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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7775-8.txt b/7775-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9de7efb --- /dev/null +++ b/7775-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13118 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard +Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2, by Thomas Moore +#2 in our series 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 Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2 + +Author: Thomas Moore + +Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7775] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 16, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF R. B. SHERIDAN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Connal +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +MEMOIRS + +OF THE + +LIFE OF THE RT. HON. + +RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN + +BY THOMAS MOORE + +IN TWO VOLUMES + + +VOL. II. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CONTENTS TO VOL. II. + + +CHAPTER I. + +Impeachment of Mr. Hastings. + +CHAPTER II. + +Death of Mr. Sheridan's Father.--Verses by Mrs. Sheridan on the Death of +her Sister, Mrs. Tickell. + +CHAPTER III. + +Illness of the King.--Regency.--Private Life of Mr. Sheridan. + +CHAPTER IV. + +French Revolution.--Mr. Burke.--His Breach with Mr. Sheridan.--Dissolution +of Parliament.--Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox.--Russian Armament.--Royal Scotch +Boroughs. + +CHAPTER V. + +Death of Mrs. Sheridan. + +CHAPTER VI. + +Drury-Lane Theatre.--Society of "The Friends of the People."--Madame de +Genlis.--War with France.--Whig Seceders.--Speeches in Parliament--Death +of Tickell. + +CHAPTER VII. + +Speech in Answer to Lord Mornington.--Coalition of the Whig Seceders with +Mr. Pitt.--Mr. Canning.--Evidence on the Trial of Horne Tooke.--The +"Glorious First of June."--Marriage of Mr. Sheridan.--Pamphlet of Mr. +Reeves--Debts of the Prince of Wales.--Shakspeare Manuscripts.--Trial of +Stone.--Mutiny at the Nore.--Secession of Mr. Fox from Parliament. + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Play of "The Stranger."--Speeches in Parliament.--Pizarro.--Ministry of +Mr. Addington.--French Institute.--Negotiations with Mr. Kemble. + +CHAPTER IX. + +State of Parties.--Offer of a Place to Mr. T. Sheridan.--Receivership of +the Duchy of Cornwall bestowed upon Mr. Sheridan.--Return of Mr. Pitt to +Power.--Catholic Question.--Administration of Lord Grenville and Mr. +Fox.--Death of Mr. Fox.--Representation of Westminster.--Dismission of +the Ministry.--Theatrical Negotiation.--Spanish Question.--Letter to the +Prince. + +CHAPTER X. + +Destruction of the Theatre of Drury-Lane by Fire.--Mr. Whitbread--Plan +for a Third Theatre.--Illness of the King.--Regency.--Lord Grey and Lord +Grenville.--Conduct of Mr. Sheridan.--His Vindication of himself. + +CHAPTER XI. + +Affairs of the new Theatre.--Mr. Whitbread.--Negotiations with Lord Grey +and Lord Grenville.--Conduct of Mr. Sheridan relative to the +Household.--His Last Words in Parliament.--Failure at Stafford. +--Correspondence with Mr. Whitbread.--Lord Byron.--Distresses of +Sheridan.--Illness.--Death and Funeral.--General Remarks. + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE RIGHT HONORABLE RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. + +CHAPTER I. + +IMPEACHMENT OF MR. HASTINGS. + + +The motion of Mr. Burke on the 10th of May, 1787, "That Warren Hastings, +Esq., be impeached," having been carried without a division, Mr. Sheridan +was appointed one of the Managers, "to make good the Articles" of the +Impeachment, and, on the 3d of June in the following year, brought +forward the same Charge in Westminster Hall which he had already enforced +with such wonderful talent in the House of Commons. + +To be called upon for a second great effort of eloquence, on a subject of +which all the facts and the bearings remained the same, was, it must be +acknowledged, no ordinary trial to even the most fertile genius; and Mr. +Fox, it is said, hopeless of any second flight ever rising to the grand +elevation of the first, advised that the former Speech should be, with +very little change, repeated. But such a plan, however welcome it might +be to the indolence of his friend, would have looked too like an +acknowledgment of exhaustion on the subject to be submitted to by one so +justly confident in the resources both of his reason and fancy. +Accordingly, he had the glory of again opening, in the very same field, a +new and abundant spring of eloquence, which, during four days, diffused +its enchantment among an assembly of the most illustrious persons of the +land, and of which Mr. Burke pronounced at its conclusion, that "of all +the various species of oratory, of every kind of eloquence that had been +heard, either in ancient or modern times; whatever the acuteness of the +bar, the dignity of the senate, or the morality of the pulpit could +furnish, had not been equal to what that House had that day heard in +Westminster Hall. No holy religionist, no man of any description as a +literary character, could have come up, in the one instance, to the pure +sentiments of morality, or in the other, to the variety of knowledge, +force of imagination, propriety and vivacity of allusion, beauty and +elegance of diction, and strength of expression, to which they had that +day listened. From poetry up to eloquence there was not a species of +composition of which a complete and perfect specimen might not have been +culled, from one part or the other of the speech to which he alluded, and +which, he was persuaded, had left too strong an impression on the minds +of that House to be easily obliterated." + +As some atonement to the world for the loss of the Speech in the House of +Commons, this second master-piece of eloquence on the same subject has +been preserved to us in a Report, from the short-hand notes of Mr. +Gurney, which was for some time in the possession of the late Duke of +Norfolk, but was afterwards restored to Mr. Sheridan, and is now in my +hands. + +In order to enable the reader fully to understand the extracts from this +Report which I am about to give, it will be necessary to detail briefly +the history of the transaction, on which the charge brought forward in +the Speech was founded. + +Among the native Princes who, on the transfer of the sceptre of Tamerlane +to the East India Company, became tributaries or rather slaves to that +Honorable body, none seems to have been treated with more capricious +cruelty than Cheyte Sing, the Rajah of Benares. In defiance of a solemn +treaty, entered into between him and the government of Mr. Hastings, by +which it was stipulated that, besides his fixed tribute, no further +demands, of any kind, should be made upon him, new exactions were every +year enforced;--while the humble remonstrances of the Rajah against such +gross injustice were not only treated with slight, but punished by +arbitrary and enormous fines. Even the proffer of bribe succeeded only in +being accepted [Footnote: This was the transaction that formed one of the +principal grounds of the Seventh Charge brought forward in the House of +Commons by Mr. Sheridan. The suspicious circumstances attending this +present are thus summed up by Mr. Mill: "At first, perfect concealment of +the transaction--such measures, however, taken as may, if afterwards +necessary, appear to imply a design of future disclosure;--when +concealment becomes difficult and hazardous, then disclosure +made."--_History of British India_.]--the exactions which it was +intended to avert being continued as rigorously as before. At length, in +the year 1781, Mr. Hastings, who invariably, among the objects of his +government, placed the interests of Leadenhall Street first on the list, +and those of justice and humanity _longo intervallo_ after,--finding +the treasury of the Company in a very exhausted state, resolved to +sacrifice this unlucky Rajah to their replenishment; and having as a +preliminary step, imposed upon him a mulct of £500,000, set out +immediately for his capital, Benares, to compel the payment of it. Here, +after rejecting with insult the suppliant advances of the Prince, he put +him under arrest, and imprisoned him in his own palace. This violation of +the rights and the roof of their sovereign drove the people of the whole +province into a sudden burst of rebellion, of which Mr. Hastings himself +was near being the victim. The usual triumph, however, of might over +right ensued; the Rajah's castle was plundered of all its treasures, and +his mother, who had taken refuge in the fort, and only surrendered it on +the express stipulation that she and the other princesses should pass out +safe from the dishonor of search, was, in violation of this condition, +and at the base suggestion of Mr. Hastings himself, [Footnote: In his +letter to the Commanding Officer at Bidgegur. The following are the terms +in which he conveys the hint: "I apprehend that she will contrive to +defraud the captors of a considerable part of the booty, by being +suffered to retire _without examination_. But this is your +consideration, and not mine. I should be very sorry that your officers +and soldiers lost any part of the reward to which they are so well +entitled; but I cannot make any objection, as you must be the best judge +of the expediency of the _promised_ indulgence to the Rannee."] +rudely examined and despoiled of all her effects. The Governor-General, +however, in this one instance, incurred the full odium of iniquity +without reaping any of its reward. The treasures found in the castle of +the Rajah were inconsiderable, and the soldiers, who had shown themselves +so docile in receiving the lessons of plunder, were found inflexibly +obstinate in refusing to admit their instructor to a share. Disappointed, +therefore, in the primary object of his expedition, the Governor-General +looked round for some richer harvest of rapine, and the Begums of Oude +presented themselves as the most convenient victims. These Princesses, +the mother and grandmother of the reigning Nabob of Oude, had been left +by the late sovereign in possession of certain government-estates, or +jaghires, as well as of all the treasure that was in his hands at the +time of his death, and which the orientalized imaginations of the English +exaggerated to an enormous sum. The present Nabob had evidently looked +with an eye of cupidity on this wealth, and had been guilty of some acts +of extortion towards his female relatives, in consequence of which the +English government had interfered between them,--and had even guaranteed +to the mother of the Nabob the safe possession of her property, without +any further encroachment whatever. Guarantees and treaties, however, were +but cobwebs in the way of Mr. Hastings; and on his failure at Benares, he +lost no time in concluding an agreement with the Nabob, by which (in +consideration of certain measures of relief to his dominions) this Prince +was bound to plunder his mother and grandmother of all their property, +and place it at the disposal of the Governor-General. In order to give a +color of justice to this proceeding, it was [Footnote: "It was the +practice of Mr. Hastings (says Burke, in his fine speech on Mr. Pitt's +India Bill, March 22, 1786) to examine the country, and wherever he found +money to affix guilt. A more dreadful fault could not be alleged against +a native than that he was rich."] pretended that these Princesses had +taken advantage of the late insurrection at Benares, to excite a similar +spirit of revolt in Oude against the reigning Nabob and the English +government. As Law is but too often, in such cases, the ready accomplice +of Tyranny, the services of the Chief Justice, Sir Elijah Impey, were +called in to sustain the accusations; and the wretched mockery was +exhibited of a Judge travelling about in search of evidence, [Footnote: +This journey of the Chief Justice in search of evidence is thus happily +described by Sheridan in the Speech:--"When, on the 28th of November, he +was busied at Lucknow on that honorable business, and when, three days +after, he was found at Chunar, at the distance of 200 miles, still +searching for affidavits, and, like Hamlet's ghost, exclaiming, 'Swear,' +his progress on that occasion was so whimsically rapid, compared with the +gravity of his employ, that an observer would be tempted to quote again +from the same scene, 'Ha! Old Truepenny, canst thou mole so fast i' the +ground?' Here, however, the comparison ceased; for, when Sir Elijah made +his visit to Lucknow 'to whet the almost blunted purpose' of the Nabob, +his language was wholly different from that of the poet--for it would +have been totally against his purpose to have said, + + Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive + Against thy mother aught."] for the express purpose of proving a +charge, upon which judgment had been pronounced and punishment decreed +already. + +The Nabob himself, though sufficiently ready to make the wealth of those +venerable ladies occasionally minister to his wants, yet shrunk back, +with natural reluctance, from the summary task now imposed upon him; and +it was not till after repeated and peremptory remonstrances from Mr. +Hastings, that he could be induced to put himself at the head of a body +of English troops, and take possession, by unresisted force, of the town +and palace of these Princesses. As the treasure, however, was still +secure in the apartments of the women,--that circle, within which even the +spirit of English rapine did not venture,--an expedient was adopted to +get over this inconvenient delicacy. Two aged eunuchs of high rank and +distinction, the confidential agents of the Begums, were thrown into +prison, and subjected to a course of starvation and torture, by which it +was hoped that the feelings of their mistresses might be worked upon, and +a more speedy surrender of their treasure wrung from them. The plan +succeeded:--upwards of 500,000_l_. was procured to recruit the +finances of the Company; and thus, according to the usual course of +British power in India, rapacity but levied its contributions in one +quarter, to enable war to pursue its desolating career in another. + +To crown all, one of the chief articles of the treaty, by which the Nabob +was reluctantly induced to concur in these atrocious measures, was, as +soon as the object had been gained, infringed by Mr. Hastings, who, in a +letter to his colleagues in the government, honestly confesses that the +concession of that article was only a fraudulent artifice of diplomacy, +and never intended to be carried into effect. + +Such is an outline of the case, which, with all its aggravating details, +Mr. Sheridan had to state in these two memorable Speeches; and it was +certainly most fortunate for the display of his peculiar powers, that +this should be the Charge confided to his management. For, not only was +it the strongest, and susceptible of the highest charge of coloring, but +it had also the advantage of grouping together all the principal +delinquents of the trial, and affording a gradation of hue, from the +showy and prominent enormities of the Governor-General and Sir Elijah +Impey in the front of the picture, to the subordinate and half-tint +iniquity of the Middletons and Bristows in the back-ground. + +Mr. Burke, it appears, had at first reserved this grand part in the drama +of the Impeachment for himself; but, finding that Sheridan had also fixed +his mind upon it, he, without hesitation, resigned it into his hands; +thus proving the sincerity of his zeal in the cause, [Footnote: Of the +lengths to which this zeal could sometimes carry his fancy and language, +rather, perhaps, than his actual feelings, the following anecdote is a +remarkable proof. On one of the days of the trial, Lord ----, who was +then a boy, having been introduced by a relative into the Manager's box, +Burke said to him, "I am glad to see you here--I shall be still gladder +to see you there--(pointing to the Peers' seats) I hope you will be _in +at the death_--I should like to _blood_ you."] by sacrificing +even the vanity of talent to its success. + +The following letters from him, relative to the Impeachment, will be read +with interest. The first is addressed to Mrs. Sheridan, and was written, +I think, early in the proceedings; the second is to Sheridan himself:-- + +"MADAM, + +"I am sure you will have the goodness to excuse the liberty I take with +you, when you consider the interest which I have and which the Public +have (the said Public being, at least, half an inch a taller person than +I am) in the use of Mr. Sheridan's abilities. I know that his mind is +seldom unemployed; but then, like all such great and vigorous minds, it +takes an eagle flight by itself, and we can hardly bring it to rustle +along the ground, with us birds of meaner wing, in coveys. I only beg +that you will prevail on Mr. Sheridan to be with us _this day_, at +half after three, in the Committee. Mr. Wombell, the Paymaster of Oude, +is to be examined there _to-day_. Oude is Mr. Sheridan's particular +province; and I do most seriously ask that he would favor us with his +assistance. What will come of the examination I know not; but, without +him, I do not expect a great deal from it; with him, I fancy we may get +out something material. Once more let me entreat your interest with Mr. +Sheridan and your forgiveness for being troublesome to you, and do me the +justice to believe me, with the most sincere respect, + +"Madam, your most obedient + +"and faithful humble Servant, + +_"Thursday, 9 o'clock._ + +"EDM. BURKE." + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"You have only to wish to be excused to succeed in your wishes; for, +indeed, he must be a great enemy to himself who can consent, on account +of a momentary ill-humor, to keep himself at a distance from you. + +"Well, all will turn out right,--and half of you, or a quarter, is worth +five other men. I think that this cause, which was originally yours, will +be recognized by you, and that you will again possess yourself of it. The +owner's mark is on it, and all our docking and cropping cannot hinder its +being known and cherished by its original master. My most humble respects +to Mrs. Sheridan. I am happy to find that she takes in good part the +liberty I presumed to take with her. Grey has done much and will do every +thing. It is a pity that he is not always toned to the full extent of his +talents. + +"Most truly yours, + +_"Monday._ + +"EDM. BURKE. + +"I feel a little sickish at the approaching day. I have read much--too +much, perhaps,--and, in truth, am but poorly prepared. Many things, too, +have broken in upon me." [Footnote: For this letter, as well as some +other valuable communications, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. +Burgess,--the Solicitor and friend of Sheridan during the last twenty +years of his life.] + +Though a Report, however accurate, must always do injustice to that +effective kind of oratory which is intended rather to be heard than read, +and, though frequently, the passages that most roused and interested the +hearer, are those that seem afterwards the tritest and least animated to +the reader, [Footnote: The converse assertion is almost equally true. Mr. +Fox used to ask of a printed speech, "Does it read well?" and, if +answered in the affirmative, said, "Then it was a bad speech."] yet, with +all this disadvantage, the celebrated oration in question so well +sustains its reputation in the perusal, that it would be injustice, +having an authentic Report in my possession, not to produce some +specimens of its style and spirit. + +In the course of his exordium, after dwelling upon the great importance +of the inquiry in which they were engaged, and disclaiming for himself +and his brother-managers any feeling of personal malice against the +defendant, or any motive but that of retrieving the honor of the British +name in India, and bringing down punishment upon those whose inhumanity +and injustice had disgraced it,--he thus proceeds to conciliate the Court +by a warm tribute to the purity of English justice:-- + +"However, when I have said this, I trust Your Lordships will not believe +that, because something is necessary to retrieve the British character, +we call for an example to be made, without due and solid proof of the +guilt of the person whom we pursue:--no, my Lords, we know well that it +is the glory of this Constitution, that not the general fame or character +of any man--not the weight or power of any prosecutor--no plea of moral +or political expediencey--not even the secret consciousness of guilt, +which may live in the bosom of the Judge, can justify any British Court +in passing any sentence, to touch a hair of the head, or an atom in any +respect, of the property, of the fame, of the liberty of the poorest or +meanest subject that breathes the air of this just and free land. We +know, my Lords, that there can be no legal guilt without legal proof, and +that the rule which defines the evidence is as much the law of the land +as that which creates the crime. It is upon that ground we mean to stand." + +Among those ready equivocations and disavowals, to which Mr. Hastings had +recourse upon every emergency, and in which practice seems to have +rendered him as shameless as expert, the step which he took with regard +to his own defence during the trial was not the least remarkable for +promptness and audacity. He had, at the commencement of the prosecution, +delivered at the bar of the House of Commons, as his own, a written +refutation of the charges then pending against him in that House, +declaring at the same time, that "if truth could tend to convict him, he +was content to be, himself, the channel to convey it." Afterwards, +however, on finding that he had committed himself rather imprudently in +this defence, he came forward to disclaim it at the bar of the House of +Lords, and brought his friend Major Scott to prove that it had been drawn +up by Messrs. Shore, Middleton, &c. &c.--that he himself had not even +seen it, and therefore ought not to be held accountable for its contents. +In adverting to this extraordinary evasion, Mr. Sheridan thus shrewdly +and playfully exposes all the persons concerned in it:-- + +"Major Scott comes to your bar--describes the shortness of +time--represents Mr. Hastings as it were _contracting for_ a +character--putting his memory _into commission_--making +_departments_ for his conscience. A number of friends meet together, +and he, knowing (no doubt) that the accusation of the Commons had been +drawn up by a Committee, thought it necessary, as a point of punctilio, +to answer it by a Committee also. One furnishes the raw material of fact, +the second spins the argument, and the third twines up the conclusion; +while Mr. Hastings, with a master's eye, is cheering and looking over +this loom. He says to one, 'You have got my good faith in your +hands--_you_, my veracity to manage. Mr. Shore, I hope you will make +me a good financier--Mr. Middleton, you have my humanity in +commission.'