C. J. Hamilton

“ He used to spend months with Swift in Dublin, and Swift constantly went to Quilca, a country house which belonged to Dr. Sheridan. Esther Johnson (Stella) sometimes brightened the evenings with her presence, and witty talk flowed abundantly, for Sheridan as well as Swift excelled in conversation. Not a day passed that he did not make a rebus, an anagram, or a madrigal. Lord Cork says he was "idle, poor, and gay, and completely ignorant of the value of money." Of the doctor's illustrious grandson, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, there is no need to speak, for his fame is world-wide. ”

“ Och, Kathleen, my blessin' go wid ye,
Every inch of the way that ye go!
There is not the least effort in Lady Dufferin's ballads. She seems to have thoroughly enjoyed writing them—she sang as the birds sing, because they must. Some of her society verses, though in quite a different style, are very amusing. The Charming Woman is perhaps the best, and, moreover, contains a piece of good advice at the end:
Don't marry a charming woman
If you are a sensible man!
On her father's side Lady Dufferin came of a genuinely Irish stock. ”

“ As a dramatist, Sheridan takes the highest place, and two of his comedies, The Rivals, and The School for Scandal, hold the stage at the present day. His romantic marriage with the beautiful Miss Linley, of Bath, has been made recently the subject of a novel by the well-known Irish novelist, Mr. F. Frankfort Moore, and is called A Nest of Linnets. Tom Sheridan, Lady Dufferin's father, was one of those very clever people who seem as though they ought to make a figure in the world, and end by doing nothing in it. He was always ready with a repartee. ”

“ There was no quality wanting to her perfection, and this I say, not with the partiality of a son, but as one well acquainted with the world, and with both men and women. I doubt whether there have been any who combined, with so high a spirit, such strong unerring good sense, tact, and discretion. ”