re Fitzherbert's difficulty in being reconcil'd to Fox. I saw Jack Payne the King had taken the D. of York's regiment from [him] and given it y e D of Richmond, because hes d the D. of York had taken [the] tongs and pokers out of his room. Joke about Jack Robinson.] Friday 28. The difficulty in new administration, persuading L d John [Cavendish] to be Chancellor of y e Exchequer. Carte blanche offer'd y e Duke [of Devon- shire] he won't accept of any thing in the Eve* Sher[idan], Fitz[patrick], Grey Cal [i.e., Calonne], Crawfurd the attack upon Sheridan by Jack Towns[h]end Fitz Grey about Burke. Charles a little and Sheridan less. Kemble and East laugh at Foxes speaking and the others at Sheri's. Friday 26. [Slip for 28.] [The Prince sent his Messages to the Cabinet assembled by the D. of York. M' Pitt saw the King and was much affected the King raves about 1200 he says he lent him. The difficulty in the new administration still hangs on L d John's not accepting the Exchequer. Carte blanche has been offer'd the D. of Devonshire but he refuses every thing.] Saturday the 27. [Slip for 29.] The King was remov'd to Kew ; bore his journey very well but is as mad as ever, for he order'd a tye wig and danc'd with D' Reynolds 408 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Sunday 28. [Slip for 30.] The King has been very violent and tore a Page terribly. I saw Mr. Fox at M re Bouverie's, he is and looks very ill. The Prince and Duke of York were last night at the D of Portland's and behav'd in the kindest manner. Sheridan came in from Carlton House at M re Bouverie's and told us that the Chancellor [Thurlow] was so affected to day at seeing the King y l he had a violent hysteric ; and this is confirm'd. Sunday. [November 30] I went out of Town on my return from Clacton go to M re Bouverie's. Fox, Grey, Fitz, Grenville, John [her brother George John, second Earl Spencer 1 ] , and Fred [North], L d John. The King accuses M r Pitt of owing him i2Oo, and M r P much affected at his state , he is removd to Kew orders a tye wig and dances a minuet with his Apothecary. The K tears two of his attendants almost to pieces. Sheridan came in from Carlton House where he is to sup, and told us y e King is so ill, he was held down by force, and y' the Chancellor was in Hysterics, Prince and Duke of York just came with this ace'. Charles Fox told us, y e express which reach'd him at Florence, mentioned the King's insanity but at Lyons he heard and believ'd his death ; near Paris in y e dark, at a post he heard from a chaise some bad french and supposing an Englishman, asked the news and heard he [i.e., the King] was y e same his anxiety now was to know who the Prince had sent to and at Paris Coutts the Banker told him y e P had seen Sheridan, and eas'd all his doubts. Fox far from well. Monday I saw Dr. Warren, who says the Bulletins are order'd to be obscure ; he says the King may recover but he does not think it. I shall take up my journal at Monday tomorrow. D 5 * M , there is nothing very new today and tomorrow we shall know. God bless you D 8 * M, my babys are quite quite well. Monday December the ist [I saw L d John at the Duke of Portland's and had rather hopes from his looks I saw Dr. Warren who told me the acc ts were purposely obscure. When the Prince saw the D. of Portland on Saturday last he was accompany'd by the D of York, who testifys the greatest love to him (the Prince) and joins him in all his political sentiments Sheridan is deservedly high in the Prince's favour. 1 He joined Pitt in 1794. 409 SHERIDAN ist Dec. Monday I saw L d John and Dr Warren who says these acc u are made as obscure as possible and purposely, he says the King may certainly recover but he doubts it. When the Prince saw the Duke of Portland, the D. of York accompany'd him and united with him. Sheridan says the Duke of York is entirely detached from L* Tyrconnel. 1 Private discussions go on ; and Sheridan keeps bis hold with the Prince. Grey still determin'd to be nothing unless Sheridan Fox or L d John are C of the E.] Tuesday, the 2 d The Prince, L d Brudenel as privy purse, and the Chancellor went to Windsor to look for some private Jewels and money of the King's which was missing they found the Jewels hid in a place so near the Window y l they might have been taken away. There was a meeting this Eve^ at Carlton House at which were Present The Duke of York, the Dukes of Devonshire and Portland, Mr. Grey, Mr. Sheridan L d Loughboro[ugh] Lord Stormont L d North &c, Mr. Fox was not well enough to be there. The Prince spoke very well and told them a Conversation that had pass'd between him and Pitt about the first adjournment. Tuesday a Dec* [The Prince went to Windsor as there had been a difficulty in finding the Jewels and Privy Purse the Jewels found at last in a place near the window the Prince and D of York in presence of the Chancelor, L d Brudenel, &cc seal'd them up The Queen who is wonderfully fond of Jewels, flew in an outrageous passion, reproach'd them, abus'd them, and they remonstrated, and at last got the better Mrs. Egerton and L y Courtown who heard from y e next room entreated the Princes not to notice or mention this. >The Prince return'd and had a meeting at Carlton House The Dukes of P. and Devonshire, L d North, Stormont Grey, Sheridan, L d Loughboro' &ccc Poor Charles is too ill in bed to be able to go The Prince spoke very well ; and related a conversation some time back between him and Pitt Pitt said he hop'd y e gentlemen of y e other side w d not oppose the first adjournment, the P answerd, indeed Mr. Pitt you must know more about the House of C than I can ; [several lines care- fully erased] Sheridan and Grey sup[p]ed here the Duke of Devonshire is desird by the P. to call on him on Thursday. They talk of entrusting the King to a Dr. Willis a Clergyman who is us'd to the care of Madmen and treats them with kindness even keeping a pack of hounds for them and allowing y m to hunt and shoot. L d John says accepting [i.e., the Chancellor- ship of Exchequer] will kill him ; and peevishly mention'd my interference.] 1 He had not long before been furious over a supposed rudeness to her at a Pantheon masquerade ; cf . " Life and Letters of the first Lord Minto." 410 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Wednesday Dec 3 d A general Council of all y e privy Counsellours the Physicians examin'd, and Dr. Addington declares all mad people in general recover, this is supposd to be a puff of his own treatment Warren said, that they oftener recover'd y n not, but then he strangely added that he reckon'd every relapse they might have as a seperate [st'c] disease and recovery So as Charles Fox observ'd take 7 mad men, 6 don't recover but the 7th is mad 7 times and recovers each time, the Majority is in favour of the Mad men who recover. All this is to be laid before parliament and Warren's journal will be ask'd for The Prince was not well to night and was blooded The Duke of Cumberland s d Well I shall go home and eat no supper tonight ; or breakfast tomorrow y* my head may be quite free, for business and he ask'd L d Clermont, Well Clermont you will be busy enough tomorrow, and L d Clermont said yes Sir I shall be in y e house of Commons and then in the house of Lords, the D of Cumberland s d aptly enough, take up y r abode in the court of requests and y n you will be between both. The King was so mad tonight that he pull'd off his page's wig and made him fetch and carry it. Thursday Night 4th Dec r . The Parliament met * the Physicians report was laid before both houses y l it was probable the King might recover and there was a dispute in the house of Commons whether or no there sh d be a discussion on his state. I saw the Prince this Eve g he told me he should absolutely refuse any limited Regency so they might do as they will he shew'd me a letter from the queen, very kind, calling him her D r Son, and telling him the King was more Calm by the Physicians ace 1 he intends to call on D of D [evonshire] tomorrow to press his taking something. I saw Grey this morning who is I think a [several words erased ? angry] but he refuses the treasury. King about L y Pembroke always calls her L y E. Spencer. The Prince praised Sheridan very much, and said he has play'd his cards well, for he has devoted himself to a man who is not insensible to his merits. He s d , Mrs. Fitz sh d be as happy as he c d make her, but sh d have no rank A meeting at y e D of York's before the House Prince at Brookes's. 5th Friday. Nothing particular, the Prince was to have come to press the D. of D. to be privy seal but he was oblig'd to go to Kew. Dr. Willis called in to the King the Bishop of Peterboro' saw him as he went down to Kew. What the K said to the Chancellor which affected the C so much, was, you shall dine with me, but perhaps I shall not give you a good dinner I have not so much power as I used to have. Charles Fox very ill feuds between Grey and Sheridan, worse y n ever. L d Camden's speech the D. of Rich [mond]. 1 To examine the physicians' reports in Committee. 411 SHERIDAN end of Friday the sth. There was a meeting at Burlington House, where the propriety of a parliamentary discussion into the King's state was examin'd. Sheridan and Burke for it Charles rather ag st it and Ld Loughboro' quite ag st it. Charles Fox was so ill, y' he almost thought he was dying. Saturday 6th. There were many reports this m g that D r Willis thought he could cure the King that when he went in the King oppos'd him but at last was so much subdued by the sight of a Strait waistcoat y l he was permitted to shave himself and cut his nails it was also reported that the Chancellor had left us and that Pitt (who had an audience of y e Queen) was gone to offer her the Regency. The truth is that the King is very bad, only that D r Willis has frighten'd him. The Prince sent the D. of York to the Queen to try to know by fair means the subject of the conversation with Pitt and if she would not to tell her, y* none of the house of Brunswick w d ever join with her interviews with Pitt this interview was of no consequence only to talk to the Queen about the care of the King's person. With regard to D r Willis he certainly has been talking to Charles Monson and others of the probability of Restoring the King but he is a boasting sanguine man and violently [in] with administration however it was necessary to manage him before our plan of operation was laid, and Sheridan has been to night with Warren, who answers for it y* Willis's account will tomorrow coincide with theirs. Y e King wanted S r George Baker to have y e waistcoat on, and calls Warren S r Richard Rascal. There was a meeting at Ch Foxes y e P. & D. of York came there. M re Bouverie was with Charles when the first people came L d North L d Lough. and went into y e next room. Charles is much better to day. Sunday 7th Dec* The King had a bad Night D r Willis permitted him to write to the Queen and receive her answer which drove him quite mad so as to knock his head ag* the wall &cc. Burke says the Q has but one Virtue and one vice Virtue, decorum, Vice, Avarice; in the c[ase] of M re Hastings Avarice got the better. The Chancellor is now suppos'd by some to be against us, and side with Pitt many think we shall carry the adjournment or any question. The arm'd neutrality 1 are with us. 1 So called from the name given to the Northern League in 1780. consisted of Shelburneites and a quota of the Northites, and at BBM included the Duke of Richmond. For the " Middle party," cf. post under date, " Tuesday, Dec. 17." 412 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Monday 8th 111 in bed all day. The Duke told me the Prince call'd on him, and told him he \v d not press him to accept of a place, tho' he should have looked on it as an honour and advantage to the party not only as a man he lov'd but one of y e most respectable in the nation but he beg[g']d him to accept of a place perhaps hereafter. He told him a great secret y* when Sheridan went to the Chanc[ellor] the Chancellor s d to M r Sheridan I am of no party and to a man of your discernment that is saying enough. D r Moore tells me Pitt means to go out with Eclat, to prove to the people he did not try to stay in and only to limit the P. in patent places and peerages as they might limit y e K's authority should he recover but not as to the Dissolution of P 1 There was a meeting at Burlington House and a quarrel at Brookes's between Grey and Fitzpatrick. Fitz had seem'd to agree with Grey, because he s d a man [erased] about the P ought to be consulted &cc [but] was not to be trusted. [? i.e., Sheridan.] Tuesday g. The King slept seven hours last Night and is rather better to day they are so illated [sic] at Lady Salisbury's that they say he will be quite well and will [go] down to the House on Thursday the Fact I believe is that he is entirely subdued by Doctor Willis who knows how to mannage mad people ; there is a report to day that M r Pit [t] means to hasten measures whilst there is this appearance of amendment in the King in hopes of secur- ing a Majority for the limitations. The Duke of Richmond has wrote to the prince to exculpate himself from having said that there ought to be no sole regent the Comittee have already sat seven hours and have not got through doctor Warren yet Grey is quite reconciled to Sheridan and he will take any place that 3 of his friends will advise him to. Sheridan has been here to night and given us an ace 1 of the comittee Warren's examination tended to the King's not recovering ; and Willis who is a fierce looking man with a commanding eye by which he manages his Madness said if he was not King he sh d have no doubt, and he spoke this sentiment too, to L d Cadogan in y e house of Lords. Sheridan wish'd the various classes of Madmen to be distinguished when the Physicians talked of the Majority of Mad men recovering he wish[ed] them to devide [sic] [them] in Classes, Mad men from fevers, blows, affections of the mind madmen from no assignable cause ; for as the King is the last, a Majority of the former cannot operate as a Majority in the Class in which he is. Pitt oppos'd this. Wednesday loth Dec' 1 A better ace' of the King and Grey who was at L* Salisbury's says they are all in very great Spirits, and say he must recover. 1 The day on which the pkysicians presented their reports, and on which Pitt moved for a Committee in the House of Commons. 413 SHERIDAN When G" Grenville heard y e King was dying he said then there is perdition four deep meaning y 1 y e Prince of Wales, Duke of York, P W m and P Edward were all with us. In the house of commons to day after the report of the Comittee was given, Mr. Pitt mov'd for a Comittee to search into precedents. Mr Fox s d it was unnecessary for the Prince was regent of right, and y l it was only delaying. Mr Pitt call'd this treason to the constitution y* the Prince whatever discretionary powers parliament might give him, was only first subject and y* these were not accordant principles with Mr [sic] Somers's on the revolution. Mr. Fox reply'd and s d y* Mr Pitt forgot what Parliament was, y 1 the 2 houses were only a part of it, and the King wanting to complete the whole, and y e difference of circumstances did away the appearance of anti-revolution principles. Mr. Burke attack'd Mr. Pitt as a competitor for the Regency. Pitt was so angry y 1 when he was to name the comittee of enquiry he s d : I can't name Mr Burke however he did when became to the 21 st name. This discussion has had I think a bad effect tho' we say we are glad of it. Pitt and Charles both blam'd for bringing it on. Marsham and the Country gentlemen are to be ag st us on it. I think Grey and Sheridan, tho' resolv'd to go thro' with Fox, are in their hearts ag 51 it. Sheridan when he got into the carriage [said] to Fox, well I suppose he has some little right has not he ? at Richmond House L d Sidney said Fox had retracted. Thursday n debate H of L* 5 1 The King the same a report y* he had walk'd in the garden I saw the Prince he talk'd very kindly of Grey. They think L d George Lennox will vote with us. A Repetition of Yesterday in the house of Lords. L d Camden movd a Comittee of searching pressidents. L d Loughboro' spoke as to y e right, and L d Tburlow who had been closetted with the Prince against it complimenting the P but calling it a new doctrine to him. L d Stormont spoke well. Sheridan seems out of spirits and I fear much some little Bickerings between Fox and him and perhaps misrepresentations of what Sheridan previously did. Sheridan and Grey resolv'd to go thro' with Foxes principle of right but in their hearts don't quite agree and are sorry its come on. Sheridan very sorry that things are put out of y e course he put y m in especially y 4 the Chancellor is not enough courted, and y 1 L d Lough is to have y e Seals. 3 The D of Norfolk wants to be privy seal. 1 On moving for a Committee. *I" both the matters above mentioned Sheridan's judgment was right Fox s was at fault. Sheridan wished to propitiate Thurlow, and this ised Fox after his rebuke (cf. Fox's Corr.). Sheridan was dead Fox's pressing the Prince's claim as one of constitutional right : he saw the consequences of such a measure to the country, and this Diary that historians have hitherto been mistaken in assuming that i was hot in urging the question. Sheridan's previous insistence discussing the state of the King's health in the House of Commons was ned as a piece of party tactics. 414 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Friday December the 12. Different opinions, uneasiness &ccc at what has past concerning the Right in both houses. My Brother tells me L d Stormont's speech was very ingenious and good. Charles Fox and Pitt were of each side the wool- sack, and Charles nodded to Pitt when any argument came home. My B r says he admires M r Fox, for thus taking the Bull by the horns and thinks it a fine trait in his Character, but fears it was an unfortunate measure, both as to its effect in the houses and in the Country and especially as it seems now as if we were imbibing Tory principles. He says Pitt affects almost republican sentiments all at once. The King much better, walk'd two miles in his garden and asked young Willis to walk with him this represented as a proof of sence, but in fact, as Warren told L y Melbourn, a proof of mad cunning, as he hates the Father to get the Son over to him he asked young Willis to kick his Father out of the room. A great debate in the house of Commons. 1 M r Fox s d he was come to do what he had never done before, answer misrepresentations he found had been made in another place of his speech that he certainly meant that the Prince had a right to be Regent, but not to assume the Regency. He however prov'dhow improper such discussions were now, but urg'd M r Pitt to tell candidly what he meant to do &cc. M r Pitt said the house sh d go into a comittee on the State of the nation, examine into the Right, and then give the Regency to the Prince, with all the powers necessary to the full exertion of Sovereignty as far as concern'd despatch of Business authority &cc but no power that did not belong to this. M r Fox said all powers y l were not of use to the exercise of his situation were so triffl [y] ing they need scarcely be mention'd. M r Pitt having said the Prince's power was only a trust M r Fox launch[ed] out into fine Whig principles, that the Kings' and all Kings' powers were only trusts. Sheridan rather got into a scrape by trying to bring about the previous question and to do away y e question of right, said something of their running the risk of provoking a claim, this was taken as a threat and as he told us there was a buz at him and somebody s d we won't be threaten'd. Great disturbances in the arrangements The Prince has promis'd L d Sandwich to the I st L d of y e Admiralty and both the Duke of Portland and Charles refuse to have any thing to do with it in y e case. Sheridan gone to persuade the Prince about this. The King play'd at drafts which the sanguine Courtiers call playing at Chess. When Sheridan attack [ed] Charles for bring [ing] on debate on Right, Charles s d its better always to take y e Bull by the horns. Sheridan 1 On the Report to the House, Fox said that the Prince had the right but not the possession. A summary of his speech appears in Adolphus, Vol. IV., p. 330. On this occasion Sheridan deprecated all discussion of the Prince's rights ; cf, ibid., p. 331. SHERIDAN s d yes but you need not have drove him into the room that you might take him by y 6 horns. Friday December the i2th. [The King not so well to day. I saw Sheridan who tells me y l the Prince has given up L d Sandwich in the handsomest way in the world , and he shew'd me a letter of Charles Fox's about the Chancellor giving up L d Loughboro's appointment, immediately] but very very reluctantly. Sheridan calld at five, to say L d Sandwich had behav'd very well. I hear great abuse of the imprudence of Sheridan's speech last night I know nothing of to night but suspect something of consequence as Sheridan did not call here and Fitzpatrick seem'd to hint something of consequence was going on.] Sunday i4th. D of Rich, who was w" 1 Lady EUV 1 [Foster] was in great spirits as they think they will beat us in the previous question and of course in the other he said Pitt had caught us on the hook and would keep us to it. I saw Sheridan he was with the Chancellor till 3 from 10 last night. He carry'd him a written proposal from Charles to the Chancellor, but he thinks the application rather late as the Chancellor has pledged himself to support y e limitations he however at last promis'd to speak for the previous question on Monday. Sheridan says he left him with the impres- sion of his being a great rogue he try'd to sound Sheridan on the plan of his undermining Fox he told Sheridan one limitation w d be the household to be continued under y e Queen for Six months nor c d this he s d signify, y" Queen and Prince being so well together. Sheridan reminded him then of the quarrel about y 6 Diamonds, and the Chan : ownd the Qu was a termagant; he s d if the P. refusd y e Regency they must have Lords Justices. Sheridan s d , but what may become of y r head, when he is King. he s d , you may hang the Chancellor but you can't alter the Law he however came over at last. Sheridan is rather now for the Prince's accepting with the limitation of peerages and L^ of y e Bedchamber remain- ing for 6 months. Charles Fox very much ag st it great embarrassment. Sheridan told y Chancellor they had had thoughts of employing me to persuade them. He s d she w d have been a powerful indeed almost irresistable advocate. I saw D r Warren he blames D r Willis's impru- dence who let the Queen come to the King last night he was tollerable at i*, but got quite wild proposed marriage between a keeper and M me Swelingberg [Schwellenberg] the Queen fainted and the King had y e waist- coat on for y" I st time. He askd Willis why as a Clergyman he practis'd Physick, Willis s d , our Saviour had done the same, the King s d , yes but He had not 600 a year in the Church. The D. of York and Gloucester to speak tomorrow a meeting at Burlington House only 120 opposition. 4 I6 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Monday the 15. The King rather better, D r Willis had been so imprudent as to let him have his little girl Princess Emily and he would not give her up but kept her tight in his arms, till they brought the Queen to him. The house of L ds began by L d Fitzwilliam speaking ag st the discussing of the question of the Right 1 the Duke of York spoke next to the same purpose and spoke extremely well. Lord Stormont and the Duke of Gloucester spoke for us and the Chancellor, against all our expectations, against us. Lord Sydney calld Lord Stormont to Order for making use of the word unparliamentary and he Lord Sydney was in his turn call'd to Order which put him in so great a passion that he challenged the whole house to call upon him as Gentlemen lord Rawdon answered them with great spirit and propriety Lord Stanhope was very desirous to take down the Duke of York's speech and took Sheridan out to beg him to correct his notes of it which he of course refused to do. I find the prince is not willing to give up hopes of the Chancellor. Charles Fox is very happy that he has declared against us there are great suspicions of the Queen taking a strong part. Monday 15. [L d Fitz's motion. D[ukes] of Y[ork] and Gloucester.] Tuesday the lyth. [Slip for i6th.] The great report that the City mean to give a pension of three thousand a year to M r Pitt if he is turned out. I saw the prince, who seem'd in good spirits though much agitated. We waited with good anxiety all the Even- ing to hear News, the accounts the Duke of Portland and Lord George said were favorable, but Mr. Grey who wrote us three notes was certain we sh d lose it from y e i st . At 3 my B r and y e D of Bedford brought us word it was lost by 64. Pitt spoke proposing 3 resolutions, I st y e 6 d . . . the 2 d . . . and the 3 d , delegating power to parliament to order the great seal to be affixed and pass an act of p ta this threw y e arm'd Neutrality 8 into 1 He apologised for " introducing a conversation where he did not intend to make a motion." The House of Lords was crowded with strangers to hear the Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who on this occasion uttered his famous "When I forget my King, may my God forget me!" Cf. Adolphus, Vol. IV., p. 332. 2 Pitt's resolutions were to the effect, first, that the King was by his present indisposition prevented from attending personally to public business ; second, it was the right and duty of the Lords and Commons to provide for this deficiency in the legislature according to the exigency of the case; third, that the two Houses should determine on the means by which the royal assent might be given to Bills respecting the exercise of the powers and authorities of the Crown during the King's indisposition. Cf. Adolphus, Vol. IV., p. 334. 3 The " Middle Party," which deprecated any discussion of "right." Lord North and Mr. Bastard were strongly in favour of this course. For the sobriquet of " Armed Neutrality," cf. ante, under date "Sunday, Dec. 7." S. VOL. II. 417 E E SHERIDAN confusion, and Bastard made a speech hurtful to us for tho' he was for y e previous question he s d he was of no party and thought Pitt more popular y n Fox. L d North a very fine speech. Fox, a Glorious one, saying y l Pitt's conduct was y l of an ambitious Man wishing to distress his Successor. Pitt made a fine showy answer and call'd on y e House why it sh d be suppos'd he was to go out had he not been a good minister might he not hope for y e Prince's favour debate grew very very dull. 1 The Prince had had a letter from Pitt in y e morning he s d an impertinent one and one from y e Queen begging her name might not be mentiond. Wednesday, 17. The Prince very much hurt but behaves well. Sheridan is to see the Chancellor but has no hopes from him. The Duke of York very stout and talks of civil war. Thursday, 18. Ill in bed, hear no news but that Sheridan has had a meeting with L d Rawdon and y e Duke of Northumberland and the arm'd neutrality will go with us on limitations and all questions. Sheridan met Warren here at Night and wrote a letter to y e Chancellor. Friday. 19. Sheridan tells me y' all will go well, that the Prince must accept if he finds they mean to offer it to the Queen, and refuse boldly if they make L ds Justices. He is for accepting with Limitations and y n get rid of y m , Fox and y 6 D of Portland ag st , but he thinks will come round. L d North come round. House of Commons adjourn'd by desire of the Country Gentlemen good complexion of the house for us. D r Warren told me, the Chancellor c d not decide, he wish'd he would had seen the King, in good humour but quite mad. Saturday. 20. Nothing new. Fox was angry yesterday with Sheridan for letting some of our friends go out of town upon the idea of there being no debate afterwards; Charles made him excuses for having snub[b]'d him and Sheridan s d quite as to a child pooh pooh be as cross as you will. 1 All this occurred on the i6th, when the Committee on the State of the m received the reports of old precedents in Latin and French. This s what made Sheridan say afterwards that the Committee had resulted in " a little bad Latin and worse French." Fox vehemently the Pnnce's right to claim a regency. The ministers won by a 268 to 204. The two next days were occupied in debating ion that the Report of the Committee should be brought up. . Dempster unsuccessfully attempted to expunge the word " right." idan acted in the spirit of the Middle Party." 418 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Charles is always imprudent, he is very partial to the D of York who is remarkably honest and open. Charles had s d something before Turton which they thought seem'd as if he gave the pref [fjerence to the D of York over y e Prince he s d , oh I am y e most prudent man alive and s d he never w d mention it again ; the next day pulling up his stock and shaving himself, he s d before a whole room full " the Duke of York for my money." Sunday 21 Dec. No news. Grey thinks Sheridan has been gaining the Arm'd Neutrality by talking other sentiments y n Foxes. The Duke of Rich[mond] told Bess [Lady Elizabeth Foster] that Sheridan and Fox were ill together. Poor Sheridan at home all day. Tickel [1] told me studying precedents &cc Henry y e 6 th a whole Pile of [them] : The Duke of Y and P of W with him and S r J Sinclair for 2 hours a meeting at Burlington House. Burke reccomended taking care of the county towns particularly. Monday 22 d Dec. Saw Sheridan at M re Sheridan's he s d he hop'd all was going well ; that he sh d not speak, he was ill and had been interrupted by the Duke of York who had been with him y e day before and prevented his studying. It is said that the Prince sent to ask Pitt what his intentions w[h]ere and his plan. Pitt said he could not answer till he knew if he should have y e good fortune to carry the next question. We waited anxiously for the event of the debate, we had good hopes Burke L d North and Fox spoke very finely. 1 Burke quoted Macbeth 2 ran off a little. We were beat however by 93.* Sheridan's speech was reckon'd imprudent. Some of our friends are out of town and all L d Londsdale's people (10) kept away the Duke of York call'd upon L d Londsdale and they told him he was asleep. Tuesday 23 d I find people think it is wrong in the P and D of York to canvass so much there was a house of Lords and Confer[r]ence, 4 L d Loughboro' spoke well. 1 Burke indulged in violent abuse of Lord Thurlow, who was supposed to be intended to join in a Regency with the Queen, if the Prince refused the limitations intended by Pitt. " We are told," he said, " to take a man with a large black brow and a big wig. ... I have given my allegiance already to the House of Hanover. I worship the gods of our glorious Constitution, but I will not worship Priapus." Lord North quoted " Scriblerus." Fox only recapitulated his former opinions ; cf. Adolphus, Vol. IV., pp. 336, 337- " Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding." 8 271 to 178. 4 Conference debate in the House of Lords, in which Lord Rawdon stoutly championed the Prince's "rights." 