Life of Sheridan, vol 1 | Page 5

precarious allowance
from the father, the want of a regular plan for some profession, and,
above all, the act of throwing him upon the town, when he ought to
have been pursuing his studies at the University. He would have done
little among mathematicians at Cambridge;--he would have been a rake,

or an idler, or a trifler, at Dublin;--but I am inclined to think that at
Oxford he would have become an excellent scholar.
"I have now told you all that I know, and it amounts to very little. I am
very solicitous for justice to be done to Robert Sumner. He is one of the
six or seven persons among my own acquaintance whose taste I am
accustomed to consider perfect, and, were he living, his admiration...."
[Footnote: The remainder of the letter relates to other subjects.]
During the greater part of Richard's stay at Harrow his father had been
compelled, by the embarrassment of his affairs, to reside with the
remainder of the family in France, and it was at Blois, in the September
of 1766, that Mrs. Sheridan died--leaving behind her that best kind of
fame, which results from a life of usefulness and purity, and which it
requires not the aid of art or eloquence to blazon. She appears to have
been one of those rare women, who, united to men of more pretensions,
but less real intellect than themselves, meekly conceal this superiority
even from their own hearts, and pass their lives without remonstrance
or murmur, in gently endeavoring to repair those evils which the
indiscretion or vanity of their partners has brought upon them.
As a supplement to the interesting communication of Dr. Parr, I shall
here subjoin an extract from a letter which the eldest sister of Sheridan,
Mrs. E. Lefanu, wrote a few months after his death to Mrs. Sheridan, in
consequence of a wish expressed by the latter that Mrs. Lefanu would
communicate such particulars as she remembered of his early days. It
will show, too, the feeling which his natural good qualities, in spite of
the errors by which they were obscured and weakened, kept alive to the
last, in the hearts of those connected with him, that sort of retrospective
affection, which, when those whom we have loved become altered,
whether in mind or person, brings the recollection of what they once
were, to mingle with and soften our impression of what they are.
After giving an account of the residence of the family in France, she
continues: "We returned to England, when I may say I first became
acquainted with my brother--for faint and imperfect were my
recollections of him, as might be expected from my age. I saw him; and
my childish attachment revived with double force. He was handsome,

not merely in the eyes of a partial sister, but generally allowed to be so.
His cheeks had the glow of health; his eyes,--the finest in the world,--
the brilliancy of genius, and were soft as a tender and affectionate heart
could render them. The same playful fancy, the same sterling and
innoxious wit, that was shown afterwards in his writings, cheered and
delighted the family circle. I admired--I almost adored him. I would
most willingly have sacrificed my life for him, as I, in some measure,
proved to him at Bath, where we resided for some time, and where
events that you must have heard of engaged him in a duel. My father's
displeasure threatened to involve me in the denunciations against him,
for committing what he considered as a crime. Yet I risked everything,
and in the event was made happy by obtaining forgiveness for my
brother.... You may perceive, dear sister, that very little indeed have I
to say on a subject so near your heart, and near mine also. That for
years I lost sight of a brother whom I loved with unabated affection--a
love that neither absence nor neglect could chill--I always consider as a
great misfortune."
On his leaving Harrow, where he continued till near his eighteenth year,
he was brought home by his father, who, with the elder son, Charles,
had lately returned from France, and taken a house in London. Here the
two brothers for some time received private tuition from Mr. Lewis
Kerr, an Irish gentleman, who had formerly practised as a physician,
but having, by loss of health, been obliged to give up his profession,
supported himself by giving lessons in Latin and Mathematics. They
attended also the fencing and riding schools of Mr. Angelo, and
received instructions from their father in English grammar and oratory.
Of this advantage, however, it is probable, only the elder son availed
himself, as Richard, who seems to have been determined to owe all his
excellence to nature alone, was found as impracticable