--When it is done, he brings it to the House of Commons, and +says, 'I was equal to the task. I knew the difficulties, but I scorn +them: here is the truth, and if the truth will convict me, I am content +myself to be the channel of it.' His friends hold up their heads, and +say, 'What noble magnanimity! This must be the effect of conscious and +real innocence.' Well, it is so received, it is so argued upon,--but it +fails of its effect. + +"Then says Mr. Hastings,--'That my defence! no, mere +journeyman-work,--good enough for the Commons, but not fit for Your +Lordships' consideration.' He then calls upon his Counsel to save +him:--'I fear none of my accusers' witnesses--I know some of them well--I +know the weakness of their memory, and the strength of their +attachment--I fear no testimony but my own--save me from the peril of my +own panegyric--preserve me from that, and I shall be safe.' Then is this +plea brought to Your Lordships' bar, and Major Scott gravely +asserts,--that Mr. Hastings did, at the bar of the House of Commons, +vouch for facts of which he was ignorant, and for arguments which he had +never read. + +"After such an attempt, we certainly are left in doubt to decide, to +_which_ set of his friends Mr. Hastings is least obliged, those who +assisted him in making his defence, or those who advised him to deny it." + +He thus describes the feelings of the people of the East with respect to +the unapproachable sanctity of their Zenanas:-- + +"It is too much, I am afraid, the case, that persons, used to European +manners, do not take up these sort of considerations at first with the +seriousness that is necessary. For Your Lordships cannot even learn the +right nature of those people's feelings and prejudices from any history +of other Mahometan countries,--not even from that of the Turks, for they +are a mean and degraded race in comparison with many of these great +families, who, inheriting from their Persian ancestors, preserve a purer +style of prejudice and a loftier superstition. Women there are not as in +Turkey--they neither go to the mosque nor to the bath--it is not the thin +veil alone that hides them--but in the inmost recesses of their Zenana +they are kept from public view by those reverenced and protected walls, +which, as Mr. Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey admit, are held sacred even +by the ruffian hand of war or by the more uncourteous hand of the law. +But, in this situation, they are not confined from a mean and selfish +policy of man--not from a coarse and sensual jealousy--enshrined rather +than immured, their habitation and retreat is a sanctuary, not a +prison--their jealousy is their own--a jealousy of their own honor, that +leads them to regard liberty as a degradation, and the gaze of even +admiring eyes as inexpiable pollution to the purity of their fame and the +sanctity of their honor. + +"Such being the general opinion (or prejudices, let them be called) of +this country, Your Lordships will find, that whatever treasures were +given or lodged in a Zenana of this description must, upon the evidence +of the thing itself, be placed beyond the reach of resumption. To dispute +with the Counsel about the original right to those treasures--to talk of +a title to them by the Mahometan law!--their title to them is the title +of a Saint to the relics upon an altar, placed there by Piety, [Footnote: +This metaphor was rather roughly handled afterwards (1794) by Mr. Law, +one of the adverse Counsel, who asked, how could the Begum be considered +as "a Saint," or how were the camels, which formed part of the treasure, +to be "placed upon the altar?" Sheridan, in reply, said, "It was the +first time in his life he had ever heard of _special pleading_ on a +_metaphor_, or a _bill of indictment_ against a trope. But such +was the turn of the learned Counsel's mind, that, when he attempted to be +humorous, no jest could be found, and, when serious, no fact was +visible."] guarded by holy Superstition, and to be snatched from thence +only by Sacrilege." + +In showing that the Nabob was driven to this robbery of his relatives by +other considerations than those of the pretended rebellion, which was +afterwards conjured up by Mr. Hastings to justify it, he says,-- + +"The fact is, that through all his defences--through all his various +false suggestions--through all these various rebellions and +disaffections, Mr. Hastings never once lets go this plea--of +extinguishable right in the Nabob. He constantly represents the seizing +the treasures as a resumption of a right which he could not part +with;--as if there were literally something in the Koran, that made it +criminal in a true Mussulman to keep his engagements with his relations, +and impious in a son to abstain from plundering his mother. I do gravely +assure your Lordships that there is no such doctrine in the Koran, and no +such principle makes a part in the civil or municipal jurisprudence of +that country. Even after these Princesses had been endeavoring to +dethrone the Nabob and to extirpate the English, the only plea the Nabob +ever makes, is his right under the Mahometan law; and the truth is, he +appears never to have heard any other reason, and I pledge myself to make +it appear to Your Lordships, however extraordinary it may be, that not +only had the Nabob never heard of the rebellion till the moment of +seizing the palace, but, still further, that he never heard of it at +all--that this extraordinary rebellion, which was as notorious as the +rebellion of 1745 in London, was carefully concealed from those two +parties--the Begums who plotted it, and the Nabob who was to be the +victim of it. + +"The existence of this rebellion was not the secret, but the notoriety of +it was the secret; it was a rebellion which had for its object the +destruction of no human creature but those who planned it;--it was a +rebellion which, according to Mr. Middleton's expression, no man, either +horse or foot, ever marched to quell. The Chief Justice was the only man +who took the field against it,--the force against which it was raised, +instantly withdrew to give it elbow-room,--and, even then, it was a +rebellion which perversely showed itself in acts of hospitality to the +Nabob whom it was to dethrone, and to the English whom it was to +extirpate;--it was a rebellion plotted by two feeble old women, headed by +two eunuchs, and suppressed by an affidavit." + +The acceptance, or rather exaction, of the private present of £100,000 is +thus animadverted upon: + +"My Lords, such was the distressed situation of the Nabob about a +twelvemonth before Mr. Hastings met him at Chunar. It was a twelvemonth, +I say, after this miserable scene--a mighty period in the progress of +British rapacity--it was (if the Counsel will) after some natural +calamities had aided the superior vigor of British violence and +rapacity--it was after the country had felt other calamities besides the +English--it was after the angry dispensations of Providence had, with a +progressive severity of chastisement, visited the land with a famine one +year, and with a Col. Hannay the next--it was after he, this Hannay, had +returned to retrace the steps of his former ravages--it was after he and +his voracious crew had come to plunder ruins which himself had made, and +to glean from desolation the little that famine had spared, or rapine +overlooked;--_then_ it was that this miserable bankrupt prince +marching through his country, besieged by the clamors of his starving +subjects, who cried to him for protection through their cages--meeting +the curses of some of his subjects, and the prayers of others--with +famine at his heels, and reproach following him,--then it was that this +Prince is represented as exercising this act of prodigal bounty to the +very man whom he here reproaches--to the very man whose policy had +extinguished his power, and whose creatures had desolated his country. To +talk of a free-will gift! it is audacious and ridiculous to name the +supposition. It was _not_ a free-will gift. What was it then? was it +a bribe? or was it extortion? I shall prove it was both--it was an act of +gross bribery and of rank extortion." + +Again he thus adverts to this present:-- + +"The first thing he does is, to leave Calcutta, in order to go to the +relief of the distressed Nabob. The second thing, is to take 100,000_l_ +from that distressed Nabob on account of the distressed Company. And the +third thing is to ask of the distressed Company this very same sum on +account of the distresses of Mr. Hastings. There never were three +distresses that seemed so little reconcilable with one another." + +Anticipating the plea of state-necessity, which might possibly be set up +in defence of the measures of the Governor-General, he breaks out into +the following rhetorical passage:-- + +"State necessity! no, my Lords; that imperial tyrant, _State +Necessity_, is yet a generous despot,--bold is his demeanor, rapid his +decisions, and terrible his grasp. But what he does, my Lords, he dares +avow, and avowing, scorns any other justification, than the great motives +that placed the iron sceptre in his hand. But a quibbling, pilfering, +prevaricating State-Necessity, that tries to skulk behind the skirts of +Justice;--a State-Necessity that tries to steal a pitiful justification +from whispered accusations and fabricated rumors. No, my Lords, that is +no State Necessity;--tear off the mask, and you see coarse, vulgar +avarice,--you see speculation, lurking under the gaudy disguise, and +adding the guilt of libelling the public honor to its own private fraud. + +"My Lords, I say this, because I am sure the Managers would make every +allowance that state-necessity could claim upon any great emergency. If +any great man in bearing the arms of this country;--if any Admiral, +bearing the vengeance and the glory of Britain to distant coasts, should +be compelled to some rash acts of violence, in order, perhaps, to give +food to those who are shedding their blood for Britain;--if any great +General, defending some fortress, barren itself, perhaps, but a pledge of +the pride, and, with the pride, of the power of Britain; if such a man +were to * * * while he himself was * * at the top, like an eagle besieged +in its imperial nest; [Footnote: The Reporter, at many of these passages, +seems to have thrown aside his pen in despair.]--would the Commons of +England come to accuse or to arraign such acts of state-necessity? No." + +In describing that swarm of English pensioners and placemen, who were +still, in violation of the late purchased treaty, left to prey on the +finances of the Nabob, he says,-- + +"Here we find they were left, as heavy a weight upon the Nabob as +ever,--left there with as keen an appetite, though not so clamorous. They +were reclining on the roots and shades of that spacious tree, which their +predecessors had stripped branch and bough--watching with eager eyes the +first budding of a future prosperity, and of the opening harvest which +they considered as the prey of their perseverance and rapacity." + +We have in the close of the following passage, a specimen of that lofty +style, in which, as if under the influence of Eastern associations, +almost all the Managers of this Trial occasionally indulged: [Footnote: +Much of this, however, is to be set down to the gratuitous bombast of the +Reporter. Mr. Fox, for instance, is made to say, "Yes, my Lords, happy is +it for the world, that the penetrating gaze of Providence searches after +man, and in the dark den where he has stifled the remonstrances of +conscience darts his compulsatory ray, that, bursting the secrecy of +guilt, drives the criminal frantic to confession and expiation." +_History of the Trial._--Even one of the Counsel, Mr. Dallas, is +represented as having caught this Oriental contagion, to such a degree as +to express himself in the following manner:--"We are now, however, (said +the Counsel,) advancing from the star-light of Circumstance to the +day-light of Discovery: the sun of Certainty is melting the darkness, +and--we are arrived at facts admitted by both parties!"]-- + +"I do not mean to say that Mr. Middleton had _direct_ instructions +from Mr. Hastings,--that he told him to go and give that fallacious +assurance to the Nabob,--that he had that order _under his hand_. +No, but in looking attentively over Mr. Middleton's correspondence, you +will find him say, upon a more important occasion, 'I don't expect your +public authority for this;--it is enough if you but _hint_ your +pleasure.' He knew him well; he could interpret every nod and motion of +that head; he understood the glances of that eye which sealed the +perdition of nations, and at whose throne Princes waited, in pale +expectation, for their fortune or their doom." + +The following is one of those labored passages, of which the orator +himself was perhaps most proud, but in which the effort to be eloquent is +too visible, and the effect, accordingly, falls short of the pretension:-- + +"You see how Truth--empowered by that will which gives a giant's nerve to +an infant's arm--has burst the monstrous mass of fraud that has +endeavored to suppress it.--It calls now to Your Lordships, in the weak +but clear tone of that Cherub, Innocence, whose voice is more persuasive +than eloquence, more convincing than argument, whose look is +supplication, whose tone is conviction,--it calls upon you for redress, +it calls upon you for vengeance upon the oppressor, and points its +heaven-directed hand to the detested, but unrepenting author of its +wrongs!" + +His description of the desolation brought upon some provinces of Oude by +the misgovernment of Colonel Hannay, and of the insurrection at +Goruckpore against that officer in consequence, is, perhaps, the most +masterly portion of the whole speech:-- + +"If we could suppose a person to have come suddenly into the country +unacquainted with any circumstances that had passed since the days of +Sujah ul Dowlah, he would naturally ask--what cruel hand has wrought this +wide desolation, what barbarian foe has invaded the country, has +desolated its fields, depopulated its villages? He would ask, what +disputed succession, civil rage, or frenzy of the inhabitants, had +induced them to act in hostility to the words of God, and the beauteous +works of man? He would ask what religious zeal or frenzy had added to the +mad despair and horrors of war? The ruin is unlike any thing that appears +recorded in any age; it looks like neither the barbarities of men, nor +the judgments of vindictive heaven. There is a waste of desolation, as if +caused by fell destroyers, never meaning to return and making but a short +period of their rapacity. It looks as if some fabled monster had made its +passage through the country, whose pestiferous breath had blasted more +than its voracious appetite could devour." + +"If there had been any men in the country, who had not their hearts and +souls so subdued by fear, as to refuse to speak the truth at all upon +such a subject, they would have told him, there had been no war since the +time of Sujah ul Dowlah,--tyrant, indeed, as he was, but then deeply +regretted by his subjects--that no hostile blow of any enemy had been +struck in that land--that there had been no disputed succession--no civil +war--no religious frenzy. But that these were the tokens of British +friendship, the marks left by the embraces of British allies--more +dreadful than the blows of the bitterest enemy. They would tell him that +these allies had converted a prince into a slave, to make him the +principal in the extortion upon his subjects;--that their rapacity +increased in proportion as the means of supplying their avarice +diminished; that they made the sovereign pay as if they had a right to an +increased price, because the labor of extortion and plunder increased. To +such causes, they would tell him, these calamities were owing. + +"Need I refer Your Lordships to the strong testimony of Major Naylor when +he rescued Colonel Hannay from their hands--where you see that this +people, born to submission and bent to most abject subjection--that even +they, in whose meek hearts injury had never yet begot resentment, nor +even despair bred courage--that _their_ hatred, _their_ +abhorrence of Colonel Hannay was such that they clung round him by +thousands and thousands;--that when Major Naylor rescued him, they +refused life from the hand that could rescue Hannay;--that they nourished +this desperate consolation, that by their death they should at least thin +the number of wretches who suffered by his devastation and extortion. He +says that, when he crossed the river, he found the poor wretches +quivering upon the parched banks of the polluted river, encouraging their +blood to flow, and consoling themselves with the thought, that it would +not sink into the earth, but rise to the common God of humanity, and cry +aloud for vengeance on their destroyers!--This warm description--which is +no declamation of mine, but founded in actual fact, and in fair, clear +proof before Your Lordships--speaks powerfully what the cause of these +oppressions were, and the perfect justness of those feelings that were +occasioned by them. And yet, my Lords, I am asked to prove _why_ +these people arose in such concert:--'there must have been machinations, +forsooth, and the Begums' machinations, to produce all this!'--Why did +they rise!--Because they were people in human shape; because patience +under the detested tyranny of man is rebellion to the sovereignty of God; +because allegiance to that Power that gives us the _forms_ of men +commands us to maintain the _rights_ of men. And never yet was this +truth dismissed from the human heart--never in any time, in any +age--never in any clime, where rude man ever had any social feeling, or +where corrupt refinement had subdued all feelings,--never was this one +unextinguishable truth destroyed from the heart of man, placed, as it is, +in the core and centre of it by his Maker, that man was not made the +property of man; that human power is a trust for human benefit and that +when it is abused, revenge becomes justice, if not the bounden duty of +the injured! These, my Lords, were the causes why these people rose." + +Another passage in the second day's speech is remarkable, as exhibiting a +sort of tourney of intellect between Sheridan and Burke, and in that +field of abstract speculation, which was the favorite arena of the +latter. Mr. Burke had, in opening the prosecution, remarked, that +prudence is a quality incompatible with vice, and can never be +effectively enlisted in its cause:--"I never (said he) knew a man who was +bad, fit for _service_ that was good. There is always some +disqualifying ingredient, mixing and spoiling the compound. The man seems +paralytic on that side, his muscles there have lost their very tone and +character--they cannot move. In short, the accomplishment of any thing +good is a physical impossibility for such a man. There is decrepitude as +well as distortion: he could not, if he would, is not more certain than +that he would not, if he could." To this sentiment the allusions in the +following passage refer:-- + +"I am perfectly convinced that there is one idea, which must arise in +Your Lordships' minds as a subject of wonder,--how a person of Mr. +Hastings' reputed abilities can furnish such matter of accusation against +himself. For, it must be admitted that never was there a person who seems +to go so rashly to work, with such an arrogant appearance of contempt for +all conclusions, that may be deduced from what he advances upon the +subject. When he seems most earnest and laborious to defend himself, it +appears as if he had but one idea uppermost in his mind--a determination +not to care what he says, provided he keeps clear of fact. He knows that +truth must convict him, and concludes, _à converso_, that falsehood +will acquit him; forgetting that there must be some connection, some +system, some co-operation, or, otherwise, his host of falsities fall +without an enemy, self-discomfited and destroyed. But of this he never +seems to have had the slightest apprehension. He falls to work, an +artificer of fraud, against all the rules of architecture;--he lays his +ornamental work first, and his massy foundation at the top of it; and +thus his whole building tumbles upon his head. Other people look well to +their ground, choose their position, and watch whether they are likely to +be surprised there; but he, as if in the ostentation of his heart, builds +upon a precipice, and encamps upon a mine, from choice. He seems to have +no one actuating principle, but a steady, persevering resolution not to +speak the truth or to tell the fact. + +"It is impossible almost to treat conduct of this kind with perfect +seriousness; yet I am aware that it ought to be more seriously accounted +for--because I am sure it has been a sort of paradox, which must have +struck Your Lordships, how any person having so many motives to +conceal--having so many reasons to dread detection--should yet go to work +so clumsily upon the subject. It is possible, indeed, that it may raise +this doubt--whether such a person is of sound mind enough to be a proper +object of punishment; or at least it may give a kind of confused notion, +that the guilt cannot be of so deep and black a grain, over which such a +thin veil was thrown, and so little trouble taken to avoid detection. I +am aware that, to account for this seeming paradox, historians, poets, +and even philosophers--at least of ancient times--have adopted the +superstitious solution of the vulgar, and said that the gods deprive men +of reason whom they devote to destruction or to punishment. But to +unassuming or unprejudiced reason, there is no need to resort to any +supposed supernatural interference; for the solution will be found in the +eternal rules that formed the mind of man, and gave a quality and nature +to every passion that inhabits in it. + +"An Honorable friend of mine, who is now, I believe, near me,--a +gentleman, to whom I never can on any occasion refer without feelings of +respect, and, on this subject, without feelings of the most grateful +homage;--a gentleman, whose abilities upon this occasion, as upon some +former ones, happily for the glory of the age in which we live, are not +entrusted merely to the perishable eloquence of the day, but will live to +be the admiration of that hour when all of us are mute, and most of us +forgotten;--that Honorable gentleman has told you that Prudence, the +first of virtues, never can be used in the cause of vice. If, reluctant +and diffident, I might take such a liberty, I should express a doubt, +whether experience, observation, or history, will warrant us in fully +assenting to this observation. It is a noble and a lovely sentiment, my +Lords, worthy the mind of him who uttered it, worthy that proud disdain, +that generous scorn of the means and instruments of vice, which virtue +and