419 E E 2 SHERIDAN The Duke of Richmond told Calonne they might be embarrass'd with too much success. D r Willis on Tuesday tho' he knew the K. was in a strait waistcoat, sent an express to Pitt which was to have found him at the house saying y e K was better and w d recover for Willis is a great Pittite and thought it might influence the division. Warren reproached him with this and he own'd it. Warren said he disgrac'd his former character a Clergy, mans and his present one a Physician by becoming a political note writer. The Prince very much out of spirits. S r John Sinclair alarms him very much by saying they mean to attack him about M re Fitz. on the act preventing the Sovereign marrying a R C and Sheridan says the M* Post will be got over. The Queen forbid Dr. Baker attending Princess R 1 for saying the K. was mad [on] the 22 d Wednesday 24. I hear no particular news Sheridan thinks Sir John St Claire's Scheme a good one they say Pitt means the Prince sh d be the phantom ; the power to be appointed to affix the great seal to be y e P[rince's ?] he probably will refuse it a report in the City y* Pitt and Fox w d Coalesce. L d Loughboro' angry with Sheridan but pacify'd. Thursday 25. Sheridan now here from Burlington House they had sent him to fetch Charles Fox. They were all in a great Bustle for the Queen has order'd the Prince to have no conference with y e Physician or to be answer'd any question about the Ks health. Friday. 26 Dec r The Chancellor quite off spoke in terms civil of the Prince but off a house of Lords L d Rawdon, 1 Loughboro', Stormont, Porchester, Carlisle, for us the Chancellor against praisd y e Prince but abus'd his advisers L d Landsdown 2 ag 5 * said, the People have rights Kings and Princes have none. Dull debate. 8 The Duke of York taken ill and blooded but return'd to the house. The Duke of Gloucester shabbily staid away beat by 30 Bath Bristol and Northampton were try'd for addresses to Pitt but they have fail'd L d Abingdon stirr'd at the Princes Marriage and the Protestant succession. Saturday. 2yth Dec. Charles Fox ask'd Grey to speak on Tuesday and open the debate din'd at Crawford's, the Prince of Wales din'd there partial still to the Chancellor the Duke of Rich, calls Jack Payne a little monkey. The King is tied down in his bed. 1 Afterwards Moira. 2 It is not alluded to by Adolphus. 8 Lord Shelburne. 420 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY Sunday. 38. The King much better, talk'd of Charles Foxes illness, ask'd who was his Physician Turton I'm sorry for it he s d , for he will put his Courtiers in great Spirits. Saw Sheridan L d Loughboro', pleas'd, is to be chancellor, L d Fitz- william will do as they wish him My Brother refus'd being L d Lieutenant. Monday. 29. Willis let the King see the Queen. He is much worse. Sheridan told us last night that L d Fitzwilliam had consented to have some place ; and that L d Loughboro' was satisfied the Prince had sent him a message by Sheridan offering him the Chancellor. Nothing in the house of Lords but conversation; and the house of Commons adjourned till Wednesday. Tuesday, 30. The house adjourn'd to Thursday on ace' of the Speaker's illness which some people suspect to be sham. The Duke of Richmond told Bess that the limitations were sent by Mr. Pitt to the Prince that they were Peerages Patent places and the household but we heard afterwards that he had not sent them. 1 The Duke of Cumberland told her that the K. had told the D of York just before he was ill that feeling himself unfit he had thoughts of giving the Prince the Crown and retiring with his family but that he was taken ill the next day L d Stormont never signs any protest [so as] not to have any thing quoted ag st him 46 L ds signd it. Saw Sheridan late : the Prince had just got the limitations he believ'd Pitt was with him The Queen talk'd to the K. in german and he call'd himself Assuerus [Ahasuerus] , the Queen Vashti and U Pembroke Esther he told the Queen he c d not live with her till the year '93 and s d he sh d make L y P Marchioness of Kingston. Wednesday 31. Mr Pitt's letter to the Prince, was insolently couch'd ; and stipulated peerages, Patent places, and the household under the Queen 2 They are thinking of a way to make the Princes answer which is to be a noble one, be made Public Sheridan call'd here in his way to Mr. Foxes who is at Mrs. Armisteads in South St. to avoid the bore of seeing people who are now told he is out of town. Thursday ist January. Saw my B r L d Grantley is dead the D of Portland had sent to him about Surrey ; he had been in the borough to secure L d W m Russel his 1 He had, however, on this day. It was the second letter addressed to the Prince by the minister. 2 The letter is given in Adolphus, Vol. IV., p. 341. Adolphus too shares in the general mistake as to the real authorship of the famous reply to it. 421 SHERIDAN Election Bard Hopkins 1 to oppose him My B r told me the D. of P told him y* at the meeting at Charles's some had wanted the P. to ask further explanation of Pitt but overrul'd din'd at Rich [mond] House warm disputes, between Crawford L^M and Rich[mond] Saw Sheridan at Night he came here tho' he ought to have been writing the Prince's answer Burke had wrote one he s d , all fire and tow L d Loughboro' one, all ice and snow and he was to make one out of Both it's to go to-morrow. 2 Duke of Rich abus'd Charles for running from L d North. D of D[evon- shire] s d he ran from a place not to one. 2 d of Sheridan staid here too late last night so y* he c d not get the writing done and copy'd by Mrs. Sheridan till two to day and was oblig'd to go to the Prince and with him to Charles Foxes, before he had sent the letter for Charles's inspection. When he came to Charles with the Prince he found [Thomas] Grenville and Fitzpatrick there, and the note he wrote here last night saying he should be ready by 9, pin[n']d up on the chimney Charles spoke crossly to him and s d something (he won't tell what), to which Sheridan answer'd I am as God made me and hate personalitys and they have been boudeing each other all day. The Speaker 8 is dead There has been a great quarrel between Willis and Warren and [it is said] that the Queen sent for Warren, and wanted him to sign the Bulletin that the King was better when he found him in exactly the same state of Madness only good humour'd, Warren was stout and it is s d the Queen pressed him to say what the K had said y l was mad, Warren hung off and she sent U Harcourt and Charlotte Finch to him to whom he told the expressions were too gross but that he had s d Dr. Willis slept every night with y e Queen. Mr. Grenville will be chose speaker. A hand bill was sent to Mrs. Fitzherbert telling her y* tomorrow 500 libels w d be publishd declaring the P had forfeited his right to the Crown by marrying her Sheridan call'd here at 2 in his way to the Book- sellers to suppress it. 2 d January. [The Speaker dead they mean to propose W m Grenville the H of C met only to adjourn to Monday to chuse a Speaker Sheridan did not get the letter copy'd from the Prince to Pitt till two Charles Fox angry with him and abus'd him for delay. D r Warren had a great dispute with Willis 1 There are several instances of this name, but I have not been able to identify this one. Lewis Hopkins, the " Welsh bard," died in 1771. 9 This important passage, conjoined with much other original evidence, proves that Sheridan wrote the celebrated Letter hitherto ascribed to Burke. Cornwall, on December 30, when the House adjourned for three days. Sheridan in the midst of all this business found time to write a most witty epitaph on him and his brother-in-law, Lord Grantley, who died on the same day. Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 83. Grenville was chosen in his stead. 422 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY and came to town to complain, for the King is only goodhumourdly Mad but not less so and they wanted Warren to sign Willis's ace* saying he was much better. This if possible to be brought before P* a hand bill sent this Eve g to Mrs. Fitz. alarm'd her much as it inform'd her, 500 libels ag 51 her were to be published tomorrow. Sheri went to stop it.] 3 d Saturday. Nothing particular. Sunday 4th January. Fred North told Bess [Lady Elizabeth Foster] a very good joke of L d Carmaerthen's somebody s d y' Charles Fox by bringing on the question of right had let the cat out of the bag. L d Carmaerthen s d I am glad of it for the Rats began to be troublesome. Somebody talking of the imposition of the Atkinsons, 1 one a dealer in Rum, the other in Wheat ; L d North s d one was a villain in spirit and y e other in grain. The Prince a good while with me, thinks that the Chancellor has lectur'd y e Queen for she was civil to Warren to day. A note came to him from y e D. of York saying that Jack Robinson was inclin'd to treat but that he sh d employ somebody it being below his dignity to speak to him himself. Grey said Burke calls L y Harcourt and L y C Finch receivers of the King's ribaldry. Sheridan came at night and said he had made it up with Charles. They all disapprove of treating with Jack Robinson the Prince and Sheridan had a little quarrel about it. Monday 5th. W m Grenville chose by a majority of 71. Grey and Sheridan think we were wrong to try it. Tuesday 6th Jan*. 2 The house up at 9. Mr. Loveden, an arm'd Neutralist, mov'd for a new examination of the Physicians, which Pitt at length agreed to this was necessary as y e chancellor had s d some days back in y e house of L ds y 1 the King was better , an amendment was proposd by Sheridan to have Hawkins y e Surgeon attend, superceded [sic] by one of Burke's which we were beat on and by this not being understood, Sheridan got the blame out of the house of our being beat very angry when the Duke of Bedford told him of it. 8 1 For these rich supporters of Pitt, cf."The Rolliad," passim. Jenkinson (afterwards Lord Liverpool) and the elder Atkinson are there called " the two Kinsons." 2 Pitt's motion on the restrictions, and Loveden's motion for a new inquiry, which was carried by 221 to 141. 3 So much, it will be noted, for Burke's sagacity and Sheridan's perpetual liability to being made a scapegoat. 423 SHERIDAN Wednesday 7th. The Duke of Rich, told Bess they shall carry the limitations by a smaller Majority than usual. I saw the Prince ; we have carry'd it in the City ag 51 the address to Pitt and a vote of censure. Sheridan writes me word from the Comittee, y* they wrangle every minute and divide 9 to 12 the Prince very angry with Fred Montague who by being away makes us 9 ag st 10 otherways Pitt must always have given the casting vote. Grey came in from y e comittee saw Charles who came out to drink some broth and heard him tell Warren he must bring him in, about the Queen I fancy. S r Lucas Pepys try'd to make the King better but fail'd. Willis's Examination favourable to us. Warren was examining by the last ace* I had from Grey at 12. We have lost y* address in y e bor[r]ough. Thursday 8th. [The commitftjee 1 going on strongly for us and great and important evidence coming out about the Queen. The Prince here the Duke of Richmond wants to see him now about plans he ought to have shew'd him months ago thinks he wishes to speak to him and means to have the Duke of York present. The D 55 of Gordon at her Assembly wanted Bess and I to go with her to y e house of Commons. I was taken ill this night and kept my bed was unable to hear news for 3 days but I make this out.] Friday 9. The commit [t]ee went on favourably for us, Sheridan was in a great rage and laid about him on friend and foe. He I believe inadvertently and against Mr Fox's wish, had mention'd Willis's famous letter and got rather into a scrape it sat till three Burke asked Willis what medecine he gave the King he s d , gum quiacum and Burke s d , gum quackeum I believe. Saturday 10. Great wrangling in the com[m] ittee ; they w d not allow Hawkins to be examin'd, being no Doctor ; and when We objected to young Willis being examin'd on the same ace' Pitt s d the Arch? of Canterbury had made him a Dr the day before. Fox too ill to attend but the examination goes on well for us. Willis s d Warren was a Spy and brag [g']d of being one at Kew. My Brother was here this morning by my bed the Duke desir'd me and I sounded him again about the L d Lieutenancy, and got him to speak to the Duke ; at Dinner at Carleton House the Irish patriots there drunk his icalth wishing the L d Lieutenant to be in the room and turning to my B r . Willis sleeping in the outward room at the commitee, Dreamtt he was at borne and hearing noise in the comittee room, thought it was his mad 1 For fresh examination of the physicians. It lasted a week. 424 THE DUCHESS'S DIARY people breaking loose, and calls out what y e Devil are you making such a noise for. Sunday n. I heard from my Sister, and afterwards from my B r that his mind was a little come round about the Lord Lieutenancy ; I got him to promise to call on the D of Portland tomorrow and then I got the D. of Devonshire to call on him, to prepare him and make him offer it again to my B r . The Duke came home late and told me it was offer'd to y e D of N d but he wish'd he had known ; preffering my B r ; however, as y e D of Northumberlands answer was not rec d he would press my B r again. I found y e Duke had misunderstood me and thought my B re mind quite chang'd, not only wavering and I made him write in y e middle of the night to the D of P. Nothing but treachery going forward Sheridan heres [sic] Grey has abus'd him, Grey is abus'd by the others. Monday 12. My B r calld late. The Duke of Portland was amazingly kind and seem'd, tho' wishing for Pelham, to be ready to indulge him about his secretary they must wait till the D of Northumberland to whom it is offer'd gives his answer but sh d he accept it I think they will still give him y e Ordinance and Ireland to my B r . My B r has heard a good character of Pelham, but thinking the L d Lieutenant & Secre y sh d go hand in hand, had rather have one, he knows more thinks of Mr. Graham y e Lawyer. Warren and the Chancellor were disputing whether the King w d get better or not. Warren said, I'll be d d if he does, and there you have it in y r own words. Tuesday 13. My B r was very much peak'd into his favourable intuitions about Ireland by L y Bay[h]am telling Lavinia 1 nobody of weight w d support our administration. Lavinia has taken into her head all manner of groundless and unwarrantable doubts of Mr. Pelham. L y George came to me, about an Inclination George has to be Lord of the Trea^ if it is offer'd him. I mention'd it to the Duke. Great private Treachery Sheridan here, and says L d John T[ownshend] and Stanhope, had made Tickel [1] think, that Grey and Lambton had abus'd him this was the old attack of Sheridan courting the Prince and encouraging the praise of him in the world and papers where Fox is abus'd. Tuesday [Monday 12.] I saw Grey he never had abus'd Sheridan to L d J T all he said, was that one night at Brookes's, he was desir'd by the Prince to send for 1 Lavinia, Lady Spencer, daughter of Lord Lucan, and an accomplished artist. 425 SHERIDAN Sheridan, to come to him. Grey sent down to the commitee but Sheridan was not there (I believe he was here y 4 night) and ye Prince asking Grey about it he sent for the Chairman he had employ 'd into the room, and when the Prince left he s d to L d J T & Fitz " I was anxious he sh d know I had sent le[a]st he sh d think that I was jealous of Sheridan's favour with him and had kept back the Message " : Grey went to the com [m]it [t]ee to clear it up with S. My B r was with the D of Portland and very much delighted with him. Sheridan shew'd us to night the hand bill announcing the Libel ag 5 * Mrs Fitz it is to be deliver'd in Sloane St Tomorrow. It is sad stuff. Wednesday 14. [Cetera desuttt.'] 426 APPENDIX IV LETTERS FROM SHERIDAN TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND HER SISTER, LADY BESSBOROUGH IV LETTERS FROM SHERIDAN TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND HER SISTER, LADY BESSBOROUGH PREFATORY NOTE. These letters are transcribed from the autographs formerly in the pos- session of Mr. Claude Ponsonby. It is difficult in the cases where addresses are absent to distinguish with certainty which of these were meant for the Duchess of Devonshire and which for her sister, Lady Henrietta Frances Duncannon, afterwards Countess of Bessborough. But whenever the initials " T. L." are used it is Georgiana who is addressed, while the initial " F." signifies her sister, who was equally gifted, more beautiful, and with Sheridan to the end. Some of the letters are addressed to them both, and there is one written jointly to the Duchess of Devon- shire and her close friend Lady Elizabeth Foster, whom the Duke married three years after Georgiana's death. W. S. (A) To Lady Bessborough [1788?]. Tuesday Night. I must bid '00 good night, for by the light passing to and fro near your room I hope you are going to bed and to sleep happily with an hundred little cherubs fanning their white wings over you in approbation of your goodness. Yours is the sweet, untroubled sleep of purity. Grace shine around you with serenest beams and whispering Angels prompt your golden dreams ! And yet, and yet Beware ! ! Milton will tell you that even in Paradise serpents found their way to the ear of slumbering innocence. Then to be sure poor Eve had no watchful guardian to pace up and down beneath her windows, or clear-sighted friend to warn her of the sly approaches of T's [PTownshend] and F's [PFitzpatrick] and W's [?], and a long list of wicked letters ; and Adam, I suppose, was at Brooks's! " Fye, Mr. S." I answer fye, fye, fye Lord D [uncannon]. Tell him either to come with you, or forbid your coming to a House so inhabited. Now don't look grave. Remember it is my office to speak truth. I shall be gone before your hazel eyes are open to morrow, but for the sake of the Lord D. that you will not suffer me to return. Do not listen to Jack's [J. Townshend's] Elegies, or smile at F's [Fitzpatrick's] epigrams, or tremble at C W's frowns, but put on that look of gentle firmness, of proud humility, and pass on in Maiden Meditation fancy free. Now draw the curtain, Sally. 429 SHERIDAN (B) To the Duchess of Devonshire : a long fragment of playful and mysterious self- exculpation . . . You ask me about coming, and I must not forget to tell you, which I was nearly doing, that I have both had a letter and seen him since. I brought his letter one day to town meaning to send it to you, but I did not write, but I will write again from Deepdene, 1 and send you that and another. I am not satisfied about M r . Spencer, but you may rely on my never thinking more of it as far as relates to him. What you will think odd is that I have had a letter also from him, but nothing about this, but, what is odder, it is accompanied by one from his mother, and, what is odder still, she wants to see me, and her motive, by his account, still odder than all. I left these letters too at Deepdene or I would send them to you, and if by the blessing of God you had been wise in the Times, I would have asked you what I ought to do. I ought also to tell you a Piece of a Political secret, but after such a volume, Ma'am, I think you will dispense with my telling anything more or even mentioning the Eclogue I have written for you called Callonius and Tamphosbine, in which there are some very pretty verses, I assure you. The character of the Shepherds, well discriminated, their com- munity of woe and hope, the boyish despondency of the one and the dis- criminating mirth of the other, the broken sighs and broken English, the apostrophe to Necker and the quotations from Tully, the State Papers, the Garter and the State Arcade, all are naturally introduced and are even ornamental without violating the simplicity of Pastoral responses. The character of Bess too, 2 but this reminds me of the unextinguishable enmity which at this moment rises in my breast against her never to be explained, never to be appeased. God bless you, T. L. 8 As for the other charge, my " wanting to make a great deal of some very slight and natural treachery of poor Tamphosbine's," never was anything so unjust I did not even know to what flagitious and unheard of lengths poor Tamphosbine had attempted to proceed, till you told me I and I shudder to think there can be such treachery in the world, natural or acquired ! 1 1 I am clear such men can have no peace of mind. But was I malicious or unfair about this ? Pray remember that what I wrote was on the table at D[evonshire] House, and left for Bess to finish at least I left the Story in safe hands. But I should not be in the least surprised to hear of some sort of jocose tale of this sort being made even about me : for it is a world alas ! in which Propriety of Conduct, and Purity and decorum of Sentiment are only taunted at and reviled 1 I must certainly seek some country, and there pass my disappointed life in praying for all your amendment, and | The Duke of Norfolk had lent Deepdene to the Sheridans in 1788-9. Lady Elizabeth Foster, the Duchess's inseparable companion. * Pet initials for the Duchess. 430 LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS AND HER SISTER deprecating the heavy retribution which I fear is in store for you. And now after all I will admit that it was very goodnatured in you to write to me again, and very wrong in me not to write before, but the truth is that I had got at one time so completely bewildered in every possible scrape of every description, that the obvious thing to many people would have been to lie down and die. And I could not write to you with pleasure then, tho' I always wish to hear from you. I had a letter from [illegible] when I received your's from Leicester, very envious. But why should you make any particular victory [?] for yourself if C. Greville comes with your Bridgemans ? I shall never think, let it come in whatever shape to me, that you have violated our League in anything you say, and it should be understood that you might talk of me in any way you like for any purpose, or I of you, only keeping faith to each other. As for C. G., though I think he would abuse me, I believe him to be very well-meaning if his meaning was of a sort that signified. (C) (i) To the same on the political outlook and the Duchess's speculations. Bromley Wed. evg 1790. I write you a line from here because since I wrote to you I have heard things from very good authority that make me think everything will look very Warrish even without news from Spain. 1 The Empress certainly is blustering, the K. of Prussia has actually marched troops, and there is very good reason to believe the French fleet or a part of it has sailed from Brest. There is very bad news from India. Lord Cornwallis thinks matters so critical that he does not come home, but will probably go to Madras where he has dismissed and disgraced Holland, the Governor, and Taylor, one of the Council, for neglecting everything necessary to oppose Tippoo, who has the country almost at his mercy. Lord M[ornington] told me you expected to see me, but I had called before I wrote. I was very glad to hear her say that you were in better spirits to-day and that Lady E. is so much better. Only once get yourself and her out of all scrapes, and if good Fortune has any good Nature and will do that, let us try her and tempt her no more. I think if B., who is the only one as far as I can judge, fit to be trusted or at least the best, was properly spoke to he would go still further on good grounds. I will tell you something he told me last night when I see you. He has now a written authority of yours on the subject in his desk which another Person gave up to him, and which he should give up. T. L., if you write to him tomorrow and think I can do any good, I will come early on Friday. 1 This refers to Pitt's wish to force the Empress of Russia to restore Oczakow to the Porte. 431 SHERIDAN (2) To Lady Bessborough [?] on the Russian imbroglio [1790 ?]. Tuesday Night Your letter made me happy and easy, but let me hear of no checks or Relapses, do you mind. Fox and Grey are just gone from me. I will speak if there is an opportunity, but I don't think there will be a good one. . . . There will be nothing to answer. . . . For, Ma'am, if the Empress can gain an ascendency in Poland and by commanding the navigation of the Dnieper and the Dniester get complete possession of the Black Sea, then, Ma'am, with the future connivance or assistance of the Emperor, she may certainly get actual Possession of Constantinople and the European Provinces of Turkey which is all that's necessary, and then, Ma'am turn the Black Sea into a Wet Dock, and floating down her Stores from the North, fit out such a fleet, when no one can peep at her, that out they will come to the Mediterranean swallow up all the States of Italy like larks; and at last a Russian Brigadier, may be quartered at Roehampton, 1 for aught I know, within these hundred years, so on your account, Ma'am, I am rather for the Balance of Europe. [To the autograph is attached a small slip of the same note-paper with the following : " I will not write now, for I am worse than melancholy. E. [Mrs. Sheridan] too is very unwell, she has been bled this evening, and I have not been out. I will write again in the morn."] (D) To the Duchess of Devonshire : a further Utter on his negotiations with Martindale* respecting her speculations [1790 ?]. I was quite convinced that I should have sent you volumes whenever Crawfurd should really go, and now I am in the greatest hurry possible so I shall reserve all I have to say for the Post ; and it is a great deal. Pray don't think me negligent about M[artindale], and I am afraid you have too, but I assure you, dear T. L., it has not been my fault. He is the most shuffling fellow I ever knew, and after repeated promises to send me every scrap of paper in a packet sealed up, he at last affected a qualm about the propriety of delivering these into my hands without an express order from you, which he said I had not ; and this is so far true, though I told him he must understand that the same authority on which he sent the bond was sufficient to justify his delivering up the rest. I could not shew him your letters authorizing me to get them, because they spoke of him in such terms. At last I told him how ill I thought he behaved and how unfair his trifling was, and that Lord Spencer and Mr. Coutts would apply to him. This I thought had more effect with him than his promises, 1 The Bessboroughs had a house there. 1 Martindale has been mentioned in the text as one who abetted the speculations of great ladies, and kept a faro table. 432 LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS AND HER SISTER and he says he will deposit the papers with either under two seals affecting a scruple that it would be unfair to you to trust them into anyone's hands on any other terms, or he offers to burn them in the presence of any of us upon a new doubt whether there might not arise some inconvenience to him, if they were not destroyed. I made him however promise to write a letter (which he has since sent me) disclaiming any remaining demand whatever on you, but whether he has done this in the way he promised I would not swear, as he sent it sealed. I enclose it however, and I should think there would be no further difficulty if you send him a peremptory order to deliver the papers under as many seals as he pleases. I must not stop to say a million of things I ought to say about other matters, but only [why] do you never write me [a] line ? There is one subject too I do most vehemently want to talk to you about though I am afraid but don't you be afraid, for it relates only to yourself and interests me only because it is so dangerous to you. But I will write you by the Post which will probably reach you before the Fish. 1 Your very faithful and obedient. She 2 is very well, but you will have letters of course. What do you do with all the fugitive Princes ? I never thought I should live to wish myself a Frenchman, but I would not hang the poor, old, foolish men. I will write tomorrow and to Bess. (E) Addressed " Duchess of Devonshire or Lady E. Foster" [? 1790]. I don't know whether you are all out, giddy, gay, and chirriping like Linnets and yellow Hammers, or sitting at home soberly like pretty Bantams and Peafowl on your Perches. Pray send me [a] Line, if you receive this, dear T. L. Dear Bess. I called today. (F) To the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Bessborough, "Friday, March 2, 1792." This is the sole surviving portion of the letter journal which in this year (that of his wife's death) Sheridan agreed to dispatch regularly to Georgiana and her sister, who had gone abroad. The speech to which he refers is one on "The Armament against Russia," in which Sheridan, on February 29, followed Whitbread (cf. Speeches, Vol. II., p. 93). Two very late days in the House of Commons and sitting up late afterwards have destroyed all the hours of the day, all the night, and all the morning. 1 This probably relates to Mr. Crawford, who was called " Fish " Crawford. 2 PLady Bessborough. s. VOL. ii. 433 F F SHERIDAN And now I return again to my journal which after breaking my last Promise, I will not again swear never to interrupt, but I am sure I never shall. Now I ought to renew my Complaints, {two words erased by the recipient] on your silence, but I will defer it till I get to Southampton, because I have a million of things to do before I leave town tomorrow. I again compare the time when you left of [f] writing with the time when you must have received my last, and I am sure your silence could not have been caused by your not hearing from me, but I must some day argue this with you once for all. I cannot bear the footing you want to put it upon yet [some words erased by the recipient"] do not be angry at my illustration of it. You will see that I was not serious never, never can I be so when I seem to utter a word like unkindness to you. My total incapacity of having a word like news to tell you continues. I am sure that instead of wishing it [? not] so, you must be more and more tired of many letters you receive from me. The Newspapers will tell you of our debates and divisions, if you care about them. Grey spoke uncommonly well, better much than ever. I spoke very well too, Ma'am, I know, but very late ; Whitbread and Wyndham, remarkably well. Their side [i.e., Pitt's'] execrably, except young Jenkinson, whom we all agreed to puff, to enrage Pitt, though in fact it remains to be found whether he has anything in him or not. I think he has, though Pitt made a miserable figure yesterday after Fox. But what is the good of it all ? Heaven bless you [words erased], Bagshot Sund. Morn. I came here very late last night with D r Moseley. He could not leave town till eleven so I kept my dinner engagement with Tickell. The party was Jack and Lady John Fitzpatrick, Adam and Richardson, Mrs. Tickell and her sister. 1 We had a sufficiency of sparring of course. Lady John, I thought, looked remarkably well, and she has rusticated herself into a trick of colouring at everything like a milkmaid, and she does it very becomingly. 2 Moseley is ready. I am taking him to see E. [Mrs. Sheridan], who is much better, because I want to decide about moving her. The last time Dame Frost threw her back for a time sadly and I find she concealed it from me. Southampton. Sund. Night. Moseley thinks very well of E. He returns early in the morn. I shall enclose this to Carrington by him that I may not miss a post and then journalise on [some words erased] . 