RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.

Sheridan a Dunce.—­Boyish Dreams of Literary Fame.—­Sheridan in Love.—­A Nest of Nightingales.—­The ’Maid of Bath.’—­Captivated by Genius.—­ Sheridan’s Elopement with ’Cecilia.’—­His Duel with Captain Matthews.—­ Standards of Ridicule.—­Painful Family Estrangements.—­Enters Drury Lane.  —­Success of the Famous ’School for Scandal.’—­Opinions of Sheridan and his Influence.—­The Literary Club.—­Anecdote of Garrick’s Admittance.—­ Origin of the ’Rejected Addresses.’—­New Flights.—­Political Ambition.—­ The Gaming Mania.—­Almacks’.—­Brookes’.—­Black-balled.—­Two Versions of the Election Trick.—­St. Stephen’s Won.—­Vocal Difficulties.—­Leads a Double Life.—­Pitt’s Vulgar Attack.—­Sheridan’s Happy Retort.—­Grattan’s Quip.—­Sheridan’s Sallies.—­The Trial at Warren Hastings.—­Wonderful Effect of Sheridan’s Eloquence.—­The Supreme Effort.—­The Star Culminates.—­Native Taste for Swindling.—­A Shrewd but Graceless Oxonian.—­Duns Outwitted.—­The Lawyer Jockeyed.—­Adventures with Bailiffs.—­Sheridan’s Powers of Persuasion.—­House of Commons Greek.—­ Curious Mimicry.—­The Royal Boon Company.—­Street Frolics at Night.—­An Old Tale.—­’All’s well that ends well.’—­The Fray in St. Giles.’—­ Unopened Letters.—­An Odd Incident.—­Reckless Extravagance.—­Sporting Ambition.—­Like Father like Son.—­A Severe and Witty Rebuke.—­ Intemperance.—­Convivial Excesses of a Past Day.—­Worth wins at last.—­ Bitter Pangs.—­The Scythe of Death.—­Sheridan’s Second Wife.—­Debts of Honour.—­Drury Lane Burnt.—­The Owner’s Serenity.—­Misfortunes never come Singly.—­The Whitbread Quarrel.—­Ruined.—­Undone and almost Forsaken.—­ The Dead Man Arrested.—­The Stories fixed on Sheridan.—­Extempore Wit and Inveterate Talkers.

Poor Sheridan! gambler, spendthrift, debtor, as thou wert, what is it that shakes from our hand the stone we would fling at thee?  Almost, we must confess it, thy very faults; at least those qualities which seem to have been thy glory and thy ruin:  which brought thee into temptation; to which, hadst thou been less brilliant, less bountiful, thou hadst never been drawn.  What is it that disarms us when we review thy life, and wrings from us a tear when we should utter a reproach?  Thy punishment; that bitter, miserable end; that long battling with poverty, debt, disease, all brought on by thyself; that abandonment in the hour of need, more bitter than them all; that awakening to the terrible truth of the hollowness of man and rottenness of the world!—­surely this is enough:  surely we may hope that a pardon followed.  But now let us view thee in thy upward flight the genius, the wit, the monarch of mind.