genius must ever feel. But I should doubt whether we can read the +history of a Philip of Macedon, a Caesar, or a Cromwell, without +confessing, that there have been evil purposes, baneful to the peace and +to the rights of men, conducted--if I may not say, with prudence or with +wisdom--yet with awful craft and most successful and commanding subtlety. +If, however, I might make a distinction, I should say that it is the +proud attempt to mix a _variety_ of lordly crimes, that unsettles +the prudence of the mind, and breeds this distraction of the brain. + +"_One_ master-passion, domineering in the breast, may win the +faculties of the understanding to advance its purpose, and to direct to +that object every thing that thought or human knowledge can effect; but, +to succeed, it must maintain a solitary despotism in the mind;--each +rival profligacy must stand aloof, or wait in abject vassalage upon its +throne. For, the Power, that has not forbad the entrance of evil passions +into man's mind, has, at least, forbad their union;--if they meet they +defeat their object, and their conquest, or their attempt at it, is +tumult. Turn to the Virtues--how different the decree! Formed to connect, +to blend, to associate, and to cooperate; bearing the same course, with +kindred energies and harmonious sympathy, each perfect in its own lovely +sphere, each moving in its wider or more contracted orbit, with +different, but concentering, powers, guided by the same influence of +reason, and endeavoring at the same blessed end--the happiness of the +individual, the harmony of the species, and the glory of the Creator. In +the Vices, on the other hand, it is the discord that insures the +defeat--each clamors to be heard in its own barbarous language; each +claims the exclusive cunning of the brain; each thwarts and reproaches +the other; and even while their fell rage assails with common hate the +peace and virtue of the world, the civil war among their own tumultuous +legions defeats the purpose of the foul conspiracy. These are the Furies +of the mind, my Lords, that unsettle the understanding; these are the +Furies, that destroy the virtue, Prudence,--while the distracted brain +and shivered intellect proclaim the tumult that is within, and bear their +testimonies, from the mouth of God himself, to the foul condition of the +heart." + +The part of the Speech which occupied the Third Day (and which was +interrupted by the sudden indisposition of Mr. Sheridan) consists chiefly +of comments upon the affidavits taken before Sir Elijah Impey,--in which +the irrelevance and inconsistency of these documents is shrewdly exposed, +and the dryness of detail, inseparable from such a task, enlivened by +those light touches of conversational humor, and all that by-play of +eloquence of which Mr. Sheridan was such a consummate master. But it was +on the Fourth Day of the oration that he rose into his most ambitious +flights, and produced some of those dazzling bursts of declamation, of +which the traditional fame is most vividly preserved. Among the audience +of that day was Gibbon, and the mention of his name in the following +passage not only produced its effect at the moment, but, as connected +with literary anecdote, will make the passage itself long memorable. +Politics are of the day, but literature is of all time--and, though it +was in the power of the orator, in his brief moment of triumph, to throw +a lustre over the historian by a passing epithet, [Footnote: Gibbon +himself thought it an event worthy of record in his Memoirs. "Before my +departure from England (he says) I was present at the august spectacle of +Mr. Hastings's Trial in Westminster Hall. It was not my province to +absolve or condemn the Governor of India, but Mr. Sheridan's eloquence +demanded my applause, nor could I hear without emotion the personal +compliment which he paid me in the presence of the British nation. From +this display of genius, which blazed four successive days," &c &c.] the +name of the latter will, at the long run, pay back the honor with +interest. Having reprobated the violence and perfidy of the +Governor-General, in forcing the Nabob to plunder his own relatives and +friends, he adds:-- + +"I do say, that if you search the history of the world, you will not find +an act of tyranny and fraud to surpass this; if you read all past +histories, peruse the Annals of Tacitus, read the luminous page of +Gibbon, and all the ancient and modern writers, that have searched into +the depravity of former ages to draw a lesson for the present, you will +not find an act of treacherous, deliberate, cool cruelty that could +exceed this." + +On being asked by some honest brother Whig, at the conclusion of the +Speech, how he came to compliment Gibbon with the epithet "luminous," +Sheridan answered in a half whisper, "I said '_vo_luminous.'" + +It is well known that the simile of the vulture and the lamb, which +occurs in the address of Rolla to the Peruvians, had been previously +employed by Mr. Sheridan, in this speech; and it showed a degree of +indifference to criticism,--which criticism, it must be owned, not +unfrequently deserves,--to reproduce before the public an image, so +notorious both from its application and its success. But, called upon, as +he was, to levy, for the use of that Drama, a hasty conscription of +phrases and images, all of a certain altitude and pomp, this veteran +simile, he thought, might be pressed into the service among the rest. The +passage of the Speech in which it occurs is left imperfect in the +Report:-- + +"This is the character of all the protection ever afforded to the allies +of Britain under the government of Mr. Hastings. They send their troops +to drain the produce of industry, to seize all the treasures, wealth, and +prosperity of the country, and then they call it Protection!--it is the +protection of the vulture to the lamb. * * *" + +The following is his celebrated delineation of Filial Affection, to which +reference is more frequently made than to any other part of the +Speech;--though the gross inaccuracy of the printed Report has done its +utmost to belie the reputation of the original passage, or rather has +substituted a changeling to inherit its fame. + +"When I see in many of these letters the infirmities of age made a +subject of mockery and ridicule; when I see the feelings of a son treated +by Mr. Middleton as puerile and contemptible; when I see an order given +by Mr. Hastings to harden that son's heart, to choke the struggling +nature in his bosom; when I see them pointing to the son's name, and to +his standard while marching to oppress the mother, as to a banner that +gives dignity, that gives a holy sanction and a reverence to their +enterprise; when I see and hear these things done--when I hear them +brought into three deliberate Defences set up against the Charges of the +Commons--my Lords, I own I grow puzzled and confounded, and almost begin +to doubt whether, where such a defence can be offered, it may not be +tolerated. + +"And yet, my Lords, how can I support the claim of filial love by +argument--much less the affection of a son to a mother--where love loses +its awe, and veneration is mixed with tenderness? What can I say upon +such a subject, what can I do but repeat the ready truths which, with the +quick impulse of the mind, must spring to the lips of every man on such a +theme? Filial love! the morality of instinct, the sacrament of nature and +duty--or rather let me say it is miscalled a duty, for it flows from the +heart without effort, and is its delight, its indulgence, its enjoyment. +It is guided, not by the slow dictates of reason; it awaits not +encouragement from reflection or from thought; it asks no aid of memory; +it is an innate, but active, consciousness of having been the object of a +thousand tender solicitudes, a thousand waking watchful cares, of meek +anxiety and patient sacrifices unremarked and unrequited by the object. +It is a gratitude founded upon a conviction of obligations, not +remembered, but the more binding because not remembered,--because +conferred before the tender reason could acknowledge, or the infant +memory record them--a gratitude and affection, which no circumstances +should subdue, and which few can strengthen; a gratitude, in which even +injury from the object, though it may blend regret, should never breed +resentment; an affection which can be increased only by the decay of +those to whom we owe it, and which is then most fervent when the +tremulous voice of age, resistless in its feebleness, inquires for the +natural protector of its cold decline. + +"If these are the general sentiments of man, what must be their +depravity, what must be their degeneracy, who can blot out and erase from +the bosom the virtue that is deepest rooted in the human heart, and +twined within the cords of life itself--aliens from nature, apostates +from humanity! And yet, if there is a crime more fell, more foul--if +there is any thing worse than a wilful persecutor of his mother--it is to +see a deliberate, reasoning instigator and abettor to the deed:--this it +is that shocks, disgusts, and appals the mind more than the other--to +view, not a wilful parricide, but a parricide by compulsion, a miserable +wretch, not actuated by the stubborn evils of his own worthless heart, +not driven by the fury of his own distracted brain, but lending his +sacrilegious hand, without any malice of his own, to answer the abandoned +purposes of the human fiends that have subdued his will!--To condemn +crimes like these, we need not talk of laws or of human rules--their +foulness, their deformity does not depend upon local constitutions, upon +human institutes or religious creeds:--they are crimes--and the persons +who perpetrate them are monsters who violate the primitive condition, +upon which the earth was given to man--they are guilty by the general +verdict of human kind." + +In some of the sarcasms we are reminded of the quaint contrasts of his +dramatic style. Thus:-- + +"I must also do credit to them whenever I see any thing like lenity in +Mr. Middleton or his agent:--they do seem to admit here, that it was not +worth while to commit a massacre for the discount of a small note of +hand, and to put two thousand women and children to death, in order to +procure prompt payment." + +Of the length to which the language of crimination was carried, as well +by Mr. Sheridan as by Mr. Burke, one example, out of many, will suffice. +It cannot fail, however, to be remarked that, while the denunciations and +invectives of Burke are filled throughout with a passionate earnestness, +which leaves no doubt as to the sincerity of the hate and anger professed +by him,--in Sheridan, whose nature was of a much gentler cast, the +vehemence is evidently more in the words than in the feeling, the tone of +indignation is theatrical and assumed, and the brightness of the flash +seems to be more considered than the destructiveness of the fire:-- + +"It is this circumstance of deliberation and consciousness of his +guilt--it is this that inflames the minds of those who watch his +transactions, and roots out all pity for a person who could act under +such an influence. We conceive of such tyrants as Caligula and Nero, bred +up to tyranny and oppression, having had no equals to control them--no +moment for reflection--we conceive that, if it could have been possible +to seize the guilty profligates for a moment, you might bring conviction +to their hearts and repentance to their minds. But when you see a cool, +reasoning, deliberate tyrant--one who was not born and bred to +arrogance,--who has been nursed in a mercantile line--who has been used +to look round among his fellow-subjects--to transact business with his +equals--to account for conduct to his master, and, by that wise system of +the Company, to detail all his transactions--who never could fly one +moment from himself, but must be obliged every night to sit down and hold +up a glass to his own soul--who could never be blind to his deformity, +and who must have brought his conscience not only to connive at but to +approve of it--_this_ it is that distinguishes it from the worst +cruelties, the worst enormities of those, who, born to tyranny, and +finding no superior, no adviser, have gone to the last presumption that +there were none above to control them hereafter. This is a circumstance +that aggravates the whole of the guilt of the unfortunate gentleman we +are now arraigning at your bar." + +We now come to the Peroration, in which, skilfully and without appearance +of design, it is contrived that the same sort of appeal to the purity of +British justice, with which the oration opened, should, like the +repetition of a solemn strain of music, recur at its close,--leaving in +the minds of the Judges a composed and concentrated feeling of the great +public duty they had to perform, in deciding upon the arraignment of +guilt brought before them. The Court of Directors, it appeared, had +ordered an inquiry into the conduct of the Begums, with a view to the +restitution of their property, if it should appear that the charges +against them were unfounded; but to this proceeding Mr. Hastings +objected, on the ground that the Begums themselves had not called for +such interference in their favor, and that it was inconsistent with the +"Majesty of Justice" to condescend to volunteer her services. The pompous +and Jesuitical style in which this singular doctrine [Footnote: "If +nothing (says Mr. Mill) remained to stain the reputation of Mr. Hastings +but the principles avowed in this singular pleading, his character, among +the friends of justice, would be sufficiently determined."] is expressed, +in a letter addressed by the Governor-general to Mr. Macpherson, is thus +ingeniously turned to account by the orator, in winding up his masterly +statement to a close:-- + +'And now before I come to the last magnificent paragraph, let me call the +attention of those who, possibly, think themselves capable of judging of +the dignity and character of justice in this country;--let me call the +attention of those who, arrogantly perhaps, presume that they understand +what the features, what the duties of justice are here and in India;--let +them learn a lesson from this great statesman, this enlarged, this +liberal philosopher:--'I hope I shall not depart from the simplicity of +official language, in saying that the Majesty of Justice ought to be +approached with solicitation, not descend to provoke or invite it, much +less to debase itself by the suggestion of wrongs and the promise of +redress, with the denunciation of punishment before trial, and even +before accusation.' This is the exhortation which Mr. Hastings makes to +his counsel. This is the character which he gives of British justice. + + * * * * * + +"But I will ask Your Lordships, do you approve this representation? Do +you feel that this is the true image of Justice? Is this the character of +British justice? Are these her features? Is this her countenance? Is this +her gait or her mien? No, I think even now I hear you calling upon me to +turn from this vile libel, this base caricature, this Indian pagod, +formed by the hand of guilty and knavish tyranny, to dupe the heart of +ignorance,--to turn from this deformed idol to the true Majesty of +Justice here. _Here_, indeed, I see a different form, enthroned by +the sovereign hand of Freedom,--awful without severity--commanding +without pride--vigilant and active without restlessness or +suspicion--searching and inquisitive without meanness or debasement--not +arrogantly scorning to stoop to the voice of afflicted innocence, and in +its loveliest attitude when bending to uplift the suppliant at its feet. + +"It is by the majesty, by the form of that Justice, that I do conjure and +implore Your Lordships to give your minds to this great business; that I +exhort you to look, not so much to words, which may be denied or quibbled +away, but to the plain facts,--to weigh and consider the testimony in +your own minds: we know the result must be inevitable. Let the truth +appear and our cause is gained. It is this, I conjure Your Lordships, for +your own honor, for the honor of the nation, for the honor of human +nature, now entrusted to your care,--it is this duty that the Commons of +England, speaking through us, claims at your hands. + +"They exhort you to it by every thing that calls sublimely upon the heart +of man, by the Majesty of that Justice which this bold man has libelled, +by the wide fame of your own tribunal, by the sacred pledge by which you +swear in the solemn hour of decision, knowing that that decision will +then bring you the highest reward that ever blessed the heart of man, the +consciousness of having done the greatest act of mercy for the world, +that the earth has ever yet received from any hand but Heaven.--My Lords, +I have done." + +Though I have selected some of the most remarkable passages of this +Speech, [Footnote: I had selected many more, but must confess that they +appeared to me, when in print, so little worthy of the reputation of the +Speech, that I thought it would be, on the whole, more prudent to omit +them. Even of the passages, here cited, I speak rather from my +imagination of what they must have been, than from my actual feeling of +what they are. The character, given of such Reports, by Lord +Loughborough, is, no doubt, but too just. On a motion made by Lord +Stanhope, (April 29, 1794), that the short-hand writers, employed on +Hastings's trial, should be summoned to the bar of the House, to read +their minutes, Lord Loughborough, in the course of his observations on +the motion, said, "God forbid that ever their Lordships should call on +the short-hand writers to publish their notes; for, of all people, +short-hand writers were ever the farthest from correctness, and there +were no man's words they ever heard that they again returned. They were +in general ignorant, as acting mechanically; and by not considering the +antecedent, and catching the sound, and not the sense, they perverted the +sense of the speaker, and made him appear as ignorant as themselves."] it +would be unfair to judge of it even from these specimens. A Report, +_verbatim_, of any effective speech must always appear diffuse and +ungraceful in the perusal. The very repetitions, the redundancy, the +accumulation of epithets which gave force and momentum in the career of +delivery, but weaken and encumber the march of the style, when read. +There is, indeed, the same sort of difference between a faithful +short-hand Report, and those abridged and polished records which Burke +has left us of his speeches, as there is between a cast taken directly +from the face, (where every line is accurately preserved, but all the +blemishes and excrescences are in rigid preservation also,) and a model, +over which the correcting hand has passed, and all that was minute or +superfluous is generalized and softened away. + +Neither was it in such rhetorical passages as abound, perhaps, rather +lavishly, in this Speech, that the chief strength of Mr. Sheridan's +talent lay. Good sense and wit were the great weapons of his +oratory--shrewdness in detecting the weak points of an adversary, and +infinite powers of raillery in exposing it. These were faculties which he +possessed in a greater degree than any of his contemporaries; and so well +did he himself know the stronghold of his powers, that it was but rarely, +after this display in Westminster Hall, that he was tempted to leave it +for the higher flights of oratory, or to wander after Sense into that +region of metaphor, where too often, like Angelica in the enchanted +palace of Atlante, she is sought for in vain. [Footnote: Curran used to +say laughingly, "When I can't talk sense, I talk metaphor."] His +attempts, indeed, at the florid or figurative style, whether in his +speeches or his writings, were seldom very successful. That luxuriance of +fancy, which in Burke was natural and indigenous, was in him rather a +forced and exotic growth. It is a remarkable proof of this difference +between them, that while, in the memorandums of speeches left behind by +Burke, we find, that the points of argument and business were those which +he prepared, trusting to the ever ready wardrobe of his fancy for their +adornment,--in Mr. Sheridan's notes it is chiefly the decorative +passages, that are worked up beforehand to their full polish; while on +the resources of his good sense, ingenuity, and temper, he seems to have +relied for the management of his reasonings and facts. Hence naturally it +arises that the images of Burke, being called up on the instant, like +spirits, to perform the bidding of his argument, minister to it +throughout, with an almost coordinate agency; while the figurative +fancies of Sheridan, already prepared for the occasion, and brought forth +to adorn, not assist, the business of the discourse, resemble rather +those sprites which the magicians used to keep inclosed in phials, to be +produced for a momentary enchantment, and then shut up again. + +In truth, the similes and illustrations of Burke form such an intimate, +and often essential, part of his reasoning, that if the whole strength of +the Samson does not lie in those luxuriant locks, it would at least be +considerably diminished by their loss. Whereas, in the Speech of Mr. +Sheridan, which we have just been considering, there is hardly one of the +rhetorical ornaments that might not be detached, without, in any great +degree, injuring the force of the general statement. Another consequence +of this difference between them is observable in their respective modes +of transition, from what may be called the _business_ of a speech +its more generalized and rhetorical parts. When Sheridan rises, his +elevation is not sufficiently prepared; he starts abruptly and at once +from the level of his statement, and sinks down into it again with the +same suddenness. But Burke, whose imagination never allows even business +to subside into mere prose, sustains a pitch throughout which accustoms +the mind to wonder, and, while it prepares us to accompany him in his +boldest flights, makes us, even when he walks, still feel that he has +wings:-- + + "_Même quand l'oiseau marche, on sent qu'il a des ailes._" + +The sincerity of the praises bestowed by Burke on the Speech of his +brother Manager has sometimes been questioned, but upon no sufficient +grounds. His zeal for the success of the Impeachment, no doubt, had a +considerable share in the enthusiasm, with which this great effort in its +favor filled him. It may be granted, too, that, in admiring the +apostrophes that variegate this speech, he was, in some degree, enamored +of a reflection of himself; + + "_Cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse._" + + He sees reflected there, in fainter light. + All that combines to make himself so bright. + +But whatever mixture of other motives there may have been in the feeling, +it is certain that his admiration of the Speech was real and unbounded. +He is said to have exclaimed to