1 Both of them Miss Leighs. Romney painted the second Mrs. Tickell several times before her marriage. She was a great beauty. Some years ickell's death she married a Mr. Worthington. 1 Lady J. Townshend was a divorcee and had been Mrs. E. Fawkener. 434 LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS AND HER SISTER (G) The same continued, Tuesday Night I wrote to you in rather good Spirits yesterday, for I like the quiet of this spot, and E. seemed much better, and I wrote in the morning when the gloom upon everyone's mind is lighter. But now I am just returned from a long solitary walk on the beach. Night, Silence, Solitude, and the Sea combined will unhinge the cheerfulness of anyone where there has been length of Life enough to bring regret in reflecting on many past scenes, and to offer slender hope in anticipating the future. [Nearly three lines have been here erased by the recipient."] There never has been any part of your letter that has more of my attention and interested me so much as when you have appeared earnestly solicitous to convey to my mind the Faith, the Hope, and the Religious Con- fidence which I do believe exist in yours. Accomplish this [two words erased] if you can, and if there is any true merit in convincing selfish incredu- lity, or reclaiming those who, tho' not quite hardened, can find no solace in seeking for truths they must dread . . . [the sentence is unfinished, and two words again erased at the beginning of the next], How many years have passed since on these unreasoning, restless waters, which this night I have been gazing at and listening to, I bore poor E., who is now so near me fading in sickness, from all her natural attachments and affections, and then loved her so that, had she died as I once thought she would in the Passage, I should assuredly have plunged with her body to the Grave. 1 What times and what changes have passed ! You [some words erased] what have been your sufferings 1 What has the interval of my Life been, and what is left me but misery from Memory, and a horror of Reflexion ? (H) The same resumed in May : Sheridan was now taking his wife in deep anxiety to the Hot Wells, Bristol. Nearly a whole page is thickly crossed out : from afew words remaining it seems to convey an explanation of his silence. The letter is apparently addressed jointly to the Duchess and Lady Bessborough. Speen-Hill. Thursday May 3d [1792]. . . . [so] grating to my mind to think or talk upon, and upon these it was no relief to my mind to communicate, and I appeared . . . [a line here erased} , which never was my motive. Why have I not written to you lately ? F. [? Lady Bessborough], I shall now prove what your regard for me has been and is. Forgive my silence, and write kindly to me when you receive this. In the most melancholy hours I 1 This refers to his elopement in 1772. 435 F F 2 SHERIDAN have ever known, for I never felt so without Hope on a point that interested us before, I find my mind turning towards you as the only creature whom I find it a relief to think of, or with whom it is an ease to me to communi- cate, or from whose words I can look for anything consoling or reconciling. O [? " T. L." erased], however negligent, mysterious or unaccountable my conduct may have appeared to you, let me now find that I am not deceived in the opinion I have of the unalterable kindness of your Heart and nature. I am writing to you on the Road to Bristol, while E. is in bed very, very ill eager to get there, and sanguine of the Event. But many glaring omens have told me our Hopes will be disappointed. I have been in long and great anxiety about her, flying from my Fears and yet hoping, one event safely over, that all would be well. 1 But this day se'nnight, every favour- able appearance exceeded our most sanguine hopes, since Friday when the infant was christened and she has been steadily falling back. Her impatience to get to Bristol made all delay impossible. I was to have followed her in a week, but yesterday she was so sunk and alarmed that she begged me not to leave her, tho' before, she had stipulated that I should settle my affairs in town, and I was only come with her to Maiden- head Bridge, so I returned to town for a few hours, and have overtaken her to-day in this place. Her friend, whom she loves best in the world, Mrs. Canning, I have prevailed on to accompany her and she is now with her. There never was in the world a more friendly act than her doing so. She has left her daughter and all her children whom she dotes on for this office. Poor E. feels such a difference in her conduct from her worldly Friendships, and in many ways her Society is the greatest help to her, and what no other Person could have been. Dear F., shall you I wonder think it selfish in me now to share so many gloomy thoughts and melan- choly moments with you as I must if I write to you ? (I) The same resumed a week or so later : endorsed, apparently by the Duchess, "Received Geneva June 21, 1792." Bristol. Monday Night. We got here safely yesterday, and she has borne the latter part of the journey amazingly well, and appears much better today. Dr. Bain, a young Physician lately settled here, and who came here himself in a consumption, is reckoned very skilful in these cases. 9 I have avoided asking him distinctly what he thinks, but I flatter myself from Mrs. 1 This refers to the birth of their little daughter Mary some two months earlier. a Dr. Bain remained ever afterwards Sheridan's doctor, and communi- cated the details of his last hours to Thomas Moore. 436 LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS AND HER SISTER Canning's manner, he does not think so ill of her as I feared. [Some words erased here.'] I do not feel as if I should pursue my plan of writing to you and sharing the melancholy moments I pass here, for the only time I am away from her at night I get into such gloomy fits that I can do nothing. If you were with me now, you would not think it necessary to bid me reflect or look into my own mind I stopt yesterday evening as we came over King's Down, while poor E.'s Chaise was going slowly down the Hill, and went to the spot where my life was strangely saved once. 1 It is marked with a great Stone cut by the man who, I remember, used to make a show of our broken swords, and a sleeve-button of mine, and the setting of her Picture which was broke on my neck, and placed where he found the blood. At this man's cottage, I remember, I got some water and I remember many thoughts that passed in my mind, believing, as I did, that I was dying. [Two words erased here] . . . What an interval has passed since, and scarce one promise that I then made to my own soul have I attempted to fulfil. I looked at the carriage that bore her down the same road, and it wrung my heart to think over the interval, the present and the too probable conclusion. My nerves are shook to pieces. The irregularity of all my Life and pursuits, the restless, contriving temper with which I have persevered in wrong Pursuits and Passions makes [some words erased, of which " errors " is legible] reflexion worse to me than even to those who have acted worse. God bless you. (K) The same continued. Thursday May loth. My dear [? " T. L" erased], I find it useless to think of writing to you anything but a repetition of the same course of symptoms, hopes, and apprehension. Each hour of each day has been exactly the same since I have been here. We all think she is getting better, and she is certainly much stronger. She drinks the Waters and goes on the Down twice a day, though the weather is very unpleasant. I see no soul, but get up very early and ride before she gets up. Lady Sarah Napier is here with Mr. Napier who is very ill but getting well. If E. continues as well as at present, I shall go to town for a few hours, for I have left things of great importance, as far as business and one's affairs are of importance, in most ruinous confusion, and just as all I have been about ought to be finally well settled. Monday May 13 th . She was so well on Saturday that I meant that night to have gone to town, but in the evening she grew very ill again and was so all next day 1 This and the following interesting recollections refer to his second duel in July, 1772, for Miss Linley's sake, with Mathews. 437 SHERIDAN and Monday. She wanted to receive the Sacrament. Ever since she has been brought to bed, she has turned her head almost wholly to think and talk and read on religious subjects, and her fortitude and Calmness have astonished me. She has put by any other contemplation. I am confident if she can recover, there never was on earth anything more perfect than she will be ; and to be different she says, to me for ever from what she has been makes her so seriously eager to live. But she cannot be deceived about the Danger of her situation. The affection and kindness of her words and manner to me make me more unhappy, and do not Comfort. Dear [erased, ? " F."], I know that either you or T. L. if you were to see her would be affected more than you would think it possible. Last night she desired to be placed at the Piano-Forte. Looking like a shadow of her own Picture, she played some notes with the tears dropping on her thin arms. Her mind is become heavenly, but her mortal form is fading from my sight, and I look in vain into my own mind for assent to her apparent conviction that all will not perish. I mean to send for my son, and she wishes for him. (L) The same continued. Sunday Night. Another dismal Day got thro', but a day of more alarm. I was called up at 4 this morning, a shocking sensation such a message is, George telling me that for three hours she had had a violent pain in her side. I went to Dr. Bain, he directed Leeches instead of bleeding, they have relieved her and she has been pretty well all day, but has not gone out. He has found fault this morning with her eating chicken for dinner which I could not prevail on her to desist from, and it has quickened her Pulse again but he thinks she shall have a good night. She would read none of the books I got her today, but we got Bain in the evening, and I read to her again. Wednesday Night Very poorly to-day. At two o'clock she was bled, and tonight she has put on a blister. Yet Bain does not seem to think so much of this attack. While she slept this morning, I rode to a place where I remember she made me drive her when poor M re Tickell was dying here. 1 It is a spot on the side of Brandon's Hill where she and her sister used to play when they were at a boarding-school close by. And I remember how bitterly she cried here and lamented her sister's approaching Fate. O [two words erased'], I cannot describe to you how sunk I am and how horrid the solitude of the night is to me. I now watch half the night in the expectation of being called for by some new alarm. 1 The first Mrs. Tickell, her sister Mary, died in 1787. 438 LETTERS TO THE DUCHESS AND HER SISTER Tuesday 22 d . [A word erased] one of the miseries of the Disorder is the uncertainty of the appearances. Although the week began so ill, before the end of it she was much better than since she has been brought to bed. If this will but last, we shall all have the greatest hopes. She frets herself at my not going to town on this business, so that tomorrow evening, I mean to set off when she goes to bed, and, stopping but a few hours in town, return before She is up on Thursday. I shall take this disjointed scrawl with me. I should have sent before, but I thought to have gone, and I heard T. L. was coming immediately. Yesterday finding herself so well and collected she received the Sacrament. She first wrote a long Paper to be given me by M rs Canning in case she should not recover. She said to her that she was grateful for the oppor- tunity of being able to do this, that she hoped to receive it back from her, but at all events it was a great ease to her mind to have done it. (M) To Lady Bessborough, dated " Iskworth, August 27th," and endorsed (pre- sumably by Lady B.) " Ostia, Sept. 12. 1792." At the endin the same hand are the words " 24^, /' 'ultima per sempre addio," but if Sheridan be meant this was not either her or the Duchess's last " farewell," for they constantly saw each other for some ten years onwards. Sheridan's letter was written about one month after his wife's death, and in the big house which he inhabited when Pamela and Madame de Genlis were his guests. [Some words erased] , is it not strange that hearing so little from you for so long a time, I yet own that your silence was not painful to me ? Even your letters would not have been welcome tho* I must know how kindly they would have been meant. Even if I could have seen you, I should have avoided you as yet. But I must think it fortunate that exactly as I began to feel a little hurt at your silence, and found my mind looking for the relief of your kindness and attention to me, I received your last short but most welcome letter. I will write to you now constantly, and now [some words erased], you cannot write too much to me. I shall know then that you are not estranged from me. And pray tell me a great deal, and everything about yourself. How strange I feel it to be that I should know so little. I will tell you all my Plans and what I mean to do when I have settled things I have been fortunately forced to give my attention to. I will say little of the past, when I have once sent you a melancholy detail I wrote on purpose for you. I exert myself in every way, and avoid remembering or reflecting as much as possible, but there are thoughts and forms and sounds that haunt my heart and will not be put away. \Some words erased], write to me now constantly. I entreat you do, I am sure you will. Pray remember me to dear T. L. Why are you separated ? 439 SHERIDAN (N) (i) To the same: a letter regarding a debate (probably 0/1802; the paper's watermark is 1801). Sheridan's hurried scrawl is addressed " L v Bessborough." past 10. Dear L y Bessborough I have done what I would do for no one breathing but you left the House while Fox was speaking, to answer your note. The debate will, I suppose, be very short when he sits down. He has spoken not only wonderfully well, but with the greatest possible dexterity, prudence, management, &ct, qualities he has not always at command He began with putting the House in the best possible humour with him, joking about the temporary cessation of hostilities from Pitt's friends, Canning and the like, and he has gone on conciliating the House more and more : taking the most judicious line too in abusing Bonaparte and his government and his " Acts." The first part of his speech, and that to which he will of course recur, was to enforce the propriety and necessity for the Amendment, which he did forcibly, and I daresay will conclude irresistibly, at least to most people's conviction, tho' it may make little or no differ- ence as to votes though indeed in this respect it will do some good with I think 3 or 4 persons. It has been hitherto a dry, dull debate not worth detailing to you. Canning's speech had nothing, I think, good in it, even in declamation ; and not even lively, which he generally is. Tom Grenville spoke tolerably well, but not very upon the whole a sensible, dull speech. He made rather an odd avowal in one part of it, saying that he saw nothing objectionable in the Amendment This raised a great cry of hear, hear, as you may imagine, on our part. I won't write another word. I have lost 5 minutes. [A word illegible ] Here's obedience, passive obedience with a vengeance. (a) Another to the same about a debate probably of 1803. I snatch a moment to obey your commands, half famished and ready to sink under noise, heat and fatigue. Grey has just moved the amendment after a very able, judicious, and argumentative Speech, in which he stated as the ground for his amendment, the impossibility of his acquiescing (under the present unexplained circumstances) in a vote which went directly and positively to assert that the War was unavoidable. He spoke with great perspicacity and force, and was most attentively listened to, which should be of itself a proof of his speech being uncommonly good, for he laboured under the disadvantage of rising immediately after one of the most brilliant and magnificent pieces of declamation that ever fell from that rascal Pitt's lips. Detesting the Dog as I do, I cannot withhold this just tribute to the Scoundrel's talents. I could not help often lamenting in the course of his harangue, what a pity it is that he has not a particle of honesty in him. He would be a great treasure if he had a 440 LETTER TO LADY BESSBOROUGH grain. Lord Hawkesbury began the business with a calm, temperate, and sensible speech and tho' I cannot say at all brilliant or satisfactory (and with bad taste too I thought in two or three of his stale quotations), [it] was upon the whole a judicious, imposing, and statesmanlike Speech. Erskine followed, agreeing and disagreeing, contradicting and confusing himself, and alternately entertaining and tiring and disgusting the House, and for the most part talking like the veriest Jackass that ever was heard He began by declaring that he was not nor ever would be the advocate and apologist for France, and before he ended his object seemed to be to persuade us that he would probably never again be employed as the Advocate of any Country or any individual, and that no one would ever think of giving him ten shillings to advocate any Cause upon Earth. Pitt raised the War[w]hoop most vehemently and eloquently and the cry was loud . He took many sly opportunities, as you may imagine, of ridiculing poor Tom Erskine, whose nonsensical contradictions he treated with a degree of scorn and Contempt that was palpably not quite so palatable to the learned Counsel as they were relished by the House. Lord Castlereagh, upon Grey's sitting down, rose to speak. I got up immediately to go to dinner, in the middle of which I write to you. What Castlereagh has said, I have not enquired, nor do I mean to do so. Here's Submission to your Will 1 ! We shall divide, I suppose, about 50 against 400. I can't send you the words of Grey's amendment, but the substance of it is to leave out all the words that follow the assurances of supporting the dignity of Crown and Country &ct and adverting continually to the concluding part of the declaration which intimates a desire of cultivating and improving whatever opportunities may offer for procuring peace. I am half drunk and can write no more perhaps had better not have written half so much. House of Commons. Monday. (O) To the same, most probably from Sheridan, January, 1809. It is addressed to " The Countess of Bessborough at Lord Morpeth's, Park Street." It gives the news of Sir J. Moore's death. Brooks's ii o'clock. Lord Paget is come, they say. The French attacked us embarking, and Moore killed, your dear Baird lost his arm, and almost killed. Junot commanded his troops embarked and coming away. [in pencil] Only about 400 killed. 441 APPENDIX V BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SHERIDAN'S WORKS PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SHERIDAN'S WORKS PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED [In compiling this catalogue, which has been brought up to date, the writer is indebted to Mr. John P. Anderson's British Museum Bibliography contained in Mr. Lloyd Sanders's "Life of Sheridan" ; but that list, though admirably compiled, and a necessary foundation for a complete catalogue, is now imperfect, and furthermore it has not always distinguished the skits on Sheridan's plays from the plays themselves. Among the books apparently absent from the British Museum Catalogue are Richardson's Contemporary Edition of the Warren Hastings Speech in the House of Commons, the Paris Edition in English of " The School for Scandal" (1789), one of the skits on that comedy (1784), and the Philadelphia edition (1799) of " Pizarro." All the printed works missing in Mr. Anderson's Bibliography are marked by an asterisk, and an asterisk also marks the unpublished works of Sheridan's which are unknown. All of these are here catalogued for the first time.] (i) PUBLISHED WORKS. (A) Editions of Sheridan's Collected Plays and Works. *The Rivals, Duenna, and School for Scandal, in an edition of " Plays." i2mo. Dublin, 1786. Sheridan's Dramatic Works. i2mo. London [? 1793]. *Do. 8vo. The first edition of his collected plays, containing " The Rivals," " Duenna," " School for Scandal," and " Critic," prefaced by a "Life," separately, with date 1797. Millar, Law & Cater. London, 1798. * Another edition identical with the last, but undated; the paper bears water-marks 1796 and 1797. [From these water-marks this edition appears to be the earliest state of this first collected publication.] The Works of the late Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 2 vols. London, 1821. *Dramatic Works of Sheridan. Baudry. Paris, 1824. Dramatic Works with some Observations. 8vo. Greenock, 1829. Moore's Collected Edition of Sheridan's Works. London, 1833. Leigh Hunt's Edition. London, 1840. Another of the same. London, 1846. Bohn's Edition, with a " Life " by "G. G. S." 1848. Ludwig Ganter's Edition, with " A Critical Sketch." Stuttgart, 1854. *Dr. J. P. Browne's. London, 1873. Stainforth's. London, 1874. *Chatto's " Complete Works," omitting the speeches with a " Life." London, 1874. Henry Morley's Edition (part of Morley's "Universal Library"). 1883. *R. G. White's. 3 vols. New York, 1883. 445 SHERIDAN Dramatic Works of Sheridan and Goldsmith (Cassell's " Miniature Library of the Poets"), a vols. London, 1884. Ditto, ditto. 1886. Brander Matthews's Edition of Sheridan's Comedies. Boston, 1885. *Ditto, ditto. London, 1885. Another. "The Rivals" and "The School for Scandal." (Cassell's "National Library.") London, 1886. Dramatic Works. (Cassell's " Red Library.") London, 1887. Another edition of the Plays. (Bohn's " Select Library.") London, 1889. Another edition. London, 1890. *Plays. (Macmillan's " Library of the English Classics.") 8vo. London, 1900. *Dramatic Works. London, 1891. *Dramatic Works (with a short account of Sheridan's Life by G. G. S.). 8vo. a vols. London, 1902. *Sheridan's Humorous Plays. (Virtue's " Turner House Classics.") London, 1902. *Sheridan's Plays, now printed as he wrote them (with his mother's unprinted comedy, " A Journey to Bath "). (Edited by W. Fraser Rae, with an Introduction by Sheridan's great-grandson, the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava.) 8vo. London, 1902. *Plays. (" United Library.") iamo. London, 1903. *Plays. (Dent's " Every Man's Library.") i2mo. London, 1906. Dramatic Works. (Frowde's "Oxford Edition," illustrated, with an Introduction by Joseph Knight.) 8vo. London, 1906. *Plays. (Hutchinson's " Popular Classics.") i2mo. London, 1906. *Dramatic Works. (Frowde's " World's Classics.") i2mo. London, 1907. *Plays. (Sisley's " Panel Books," with a coloured frontispiece.) i2mo. London, 1907. The Beauties of Sheridan (selections from Poems, Dramas, and Speeches), by A. Howard. London [? 1834], (B) The Love Epistles of Aristaenetus, translated from the Greek into English metre by H. S. [viz., N. B. Halhed and R. B. Sheridan], with notes. London, 1771. 8vo. Do. Second edition, corrected. London, 1773. The Love Epistles of Aristaenetus, translated by R. B. Sheridan and Mr. Halhed (Erotica, etc.). London, 1854. *Do. [In Chatto's " Complete Works," above listed.] 1874. Do. Reissued. London, 1883. (C) (i) *Clio's Protest; or, "The Picture Varnished," in folio form. [? 1771. Only a few pages of this edition have come under the writer's notice, and are in his possession.] 446 PUBLISHED WORKS In "The Rival Beauties" (1771, as appears from date of the Preface) [con- taining Sheridan's satire, pp. 5 to 17, following the verses which it answered by Miles Peter Andrews, and succeeded by a reply from another hand (possibly Fitzpatrick's) ]. London and Bath. Clio's Protest ; or, " The Picture Varnished," with other Poems. London. 8vo. 1819. [" Asmodeo," i.e., R. B. Sheridan.] [The "other poems" include " Verses to Laura," which were written in 1795, and remain in the Sheridan MSS.] *The same (in Chatto's " Complete Works," above listed). 1874. (2) *" The Ridotto of Bath, an Epistle from Timothy Screw, Under-server to Messrs. Kuhf & Fitzwater (Bath), to his Brother Henry, Waiter at Almack's (London)." In the Bath Chronicle of October 10, 1771 (reissued in ballad form). In Vol. I. of "The New Foundling Hospital for Wit" (1784). In " Clio's Protest " (1819). (3) (a) An Ode to Scandal, to which are added " Stanzas on Fire." [? 1772.] London, 1819. [And cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 104, and the Appendix to Vol. I., where the Ode is transcribed.] (b) A Pump Room Scene (being a prelude to "The School for Scandal," cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 211). [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 279.] (4) [? 1772] *"The Kiss" (an Anacreontic). [Sheridan MSS., and pub- lished in "The Festival of Love" (containing Sheridan's name as a contributor). Tomkins. London, circ. 1800.] (5) [ ? J 772] *" I gave my Love a budding rose." Impromptu (published in "Sheridan's Dramatic Works"). Baudry. Paris, 1824. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 83.] (6) * ? The Elopement of the Graces (in " The Muses and Graces on a Visit to Grosvenor Square." Being a Collection of Original Songs Sung by the Maskers at Mrs. Crewe's Elegant Ball, Tuesday, March 21, 1775. J. Bew. London, I775). 1 (7) *The General Fast : a Lyric Ode. By the Author of " The Duenna." London, 1775. [Cf. ante, App. to Vol. I.] (D) The Rivals. (Produced at Covent Garden Theatre, January 17, 1775.) " A Comedy as it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent Garden. London. Printed for John Wilkie, No. 71, St Paul's Church-Yard, 1775." " Price one shilling and sixpence." First edition with Preface and Errata, Prologue and Epilogue. The catchword " Epic " on the last page is an error. [Some of the later editions have " Finis " on the last page (p. 100).] Second edition. 8vo. Wilkie. London, 1775. Third edition. Ditto, ditto. 1776. *Fourth edition. Ditto, ditto. 1776. 1 These verses seem, by their style and occasion, to be Sheridan's. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 518.] 447 SHERIDAN Another edition. 8vo. (" Collection of New Plays," Vol. IV., pp. 143 to 282.) Altenburg. 1778. Fifth edition. 8vo. Wilkie. London, 1791. *Another edition. Dublin, 1791. *Sixth. Wilkie. London, 1798. Another. i2mo. (" Dramatic Works.") London [1793 ?]. *Another. 8vo (together with " The School for Scandal," "Critic," and " Duenna," in the first collected edition of his plays). Millar. London, 1797. Another. 12010. (Mrs. Inchbald's " British Theatre," Vol. XIX.) London, 1808. Another. (" Modern British Drama," Vol. IV.) London, 1811. Another. i6mo. (Dibdin's " The London Theatre," Vol. I.) London, 1815. Another. 8vo. (Oxberry's " New English Drama," Vol. I.) London, 1818. Another. 12010. (Oxberry's Edition.) London, 1820. Another. 8vo. ("British Drama," Vol. I.) London, 1824. Another. (In " Dramatic Works.") Greenock, 1829. Another. 12010. (^Cumberland's " British Theatre," Vol. II.) London, 1829. Another. (In " Penny National Library," Vol. V.) London, 1830. Another. (In Moore's " Collected Works.") London, 1833. Another. (In Sinnett's " Family Drama.") Hamburg, 1834. Another. (In Leigh Hunt's Edition of " Dramatic Works.") London, 1840 Another. (In Bohn's Edition of " Dramatic Works.") London, 1848. (So too in the successive editions of "Dramatic Works" and collected editions of Sheridan's Plays and Works.) Another. 12010. Duncombe's Edition of Plays (Vol. XL.). London, 1850. Another. i2mo. Lacy's " Acting Edition of Plays " (Vol. XXXIII.). 1858. Another. 8vo. Truchy's Edition. Paris, 1861. Another. 8vo. (In " Library of English Literature," Vol. I.) Gouda, 1885. Another. 8vo. Illustrated by M. Gregory. London, 1890. *Another. 8vo. (In " Plays," with an Introduction by E. Bergh and illustrations on Japanese vellum.) 2 vols. New York, 1901. *8vo. The Rivals (and School for Scandal). Introduction by Augustine Birrell, illustrated by E. J. Sullivan. 8vo. London, 1896. Another. i6mo. (" Temple Dramatists.") London, 1897. *Another. 8vo. (In " Plays," with an Introduction by E. Bergh, illus- trations on Japanese vellum.) 2 vols. New York, 1902. *Another. i8mo. (" Ariel Booklets.") Putnam, 1902. *Another. (Heinemann's " Favourite Classics," with " School for Scandal" and " The Critic," edited by E. Gosse.) London, 1905. *Another. 8vo. (Introduction by Brander Matthews, illustrated.) Hurrap, 1907. 448 -Another. (With "The School for Scandal.") (" Pocket Library," illus- trated.) Macmillan, 1908. (E) St. Patrick's Day ; or, The Scheming Lieutenant : a Farce. (Produced at Covent Garden Theatre on May 2, 1775.) [Of this trifle no contemporary edition is ascertained. There are editions of it in Cumberland's "British Theatre," Vol. XX VIII., London (1829), and in Lacy's "Acting Edition of Plays," Vol. CXIV., London (1879). Also in the various late editions of Sheridan's complete works and dramatic works already enumerated.] (F) The Duenna ; or, The Double Elopement : a Comic Opera. (Produced at Covent Garden Theatre on November 21, 1775.) *The Governess. Dublin, 1777. (Imposed on the public as "The Duenna," and acted for seventy-six nights.) [?] "As it is acted at the Theatre, Smoke Alley, Dublin." Dublin, 1786. The Duenna (first authorised edition). 8vo. London, 1794. Songs, etc., in " The Duenna." 8vo. London, 1775. l Ditto. Eighth edition. Ditto. Ditto, 1776. Ditto. Fifteenth edition. 4to. Ditto, 1776. Ditto. Twenty-fifth. 8vo. Ditto, 1778. Ditto. Twenty-ninth. 8vo. Ditto, 1783. *The Duenna. i2mo. (In a book of " Plays.") Dublin, 1786. *The Duenna. 12010. Dublin, 1797. The Duenna. Another edition. 12010. Dublin, 1794. Another. 8vo. London, 1794. * Another. 8vo. (Together with "The Rivals," " School for Scandal," and " Critic," in the first collected edition of his works.) Millar. London, 1797. Other editions in Mrs. Inchbald's "British Theatre," Vol. XIX., London (1808) ; Oxberry's " New English Drama," Vol. II. (1818) ; " London Stage," Vol. I. (1824) 5 Duncombe's Edition, Vol. XXXIX. (1825); "British Drama," Vol. II. (1826); Cumberland's "British Theatre," Vol. II. (1829) 5 " Penny National Library," Vol. V. (1830) ; " The London Theatre," pp. 7895 (1834) ; " British Drama," Vol. IV. (1865) ; and see " Collected Works." PARODIES ON "THE DUENNA." (i) *8vo. La Gouvernante ; or, The Duenna. A new Comic Opera, etc. London, 1779. 1 Many of these songs figure separately in song-books of the time, and the germ of " What bard, O Time, discover," as mentioned in the text, appears in a set of verses written during Sheridan's honeymoon. Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 429. s. VOL. ii. 449 G G SHERIDAN (2) 8vo. The Duenna: a Comic Opera. London, 1775. [Mr. Anderson's Bibliography gives this as if it were the play, but it is another political (anti-Northite) skit on it by Israel Pottinger. It was printed for E. Johnson and illustrated by a satirical vignette.] *8vo. Linley's Music to "The Duenna." London [? 