“ But love in a cottage could not long content the restless and aspiring Brinsley. He returned to London, and entered himself as a barrister in the Middle Temple, while both he and his wife wrote for the periodicals. By-and-by, with the help of her £3,000, they set up a fashionable establishment in Orchard Street, Portman Square, gave dinners and parties, to which the attractions of the once fair maid of Bath, and the fame of her gallant young husband drew some of the best of London society. Indeed Mrs. Sheridan's soirées were one of the things of the season. ”

“ Byron relates in his journals, how he once found Sheridan at his lawyer's, and learned that he had come to stave off an action from his wine-merchant: "I can vouch," says Byron, "that my attorney is by no means the tenderest of men, or particularly accessible to any kind of impression out of the statute or record; and yet Sheridan in half an hour had found the way to soften and subdue him in such a manner, that I almost think he would have thrown his client (an honest man with all the laws, and some justice on his side) out of the window, had he come in at that moment." ”

“ Brinsley, who knew the man well, instead of playing the part of a chivalric lover, insinuated himself into Matthews's confidence, in order to obtain proofs of his true designs—for Miss Linley, womanlike, was too apt to believe in the sincerity of his ravings. ”

“ Parr said, "I once or twice met his mother, she was quite celestial," and of a father who was a man of letters, the instructor of Wedderburne, and the manager of a theatre, he yet started in life without means or powerful friends, and rose to be—alas for him!—the friend of princes, in whom he put his trust, and more fortunately the support of Fox and the Whig party, and their finest orator. ”

“ This man, with all his genius, wit, eloquence, and fascinating manners, with inherited and acquired abilities, who had overcome all obstacles, and stood in the first rank in society and in the House of Commons, died poor, worn out by debauchery, and with bailiffs about him. Nevertheless, in recognition of the purity of his political life, in admiration of his splendid talents, when he passed away he was carried, with the consent of the nation, to that Abbey to lie wherein is the secret hope of all our great men.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1731 ”

“ Every one is so familiar with "The School for Scandal," that it would be almost impertinent in so brief a sketch as the present to descant upon its merits. The screen-scene is probably the finest situation in the whole range of comedy, ancient or modern. But Sheridan, like Molière, took his property wherever he found it, and he found much of his "School for Scandal" in "Le Misanthrope," and more in Wycherly's "Plain Dealer;" ”

“ There is a story which relates how, while the theatre was burning, Sheridan was coolly sitting in a tavern close by, sipping his wine, and, upon some one remonstrating with him, he replied, with inimitable sang-froid, "A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside." Michael Kelly, however, who was his acting manager at the time, and present at the catastrophe, tells a very different tale. He says that there was no performance on that night, and that Sheridan was at the House when the news was brought him. ”

“ Sheridan at once sent for the hard-hearted creditor, remonstrated with him upon his cruelty, reasoned with him upon the hardship of the law of imprisonment for debt, pointed out that he had acted in an arbitrary, unchristian manner, until he had so thoroughly softened and convinced him that before the man left the house, Sheridan had borrowed two hundred pounds of him, and left upon his mind an impression that he had been highly favored by the great manager deigning to accept the favor. A creditors' levee was held daily in his house ”

“ But he never went beyond a few memoranda, the names of three characters, and some detached sentences of dialogue which promised to equal in wit the utterances of the famous scandal-mongers.
But to return to our narrative. Such a success as that of "The School for Scandal" could not possibly escape the envy of rivals and enemies, who invented all kinds of stories to rob the author of his glory. One reported that the comedy was written by a young lady who had left the MS. at the stage door, and who died of consumption before it was performed. ”

“ It is worthy of record, as displaying Sheridan's character in a highly favorable light, that, although his wife was engaged to sing at the Worcester Festival for several seasons at a remuneration of one thousand pounds for twelve performances, and although he at the time did not possess as many shillings, he steadily refused to allow her again to appear in public. Many in the present day will consider such scruples overstrained, yet none can deny their magnanimity. ”

“ By constant practice in small matters, or before private committees, by diligent attendance upon all debates, by habitual intercourse with all dealers in political wares, from the chiefs of parties and their more refined coteries to the providers of daily discussion for the public and the chroniclers of Parliamentary speeches, he trained himself to a facility of speaking absolutely essential to all but first-rate genius, and all but necessary even to that ”

“ What he wanted in acquired learning and in natural quickness, he made up by indefatigable industry: within given limits, towards a present object, no labor could daunt him; no man could work for a season with more steady and unwearied application. ”

“ Garrick had always taken an interest in Sheridan, and the young man owed many of his best introductions to the great actor's favor. Upon the retirement of the latter from the management of Drury Lane in 1776, Brinsley, in partnership with Dr. Ford and his father-in-law, Linley, acquired Garrick's share of the patent for the sum of £35,000. Moore says that "the mode by which he conjured up at this time the money for the first purchase of the theatre remains, as far as I can learn, a mystery to this day." ”

“ He was always an ardent supporter of the Prince of Wales, with whom he lived upon terms of the closest intimacy, and he did him good service in the debates upon the Regency Bill, 1789,—to prove thereafter the proverbial ingratitude of princes. ”

“ It is certainly very like the production of a consumptive young lady! Another assigned the authorship to Mrs. Sheridan. For years afterwards it was pointed out as a significant fact, by the supporters of these theories, that Sheridan, although several times offered a large sum, would never sell the copyright. Consequently there is no edition of the play authenticated by him; that now used by the theatres having been printed from a manuscript which he lent his sister, who obtained £100 from the manager of the Dublin Theatre for its use. ”

“ It was not a healthy atmosphere for a good-looking, fascinating, clever young fellow of twenty, who, his mother being dead, and his father being continually engaged in professional duties, was left to do very much as he liked and one of the least reprehensible things he did was to fall in love with the most beautiful and accomplished woman he met. This was the daughter of the well-known composer, Elizabeth Linley, the famous singer—called by some the fair maid of Bath, by others St. Cecilia—with whom every man was in love, including Brinsley's friend Halked, his own brother Charles, rich Mr. ”