Mr. Fox, during the delivery of some +passages of it, "There,--that is the true style;--something between +poetry and prose, and better than either." The severer taste of Mr. Fox +dissented, as might be expected, from this remark. He replied, that "he +thought such a mixture was for the advantage of neither--as producing +poetic prose, or, still worse, prosaic poetry." It was, indeed, the +opinion of Mr. Fox, that the impression made upon Burke by these somewhat +too theatrical tirades is observable in the change that subsequently took +place in his own style of writing; and that the florid and less chastened +taste which some persons discover in his later productions, may all be +traced to the example of this speech. However this may be, or whether +there is really much difference, as to taste, between the youthful and +sparkling vision of the Queen of France in 1792, and the interview +between the Angel and Lord Bathurst in 1775, it is surely a most unjust +disparagement of the eloquence of Burke, to apply to it, at any time of +his life, the epithet "flowery,"--a designation only applicable to that +ordinary ambition of style, whose chief display, by necessity, consists +of ornament without thought, and pomp without substance. A succession of +bright images, clothed in simple, transparent language,--even when, as in +Burke, they "crowd upon the aching sense" too dazzlingly,--should never +be confounded with that mere verbal opulence of style, which mistakes the +glare of words for the glitter of ideas, and, like the Helen of the +sculptor Lysippus, makes finery supply the place of beauty. The +figurative definition of eloquence in the Book of Proverbs--"Apples of +gold in a net-work of silver"--is peculiarly applicable to that +enshrinement of rich, solid thoughts in clear and shining language, which +is the triumph of the imaginative class of writers and orators,--while, +perhaps, the net-work, _without_ the gold inclosed, is a type +equally significant of what is called "flowery" eloquence. + +It is also, I think, a mistake, however flattering to my country, to call +the School of Oratory, to which Burke belongs, _Irish_. That +Irishmen are naturally more gifted with those stores of fancy, from which +the illumination of this high order of the art must be supplied, the +names of Burke, Grattan, Sheridan, Curran, Canning, and Plunkett, +abundantly testify. Yet had Lord Chatham, before any of these great +speakers were heard, led the way, in the same animated and figured strain +of oratory; [Footnote: His few noble sentences on the privilege of the +poor man's cottage are universally known. There is also his fanciful +allusion to the confluence of the Saone and Rhone, the traditional +reports of which vary, both as to the exact terms in which it was +expressed, and the persons to whom he applied it. Even Lord Orford does +not seem to have ascertained the latter point. To these may be added the +following specimen:--"I don't inquire from what quarter the wind cometh, +but whither it goeth; and, if any measure that comes from the Right +Honorable Gentleman tends to the public good, my bark is ready." Of a +different kind is that grand passage,--"America, they tell me, has +resisted--I rejoice to hear it,"--which Mr. Grattan used to pronounce +finer than anything in Demosthenes.] while another Englishman, Lord +Bacon, by making Fancy the hand-maid of Philosophy, had long since set an +example of that union of the imaginative and the solid, which, both in +writing and in speaking, forms the characteristic distinction of this +school. + +The Speech of Mr. Sheridan in Westminster Hall, though so much inferior +in the opinion of Mr. Fox and others, to that which he had delivered on +the same subject in the House of Commons, seems to have produced, at the +time, even a more lively and general sensation;--possibly from the nature +and numerousness of the assembly before which it was spoken, and which +counted among its multitude a number of that sex, whose lips are in +general found to be the most rapid conductors of fame. + +But there was _one_ of this sex, more immediately interested in his +glory, who seems to have felt it as women alone can feel. "I have delayed +writing," says Mrs. Sheridan, in a letter to her sister-in-law, dated +four days after the termination of the Speech, "till I could gratify +myself and you by sending you the news of our dear Dick's triumph!--of +_our_ triumph I may call it; for surely, no one, in the slightest +degree connected with him, but must feel proud and happy. It is +impossible, my dear woman, to convey to you the delight, the +astonishment, the adoration, he has excited in the breasts of every class +of people! Every party-prejudice has been overcome by a display of +genius, eloquence and goodness, which no one with any thing like a heart +about them, could have listened to without being the wiser and the better +for the rest of their lives. What must _my_ feelings be!--you can +only imagine. To tell you the truth, it is with some difficulty that I +can 'let down my mind,' as Mr. Burke said afterwards, to talk or think on +any other subject. But pleasure, too exquisite, becomes pain, and I am at +this moment suffering for the delightful anxieties of last week." + +It is a most happy combination when the wife of a man of genius unites +intellect enough to appreciate the talents of her husband, with the +quick, feminine sensibility, that can thus passionately feel his success. +Pliny tells us, that his Calpurnia, whenever he pleaded an important +cause, had messengers ready to report to her every murmur of applause +that he received; and the poet Statius, in alluding to his own victories +at the Albanian Games, mentions the "breathless kisses," with which his +wife, Claudia, used to cover the triumphal garlands he brought home. Mrs. +Sheridan may well take her place beside these Roman wives;--and she had +another resemblance to one of them, which was no less womanly and +attractive. Not only did Calpurnia sympathize with the glory of her +husband abroad, but she could also, like Mrs. Sheridan, add a charm to +his talents at home, by setting his verses to music and singing them to +her harp,--"with no instructor," adds Pliny, "but Love, who is, after +all, the best master." + +This letter of Mrs. Sheridan thus proceeds:--"You were perhaps alarmed by +the account of S.'s illness in the papers; but I have the pleasure to +assure you he is now perfectly well, and I hope by next week we shall be +quietly settled in the country, and suffered to repose, in every sense of +the word; for indeed we have, both of us, been in a constant state of +agitation, of one kind or other, for some time back. + +"I am very glad to hear your father continues so well. Surely he must +feel happy and proud of such a son. I take it for granted you see the +newspapers: I assure you the accounts in them are not exaggerated, and +only echo the exclamation of admiration that is in every body's mouth. I +make no excuse for dwelling on this subject: I know you will not find it +tedious. God bless you--I am an invalid at present, and not able to write +long letters." + +The agitation and want of repose, which Mrs. Sheridan here complains of, +arose not only from the anxiety which she so deeply felt, for the success +of this great public effort of her husband, but from the share which she +herself had taken, in the labor and attention necessary to prepare him +for it. The mind of Sheridan being, from the circumstances of his +education and life, but scantily informed upon all subjects for which +reading is necessary, required, of course, considerable training and +feeding, before it could venture to grapple with any new or important +task. He has been known to say frankly to his political friends, when +invited to take part in some question that depended upon authorities, +"You know I'm an ignoramus--but here I am--instruct me and I'll do my +best." It is said that the stock of numerical lore, upon which he +ventured to set up as the Aristarchus of Mr. Pitt's financial plans, was +the result of three weeks' hard study of arithmetic, to which he doomed +himself, in the early part of his Parliamentary career, on the chance of +being appointed, some time or other, Chancellor of the Exchequer. For +financial display it must be owned that this was rather a crude +preparation. But there are other subjects of oratory, on which the +outpourings of information, newly acquired, may have a freshness and +vivacity which it would be vain to expect, in the communication of +knowledge that has lain long in the mind, and lost in circumstantial +spirit what it has gained in general mellowness. They, indeed, who have +been regularly disciplined in learning, may be not only too familiar with +what they know to communicate it with much liveliness to others, but too +apt also to rely upon the resources of the memory, and upon those cold +outlines which it retains of knowledge whose details are faded. The +natural consequence of all this is that persons, the best furnished with +general information, are often the most vague and unimpressive on +particular subjects; while, on the contrary, an uninstructed man of +genius, like Sheridan, who approaches a topic of importance for the first +time, has not only the stimulus of ambition and curiosity to aid him in +mastering its details, but the novelty of first impressions to brighten +his general views of it--and, with a fancy thus freshly excited, himself, +is most sure to touch and rouse the imaginations of others. + +This was particularly the situation of Mr. Sheridan with respect to the +history of Indian affairs; and there remain among his papers numerous +proofs of the labor which his preparation for this arduous task cost not +only himself but Mrs. Sheridan. Among others, there is a large pamphlet +of Mr. Hastings, consisting of more than two hundred pages, copied out +neatly in her writing, with some assistance from another female hand. The +industry, indeed, of all around him was put in requisition for this great +occasion--some, busy with the pen and scissors, making extracts--some +pasting and stitching his scattered memorandums in their places. So that +there was hardly a single member of the family that could not boast of +having contributed his share, to the mechanical construction of this +speech. The pride of its success was, of course, equally participated; +and Edwards, a favorite servant of Mr. Sheridan, who lived with him many +years, was long celebrated for his professed imitation of the manner in +which his master delivered (what seems to have struck Edwards as the +finest part of the speech) his closing words, "My Lords, I have done!" + +The impeachment of Warren Hastings is one of those pageants in the drama +of public life, which show how fleeting are the labors and triumphs of +politicians--"what shadows they are, and what shadows they pursue." When +we consider the importance which the great actors in that scene attached +to it,--the grandeur with which their eloquence invested the cause, as +one in which the liberties and rights of the whole human race were +interested,--and then think how all that splendid array of Law and of +talent has dwindled away, in the view of most persons at present, into an +unworthy and harassing persecution of a meritorious and successful +statesman;--how those passionate appeals to justice, those vehement +denunciations of crime, which made the halls of Westminster and St. +Stephen's ring with their echoes, are now coldly judged, through the +medium of disfiguring Reports, and regarded, at the best, but as +rhetorical effusions, indebted to temper for their warmth, and to fancy +for their details;--while so little was the reputation of the delinquent +himself even scorched by the bolts of eloquence thus launched at him, +that a subsequent House of Commons thought themselves honored by his +presence, and welcomed him with such cheers [Footnote: When called as a +witness before the House, in 1813, on the subject of the renewal of the +East India Company's Charter.] as should reward only the friends and +benefactors of freedom;--when we reflect on this thankless result of so +much labor and talent, it seems wonderful that there should still be +found high and gifted spirits, to waste themselves away in such temporary +struggles, and, like that spendthrift of genius, Sheridan, to +_discount_ their immortality, for the payment of fame in hand which +these triumphs of the day secure to them. + +For this direction, however, which the current of opinion has taken, with +regard to Mr. Hastings and his eloquent accusers, there are many very +obvious reasons to be assigned. Success, as I have already remarked, was +the dazzling talisman, which he waved in the eyes of his adversaries from +the first, and which his friends have made use of to throw a splendor +over his tyranny and injustice ever since. [Footnote: In the important +article of Finance, however, for which he made so many sacrifices of +humanity, even the justification of success was wanting to his measures. +The following is the account given by the Select Committee of the House +of Commons in 1810, of the state in which India was left by his +administration:--"The revenues had been absorbed; the pay and allowances +of both the civil and military branches of the service were greatly in +arrear; the credit of the Company was extremely depressed; and, added to +all, the whole system had fallen into such irregularity and confusion, +that the real state of affairs could not be _ascertained_ till the +conclusion of the year 1785-6."--_Third Report_.] Too often in the +moral logic of this world, it matters but little what the premises of +conduct may be, so the conclusion but turns out showy and prosperous. +There is also, it must be owned, among the English, (as perhaps, among +all free people,) a strong taste for the arbitrary, when they themselves +are not to be the victims of it, which invariably secures to such +accomplished despotisms, as that of Lord Strafford in Ireland, and +Hastings in India, even a larger share of their admiration than they are, +themselves, always willing to allow. + +The rhetorical exaggerations, in which the Managers of the prosecution +indulged,--Mr. Sheridan, from imagination, luxuriating in its own +display, and Burke from the same cause, added to his overpowering +autocracy of temper--were but too much calculated to throw suspicion on +the cause in which they were employed, and to produce a reaction in favor +of the person whom they were meant to overwhelm. "_Rogo vos, +Judices_,"--Mr. Hastings might well have said,--"_si iste disertus +est, ideo me damnari oportet?_" [Footnote: Seneca, Controvers. lib. +iii. c. 19.] + +There are also, without doubt, considerable allowances to be made, for +the difficult situations in which Mr. Hastings was placed, and those +impulses to wrong which acted upon him from all sides--allowances which +will have more or less weight with the judgment, according as it may be +more or less fastidiously disposed, in letting excuses for rapine and +oppression pass muster. The incessant and urgent demands of the Directors +upon him for money may palliate, perhaps, the violence of those methods +which he took to procure it for them; and the obstruction to his policy +which would have arisen from a strict observance of Treaties, may be +admitted, by the same gentle casuistry, as an apology for his frequent +infractions of them. + +Another consideration to be taken into account, in our estimate of the +character of Mr. Hastings as a ruler, is that strong light of publicity, +which the practice in India of carrying on the business of government by +written documents threw on all the machinery of his measures, +deliberative as well as executive. These Minutes, indeed, form a record +of fluctuation and inconsistency--not only on the part of the +Governor-General, but of all the members of the government--a sort of +weather-cock diary of opinions and principles, shifting with the +interests or convenience of the moment, [Footnote: Instances of this, on +the part of Mr. Hastings, are numberless. In remarking upon his corrupt +transfer of the management of the Nabob's household in 1778, the +Directors say, "It is with equal surprise and concern that we observe +this request introduced, and the Nabob's ostensible rights so solemnly +asserted at this period by our Governor-General; because, on a late +occasion, to serve a very different purpose, he has not scrupled to +declare it as visible as the light of the sun, that the Nabob is a mere +pageant, and without even the shadow of authority." On another +transaction in 1781, Mr. Mill remarks:--"It is a curious moral spectacle +to compare the minutes and letters of the Governor-General, when, at the +beginning of the year 1780, maintaining the propriety of condemning the +Nabob to sustain the whole of the burden imposed upon him, and his +minutes and letters maintaining the propriety of relieving him from those +burthens in 1781. The arguments and facts adduced on the one occasion, as +well as the conclusion, are a flat contradiction to those exhibited on +the other."] which entirely takes away our respect even for success, when +issuing out of such a chaos of self-contradiction and shuffling. It +cannot be denied, however, that such a system of exposure--submitted, as +it was in this case, to a still further scrutiny, under the bold, +denuding hands of a Burke and a Sheridan--was a test to which the +councils of few rulers could with impunity be brought. Where, indeed, is +the statesman that could bear to have his obliquities thus chronicled? or +where is the Cabinet that would not shrink from such an inroad of light +into its recesses? + +The undefined nature, too, of that power which the Company exercised in +India, and the uncertain state of the Law, vibrating between the English +and the Hindoo codes, left such tempting openings for injustice as it was +hardly possible to resist. With no public opinion to warn off authority +from encroachment, and with the precedents set up by former rulers all +pointing the wrong way, it would have been difficult, perhaps, for even +more moderate men than Hastings, not occasionally to break bounds and go +continually astray. + +To all these considerations in his favor is to be added the apparently +triumphant fact, that his government was popular among the natives of +India, and that his name is still remembered by them with gratitude and +respect. + +Allowing Mr. Hastings, however, the full advantage of these and other +strong pleas in his defence, it is yet impossible, for any real lover of +justice and humanity, to read the plainest and least exaggerated history +of his government, [Footnote: Nothing can be more partial and misleading +than the coloring given to these transactions by Mr. Nicholls and other +apologists of Hastings. For the view which I have myself taken of the +whole case I am chiefly indebted to the able History of British India by +Mr. Mill--whose industrious research and clear analytical statements make +him the most valuable authority that can be consulted on the subject. + +The mood of mind in which Mr. Nicholls listened to the proceedings of the +Impeachment may be judged from the following declaration, which he has +had the courage to promulgate to the public:--"On this Charge (the Begum +Charge) Mr. Sheridan made a speech, which both sides of the House +professed greatly to admire--for Mr. Pitt now openly approved of the +Impeachment. _I will acknowledge, that I did not admire this speech of +Mr. Sheridan."_] without feeling deep indignation excited at almost +every page of it. His predecessors had, it is true, been guilty of wrongs +as glaring--the treachery of Lord Clive to Omichund in 1757, and the +abandonment of Ramnarain to Meer Causim under the administration of Mr. +Vansittart, are stains upon the British character which no talents or +glory can do away. There are precedents, indeed, to be found, through the +annals of our Indian empire, for the formation of the most perfect code +of tyranny, in every department, legislative, judicial, and executive, +that ever entered into the dreams of intoxicated power. But, while the +practice of Mr. Hastings was, at least, as tyrannical as that of his +predecessors, the principles upon which he founded that practice were +still more odious and unpardonable. In his manner, indeed, of defending +himself he is his own worst accuser--as there is no outrage of power, no +violation of faith, that might not be justified by the versatile and +ambidextrous doctrines, the lessons of deceit and rules of rapine, which +he so ably illustrated by his measures, and has so shamelessly recorded +with his pen. + +Nothing but an early and deep initiation in the corrupting school of +Indian politics could have produced the facility with which, as occasion +required, he could belie his own recorded assertions, turn hostilely +round upon his own expressed opinions, disclaim the proxies which he +himself had delegated, and, in short, get rid of all the inconveniences +of personal identity, by never acknowledging himself to be bound by any +engagement or opinion which himself had formed. To select the worst +features of his Administration is no very easy task; but the calculating +cruelty with which he abetted the extermination of the Rohillas--his +unjust and precipitate execution of Nuncomar, who had stood forth as his +accuser, and, therefore, became his victim,--his violent aggression upon +the Raja of Benares, and that combination of public and private rapacity, +which is exhibited in the details of his conduct to the royal family of +Oude;--these are acts, proved by the testimony of himself and his +accomplices, from the disgrace of which no formal acquittal upon points +of law can absolve him, and whose guilt the allowances of charity may +extenuate, but never can remove. That the perpetrator of such deeds +should have been popular among the natives of India only proves how low +was the standard of justice, to which the entire tenor of our policy had +accustomed them;--but that a ruler of this character should be held up to +admiration in England, is one of those anomalies with which England, more +than any other nation, abounds, and only inclines us to wonder that the +true worship of Liberty should so long have continued to flourish in a +country, where such heresies to her sacred cause are found. + +I have dwelt so long upon the circumstances and nature of this Trial, not +only on account of the conspicuous place which it occupies in the +fore-ground of Mr. Sheridan's life, but because of that general interest +which an observer of our Institutions must take in it, from the clearness +with which it brought into view some of their best and worst features. +While, on one side, we perceive the weight of the popular scale, in the +lead taken, upon an occasion of such solemnity and importance, by two +persons brought forward from the middle ranks of society into the very +van of political distinction and influence, on the other hand, in the +sympathy