1773]. (G) 4to. The General Fast: a Lyric Ode, etc., by the Author of "The Duenna." London, 1775. Outside the British Museum copy no other imprint of this rare work hus been forth com ing. (H) A Trip to Scarborough. (Produced at Drury Lane Theatre, February 24, 1777.) "A Comedy . . . altered from Vanbrugh's Relapse ; or, Virtue in Danger, etc." London, 1781. 8vo. Another edition. I2mo. (Mrs. Inchbald's " Modern Theatre," Vol. VII.) London, 1811. Another. i6mo. (Dibdin's " London Theatre," Vol. XIV.) London, 1815. Another. 8vo. (Oxberry's " New English Drama," Vol. XX.) London, 1824. Another. 8vo. (" London Stage," Vol. II.) London (1824). Another. lamo. (Cumberland's " British Theatre," Vol. IV.) London, 1829. Another. 8vo. (" Penny National Library," Vol. V.) London (1830). Another. 8vo. (" The Acting Library.") London (1834). Another. i2mo. (Lacy's " Acting Edition of Plays.") London (1875). [And see both Bohn's and Chatto's Editions of " Collected Works"~\ (I) The School for Scandal : a Comedy. (Produced at Drury Lane Theatre, May 8, 1777.) 8vo. Dublin, J. Ewing. [? 1778 9.] [This is the first known edition, as appears from its being the only early one with an errata slip. Mr. Anderson gives the date as 1777, but in the text of the first volume of this work (p. 585) a newspaper authority for the date of Sheridan's sister's transfer of the MS. copy to Ryder, the Dublin Theatre manager, is given.] i2ino. Dublin, 1781. [This has sometimes been sold at auction as the " first" edition.] i2mo. Fourth edition. Dublin, 1782. *i2mo. Ditto. Dublin, 1783. i6mo. (In a volume of Plays," Theatre Royal, Dublin.) Dublin, 1785. *Ditto. Ditto. Ditto, 1786. [This volume contains two illustrations.] i2mo. " Fifth edition." London, 1788. 8vo. "As it is acted at the Theatre, Smoke Alley, Dublin" [no printer's name or place]. 1793. *8vo. (together with "The Rivals," "Critic," and "Duenna," in the first :d edition of his plays). Millar. London, 1797. 450 PUBLISHED WORKS *Die Schule der Verleumdung. (A German version by Schroder.) 1785. *Les Deux Neveux (giving the Auction and Screen Scenes). Paris, 1788. 8vo. L'Ecole du Scandale; ou, Les Mceurs du Jour. Par Monsieur Sheridan. Traduite en Fran9ais par M r Bunel Delille, Avocat du Parlenient de Paris. Galabin. London, 1789. *L'Homme Sentimental (a Paraphrase). Paris, 1789.' *i2mo. (In English.) Printed for Theophilus Barrois, Rue Hautefeuille. Paris, 1789. *i2tno. (Edition not stated.) E. Powell. London, 1798. v;: 8vo. ("Taken from a correct copy.") Dublin, 1799. I2mo. (Captain F. Schneider's "Collection of English Plays," Vol. I.) Copenhagen, 1807 and 1812. :;: 8vo. (Edition not stated.) Murray. London, 1823. *8vo. (Baudry's " Dramatic Works of Sheridan.") Paris, 1824. 8vo. (" The London Stage," Vol. IV.) London, 1824. 121110. (Duncombe's Edition, Vol. I.) London, 1825. 8vo. (" British Drama," Vol. II.) London, 1826. 8vo. (Cumberland's " British Theatre," Vol. XIV.) London, 1829. 8vo. (" Penny National Library," Vol. V.) London, 1830. 8vo. (" The Acting Drama.") London, 1834. 8vo. (Sinnett's " Family Drama.") Hamburg, 1834. 8vo. (Webster's " Acting National Drama," Vol. VII.) London, 1837. i2mo. Ditto. Paris, 1852. i2mo. (Lacy's " Acting Edition of Plays," Vol. XXVII.) London, 1856. Another. 8vo. Leipzig, 1861. Another. 8vo. Gottingen, 1863. Another. 8vo. (" British Drama," Vol. II.) London, 1864. *8vo. School for Scandal (with " The Rivals "). [Introduction by Augustine Birrell; illustrated by E. J. Sullivan.] Macmillan. London, 1896. *i6mo. School for Scandal (Preface and notes by G. A. Aitken). ["Temple Dramatists."] Dent. 1897. Another. *i8mo. Putnam. 1902. Another. *i6mo. (" Ariel Series.") Ditto. Ditto. Another (with "The Rivals"). i2mo. [" National Library."] Cassell. 1904. i8mo. School for Scandal, The Rivals, and The Critic. [" Favourite Classics."] (Edited by E. Gosse.) Heinemann. 1905. I2mo. School for Scandal (with "The Rivals"). ["Pocket Library"; illustrated.] Macmillan. 1908. Another. *4to. With coloured illustrations by Lucius Rossi. No date. [And cf. above in " Collected Editions of Sheridan's Plays and Works ."] 1 Shortly afterwards appeared " Le Tartuffe des Mceurs," acted at the Theatre Fran9ais. Subsequent French versions were " Portraits de Famille," " Valsain et Florville,' and " Les Deux Cousins." In the eighteen-thirties two melodramatists collaborated in a fresh adaptation, "L'Ecole du Scandale.'' 451 G G 2 SHERIDAN PARODIES ON "THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL." (1) 121110. The Real and Genuine School for Scandal. London, 1783.' (2) *i2mo. The School for Scandal, " Never before Printed," " for G. Lystcr," etc. London. 1784. (K) " Verses to the Memory of Garrick, Spoken as a Monody " [by Mrs. Yates] " at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane." 4to. First edition (with a frontispiece engraved after Loutherbourg). London (T. Evans), 1779. 4to. Second edition [and many more editions in the same year]. London, 1779. i2mo. Another edition. "The Tears of Genius: a Monody on the Death of Mr. Garrick." Dublin, 1780. (L) The Critic ; or, A Tragedy Rehearsed : a Dramatic Piece in Three Acts. (Produced at Drury Lane Theatre, October 30, 1779.) First edition. 2 8vo. (With an engraved title-page and a dedication to Mrs. Greville.) T. Becket. London, 1781. Second edition. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Third edition. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Fourth edition. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. *Fifth edition. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. *Sixth edition. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. *Another. 8vo. (Together with " The Rivals," " School for Scandal," and " Duenna " in the first collected edition of his plays.) Millar. London, 1797. * Another edition. Ditto. Ditto. (No date.) Another edition, izmo. Dublin, 1785. Another. (Cawthorn's " Minor British Theatre," Vol. VI.) 1807. -Another. 8vo. (Engraved title.) London, 1808. *Another. 8vo. (Engraved title.) London, 1811. Another. 8vo. (" Modern British Drama," Vol. V.) London, 1811. Another. i6mo. (Dibdin's "The London Theatre," Vol. VIII.) London, 1814. Another. i2mo. (Mrs. Inchbald's " Collection of Farces.") London, 1815. Another. 8vo. (Oxberry's "New English Drama," Vol. IX.) London, 1820. Another. 8vo. ("The London Stage," Vol. I.) London [1824]. Another. 8vo. (" British Drama," Vol. I.) London, 1824. Another. i2mo. (Cumberland's " British Theatre," Vol. XV.) London [1829]. In Mr. Anderson's list this looks as if it were an edition of the comedy. 1 Without the half-title it is impossible to distinguish a first edition from a second of this play. Both have the same number of pages (98). Some of tbe later editions have more, but the sixth has also 98 pages. 452 PUBLISHED WORKS Another. 8vo. (" Penny National Library," Vol. V.) London [1830]. Another. 8vo. ("The Acting Drama," pp. 27 38.) London, 1834. Another, izmo. (Lacy's "Acting Edition of Plays," Vol. VIII.) London [1850]. Another. 8vo. (" British Drama," Vol. III.) London, 1865. * Another. i6mo. [Dent's "Temple Dramatists."] (Preface and Notes by G. A. Aitken.) London, 1897. ^Another. i8mo. (With "The School for Scandal" and "The Rivals.") [Heinemann's " Favourite Classics," edited by E. Gosse.] London, 1905. [And cf. the Editions of Sheridan's Collected Plays and Works at the beginning of this Bibliography.'] (M) " I have a silent sorrow here." 1798. [Song introduced into Thompson's adaptation of Kotzebue's " Stranger," and separately published with music by the Duchess of Devonshire, cf. ante, p. 277]. Also various emendations of " The Stranger." (N) Pizarro, a Tragedy in Five Acts, taken from the German Drama of Kotzebue, and adapted to the English Stage by R. B. Sheridan. [With Dedication to his second wife.] (Produced at Drury Lane Theatre, May 24, 1799.) 8vo. Ridgway. London, 1799. *i2mo. "Genuine edition." Dublin, 1799. *8vo. " Third edition." London, 1799. *8vo. Edition printed on " fine paper." London, 1799. *i2mo. "Genuine edition." "As performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. Taken from the German Drama, etc." Printed for H. & P. Rice, No. 16, South Second- Street, Philadelphia, 1799. 8vo. Twentieth edition. London, 1799. 8vo. Twenty-fourth edition. London, 1800. 8vo. Twenty-sixth edition. London, 1800. 8vo. Thirtieth edition. London, 1814. Another edition. 8vo. (" London Stage," Vol. I.) London, 1824. [This play is also to be found in Oxberry's " New English Drama " (1824); "British Drama," Vol. II. (1826); Cumberland's "British Theatre," Vol. I. (1829); "Penny National Library," Vol. V. (1830); " The Acting Drama," pp. 95 in (1834) ; Lacy's " Acting Edition of Plays," Vol. XXVII. [1856] ; and among the Collected Plays in Moore's. Bohn's and Chatto's Editions.] Another edition. 8vo. (With Historical Notes by Charles Keen.) London (1856). Another. 8vo. (" British Drama," Vol. I.) London 1864. 453 SHERIDAN PARODIES ON " PIZARRO." (1) *8vo. Sheridan and Kotzebue. The Adventures of Pizarro, with "Criticisms on the Play." Fairburn. London, 1799. (2) 8vo. A Critique on the " Tragedy of Pizarro as represented at Drury Lane Theatre with such uncommon applause, to which is added a new Prologue," etc. London, 1799. [Sheridan shared in the adaptation of '" The Stranger," by B. Thompson, from Kotzebue (1798) [see above]. He also assisted several Drury Lane productions, including Tickell's " The Camp " (1778), his " Carnival of Venice" (1780), and Burgoyne's "The Heiress" (1780). Further, he contributed to an English adaptation of Sedaine's " Richard Cvciir dt Lion " (1786), and he helped in the arrangement of several pantomimes : "Harlequin Hurly Burly" (1786) ; "Robinson Crusoe" (1781) ; Pilon's "Thelypthoros" (1781); apparently in Cobb's "The Doctor and Apothe- cary " (1788), and in " The Forty Thieves," which was published under his name and G. Caiman's the younger, his collaborator, in Duncombe's Edition, Vol. II., 4/0, London (1825). Among published compositions misattributed to him are " Crazy Tales " (really by J. H. Stevenson) in verse (London, izmo, 1825).] (O) Prologues, Epilogues, etc. And cf. post, p. 458. (1) Prologues to "A Trip to Scarborough" (1777), to Savage's "Sir Thomas Overbury" (1777), and to Lady Craven's "Miniature Picture" (1781). (2) Epilogues to *Dryden's " Tempest " (revived in 1777), to Hannah More's "Fatal Falsehood" (1779), and to Captain Ayscough's adaptation of Voltaire's "Semiramis." (3) In his own plays : Prologues (two) to "The Rivals" ; to " A Trip to Scarborough," and to " Pizarro." Epilogue to "The Rivals." (4) *"A Portrait": Dedicatory Verses to Mrs. Crewe presented with a manuscript copy of "The School for Scandal," and published in the more modern editions of his plays. (P) Speeches and Political Pamphlets. 8vo. Speeches of the late Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan, several corrected by himself. Edited by a Constitutional Friend. 5 vols. London, 1816. *8vo. Ditto in 3 vols. Bohn. London, 1842. [This is the more convenient edition.] 8vo. Speeches. (" Modern Orator," Vol. I.) London, 1845. 8vo. The Legislative Independence of Ireland vindicated in a Speech of Mr. Sheridan's on the Irish Propositions in the British House of Commons, price a British sixpence. Dublin, 1785. 8vo. The Speech of R. B. Sheridan in bringing forward the fourth charge (in the House of Commons) relative to the Begums of Oude. London, 1787. 454 PUBLISHED WORKS: UNPUBLISHED *8vo. The Genuine Speech of Mr. Sheridan delivered in the House of Commons on a charge etc. against Warren Hastings Esquire, late Governor-General of Bengal, for Extortion, Perfidy & Cruelty to the Princesses and other Branches of the Royal Family of Oude : Faith- fully reported [apparently from shorthand reports]. W. Richardson. London (1787). Svo. Speech before the High Court of Parliament on summing up the Evidence on the Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esqre. London, 1788. *8vo. A Short Memoir of the Life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan, etc., to which is added A Report of his Celebrated Speech delivered, etc., in Westminster Hall. Booth. London, 1816. Svo. Speeches in the Trial of Warren Hastings. Edited by E. A. Bond [from Gurney's original shorthand notes] . Vols. I. and IV. London, 18591861. 4to. A Comparative Statement of the Two Bills for the better Government of India brought into Parliament by Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt, with explanatory Observations. London, 1788. (Three editions are known of this year.} Svo. Speech in the House of Commons on the 2ist of April, 1798, on the motion to address His Majesty on the present alarming state of affairs. London, 1798. Svo. Speech of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esquire, in the House of Commons in reply (December 8, 1802) on the motion for the Army Establishment for the ensuing year. London, 1802. Svo. Ditto, " New edition." 1803. Svo. Ditto, The Speech of R. B. Sheridan in the House of Commons, December 8, 1802, on the Army Estimates, etc. Birmingham (1802). (2) UNPUBLISHED WORKS. (Those hitherto unknown or unnoticed are marked with an asterisk.} Prose. 1769 1770. Sketch for a play founded on "The Vicar of Wakefield." *A skit for the use of Angelo in the character of a conjuror at a Pantheon masquerade. Essay on Prosody (in the form of a critique on Dr. Foster's " Genius of Pope "). [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 265.] *Essay on Patriotism. [Cf. ante, ibid., p. 266.] Letter to the Duke of Grafton. Letter to " Novus " [in defence of Lord North] . 1770 1771. Hernan's Journal [the first number, ^several drafts for which remain among the Sheridan MSS.]. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 303.] Ixion, a Musical Burlesque, in collaboration with Nathaniel Brassey Halhed. [The original form of this extravaganza in prose and verse was entitled "Jupiter," cf. Sheridan MSS. and Eg. MS. 25935.] 455 SHERIDAN [?] *Dissertation on Ancient and Modern Pastoral Poetry [mentioned in Halhed's letters of this date]. *An "Epistle from a Cauliflower to Christopher Anstey, Esquire," together with "An Apology to Mr. Artichoke" (Sheridan MSS.). [Cf. ante, Vol. I., pp. 280, 281.] 1772. -Notes on Mathematics, Geography, History, Latin, Horticulture, etc. *An Abstract of the History of England (lost}. [Mentioned in Sheridan's Letters to Thomas Grenville.] Criticisms on the Works of Sir William Temple (lost, but partially given by Moore). *Remarks on Blackstone (Sheridan MSS.). *A recital of the circumstances attending Sheridan's attachment to Miss Linley (lost}. [Mentioned in Sheridan's Correspondence with Grenville.] 1774. *Critique on a "Flying Piece of a Political Writer about the Present Ministry " [.., Lord North's] (Sheridan MSS., published in Woodfall's Advertiser). [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 467.] The Sanctuary [an essay on the Education of Women, addressed to Queen Charlotte] (Sheridan MSS.). [*Unpublished portions are given in this work.] Comments on Lord Chesterfield's Letters. [*Unpublished portions are given in this work.] 1775. A Projected Reply to Dr. Johnson's "Taxation, no Tyranny." [*Unpublished portions are given in this work, cf. Vol. I., p. 474.] [1777 (or perhaps earlier). A Tract on Irish Absentees, and the Rough Draft for a portion of it. For analysis and :;: new matter cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 598.] 1777. *A Memorandum on Naval Affairs (Sheridan MSS.). 1779. Five contributions to The Englishman. [*For the first time analysed, explained and supplemented in this work, cf. ante, Vol. I., pp. 589598.] *A mock " Proclamation," " assisted by Gibbon." [Cf. ante, Vol. I., P- 597-] 1784. [?] *" The House that George built." [A political skit repeated next year in " The Rolliad."] 1786. *A Romantic Fragment on a Wreck. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 94.] 1787. *Appraisement of a Gig bought by the Hon. J. Townshend of the Right Hon. R. Fitzpatrick. [Sheridan MSS., and cf. ante, p. 92.] [?i788] "The Journal of the Right Honourable Henry Dundas." [First printed in "The Album of Streatham ; or, Ministerial Amuse- ments," but afterwards included in later editions of " The Rolliad."] 1788. *A Letter to Thurlow on the Regency question. 1789. *The Letter to Mr. Pitt [on the Regency question]. [Cf. Appendix, P- 393-] A note for this exists in the Sheridan MSS. Memorial for the Prince to the King about the Queen. 456 UNPUBLISHED WORKS: PROSE: VERSE *Letter for the Prince to the King. [Cf. ante, p. 196.] 1791. *Fragments of a Rejoinder to Burke's " Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs." [Cf. ante, p. 212.] 'Ajeu d'esprit on " The Venerable Madam Drury." [Cf. ante, p. 279.] 1799. --Draft for an unpublished song in " Pizarro." [Cf. ante, p. 273.] 1800. *Some Political Nonsense-verses. [Cf. ante, p. 305.] 1802. A Memorandum on the State of Parties. [Cf. ante, p. 299.] A Letter to the Prince about Grey. [Cf. ante, p. 353.] 1802 1803. :; 'A Letter for the Prince to the King. [Cf. ante, p. 301.] 1803. *A number of Epigrams about the election of Joseph Haydn as a member of the French Academy. 1805. *An Epitaph on Nelson. >; '-A Letter for the Prince to the King on the Catholic question. [Cf. ante, p. 324.] 1811. *The reply for the Prince to the Representation of both Houses of Parliament on the Regency Restrictions. *A Letter to the Prince on the Regency question. [Cf. ante, p. 338.] *A Letter to the Prince about Grey. [Cf. ante, p. 353.] 1812. *A Letter for the Prince to Mr. Perceval. [Cf. ante, p. 341.] *Part of the Prince's Letter to the Duke of York. [Cf. ante, p. 349.] Verse and Drama. 1770 1771. *Sundry " Anacreontics," including " I ne'er could any lustre see '' (afterwards introduced into " The Duenna "), " The Kiss," and " I gave my love a budding rose." [See " Published Works," (C), (3) and (4), and cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 277.] *" Epigrams." [These are only known by a passing mention in Halhed's Letters.] *A fragment concerning Poets. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 305.] "Fragment of a Satire on Poetasters, addressed to " Philo," by whom is meant Miles Peter Andrews. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 313.] *Three " Pastorals." [Sheridan MSS., and cf. ante, Vol. I., 295, 296.] 1770. " Cherub of Heaven." [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 193.] 1771. Crazy Tales (in rhyme (?)). [Mentioned in Halhed's Letters, and not the "Crazy Tales" by John Hall Stevenson, reissued and mis- ascribed to Sheridan in 1816.] Stevenson was Sterne's eccentric friend. 1772. " Dry be that tear." [The earliest MS. draft for this lyric is to be found in Add. MS. 29764, f. 57. There are copies in the Sheridan MSS., and a version was published before 1806, in "The Festival of Love." It was repeated in another collection of love-poems in 1827. Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 273.] *" Shall my Eliza to the buds and trees." [Addressed to Miss Linley. Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 370.] " Uncouth is this moss-covered grotto of stone." [" The Grotto," cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 371.] 457 SHERIDAN Several songs afterwards included in " The Duenna." "Think not, my love, when secret grief." [Published during 1798 in the play of "The Stranger," with music by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.] [? 1772] *Verses on " Poor Lucy." [Cf. ante, App. to Vol. I.] [ ? ] *" Heroick Epistle and Postscript." [Mentioned in a letter to him from Linley evidently of this date.] 1773. *"On Eliza's ceasing to sing." [Cf. App. to Vol. I.] Two songs afterwards introduced into "The Duenna," one of them "Teach me, kind Hymen " being the nucleus of "What bard, O Time, discover." *" We too each other's only pride." [Introduced into " The Foresters," cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 541.] [? J 774] *Scene from a bacchanalian fragment. [Cf. Add. MS. 26036, and 29764, f. 71 ; and cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 480.] 1775. Fragment of " A Wild Drama" [or, " A Drama of Devils " ; unpub- lished portions are given in this work ; cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 478]. Verses on a Woman's appreciation of Poetasters. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., P- 544-] [ ?I 775J Fragment of Verses on " Windsor Castle." [Cited Moore, Vol. I., P- 338.] 1777. '-Three Scenes of "The Statesman," a Comedy. [Cf. Sheridan MSS. Eg. MS. 25939, and ante, Vol. I., p. 537.] " The Foresters," a Romantic Drama. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 539.] *" Near Avon's ridgy bank there grows." [Cf. ante, Vol. I., pp. 370, 520.] A Rhymed Letter from one London Woman of Fashion to another. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 547.] [? 1777] Verses on the Death of an Avadavat. [Cf. ante, Vol. II., p. 98.] 1778. Some touches to Tickell's " The Camp." [? 1779] " Of that same tree which gave the box." [Fragment on Death, cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 278, . 2.] 1780. Satirical Epitaph on Brooks's. [See ante, Vol. I., p. 545.] 17801781. Notes for a Comedy to be entitled "Affectation." [Sheridan MSS., and cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 611.] [178?] " King Arthur, a Fairy Opera." [Eg. MS. 25937, and ante, Vol. I., p. 481.] [178?] *"The Governor" [?] "A Musical Afterpiece." [Eg. MS. 25937 ; a song from this" Melancholy, friend to Grief "also remains among the Sheridan MSS., cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 7.] *Scenes of an Italian Tragedy. [Sheridan MSS.] h " Renaud d'Asti," an Historical Tragedy. [Eg. MS. 25937.] [178?] *A Dramatic Proverb [lost]. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 480, n. 2, and Add. MSS. 29764, f. 72.] [178?] *" An Unfinished Sketch" of a Play founded on Suckling's "The Goblins/' [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 482.] 458 UNPUBLISHED WORKS : VERSE AND DRAMA 1781. *Three Songs (cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 443) for Tickell's " Carnival of Venice." 1781. *Some touches to the Pantomime of " Robinson Crusoe." [? 1783] " If fortune to thee treasures gave." [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 427.] 1784. Some Political Squibs for the Westminster Election. [Cf. ante, p. 62.] [? 1786] Fragment of an Epilogue beginning "The Campus Martins of St. James's Street." [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 546.] *Fragment of an Epilogue concerning Female Gamesters. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 545-] [ ? ] *Some Political Epigrams in " The Rolliad." 1785. *Some touches to the Pantomime of " Harlequin Hurly Burly." 1786. *Some touches to Burgoyne's play of " The Heiress." [? 1786] Elegy on his wife's Avadavat. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 481.] *Verses on a jaunt to Richmond with the Bouveries and the Crewes. [Sheridan MSS.] *Some touches to the play of " Richard Cceur de Lion." 1789. Satirical Epitaph on Mr. Speaker Cornwall and his brother-in-law, Lord Grantley. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 83.] 1792. *Fragment of Verses addressed to the Duchess of Devonshire. [In the author's possession.] *A Pastoral. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 539, and ante, App. IV. (b).] " No more shall the Spring." [A lament on Mrs. Sheridan's death.] [Cf. ante, p. 228.] 1794. *" The Glorious First of June." [An Operetta in honour of the victory. The dialogue was written by Sheridan and Cobb. The performance was given for the widows and orphans of the com- batants, and 1.300 were netted. Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 610.] *795- *Verses " To Laura " [included in " Clio's Protest " (1819)]. [Cf. ante, p. 446. These verses are an elegy on a kinsman of the second Mrs. Sheridan, killed in action.] 1797. *" To Three fair Ladies in England." [Verses addressed to George Ellis at Lille. Cf. ante, p. 93.] [? 1799] *A Fragment of a set of verses addressed to the Duchess of Devon- shire at Bath. [Sheridan MSS.] [?i8oo] " The Waltz : an Apostrophic Hymn." [Cf. ante, p. 266, . 3.] [? 1800 1806] Various Album Verses addressed to Lady Ann Hamilton and Others. [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 317; and the Verses on " My Trunk," "Lady Jane," and "Mr. Bigg," cited by Moore, Vol. II., pp. 477, 478.] Verses addressed to Lord Howe, " Never mind them, brave, black Dick." [Cf. Moore, Vol. II., p. 479.] 1811. " In all humility we crave." [A lampoon on Grey and Grenville in the Regency imbroglio. Cf. ante, p. 336.] [? 1814] *" Alas ! how quickly joy is past." [Cf. ante, Vol. I., p. 8.] 459 APPENDIX VI A NOTE ON SOME SHERIDAN PORTRAITS VI A NOTE ON SOME SHERIDAN PORTRAITS SHERIDAN'S likeness was taken by most of the celebrated artists of his day, though it need not be pointed out that others paid them. Reynolds's well-known portrait (which, however, only stereotypes one of Sheridan's aspects) was painted in 1 789. Of this there are several replicas and variants, one in the Garrick Club, another (the one engraved in this work) at Frampton Court, and others again in engravings for contemporary and succeeding books. A drawing, attributed with high probability to the same master, is reproduced in Mr. Rae's biography, and an oil-painting (in the pos- session of Mr. Horace Pym, of Brastead) which presents yet a fresh aspect of Sheridan as a young man. It gives an unusual impression of ease and cheerfulness, quite free from that dash of pugnacity and hint of suspicion that marks some others; and Reynolds limned Mrs. Sheridan more than once, as has been noticed. An oil study for the head of her as St. Cecilia is now in the possession of her descendant's husband, Colonel Hall Walker. Romney painted Sheridan on several occasions. The fine portrait engraved in this work appears for the first time, and with regard to its resemblance it should be remarked that the features entirely tally with a miniature by Cosway in Miss Beare's collection. Another genuine Romney portrait was sold at Christie's in April, 1895, and still another in 1903, while one was disposed of at Robinson and Fisher's so recently as 1908. The " Muskett " portrait (mentioned in Fulcher's Life of Gains- borough, p. 213, as in possession of J. S. Muskett, Esq.) seems really to be a Romney. At Mr. Muskett's death it passed to his son-in-law, Colonel Unthank, of Intwood Hall ; an expert described it to the late Lord Dufferin as a beautiful picture and an undoubted likeness. It was previously exhibited in one of the Royal Academy Winter Exhibitions as a Romney. Gainsborough, too, often depicted him. There is the Peel portrait, which emphasises Sheridan's smartness as he stands habited in the garb of the Prince's club, wearing buttons impressed with the royal feathers. A full-length portrait of Sheridan by Gainsborough also was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1783, and became the property of the Equitable Assurance Society. Gainsborough too painted a picture of Sheridan with his wife and child, which eleven years since belonged to Mr. Jardine, of Liverpool ; and the portrait of their son Tom, which remains in possession of the family, and was exhibited in 1815 during Sheridan's lifetime at the British Institute. Another, attributed to Gainsborough, was in New York in 1896. Gainsborough, naturally enough, often painted Mrs. Sheridan and the Linley family. The Knole picture of Mrs. Sheridan and her brother Thomas was early in the possession of the Dorset family, while a pastel replica of it still hangs at Frampton Court. The portrait, now belonging 463 SHERIDAN to Lord Rothschild, of Mrs. Sheridan seated on a bank came from Delapre Abbey, while another of her, which belonged to the late Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, was, if I mistake not, once the property of the Sheridan family. There is another of her (full length) seated under a tree, which once belonged to the Viscountess Clifden, and still another, which in 1898 was owned by Major Shuttleworth. One of the most beautiful is the familiar picture of Miss Linley and her sister Mary (Tickell) now in the Dulwich Gallery. Hoppner, too, painted Sheridan several times and his second wife at least twice. There is some difficulty in identifying one of his portraits of her husband. The fine example exhibited in 1907 at the Burlington House Winter Exhibition (and previously reproduced in "The Creevey Papers") seems, apart from pedigree, not indisputable as a portrait of Sheridan, though it is quite likely that it may be authentic. The writer has an old engraving, evidently a version of this portrait, but he has seen another illustrating an old theatrical magazine with the words " M. Fawcett " (the actor) underneath. This, however, does not amount to proof positive, since these magazines constantly took the portraits of others for their purpose. A good Hoppner portrait was sold at Christie's during 1909. The crayon by Russell, now in the National Portrait Gallery, does not carry complete conviction to the author's mind. There was a great resemblance between Sheridan and his friend, Joseph Richardson. The portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, which appears in this work and is the property of the husband of Sheridan's great-great-grand- daughter, Lady Stracey, cannot fail to impress the reader, and it would be interesting to learn what other presentments Sir Thomas made of Sheridan and his belongings. He certainly drew the Linleys. His paint- ing of William Linley as a boy is familiar, while a crayon of another Linley belongs to the Dulwich Gallery, though it is not publicly exhibited. Cosway made miniatures alike of Sheridan, his wife, and her sister, Mrs. Tickell. Robert Edge Pine may also have portrayed Sheridan, for a second portrait at the Garrick Club, presented by Sir Squire Bancroft, seems somewhat in his manner ; and of course Beach and other pupils of Reynolds are likely to have tried their hand. Painters of the Drury Lane actors might be expected to limn him ; Zoffany certainly painted Mrs. Sheridan. Ozias Humphry, also intimately connected with Sheridan and the Linleys in their youth, must surely have taken his portrait, as he certainly did his first wife's. The author owns a likeness of the young Sheridan in chalks and water-colour (now reproduced in this work) which some have attributed to Gainsborough, others to Rowlandson or Russell, but it seems more probable that this is the work of Ozias Humphry. This picture was given by Sheridan to an old servant. The portraits that illustrate contemporary magazines and books are very numerous, and some of them are equally dubious. An early one in a Westminster Magazine of 1782 is hardly recognisable ; it may be compared to a coarse and disfigured on of his wife which appeared earlier. Later 464 SOME SHERIDAN PORTRAITS ones by Corbould, Lochee, and others to adorn other compilations, literary or theatrical, are merely conventional. A better and rarer example by the Irish artist, Hickey, is reproduced in this work. A hideous engraving, after a miniature of him shortly before he died, exists ; also one by Clint, after a good sketch of him about the same period ; memorial verses accompany it. There are many doubtful portraits of Sheridan which need not be discussed, and he figures in several groups, such as the Wheatley water-colour referred to in these pages, and in the big picture of the House of Commons, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. The caricatures are legion ; they are all by political opponents, and with few exceptions, represent him as a blotched and bloated Silenus. S. VOL. II. 465 H H ERRATA. VOL. II. Page 2, note 2, for " Mr." read " Mrs." Page 5, note i, for " of" read " from." Page 37, line 13, /or " Behind" ratf " Behold." Page 97. The note-reference should be transferred to the word " Love," line 10, p. 98. Page 202, line 23 ^ for "Payne" read "Paine." [Tom Paine, of "The Page 208, note 3 j Rights of Man."] Page 305, note i, add apostrophes to " Ardens" and " Roses." Page 320, note i,for " Elliot" read " Eliot." Page 379, line 12, for " Next morning" read " Without delay." Page 381, line 24, for " Earl" read " Earle." Page 420, notes 2 and 3 should be reversed. Page 434, line 26, insert comma after " Lady John." Page 434, note i,for " Leighs" read Leys." Page 454, line 5 (and wherever else the pantomime is mentioned), the date of the first performance of "Harlequin Hurly Burly " should be 1783, not 1786. The boy Grimaldi made his first appearance at Drury Lane Theatre in it. He gratefully recognised Sheridan's kindness. .