Life of Sheridan, vol 1

Life of Sheridan, vol 1

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon.
Richard
Brinsley Sheridan V1, by Thomas Moore Copyright laws are changing
all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country
before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project
Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
V1
Author: Thomas Moore
Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6741] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 20,
2003]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF
SHERIDAN V1 ***

Produced by Tonya Allen, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.

MEMOIRS
OF THE
LIFE OF THE RT. HON.
RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN
BY THOMAS MOORE
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
TO
GEORGE BRYAN, ESQ.,
THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED,
BY
HIS SINCERE AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND,
THOMAS MOORE.

PREFACE.
The first four Chapters of this work were written nearly seven years
ago. My task was then suspended during a long absence from England;
and it was only in the course of the last year that I applied myself
seriously to the completion of it.
To my friend, Mr. Charles Sheridan, whose talents and character reflect
honor upon a name, already so distinguished, I am indebted for the
chief part of the materials upon which the following Memoirs of his
father are founded. I have to thank him, not only for this mark of
confidence, but for the delicacy with which, though so deeply

interested in the subject of my task, he has refrained from all
interference with the execution of it:--neither he, nor any other person,
beyond the Printing-office, having ever read a single sentence of the
work.
I mention this, in order that the responsibility of any erroneous views or
indiscreet disclosures, with which I shall be thought chargeable in the
course of these pages, may not be extended to others, but rest solely
with myself.
The details of Mr. Sheridan's early life were obligingly communicated
to me by his younger sister, Mrs. Lefanu, to whom, and to her highly
gifted daughter, I offer my best thanks for the assistance which they
have afforded me.
The obligations, of a similar nature, which I owe to the kindness of Mr.
William Linley, Doctor Bain, Mr. Burgess, and others, are
acknowledged, with due gratitude, in my remarks on their respective
communications.

CONTENTS TO VOL. I.

CHAPTER I
.
Birth and Education of Mr. Sheridan.--His First Attempts in Literature.
CHAPTER II
.
Duels with Mr. Mathews.--Marriage with Miss Linley
CHAPTER III
.
Domestic Circumstances.--Fragments of Essays found among his
Papers.-- Comedy of "The Rivals."--Answer to "Taxation no
Tyranny."--Farce of "St. Patrick's Day."
CHAPTER IV
.
The Duenna.--Purchase of Drury-Lane Theatre.--The Trip to
Scarborough.-- Poetical Correspondence with Mrs. Sheridan

CHAPTER V
.
The School for Scandal
CHAPTER VI
.
Further Purchase of Theatrical Property.--Monody to the Memory of
Garrick.--Essay on Metre.--The Critic.--Essay on Absentees.--Political
Connections.--"The Englishman."--Elected for Stafford
CHAPTER VII
.
Unfinished Plays and Poems
CHAPTER VIII
.
His First Speeches in Parliament.--Rockingham Administration.--
Coalition.--India Bill.--Re-election for Stafford
CHAPTER IX
.
The Prince of Wales.--Financial Measures.--Mr. Pitt's East India Bill.--
Irish Commercial Propositions.--Plan of the Duke of
Richmond.--Sinking Fund.
CHAPTER X
.
Charges against Mr. Hastings.--Commercial Treaty with France.--Debts
of the Prince of Wales.

CHAPTER I
.
BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF MR. SHERIDAN.--HIS FIRST
ATTEMPTS IN LITERATURE.

Richard Brinsley [Footnote: He was christened also by the name of
Butler, after the Earl of Lanesborough.] Sheridan was born in the
month of September, 1751, at No. 12, Dorset Street, Dublin, and
baptized in St. Mary's Church, as appears by the register of the parish,
on the fourth of the following month. His grandfather, Dr. Sheridan,
and his father, Mr. Thomas Sheridan, have attained a celebrity,
independent of that which he has conferred on them, by the friendship
and correspondence with which the former was honored by Swift, and
the competition and even rivalry which the latter so long maintained
with Garrick. His mother, too,