and favor extended by the Court to the practical assertor of +despotic principles, we trace the prevalence of that feeling, which, +since the commencement of the late King's reign, has made the Throne the +rallying point of all that are unfriendly to the cause of freedom. Again, +in considering the conduct of the Crown Lawyers during the Trial--the +narrow and irrational rules of evidence which they sought to +establish--the unconstitutional control assumed by the Judges, over the +decisions of the tribunal before which the cause was tried, and the +refusal to communicate the reasons upon which those decisions were +founded--above all, too, the legal opinions expressed on the great +question relative to the abatement of an Impeachment by Dissolution, in +which almost the whole body of lawyers [Footnote: Among the rest, Lord +Erskine, who allowed his profession, on this occasion, to stand in the +light of his judgment. "As to a Nisi-prius lawyer (said Burke) giving an +opinion on the duration of an Impeachment--as well might a rabbit, that +breeds six times a year, pretend to know any thing of the gestation of an +elephant."] took the wrong, the pedantic, and the unstatesmanlike side of +the question,--while in all these indications of the spirit of that +profession, and of its propensity to tie down the giant Truth, with its +small threads of technicality and precedent, we perceive the danger to be +apprehended from the interference of such a spirit in politics, on the +other side, arrayed against these petty tactics of the Forum, we see the +broad banner of Constitutional Law, upheld alike by a Fox and a Pitt, a +Sheridan and a Dundas, and find truth and good sense taking refuge from +the equivocations of lawyers, in such consoling documents as the Report +upon the Abuses of the Trial by Burke--a document which, if ever a reform +of the English law should be attempted, will stand as a great guiding +light to the adventurers in that heroic enterprise. + +It has been frequently asserted, that on the evening of Mr. Sheridan's +grand display in the House of Commons, The School for Scandal and the +Duenna were acted at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, and thus three great +audiences were at the same moment amused, agitated, and, as it were, +wielded by the intellect of one man. As this triple triumph of +talent--this manifestation of the power of Genius to multiply itself, +like an Indian god--was, in the instance of Sheridan, not only possible, +but within the scope of a very easy arrangement, it is to be lamented +that no such coincidence did actually take place, and that the ability to +have achieved the miracle is all that can be with truth attributed to +him. From a careful examination of the play-bills of the different +theatres during this period, I have ascertained, with regret, that +neither on the evening of the speech in the House of Commons, nor on any +of the days of the oration in Westminster Hall, was there, either at +Covent-Garden, Drury-Lane, or Haymarket theatres, any piece whatever of +Mr. Sheridan's acted. + +The following passages of a letter from Miss Sheridan to her sister in +Ireland, written while on a visit with her brother in London, though +referring to a later period of the Trial, may without impropriety be +inserted here:-- + +"Just as I received your letter yesterday, I was setting out for the +Trial with Mrs. Crewe and Mrs. Dixon. I was fortunate in my day, as I +heard all the principal speakers--Mr. Burke I admired the least--Mr. Fox +very much indeed. The subject in itself was not particularly interesting, +as the debate turned merely on a point of law, but the earnestness of his +manner and the amazing precision with which he conveys his ideas is truly +delightful. And last, not least, I heard my brother! I cannot express to +you the sensation of pleasure and pride that filled my heart at the +moment he rose. Had I never seen him or heard his name before, I should +have conceived him the first man among them at once. There is a dignity +and grace in his countenance and deportment, very striking--at the same +time that one cannot trace the smallest degree of conscious superiority +in his manner. His voice, too, appeared to me extremely fine. The speech +itself was not much calculated to display the talents of an orator, as of +course it related only to dry matter. You may suppose I am not so lavish +of praises before indifferent persons, but I am sure you will acquit me +of partiality in what I have said. When they left the Hall we walked +about some time, and were joined by several of the managers--among the +rest by Mr. Burke, whom we set down at his own house. They seem now to +have better hopes of the business than they have had for some time; as +the point urged with so much force and apparent success relates to very +material evidence which the Lords have refused to hear, but which, once +produced, must prove strongly against Mr. Hastings; and, from what passed +yesterday, they think their Lordships must yield.--We sat in the King's +box," &c. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DEATH OF MR. SHERIDAN'S FATHER.--VERSES BY MRS. SHERIDAN ON THE DEATH OF +HER SISTER, MRS. TICKELL. + + +In the summer of this year the father of Mr. Sheridan died. He had been +recommended to try the air of Lisbon for his health, and had left Dublin +for that purpose, accompanied by his younger daughter. But the rapid +increase of his malady prevented him from proceeding farther than +Margate, where he died about the beginning of August, attended in his +last moments by his son Richard. + +We have seen with what harshness, to use no stronger term, Mr. Sheridan +was for many years treated by his father, and how persevering and +affectionate were the efforts, in spite of many capricious repulses, that +he made to be restored to forgiveness and favor. In his happiest moments, +both of love and fame, the thought of being excluded from the paternal +roof came across him with a chill that seemed to sadden all his triumph. +[Footnote: See the letter written by him immediately after his marriage, +vol. i. page 80, and the anecdote in page 111, same vol.] When it is +considered, too, that the father, to whom he felt thus amiably, had never +distinguished him by any particular kindness but, on the contrary, had +always shown a marked preference for the disposition and abilities of his +brother Charles--it is impossible not to acknowledge, in such true filial +affection, a proof that talent was not the only ornament of Sheridan, and +that, however unfavorable to moral culture was the life that he led, +Nature, in forming his mind, had implanted there virtue, as well as +genius. + +Of the tender attention which he paid to his father on his death-bed, I +am enabled to lay before the reader no less a testimony than the letters +written at the time by Miss Sheridan, who, as I have already said, +accompanied the old gentleman from Ireland, and now shared with her +brother the task of comforting his last moments. And here,--it is +difficult even for contempt to keep down the indignation, that one cannot +but feel at those slanderers, under the name of biographers, who calling +in malice to the aid of their ignorance, have not scrupled to assert that +the father of Sheridan died unattended by any of his nearest +relatives!--Such are ever the marks that Dulness leaves behind, in its +Gothic irruptions into the sanctuary of departed Genius--defacing what it +cannot understand, polluting what it has not the soul to reverence, and +taking revenge for its own darkness, by the wanton profanation of all +that is sacred in the eyes of others. + +Immediately on the death of their father, Sheridan removed his sister to +Deepden--a seat of the Duke of Norfolk in Surrey, which His Grace had +lately lent him--and then returned, himself, to Margate, to pay the last +tribute to his father's remains. The letters of Miss Sheridan are +addressed to her elder sister in Ireland, and the first which I shall +give entire, was written a day or two after her arrival at Deepden. + +"MY DEAR LOVE, + +"_Dibden, August 18._ + +"Though you have ever been uppermost in my thoughts, yet it has not been +in my power to write since the few lines I sent from Margate. I hope this +will find you, in some degree, recovered from the shock you must have +experienced from the late melancholy event. I trust to your own piety and +the tenderness of your worthy husband, for procuring you such a degree of +calmness of mind as may secure your health from injury. In the midst of +what I have suffered I have been thankful that you did not share a scene +of distress which you could not have relieved. I have supported myself, +but I am sure, had we been together, we should have suffered more. + +"With regard to my brother's kindness, I can scarcely express to you how +great it has been. He saw my father while he was still sensible, and +never quitted him till the awful moment was past--I will not now dwell on +particulars. My mind is not sufficiently recovered to enter on the +subject, and you could only be distressed by it. He returns soon to +Margate to pay the last duties in the manner desired by my father. His +feelings have been severely tried, and earnestly I pray he may not suffer +from that cause, or from the fatigue he has endured. His tenderness to me +I never can forget. I had so little claim on him, that I still feel a +degree of surprise mixed with my gratitude. Mrs. Sheridan's reception of +me was truly affectionate. They leave me to myself now as much as I +please, as I had gone through so much fatigue of body and mind that I +require some rest. I have not, as you may suppose, looked much beyond the +present hour, but I begin to be more composed. I could now enjoy your +society, and I wish for it hourly. I should think I may hope to see you +sooner in England than you had intended; but you will write to me very +soon, and let me know everything that concerns you. I know not whether +you will feel like me a melancholy pleasure in the reflection that my +father received the last kind offices from my brother Richard, [Footnote: +In a letter, from which I have given an extract in the early part of this +volume, written by the elder sister of Sheridan a short time after his +death, in referring to the differences that existed between him and his +father, she says--"and yet it was that son, and not the object of his +partial fondness, who at last closed his eyes." It generally happens that +the injustice of such partialities is revenged by the ingratitude of +those who are the objects of them; and the present instance, as there is +but too much reason to believe, was not altogether an exception to the +remark.] whose conduct on this occasion must convince every one of the +goodness of his heart and the truth of his filial affection. One more +reflection of consolation is, that nothing was omitted that could have +prolonged his life or eased his latter hours. God bless and preserve you, +my dear love. I shall soon write more to you, but shall for a short time +suspend my journal, as still too many painful thoughts will crowd upon me +to suffer me to regain such a frame of mind as I should wish when I write +to you. + +"Ever affectionately your + +"E. SHERIDAN." + +In another letter, dated a few days after, she gives an account of the +domestic life of Mrs. Sheridan, which, like everything that is related of +that most interesting woman, excites a feeling towards her memory, little +short of love. + +"MY DEAR LOVE, + +"_Dibden, Friday, 22._ + +"I shall endeavor to resume my journal, though my anxiety to hear from +you occupies my mind in a way that unfits me for writing. I have been +here almost a week in perfect quiet. While there was company in the +house, I stayed in my room, and since my brother's leaving us to go to +Margate, I have sat at times with Mrs. Sheridan, who is kind and +considerate; so that I have entire liberty. Her poor sister's [Footnote: +Mrs. Tickell.] children are all with her. The girl gives her constant +employment, and seems to profit by being under so good an instructor. +Their father was here for some days, but I did not see him. Last night +Mrs. S. showed me a picture of Mrs. Tickell, which she wears round her +neck. The thing was misrepresented to you;--it was not done after her +death, but a short time before it. The sketch was taken while she slept, +by a painter at Bristol. This Mrs. Sheridan got copied by Cosway, who has +softened down the traces of illness in such a way that the picture +conveys no gloomy idea. It represents her in a sweet sleep; which must +have been soothing to her friend, after seeing her for a length of time +in a state of constant suffering. + +"My brother left us Wednesday morning, and we do not expect him to return +for some days. He meant only to stay at Margate long enough to attend the +last melancholy office, which it was my poor father's express desire +should be performed in whatever parish he died. + + * * * * * + +"_Sunday_. + +"Dick is still in town, and we do not expect him for some time. Mrs. +Sheridan seems now quite reconciled to these little absences, which she +knows are unavoidable. I never saw any one so constant in employing every +moment of her time, and to that I attribute, in a great measure, the +recovery of her health and spirits. The education of her niece, her +music, books, and work, occupy every minute of the day. After dinner, the +children, who call her "Mamma-aunt," spend some time with us, and her +manner to them is truly delightful. The girl, you know, is the eldest. +The eldest boy is about five years old, very like his father, but +extremely gentle in his manners. The youngest is past three. The whole +set then retire to the music-room. As yet I cannot enjoy their +parties;--a song from Mrs. Sheridan affected me last night in a most +painful manner. I shall not try the experiment soon again. Mrs. S. blamed +herself for putting me to the trial, and, after tea, got a book, which +she read to us till supper. This, I find, is the general way of passing +the evening. + +"They are now at their music, and I have retired to add a few lines. This +day has been more gloomy than we have been for some days past;--it is the +first day of our getting into mourning. All the servants in deep mourning +made a melancholy appearance, and I found it very difficult to sit out +the dinner. But as I have dined below since there has been only Mrs. +Sheridan and Miss Linley here, I would not suffer a circumstance, to +which I must accustom myself, to break in on their comfort." + +These children, to whom Mrs. Sheridan thus wholly devoted herself, and +continued to do so for the remainder of her life, had lost their mother, +Mrs. Tickell, in the year 1787, by the same complaint that afterwards +proved fatal to their aunt. The passionate attachment of Mrs. Sheridan to +this sister, and the deep grief with which she mourned her loss, are +expressed in a poem of her own so touchingly, that, to those who love the +language of real feeling, I need not apologize for their introduction +here. Poetry, in general, is but a cold interpreter of sorrow; and the +more it displays its skill, as an art, the less is it likely to do +justice to nature. In writing these verses, however, the workmanship was +forgotten in the subject; and the critic, to feel them as he ought, +should forget his own craft in reading them. + +"_Written in the Spring of the Year 1788._ + + "The hours and days pass on;--sweet Spring returns, + And whispers comfort to the heart that mourns: + But not to mine, whose dear and cherish'd grief + Asks for indulgence, but ne'er hopes relief. + For, ah, can changing seasons e'er restore + The lov'd companion I must still deplore? + Shall all the wisdom of the world combin'd + Erase thy image, Mary, from my mind, + Or bid me hope from others to receive + The fond affection thou alone could'st give? + Ah, no, my best belov'd, thou still shalt be + My friend, my sister, all the world to me. + + "With tender woe sad memory woos back time, + And paints the scenes when youth was in its prime; + The craggy hill, where rocks, with wild flow'rs crown'd, + Burst from the hazle copse or verdant ground; + Where sportive nature every form assumes, + And, gaily lavish, wastes a thousand blooms; + Where oft we heard the echoing hills repeat + Our untaught strains and rural ditties sweet, + Till purpling clouds proclaimed the closing day, + While distant streams detain'd the parting ray. + Then on some mossy stone we'd sit us down, + And watch the changing sky and shadows brown, + That swiftly glided o'er the mead below, + Or in some fancied form descended slow. + How oft, well pleas'd each other to adorn, + We stripped the blossoms from the fragrant thorn, + Or caught the violet where, in humble bed, + Asham'd its own sweets it hung its head. + But, oh, what rapture Mary's eyes would speak, + Through her dark hair how rosy glow'd her cheek, + If, in her playful search, she saw appear + The first-blown cowslip of the opening year. + Thy gales, oh Spring, then whisper'd life and joy;-- + Now mem'ry wakes thy pleasures to destroy, + And all thy beauties serve but to renew + Regrets too keen for reason to subdue. + Ah me! while tender recollections rise, + The ready tears obscure my sadden'd eyes, + And, while surrounding objects they conceal, + _Her_ form belov'd the trembling drops reveal. + + "Sometimes the lovely, blooming girl I view. + My youth's companion, friend for ever true, + Whose looks, the sweet expressions of her heart + So gaily innocent, so void of art, + With soft attraction whisper'd blessings drew + From all who stopp'd, her beauteous face to view. + Then in the dear domestic scene I mourn, + And weep past pleasures never to return! + There, where each gentle virtue lov'd to rest. + In the pure mansion of my Mary's breast, + The days of social happiness are o'er, + The voice of harmony is heard no more; + No more her graceful tenderness shall prove + The wife's fond duty or the parent's love. + Those eyes, which brighten'd with maternal pride, + As her sweet infants wanton'd by her side, + 'Twas my sad fate to see for ever close + On life, on love, the world, and all its woes; + To watch the slow disease, with hopeless care, + And veil in painful smiles my heart's despair; + To see her droop, with restless languor weak, + While fatal beauty mantled in her cheek, + Like fresh flow'rs springing from some mouldering clay, + Cherish'd by death, and blooming from decay. + Yet, tho' oppress'd by ever-varying pain, + The gentle sufferer scarcely would complain, + Hid every sigh, each trembling doubt reprov'd, + To spare a pang to those fond hearts she lov'd. + And often, in short intervals of ease, + Her kind and cheerful spirit strove to please; + Whilst we, alas, unable to refuse + The sad delight we were so soon to lose, + Treasur'd each word, each kind expression claim'd,-- + ''Twas me she look'd at,'--'it was me she nam'd.' + Thus fondly soothing grief, too great to bear, + With mournful eagerness and jealous care. + + "But soon, alas, from hearts with sorrow worn + E'en this last comfort was for ever torn: + That mind, the seat of wisdom, genius, taste. + The cruel hand of sickness now laid waste; + Subdued with pain, it shar'd the common lot. + All, all its lovely energies forgot! + The husband, parent, sister, knelt in vain, + One recollecting look alone to gain: + The shades of night her beaming eyes obscur'd, + And Nature, vanquished, no sharp pain endur'd; + Calm and serene--till the last trembling breath + Wafted an angel from the bed of death! + + "Oh, if the soul, releas'd from mortal cares, + Views the sad scene, the voice of mourning hears, + Then, dearest saint, didst thou thy heav'n forego, + Lingering on earth in pity to our woe. + 'Twas thy kind influence sooth'd our minds to peace. + And bade our vain and selfish murmurs cease; + 'Twas thy soft smile, that gave the worshipp'd clay + Of thy bright essence one celestial ray, + Making e'en death so beautiful, that we, + Gazing on it, forgot our misery. + Then--pleasing thought!