* For " Anne," Dowager Lady Townshend, "Audrey" should be read. And in Volume I., p. 79, for " grandmother," read " the mother." 467 H H 2 CORRIGENDA AND ADDENDA TO INDEX. Page 471, under " Archer," delete " the." Page 474, under " Bright," for " Kotzebue " read " Sheridan." Page 476, under " Burke," delete the last two lines but one. Page 477, under " George Canning," delete reference to " Esto Perpetua," and substitute " allusions to Sheridan's early interest in Canning, i. 55, ii. 386." Page 478, under " Stratford Canning (George Canning's uncle)," insert "in reference to R.B.S.'s letters to, ii. 82" ; and insert at end " and Sheridan's truancy, ii. 93." Page 487, under " E.," delete the first heading and add to the second " On R.B.S.'s dying hours, ii. 382." Page 489, /or " Falkland" read " Faulkland." Page 490, for " Faulkland " read " Falkland." Page 490, ist col., last heading. The Indexer has mistaken the forenames ; the " P " only should be retained. Page 490, under " Fitzpatrick," add " Probable Author of Pindar's Answer to Clio's Protest, i. 307." Delete from " Secret Service " up to " death." After " at Woburn " insert " (1803)." Page 491, under " Ford, Captain,"/or " Richardson" read " Richard." Page 509, for "play " read " character in She Stoops to Conquer, by." Page 512, under heading " Norfolk Street," for " R.B.S." read " The Linleys." Page 520, before " Roman Father" heading insert "Romantic Fragment, by R.B.S., i. 95." Page 528, line 24, before " sarcasm " insert " romantic instinct, i. 95 " ; under " dwellings," delete " Norfolk Street." Page 529, under " Letters," add at end, " To his son Tom in indignation at the Whig leaders, i. 70, ii. 348." Page 532, line 6, after " et seq.," insert " letters on the Grey-Grenville episode, i. 70, ii. 348 ; " Page 533, under sub-heading " unpublished," before " 117" insert " 95," INDEX The nitials R.B.S. in ihis Index represent Richard Brinsley Sheridan. ABBEY, The. of Kilkhampton, satirical epitaph in, on R.B.S. and Drury Lane, i. 53o,n.i Abercorn, Marchioness of, and R.B.S., i. 498 Abercorn, Marquis of, Pitt on his demand for the Garter, i. 159 ; R.B.S.'s nickname for, i. 605 Abercromby, Sir Ralph, Proclamation to the Dutch, R.B.S.'s mot on, i. 17 Abingdon, Earl of, i. 17; and the Regency the Protestant view, ii. 420 Abington, Mrs., actress, ii. 62,n.i, 535; Dr. Johnson's preference for, i. 549 ; the first " Lady Teazle," i. 559,n.2, 578, 579, 580, 584 Absentees, Essay by R.B.S., i. 117, 592, 598, 601 Accent, R.B.S. on, i. 266 Accomplished Fools, The, play by Steele, i- 495 Act of Settlement, as affecting the Prince of Wales's marriage, ii. 203 Adair, Sir Robert, i. 97 ; Fox's emissary, in Russia, ii. 19, 199; R.B.S.'s quarrel with, i. 89,*!. 2 ; and The Rolliad, a correction, ii. 88,n.i Adam Bede, a literary pretender to, i. 577 Adam, Mr., friend of the Linleys, i. 332, n.2 Adam, William, friend of the Prince, 334, 339, 344, 434 ; duel with Fox, i. 89, n.2; ii. 2d D'Eon, i. 170; friendship with the Sheridans and Linle)'s, i. 230, 233,n.2, 262 ; R.B.S.'s fencing bout with, i. 98, 11.2 ; at Isleworth, i. 527, n. 2 ; and De Loutherbourg, i. 531 on Lady Hamilton as the Linleys' ser- vant, i. 441 ; on Lacy, i. 525-6 ; on princely potations, i. 141-2 ; on R.B.S.'s mother, i. 230 ; on R.B.S. and his funning, i. 263 Angelo, Henry, and the Sheridans, i. 262, 389; his wife, ii. 74,n.i ; on Mathews' skill in fence, i. 382 ; on Paumier, i. 386 Angelo, Kitty, and the Sheridans, i. 262 Anglo-Irishmen, i8th century, i. 102 " Angry Boy," the, in Jonson's Alchymist, R.B.S.'s political reference to, i. 16, ii. 15, i6dvn.i Annual Register, passim ; obituary in, of Sir J. W. Payne, ii. 4O7,.i ; verses by R.B.S., on Mrs. Crewe'sball, i. i, 5i9,.2 ; satire in, on Bath, i. 202, ft. i; verses in, by Mrs. Sheridan (i), i. 76,.i Anstey, Christopher, and his verses on Bath, i. 196, i97<5-otes, 199, H.I, 200, 271, 277, 507 Anticipation, by Tickell, i. 4,n.i, 442 Anti-Jacobin, The, Canning's, ii. 87, 293, n.2', cited on R.B.S., i. 55; quizzes in, of "All the Talents," 325 Anti-Thelypthora by Cowper, i. 54,.4 " Antonio " (Duenna), i. 508 Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, by Burke, ii. 202, R.B.S.'s in- tended reply, democratic note in, i. 77, on plagiarism, i. 84, n.i Appendices to Vol. I. : Ode to Scandal, full text, i. 618-22 Poor Lucy (verses), full text, i. 623-4 470 INDEX Appendices to Vol. I. continued General Fast, The, a Lyric Ode (with dedication to George III.)i i. 624 et seq. Appendices to Vol. II. : I. Letters from Mrs. Sheridan from Harrow to Alicia LeFanu (nee Sheridan), ii. 390-3 II. Prince of Wales's answer (by R.B.S.) to Pitt's letter (1788), ii. 393 et seq. III. Diary of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, ii. 399-426 IV. Letters from R.B.S. to the Duchess of Devonshire and her sister, Lady Bessborough, ii. 439-41 V. Bibliography of R.B.S.'s Works, pub- lished and unpublished, 445 VI. Note on some Sheridan Portraits, ii. 463 Apology, by Churchill, i. 607, Arbuthnot, John, at Bath, i. 204 Arcadia (Sidney's), R.B.S.'s delight in, i- 95. 403 Archdall, Richard, Harrovian, i. 254 " Archer, the," and " Falkland," i. 490 Arden, Pepper (later Lord Alvanley), ii. 305, M. i ; on Fox's India Bill, ii. 48, 49 Argyle, Duke of, and R.B.S.'s distress (1816), ii. 381 ; at his funeral, 386 Arisaig, i. 213 " Armed Neutrality," i. 591, ii. 4i2<5-M.i, 4i7n. i ; R.B.S.'s threat to impeach, i. 179 ; in The Rolliad, ii. 91 ; on R.B.S., panegyric on Mrs. Fitz- herbert, ii. 1 18, and on his public spirit (1811), i. 38; on restric- tions on Irish trade, ii. 75,w.2 Auction scene (School for Scandal), i. 556, 564 d>- H.I, French uses of, 582 Austen, Jane, novels of, Bath references in, i. 198 Austria, position of, 1794., ii. 250 Ayscough, Captain, play by, R.B.S.'s epilogue, i. 516 B BACCHANALIAN songs in The Duenna, i. 42, 5o6,w.i, 509, 576, .2 Bacchanalians of the i8th century, i. 136 et seq. Badi ni , author of libretto of L a Governante, i. 5II.M.2 Baddeley, as "Moses" (Scliool for Scan- dal), i. 579 Badminton, early home of the Linleys, i-434 Ba.srshot, the Prince at, ii. 405 et alibi Bailiffs, R.B.S.'s methods with, i. 58-60, 90 Baillie, Dr. attending R.B.S., ii. 377 Bailly, J. S., Mayor of Paris, and Burke's invective, ii. 205 Bain, Dr., the Sheridans" medical atten- dant, i. 139; ii. 221, 381, 436 d^ n.z et seq. ; R.B.S. saved from arrest by, ii. 380 ; at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 ; on R.B.S.'s de- votion to his dying wife, ii. 223 Baird, Sir David, wounded, ii. 441 Baker, Sir George, ii. 420, and the mad King, ii. 173-4 <~n.i, 404, 412 Baker, William, and the Barrack system, ii. 26o,n.i Balloons, i8th century craze for, i. 171 Balls, i8th century, rudeness at, i. 315 Balzac's Peau. de Chagrin, analogy in to R.B.S., i. 71 Bancroft, Sir Squire and Lady, revivals of R.B.S.'s plays by, Rivals, i. 487,*!. i, 498,n.i ; School for Scandal, i. 584 Bank of England, suspension of cash pay- ment, R.B.S.'s speeches and sayings on, i. 16, I7.H.2, 91, ii. 254 dvn.i 471 INDEX Bankes, - , M.P., ii. 54,-' " Banna's Banks," old tune, i. ig.n.i Bannister, - , an actor, 48i,n.i Bannister, Saxe, editor of Thomas Sheri- dan's (lyth century) treatise, 1. 211, H. 2 Banshees, Sheridan family, i. 75, 2o6,n.2 Bantry Bay, intended French landing at (1796), ii. 255 Barbauld, Mrs., writer for children, i. 178 Barber, Tlie, of Seville, by Beaumarchais, i. 576 ; an invective against calumny, i. 166 ; preface, on the comedy of common life, i. 486, on improbabilities, i. 501, on petty critics, i. 494 ; ruse in, similar to that in R.B.S.'s St. Patrick's Day, i. 503 Barclay, Sir R., i. 45.-3 Barnett, William, Mathew's second, in second duel, i. 376, 382 ; chal- lenge brought by, i. 377, 378, 381 ; his account of the duel, i. 380 & n.i(i), 383,*.!, 386, 387 Barrack system, denounced by R.B.S., ii. 245, 26odvn.i ; supported by Windham, ii. 245 Barre, Colonel, ii. 6,.i ; and Pitt, ii. 70, 156 ; tears of, i. 133 Barrere, Stanhope's collusion with (1794), i. II46-M.2 Barrington, Sir Jonah, on R.B.S.'s bio- graphers, i. i.n.i Barrois, Theophilus, bookseller in Paris, Barry, Spranger, actor, education of, i. 226 ; and Garrick, i. 244,n.3 ; the actor, persuasiveness of, i. 56, -3 ; rival to T. Sheridan (5), i. 241 Barrymore, Lord, his kinsmen and their sobriquets, i. 169; theatrical amusements, i. 168 Barsanti, Miss, actress, i. 499 Barthelrmi, foreign minister, ii. 404 Bastard, Mr., M.P., ii. 95; and the Prince's " right" to be Regent, ii. 4i7,n.3, 418 Bastille, fall of, ii. 201, 206 Bath, amenities, i. 198-9, 201 et seq. ; architecture, i. 194-5 ; assembly rooms, i. 182, ig5&-n.i,&- see T he Ridotto; bachelor 1 selysium, i. 201 ; the baths, i. 200 ; beau- ties, doggerel on, i. 306 et seq. ; the Linleys at, i. 436 et alibi, their property in, ii. 272^.3; critics at, i. 200 ; death of Mrs. Ogle at, ii. 264,w.i ; excite- ment at the Sheridan-Linley elopement; Mathew's conduct, i. 349 et seq. ; the hotel of he i8th century, some guests, .. 194 et seq.; inns of, i. 200; libraries, shops, galas, i. 201 ; Bath continued its Masters of the Cere- monies, i. 196; in novels, i. 196 & n.2, 198 ; purveyors, i. 200 ; references to, in Shakespeare's sonnets, i. 204; its roll of renown, i. 204 &n. 2, 205; society at, i. 196 et seq., 201 et seq. \ and the writers, i. 198 R.B.S.'s debut, i. 182 ; his friends made there, i. 181-2 ; its influence on his life, i. 269 et seq. ; his plays performed at, Rivals, i. 487, School for Scandal, i. 581 the Sheridan family at, i. 246, the father's lectures and pupils, i. 181 Bath Abbey and its associations grave and gay, i. 195-6, 201 Bath Chronicle, The, ode in, in favour of Elizabeth Linley's elopement, 350; on R.B.S.'s duels, Bath Characters, by Peter Paul Pallet, Mathews in, i. 199, n.i Bath Easton Urn, The, i. 202, 513 Battle of Hastings, The, by Cumberland, i- 549 Battiman, Mrs., lady-fencer, i. 172 " Bayes " and " Puff" contrasted, i. 606 Bayham, Lady, ii. 425 Beattie, James, and Dr. Johnson, i. 249 Beau Brummell, ii. 361 ; his father and Tickell, i. 442 Beau Nash, Wesley's meeting with, i. 196 Beauchamp, Lord, i. i6o,n.4 Beauclerck, Lady Diana, artist, i. 434 Beaufort, Duke of, i. 434-5 Beaufort Buildings, London, home of Dr. R. Chamberlaine, i. 240 Beaufoy, - , M.P., on T. Sheridan (5), i. 242-3 Beaumarchais, P. A. C. de, analogies in character and writings with R.B.S., i. 6<&-n.i, 10, 36,n.4, 115, 130, 165-6, 342, 366.H.2, 503, 506, 533- 553. 576, 582 (& H. 2; contemporary epithet for i. i.n.i ; plagiarism of, i. 19, 20; plays by, see Figaro, Barber of Seville ; Voltaire on, i. 5 ; on " Clarissa Harlowe," i. I28,n.i ; on tears and laughter, i. 5 Beauties, The, of Administration satire, on George III., ii. 8,n.3, 9, M.I, I7,n.2 ; on Fox's oratory, ii. 39, n.2 ; on North's Scottish pro- motions, ii. 28, n.2 Becket and his book-shop, Club at, i. 454, ii. 87, 92, 93 ; relations with R.B.S.,i. 59 Bedchamber Plots, Georgian and Vic- torian, ii. 350, 360, 362, 364 Bedell, Bishop, translator of Scriptures into Erse, i. 209, and Denis Sheridan, ib. 472 INDEX Bedford, 5th Duke of, Whig host, ii. 320, 365 ; patron of T. Sheridan (5), i. 241-2; R.B.S.'s relations with, and Drury Lane, i. 33-4, 530; and the Regency, App. III. vol. ii., 399 et passim; story of the King's madness, ii. 406 ; and the Thanet trial, ii. 290; bequest to Fox, i. 153 Bedford, 6th Duke of, pall-bearer at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 Begums of Oude, ii. 38, 128 ; Burke's championship, ii. 68, 122 ; the case against, ii. 129 et seq., 154, the East India Company's attitude, 128 et seq. the ques- tion as affecting Hastings, 129 et seq.; R.B.S.'s speeches on and references to, i. 8, 42^.5, 43>'3,9i) ii- 96. 128, 130 etseq., 147 et seq., 169-70, effect on hearers, ii. 127-8, 147-9, printed editions, ii. 125, 126 & n.i, a copy discovered by the author, 126-7 ; the ladies' ingratitude, i. 122 &-n. i Belgrave, Lord, R.B.S.'s corrections of, " Belinda " (Old Bachelor), i. 551, 552 Bellamy, " George Anne," actress and adventuress, i. 171 ; insulted by Kelly, i. 228 ; as political middle- woman, i, 160 Bellamy, deputy-housekeeper, House of Commons, i, 138 Bellingham, John, murderer of Perceval, ii-35o Belmour (Old Bachelor), i. 552 Bembridge, a corrupt official, i. 135 Benares, Cheyt Sing, Rajah of, and the Hastings trial, 124, 125, his offence, 129 Benezet and the slave trade, i. 179 Bengal, Moira as governor of, ii. 361-2 Bengal residents' petition (1784), ii. 69 " Bengal Squad, 1 ' the, ii. 43, 69 Bennett, Grey, diary cited on R.B.S.'s efforts for Grey, ii. 343.W.2, and on his transactions with Yar- mouth, ii. 361, 362,n.2 Bentham, Jeremy, ii. 389 Bentley, grandfather of Cumberland, Bemvell, Mrs., Fitzpatrick's letter to, on the end of the Coalition, ii. 52 Berinthia (Trip to Scarborough), i. 534, 535 Berkeley, Bishop, at Bath, i. 204 Berkeley, Mrs., nee Tickell, i. 441 Bernard, actor, as "Sir Benjamin Back- bite," i. 581 ; on R.B.S. at re- hearsals, i. 581 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, home of R.B.S.'s family, i. 240 Begearss, in L'autre Tartuffe, i. 582,71.2 Beggars' Opera, by Gay, long run of, i. 504 Berry, Miss, on Mrs. Sheridan (2), ii. 266, n.2 Bertoni, composer of La Governante music, i. 5ii,n.2 Bessborough, Earl of, friend of R.B.S., ii. 72 ; canard on, ii. n,w.2 ; at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 Bessborough, Countess of (nee Spencer) formerly Viscountess Dun- cannon, sister of the Duchess of Devonshire, i. 94, ii. 61, 93, 2ig,n.i, 425 characteristics and gifts, i. 146, 464, 466, ii. 379,n.i ; R.B.S. on. ii. 27O.W.2 her daughter, Lady C. Lamb, ii. 335, 350, 379,n.i, her strange treat- ment of her, i. 466 and Fox's Westminster election, ii. 61 friendship with R.B.S. and his first wife, i. 466 (and his second wife, ii. 266), ii. 72, 93 ; her financial help, ii. 379,.i, 381 ; his last message to, i. i4cS-n.2; his letters on domestic subjects, death of his wife, etc., i. 3,6-7 <& n.i, 175, ii. 216 et seq., & see App. IV. vol. ii. ; his letters on politics, i. 17, ii6dvM.3, 122, I39,n.i, 199, ii. 314-5, 376, dv see App. IV. vol. ii. (C. i & 2, N., & O.) ; his raillery of her, i. 90 on Lady Holland, ii. 27o,w.t ; on R.B.S.'s drinking habits and relations with his second wife, ii. 270 & n.2 ; on her last visit to R.B.S., ii- 379.W-I, 38o.n.3 Betty, William Henry West, boy-prodigy, actor, ii. 274 " Beverley," alleged prototype of " Falk- land," i. 489-90 Beydegur, siege of, ii. 133, 138 &> n.i Bibliography of R.B.S.'s works, published and unpublished, App. V. vol. ii., 445 et seq, Bignon, death of Arthur O'Connor at, ii. 287 Billington, Mrs., actress, i. 4i8,n.i Birmingham, riots at, due to panic, ii. 245 Birmingham, the Ladies Eliza and Maria, i-3i5 Birrell, Rt. Hon. Augustine, on some aspects of plagiarism, i. 20 Blackheath, Princess of Wales' parties at, i. 144 Blackstone, R.B.S.'s commentary on, see Farm Hill Writings Bladon, S., publisher, i. 584,^.1 Blanchard, balloonist, i. 447 "Bland" (Stranger), song of, by R.B.S., ii. 27<&'n.i Blois, the Sheridans at, i. 215, 254 ; death of R.B.S.'s mother at, i. 246, n.i, 259, 261-2 473 INDEX Bloomfield, , tutor to C. B. Sheridan, i. 269 " Blues," the, catholicity of, 5. 163 " Bluffe," one of Congreve's characters, i- 575 Board of Admiralty, and the naval muti- nies, ii. 256, 257, 259 "Bob Acres" and his oaths, i. 488-9, 496, .2 ; on polishing, i. 532 ; on unfairness in love, i. 348 Bolingbroke, Lord, i. 178, ig6,n.i ; ii. 2; The Craftsman, by, i. 593 ; first seat, 1.614 '. George Il.'s saying to, ii. 33; phrase stolen from, by Murphy, i. 574-H. i, preferred to Mrs. Crewe by Mrs. Sheridan (i), ii. 102, and Mrs. Sheridan's " peccadillo, 1 ' ii. 215 ; and the Prince of Wales, ii. 102-3, IO 5; and her song, i. 67, M.I Bow Begum, the, see Begums Bowen, , a publisher, i. 624 Bowles, , disliked by Byron, ii. I2,w.2 Boydell Gallery, R.B.S. at, i. 463 Boyne, battle of the, alleged death at, of Thomas Sheridan (son of Denis), i. 2i2(~n.i Bradley, Mr., friend of R.B.S.'s last days, ii. 382 Bradshaw, Mrs., actress, as "The Con- fidante" in The Critic, i. 609, M.I Braham, John, singer, i. 509 Brains, bon-mot on, of R.B.S., i. 616 Brandon Hill, school-place of Elizabeth and Mary Linley, i. i88,n.3, 331, 457 Brenton family, Bath friends of R.B.S., i. 181 Brereton, W., friend of R.B.S., i. 404, and his confederate in the elope- ment, i. 341, 347, 350, 35i. his connection with the duel, 363, 364, M.I ; and Mrs. Robinson, i-535; on the elopement, i. 350 ; on Mathews, i. 328 Brest, ii. 431 ; British rebel squadrons' departure for, ii. 258; Keppel's operations at, i. 590 Brett, Mrs., actress, i. 497^1.3 Bridgeman, Hon. Orlando, on the Fitz- herbert marriage, ii. 113 Bridport, Admiral, see Hood, Viscount Brie, Marquis de, his Sheridan wife, i. 215 Bright, Rt. Hon. John, quoting Kotzebue, i. 8r Brighton, meeting at of R.B.S. and Hast- ings, ii. 145 Brimsdon, , actor, i. 497^1.3 Brissot, Jean-Pierre, pamphlet by, on French enormities, R.B.S. on ii. 247 ; share of in the French Revolution, ii. 249 Bristol, Burke's speech at, i. ii4n.i, 220 et alibi; bailiffs at, ii. 73 ; Richardson at, ii. 95 Buckingham, Duchess of, disdain of, for Methodists, i. 77-8 &-n.i Buckingham, Duke of (temp. James I.), compared with Pitt, ii. 58 ; play by, i. 606 Buckingham, George Grenville, Marquis of, pupil of T. Sheridan (5), i. 192, 315, 39O(~n.i ; offices and sinecures held by, i. 1556- .4, 159, ii. 24; in The Rolliad, ii. 90; and the treacheries of the Radicals, ii. 239 Buckinghamshire, Albinia, Countess of, guests fined for gaming, i. 146 Buffon, Comte de, French saying on, i. 18 Bulkley, Mrs., actress, i. 500 Bull-baiting, denounced by R.B.S., i. 79 <~n.2 Buller, Judge, at O'Connor's trial, ii. 284, 286, 287 Bumper of Good Liquor, A (Duenna), i. 5o6,.i, 509, 576,71.2 Bunbury, Henry William, caricatures by, ii. 28 Bunbury, Lady Sarah, see Lennox, Lady Sarah Burdett, Sir Francis, his election for Westminster, ii. 324; motion for report on Coldbath Fields Prison, supported by R.B.S., ii. 296,n.i ; on the Press, ii. 293, n.2 Burges, Sir James, prologue by, to Ireland's fraudulent play, ii. 276 Burgess, , M.P., silenced by R.B.S.'s Begum speech, ii. 127 Burgess, Henry, R.B.S.'s friend and factotum, i, 45,.5, 332,.i, 350, 377, at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 Burgoyne, General John, i. i4,n.2 ; capi- tulation of, i. 475, 590, ii. 121 ; debts of, i. 149; at Drury Lane, i. 442.M.4 ; and the India Bill, ii. 48 ; Irish appointment, ii. 19, n.2 ; Plays by, i. 22,n.i,2, 34, 306, 449, 542^.3, ii. 94,n.2 ; and the society for reviving ancient games, i. 79,n.2 Burke, Edmund, i. gdvn.i, 10, 16, 22, 29, n.2, 447 ; an Anglo-Irishman, i. iO2&-n.i, 112; attempts at agriculture, ii. 272 ; at Bath, i. 2046- n.2; Butler's Court bought by, i. 151, i52,n.i ; at "the Club," i. 86, 87<5v M.I, 514; correspondence with Mrs. Crewe, i. 519 ; and Johnson's epitaph on Gold- smith, i. 514 characteristics; ii. 6, 7, 39, 42, 115; compared with Fox, ii. 31-46, and with R.B.S., i. 122 ; debts and difficulties, i. 49, n.i, 151-2; demonstrativeness, i. 132, 134-5, 235, ii. 169 ; disdain for mer- chants, i. 81 ; drinking habits, i. 140; eloquence, oratory, speeches, and voice, i. 126, ii. 7, 39-40, 58, 148, iso.n.i, excess in personalities, i. 165 ; in later years, ii. 170 ; learning, i. 72 ; nepotism, i, 151-2 ; as plagiarist, i. 21 ; sole instance of liveliness, ii. 143-4 political life; attempts to prevent corruption, ii. i ; Catholic emancipation favoured by, i. iig,n.3; devoted to the Con- stitution, i. 86, ii. 2,40; attitude of, to the liberty of the Press, i. iis.n.i, to reform, i. 119, n. 3, 591, ii. i, 18, to slave emancipa- tion, i. i ig,n.3 ; in the Coalition, ii. 25; and the East India Company, ii. 4i n.i, his political position, i. z^&-n.i ; and consistency, i. n6-7S-n.-z\ R.B.S.'s letters to, on the Irish question, i. 118; R.B.S.'s information from, i. 598, ii. 82 Canning, Stratford, afterwards Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, birth of, ' 454 godson of R.B.S., ii. 82 Canning, William, i. 459 Canterbury, Archbishop of (Moore), tutor to Prince of Wales, ii. 51; and the India Bill, ii. 51; intrigues against Pitt, ii. 292 Canterbury, Archbishop of (Charles Manners Sutton), previous elopement of, 176 &n.$ Capel Street, Dublin, birthplace of R.B.S.'s father, i. 225 " Captain Absolute," i. 488 Captain O' Blunder, or the Brave Irishman, farce by T. Sheridan (5), i. 503, n.i Cape of Good Hope, death at, of T. Sheri- dan (6), ii. 388; surrender of, ii. 307 " Careless " (School for Scandal), i. 569 Cargill, Mrs., actress, i. 5O3.W.2 Carlisle, Sir Anthony, at Batheaston, i. 202, M.I Carlisle, Earl of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, ii. 19,71.2, 21 ; and the Regency crisis, App. III. vol. ii. "Carlo's Song' 1 (Duenna), reference in, to the elopement, i. 340 Carlton House, a Whig centre, ii. 72 ; "Council of" (1811), ii. 339, 340; entertainments at, ii. 32, 63-4 ; intrigues at (& see Regency crisis), ii. 301-2 ; Mrs. Fitzherbert at, ii. 103, 109 ; the Sheridans at, 96; outlay on, ii. iOj6-n.2, 116; why called " the pillory," i. 146 Carlyle, Thomas, and the cocks, i. 75 ; and " Leigh Hunt's sovereign," i. 42 Carmarthen, Marquis of, mot of, during Regency crisis, ii. 423 ; his resignation, ii. 200 Carnatic, seized by Macartney, ii. ni Carnival, The, of Venice, operatic play by Tickell, i. iO4,n.2, 443, ii. 391 songs in by R.B.S., ib.,n.i, 610 Caroline, Princess, of Brunswick, her Blackheath parties, i. 144 ; marriage to the Prince of Wales, ii. 264 ; the Prince's attitude to, i. 133, ii. 331, 351 ; R.B.S.'s chivalry to, i. 52, 104, ii. 302 ; her supporters, ii. 333, 351 Carter, Mrs., blue-stocking, i. 128 Carteret, Lord, and Dr.Thos. Sheridan (4), i. 218; Swift's lines on his window, i. 160, and his answer, l6o,M.2 Castle Tavern, London, R.B.S.'s duel fought at, i. 365 Casson, Nicholas, peace officer killed in Fox's election (1784), ii. 63 Castlereagh, Viscount, Canning'sduel with, i. Sg.H.i ; omitted from Fox's ministry, ii. 318 ; pluralism of, i. 156; as speaker, in R.B.S.'s view, ii. 441 " Catch Club," three famous members, i. 8o,.2 Catherine II., Empress of Russia, attitude to, of Pitt, R.B.S., and Fox, ii. 198-9; R.B.S. on, ii. 251,430, 431, 432 Catholic disabilities, emancipation or relief from, attitude of Burke, i. iig,n.3, the Foxites, ii9,n.3, George III., i. ii9,n.3, Gren- ville, i. iig.n.s, Grey, ii. 323, Irish Catholics, ii. 354-5, Pitt, ii. 9, 292, 293 ; bills for, i. 602, ii. i, 323, 354; R.B.S.'s support, i. 118-9, ii. 282, 351; R.B.S. on, in speech and letter, ii. 254, 323-4, 330, 354-5, 365-6. an d the downfall of R.B.S., ii. 324; verses against R.B.S. in con- nection with, ii. 323-4 " Cato " (Addison's), T. Sheridan (5) in the part, i. 227, 228 Caulfield, Hon. Alicia, godmother of Alicia Sheridan, i. 235, n.i Cavan, ancestral home of the Sheridans, i. 206, its banshee in America, ib.,n.z Cavendish Square, R.B.S.'s house in, i-537 Cavendish, Lady George, ii. 425 Cavendish, Lord John, ii. i4,.2, 23, characteristics, ii. 23; in the Coalition, ii. 25 ; loss of seat at York, ii. 60; and the Regency crisis, ii. 179, 406, 408, 409, 410 Cavendish, Lord George, at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 Cavendish, William, loss of caste by i. 162 Centlivre, Mrs., plays by, i. 495, 522 Cervantes, as plagiarist, i. 84 47 8 INDEX Cervus lacessitus, leo, the Sheridan motto, i. 91 Ceylon, acquired by England, ii. 307 "Chadband, 11 "Tartuffe," "Joseph Sur- face," differentiated, i. 554-5 Chamberlaine, Frances (see also Sheridan, Mrs. Thomas (5), mother of R.B.S.), an authoress, i. 229, fame of, 230; her origin, 229, education, 230, character, 230, family, 230-1, marriage to T. Sheridan (5), i. 229, 232 ; verses by, on her lover, T. Sheri- dan (5), i. 230-1, 232 Chamberlaine, Miss, married to Daniel Sheridan (1735, about), i. 214 Chamberlaine, Philip, Archdeacon of Glendalough, i. 229 ; views on female education, i. 230 Chamberlaine, Mrs. Richard, C. F. Sheri- dan's meanness to, i. 321 ; and Dr. Johnson, i. 241 Chamberlaine, Rev. Walter, an oddity, i. 23O.M.2 Chamberlaine, Richard, M.D., uncle of R.B.S., his model for Her- nan, i. 301, 3O2-rt.2 Christina, Queen of Denmark, i. 177 dvrt.4 Christmas Tale, The, by Garrick, i. 531 Chunar, Treaty of, ii. 129, 132 ; present associated with, ii. 129, 135, 136, 138; R.B.S. on, ii. 151 Churchill, Charles, author of The Rosciad, i. 607 ; the Apology in, ib. ; its protest against formal scholar- ship, i. 226 253 Cozeners, The, play by Foote, hit at Fox in, i. 178 "Crabtree" in School for Scandal, i. n,n.3, 571, 579; in Her- nan's Miscellany, i. n,n.3; 482 " Crabtree " continued Lamb, and Delille's views of, i. 554,-i ; R.B.S.'s direction as to, i. 586 Craftsman, Tlit, i. 593 Craven, Countess of, i. 519; amateur plays given by, i. 251, n.z, R.B.S.'s prologue to i. 544, ii. 277 Crawford, J. ("Fish" Crawford), ii. 399, 408; eloping daughter of, i. 176, n.i ; occupation, etc., ii. 402, 403, n.i ; on the King's mad- ness, ii. 402, 403 Creevey, Thomas, and the Creevcy Papers, i. iio,n.4, on R.B.S., i. 6&-n.2, 44,n.3, on his drinking habits, ii. 270, n.2, on his election for Stafford, i. 6i7> n.i Davis family, intimates of the Linleys, i. i88,n.i Davison, , a Harrovian, friend of Halhed, i. 282-3 Davison, Mrs., as " Lady Teazle, 1 ' i. 581 ; reciter of Byron's Monody on R.B.S., ii. 383,n-3 Daylesford, purchased by Warren Hast- ings, ii. 170 Deard, Mrs., Bath toyshop-keeper, i. 201 Dearer Daylight and Cheaper Tea, pamphlet against Pitt, ii. 85 Debt, in the i8th century, some notorious debtors, i. 49, n.i, 148-53 & notes De Camp, Miss, actress, i. 481, n.i Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Gibbon, i. 515 Deepdene, lent to the Sheridans by the Duke of Norfolk, i. 34, 438, ii. 177, 214, 218, 43ot~n.i 483 I I 2 INDEX Defence of Opposition, not by R.B.S., ii. 8.4, n. i Deformed, Tlte, Transformed, by Lord Byron, source of, i. 44:,n.i De Grasse, Amiral, defeated by Rodney, ii. 19 Delany, Mrs., on the " Cupidon " saloon, i. IOQ.K.I Delapre Abbey, home of the Bouveries, 1.78; Mrs. Sheridan's (i) letters from to her husband, i. 458 ; visits of the Sheridans to, ii. 55, 64,97 Delille, Bunel, French translation by, of School for Scandal, i. ij2,n.2, 480,11.2, 554.H.I, 582-rt.2, 433 relations with Charles Windham, i. 97, 98, H.I ; with the Fawkener divorce, ii. g2,n.2, 101 ; with Fox, ii. 60-3, 320 ; with Hare, 164; with her husband, i. 72; with Mrs. Fitzherbert, ii. 103 &n.2 ; with Mrs. Sheridan (2), ii. 266 ; with Mrs. Thrale, i. 163 on The Critic, i. 603 ; on a drunken cleric, i. 141 ; on English poli- tics and society in the i8th century, App. III. vol. ii., 400-2; on the fall of the Whigs, ii. 59, 400, 401, on Fox, ii. 400 et seq. ; on George III.'s madness, ii. 10, & see App. III. vol. ii., 399 et seq.; on Mrs. Crewe, {.518, n.3; on Pitt's fight with the Commons, ii. 55-6; on the Prince of Wales, ii. 400-3 et passim on R.B.S.; his boyishness (1787), i. 72 & 11.2, his industry, i. 36, his joke about the Coalition, i. 99,H.i,his political indepen- dence, i. 41 &n.3, 101, 399, 400 on the Regency crisis and intrigues, etc., ii. 172-3, 186; on Fox's speech, ii. 187; on R.B.S.'s con- nection and behaviour, ii. 176, 177, 178, i8odvH.3, 187, on his "letter to Pitt, 1 ' how he wrote it, ii. 192, 193, 194, 422 ; on the Rights of the Press, ii.4oi & see for the whole topic, App. III. vol. ii., 399 it seq. death of, ii. 320 Devonshire, 3rd Duke of, ii. 25,71.4 Devonshire, 5th Duke of, i. 549 ; at the Chesterfield Celebration, i. 220 ; ii. 4O2,H.3 ; marital iceberg, i. 72, 463, 466 ; R.B.S.'s bet with, i. 147 ; and the Regency crisis, office declined by him, ii. 178, 484 INDEX Devonshire, 5th Duke of continued office declined by him continued 400, 402, 406, 407, 411 ; his second wife, i. 204, ii. 429; on what unmakes a gentleman, i. 162 Devonshire House, meeting of R.B.S. and " Hecca " at, ii. 264 ; politics of, i. 163, ii. 72, 173, 180 Diamond, an actor, i. 497, n. 3 Dibden, Charles, a singer, on Elizabeth Linley's voice, i. 284 Dickens, Charles, his father his secretary, i. 513 ; German influence visible in, i. 479 ; and Joey Bagstock's saying, i. 490 ; sentiment in his writings, ii. 279 ; on Bath society, i. 198 Diderot, on Richardson's novels, i. I28,w.i Didier, , an actor, i. 497, n. 3 Didier, Mrs., actress, i. 497,71.3 Digby, Colonel, and the mad King, ii. 404 Digges, , a gentleman-actor, riot led by at Dublin Theatre, i. 236-8 Dillwyn, , and the slave trade, i. 179 Directory, the, R.B.S. on, ii. 261 Discovery, The, play by R.B.S. 's mother, i. 486; revivals of, i. 245, 504, n.2, 580 Disraeli, Benjamin, i. 16; challenge to O'Connell, i. 358 ; dislike of darkness, i. 75 ; and Gray's Elegy, i. 7, n.2 ; and R.B.S., analogies of phrase, etc. in, i. 491, 547, ii. 198-9, 297; romanticism of his novels, ii. 297; silences of, i. 12; on Pitt's plebeian aristocracy, i. 159 Ditcher, Mr., surgeon, Bath, i. 203, 387 Dittersdorff, Baron, play by, ii. 198 Doctor and Apothecary, musical farce by Dittersdorff, ii. 198 " Dr. Fell," lines about, quoted by R.B.S., i, 288,n.i " Dr. Rosy " (St. Patrick's Day), i. 503, n.2, his words applied to R.B.S., i- 395 Dodd, , actor, as " Sir Benjamin Back- bite," i. 579, as " Dangle," i. (jog.n.i Dog tax, denounced by R.B.S., ii. 254 Dolben, , M.P., at Hastings' impeach- ment, ii. 127 Dolman, Dr., of Lille, and E. Linley, i. 344, .4, 349, 355 Domestic Economy in Women's Educa- tion, R.B.S. on, i. 469 " Dominion was given," omitted duet (Duenna), i. 507 " Don Carlos " (Duenna), i. 509 " Don Felix" (The Wonder), Garrick's last part, i. 522 Don Juan, lines in, on the Whig debacle, ii. 361 ; term in, for Mme. de Stae'l, ii. 373 " Don Jerome 1 ' (Duenna), i. 507 Donhead, association with Coleridge, i. 60, M-3 " Donna Louisa " (Duenna), prototype, i. 509, 510 Dorval, Mme., as " Milady Tizle," i. 583 Dorset, Duchess of (afterwards Countess Whitworth), i. g8,.3 Dorset, Duke of (1725), friend and patron of T. Sheridan (5), i. 226, 232, 237, 238, 287 Dorset, Duke of, successor of the former, i. i6o,n.4 ; efforts to save Marie Antoinette, ii. 212 Dorset Street, Dublin home of R.B.S. 's parents, i. 232 Double Dealer, The, play by Congreve, i. 93, 484, 552, 574, 575, 576, 608 ; a "Malaprop" character in, i. 491 ; scandal motif in, i. 553 Double Gallant, The, play by Cibber, i. 495 Doughty, Mr., prototype of Swift's Brob- dingnag Farmer, i. 224 Douglas, tragedy by Home, and The Critic, i. 605 <$*.! Down, William Sheridan, Dean of (1677), i. 210 Downe, Major, ii. 3O3,n.i Downing Street and the naval mutinies of 1797., ii. 255 Dowton, William, actor, i. 481, n.i ; as " Mrs. Malaprop," i. 497 Drake, Francis, English resident, Genoa, i. ii4,w.2; on R.B.S. 's know- ledge of French affairs, ii. 246, n.2 Drama of the i8th century, stilted style of, i. 485-7 Drama of Devils, unfinished play by R.B.S., i. io4,.i, allusion to E. Linley and use of her verses in, i. i94,n.i, 274-5 ; germ of The Foresters, i. 539; songs in, i. 478, style, plot and persons in, 479-80 Dramatic Censor, The, R.B.S.'s writings in, i. 467 Dramatic Proverb, attributed to R.B.S., i. 48o,M.a Drapier Letters, The, by Swift, i. 593,*. i " Drax, Goody," verses on, by R.B.S. and others, i. 308, 310, 312 Drink to me only, song by Ben Jonson, echoes in, i. 271 Druids, The, pantomime, i. 484 Drury Lane, and its owners, etc., see Bedford, Duke of, Ford, Dr., Garrick, Lacy, Linley, Richard- son, & others under Garrick, 552 ; his retirement, i. 517, and last part, his fare- well tears, i. 134, 522 ; his shares, i- 513. 524 ; a squib on ladies' head-dresses, i. 167-8 dvn.i; 485 INDEX Drury Lane continued under Garrick continued associations with him in RB.S.'s day, i. 612, 614 under R.B.S., i. 34dxn.i; his manage- ment begun, i. 522 et seq.\ its course, successes, difficulties, etc., i. 33-4, 47, 48, 52, 57, 59, 97, 447-8, 530 et seq., 589, ii. 73, 198, 330; Hadfield's attempt at, on the King, R.B.S.'s action, ii. 30$&-n.i; lawsuits, > 33-4, 45. 332 ; rebuilding of (in 1794), heavy debt in- curred and ihe consequences, i. 45<5-n.i, 47.W.3, 523, 614, ii. 263, 272, 273-5, re-opening, 274 ; destroyed by fire (1809), i. 44, 64, ii. 332, rebuilding of, ii. 334, re-opened (1812), ii. 334, rearrangements, RB.S.'s diffi- culties with Whitbread, ii. 334, 335, 358-9 plays produced at, i. 172,71. 2, i8g,. i, 245, 502. 504.W.2, 514, 532, 553, 574, 58on.i on the politics of India, ii. 137 ; on the Prince of Wales, ii. 77 ; on R.B.S.'s inaccuracy, i. 84 &-n.i Dundee, R.B.S.'s speech, i.go, gi.n.i ; tree of Liberty planted at, ii. 244 Dunn, , a solicitor, loss occasioned by, to R.B.S., ii. 271,71.2 Dunning, John, in Shelburne's ministry, ii. 6,n.i ; title and pension secured by, i. 154 Dunstall, , an actor, i. 500 Dupe, The, play by Mrs. T. Sheridan, ^486 Dutens' (Louis) Histoire de ce qui est passe pour V Etablissemtnt d'un Regence, ii. 399 Dyer, George, a bore, and his audience, i. 164 EARLE, , R.B.S.'s cousin, on his dying hours, ii. 382 Earle, William, author of The Octo- genarian, on R.B.S.'s indepen- dence, i. 44,.i, on his funeral, i. 80,71.3, on his talk with the Prince on the Catholic Question, ii- 357 ; n Ireland's false Shakespeare play, ii. 276 &-n.z ; E. Linley's alleged letter pub- lished by, i. 330 East, , ii. 408 East Burnham, R.B.S.'s honeymoon home, i. 6, 427, 431. 432 East India Bills, R.B.S.'s pamphlet on, version sanctioned by him, i. 5" East India Company (see also Begums <> Hastings trial), Burke's attitude to, i. 151, ii. 4id scandal, i. 164 society at the moment of the Regency, Duchess of Devonshire on, ii. 400 society and other highwaymen, i. 147-8 suburbanism, i. 125 traffic in honours, i. 158 et seq. venality, i. 153 verse-making, i. 163 vices redeemed by boyishness, i. 143 virility, i. 178 women's head-dresses, criticised by R.B.S., i. 534 women's prominence, i. 178 upheaval in, features of, ii. 1-3 English Act for Insolvent Debtors passed, utilised by T. Sheridan (5), i. 261-2 English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, by Byron, reference in, to R.B.S., ii- 334 English humour, sentiment at the root of, ii. 279 INDEX English Jacobins, i. 114 English Princes wedded to widows, Wraxall on, ii. 103, 71.3 English Radicals, treacherous dealings of (1793), ii. 239 English Reform Bill (1783), Pitt's second set of resolutions for, R.B.S., on ii. 36-7 English Revolution, the, ii., 2, 3 ; com- pared with the French by Burke and others, 204-6, 211-2; Chesterfield celebration, i. 220, ii. 402 English self-depreciation, a Sheridan instance, i. 544-5 Englishman, The, ii. 23 ; and its contri- butors, i. 592, R.B.S.'s associa- tion with, i. 478, 592 et seq. ; signatures of contributors, i- 593 ! founders of, i. 478 ; models of, i. 593 EO tables, i. 145 Epistle from a Cauliflower to Christopher Anstey, Esq., by R.B.S. writing with Halhed, i. 280-1 Epistle to Dundas, alluded to, in R.B.S.'s writings, i. 491 Epistle, An, from Joseph Surface, Esq., to Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq., lampoon, i. 550, 584-5, ii. 5,.i Erasmus, on " bloterature," i. 164 Erskine, John, examiner of R.B.S. at Thanet trial, ii. 287-90 Erskine, Lord (Thomas), ii. 349; drinking habits, i. 140 ; at the O'Connor trial, ii. 284, 285 ; in debate, R.B.S. on, ii. 314-5 ; distich by, on Payne, ii. 407 Erskine, Thomas, ist Baron, Lord Chancellor, in Grenville's ministry (1806), ii. 318 ; as Speaker, ridiculed by Pitt, ii. 441 ; and Pitt's dissolution, ii. 54, M.I ; and the Regency crisis, ii. 300; at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 ; on petty critics, i. 494 ; on the brains of the Prince of Wales, ii. 32 Essex, Earl of, and R.B.S.'s last visit to Drury Lane, ii. 376 " Esto Perpetua'' Club, ii. 87; meeting- places of, i. 454, ii. 87, 92, 93 Etian, Marquis d', see Sheridan, James (2) Eugenia and Adelaide, novel by Mrs. T. Sheridan (5), i. 506 Europe, condition of (1793 and onwards), ii. 255 Eustace, Sir M. (Chancellor of Ireland), and William Sheridan, i. 210 Evelina, by Fanny Burney, i. 533 (S-w.2 Ewart family, E. Linley introduced to, i. 342 ; in literary ventures, i. 3oo,n.3 ; R.B.S.'s drafts on, i. 388 Ewart (the younger) and Drury Lane, i.524(S-.3; at Isleworth.i. 527, n.2 ; second to R.B.S. in the first duel, i. 357,n.i, 358, 363-4, 365 Ewing, , publisher, i. 585.M.3, 586 & n.i Eyre, Governor, ii. 120 " FADDY," Mrs. Sheridan's (i) bequest to, ii. 222, n. i " Fag " (Rivals), i. 490, 495 " Faint Praise," phrase of Pope, and of Wycherley, i. 2i,n.i Fair Penitent, T. Sheridan as " Horatio " in, Kelly's riot during (1746), i. 228 Falconar, Maria, poetess, i. 25, n.2 " Falkland " (Rivals), characteristics, i. 3,.2, 392, 487(S-n.i, 490; impersonators, i. 498,n.2, 500; real and alleged prototypes of, i- 374, 392, 489-9. 54i, tirades of, i. 129 False Delicacy, comedy, by Hugh Kelly, i. 486 " Falstaff," humour of, i. 563 Fame, passion for, Burke on, i. 12 ; Dr. Johnson on, 13 Family portraits, R.B.S.'s real feeling for, i. 37 Farley, Felix, publisher, ii. 225,71.3 Farm Hill, Waltham Abbey, R.B.S. banished to, i. 394, 396 ; his writings at, topics and present locale of, i. 12, 55-6, 75, 106, U5,n.2, n6,n.4, 400, 401 -.2; plagiarisms from, i. 21 ; plays by, i. 490, 491, 494, 574, 577; R.B.S.'s study of, i. 484 ; R.B.S.'s love for, i. 52, 575; "Portrait" of himself, cited, i. 5, n.2 ; first champion of Women's Rights, i. 471 ; on Women, i. 106 Farren, Eliza (Countess of Derby), i. 5odv.3, 482; parts played at Drury Lane, i. 535, 482 ; her "Lady Teazle," i. 580-1; R.B.S.'s joke on her, i. 101 ; retirement (1797), i. 502, 581 Farren, Mr., as " Sir Peter Teazle," 1.584 Fatal Falsehood, The, play by Hannah More, R.B.S.'s prologue to, > 542-4 " Father Paul '' (Duenna), i. 509 Fathers and Children, relative duties of, R.B.S. on, i. 471-2 489 INDEX Fauconberg, Lord, on George III.'s mad- ness, ii. 174, 43 " Faulconbridge, 1 ' Garrick's impersona- tion of, i. 244 " Faulkland," in Mrs. T. Sheridan's novel, i. 70, 489 Faulkner, George, printer, and T. Sheri- dan (5), i. 261 Fawcett, M., R.B.S.'s portrait mislabelled as, ii. 464 Fawkener family, i. 445 Fawkener, E., Mrs. Sheridan bantered on, ii. 99 Fawkener, Mrs. E. (nee Poyntz), later Lady John Townshend, divorce case of, ii. gz&-n.2, 404, .i ; connection with of the Duchess of Devonshire, ii. 92,71.2, 101 Fergusson, Judge - Advocate - General, O'Connor's flight abetted by, consequent trial of, ii. 284, 287, 290-1 ; R.B.S.'s examination at, 287 et seq. ; after-success in life, ii. 291,11.2 Ferrers, Lord, hanged with silken rope, i. 168 " Fertile " (Statesman), i. 537, on a place- man out of place, 538 Festival, The, of Love, verses in, by R.B.S., i. 273,n.2, 279,.i Field, , R.B.S.'s godfather, R.B.S. and E. Linley's visit to when eloping, i. 342 ; association with Lamb and the (later) School for Scandal, i. 343 Fielding, Henry, novelist, friend of R.B.S.'s parents, i. 233 ; friends of, i. 203 ; optimist, i. 128; "Malaprop" character drawn by, i. 492 ; as plagiarist, i. 84; plays by, i- 573- 575. 67 Fielding, Sarah, authoress, friends of, i. 203 ; home of, i. 204, n.2 Fielding & Walker, publishers, i. 624 Figaro, by Beaumarchais, R.B.S. com- pared to, i. 36,n.4, 55, 130, 341 ; sentimentality of, i. 130; slander motif in, i. 553 Financiers of the i8th century, i. 149 Finch, Lady Charlotte, indiscretion of, ii. 177, 405 ; and the mad King, ii. 422, 423 Fish, Rev. John, and his wife (nee Whyte), i. 231 Fishamble Street, Dublin, and T. Sheri- dan (5), i. 242 Fishguard, French attempted landing at, ii. 255 &-n.i Fitzgerald, J. P. Molloy, his Lives of the Sheridans, cited, i. 7,n.3, :8,n.2 et alibi; genealogy in, i. 205, . i ; on date of T. Sheri- dan's (6) birth, i. 504,71.1 ; on R.B.S.'s King Arthur, i. 481, n.i Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, an intimate of the Sheridans, ii. 217 ; Bird- Parliament, by, i. 108,^.4 ; con- spiracy, ii. 263, failure and death of, ii. 282 ; heroism of, i. 126; on Arthur O'Connor, ii. 283 Fitzherbert, Miss, afterwards Mrs. Con- greve, i. 40,71.4, 102 Fitzherbert, Mrs., as chaperone, i. 136 ; and the Duchess of Devonshire, i. 465 ; dislike to Fox, ii. 176 ; solicitude of Fox for (1803), ii. 302,71.2 ; R.B.S., and at- tempted reconciliation of, with Fox, ii. 400, 408 ; and the Prince of Wales, i. 465, ii. 33, 44, attempt to escape the Prince's suit, his excitement thereat, ii. 103 -n.4 ; to R.B.S. on Jacobin Society, ii. 208, n. 3, on the Regency crisis, ii. I75,.3, 177, on Shelburne's ministry, etc., ii. 23(S-n.2 personal : at Bath, i. 204, ii. 175 ; at the " Catch Club," i. 8o,n.2 ; his children, i, isz&n.z; as dandy, i. 167 ; dog of, named " Sheri- dan," i. 97 ; and the Duchess of Devonshire, i. 464; duel with Adam, i. 89,71.2 ; family ad- herents of, ii. 19 . 2; and Warren Hastings, his enmity to the latter, ii. 38 et seq. , 43-4, 124, letter to Mrs. Sheri- dan (i), during the impeach- ment, ii. IOO.M.I, his share in the trial, ii. 144, 160, 171 492 INDEX Fox, Charles James continued speech on Army Estimates and French Revolution (1790), ii. 202, 204, on French affairs (R.B.S.'s report of), ii. 440 on Burke's oratorical style, ii. 148; on the Dukes of Devonshire and Port- land, ii. 179; on the fate of his India Bill, ii. 51-2 ; on his own idleness, i. 36; on Pitt's India Bill (1784), ii. 57, 68; on Pitt's Irish scheme (1785), ii. 70, 81 ; on Pitt's satellites, i. 159 ; on Pitt's Tariff Treaty with France, ii. 96 ; on R.B.S. ; his Army Esti- mates speech, ii. 312-3, his Begum speech, ii. 127, his con- versation, i. 82, his levities, i. 101, his procrastination, i. 29 <~ n.2, his speeches, ii. 95 ; on reform of Scotch boroughs, i. 1 17, n.2; on the Spithead mutiny, ii. 256, 257 ; on Sidney Biddulph, i. 245 Fox, Mrs. C. J. (Mrs. Armstead), ii. 104 &-n.i, 320 Foxites, The, attitude to finance, Paul on, ii. 85 ; to slave emancipation, i. iig,n.3; beaten at polls, (1784), ii. 60; effect on, of the Fitzherbert marriage debates, ii. 118, 119; and the " Esto Perpetua" Club, ii. 87, 93; great houses open to, ii. 72 ; in Grenville's ministry (1806), ii. 318 ; opposition to Pitt (1785), ii. 70 ; position in 1794., ii, 252, n.i; position in 1797., ii. 263, 280; R.B.S. and, i. 24; and Regency intrigues, ii. 179-80 ; some of, i. 592 ; views on Liberty, ii. 201, on the French Revolu- tion, 210 ; and the Volunteer movement, ii. 305 dv .2 Frampton Court, seat of the Sheridans of to-day, ii. 303 et passim ; portrait of R.B.S. at, ii. 463 ; portraits of Sheridan family at, ii. 463 ; Sheridan MSS. at, i. 506, 11.1 et alibi France, attitude of, to England, after American Independence, ii. 19; in 1778, i. 591 ; interest of, in the Regency affairs, ii. 399 ; Pitt's Tariff Treaty with, ii. 96 ; the war with (1793), ii. 231, Pitt's errors in, ii. 201 ; military operations (1793), ii. 232-3; prosperity and success of (1794), R.B.S. on, ii. 251 ; secret of its force at the Revolution, ii. 231-2 Francis II., Emperor of Austria, ii. 237 Francis, Philip, enmity to Hastings, ii. 38, 122, i24 n -i ( 96, 105, u6,n.i, 313, 404,405; R.B.S. on, ii. 172, 176, 254 marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, ii. 44, 96, 321, invalidity of, ii. 103-4 (? n.i, the scandals skirted in the House, etc., ii. io6etseq., 195-6, 420 ; his denial of the marriage, ii. 109 cS-w. 3, made public by Fox, no et seq., his after-attitude, 114, n6n. i, and story of the affair, 115 ; pictorial references, i. u8<~n.4 illness (1804), ii. 302,.i; and Mrs. Hodges, i. 445 c~i marriage to Princess Caroline, ii. 264-5 in politics (see also Regency), alliance with extreme Whigs, ii. 31 ; influence, on of Lady Hertford, ii. 350 .3, 494 INDEX George, Prince of Wales continued relations with R.B.S. continued 52, 62dvn.2, 70, 99,n.i, 104, noes' n. 4, in, ii9 -3 Germaine, Lord George, friend of T. Sheridan (5), i. 226; mis- feasances of, i. 590 ; R.B.S.'s attack on, in The Englishman, i- 592, 594-5 German influence on English stage, etc., i. 479 Germany, The Rivals in, i. 497 Gerrard Street, Burke's abode in, ii. 209 Gibbon, Edward, at Bath, i. 195, 204; at the Literary Club, i. 86, 87, n.i, 514; in politics, i. 515-6; and R.B.S., ii. 1496^.5, 592, 594 ; R.B.S. on, his accept- ance of place, i. 596, 597 & n.i Gibraltar, blockade of, The Critic, synchronous with, i. 609 Gideon, Lady, " Feast of Reconciliation " after the Fitzherbert debates, given by, ii. 118 Gilbert, Sir W. S., musical verse of, i. 272 Gill, Bath confectioner, and the lovers, i. 200 Give Isaac the Nymph, song (Duenna], 1.509 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., ii. 246 ; and R.B.S., ii. 246 Glanville, , a Harrovian, i. 254 j Glenbervie, ii. 62,11.4 495 INDEX Glorious First of June, The, musical medley, by R.B.S., and Cobb, i. i8,n.2, 610 &> n.2, Richardson's prologue, ii. 95 Gloucester, H.R.H. the Duke of, and the Regency crisis, ii. 407, 416, 417 et passim Goblins, The, comedy by Suckling, R.B.S.'s alleged sketch, remodelling, i. 488 ; Toasting Song in, i. 576, n.z Goddard, General, great march to Surat, ii. 121 Goderich, - , ii9.-3 Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, " Rights of Women " by, i. 178 Godwin, William, at Bath, i. 2O4,n.2 Goldsmith, Oliver, an Anglo-Irishman, i. 102, 112, 206; at Bath, i. 204 ; Johnson's diminutive for, i. 241, n.4, and epitaph on, i. 514; "mummy" conceit used by, i. 285,**.! plays by, i. 59, 61, 160, 490 comedies compared with R.B.S.'s, i-487,553 naturalness of, i. 486 poem by, i. 600 on Burke's speeches, ii. 7 Good fellow, the, in comedy, i, 556 Good-natured Man, The, play by Gold- smith, i. 59, 61, on political corruption ,i. 60 Goosetree's, a gambling club, i. 146 Gordon, Duchess of, i. 163, 164, ii. 424 ; in men's clothes, i. 135,^.4; and the Prince's debts, ii. 116; riot caused by, ii. 56,n.i ; her rudeness punished, i. 176 Gordon, Lord George, and his incen- diaries, ii. 10, result of trials, 12 Gordon riots, ii. 10, 169; R.B.S.'s speech on, ii. 12 ; Shelburne, a sup- posed fomentor of, ii. 5 Gorruckpore, disorders at, alleged abettal by Begums, ii. 154 Gould, Colonel, i. 360 Governess, The, and The Duenna, 1.511 6- n.2 Governor, The, sketch for play, by R.B.S., song in, i. 7,n.3, 611 &-n.i Governante, La, travesty of The Duenna, Gower, Lord. ii. 16 Grafton, Duke of, political complaisance pf,i. 267; R.B.S.'s mock defence, i. 267-8 ; as Prime Minister, i. 590 ; and Shelburne, ii. 6 <& n.t Graham, Dr., his mud-patients, i. 164, 608; and R.B.S.'s private affairs, ii. 319, 425 Graisberry and Campbell, printers, i. 5ii,n.2 Grant, Marcia Colquhoun, wife of Brinsley Sheridan, R.B.S.'s grandson, Grantley, Lord, death of, ii. 421, R.B.S.'s epitaph on, i. 83<5-n.3, 422,11.3 Grasford, house desired at, by Mrs. Sheridan (i), ii. 97 Grattan, Henry, his incorruptibility, i. 39 ; his Parliament, ii. 18, 21, 22, 76, R.B.S. on, i. 601, ii. 78, 296, and Poynings' law, ii. 21; and the trial of O'Connor, ii. 283, 284 ; on the " curse of Swift," i. 102 Graves, Rev. Richard, editor, ii. 225,w.3 ; on the Batheaston follies, i. 202,n.i; on the Methodists, i. igo.n.i Gray, verses by, satirising Lord Holland, i. 152 Great Queen Street, R.B.S.'s dwellings in, 53 6 .537 <&! ! unproduced plays written at, i. 537 Great Seal, theft of (1784), ii. 59; sug- gested delegation to Parlia- ment during George III.'s madness, ii. 187 " Grecian," The, famous coffee-house, i. 240 Green, -- , book by, whitewashing Mathews, i. 323(^.1, 338,71.3, 354,-3 Green, Mrs., actress, i. 500, Sheridan parts played by, i. 511 Greenwich Hospital, " Jack " Payne, treasurer of, ii. 407 Grenville family, dissolvent effect on Whig party, ii. 340; in politics, i. 40, ii. 26,11.4, 211, 280, 293, 302 Grenville, George, see Buckingham, Mar- quis of (Chatham's "Gentle Shepherd "), i. 407 Grenville, Lord (see also Grey), analogy with "Joseph Surface," ii. 347 ; characteristics, i. 40, 100, 114, n.2, H9,n.2, 155, ii. 37,n.3, 202, 282,n.2, 246,n.2, 299, 352 ; as Chancellor of Oxford Univer- sity, ii. 335 ; in Pitt's ministry, i. 159; at the Foreign Office (1789), ii. 200, resignation, ii. 296; relations with Fox, ii. 46, 297, 299, 500; as Prime Minister, ii. 318, 322-3 et seq. ; and the Regency (1811). holding Pitt's view, ii. 336 ; seat found by, for R.B.S., ii. 324 notes, ii. 20, 21, 23 ; and R.B.S.'s letter for the Prince, ii. 193; R.B.S.'s verses on the walz in his album, ii. 266,.3 political life, i. 407, as a public speaker, R.B.S. on, ii. 314, 440; and the Treaty of Versailles, ii. 19 on Mathews, i. 328 ; on Mrs. Sheri- dan's (2) description of R.B.S., ii. 264 ; on R.B.S.'s verses to E. Linley, i. 193 Grenville, William, i. iig,.3, ii. 26,71.4, 70; chosen as Speaker, ii. 422, 423 Greville, C., ii. 431 Greville, Mrs., mother of Mrs. Crewe, i. 518 Greville, Mrs., R.B.S.'s dedication to, of The Critic, and of verses, i. 609 &-n.2 Grey, Lady, cousin of Mrs. Sheridan (2), ii. 264,.i Grey, Sir George, and the Naval Mutiny, ii. 260 Grey, Lord (Viscount Howick), i. 465, ii. 269, 318, 352 ; characteristics of, i. 136, i37. 2, Hemin, Mme., French friend of the Sheridans, i. 261 Henderson, - , actor, education of, i. 226 Henry, Prince of Ohlau, i. 213 Here's to the Maiden of Bashful Fifteen, song (School for Scandal), i. 569, 576, 7t.2 Hernan's Miscellany, R.B.S.'s scheme for, Halhed a partner in, i. 278,71.2, 280, ii. n,n.3; characters and topics, i. 300 et seq. & notes, reference to R.B.S.'s dilatori- ness in, i. 29 Heroic Race, The, satire on Fox and Shel- burne, ii. I7,n.2 Heroism, revival of, i8th century, i. 126 Herschel, William, astronomer, in the Bath orchestra, i. 199, his home, i. 204, n. 2 Hertford Street, R.B.S.'s house in, i. 537, his farewell, i. 59-60 ". 3, his jealousy of his son, i. 67,.i, his religious emotions, i. 108, his school-days, i. 254,71.1, his sense of honour, i. 38 &n.2 ; on Whig slights to R.B.S., ii. 33i,.2 499 INDEX Holloway, - , the lawyer, and R.B.S.'s adroitness, i. 58&>n.i Hollwood. Pitt's purchase of, i. 150 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, his Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, on pla- giarism, i. 22 & n.2 Home. John, his tragedy, Douglas, and T. Sheridan's (5) medal, i. 249, 605 Homme, L', Sentimental, French version of School for Scandal, i. 583 Hone, Jim, ii. 406 " Honeywood," in Goldsmith's Good- natured Man, i. 59 Honiton, R.B.S.'s election visit to, i. 80, 6i4-i.2 Honour, a caricature of Gainsborough's Fitzherbert group, ii. n8,.4 Hood, Admiral, Viscount, i. 165 ; elected for Westminster, ii. 61, 63 ; and the Spithead mutiny, ii. 255-6 Hood, Sir Samuel, colleague of R.B.S. for Westminster, ii. 323 Hook, Theodore, bon-mot on drinking habits, i. 138 Hopkins, - , prompter, Drury Lane, i- 526, 532 ; and The School for Scandal, i. 550 Hopkins, Bard, ii. 422 M.I Hushed be that Sigh, i. 391 Hutchinson, Lord, ii. 343 Hyde Park, and R.B.S.'s first duel, i. 364-5 Hyder Ali (Bey) and Hastings, ii. 121, 151, 161 Hypocrisy, Burke's definition, i. 38.M.2 I 7 NE'ER could any lustre see, verses by R.B.S. (Duenna), i. 277, 507 " lanthe " (Love in a Bottle), i. 52 // a Daughter You have, song (Duenna), 1.507 Ilchester, R.B.S.'s election for, ii. 324 Iliad, The, a Sheridan myth concerning, Impey, Sir Elijah, his affidavits on the Begum affair, ii. 130 et seq. ; characterised by Burke, ii. 4O,w.i Impeachment in the i8th century, some victims, i. 173 Inchbald, Mrs., playwright, i. 178 500 INDEX India (see also East India Company), career in, of Warren Hastings (q.v.), ii. 121 et seq. ; upshot for, of the Hastings trial (q.v.), ii. 171 ; wealth from, in England, Walpole on, i. 145 France and England in (1782), ii. 19 India Bills (see Dundas, Fox's India Bill, and Pitt's India Bill), R.B.S.'s Comparative Statement on, i. 92 6- n.i India Control Bill (1788), R.B.S. on, ii. 49 Ingham, Miss Josephine, of Sheridan descent, i. 225 Ingram, Mr., and the Oxford degree with- held from R.B.S., ii. 335 Inkle Letters, by Anstey, i. 196, igg.n.i, 200 Ireland and the Catholic question (q.v.), i. 52 ; effect on, of repression, ii. 260; French menace to, by sea (1796), ii. 255 ; French war, as affecting, ii. 231; liberty of the Press in, upheld by R.B.S., ii. 35 1 ; Lord Edward Fitz- gerald's conspiracy and its con- sequences, ii. 263, 282 et seq.; the Prince of Wales's desire to govern, ii. 33 501 INDEX Johnson, Dr. Samuel, i. 20, 43, 140, 549, ii. 236; at Bath, i. 204; charac- teristics, i. 140, 240-1, 249, 250; epitaph on Goldsmith, i. 514; friend of R.B.S.'s parents, i. 233, liking for the mother, i. 230, 250, attitude to the father, i. 226, 247, 248-9,250; at Mrs. Montague's, i. 169 ; Mrs. Thrale's in- fluence on, i. 163 ; pension of, T. Sheridan's (5) good offices, i. 249 and R.B.S., i.86, 87 554-5. 556 ; a prude, i. 70, the " sentimental knave," i. 93, nn.2.3, his sentimentality, em- phasized by title of French ver- sion of The School for Scandal, i. 583, his use of scandal, i. 555, his worship of reputation, > 555-6 " Joseph Surface " continued compared with " Tartuffe," i. 554-5 ; con- trasted with "Charles Surface," i. 64, 558 dress of, i. 586 impersonators of, i. 343, 578, 581, 582 ; original sketch of, i. 75 ; on punctuality, i. 28dvn.5 Journey to Bath, by Mrs. Sheridan (5), i. 492 & n.2, 533, 568, 576 Joy, Mr., Sheridan stories of, ii. 12, n.2 "Julia,"' in The Rivals, i. 405; various impersonators, i. 497 dvn.3, 498, 500 ; prototypes and sources of, i. 3, n.2, 374 n. i Leigh, Mrs., i. 459 Leigh, Rev. , officiant at Mrs. Sheri- dan's (i) funeral, ii. 225,n.i Lennox, Lady Sarah, see Napier, Lady Sarah Lennox, Lord George, ii. 414, 417 Leoni, , singer, in The Duenna, i. 509, 5" Lessingham, Mrs., actress, i. 500 Lester, G., printer, i. 584, n.i Lewis, Sir Watkin, M.P., supporter of Pitt, ii. 56 Lewis, , actor, as " Falkland," i. 500 Lewis, , a scene painter, i. 233 Letters from Simpkin the Second, rhymed satire, cited in reference to the Hastings trial, ii. 148, M.I, 149, n.5, i5o,n.i, r6o,n.3 Lexington fight, i. 473 Liberty (see also Press, Liberty of;, R.B.S. on, ii. 338-9 Life of Dr. Clarke, alleged echoes in, by R.B.S., i. 577 Life, The, of a Soldier, song (Statesman], i-539 Lille, Jacobins of, English negotiations with, R.B.S. on, ii. 93, M.I, 296, M.I, 311 ; two prominent " pawns " at, ii. 93 & n.i 504 INDEX Limerick, Irish supporters of the Union, ii. 295 Lindsay, Lady Anne, in Andrews' verses, i. 308 ; in Clio's Protest, i. 310 ; with her sister, at Tun- bridge Wells, i. 270,11.2 Lindsay, Mr., i. 195, n.i Linley family, forebears, i. 434-7; long connection with Bath, i. 182, 192-3, 202, 319; friends of, i. 332,n.2, 374, n. 2 ; their "little language," i. 439, 445, 539-40 ; lodgers of, i. 187, i. 202, 363 ; in London (1769), musical and theatrical appearances, i. 262, 322.M.2; members of (see also infra), i. 321-3 ; a mutual admira- tion society, i. 445; nickname for old Sheridan, i. 322, 513; portraits of, owned by Dulwich College, i. 434, 448,n. 3; portraits by Sir T. Lawrence, ii. 464 ; relations with R.B.S. (see also Drury Lane dv E. Linley), i- 5 2 > SS&'W.i, 182, ii. 272, n. 3; short lives, i. 438; talents, i- 433, 438, 44i, 461 Linley, Betty, belle, servant, a connection of Mrs. Tickell, i. 434,n.2, R.B.S.'stip to, i. 62cS-n.2 Linley, Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Linley, a twin, i. 322, 451,11.1, birth and death, i. 438 Linley, Deborah, possibly Mrs. William Linley, i. 436, & see pedigree Linley, Elizabeth Ann, daughter of Thomas Linley, afterwards the first Mrs. R. B. Sheridan (see also Sheridan, Mrs. (i)), i. 182, n.2, 321, 335 ; artistic gifts, i. 187 ; beauty, i. 322 ; birth of, i. 184, 438 character, charms and tastes, i. 185-7, 230, 283-4, 345, detraction of, i- 354-5, 397 devotion to her sister Mary, i. 441 ; early debut, i. 262 ; Erse song sung by, i. io3d>-w.i ; faint- ing at Chester masquerade, i. 315 friendship with the Sheridans, i. 190, adored by Alicia Sheridan, i. 320 ; help given by to Sheridan pere, i. 184 her lovers, see Charles Sheridan, Halhed, Morris, R , Wilding, etc., i. 188-9, 283, 284-7, 293, 330, 332,n.2, 333, Mr. Long's court- ship (see also Maid of Bath), i. 178, 188-90; love affair with Mathews, i. 188-9, 287, begun, (1764), i. 16, 324 et seq., his threats, i. 330, 336, 337, her attempt at suicide, i. 338, his threat of abduction, i. 338 ; Linley, Elizabeth Ann continued her lovers continued elopement of with R.B.S., i. 330, not yet in love with him, i- 33 x . 339, illness of, on passage to Dunkirk, i. 343-4, the Calais marriage, i. 344-6, 389-90, con- vent life at Lille, i. 344, 346, n.i, 347, stay at the Dolmans, i. 349, brought home, i. 355-6; R.B.S.'s duels with Mathews, the first, i- 187, 353 et seq., its effect on her, i. 363 ; the second, i. in 6- n.2, 187, 327, 330, 376, 377 et seq. ; absent at time of second duel, i. 378, its effect on her, 389-91, the stern fathers and their edict, how evaded, i. 389 et seq. ; alleged letter by, on the Mathews affair, discussed, its probable genuine- ness, i. 329-33, Rae's objections, 332.H.2; falls in love with R.B.S. , their courtship, love letters, verses, delays and quarrels, i. 369-79, jealous of Miss C y, i. 417, rumours of marriage with Sir T. Clarges, i.4i6, 417; her jealous letters to R.B.S., i. 417, performances in, Handel's oratorios, i. 418, upbraiding letters to R.B.S., i. 417-8, 419-20, the breach repaired, i. 422, her marriage to R.B.S., i. 421, 424, 425, 426,n.2, 427, he ends her public career, 424-5, 428-9, his father's wrath, i. 426, the honeymoon, i. 427, verses exchanged with her husband, i. 429-31 ; references to the love story in The Duenna, i. 509 parallel between and "Leonora" in The False Friend, i. 186; por- trait of by Gainsborough, ii. 464; prototype of "Julia," i. 489, 493, M.I references to, in verse : in Andrews' verses, i. 307, in R.B.S.'s verses, i. 273, 278, 284, 310, 315, 371 resolve to retire, i. 337 ; school of, i. 331 ; sham duel of, i. 187-8, 199, n.2; signatures of, single and mar- ried, i. 332,n.2 verses by, 374, n.i ; Delia to Damon, i. 273, 275 ; Eliza's Choice, i. 275 ; Lines to my Brother's Violin, i. I93,.2, 440; O Henry, didst thou If now the Heart, i. 275-6 ; The Sweets of Solitude (see also Drama of Devils), i. 1946^ n.i voice of, and singing, i. 182, 185, 187, 283-4, 434, income from, i. 189, repertoire, i. 191, 4i8&n.i 505 INDEX Linley. Elizabeth Ann continued on her attachment to Mathews (1770), i. 324 ; on her Calais marriage, i.344,n.4, 345,n.i ; on the insults she received, i. 332,*!. 2; on the proposed Clarges marriage, and another, i. 420-1 ; on R.B.S.'s delicacy of conduct during the elopement, and on the growth of her love for him, i. 419 ; on R.B.S.'s duels with Mathews, i. i93.-3. 327. 391 Linley, George Frederick, son of Thomas Linley, i. 437.H.2, 438 Linley, Isabel, aunt of Mrs. Sheridan (Mrs. Richard Philpot), i. 435 Linley, Jane Nash (Mrs. Charles Ward), a twin, sister of Mrs. Sheridan (i), i. ii,.3, 322, ii. 97; birth, i. 438; marriage, i. 438; Mrs. Sheridan's (i) bequest to, ii. 222,n.i ; and Mrs. Tickell, i. 450 ; her singing, ii. 227, 438 ; her funeral, ii. 225 439i Mrs. Sheridan's (i) elegy on him, i. 193, n.2, 440 Linley, Thomas, father of Mrs. Sheri- dan (i), i. 30, 34 438,71.3, epitaph on, i. 438,w.3 on Elizabeth Linley's look and manner i. 187 ; on R.B.S.'s difficulties, (1770), i. 281, n.2 Linley, Thurston, son of Thomas, birth and death of, i. 438 &-see i. 435 Linley, William, brother of Mrs. Sheridan (i), i. 274, 322 ; career, i. 434 ; his friends, ii. 12 ; at Harrow, i. 260; ignorant of Mathews' marriage, i. 325 ; 506 INDEX Linley, William continued and Mrs. Tickell, i. 451 ; R.B.S.'s assistance to, i. 53 dvw.i, 61 verses by ; i. 187 ; elegiacs on Mrs. Sheri- dan (i), ii. 225^.3; epitaph on his father and sisters, i. 438, n-3 ; prologue for Drury Lane, ii. 334 Linley, William, brother of T. Linley, i. 435, 436 Linley (or Lingley), William, grandfather of Mrs. Sheridan (i), career and family, of, i. 434-7 Linley, William Gary, son of Thomas, birth and death, i. 438 " Lissy, 1 ' Sheridan, really Alicia, q.V., i. 374,-4 Literary Club, The, R.B.S. proposed by Johnson (1777), i. 514 Literary pretenders, i. 577 Liverpool, ist Earl of, Charles Jenkinson (Lord Hawkesbury), ii. 7, H.I, 9- 39. w -3, 9.-ii 423,^.1; on Lord Grenville, i. 155^.4; on Pitt's financial purity, i. 157 ; on Shelburne's hankering for office, ii. 26,n.4 Lloyd, Dean, of Norwich, i. 450 Lochee, , portrait of R.B.S. by, ii. 465 Locke, John, ii. 389 Lockhart's Life of Scott, cited, i. i,n.2; his review of Moore's Life of Sheridan, in The Quarterly Review, March, 1826, accepting E. Linley's letter, i. 333 " Lodovico," in Othello, actors cast for, i. 609 Lohr, Miss Marie, as "Lady Teazle" (1909), i. 559."-2, 580. 