--ere to the realms of light + Thy franchis'd spirit took its happy flight, + With fond regard, perhaps, thou saw'st me bend + O'er the cold relics of my heart's best friend, + And heard'st me swear, while her dear hand I prest. + And tears of agony bedew'd my breast, + For her lov'd sake to act the mother's part, + And take her darling infants to my heart, + With tenderest care their youthful minds improve, + And guard her treasure with protecting love. + Once more look down, blest creature, and behold + These arms the precious innocence enfold; + Assist my erring nature to fulfil + The sacred trust, and ward off every ill! + And, oh, let _her_, who is my dearest care, + Thy blest regard and heavenly influence share; + Teach me to form her pure and artless mind, + Like thine, as true, as innocent, as kind,-- + That when some future day my hopes shall bless, + And every voice her virtue shall confess, + When my fond heart delighted hears her praise, + As with unconscious loveliness she strays, + 'Such,' let me say, with tears of joy the while, + 'Such was the softness of my Mary's smile; + Such was _her_ youth, so blithe, so rosy sweet, + And such _her_ mind, unpractis'd in deceit; + With artless elegance, unstudied grace, + Thus did _she_ gain in every heart a place!' + + "Then, while the dear remembrance I behold, + Time shall steal on, nor tell me I am old, + Till, nature wearied, each fond duty o'er, + I join my Angel Friend--to part no more!" + +To the conduct of Mr. Sheridan, during the last moments of his father, a +further testimony has been kindly communicated to me by Mr. Jarvis, a +medical gentleman of Margate, who attended Mr. Thomas Sheridan on that +occasion, and whose interesting communication I shall here give in his +own words:-- + +"On the 10th of August, 1788, I was first called on to visit Mr. +Sheridan, who was then fast declining at his lodgings in this place, +where he was in the care of his daughter. On the next day Mr. R. B. +Sheridan arrived here from town, having brought with him Dr. Morris, of +Parliament street. I was in the bedroom with Mr. Sheridan when the son +arrived, and witnessed an interview in which the father showed himself to +be strongly impressed by his son's attention, saying with considerable +emotion, 'Oh Dick, I give you a great deal of trouble!' and seeming to +imply by his manner, that his son had been less to blame than himself, +for any previous want of cordiality between them. + +"On my making my last call for the evening, Mr. R. B. Sheridan, with +delicacy, but much earnestness, expressed his fear that the nurse in +attendance on his father, might not be so competent as myself to the +requisite attentions, and his hope that I would consent to remain in the +room for a few of the first hours of the night; as he himself, having +been travelling the preceding night, required some short repose. I +complied with his request, and remained at the father's bed-side till +relieved by the son, about three o'clock in the morning:--he then +insisted on taking my place. From this time he never quitted the house +till his father's death; on the day after which he wrote me a letter, now +before me, of which the annexed is an exact copy: + +'SIR, + +'_Friday Morning_, + +'I wished to see you this morning before I went, to thank you for your +attention and trouble. You will be so good to give the account to Mr. +Thompson, who will settle it; and I must further beg your acceptance of +the inclosed from myself. + +'I am, Sir, + +'Your obedient Servant, + +'R. B. SHERIDAN. + +'I have explained to Dr. Morris (who has informed me that you will +recommend a proper person), that it is my desire to have the hearse, and +the manner of coming to town, as respectful as possible.' + +"The inclosure, referred to in this letter, was a bank-note of ten +pounds,--a most liberal remuneration. Mr. R. B. Sheridan left Margate, +intending that his father should be buried in London; but he there +ascertained that it had been his father's expressed wish that he should +be buried in the parish next to that in which he should happen to die. He +then, consequently, returned to Margate, accompanied by his +brother-in-law, Mr. Tickell, with whom and Mr. Thompson and myself, he +followed his father's remains to the burial-place, which was not in +Margate church-yard, but in the north aisle of the church of St. Peter's." + +Mr. Jarvis, the writer of the letter from which I have given this +extract, had once, as he informs me, the intention of having a cenotaph +raised, to the memory of Mr. Sheridan's father, in the church of Margate. +[Footnote: Though this idea was relinquished, it appears that a friend of +Mr. Jarvis, with a zeal for the memory of talent highly honorable to him, +has recently caused a monument to Mr. Thomas Sheridan to be raised in the +church of St. Peter.] With this view he applied to Dr. Parr for an +Inscription, and the following is the tribute to his old friend with +which that learned and kind-hearted man supplied him:-- + +"This monument, A. D. 1824, was, by subscription, erected to the memory +of Thomas Sheridan, Esq., who died in the neighboring parish of St. John, +August 14, 1788, in the 69th year of his age, and, according to his own +request, was there buried. He was grandson to Dr. Thomas Sheridan, the +brother of Dr. William, a conscientious non-juror, who, in 1691, was +deprived of the Bishopric of Kilmore. He was the son of Dr. Thomas +Sheridan, a profound scholar and eminent schoolmaster, intimately +connected with Dean Swift and other illustrious writers in the reign of +Queen Anne. He was husband to the ingenious and amiable author of Sidney +Biddulph and several dramatic pieces favorably received. He was father of +the celebrated orator and dramatist, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He had +been the schoolfellow, and, through life, was the companion, of the +amiable Archbishop Markham. He was the friend of the learned Dr. Sumner, +master of Harrow School, and the well-known Dr. Parr. He took his first +academical degree in the University of Dublin, about 1736. He was honored +by the University of Oxford with the degree of A. M. in 1758, and in 1759 +he obtained the same distinction at Cambridge. He, for many years, +presided over the theatre of Dublin; and, at Drury Lane, he in public +estimation stood next to David Garrick. In the literary world he was +distinguished by numerous and useful writings on the pronunciation of the +English language. Through some of his opinions ran a vein of singularity, +mingled with the rich ore of genius. In his manners there was dignified +ease;--in his spirit, invincible firmness;--and in his habits and +principles, unsullied integrity." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ILLNESS OF THE KING.--REGENCY.--PRIVATE LIFE OF MR. SHERIDAN. + + +Mr. Sheridan had assuredly no reason to complain of any deficiency of +excitement in the new career to which he now devoted himself. A +succession of great questions, both foreign and domestic, came, one after +the other, like the waves described by the poet;-- + + + "And one no sooner touched the shore, and died, + Than a new follower rose, and swell'd as proudly." + + +Scarcely had the impulse, which his own genius had given to the +prosecution of Hastings, begun to abate, when the indisposition of the +King opened another field, not only for the display of all his various +powers, but for the fondest speculations of his interest and ambition. + +The robust health and temperate habits of the Monarch, while they held +out the temptation of a long lease of power, to those who either enjoyed +or were inclined to speculate in his favor, gave proportionally the grace +of disinterestedness to the followers of an Heir-Apparent, whose means of +rewarding their devotion were, from the same causes, uncertain and +remote. The alarming illness of the Monarch, however, gave a new turn to +the prospect:--Hope was now seen, like the winged Victory of the +ancients, to change sides; and both the expectations of those who looked +forward to the reign of the Prince, as the great and happy millennium of +Whiggism, and the apprehensions of the far greater number, to whom the +morals of his Royal Highness and his friends were not less formidable +than their politics, seemed now on the very eve of being realized. + +On the first meeting of Parliament, after the illness of His Majesty was +known, it was resolved, from considerations of delicacy, that the House +should adjourn for a fortnight; at the end of which period it was +expected that another short adjournment would be proposed by the +Minister. In this interval, the following judicious letter was addressed +to the Prince of Wales by Mr. Sheridan:-- + +"SIR, + +"Prom the intelligence of to-day we are led to think that Pitt will make +something more of a speech, in moving to adjourn on Thursday, than was at +first imagined. In this case we presume Your Royal Highness will be of +opinion that we must not be wholly silent. I possessed Payne yesterday +with my sentiments on the line of conduct which appeared to me best to be +adopted on this occasion, that they might be submitted to Your Royal +Highness's consideration; and I take the liberty of repeating my firm +conviction, that it will greatly advance Your Royal Highness's credit, +and, in case of events, lay the strongest grounds to baffle every attempt +at opposition to Your Royal Highness's just claims and right, that the +language of those who may be, in any sort, suspected of knowing Your +Royal Highness's wishes and feelings, should be that of great moderation +in disclaiming all party views, and avowing the utmost readiness to +acquiesce in any reasonable delay. At the same time, I am perfectly aware +of the arts which will be practised, and the advantages which some people +will attempt to gain by time: but I am equally convinced that we should +advance their evil views by showing the least impatience or suspicion at +present; and I am also convinced that a third party will soon appear, +whose efforts may, in the most decisive manner, prevent this sort of +situation and proceeding from continuing long. Payne will probably have +submitted to Your Royal Highness more fully my idea on this subject, +towards which I have already taken some successful steps. [Footnote: This +must allude to the negotiation with Lord Thurlow.] Your Royal Highness +will, I am sure, have the goodness to pardon the freedom with which I +give my opinion;--after which I have only to add, that whatever Your +Royal Highness's judgment decides, shall be the guide of my conduct, and +will undoubtedly be so to others." + +Captain (afterwards Admiral) Payne, of whom mention is made in this +letter, held the situation of Comptroller of the Household of the Prince +of Wales, and was in attendance upon His Royal Highness, during the early +part of the King's illness, at Windsor. The following letters, addressed +by him to Mr. Sheridan at this period, contain some curious particulars, +both with respect to the Royal patient himself, and the feelings of those +about him, which, however secret and confidential they were at the time, +may now, without scruple, be made matters of history:-- + +"MY DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"_Half past ten at night_. + +"I arrived here about three quarters of an hour after Pitt had left it. I +inclose you the copy of a letter the Prince has just written to the +Chancellor, and sent by express, which will give you the outline of the +conversation with the Prince, as well as the situation of the King's +health. I think it an advisable measure, [Footnote: Meaning, the +communication to the Chancellor] as it is a sword that cuts both ways, +without being unfit to be shown to whom he pleases,--but which he will, I +think, understand best himself. Pitt desired the longest delay that could +be granted with propriety, previous to the declaration of the present +calamity. The Duke of York, who is looking over me, and is just come out +of the King's room, bids me add that His Majesty's situation is every +moment becoming worse. His pulse is weaker and weaker; and the Doctors +say it is impossible to survive it long, if his situation does not take +some _extraordinary_ change in a few hours. + +"So far I had got when your servant came, meaning to send this by the +express that carried the Chancellor's letter; in addition to which, the +Prince has desired Doctor Warren to write an account to him, which he is +now doing. His letter says, if an amendment does not take place in +twenty-four hours, it is impossible for the King to support it:--he adds +to me, he will answer for his never living to be declared a lunatic. I +say all this to you in confidence, (though I will not answer for being +intelligible,) as it goes by your own servant; but I need not add, your +own discretion will remind you how necessary it is that neither my name +nor those I use should be quoted even to many of our best friends, whose +repetition, without any ill intention, might frustrate views they do not +see. + +"With respect to the papers, the Prince thinks you had better leave them +to themselves, as we cannot authorize any report, nor can he contradict +the worst; a few hours must, every individual says, terminate our +suspense, and, therefore, all precaution must be needless:--however, do +what you think best. His Royal Highness would write to you himself; the +agitation he is in will not permit it. Since this letter was begun, all +articulation even seems to be at an end with the poor King: but for the +two hours preceding, he was in a most determined frenzy. In short, I am +myself in so violent a state of agitation, from participating in the +feelings of those about me, that if I am intelligible to you, 'tis more +than I am to myself. Cataplasms are on his Majesty's feet, and strong +fomentations have been used without effect: but let me quit so painful a +subject. The Prince was much pleased with my conversation with Lord +Loughborough, to whom I do not write, as I conceive 'tis the same, +writing to you. + +"The Archbishop has written a very handsome letter, expressive of his +duty and offer of service; but he is not required to come down, it being +thought too late. + +"Good night.--I will write upon every occasion that information may be +useful. + +"Ever yours, most sincerely, + +"J. W. PAYNE. + +"I have been much pleased with the _Duke's_ zeal since my return, +especially in this communication to you." + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"_Twelve o'clock, noon._ + +"The King last night about twelve o'clock, being then in a situation he +could not long have survived, by the effect of James's powder, had a +profuse stool, after which a strong perspiration appeared, and he fell +into a profound sleep. We were in hopes this was the crisis of his +disorder, although the doctors were fearful it was so only with respect +to one part of his disorder. However, these hopes continued not above an +hour, when he awoke, with a well-conditioned skin, no extraordinary +degree of fever, but with the exact state he was in before, with all the +gestures and ravings of the most confirmed maniac, and a new noise, in +imitation of the howling of a dog; in this situation he was this morning +at one o'clock, when we came to bed. The Duke of York, who has been twice +in my room in the course of the night, immediately from the King's +apartment, says there has not been one moment of lucid interval during +the whole night,--which, I must observe to you, is the concurring, as +well as _fatal_ testimony of all about him, from the first moment of +His Majesty's confinement. The doctors have since had their consultation, +and find His Majesty calmer, and his pulse tolerably good and much +reduced, but the most decided symptoms of insanity. His theme has been +all this day on the subject of religion, and of his being inspired, from +which his physicians draw the worst consequences, as to any hopes of +amendment. In this situation His Majesty remains at the present moment, +which I give you at length, to prevent your giving credit to the thousand +ridiculous reports that we hear, even upon the spot. Truth is not easily +got at in palaces, and so I find here; and time only slowly brings it to +one's knowledge. One hears a little bit every day from somebody, that has +been reserved with great costiveness, or purposely forgotten; and by all +such accounts I find that the present distemper has been very palpable +for some time past, previous to any confinement from sickness; and so +apprehensive have the people about him been of giving offence by +interruption, that the two days (viz. yesterday se'nnight and the Monday +following) that he was five hours each on horseback, he was in a +confirmed frenzy. On the Monday at his return he burst out into tears to +the Duke of York, and said, 'He wished to God he might die, I for he was +going to be mad;' and the Queen, who sent to Dr. Warren, on his arrival, +privately communicated her knowledge of his situation for some time past, +and the melancholy event as it stood exposed. I am prolix upon all these +different reports, that you may be completely master of the subject as it +stands, and which I shall continue to advertise you of in all its +variations. Warren, who is the living principle in this business, (for +poor Baker is half crazed himself,) and who I see every half hour, is +extremely attentive to the King's disorder. The various fluctuations of +his ravings, as well as general situation of his health, are accurately +written down throughout the day, and this we have got signed by the +Physician every day, and all proper inquiry invited; for I think it +necessary to do every thing that may prevent their making use hereafter +of any thing like jealousy, suspicion, or mystery, to create public +distrust; and, therefore, the best and most unequivocal means of +satisfaction shall be always attended to. + +"_Five o'clock, P.M._ + +"So far I had proceeded when I was, on some business of importance, +obliged to break off till now; and, on my return, found your letter;--I +need not, I hope, say your confidence is as safe as if it was returned to +your own mind, and your advice will always be thankfully adopted. The +event we looked for last night is postponed, perhaps for a short time, so +that, at least, we shall have time to consider more maturely. The Doctors +told Pitt they would beg not to be obliged to make their declaration for +a fortnight as to the incurability of the King's mind, and not to be +surprised if, at the expiration of that time, they should ask more time; +but that they were perfectly ready to declare now for the furtherance of +public business, that he is now insane; that it appears to be unconnected +with any other disease of his body, and that they have tried all their +skill without effect, and that to the _disease they at present see no +end in their contemplation:_--these are their own words, which is all +that can be implied in an absolute declaration,--for infallibility cannot +be ascribed to them. + +"Should not something be done about the public amusements? If it was +represented to Pitt, it might embarrass them either way; particularly as +it might call for a public account every day. I think the Chancellor +might take a good opportunity to break with his colleagues, if they +propose restriction, the Law authority would have great weight with us, +as well as preventing even a design of moving the City;--at all events, I +think Parliament would not confirm their opinion. If Pitt stirs much, I +think any attempt to _grasp at power_ might be fatal to his +interest, at least, well turned against it. + +"The Prince has sent for me directly, so I'll send this now, and write +again." + +In the words, "I think the Chancellor might take a good opportunity to +break with his colleagues," the writer alludes to a negotiation which +Sheridan had entered into with Lord Thurlow, and by which it was expected +that the co-operation of that Learned Lord might be secured, in +consideration of his being allowed to retain the office of Chancellor +under the Regency. + +Lord Thurlow was one of those persons who, being taken by the world at +their own estimate of themselves, contrive to pass upon the times in +which they live for much more than they are worth. His bluntness gained +him credit for superior honesty, and the same peculiarity of exterior +gave a weight, not their own, to his talents; the roughness of the +diamond being, by a very common mistake, made the measure of its value. +The negotiation for his alliance on this occasion was managed, if not +first suggested, by Sheridan; and Mr. Fox, on his arrival from the +Continent, (having been sent for express upon the first announcement of +the King's illness,) found considerable progress already made in the +preliminaries of this heterogeneous compact. + +The following letter from Admiral Payne, written immediately after the +return of Mr. Fox, contains some further allusions to the negotiations +with the Chancellor:-- + +"MY DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"I am this moment returned with the Prince from riding, and heard, with +great pleasure, of Charles Fox's arrival; on which account, he says, I +must go to town to-morrow, when I hope to meet you at his house some time +before dinner. The Prince is to see the Chancellor to-morrow, and +therefore he wishes I should be able to carry to town the result of this +interview, or I would set off immediately. Due deference is had to our +_former opinion_ upon this subject, and no courtship will be +practised; for the chief object in the visit is to show him the King, who +has been worse the two last days than ever: this morning he made an +effort to jump out of the window, and is now very turbulent and +incoherent. Sir G. Baker went yesterday to give Pitt a little specimen of +his loquacity, in his discovery of some material state-secrets, at which +he looked astonished. The Physicians wish him to be removed to Kew; on +which we shall proceed as we settled. Have you heard any thing of the +Foreign Ministers respecting what the P. said at Bagshot? The Frenchman +has been here two days running, but has not seen the Prince. He sat with +me half an hour this morning, and seemed much disposed to confer a little +closely. He was all admiration and friendship for the Prince, and said he +was sure _every body_ would unite to give vigor to his government. + +"To-morrow you shall hear particulars; in the mean time I can only add I +have none of the apprehensions contained in Lord L.'s letter. I have had +correspondence enough myself on this subject to convince me of the +impossibility of the Ministry managing the present Parliament by any +contrivance hostile to the Prince. Dinner is on table; so adieu; and be +assured of the truth and sincerity of + +"Yours affectionately, + +"_Windsor, Monday, 5 o'clock, P. M._ + +"J. W. P. + +"I have just got Rodney's proxy sent." + +The situation in which Mr. Fox was placed by the treaty thus commenced, +before his arrival, with the Chancellor, was not a little embarrassing. +In addition to the distaste which he must have felt for such a union, he +had been already, it appears, in some degree pledged to bestow the Great +Seal, in the event of a change, upon Lord Loughborough. Finding, however, +the Prince and his party so far committed in the negotiation with Lord +Thurlow, he thought it expedient, however contrary to his own wishes, to +accede to their views; and a letter, addressed by him to Mr. Sheridan on +the occasion, shows the struggle with his own feelings and opinions, +which this concession cost him:-- + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"I have swallowed the pill,--a most bitter one it was,--and have written +to Lord Loughborough, whose answer of course must be consent. What is to +be done next? Should the Prince himself, you, or I, or Warren, be the +person to speak to the Chancellor? The objection to the last is, that he +must probably wait for an opportunity, and that no time is to be lost. +Pray tell me what is to be done: I am convinced, after all, the +negotiation will not succeed, and am not sure that I am sorry for it. I +do not remember ever feeling so uneasy about any political thing I ever +did in my life. Call if you can. + +"Yours ever, + +"C. J. F." + +_Sat. past 12._ + +Lord Loughborough, in the mean time, with a vigilance quickened by his +own personal views, kept watch on the mysterious movements of the +Chancellor; and, as appears by the following letter, not only saw reason +to suspect duplicity himself, but took care that Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan +should share in his distrust:-- + +"MY DEAR S. + +"I was afraid to pursue the conversation on the circumstance of the +Inspection committed to the Chancellor, lest the reflections that arise +upon it might have made too strong an impression on some of our neighbors +last night. It does indeed appear to me full of mischief, and of that +sort most likely to affect the apprehensions of our best friends, (of +Lord John for instance,) and to increase their reluctance to take any +active part. + +"The Chancellor's object evidently is to make his way by himself, and he +has managed hitherto as one very well practised in that game. His +conversations, both with you and Mr. Fox, were encouraging, but at the +same time checked all explanations on his part under a pretence of +delicacy towards his colleagues. When he let them go to Salthill and +contrived to dine at Windsor, he certainly took a step that most men +would have felt not very delicate in its appearance, and unless there was +some private understanding between him and them, not altogether fair; +especially if you add to it the sort of conversation he held with regard +to them. I cannot help thinking that the difficulties of managing the +patient have been excited or improved to lead to the proposal of his +inspection, (without the Prince being conscious of it,) for by that +situation he gains an easy and frequent access to him, and an opportunity +of possessing the confidence of the Queen. I believe this the more from +the account of the tenderness he showed at his first interview, for I am +sure, it is not in his character to feel any. With a little instruction +from Lord Hawksbury, the sort of management that was carried on by means +of the Princess-Dowager, in the early part of the reign, may easily be +practised. In short, I think he will try to find the key of the back +stairs, and, with that in his pocket, take any situation that preserves +his access, and enables him to hold a line between different parties. In +the present moment, however, he has taken a position that puts the +command of the House of Lords in his hands, for * * * * * * *. [Footnote: +The remainder of this sentence is effaced by damp] + +"I wish Mr. Fox and you would give these considerations what weight you +think they deserve, and try if any means can be taken to remedy this +mischief, if it appears in the same light to you. + +"Ever yours, &c." + +What were the motives that induced Lord Thurlow to break off so suddenly +his negotiation with the Prince's party, and declare himself with such +vehemence on the side of the King and Mr. Pitt, it does not appear very +easy to ascertain. Possibly, from his opportunities of visiting the Royal +Patient, he had been led to conceive sufficient hopes of recovery, to +incline the balance of his speculation that way; or, perhaps, in the +influence of Lord Loughborough [Footnote: Lord Loughborough is supposed +to have been the person who instilled into the mind of Mr. Fox the idea +of advancing that claim of right for the Prince, which gave Mr. Pitt, in +principle as well as in fact, such an advantage over him.] over Mr. Fox, +he saw a risk of being supplanted in his views on the Great Seal. +Whatever may have been the motive, it is certain that his negotiation +with the Whigs had been amicably carried on, till within a few hours of +his delivery of that speech, from whose enthusiasm the public could +little suspect how fresh from the incomplete bargain of defection was the +speaker, and in the course of which he gave vent to the well-known +declaration, that "his debt of gratitude to His Majesty was ample, for +the many favors he had graciously conferred upon him, which, when he +forgot, might God forget him!" [Footnote: "Forget you!" said Wildes, +"he'll see you d---d first."] + +As it is not my desire to imitate those biographers, who swell their +pages with details that belong more properly to History, I shall forbear +to enter into a minute or consecutive narrative of the proceedings of +Parliament on the important subject of the Regency. A writer of political +biography has a right, no doubt, like an engineer who constructs a +navigable canal, to lay every brook and spring in the neighborhood under +contribution for the supply and enrichment of his work. But, to turn into +it the whole contents of the Annual Register and Parliamentary Debates is +a sort of literary engineering, not quite so laudable, which, after the +example set by a Right Reverend biographer of Mr. Pitt, will hardly again +be attempted by any one, whose ambition, at least, it is to be read as +well as bought. + +Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt, it is well known, differed essentially, not only +with respect to the form of the proceedings, which the latter recommended +in that suspension of the Royal authority, but also with respect to the +abstract constitutional principles, upon which those proceedings of the +Minister were professedly founded. As soon as the nature of the malady, +with which the King was afflicted, had been ascertained by a regular +examination of the physicians in attendance on His Majesty, Mr. Pitt +moved (on the 10th of December), that a "Committee be appointed to +examine and report precedents of such proceedings as may have been had, +in case of the personal exercise of the Royal authority being prevented +or interrupted, by infancy, sickness, infirmity, or otherwise, with a +view to provide for the same." [Footnote: Mr. Burke and Mr. Sheridan were +both members of this committee, and the following letter from the former +to Sheridan refers to it:-- + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"My idea was, that on Fox's declaring that the precedents, neither +individually nor collectively, do at all apply, our attendance ought to +have been merely formal. But as you think otherwise, I shall certainly be +at the committee soon after one. I rather think, that they will not +attempt to garble: because, supposing the precedents to apply, the major +part are certainly in their favor. It is not likely that they mean to +suppress,--but it is good to be on our guard. + +"Ever most truly yours, &c. + +"EDMUND BURKE." + +_Gerard Street, Thursday Morning_.] + +It was immediately upon this motion that Mr. Fox advanced that +inconsiderate claim of Right for the Prince of Wales, of which his rival +availed himself so dexterously and triumphantly. Having asserted that +there existed no precedent whatever that could bear upon the present +case, Mr. Fox proceeded to say, that "the circumstance to be provided for +did not depend upon their deliberations as a House of Parliament,--it +rested elsewhere. There was then a person in the kingdom, different from +any other person that any existing precedents could refer to,--an Heir +Apparent, of full age and capacity to exercise the royal power. It +behoved them, therefore, to waste not a moment unnecessarily, but to +proceed with all becoming speed and diligence to restore the Sovereign +power and the exercise of the Royal Authority. From what he had read of +history, from the ideas he had formed of the law, and, what was still +more precious, of the spirit of the Constitution, from every reasoning +and analogy drawn from those sources, he declared that he had not in his +mind a doubt, and he should think himself culpable if he did not take the +first opportunity of declaring it, that, in the present condition of His +Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had as clear, as express +a Right to exercise the power of Sovereignty, during the continuance of +the illness and incapacity, with which it had pleased God to afflict His +Majesty, as in the case of His Majesty's having undergone a natural +demise." + +It is said that, during the delivery of this adventurous opinion, the +countenance of Mr. Pitt was seen to brighten with exultation at the +mistake into which he perceived his adversary was hurrying; and scarcely +had the sentence, just quoted, been concluded, when, slapping his thigh +triumphantly, he turned to the person who sat next to him, and said, +"I'll _un-Whig_ the gentleman for the rest of his life!" + +Even without this anecdote, which may be depended upon as authentic, we +have sufficient evidence that such were his feelings in the burst of +animation and confidence with which he instantly replied to Mr. +Fox,--taking his ground, with an almost equal temerity, upon the directly +opposite doctrine, and asserting, not only that "in the case of the +interruption of the personal exercise of the Royal Authority, it devolved +upon the other branches of the Legislature to provide a substitute for +that authority," but that "the Prince of Wales had no more right to +exercise the powers of government than any other person in the realm." + +The truth is, the assertion of a _Right_ was equally erroneous, on +both sides of the question. The Constitution having provided no legal +remedy for such an exigence as had now occurred, the two Houses of +Parliament had as little right (in the strict sense of the word) to +supply the deficiency of the Royal power, as the Prince had to be the +person elected or adjudged for that purpose. Constitutional analogy and +expediency were the only authorities by which the measures necessary in +such a conjuncture could be either guided or sanctioned; and if the +disputants on each side had softened down their tone to this true and +practical view of the case, there would have been no material difference, +in the first stage of the proceedings between them,--Mr. Pitt being +ready to allow that the Heir Apparent was the obvious person to whom +expediency pointed as the depository of the Royal power, and Mr. Fox +having granted, in a subsequent explanation of his doctrine, that, strong +as was the right upon which the claim of the Prince was founded, His +Royal Highness could not assume that right till it had been formally +adjudicated to him by Parliament. The principle, however, having been +imprudently broached, Mr. Pitt was too expert a tactician not to avail +himself of the advantage it gave him. He was thus, indeed, furnished with +an opportunity, not only of gaining time by an artful protraction of the +discussions, but of occupying victoriously the ground of Whiggism, which +Mr. Fox had, in his impatience or precipitancy, deserted, and of thus +adding to the character, which he had recently acquired, of a defender of +the prerogatives of the Crown, the more brilliant reputation of an +assertor of the rights of the people. + +In the popular view which Mr. Pitt found it convenient to take of this +question, he was led, or fell voluntarily into some glaring errors, which +pervaded the whole of his reasonings on the subject. In his anxiety to +prove the omnipotence of Parliament, he evidently confounded the Estates +of the realm with the Legislature, [Footnote: Mr. Grattan and the Irish +Parliament carried this error still farther, and founded all their +proceedings on the necessity of "providing for the deficiency of the +Third _Estate_."] and attributed to two branches of the latter such +powers as are only legally possessed by the whole three in Parliament +assembled. For the purpose, too, of flattering the people with the notion +that to them had now reverted the right of choosing their temporary +Sovereign, he applied a principle, which ought to be reserved for extreme +cases, to an exigence by no means requiring this ultimate appeal,--the +defect in the government being such as the still existing Estates of the +realm, appointed to speak the will of the people, but superseding any +direct exercise of their power, were fully competent, as in the instance +of the Revolution, to remedy. [Footnote: The most luminous view that has +been taken of this Question is to be found in an Article of the Edinburgh +Review, on the Regency of 1811,--written by one of the most learned and +able men of our day, Mr. John Allen.] + +Indeed, the solemn use of such language as Mr. Pitt, in his over-acted +Whiggism, employed upon this occasion,--namely, that the "right" of +appointing a substitute for the Royal power was "to be found in the voice +and the sense of the people,"--is applicable only to those conjunctures, +brought on by misrule and oppression, when all forms are lost in the +necessity of relief, and when the right of the people to change and +choose their rulers is among the most sacred and inalienable that either +nature or social polity has ordained. But, to apply the language of that +last resource to the present emergency was to brandish the sword of +Goliath [Footnote: A simile applied by Lord Somers to the power of +Impeachment, which, he said, "should be like Goliath's sword, kept in the +temple, and not used but upon great occasions."] on an occasion that by +no means called for it. + +The question of the Prince's claim,--in spite of the efforts of the +Prince himself and of his Royal relatives to avert the agitation of +it,--was, for evident reasons, forced into discussion by the Minister, +and decided by a majority, not only of the two Houses but of the nation, +in his favor. During one of the long debates to which the question gave +rise, Mr. Sheridan allowed himself to be betrayed into some expressions, +which, considering the delicate predicament in which the Prince was +placed by the controversy, were not marked with his usual tact and +sagacity. In alluding to the claim of Right advanced for His Royal +Highness, and deprecating any further agitation of it, he "reminded the +Right Honorable Gentleman (Mr. Pitt) of the danger of provoking that +claim to be asserted [a loud cry of hear! hear!], which, he observed, had +not yet been preferred. [Another cry of hear! hear!]" This was the very +language that Mr. Pitt most wished his adversaries to assume, and, +accordingly, he turned it to account with all his usual mastery and +haughtiness. "He had now," he said, "an additional reason for asserting +the authority of the House, and defining the boundaries of Right, when +the deliberative faculties of Parliament were invaded, and an indecent +menace thrown out to awe and influence their proceedings. In the +discussion of the question, the House, he trusted, would do their duty, +in spite of any threat that might be thrown out. Men, who felt their +native freedom, would not submit to a threat, however high the authority +from which it might come." [Footnote: _Impartial Report of all the +Proceedings on the Subject of the Regency_] + +The restrictions of the Prerogative with which Mr. Pitt thought proper to +encumber the transfer of the Royal power to the Prince, formed the second +great point of discussion between the parties, and brought equally +adverse principles into play. Mr. Fox, still maintaining his position on +the side of Royalty, defended it with much more tenable weapons than the +question of Right had enabled him to wield. So founded, indeed, in the +purest principles of Whiggism did he consider his opposition, on this +memorable occasion, to any limitation of the Prerogative in the hands of +a Regent, that he has, in his History of James II., put those principles +deliberately upon record, as a fundamental article in the creed of his +party. The passage to which I allude occurs in his remarks upon the +Exclusion Bill; and as it contains, in a condensed form, the spirit of +what he urged on the same point in 1789, I cannot do better than lay his +own words before the reader. After expressing his opinion that, at the +period of which he writes, the measure of exclusion from the monarchy +altogether would have been preferable to any limitation of its powers, he +proceeds to say:--"The Whigs, who consider the powers of the Crown as a +trust for the people, a doctrine which the Tories themselves, when pushed +in argument, will sometimes admit, naturally think it their duty rather +to change the manager of the trust than impair the subject of it; while +others, who consider them as the right or property of the King, will as +naturally act as they would do in the case of any other property, and +consent to the loss or annihilation of any part of it, for the purpose of +preserving the remainder to him, whom they style the rightful owner." +Further on he adds:--"The Royal Prerogative ought, according to the +Whigs, to be reduced to such powers as are in their exercise beneficial +to the people; and of the benefit of these they will not rashly suffer +the people to be deprived, whether the executive power be in the hands of +an hereditary or of an elective King, of a Regent, or of any other +denomination of magistrate; while, on the other hand, they who consider +Prerogative with reference only to Royalty will, with equal readiness, +consent either to the extension or the suspension of its exercise, as the +occasional interests of the Prince may seem to require." + +Taking this as a correct exposition of the doctrines of the two parties, +of which Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt may be considered to have been the +representatives in the Regency question of 1789, it will strike some +minds that, however the Whig may flatter himself that the principle by +which he is guided in such exigencies is favorable to liberty, and +however the Tory may, with equal sincerity, believe his suspension of the +Prerogative on these occasions to be advantageous to the Crown, yet that +in both of the principles, so defined, there is an evident tendency to +produce effects, wholly different from those which the parties professing +them contemplate. + +On the one side, to sanction from authority the notion, that there are +some powers of the Crown which may be safely dispensed with,--to accustom +the people to an abridged exercise of the Prerogative, with the risk of +suggesting to their minds that its full efficacy needs not be +resumed,--to set an example, in short, of reducing the Kingly Power, +which, by its success, may invite and authorize still further +encroachments,--all these are dangers to which the alleged doctrine of +Toryism, whenever brought into practice, exposes its idol; and more +particularly in enlightened and speculative times, when the minds of men +are in quest of the right and the useful, and when a superfluity of power +is one of those abuses, which they are least likely to overlook or +tolerate. In such seasons, the experiment of the Tory might lead to all +that he most deprecates, and the branches of the Prerogative, once cut +away, might, like the lopped boughs of the fir-tree, never grow again. + +On the other hand, the Whig, who asserts that the Royal Prerogative ought +to be reduced to such powers as are beneficial to the people, and yet +stipulates, as an invariable principle, for the transfer of that +Prerogative full and unimpaired, whenever it passes into other hands, +appears, even more perhaps than the Tory, to throw an obstacle in the way +of his own object. Circumstances, it is not denied, may arise when the +increase of the powers of the Crown, in other ways, may render it +advisable to control some of its established prerogatives. But, where are +we to find a fit moment for such a reform,--or what opening will be left +for it by this fastidious Whig principle, which, in 1680, could see no +middle step between a change of the Succession and an undiminished +maintenance of the Prerogative, and which, in 1789, almost upon the heels +of a Declaration that "the power of the Crown had increased and ought to +be diminished," protested against even an experimental reduction of it! + +According to Mr. Fox, it is a distinctive characteristic of the Tory, to +attach more importance to the person of the King than to his office. But, +assuredly, the Tory is not singular in this want of political +abstraction; and, in England, (from a defect, Hume thinks, inherent in +all limited monarchies,) the personal qualities and opinions of the +Sovereign have considerable influence upon the whole course of public +affairs,--being felt alike in that courtly sphere around them where their +attraction acts, and in that outer circle of opposition where their +repulsion comes into play. To this influence, then, upon the government +and the community, of which no abstraction can deprive the person of the +monarch, the Whig principle in question (which seems to consider +entireness of Prerogative as necessary to a King, as the entireness of +his limbs was held to be among the Athenians,) superadds the vast power, +both actual and virtual, which would flow from the inviolability of the +Royal office, and forecloses, so far, the chance which the more pliant +Tory doctrine would leave open, of counteracting the effects of the +King's indirect personal influence, by curtailing or weakening the grasp +of some of his direct regal powers. Ovid represents the Deity of Light +(and on an occasion, too, which may be called a Regency question) as +crowned with movable rays, which might be put off when too strong or +dazzling. But, according to this principle, the crown of Prerogative must +keep its rays fixed and immovable, and (as the poet expresses it) +"_circa caput_ OMNE _micantes_." + +Upon the whole, however high the authorities, by which this Whig doctrine +was enforced in 1789, its manifest tendency, in most cases, to secure a +perpetuity of superfluous powers to the Crown, appears to render it +unfit, at least as an invariable principle, for any party professing to +have the liberty of the people for their object. The Prince, in his +admirable Letter upon the subject of the Regency to Mr. Pitt, was made to +express the unwillingness which he felt "that in his person an experiment +should be made to ascertain with how small a portion of kingly power the +executive government of the country might be carried on;"--but +imagination has not far to go in supposing a case, where the enormous +patronage vested in the Crown, and the consequent increase of a Royal +bias through the community, might give such an undue and unsafe +preponderance to that branch of the Legislature, as would render any safe +opportunity, however acquired, of ascertaining with _how much less +power_ the executive government could be carried on, most acceptable, +in spite of any dogmas to the contrary, to all true lovers as well of the +monarchy as of the people. + +Having given thus much consideration to the opinions and principles, +professed on both sides of this constitutional question, it is +mortifying, after all, to be obliged to acknowledge, that, in the +relative situation of the two parties at the moment, may be found perhaps +the real, and but too natural, source of the decidedly opposite views +which they took of the subject. Mr. Pitt, about to surrender the +possession of power to his rival, had a very intelligible interest in +reducing the value of the transfer, and (as a retreating army spike the +guns they leave behind) rendering the engines of Prerogative as useless +as possible to his successor. Mr. Fox, too, had as natural a motive to +oppose such a design; and, aware that the chief aim of these restrictive +measures was to entail upon the Whig ministry of the Regent a weak +Government and strong Opposition, would, of course, eagerly welcome the +aid of any abstract principle, that might sanction him in resisting such +a mutilation of the Royal power;--well knowing that (as in the case of +the Peerage Bill in the reign of George I.) the proceedings altogether +were actuated more by ill-will to the successor in the trust, than by any +sincere zeal for the purity of its exercise. + +Had the situations of the two leaders been reversed, it is more than +probable that their modes of thinking and acting would have been so +likewise. Mr. Pitt, with the prospect of power before his eyes, would +have been still more strenuous, perhaps, for the unbroken transmission of +the Prerogative--his natural leaning on the side of power being increased +by his own approaching share in it. Mr. Fox, too, if stopped, like his +rival, in a career of successful administration, and obliged to surrender +up the reins of the state to Tory guidance, might have found in his +popular principles a still more plausible pretext, for the abridgment of +power in such unconstitutional hands. He might even too, perhaps, (as his +India Bill warrants us in supposing) have been tempted into the same sort +of alienation of the Royal patronage, as that which Mr. Pitt now +practised in the establishment of the Queen, and have taken care to leave +behind him a stronghold of Whiggism, to facilitate the