584 Loire Valley and the Sheridans, i. 215 Lomenie's Beaumarchais, cited, i. 6,n. I London, the Sheridan family in, i. 242, 262 ; their acquaintance, i. 248 T. Sheridan's (5) theatrical successes in, i. 227-8 London, Bishop of (Howley), and R.B.S.'s last Communion, ii. 382 ; pall- bearer at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 London Chronicle, The, on The Rivals, London editions (1788-98), of The Scltoolfor Scandal, i. 585 London homes of R.B.S., see Dwellings under Sheridan, R.B.S. London Road, Bath, famous view of, i. 202 &-n. i Londonderry House, Bath, home of the Sheridans, i. 190 dvn. 2 Long, Mr. (1791), at Princess Caroline's parties, i. 144 Long, Walter (see also Maid of Bath), his courtship of Elizabeth Linley, i. 178, 188-90, 324, 327, 565 Long, Wellesiey Pole, owner of R.B.S.'s Wanstead house, ii. 229,n.i Longman and others, publishers, ii. 333,.i Longmans, Clementi & Co., music pub- lishers, ii. 277.M.I Lonsdale, ist Earl of, and the Regency, ii. 419 " Lord Foppington,'' i. 534 " Lord Medway," T. Sheridan's (5) suc- cess as, i. 245 " Lord Ogleby," played by King, i. 578 Lords' Cricket Ground as drill yard ! R.B.S.'s suggestion, ii. 3O5,n.2 Lothian, Marquis of, and the King's mad- ness, ii. 404 Loughborough, Lord, Lord Chancellor, ii. 9; and the Coalition, ii. 24; and Dr. Johnson's pension, i. 249; effect on, of panic, ii. 245 ; his frolics at Princess Caroline's, i. 144 ; personalities addressed to the King, i. 165 and the first Regency crisis, ii. 179; Fox pledged to, ii. 175 & n.2, letter prepared for the Prince, ii. 190, 191, 192, 193; see also App. III. vol. ii., 410 et passim Louis XIV., detested by Fox's ancestors, ii. 281 Louis XVI., ii. 206; his execution, ii. 231, 232, R.B.S. on, 233, 236, 242 ; and Rousseauism, i. 128,71.3 "Louisa's" lines (Duenna), nucleus of, i. 429 Louth, Earl of, and his daughters, i. 315 Love at a Venture, play by Mrs. Cent- livre, i. 495 Love Epistles, The, of Aristcenetus, by R.B.S. with Halhed, i. 2, 280, 284, 288, 289-96 ; personal interest of, examined, i. 291 et seq. ; R.B.S.'s motto for, i. 290 Love for Love , play by Congreve, i. 493, n.2, possible echoes of in School for Scandal, i. 575&*n.i; on servants, i. 488 Love in a Bottle, play by Farquhar, i. 21, W.I Love in a Wood, play by Wycherley, i. 490 507 INDEX Loveden, Mr., M.P., his motion for re- examination of the King's phy- sicians, ii. 423 Lower Brook Street, R.B.S.'s house in, i- 536 Lower Rooms, Bath, i. 195 Lowndes, Mr., M.P., on the Prince and the Grenvilles (1811), ii. 343.M.2 Lowry, James M., account of Sheridan- Swift friendship utilised, i. 224, n.2 " Lubin" and " Nico," in The Foresters, i. 540-1 Lucan, Countess of, i. io&n.i, 466, 549 Lucan, Earl of, i. io,n.i, 425,n.r, 464, 549 Lucan, titular Earl of (Sarsfield), i. 208-9 Lucas, Dr. Charles, friend of the Sheri- dans, i. 229 Lucknow and the Begums, ii. 130; Middleton, Resident at, ii. 129 ; Lunardi, , balloonist, i. 171, 447 Luttrell, Colonel, a wit, i. 163, 317,319; in The Rolliad, i. 126 Luttrell, Lady Elizabeth, her gambling, i. 146 Lyceum Theatre, T. Sheridan's (6) joint ownership of, ii. 303, n.2 Lycidas mocked in The Critic, i. 605 " Lydia Languish " (Rivals), criticisms on, i. 501, 502,n.i; her senti- mentality, i. 130, 487, 489 ; prototypes, real and alleged, i- 493)tt-i> 495 '< source of name, i-490 Lynedoch, Lord, i. 8o,n.2 ; host of R.B.S., ii. 372, present at his funeral, ii. 386 Lynn family, friends of E. Linley, i. 374, n.2, 404 Lyon, Emma (Lady Hamilton, q.v.) once servant to the Linleys, i. 441 Lyster, Mrs. (Mary), and R.B.S., i. 416, E. Linley, jealous of, i. 417 Lyttelton, Lord, " the wicked," i. 306 ; and Clio's Protest, i. 311-2 Lytton, Lord, romanticism of, in Lady of Lyons, ii. 279 M MACARONIS, the, i. 135, 171 Macartney, Lord, on his own acquisitions in India, ii. 121 Macaulay, Mrs. Catherine, pedant, and the Sheridans, i. 248 Macaulay, Lord, epithet for R.B.S. at Hastings trial, ii. iso.n.i Macbeth, Burke's quotation from, in Regency speech, ii. 419 <& n.2 Macfadden, Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Thomas Sheridan (4), i. 220, 223,n.i, 224 Mackenzie's Man of Feeling, bathos of, i. 129 ; claimed as his, by Eccles, i. 577 Mackintosh, Sir James, ii. 286; and R.B.S.'s letter for the Prince, ii. I94.M.2 ; on R.B.S.'s attitude to the India Bill, ii. 42 Maclaine, , freebooter, i. 171 Macnamara-Aston duel, ii. 4O4<5-n.i, 405 dvn.i Macnamara, Rear-Admiral James, ii. 404, M.I Macpherson, James, on Burke and the East India Company, ii. 4i,n.i ; tears of, i. 133 Macpherson, Sir John, on the results of the French Revolution, ii. 281-2 ; on Irish affairs, 282 Macready, William Charles, actor, i. 583 ; as "Joseph Surface," in America, i. 582 M'Cree, Johnny, story of, ii. 317,11.1 MacMahon, Colonel John, the Prince's secretary, ii. 320,^.1, 357, 71.1,371 Madan's Thelypthora, i. 54, M. 4 Madras, rescued by Hastings, ii. 121 Mahommed Ali, of the Carnatic, ii. 121 Mahratta war, the, ii. 121 Maid of Bath, The, comedy by Foote, based on E. Linley's love affairs with Long and Mathews, i. 178, i88,n.3, 189-90, 284,n.4, 295,71.3, 324<&-n.2 et seq., 565; deduc- tions from, as to Mathews' character, i. 325-6 Maidstone, the O'Connor trial at, ii. 283 et seq. Maille, the Marquises of, their Sheridan ancestry, i. 214, 215 Maineduc, Dr., and animal magnetism, i. 171 Maintenon, Mme., school founded by at St. Cyr, i. 468 "Major Racket" (Maid of Bath), his prototype, i. 189, n.r, 324-7 Malmesbury, Earl of, embassy to France, ii. 93 ; and the Peace of Lille, ii. 280 Malone, duped by Ireland, ii. 276 Malta, ii. 307, 366<5-n.i " Malvil " and " Joseph Surface," i. 573-4 Manners, Colonel, the mad King's pun on, ii. 174, 403, 404, 405 Mansfield, Earl of (see also Stormont, Viscount), i. 596 ; on Pitt, ii. 75-6 Mar, Earl of, i. 213 Mara, Mme., singer, voice contrasted with Elizabeth Linley's, i. 284,71.1 Marat, R.B.S.'s view of, ii. 243 " Maria " in The School for Scandal, i. 550, M - 2 > 555> 557) S^o. evolution of, 566 et seq., impersonators, actual and intended, i. 579 Mariage, Le, de Figaro (see also Beaumar- chais, "Count Almaviva," c~ "Figaro"), Holcroft's flying visit to see, i. 583 508 INDEX Marie Antoinette and the Duchess of Devonshire, i. 465, ii. 212; her execution, ii. 231 ; efforts to save, R.B.S. associated, ii. 212; his sympathy, i. 121 Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of, ances- tress of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, i. 464; T. Sheri- dan's (5) epigram on, i. 243, w-3 Marlow, play by Goldsmith, i. 490 " ' Marmion,' Travestied," by " Peter Pry," satire on R.B.S.'s reading his own obituary, ii. 357 "Major Rattle"; his|threats of suicide, i. 330, 336, 337 ; his menaces to E. Linley, i. 336, 388; conduct on learning of the elopement, i. 349 et seq. ; his " Advertisement," i. 352, 353 ; is called to account by Alicia Sheridan, i. 353; "Apology," in The hath Chronicle, i. 357, n.i ; letters to R.B.S. on his return, i. 358; R.B.S.'s duels with, i. 32, n. 3, 355 the first, story of, i. 187, 353, 356 6- w.i, 359 et seq., the apology, 367, his version, ib., his flight and return, 368, 371 ; the second, i. in &n.2, 187, 327, provoked by Mathews, i. 376, story of the fight, 379 etseq., authorities on, 38o,n.i, 382, his ferocity, i. 385 & notes, 387, public opinion on him then and later, 387 ; his version of the second duel, i. 327, 383,n.i, R.B.S.'s refusal to sign it, 377 &" n.2', Green's attempt to whitewash, i. 323 6* n.i, 328, -3. 354,*-3 Mathews, Mrs., i. 323, 324, 361 ; in Andrews' verses, i. 307 ; Gains- borough'? portrait, i. 325 Matrimony, coincident expressions of various writers, on, i. 491 Matthews, Brander, on The Duenna, i. SOS.H.I ; on "echoes 1 ' in R.B.S.'s comedies, i. 22,n.z; on The Rivals, i. 497,^2, 498, n.i, 528,n.i ; on The Sclwolfor Scandal, i. 581, s82,n.i Maude, Mr. and Mrs. Cyril, revival by, of The Rivals, i. 498, n.i, of The School for Scandal, i. 584 Maynooth College, R.B.S. on, ii. 329 Medway, naval mutiny in, ii. 258 Medwin's Conversations, cited, i. 116* n.2, 14, n.2 Melancholy, Friend to Grief, song by R.B.S., i. 611 &-n.i Melbourne, Viscount, see Lamb, William Melbourne, Viscountess, ii. 415 Mellon, Harriet, actress (later Mrs. Coutts and Duchess of St Albans), first discovered by R.B.S., i. 63 Melville, Viscount, see Dundas, Henry Memoirs (of the Romance with E. Linley), a lost writing by R.B.S., i. 402 Memoirs of the Times of George IV., cited, on the royal wedding, ii. 264, 265 & n.i Mendant's drops, a quack medicine, ii. 406 Merry, , epilogue by, to Ireland's fraudulent play, ii. 276 Metcalfe, Mr., manager of Polesden, ii. 272 Methodists in Bath, i. 196 Meynell, , ii. iO2,n.i Middle Party, the, and the Regency, ii. 4i2,n.i, 4i7 i- 147 ; n the Prince's accusation of R.B.S., about the Wootton Bassett nomination, ii. 371 S6 510 INDEX Morning Post, editor of, i. 542 ; O'Brien's letter to, on neglect of the dying R.B.S., ii. zgo.n.i ; Richardson's connection with, ii. 94 ; on The Rivals, i. *gg,n.i, 501, nn. 1,2, 502, n. i ; on R.B.S.'s (never completed) comedy, Affectation, i. 612 Mornington, Lord, see VVellesley, Mar- quis of Morris, Captain, a singer, friend of the Prince, i. 283,?!.!, ii. 62 Moseley, Dr., ii. 434 "Moses" (School for Scandal), i. 569; Baddeley as, i. 579 Mossop, , an actor, education of, i. 226 Mounsey, Dr., of Bath, i. 2O4,.2 Mount Ephraim, R.B.S.'s home at, i. 73 Mount of Moymullagh, a Sheridan burial- place, i. 224 Mountjoy, Lord, i. 235, nn. 1,2 Mountmorres, Viscount, R.B.S.'s rhyme on, ii. 62,w.4 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, on Tom Lin- ley's musical gifts, i. 433 Much Ado about Nothing, at Drury Lane, i. 532 ; its pure comedy, i. 563 Mulgrave, Lord, and Napoleon's offer to negotiate, ii. 302^.2; pall- bearer of R.B.S., ii. 386; Pitt's ally, ii. 57, 67 Munday, Mr., ii. 94,71. i Munny Begum, the, see Begums Murphy, Arthur, playwright and wit, i. 485 ; debts, i. 148 ; plays by, i. 485, 489, 573-4, " potted plays " and plagiarisms of, i. 490, sentiments in, i. 562 " Muskett " portrait of R.B.S., ii. 463 Mutineers, Naval, of 1797, R.B.S.'s action and speeches concerning, i. 15, 114, ii. 257 et seq. N NAPIER family, analogies with the Sheridan family, i. 206 Napier, Lady Sarah, nee Lennox (by first marriage Bunbury), ii. 22i,.i, 437 ; beloved by George III., ii. 173, 4o6(S'.2; on Fox's connection with " Perdita," Napier, Mr. (father of the three great soldiers), ii. 437 Napoleon I., alleged offer to negotiate (1803), Fox, ii. 3O2,n.2 ; Euro- pean hurricane raised by, ii. 298 ; and thejPeace of Amiens (1802), ii. 280; Pitt's struggle with, ii. 201, 231 ; successes in 1793 and after, ii. 255 R.B.S.'s attitude to, and speeches on, i. I5,w.i, 41, 107, 117, 121, ii. 213, Napoleon I. continued R.B.S.'s attitude to continued 253, 261, 262, 278-8, 281, 305, 306-7, 309-11, 329,n.i, 330, 337, 368-9 ; his view, shown in Pizarro, ii. 278-9 on how to govern, i. 157 Nardini, - , Tom Linley's musical teacher, i. 439 National Assembly, the, Burke on, ii. 203, 207 ; R.B.S. on, ii. 205-6 National Convention, decree of Nov. 1792, reprobated by R.B.S., ii. 243; pot-house addresses to, ii. 244 ; National Debt, Addington's efforts con- cerning, ii. 298 Naval mutinies of 1797, R.B.S.'s action and Pitt's gratitude, ii. 253, 255 et seq. Navy, the, R.B.S.'s interest in and speeches on, ii. 172, 254, 259 Naylor, Major, witness, Hastings trial, ii. 156 Neapolitan Club and its habitues, i. 142, n. i Nelson, Admiral Viscount (Horatio), at Bath, i. 2O4,n.2, ii. 404,11.1 ; early successes, ii. 255, and victories of Copenhagen, ii. 306, and the Nile, ii. 277, 278, George III. popularised by, ii. 7 Neptune, man-of-war, ii. 260 Netherlands, French success in (1793), ii. 233 New Bath Guide, byAnstey, i. 197 & notes, 2OO, 2OI New Broom, The, play by Colman, i. 531 New College, Oxford, Reynolds' portrait of Mrs. Sheridan (i) in famous window at, i. 187 Newgate, the fops at. i. 172 New River, alleged French plot to poison, ii. 243 Newcastle, Duke of, and Chatham, ii. 25 Newnham, Alderman, and the Prince's debts, ii. 105, 106, 107, no, 116 Newport, J. Richardson, M.P. for, ii. 95 Newspaper Duty Act, R.B.S.'s speech on, ii. 198 Newton, Sir Isaac, ii. 389 Nicolls, Sarah, R.B. S.'s maidservant, Nile, battle of the, ii. 267 Nobldssen, and Hastings, ii. 142 Noblemen, absent from R.B.S.'s drama, i. 166 ; ostentation of, i. 167-8 Nootka Sound, California, ii. 233 Nore Mutiny, see Naval Mutinies Norfolk, Duke of, i. 34, ii. 95 ; democratic toast by, consequence of, ii. 282, 401 ; drinking habits of, i. 137 friend of R.B.S. and his first wife, i. 438, ii. 177, his hopes from him, ii. 376, house lent by him to R.B.S., i. 34, 438, ii. 177, 214, INDEX Norfolk, Duke of continued friend of R.B.S. continued 218, 4306-71.1, seat offered for his purchase, ii. 370 nicknames, i. 37, i?7 : and the Regency crisis, ii. 177, 414; and the trial of O'Connor, ii. 283, 284 Norfolk Street, Strand, home of R.B.S., i. 452, ii. 100 Norfolks, the, ii. 406 Norris, , singer, lover of Elizabeth Linley, i. 283,n.i, 285,71.2, 418, H.I North family, the, i. 445 North, Hon. Frank, as actor, i. 170,71.4 North, Hon. George (later 3rd Earl of Guilford), i. 144, 154 North, Lord Frederick (later 2nd Earl of Guilford), i. 141,71.4, 179, ii. 2, 4, 9, 56, 67; characteristics, "5 political references; his administration, his defence, ii. i6,n.2, difficul- ties during, ii. 10-11, R.B.S.'s letters and writings on, i. 268-9, 467, 592, 595, his resignation, ii. 16, impeachment menaced, and the Coalition, ii. 24 et seq. ; Fox's attitude to, 1778, and later, i. 591-2 ; relations with George III., i. 149, 617; George IV. on, ii. igi.n.i ; and Gibbon, i. 515 ; and Warren Hastings, ii. 38, ii. 121 ; attitude to Irish trade, ii. 21, 756-71.1 ; nickname, ii. 28 ; Parliamentary manners, i. 169 & 71.3 ; political skits on, i. 511,71.2, 584; and the Regency crisis, ii. 409, 410, 417,71.3, 418; in The Rolliad, ii. 28,71.2 on the Atkinsons, ii. 39, n.3, 423 ; on proposed junction between Fox and Pitt, ii. 55 Northern League, the, ii. 412,71.1 Northington, Earl of, ii. 21,71.2, 26,71.4, as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, ii. 25 Northumberland, Earl of, supporter of T. Sheridan (5), i. 245 Northumberland, Duke of, gaming losses, i. 145, 425 ; and the Regency, ii. 418 Norton, Hon. Mrs., afterwards Lady Max- well (nee Caroline Sheridan), granddaughter of R.B.S., ii- 303, n. 2, anecdote preserved by. i- 59-60, 6-n.i, E. Linley's alleged letter repudiated by, i-332 Norton, Mr. and Mrs., hosts of Elizabeth Linley, i. 332, n. 2 Norwich Assizes, Mrs. Tickell's experience at, i. 453 Nourjahad, by R.B.S.'s mother, i. 251, ii- 334 Novels and Romances, R.B.S.'s views on, i. 95,7i.i " Novus,''on the American war, i. 268.H.2, 478; and R.B.S., controversy between in the press, i. 208-9 Nugent, Lord, i. 315,71. i, ii. 62,71.4 Nuncomar, Rajah, ii. 141,71.1, 142, 151 O'BEIRNE, Rev. (later, Bishop of Meath), bruising play writing parson and prelate, i. 170, 542,71.3, ii. 391 ; contributior to The Englishman, i. 592, and to The Rolliad, ii. 88, Tt.i ; unreliable as informer, ii. 25,71.3 ; on E. Linley, i. 185, O'Brady clan and the O'Sheridans, i. 207 O'Brien, D., i. 69,71.1; and the breach between R.B.S. and Burke, ii. 209; and the flight of O'Connor, ii. 290 ; friendship for R.B.S., ii 290,71.1 ; succour demanded by, for R.B.S., ii. 380; on R.B.S.'s indepen- dence, i. 41 Occasional Verse, i8th century, i. 163 O'Coigley, Father, conspirator, ii. 283, 285, fate, Dr. Parr on, 286-7 O'Connor, Arthur, conspirator, R.B.S.'s association with, i. 31, ii. 263, and with his trial, ii. 283-6, his flight, 284, and pardon, 287 O'Connor family and the O'Sheridans, i. 207 O'Connor, Roger, conspirator, ii. 283, 284 O'Connor, Sligoe, alleged forebear of the Sheridans, i. 207,71.3 Octogenarian, The, see Earle, William " O'Cul '' and " Cullin," in Clio's Protest, i. 311-2 Oczakow, affair of, ii. 198, R.B.S. on, 199-200, 431-2 Ode to Patience, by Mrs. T. Sheridan (5), ii. 251, 6- see ii. 399 Ode to Scandal, by R.B.S., i. 195,71.2, 315, 316, 471, 545, 565 ; its attitude to Women, i. 1046-71.2; full text, "Poor Nancy" episode compared with verses on Poor Lucy, App. A., vol. i., 618-24; passage in, compared with erased dialogue in School for Scandal, i. 620,71.1 ; varying metres in, i. 370,71.1 ; when planned, i. 387 Odeon Theatre, R.B.S.'s plays performed at, success of, i. 583 Ogle family, R.B.S.'s help to, i. 62, 63 Ogle, Anne, ii. 264, 269,71.3 512 INDEX Ogle, Esther (or Hester) Jane (Hecca), second wife of R.B.S. (see also Mrs. Sheridan (2) ), marriage, ii. 264 et seq. Ogle, Harry, nephew of Mrs. Sheridan (2), Ogle, Kate, ii. 264, R.B.S.'s letter to on his health, ii. 377 Ogle, Miss, on R.B.S.'s delight in children, i. 79 dy M.I, on his character, i. 51,11.4 Ogle, Mrs., mother of Mrs. Sheridan (2), ii. 264 (S- H.I Ogle, Rev. Newton, Dean of Winchester, father of R.B.S.'s second wife, i. 44rd North, i. 595 ; and Pitt, a parallel, ii. 198-9; on Elizabeth Lmley and her sister singing, i. i86,n.i Palmerston, Viscountess, at the " Ridotto," i. 3is,n.i ; Mrs. Tickell on, > 455 " Pamela" (later Lady Edward Fitzgerald), as guest of R.B.S., i. 59, ii. 211, 217, 228 Pastheon, the, i. 80, 170, 176, 262, Drury Lane actors at, ii. 275 & n.i ; Lunardi's balloon at, i. 171, n.i ; masqued balls at, i. 172, ii. 4io,M.i, T. Sheridan (5) at, i. 263 ; R.B.S.'s connection with, i. 529 Pan ton, Rev. , and E. Linley, i. 389, 390 Paoli, General, patriot, i. 172 Paris, The Rivals in, i. 497 Park Street, scene of Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage, ii. 103 Parker, , an actor, i. 609 Parker family, friends of the Sheridans, i. 395; R.B.S.'s holidays spent with, i. 254 Parker, Lady, and the French ambassa- dor, ii. 56,n.i Parker, Richard, leader in the naval mutiny, ii. 258, 259, fate, 260 Parkhurst, Mrs., on R.B.S.'s kindnesses, i. 53&-H.3; letter on R.B.S.'s death, ii. 382 <& n.z Parliament (see also House of Commons), denned by Fox, ii. 414 Grattan's, in Dublin, ii. 18, 22 Parliamentary Reform, drift towards (circ. 1778), i, 591 ; Fox's atti- tude to, i. ii9,n.3, ii. 36, 253, Foxites 1 views on, i. 119,71.3; George III.'s objections, ii. i8,n.4; Grenville's attitude, i. H9,n.3 ; Grey's views, ii. 253 ; Pitt's projects and views, ii. 4, 18, 36, 66, 67, 245,253 ; R.B.S.'s consistent ardour for, ii. 253, 254 Parnell, the poet, at Bath, i. 204 Parr, , Harrow school-fellow of R.B.S., i. 254 Parr, Dr., second master at Harrow, > 253, 255 ; epigram on a Bohemian wit, i. 256; and O'Coigley's death, ii. 286-7 and the Sheridans, i. sgz&n.i; at C. B. Sheridan's christening, ii. 269; schoolmaster of Tom Sheridan (6), ii. 99,71.2, 213 ; utilized by R.B.S., in connec- tion with the India Bill, ii. 43, 44,n.a ; on Elizabeth Linley, i. 185 ; on the charms of R.B.S.'s mother, i. 230; on R.B.S. as a school-boy, i. 256-7, 270 Parry, Mr., singer, i. 4i8,t.i Parsons, , actor, i. 609; as "Sir Fretful Plagiary," i. obg.M.i ; as "Crabtree, 1 ' i. 579 Parsons, Nancy, i. 268 Parties, political, sub-divisions of (1780, et circ.}, ii. 4&n.z Party spirit, deprecated by R.B.S., ii. 309, and by Napoleon I., i. 157 Pasquin, " abashed '' at Elizabeth Linley, i. 185, i86,n.i ; verses by, on R.B.S. at Drury Lane, i. 530.M.2 Pasquin, play, by Fielding, i. 607 Patmore, Mr., Sheridan papers found by, i. 7,71.3 ; R.B.S.'s opera dis- covered by, i. 481 & H.I Paul, H., on Foxites' attitude to finance, ii. 85 Paull, , tailor demagogue, ii. 324, opposition of, to R.B.S. at Westminster election, i. 616 Paumier, Captain, as Cupid's postman, i. 391; R.B.S.'s second in the second duel, i. 28od>-w.3, 357, 382, 384 X 73 I attitude to Parlia- mentary Reform, ii. 242, 245 ; characteristics, ii. 19,71.2 ; Duke of York's regiment given to, by the mad King, ii. 408 ; the Duchess of Devonshire on, ii. 400, 402 ; fortification schemes, R.B.S.on,ii.95-M.2,3, 498, 583, its perennial vitality, 498 characters in (see also under Names), and characteristics, i. 374, M.3, 488 et seq. ; flunkeys in, i. 178 date of writing, i. 478; dedication in Tickell's copy, i. 12 echoes in, of Bath, i. 181, 182, I95,w.i, 201 ; of Farquhar, i. 575 ; of R.B.S.'s life, i. 394, 505 ; of the duels, i. 348, 356, 359, 368; subconscious echoes in, i. 489 et seq. 519 INDEX Rivals, The continued epilogue, i. 26, 545 ; excised passages, i. 496; "faded ideas" in, ex- amined, i. 491 et seq.; famous phrases from, i. 16; faults in, i. 496-7, 499; first performance, i. 484, cast, i. 499-500, recep- tion, revision, consequences, i. 498 et seq., second perform- ance, success of, i. 501, 502, 532, 580 &-n.i; first edition, title and timing, i. 496; gibes at ancestry, i. 37; " hasty com- position" of, i. 478, 488,71.1, 494 & notes; hint of, in Ixion, i. 297; main features, i. 488, 495 ; MS. burnt, i. 495 ; natural- ness resented, i. 499; nomen- clature, i. 490, 576 ; plagiarism (see echoes, supra), i. 484, 489, 491 ; preface, i. 22, 117, 480, 510, reference in, to Irish politics, i. n8,n.2 ; prologue to, i. 56,71.4, 486-7 reprints, i. 497,71.3 ; revivals, i. 502 ; sen- timentality, i. 129-30, aim of R.B.S. in, i. 487; sources, actual and alleged, i. 299, 484, 489 et seq. ; tirades in, i. 129 ; on domesticity, i. 177-8; on jealousy, i. 67 Robertson, Dr., a visitor of the Sheridans, i. 248 Robespierre, Maximilien, R.B.S. on, ii. 249 Robins, G., the famous auctioneer, i. 526 Robinson Crusoe, pantomime, by R.B.S. (1781), i. i8,n.3, 612 Robinson, John, M.P., ii. 26,71.4, 404, 408, 423; and George III., ii. 9 dv notes; and the India Bill, ii. 50; the "Jack Robinson" of R.B.S. 's famous phrase, ii. 16 ; on the King's madness, ii. 404 Robinson, Mrs. (Mary), " Perdita," school- mistress turned actress, at Drury Lane, as "Amanda" (Trip to Scarborough}, i. 535, " Maria " intended to be played by. 579 ! Fox's mistress, i. 153, ii. 52,71.2,62; her husband, a Harrovian, i. 254; mistress of the Prince of Wales, ii. 31 ; R. B.S.'s chivalry to, i. 107, 109, 355. 356 n.i Ruspini, , the dentist, i. 96,.t Russell, Lord John, and Leigh Hunt, i. 42 ; his Life of Fox, cited, ii. 190 et alibi ; on Pitt's changed attitude to Hastings, ii. 125 ; on R.B.S. and the Coalition, ii. 3o,n.2 Russell, Lord William, ii. 94,n.i ; his election contest, ii. 422 Russia, Queen of, bust of, i. 144 Russian affairs, see Catherine II. Russian Ambassador on R.B.S.'s speech on the Union, ii. 295,n.i Rutland, Duchess of, i. i3i,n.3, 519 ; a Pittite, i. 163, ii. 55 Rutland Volunteers, The, Influenza'd, pasquinade, distich in, on Cumberland, i. 485,n.i Ruvigny's Jacobite Peerage ... on the Sheridans, i. 206 Ryder, , manager of Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, i. 144, 585 SACKVILLE family, friendship with Thomas Sheridan (5), i. 226 Sackville, Viscount, Lord- Lieu tenant of Ireland, ii. 8,n.2 ; and Pitt's Irish propositions, ii. 85 ; on a play by Cumberland, i. 605 St. Albans, Duke of, and the Regency crisis, App. III. vol. ii. St. Albans Tavern, Whig meeting-house, i-515 St. Anne's, Fox's country house, i. 12, 97, 144, 145, ii. I04.H.I, 177, 178, 180, 290, 305^.2, 407 St. Cyr, famous girls' school at, i. 468 St. Eustatia, Rodney's doings at, ii. ig,n.i St. Helens, naval mutiny at, ii. 256, 258 St. James's Chronicle, The, on R.B.S.'s letter to Pitt, ii. i9i,n.4, 193, n.i St. James's Street, Fox's lodgings in, i. U9.W-5 St. James's Theatre, revival at, of Tin School for Scandal, i. 584 St. John, , Chairman of Committee during R.B.S.'s Begum speech, ii. 128, R.B.S.'s bet with, i. i47,-3 St. Patrick's Day, or the Sclieming Lieutenant, farce by R.B.S., rapidly written plot, and fitst cast, i. 503dvn.2, 504, practical joke motif, i. 92 St. Quentin, E. Linley's shelter at, i. 339 ; the Sheridan family at, i. 262, 394 St. Vincent, Lord (Admiral Jems), ii. 302,.2 ; naval victories of, 255 521 INDEX " Saints, the," and feeling, i. 129 Salisbury, false alarm of riot at, ii. 244 Salisbury^ Marchioness of, joy at King's improvement, ii. 181, 413 ; a Pittite, i. 163 Salisbury, Marquis of, and Drury Lane, ii. 275, n. 2 ; and the Pantheon, ii. 275, n. i ; on George III.'s madness, ii. 174, 403 Salons, English, i8th century, political divisions of, ii. 163 Salt Hill, school of T. Sheridan (6) at, i. 459, ii. 73, 99.H.2 Salutation Club (Prince's) and its members, i. 97 Sanders, Lloyd, Life of Slieridan by, i. 493,-i, 497,"-3. 5",-2 et alibi; on R.B.S.'s Ode to Scandal, i. 104,11.2 Sandwich, Earl of, i, 516, 596, ii. ii ; R.B.S.'s attack on, ii. 13,11.1 ; and the Regency, App. III. vol. ii., 415 et alibi Saratoga, Burgoyne's capitulation at, i. 475, ii. 121 Sarcey, M., place accorded by, to The School for Scandal, i. 552 Sarsfield, General, and the Sheridan r. !*. family, i. io,n. i, 208-9 Saunders, Miss E. Linley's (questioned) letter addressed to, i. 329, 332.W.2 Savage, Richard, plays by, i. 2o,n.3, R.B.S.'s prologue to one revived by him, i. 5i3 notes ; famous toasting song (Here's to the Maiden), i. 569, 576.H.2; "faded ideas" in, i. 491, 494 ; first cast, i. 578-9 ; first performance, i. 549, and success, 550 ; flunkeys in, i. 178; French versions (see School for Scandal, The continued French versions continued Delille's) early, i. 568,71.1 ; gibes at ancestry, i. 37 ; interest in, of Garrick and others, i. 542; Irishisms in, i. 103 ; Lamb's objection to, i. 486 ; limitations of, i. 562-4 ; MSS. of, i. 564, n. 2 ; memorial perform- ance, chief actors, i. 581 ; Mrs. Crewe's connection with, i. 518-9 <^.2, 559.-i, 573- 586, ;. i ; vitality of, i. 552 on " Avadavats,' 1 ii. 98 < H.I ; on drink- ing, i. 136; on telling the truth, ii. 113 ; on wit and good humour, i. 88-9 ; on the world's opinion, i. 75 Schroder of Vienna, and The School for Scandal, i. 583 Schule, Die, der Verleumdung, German version of The School for Scandal, i. 583 Schutte, Jeanne, wife of James Sheri- dan (2), her children and grand- children, i. 215 Schwellenburg, Mrs. lady - in - waiting to Queen Charlotte, ii. 106, 416 Scorpion, The, on Tin Rivals, i. 484, n.i, 499,H.i 522 INDEX Scotch Boroughs, reform of, i. II76-K.2, 198 Scott, Henry, and his child's christening, ii. 319, M.I Scott, John, see Eldon Scott, Major, R.B.S.'s dealing with, on the India Bill, ii. 43, 44; and the trial of Hastings, ii. 123, 164 ; on Fox, as R.B.S.'s politi- cal creator, i. 515, n. 2; on the ingratitude of the Oude Begums, ii. 122 6- K.I ; on R.B.S.'s view of the Coalition, i. 3o6-M.2 Scott, Sir Walter, i. K.I ; denial of his own authorship, ii. 87 ; as laird, ii. 272 ; lines on the death of Pitt and of Fox, ii. 322 Scrace, , a liveryman, Bath, i. 200 Screen Scene in School for Scandal, i. 97, 554, 555-6, 557-8. 560-2, 576; Cumberland's praise of, 564, 576 ; evolution of, sources suggested, i. 200. 567, 572-3, 575-6 ; French uses of, i. 582 Scriblerus, by Arbuthnot, quoted by Lord North, in a Regency speech, ii. 419,11.1 Scuderi, Mile., i. 2O2,.i, 203 Sefton, Countess (see also Molyneux), mock arrest by R.B.S., i. 98 ; witticism of, on the situation (1784), n. 55 Sefton, Earl of, R.B.S.'s bet with, i. 147, -3 Selden, , on quelling rebellion, ii. 329 Selwyn, George, the wit, at the " Catch Club," i. 8o,K.2 ; causticity of, on R.B.S.'s defence of Mrs. Fitzherbert, ii. 118; his nick- name for Lord John Cavendish, ii. 25<~w.4; and R.B.S.'s elec- tion to Brooks's Club, ii. ii, n.2 ; at the Tickells, i. 446; wit of, i. 85, K.I, 163, 170; on Burke's ur.governed passions, i- 135 Semiratnis, play by Captain Ayscough, derived from that by Voltaire, R.B.S.'s epilogue to, i. 26<~-3, 5i6 Senator, The, on Fox as Macaroni, i. 150, K.I "Serpent" (Snake), Delille's view of, i. 554,-i Seward, Miss, poetical reference to R.B.S., i. 25,n.2 Seymour family, in Andrews' verses, i. 307 Seymour, Duchess of, daughter of T. Sheri- dan (6), ii. 303, n. 2 Shakespeare, William, Coleridge's quota- tion from, applied to R.B.S., i. 60- 1 ; comedies of, i. 563, travesties of, at Drury Lane, i. 491 ; Malapropian characters of, i. 491 ; neglect of, by R.B.S., Shakespeare, William continued neglect of, by R.B.S. continued refuted, i. 596-71.2, 60 6- H.I; sonnets referring to Bath and its fame, i. 204 ; as plagiarist, i. 21 ; spurious tragedy by, produced by R.B.S., ii. 263, 276; R.B.S.'s references to, i. 59, his prized first folio, 60 ; on versatility, i. 37 Shamrock, The, of Hibernian Creases, by Sam White, and his other works, i. 247 & K.I Sharpe, " Conversation," i. 90 Shaw, , band conductor, Drury Lane, and R.B.S. , i. 576-W.2, ii. 381 6-K.3 She is Far from the Land, verses by T. Moore, i. 271 She Stoops to Conquer, play by Goldsmith, echoes in, of Farquhar, i. 490; main features, i. 488; natural- ness resented, i. 499; toasting song in, i. 576,11.2 ; Walpole's criticism, i. 125, 486 Sheen, Mrs. (Anne Sheridan, sister of T. Sheridan (5) ), i. 224, 231 Sheerness, naval mutineers at, ii. 258 Sheffield, Lord, on Burke's speeches, ii. 7 ; on Fox, ii. 36, K.I ; on the Foxitesandthe PrinceofWales, ii. 31 ; on Jacobinism, ii. 233; on R.B.S. in office, i. 71 <& rt.3, ii. 31 Shela, maidservant at Quilca, i. 222 Shelburne, Earl of (afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne), i. 596, ii. 4,M.2, 7, ii, 19,35,70; ad verse to jobbery, i. 154-5 ; Burke's epithet for, i. 165 ; characteristics, ii. 5 6- .i,66-K.i; and the Coalition (1783), i. ggdvn.i; illness of, ii. 392 ; his ministry, ii. 22-6 ; his political indirectness, ii. 19-206- K.I; in Rocking- ham's ministry, ii. 17 on American Independence, i. 475, ii. i8,K.5, 19; on dissolutions, ii. 53.K.2 ; on the Lords and the people, ii. 51 6- K.I Sheldon, , and R.B.S.'s repartee, i. 89 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, poet, i. 178; at Bath, i. 204.K.2 ; and The School for Scandal, 574 Shenstone, William, i. 126 Sheridan family (see also O'Sheridan) in America, loyalists, i. 206 ; ban- shee of, i. 75, 206, K-3, 223 ; characteristics, i?th century, i. 209 ; its fallen fortunes, i. 37 ; French branch, i. 206, founder of, i. 214-5; habit of marrying English heiresses, i. 209 ; its high sense of honour, i. 386-K.i; Jacobite baronetcy 523 INDEX Sheridan, family continued Jacobite baronetcy in continued in, i. 212-3 ; long list of notable names in, i. 206-7 ; pedigree, i. 105 et seq. & notes ; politics of, lyth century, i. 209, 217; its portraits, i. 37 ; ramifi- cations and geographical dis- tribution, i. 205 - 6 & notes ; R.B.S.'s kindnesses to, i. 6z&- n.2, 63 Sheridan, Algernon, of Frampton Court, great-grandson of R.B.S., ii. 303, n.2 Sheridan, Alicia (Lissy), elder sister of R.B.S. (see also LeFanu, Mrs. Joseph), i. 24,n.i, 190; birth of, (1753), i. 235, and god-parents, i. 225, 235 ; childhood, i. 244 ; devotion to E. Linley, i. 320, 329 ; R.B.S.'s best friend, on her deep love for him, i. 263-4 ; her bhare in the elopement, i- 329, 33i. 336, 339, 341, 346-7 I her narrative of the Mathews- Linley affair and R.B.S.'s duels, 1-329 letter to, from R.B.S., on his debts (1772), i- 403-5 on Mathew's outrageousness, i. 338-9 ; on R.B.S. ; his appearance at nineteen, i. i82$&n.t death, ii. 388,n.2 on her brother Charles, ii. 74,.2 ; on Elizabeth Linley's lovely voice, i. 283-4 ; on her father's quarrel with R.B.S., ii. 74 ; on the Lindsay beauties, i. 2jo,n.z; on incident at Beetle's ball, i. 141, n.2 ; on manners of Duchesses, i. I77.H.2 ; on Mrs. Sheridan's (i) changed views, ii. ico; on Mrs. Sheridan's (i) social life, ii. 99; on morals among the great, ii. 102 ; on other folks' views of morals, ii. 100 Sheridan, Anne Elizabeth continued on R.B.S.'s appearance in 1784., ii. 59,n. i ; on his disinterested- ness, ii. 97 ; on his espousal of the Irish cause, i. ii7-8<~ 11.1 ; on his greatness, i. 24 <~ n.i ; on R.B.S.'s inconstancy and its object, i. 174 & n.i, 175 ; on his share in the Regency intrigues, ii. I79,n.i , on his letter for the Prince, ii. 194, n.2 ; on his resemblance to his father, during the Hastings trial, ii. 48,71.2; on his table-talk, i. 88,n.i on Thomas Grenville, i. 407 ; on Tom Sheridan's (6) school-days, ii. 99, n.2 Sheridan, Brinsley (or Richard Brinsley), son of T. Sheridan (6), i. i io,n.2, christening, 11.3190- n.i; marri- age and descendants, ii. 303^.2 Sheridan, Caroline, daughter of T. Sheri- dan (6), (see Norton), ii. 3O3,n.2 Sheridan, Charles, son of T. Sheridan (6), ii. 303 Sheridan, Charles Brinsley, second son of R.B.S., ii. 27i,n.2, 334, 338 ; birth and godfather, ii. 269 ; educa- tion, ib. ; gift of verse, pan- hellenic tastes and travels, ii. 269, 273 ; his father's delight in him, ii. 269; his love for R.B.S., ii. 72, n. 3; and his father's funeral, ii. 385,n.i ; portraits of, ii. 269 & n.3 ; Moore's exculpation to, of R.B.S. on the Wootton Bassett affair, ii. 371 n.2; birth, i. 235; character, i. 335, calculation, i. sSgdvn.i, meanness, i. 321, 388-9 death of, R.B.S.'s grief, i. 109, no.n.i, ii. 229n. i, loo, 458-9, his guardian angel, i. IIK&'M; letters to her husband, charm of, ii. 97- 80, 458, letters on retrenchment, i. 52.M.2, ii. 97, on The Rivals, i. 500-1 ; name for R.B.S., ii. 271 nicknames for George III. ii. 26, for her- self, ii. 98-9 as peacemaker between husband and father-in-law, i. 73-4, 513, ii. 391 and politics (see also Fox, supra), ii. 99, 391 ; canvas for Townshend, ii. 99,n.i, 4O4,n.i ; help to R.B.S. in his Parliamentary aspira- tions, i. 590 ; copy of R.B.S.'s "letter to Pitt" made by, ii. 193, 194, 422 ; loneliness during R.B.S.'s political life, i. 218, ii. 55, 64 portraits of; by Cosway, ii. 464; by Gainsborough, i. 440-1, ii. 463, and also in his Regency group, ii. 118; by Humphry, ii. 464; by Reynolds, i. 462-3, ii. 378, 463 ; by Zoffany, ii. 464 reference to, in The Rolliad, ii. 87; riddle-verses on, i. i43,n.i ; temptations met by, ii. 99 et seq.; her tribute to Maria Linley, i. 450,71.1; verses by (see also under Names), on R.B.S.'s inconstancy, i. 174 ; the Sylvio- Laura verses, i. 519-21 her will, ii. 222-n.4, 51, n.4, i75- n.2 Sheridan, Mrs. Thomas, wife of Dr. Thomas Sheridan (4) (nee Eliza- beth Macfadden), i. 218, 220, 224 Sheridan, Mrs. Thomas, wife of Thomas Sheridan (5), and mother of R.B.S. (nee Frances Chamber- laine) ; appearance, i. 230, 234, 251 ; children born to, i. 235-6 ; family and connec- tions, i. 229-30 ; friends and admirers, i. 168, 203, 230, 232, 233 ; letters of, references, to her husband's lectures, etc., i. 248.W.3, 249; marriage and life in Dublin and elsewhere, i. 229 et seq., loving sup- port given to her husband, i. 251-2 characteristics; anxiety over her chil- dren, i. 246, command of temper, i. 71 &n.3 writings (see also under Names) : novels by, i. 70, 178, 229, 237, 244, 245, 251, 261, 406, 489; references to, by R.B.S. , i. 229, 406 pamphlet in defence of T. Sheridan (5), i. 231 plays by, i. iBg,n.i, 251, 533, 568, 576, 580; echoesof, in R.B.S.'s plays (q.v.), i. 251, 489, revivals, i. 504, n.2 ; tone and execution in, i. 486 verses by, i. 230, 238, n.i, 251, R.B.S.'s reference to, ii. 399 death at Blois, i. 252, 259, 261, desolation of her husband, 262 on her son Charles as a child, i. 248-9 Sheridan, Mrs. Thomas, wife of Thomas Sheridan (6), daughter-in-law of R.B.S. (nee Caroline Henrietta Callander), ii. i2,.2, 368; her children, ii. 303, . 2 ; her elope- ment, ii. 303,t.2 ; in The Rivals (amateur performance), i. 498; on R.B.S.'s character, i. 73-"- 2 Sheridan, Patrick, son of Denis, also a Bishop, career of, i. 210 Sheridan, Patrick, an unknown, prob- lem of place in family, i. 216-7 Sheridan, Patty, granddaughter of Denis, i. 212 &M.I Sheridan, Richard, son of Dr. T. Sheri- dan (4), i. 225 Sheridan, Richard, son of the above Richard, cousin of R.B.S., career, i. 225, R.B.S.'s infor- mant on Irish matters, ii. 82 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley Butler, son of T. Sheridan (5), subject of this biography : ancestry, i. 37, 209, 217, 234, influence of, i. 101-4 appearance, i. n, i4-n.5, 76, loo-i, uo> notes; religious emotions and views, i. 108-9 & notes, 280-1 ; repartee, i. 15, 16, 83dy.i, ii. 291 ; rest- lessness, i. 73, 96 ; sarcasm, i. 165 ; satire, i. 545 ; secret of his ascendency, i. 78 et seq. ; self-deception, i. 93 <&-n.3; self- esteem, i. 56, 63-4 ; sentimen- talism, i. 3-5, 27, 53, 63, 130, 408-9, 545, ii. 228, 265, 279, 373, and tears, i. 133, 161; silence, i. 12; "sleeping days," i. 12, 32,n.i, 121 ; solid yet sprightly, i. 78-9 ; as squire, ii. 272 ; sudden successes, i. 112-3, 270; super- stitions, i. 75 w.2, his pet names for her, 267-8, 269,71.4 ; marriage settlement on second wife, i. 44 in relation to his period, i. 124 et seq. ; as poet or versifier, ii. 389, analogy with Moore, i. 271 ; poetical tributes to, i. 25 &-n.2\ poetical tutors, i. 271, 276 ; praise of Garrick, i. 85 ; proud of connection with the Press, i. 305 ; resemblances be- tween him and his grandfather, i. 221; scheme with Windham for reviving ancient games, i. 79 5i5.-2, unpublished (see also early, supra), i. 77, 83n.$ ; on his verses sent to Mrs. Crewe with MS. of School for Scandal, i. 586-7 ; on the vic- tory of the Grave, ii. 224 ;on the Whig downfall in 1812., ii. 361 Sheridan, Sackville, infant brother of R.B.S., i. 235, 238 Sheridan, Susan, problematical daughter of Dr. T. Sheridan (4), i. 225 <5-n.2 Sheridan, Thomas, son of Denis, career, trial, and family of, i. 210 et seq. ; his famous Discourse on the Rise and Power of Parliaments, i. 212 ; on the for- feiture of the estates, i. 2O7,n.3 Sheridan, Thomas, grandson of Denis, career, and baronetcy of, i. 212-3 1 out in the '15., i. 213 Sheridan, Thomas (5), son of Dr. Thomas Sheridan and father of R.B.S., actor, author, lecturer, orator, direct progenitor of the present Sheridans, i. 225 analogy with " Sir Anthony Absolute," i. 488; as actor and orator, i. 134, 184, 226, 252; aims, i. 227 ; appearance, i. 234 ; as author (see writings, infra), i. 184; birth, i. 225; "break- fasts' 1 of, in London, i. 233 career; education, i. 226; theatrical life, i. 263, in Dublin and Dublin successes and reverses, i. 56^.3, 227 et seq. ; Kelly's riot, i. 228, 235 ; marriage, social life, i. 229 et seq. ; Digges' riot at the theatre, i. 236-8 ; in England, theatrical and other avocations, i. 238 ; return to Ireland, on the stage, i. 241, back to London, his statement on his troubles, i, 242 ; better days in England, i. 243 ; lectures and lessons given by in oratory, i. 184, 191, i92,n.3, 244; further theatrical successes in London, i. 244, in France, i. 254, 260 ; family in France, i. 261-2 ; family in London again (1769), i. 262 ; his family in Bath, i. 184, 204 ; the friendship with the Linleys (q.v.), i. 246 ; and E. Linley's professional aid, i, igidvrt.i; unfavourable to friendship with the Linleys, i. 3rg; friendship temporarily severed, i. 398 et seq. ; visit to Dublin with his play Captain O'Blunder, i. 318; his corre- spondence with his family, i. 318-9, still in Dublin, i. 333 ; and R.B.S.'s love affair and duels, see relations with R.B.S., infra : acting at Dublin, the family with him, i- 393 character and characteristics: chronic malady, i. 254, n.3 ; his code of honour, i. 30 ; conversation, 1.243; cough, i. 191, 243; dic- tatorial temper, i. 513 ; freedom from malice, i. 241, n.3 ; huffi- ness, i. 452 ; jealousy, i. 67, H.I ; manner and tricks, i. 191, 192, M.I; prodigality with advice, i. 3 1 8 ; purism in pronunciation, i. 252 ; religion and drinking, i. 233 ; quixotism, i. 37; tactless- ness, i. 227, 241 ; in youth and in age, i. 231-2 connection with Drury Lane, with Garrick, 228, 513; with his son.lectur given at, 580 <& n.3, 534 INDEX Sheridan, Thomas (5) continued connection with Drury Lane continued his directorship, i. 513, and sub- managership, i. 58o,n.3 debts, i. 49, 54, 245, 261-2 ; devotion of his daughter Elizabeth, i. 320 ; Dublin Beefsteak Club founded by, i. 233 ; education of his sons, i. 264 ; epigram by, on the great Duchess of Marlborough, i. 243, H. 3; freedom of Edinburgh conferred on, i. 252 ; friends, i. 226, 232, 248, 252, 254 ; Hiber- nian Society founded by, i. 242 ; honorary degrees conferred on, i. 244 ; and Dr. Johnson, friction between, i. 247, 249, 250 ; kind- ness to Mrs. Siddons, i. 246; oratorical studies and lectures of, i. 226 ; pastoral plays at Quilca, i. 223 ; pension awarded, i. 249 ; pupils, i. I29.W.3, 192, 244, 249 relations with R.B.S., in school-days, i. 254, n. i, in reference to the elopement and duels, i. 354, 357, n.i, 368, 369, 387-8; intended prosecution of Mathews, i, 328, 393. 389; with R.B.S. when at Farm Hill, i. 402-3, 415, and as to his marriage, i. 426; oratori- cal resemblances between them, ii. 148 & n.2; quarrels and reconciliations, i. 133, 513, 580, ii. 74, 239; untruths about R.B.S.'s treatment of him refuted, i. 68,n.2 repertoire, i. 191, 238, 484, 5O4,n.2 ; sons and daughters, i. 235 ; Swift's godson, his influence on his life, i. 225, wife, see Sheridan Mrs. Thomas (5) ; death, ii. 149 dvn.3, memorial tablet in the Abbey, ii. 386 writings : complete list of printed works, i. 239, n. i ; dictionary, i. 249,250 ; essay on Affliction, i. 242 ; farce, i. 503, n. i ; his Plan of Educa- tion, i. 239 et seq., 260, 468 ; play by, i. 243,318; Playhouse Prorogued, i. 239 ; prologue to a play by, i. 48o,n.2 on his eldest son, i. 321, their quarrel, ib. ; on himself, i. 33- M.I; Mrs. Tickell on, as a boy, i. 499, ii. 213 ; career, i. 51, 303, 326, 366dvt.i, 6i6,n.2 ; mar- riage and family of, ii. 303 & n.2; Sheridan, Thomas (6) continued character, i. 30-1 ; as child actor, i. 263, n.2 ; connection with Drury Lane, ii. 274 & n.2, 303.H.2, 335, 358 ; devotion to stepmother and brother, ii. 269 ; friend of G. Canning, i. 459 ; friend of the Duke and Duchess of York, ii. 349; education at Harrow, i. 255, ii. 73, gg&n.2, 390, a spoilt child, ii. 213, tutorized by Smyth, ii. 228 ; last sight of his mother, ii. 222-3 ; at Mrs. Ward's funeral, ii. 225,n.2 relations with his father, i. 73,n.2, 109, ii. i2,n.2, 227, 348 ; his father's letters to, on the Prince of Wales' affairs (1811), i. 70, 348; reception by R.B.S. for his son's christening, ii. 319 <&.! illness of, ii. 304, 358 ; insulted at the Haymarket, i. 5i,n.2; his brother's letter on their father's last days, ii. 381 ; portrait of, by Gainsborough, ii. 463 ; in The Rivals (private perform- ance), i. 498; verses by, on rules for an Angling Club, i. 79 & n.2 ; death at the Cape, " 374. 388 & n.2, burial-place, i. 435.-2 on dropped O' in family name, i. 209 ; on his father, his financial methods, i. 51 cS-n.3, hisjealousy of himself, i. 66-7 dv M.I, his keenness when opposed, i. n, n.3 ; on his persuasiveness, i. 56&n.2; on his second marriage, ii. 265 Sheridan, Thomas (7), eldest child of T. Sheridan (5), death as a child, i. 235 Sheridan, Thomas, the supposed Cavan Squireen, i. 216 Sheridan (unnamed), brother of Dr. T. Sheridan (4), an " Old Mortality," i. 224 Sheridan, Wilfred, i. 45,.4, no,n.2; MSS. presented by, to Vaughan Library, Harrow, i. 401, n.i Sheridan, William, of Ohio, on the American Sheridaus, i. 2o6,n.2 Sheridan, William (another), i. 2i4,n.3 Sheridan, William (afterwards a Bishop), son of Denis, career of, i. 209-10 Sheridan, William, son of James, specula- tions concerning, i. 2 14 dv n.3 Sheridan, William, of Quilca, son of Dr. T. Sheridan, i. 245 Sheridan, Willy (unplaced), wild gallop of, i. 223 Sheridan MSS. (cited, passim), in Vaughan Library, Harrow, 1.50,71.3, no,w.2 Sheridanana, Elizabeth Linley's letter published in, i. 329 535 INDEX Sheridanisms (see also Plays), i. 22,n.i, 32,.2, 504, 534-5; Swift on, i. 32,n.2 " Sherry," senior and junior, i. 241 &n.4 Sherry, Miss, as " Lady Sneenvell," i. 579 Shields, false alarm at, ii. 244 Shore, John, H.E.I.C.S., (afterwards Lord Teignmouth), ii. 151 Shuter, - , an actor, i. 500 Sican, Mrs., friend of Swift and Stella, i. 22i,n.2 Sicilicns, Les, by Moliere, i. 505 Siddons, Mrs. (Sarah), i. 581; as "Sir Anthony Absolute," in private, i. 497; at Bath, T. Sheridan's (5) kindness to, i. 246, ii. 74 at Drury Lane ; as " Elvira " in Pizarro, ii. 277; as " Isabella," i. 246; as "Lady Macbeth," ii. 94; as " Mrs. Haller " in The Stranger, ii. 276 ; stage splendours of, i. 168 ; as tear-compe!ler, i. 134 ; triumphs of, i. 447 ; re'ations with R.B.S., i. 57-8, 246, salary of, i. 5o,n.2, 57-8 fainting at Hastings trial, ii. motherly virtues, i. 177 ; " Oh ! " ii. 94,.2 ; and Prince, ii. 44,n.2; R.B.S.'s phrase on, i. 98 ; Walpole's criticism on, i. 125 On R.B.S.'s vanity, i. 66(S-n.i Sidmouth, Viscount, see Addington Sidney Biddvlph, novel by Mrs. T. Sheri- dan (5), i. 70, 237, 244, 245, 251 Sidney, Lord, offices held by, i. 159 Sidney, Lord, ii. 404-5, 417 Sidney's A rcadia, influence of, on R.B.S., i. 95, 403 Simpson and the Lower Rooms, Bath, i. 182, i95,n.i Sinclair, Sir John, on the Fitzherbert attack on the Prince, ii. 420 Sing, Rajah, ii. 151 Sinking Fund, Pitt's establishment of, 85 ; R.B.S.'s criticism of, ' Sir 147; her the " Sir Anthony Absolute," acted in private by Mrs. Siddons, i. 497; and R.B.S.'s father, i. 488 Anthony Branville '' (Discovery) Garrick as, i. 245 Benjamin Backbite" (School for Scandal), i. 59, 547, 557 ; evolu- tion of, 556-7 etseq. ; impersona- tors of, i. 579, 581 ; a Macaroni, i. 171 ; and R.B.S.'s own dis- tresses, i. 59 ; two views of, i. 554,n.i Charles Clerimont," in R.B.S.'s brouiUon of The School for Scandal, i. 566 Sir Charles Grandison, novel by Samuel Richardson, i. 241 " Sir Christopher " (Critic), i, 604-5 Sir Fretful Plagiary" (Critic), i. 22; acted by Parsons, i. 579, 609, .i ; prototype of, i. 164, 549-50, 608 ; on plagiarism, i. 607 " Sir Guyon's " reply to " Mammon " true of R.B.S., i. 42 " Sir Harry Bumper,' 1 i. 569 Sir Harry Wildair, by Farquhar, echoed by R.B.S., i. 491, 494 " Sir John Brute," in Vanbrugh's play, echoed by R.B.S., i. 5766-71.1 "Sir Lucius O'Trigger " (Riv als), i. 118, w.2, 489 ; and Irish politics, i. n8,n.2, 500 " Sir Oliver Surface," i. 76, 557, 561, 568, 57i " Sir Peter Parade," i. 537, 538 " Sir Peter Teazle," i. 553, discussed, i. 560, evolution, and prototype of, i. 188, 565 et seq. ; notable im- personators, i. 578, 584 " Sir Plume," Pope's, i. 490 Sir Thomas Overbury, play by Savage, R.B.S.'s prologue to, i. 513^.3, 5H " Sir Walter" (Critic), i. 604-5 Slanderers, The A Pump Room Seem, sketch unfinished by R.B.S., 1-565 Slave Trade and Slave Emancipation, opponents of, i. 179 ; R.B.S.'s attitude to, i. 120, 121,11.293,322 Sleigh, , connected with Drury Lane, i. 59,n.i. ; letter to, from R.B.S., cited, i. 46,n.3 Smith, , actor and Etonian, the first " Charles Surface," i. 126, 578 Smith, , the impresario, i. 501,11.1 Smith, Canon Sydney, phrases of, and used by, i. 98; The Plymley Letters by, ii. zb-i&n.i Smith, Robert (ist Earl Carrington), and Pitt's financial affairs, i. 150 Smith , , surgeon , at the first duel , i . 365 Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin (see also Dublin Theatres); T. Sheri- dan's (5) success at (1743), i. 227, profits from and even- tual ruin at, i. 234 ; thronged to see School for Scandal (1778;, i. 585-6 Smollett, Tobias, associations of his novels with Bath, i. 196, 197, 198 ; " Malaprop '" characters drawn by, i. 492 ; pessimist, i. 128; Scotsman, i. 112 ; death at Bath, i. 196, 204 Smyth, Professor, his Memoir cited, i. 14, n.a et alibi; tutor to Tom Sheridan (6), ii. 228 on R.B.S. ; his attitude to Mrs. Sheri- dan's (i) "peccadillo," ii. 216, his devotion in her last illness, ii. 222,n.i, his lasting grief, ii. 227, his extravagance over the 536 INDEX Smyth, Professor continued on R.B.S. continued. baby, ii. 229, n. 2; his eyes, i. 14 ; his last days, ii. 380, 381 ; his rebuke to Law at Hastings trial, ii. i6g,n.3 ; rapid pre- paration of his reply to the Hastings defence, i. 15 ; his second marriage, ii. 265-6, his voice, i. 7,n.2 Snaggs, , " the monster," at the Tickells, i. 446 "Snake" (School for Scandal), i. i, 56, n.4, 556, 557 ; evolution of, i- 569- 573 " Sneer " (Critic), acted by Palmer, i. 609, n. i ; derived speeches of, i. 607-8 "Sneer" in Congreve's Double Dealer, i. 6o8(&-n.i Snett, , an actor, 48r,.i Sneyd, Ralph, his lines on Lalla Rookh, i. 288 Society for Constitutional Information, ii. 208 Society of the Friends of the People, ii. 208 "Solomon Flint," in Man of Bath, his prototype, i. 8o,n.r, 190 Somers, Lord, ii. 414 ; Whig oracle, ii. 57 ; on Dissolutions, ii. 53,w.2 Somerset, Duchess of, daughter of T. Sheridan (6), ii. 3O3,n.2 Somerset, Lord Charles, elopement of, i. 176, .i ; andT. Sheridan (6), ii. 3S8,n.2 Songs of Midas, pasquinade in Regency crisis, ii. 196 Soubise, , black page, his career, i. 172 Sours Errand, The, verses by Sir Walter Raleigh, ii. 2O4,n.2 Southampton, R.B.S.'s second marriage at, ii. 264; Mrs. Sheridan's (i) last stay at, ii. 220, 434 Southampton, Lord, bearer of Pitt's verbal message to the Prince, ii. 109 ; his eloping son, i. ijd&n.z Southern, , the comedian, an Anglo- Irishman, i. 102 Spain, ii. 233 ; coalition with France, ii. 255 ; war with, narrowly averted, i. 591, ii. 232 Spaniards, The, in Peru . . . play by Kotzebue, R.B.S.'s adaptation (see Pizarro), ii. 277-9 Spanish Fleet, lines, in The Critic, i. 603 Spean Hill, ii. 220, 435 Spencer family, aid in R.B.S.'s first elec- tion, i. 615 -tt.2 Suffolk's sale-rooms, election use of, ii. 61 M. i ; mar- riage, i. 444(S-n.i, 456, ii. 223 ; second husband, ii. 434, M.I Tickell, Rev. John, i. 441 Tickell, Richard, brother-in-law of R.B.S., a Bath friend, i. 104, n. 2, 181, 202,n.i, 449, sis.n.i, ii. 93, 425, appearance, i. 444 ; at home and in town, i. 446 ; career, i. 441-4 character, i. 442, 443-4; love of jokes and pranks, i. 98d>-.2, 101 & n.2, 444, 446, vanity, i. 64 ; con- nections, i. 441 debts of, i. 148; Drury Lane, connection with, i. 442-3 ; election to Brooks'sClub.ii. n,n.2; jealous of R.B.S., i. 66, 67,n.i ; letters to R.B.S. on his bereavement, ii. 230 ; financial relations with R.B.S., i. 38 M.I, 456, ii. 223, 434 ; and The School for Scandal, i. 504 ; Townshend on, i. SIS.M.S, his liking for him, i. 444 death, i. 442, ii. 263, 270, 434 writings, contributor to The English- man, i. 592, 593, and to The Rolliad, ii. 92 ; opera, plays and poems, i. 46- M.I, 72.M.2, 85, 441, 442, 443 punctuality, i. 286' M.4, 2g,M.i Tickell, Samuel, nephew of R.B.S., i. 61, 62,n.2, 449, 452.M.I Tickell, Thomas, nephew of R.B.S., ii. 220, at Mrs. Sheridan's (i) death-bed, ii. 224 Tickler, The, i. 3oo,M.3 Tierney, George, i. 24, 40, 100, ii. 296, 352, 362 ; in Addington's Cabinet, ii. 299 ; ambition of, i. iood>-M.2; an Anglo-Irish- man, i. 102 ; his duel with Pitt, ii. 294 ; at Fox's secession, ii. 280 ; omitted from Grenvilie's ministry, ii. 318 ; political changes of, i. H9,M.3, on R.B.S. when fallen, ii. 366, on his intended secession, ii. 355, M.I "Tilburina '' (Critic), i. 603 ; acted by Miss Pope, i. 6o9,M.i ; hastily written, i. 608-9 Times, The (newspaper), on R.B.S. (circa 1802), i. 42 Times, The, play by Mrs. Griffiths, i. 580, w-3 Tobacco Regulation Bill, R.B.S.'s speech on, i. 76-7, 121, 478, ii. 198 " Tom Brown," the " ingenious," versions by, i. 288 & M.I Tom Jones, by Fielding, characters in, as Pittites, ii. 86.M.2 Tomkins, , ferry-man, Bath, i. 199 Tomline, see Winchester, Bishop of Tomline's Life of Pitt, authority on Regency intrigues, ii. 399 Tone, Wolfe, and the attack on Ireland, ii- 255 Tooke, Home, ii. 324; friend of R.B.S.'s parents, i. 233 ; and the Fitzher- bert marriage, ii. 105, no,M.2, 113; a Jacobin, i. 170; "not a democrat" according to Lady Hester Stanhope, i. 173 ; State trial of, R.B.S. as witness, ii. 291, the acquittal, ii. 2o8,n.3 ; on the income of the Prince of Wales, ii. SS.M.I Tooke's Court, Cursitor Street, spunging- house, R.B.S. in (1813), ii. 374, 375,.i Totnes, R.B.S. at church at, i. 109, M.2 Toulon, taken by Napoleon, ii. 255 Tower of London, alleged French plot to take, ii. 243 Townshend family, i. 233, 445 Townshend, Anne (Audrey), Viscountess of, friend of R.B.S. and of his parents, i. 232-3 Townshend, Lord Charles, Chancellor of Exchequer, at Bath, i. 327 ; at Batheaston, i. 2O2.M.I ; Burke's character of, applied to R.B.S., i. 12, 72, 73 ; a Harlequin character, i. 130; polished wit of, i. SS.M.I, 165 ; speech by, Walpole on, i. 84-5 Townshend, Lord John, i. i4i,M.4, ii. 178; and the American War, i. 590; and the Coalition, ii. 25, 28.M.I ; 541 INDEX Townshend, Lord John continued elopement (see Fawkener), The Rolliad on, ii. gz&n.2; friend of Fox, i.233 ; intimate friend of R.B.S., i. z66,w.i, but absent from his funeral, ii. 386 ; and R.B.S.'s paper on Germaine, i. 592 ; and the Regency crisis, ii. 409, 425 et passim ; attack on R.B.S., ii. 408 ; and The Rolliad, ii. 88,n.i ; and Tickell, i. 444; verses on, by R.B.S., ii. 92,71.3; Westminster election, ii. 404, n.i.Mrs. Sheridan's (i) canvass for, ii.gg.n.i on Fox's paper in The Englishman, i. 593 ; on R.B.S.'s alleged jealousy, i. 66, on R.B.S. and the Coali- tion, ii. 29, 30 ^.3 Tyburn, the fops at, i. 172 Tyler, Royal, play by, reference in, to The School for Scandal, i. 581-2 Tyrconnel, Countess, relations with the Duke of York, i. 176-7, ii. 410 &n.i Tyrconnel, Lord Deputy, and Thomas Sheridan (son of Denis), i. 211 U "UNICORN" Inn, alleged sedition at, ii. 245 " United Irishmen, 1 ' Society, ii. 239, M.3 ; conspiracies of, ii. 283 ; and O'Connor's pardon, ii. 287 Upper Rooms, Bath, i. igs.w.i ; R.B.S.'s verses on the opening, see The Ridotto Usher, Archbishop, and the O'Sheridan MSS., i. 207 Utrum Horum, pamphlet, on Burke's quarrel with R.B.S., ii. 2og,.2 VALSAIN et Florville, and The School for Scandal, i. 568,n.i, 583 Vanbrugh, Lady, death of, i. 536 Vanbrugh, Sir John, as plagiarist, i. 20 ; plays by, i. 141, 533- 534, 5?6, R.B.S.'s version of The Relapse, i- 533-6 ; scandal motif in, i. 553 ; on conversation for women, i. 533-4 ; on gallantry, i. 173 Vanity fair, by Thackeray, " Becky Sharp's' 1 saying in, on virtue, i. 53 ; on social inequalities, i. 162 Vaughan, General, i. 2o6,n.i Vaughan Library, Harrow, Sheridan MSS. at, i. so.n.3, no,n.2 542 INDEX Vauxhall, i. 172 ; song at, Female Liberty Regained, i. I77,n.3 Vauxhall, Bath, i. 199 Vergennes, Charles Gravier, Comte de, and the Treaty of Versailles, ii. 19 Verney, , and Burke, i. 151 Verses to the Memory of Garrick, by R.3.S., i. 612-4 Versification, Essay on, by R.B.S., i. 265-6 Vesey, Mrs. a blue-stocking and her friends, i. 202, n.i Victoria, Queen, and the Bedchamber Plot, a Regency parallel, ii. 353 ; and Lord Rolle, ii. 86 Vienna, and Napoleon I., ii. 255 Villiers, Mrs., ii. 266,n.2 Villiers, Viscount, as amateur player, i. 168 ; his fine clothes, i. 167 Virility of the i8th century, i. 178 et seq. Visiting Day, play by Burnaby, i. 495 "Vizard," in Farquhar's Constant Couple, and "Joseph Surface," i. 574 S--3. 575 Voltaire, Fran9oise Marie Aronet de, in- fluence of, in England, R.B.S. on, ii. 237 ; plays by, i. 26 & 71.3, 237 ; on Beaumarchais, i. 5 Volunteer movement in Ireland, ii. 18, Fox on (1783), ii. 2i,n.2, 22, w. 2 Volunteers, R.B.S. 's speeches, about and to, i. 16, 81-2, ii. 277,n.4, 305,71.2, 322, democratic note in, i. 77 & n.2 Vortigem and Rowena, spurious Shakes- pearean tragedy by Ireland, R.B.S. hoaxed by, ii. 263, 276 W WADE, W., Bath M.C., and R.B.S.'s duel with Mathews, i. 328, 368, 380, n.2 ; R.B.S.'s letter to on his challenge to Mathews, i. 356, n.i, 357-w-i Wagers, i8th century, i. 146-7 Wakefield, Gilbert, the scholiast, i. 84, phrase from, borrowed by R.B.S., i. 99,n.2 Walcheren Expedition, debate on, ii. 296 Walcot, burial-place of Mrs. Sheridan's (i) grand-parents, i. 437 Waldegrave, Lady Maria, a Foxite, ii. 55 Wales, attempted French descent on, ii- 255 Wales, George, Prince of, see George, Prince of Wales Wallace, Lady, the " wild " (nee Maxwell), a playwright, i. 178, on lack of social charity, i. 164-5 Wallack, , actor, as " Joseph Surface," i-SSi Waller, Miss, belle and singer, i. 205, 307, 375 Wallis & Troward, Garrick's solicitors, i. 522, 523,n.2, 524.H.3, 527, 528, 3. 53. R.B.S.'s attitude to, i. 5<5,M.4, cost to him of their dilatoriness, ii. 275 <. 2, 3 Walpole, , and R.B.S.'s Isleworth house, i. 527, n.2 Walpole, Horace, Bath habitue, i. 204 ; dislike of Cumberland, i. 485 n.i Walpole, Lord, his rent-charge on Drury Lane, i. 532<&-n.3 Walpole, Sir Robert, his golden rule, " 157 Walsh, , friend of R.B.S., i. 404 Walsingham, Lord, sinecure claimed by, i- 155 Waltham Abbey, R.B.S.'s place of banish- ment near, i. 394, 396 et seq. Walton Club, R.B.S. a member, i. 79 Waltz, the, George III.'s, Byron's and R.B.S.'s dislike of, ii. 266,71.3; R.B.S.'s verses on, ib. Wanderer, The, play by Savage, i.2O, -3 Wanstead, R.B.S.'s cottage at, i. 537, ii. 229 ; his second honeymoon spent at, ii. 265 Ward, Charles, husband of Jane Linley, i. n,n.3, 438; his connection; with Drury Lane, i. 51,71.3, 438 two views of, i. 130 Ward, Mrs. Charles, see Linley, Jane Ward, Miss Genevi6ve, as " Lady Teazle," i-582 Wardle, , Mrs. Clark's accomplica in the Army Scandals, ii. 340 543 INDEX Wargaum, Egerton's capitulation at, ii. 121 Warner, Richard, on Mathews' duel with R.B.S., i. 326-7 Warren, Dr., and George III.'s madness, i. 181, ii. 174, &see App. III. vol. ii. Warton, , on The School for Scandal, i. 549 Washington, George, favourite play of, i. 581 Waterloo, Battle of, ii. 377 Wader's, i. 144 Watkins, John, his Memoir of R.B.S., Sam Whyte's hand seen in, i. 216, 248 ; on the false ascrip- tion of The. School for Scandal, > 577 I on R.B.S.'s Calais mar- riage, i. 344 Watt, , an Oxonian, lover of Elizabeth Linley, i. 285, n. 2 Waverley, R.B.S.'s enthusiasm for, ii. 267 Way of the World, The, play by Congreve, i- 49. 533. 552 ; echoed in Duenna, i. 277-8, and in " Maria," i. 576 ; scandal motif in. i- 553 I servants in, i. 488 ; toasting song, i. 576 Ways and Means, political satire, i. 564, .i We too, each other's only Pride, song, in The Foresters, i. 541 Webb, Colonel, daughters of, i. 87,n.2 Wedderburn, Lord Chancellor, pupil of T. Sheridan (5), i. 102, 244 ; political tergiversation of, i. 158 Wedgwood, Josiah, and Pitt's Irish policy, ii. 75 ; and The Rolliad, ii. 88, n.i Weichsel, Mrs., singer, i. 4i8,n.i Weirstay, R.B.S.'s archery at, i. 79 Wellesley, Marquis of (earlier, Lord Mornington), genius of, Lord Holland on, i. 122 ; efforts to form a ministry, post offered to R.B.S., ii. 352(-rt.i, 364 ; house lent by, to R.B.S., ii. 376 ; letter of condolence on R.B.S.'sdeath, i. 386 <5-n.2 ; menaced by im- peachment, i. 179; motion in aid of Irish Catholics, R.B.S.'s projected speech, ii. 354 ; speech supporting the French war, attacked by R.B.S., ii. 246 et seq. ; on Pitt, ii. 293-4 Wellington, Duke of, i. 79, ii. 352 ; a hard drinker in youth, i. 137 ; letter of condolence on R.B.S.'sdeath, ii. 386 ; menaced with impeach- ment, i. 179 Wells, connection of the Linleys with, 332,435.441 ; school of Eliza- beth and Mary Linley at, i. 188, 331, 457 Wells Cathedral, burial-place of Mrs. Sheridan (i), her sister, father, and children, i. no, 435see App. III. vol. ii., the second, ii. 336, 338 R.B.S.'s relations with, i. 68, 69, 70, ii. 3 ; his way with them in the House, i. 99, 101 ; treated as the Whig scapegoat, i. 41, ii. 3, 6, 14, 41, 344. 387, 423.M-3 Whig Society, Calonne feted by, ii. 406, rt.2 " Whiskerandos " (Critic), i. 603 ; R.B.S.'s model for, 605 Whitbread, Lady Elizabeth, cousin of Mrs. Sheridan (2), ii. 264^.1, 375 Whitbread, Samuel, M.P., and brewer, i. 30, 89, n. 2, ii. 264, n. i ; political position, i. 333 ; prologue by (in competition) for Drury Lane, R.B.S. on, ii. 334 ; relations with R.B.S., social, ii. 373, political, ii. 365, 366, and fidu- ciary, as trustee for Drury Lane, and for Mrs. Sheridan (2), i. 44, effects on, of panic, ii. 245, 246 ; effect of R.B.S.'s conversation on, i. 87, 88,w.i ; first great speech, ii. 65 ; farewell letter to the Whig Club, ii. 246 ; Windham, William continued and Fox's suggested embassy to France, ii. 233, 234 ; " gone over to Pitt," ii. 212; in Grenville's Cabinet, ii. 318; and the Hastings trial, ii. 144 ; interest in School for Scandal, i. 542 ; joint Representation written with Burke, ii. 40,71.3 ; letter to R.B.S. , i. 590; and Mrs. Crewe, ii. 250; opposed to peace, ii. 250,74.1 ; and the Regency crisis, i. 104, ii. 178 ; Burke's letter of pique to, on the Prince's "letter to Pitt," ii. 195 ; on R.B.S.'s takings and lending-:; in phrases, i. 199^.2 ; on Wilberforce, ii. 293, n.2 Windsor, Sheridan family at, i. 251, 252 Windsor (Old) churchyard of, tomb of Mrs. Sheridan (2) in, ii. 264, and of " Perdita," ii. 388, n.2 Window Tax, the, ii. 85 Winterslovv, Thespians' disaster at, i. 168 Winton, J. Milner, i. 119, n.i Wit, R.B.S. on, i. 82 Woburn, Whig meeting-place, ii. 320 ; R.B.S. at ii. 27o,n.i,his quarrel at, with Adair, i. 89,n.2 Woffington, Peg, actress at the Dublin Beefsteak Club, i. 233 ; her sister, i. 203, n.i Women, attending debates dressed as men, i. 135 &-n.$ education of, R.B.S. on, in The Sanctuary, i. 467 et seq. of the i8th century, share of, in its activities, i. 178 gambling by, i. 146, ii. 97 influence of, and Napoleon, R.B.S. on, i. 107 R.B.S.'s attitude to, i. 104 et seq., 507 Rights of, Farquhar's championship of, i. 471 Wonder, The, by Mrs. Centlivre, Garrick's farewell in, i. 522 Wood, the brothers, houses built by in Bath, i. 194-5 Woodfall, William, reporter and publisher, i. 32,n.3, 514 ; and R.B.S., i. 448 ; on R.B.S.'s maiden speech, ii. ii, 12 Woodward, , an actor, i. 500 ; rival to T. Sheridan (5), i. 241 ; and The School for Scandal, i. 579 Wootton Bassett, R.B.S.'s nomination for, i. 614, ii. 37 Worcester china factory, a Sheridan possibly connected with, i. 206 Wordsworth, William, ii. 9, n.i Work incompatible with gentility, i8th century, i. 162 Worthington, Mr., second husband of the second Mrs. Tickell, ii. 434, n.i 546 INDEX Wraxall, Sir Nathaniel, i. 605, ii. 196,71.1 ; nickname of, demands of, i- 159 on English Princes marrying widows, ii. I03.M.3 ; on Pitt in The Rolllad, ii. 89 on R.B.S. ; his aspect, voice and oratory, ii. 58, sg&n.i ; his attitude to the India Bill, ii. 42, his speeches on it, ii. 49-50 ; on him and Burke, i. 67,11.1 ; his command of temper, i. 71 dvtt.3; his consolation in the spunging-house, ii. 375 ; his election to Brooks's, ii. n,w.2 ; his letter for the Prince, ii. 191 ; his mental gifts, i. 23, 24,n.i ; summary of his speech on Irish Union, ii. 83 Wray, Sir Cecil, Fox's opponent at West- minster, ii. 61, defeated, ii. 63; the election impeached by, ii. 64 Wreath, The, of Fashion, by Tickell, i. 4, M.I, 85, 441 Wright family, Stafford, R.B.S. 's hosts, i. 6i6,.2 Wright, - , an actor, in The Critic, i. 609 Wright, - , printer, i. 6i8,w.i Wrotham, ii. 284 Wiirtemberg, Duke of, and his sister, Wyatt , - , architect of Drury Lane, 1 8 1 1 . , " 334 Wycherley, - , dramatist, as author, Congreve on, i. 18 ; at Bath, i. 204 ; phrases from, i. 19, 556,71.3 ; plays by, i. 21,71.1, 490, 506,533, 552, 556, scandal motif in. 553 ! n women, i. 105 Wynne, Sir Watkin, i. 209 Wynnstay, the Wynns of, hosts of the Sheridans, ii. 97, 138 YARMOUTH, effect of panic at, ii. 244 Yarmouth, Earl of, the Prince, and R.B.S., ii. 350, 362, 364, 365 j at R.B.S.'s funeral, ii. 386 Yates, Mrs., i. 612 York, Archbishop of (Markham), and the India Bill, ii. 51 York, Duke of (James II.) and Thomas Sheridan (son of Denis), i. 210-1 et seq. ; parallel between his marriage and that of the Prince of Wales, ii. 105 York, H.R.H. Duchess of, ii. 349 York, H.R.H. Duke of (son of George III.), ii- 349. 364, 414 ! and the Army, ii. 340, regiment taken from, by mad father, ii. 401, R.B.S.'s mot on his retreat, i. 89; friend of Grey, ii. 353 ; friend of Tom Sheridan (6), ii. 349; Fox's attitude to, ii. 419 ; his manners, i. 176 ; and Lady Tyrconnel, i. 176-7, ii. 4o&-n.i ; the Prince's letter to, on a Coalition, ii. 349 ; and R.B.S., help given by, ii. 381, present at his funeral, ii. 386 and the Regency crisis, ii. 178, 183, 186-7, <& see . App. III. vol. ii., rumoured joint Regency of, ii. 302,71.2 York, Lady Elizabeth (nee Lindsay), i. 270, n.2 York and Lancaster roses, Fox's verses on, to Mrs. Sheridan (i), i. 186 (S-71.2, ii. 23,71.2 Yorke, Charles, in Addington's Cabinet, ii. 299; on Grey's wrath at R.B.S.'s influence with the Prince, ii. 342,71.1 Yonge, Sir Charles, ii. 244 Young, Arthur, ii. 285 Young, Sir George, in Pitt's first Ministry, ii. 51,71.2 Younge, , actor, as director for R.B.S., i. 513, as R.B.S.'s understudy, i. 442,71.4 Younge, Sir George, and Honiton, i. 614, n.2 Younger, , sub-manager, Drury Lane. i. 580,71.3, ii. 74,-i ZOFFANY, , portrait of Mrs. Sheri- dan (i) by, ii. 464 BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., LD., 1'RINTEKS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGH. 547 A 000 675 670 4