resumption of his +position, whenever an opportunity might present itself. Such is human +nature, even in its noblest specimens, and so are the strongest spirits +shaped by the mould in which chance and circumstances have placed them. + +Mr. Sheridan spoke frequently in the Debates on this question, but his +most important agency lay in the less public business connected with it. +He was the confidential adviser of the Prince throughout, directed every +step he took, and was the author of most of his correspondence on the +subject. There is little doubt, I think, that the celebrated and masterly +Letter to Mr. Pitt, which by some persons has been attributed to Burke, +and by others to Sir Gilbert Elliot (afterwards Lord Minto), was +principally the production of Mr. Sheridan. For the supposition that it +was written by Burke there are, besides the merits of the production, but +very scanty grounds. So little was he at that period in those habits of +confidence with the Prince, which would entitle him to be selected for +such a task in preference to Sheridan, that but eight or ten days before +the date of this letter (Jan. 2.) he had declared in the House of +Commons, that "he knew as little of the inside of Carlton House as he did +of Buckingham House." Indeed, the violent state of this extraordinary +man's temper, during the whole of the discussions and proceedings on the +Regency, would have rendered him, even had his intimacy with the Prince +been closer, an unfit person for the composition of a document, requiring +so much caution, temper, and delicacy. + +The conjecture that Sir Gilbert Elliot was the author of it is somewhat +more plausible,--that gentleman being at this period high in the favor of +the Prince, and possessing talents sufficient to authorize the suspicion +(which was in itself a reputation) that he had been the writer of a +composition so admirable. But it seems hardly necessary to go farther, in +quest of its author, than Mr. Sheridan, who, besides being known to have +acted the part of the Prince's adviser through the whole transaction, is +proved by the rough copies found among his papers, to have written +several other important documents connected with the Regency. + +I may also add that an eminent statesman of the present day, who was at +that period, though very young, a distinguished friend of Mr. Sheridan, +and who has shown by the ability of his own State Papers that he has not +forgot the lessons of that school from which this able production +emanated, remembers having heard some passages of the Letter discussed in +Bruton-street, as if it were then in the progress of composition, and has +always, I believe, been under the impression that it was principally the +work of Mr. Sheridan. [Footnote: To this authority may be added also that +of the Bishop of Winchester, who says,--"Mr. Sheridan was supposed to +have been materially concerned in drawing up this admirable composition."] + +I had written thus far on the subject of this Letter--and shall leave +what I have written as a memorial of the fallacy of such +conjectures--when, having still some doubts of my correctness in +attributing the honor of the composition to Sheridan, I resolved to ask +the opinion of my friend, Sir James Mackintosh, a person above all others +qualified, by relationship of talent, to recognize and hold parley with +the mighty spirit of Burke, in whatever shape the "Royal Dane" may +appear. The strong impression on his mind--amounting almost to +certainty--was that no other hand but that of Burke could have written +the greater part of the letter; [Footnote: It is amusing to observe how +tastes differ;--the following is the opinion entertained of this letter +by a gentleman, who, I understand, and can easily believe, is an old +established Reviewer. After mentioning that it was attributed to the pen +of Burke, he adds,--"The story, however, does not seem entitled to much +credit, for the internal character of the paper is too vapid and heavy +for the genius of Burke, whose ardent mind would assuredly have diffused +vigor into the composition, and the correctness of whose judgment would +as certainly have preserved it from the charge of inelegance and +grammatical deficiency."--DR. WATKINS, _Life of Sheridan_. Such, in +nine cases out of ten, are the periodical guides of public taste.] and by +a more diligent inquiry, in which his kindness assisted me, it has been +ascertained that his opinion was, as it could not fail to be, correct. +The following extract from a letter written by Lord Minto at the time, +referring obviously to the surmise that he was, himself, the author of +the paper, confirms beyond a doubt the fact, that it was written almost +solely by Burke:-- + +"_January 31st, 1789._ + +"There was not a word of the Prince's letter to Pitt mine. It was +originally Burke's, altered a little, but not improved, by Sheridan and +other critics. The answer made by the Prince yesterday to the Address of +the two Houses was entirely mine, and done in a great hurry half an hour +before it was to be delivered." + +While it is with regret I give up the claim of Mr. Sheridan to this fine +specimen of English composition, it but adds to my intense admiration of +Burke--not on account of the beauty of the writing, for his fame required +no such accession--but from that triumph of mind over temper which it +exhibits--that forgetfulness of _Self_, the true, transmigrating +power of genius, which enabled him thus to pass his spirit into the +station of Royalty, and to assume all the calm dignity, both of style and +feeling, that became it. + +It was to be expected that the conduct of Lord Thurlow at this period +should draw down upon him all the bitterness of those who were in the +secret of his ambidextrous policy, and who knew both his disposition to +desert, and the nature of the motives that prevented him. To Sheridan, in +particular, such a result of a negotiation, in which he had been the +principal mover and mediator, could not be otherwise than deeply +mortifying. Of all the various talents with which he was gifted, his +dexterity in political intrigue and management was that of which he +appears to have been most vain; and this vanity it was that, at a later +period of his life, sometimes led him to branch off from the main body of +his party, upon secret and solitary enterprises of ingenuity, which--as +may be expected from all such independent movements of a +partisan--generally ended in thwarting his friends and embarrassing +himself. + +In the debate on that clause of the Bill, which restricted the Regent +from granting places or pensions in reversion, Mr. Sheridan is +represented as having attacked Lord Thurlow in terms of the most +unqualified severity,--speaking of "the natural ferocity and sturdiness +of his temper," and of "his brutal bluffness." But to such abuse, +unseasoned by wit, Mr. Sheridan was not at all likely to have +condescended, being well aware that, "as in smooth oil the razor best is +set," so satire is whetted to its most perfect keenness by courtesy. His +clumsy reporters have, in this, as in almost all other instances, +misrepresented him. + +With equal personality, but more playfulness, Mr. Burke, in exposing that +wretched fiction, by which the Great Seal was converted into the Third +Branch of the Legislature, and the assent of the King forged to a Bill, +in which his incapacity to give either assent or dissent was declared, +thus expressed himself:--"But what is to be done when the Crown is in a +_deliquium_? It was intended, he had heard, to set up a man with +black brows and a large wig, a kind of scare-crow to the two Houses, who +was to give a fictitious assent in the royal name--and this to be binding +on the people at large!" The following remarkable passage, too, in a +subsequent Speech, is almost too well known to be cited:--"The other +House," he said, "were not yet perhaps recovered from that extraordinary +burst of the pathetic which had been exhibited the other evening; they +had not yet dried their eyes, or been restored to their former placidity, +and were unqualified to attend, to new business. The tears shed in that +House on the occasion to which he alluded, were not the tears of patriots +for dying laws, but of Lords for their expiring places. The iron tears, +which flowed down Pluto's cheek, rather resembled the dismal bubbling of +the Styx, than the gentle murmuring streams of Aganippe." + +While Lord Thurlow was thus treated by the party whom he had so nearly +joined, he was but coldly welcomed back by the Minister whom he had so +nearly deserted. His reconciliation, too, with the latter was by no means +either sincere or durable,--the renewal of friendship between +politicians, on such occasions, being generally like that which the +Diable Boiteux describes, as having taken place between himself and a +brother sprite,--"We were reconciled, embraced, and have hated each other +heartily ever since." + +In the Regency, indeed, and the transactions connected with it, may be +found the source of most of those misunderstandings and enmities, which +broke out soon after among the eminent men of that day, and were attended +with consequences so important to themselves and the country. By the +difference just mentioned, between Mr. Pitt and Lord Thurlow, the +ministerial arrangements of 1793 were facilitated, and the learned Lord, +after all his sturdy pliancy, consigned to a life of ineffectual +discontent ever after. + +The disagreement between Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox, if not actually +originating now--and its foundation had been, perhaps, laid from the +beginning, in the total dissimilarity of their dispositions and +sentiments--was, at least, considerably ripened and accelerated by the +events of this period, and by the discontent that each of them, like +partners in unsuccessful play, was known to feel at the mistakes which +the other had committed in the game. Mr. Fox had, unquestionably, every +reason to lament as well as blame the violence and virulence by which his +associate had disgraced the contest. The effect, indeed, produced upon +the public by the irreverent sallies of Burke, and by the too evident +triumph, both of hate and hope, with which he regarded the calamitous +situation of the King, contributed not a little to render still lower the +already low temperature of popularity at which his party stood throughout +the country. It seemed as if a long course of ineffectual struggle in +politics, of frustrated ambition and unrewarded talents, had at length +exasperated his mind to a degree beyond endurance; and the extravagances +into which he was hurried in his speeches on this question, appear to +have been but the first workings of that impatience of a losing cause-- +that resentment of failure, and disgust at his partners in it--which +soon afterwards found such a signal opportunity of exploding. + +That Mr. Burke, upon far less grounds, was equally discontented with his +co-operators in this emergency, may be collected from the following +passage of a letter addressed by him in the summer of this year to Lord +Charlemont, and given by Hardy in his Memoirs of that nobleman:-- + +"Perpetual failure, even though nothing in that failure can be fixed on +the improper choice of the object or the injudicious choice of means, +will detract every day more and more from a man's credit, until he ends +without success and without reputation. In fact, a constant pursuit even +of the best objects, without adequate instruments, detracts something +from the opinion of a man's judgment. This, I think, may be in part the +cause of the inactivity of others of our friends who are in the vigor of +life and in possession of a great degree of lead and authority. I do not +blame them, though I lament that state of the public mind, in which the +people can consider the exclusion of such talents and such virtues from +their service, as a point gained to them. The only point in which I can +find any thing to blame in these friends, is their not taking the +effectual means, which they certainly had in their power, of making an +honorable retreat from their prospect of power into the possession of +reputation, by an effectual defence of themselves. There was an +opportunity which was not made use of for that purpose, and which could +scarcely have failed of turning the tables on their adversaries." + +Another instance of the embittering influence of these transactions may +be traced in their effects upon Mr. Burke and Mr. Sheridan--between whom +there had arisen a degree of emulation, amounting to jealousy, which, +though hitherto chiefly confined to one of the parties, received on this +occasion such an addition of fuel, as spread it equally through the minds +of both, and conduced, in no small degree, to the explosion that +followed. Both Irishmen, and both adventurers in a region so much +elevated above their original station, it was but natural that some such +feeling should kindle between them; and that, as Burke was already +mid-way in his career, when Sheridan was but entering the field, the +stirrings, whether of emulation or envy, should first be felt by the +latter. It is, indeed, said that in the ceremonial of Hastings's Trial, +the privileges enjoyed by Burke, as a Privy-councillor, were regarded +with evident uneasiness by his brother Manager, who could not as yet +boast the distinction of Right Honorable before his name. As soon, +however, as the rapid run of Sheridan's success had enabled him to +overtake his veteran rival, this feeling of jealousy took possession in +full force of the latter,--and the close relations of intimacy and +confidence, to which Sheridan was now admitted both by Mr. Fox and the +Prince, are supposed to have been not the least of those causes of +irritation and disgust, by which Burke was at length driven to break with +the party altogether, and to show his gigantic strength at parting, by +carrying away some of the strongest pillars of Whiggism in his grasp. + +Lastly, to this painful list of the feuds, whose origin is to be found in +the times and transactions of which we are speaking, may be added that +slight, but too visible cloud of misunderstanding, which arose between +Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan, and which, though it never darkened into any +thing serious, continued to pervade their intercourse with each other to +the last--exhibiting itself, on the part of Mr. Fox, in a degree of +distrustful reserve not natural to him, and, on the side of Sheridan, in +some of those counter-workings of influence, which, as I have already +said, he was sometimes induced by his love of the diplomacy of politics +to practise. + +Among the appointments named in contemplation of a Regency, the place of +Treasurer of the Navy was allotted to Mr. Sheridan. He would never, +however, admit the idea of certainty in any of the arrangements so +sanguinely calculated upon, but continually impressed upon his impatient +friends the possibility, if not probability, of the King's recovery. He +had even refused to look at the plan of the apartments, which he himself +was to occupy in Somerset House; and had but just agreed that it should +be sent to him for examination, on the very day when the King was +declared convalescent by Dr. Warren. "He entered his own house (to use +the words of the relater of the anecdote) at dinner-time with the news. +There were present,--besides Mrs. Sheridan and his sister,--Tickell, who, +on the change of administration, was to have been immediately brought +into Parliament,--Joseph Richardson, who was to have had Tickell's place +of Commissioner of the Stamp-office,--Mr. Reid, and some others. Not one +of the company but had cherished expectations from the approaching +change--not one of them, however, had lost so much as Mr. Sheridan. With +his wonted equanimity he announced the sudden turn affairs had taken, and +looking round him cheerfully, as he filled a large glass, said,--'Let us +all join in drinking His Majesty's speedy recovery.'" + +The measures which the Irish Parliament adopted on this occasion, would +have been productive of anomalies, both theoretical and practical, had +the continued illness of the King allowed the projected Regency to take +place. As it was, the most material consequence that ensued was the +dismissal from their official situations of Mr. Ponsonby and other +powerful individuals, by which the Whig party received such an accession +of strength, as enabled them to work out for their country the few +blessings of liberty that still remain to her. Among the victims to their +votes on this question was Mr. Charles Sheridan, who, on the recovery of +the King, was dismissed from his office of Secretary of War, but received +compensation by a pension of 1200_l_. a year, with the reversion of +300_l_. a year to his wife. + +The ready and ardent burst of devotion with which Ireland, at this +moment, like the Pythagoreans at their morning worship, turned to welcome +with her Harp the Rising Sun, was long remembered by the object of her +homage with pride and gratitude,--and, let us trust, is not even yet +entirely forgotten. [Footnote: This vain hope was expressed before the +late decision on the Catholic question had proved to the Irish that, +where their rights are concerned, neither public nor private pledges are +regarded.] + +It has already been mentioned that to Mr. Sheridan, at this period, was +entrusted the task of drawing up several of the State Papers of the +Heir-Apparent. From the rough copies of these papers that have fallen +into my hands, I shall content myself with selecting two Letters--the +first of which was addressed by the Prince to the Queen, immediately +after the communication to her Majesty of the Resolution of the two +Houses placing the Royal Household under her control. + +"Before Your Majesty gives an answer to the application for your Royal +permission to place under Your Majesty's separate authority the direction +and appointment of the King's household, and thereby to separate from the +difficult and arduous situation which I am unfortunately called upon to +fill, the accustomed and necessary support which has ever belonged to it, +permit me, with every sentiment of duty and affection towards Your +Majesty, to entreat your attentive perusal of the papers which I have the +honor to enclose. They contain a sketch of the plan now proposed to be +carried into execution as communicated to me by Mr. Pitt, and the +sentiments which I found myself bound in duty to declare in reply to that +communication. I take the liberty of lodging these papers in Your +Majesty's hands, confiding that, whenever it shall please Providence to +remove the malady with which the King my father is now unhappily +afflicted, Your Majesty will, in justice to me and to those of the Royal +family whose affectionate concurrence and support I have received, take +the earliest opportunity of submitting them to his Royal perusal, in +order that no interval of time may elapse before he is in possession of +the true motives and principles upon which I have acted. I here solemnly +repeat to Your Majesty, that among those principles there is not one +which influences my mind so much as the firm persuasion I have, that my +conduct in endeavoring to maintain unimpaired and undivided the just +rights, prerogatives, and dignity of the Crown, in the person of the +King's representative, is the only line of conduct which would entitle me +to His Majesty's approbation, or enable me to stand with confidence in +his Royal presence on the happy day of his recovery;--and, on the +contrary, that those who, under color of respect and attachment to his +Royal person, have contrived this project for enfeebling and degrading +the executive authority of the realm, will be considered by him as having +risked the happiness of his people and the security of the throne itself, +by establishing a fatal precedent which may hereafter be urged against +his own authority, on as plausible pretences, or revived against the just +rights of his family. In speaking my opinions of the motive of the +projectors of this scheme, I trust I need not assure Your Majesty that +the respect, duty, and affection I owe to Your Majesty have never +suffered me for a single moment to consider you as countenancing, in the +slightest degree, their plan or their purposes. I have the firmest +reliance on Your Majesty's early declaration to me, on the subject of +public affairs, at the commencement of our common calamity; and, whatever +may be the efforts of evil or interested advisers, I have the same +confidence that you will never permit or endure that the influence of +your respected name shall be profaned to the purpose of distressing the +government and insulting the person of your son. How far those, who are +evidently pursuing both these objects, may be encouraged by Your +Majesty's acceptance of one part of the powers purposed to be lodged in +your hands, I will not presume to say. [Footnote: In speaking of the +extraordinary _imperium in imperio_, with which the command of so +much power and patronage would have invested the Queen, the Annual +Register (Robinson's) remarks justly, "It was not the least extraordinary +circumstance in these transactions, that the Queen could be prevailed +upon to lend her name to a project which would eventually have placed her +in avowed rivalship with her son, and, at a moment when her attention +might seem to be absorbed by domestic calamity, have established her at +the head of a political party."] The proposition has assumed the shape of +a Resolution of Parliament, and therefore I am silent. + +"Your Majesty will do me the honor to weigh the opinions I formed and +declared before Parliament had entertained the plan, and, with those +before you, your own good judgment will decide. I have only to add that +whatever that decision may be, nothing will ever alter the interest of +true affection and inviolable duty," &c. &c. + +The second Letter that I shall give, from the rough copy of Mr. Sheridan, +was addressed by the Prince to the King after his recovery, announcing +the intention of His Royal Highness to submit to His Majesty a Memorial, +in vindication of his own conduct and that of his Royal brother the Duke +of York throughout the whole of the proceedings consequent upon His +Majesty's indisposition. + +"SIR, + +"Thinking it probable that I should have been honored with your commands +to attend Your Majesty on Wednesday last, I have unfortunately lost the +opportunity of paying my duty to Your Majesty before your departure from +Weymouth. The account? I have received of Your Majesty's health have +given me the greatest satisfaction, and should it be Your Majesty's +intention to return to Weymouth, I trust, Sir, there will be no +impropriety in my _then_ entreating Your Majesty's gracious +attention to a point of the greatest moment to the peace of my own mind, +and one in which I am convinced Your Majesty's feelings are equally +interested. Your Majesty's letter to my brother the Duke of Clarence, in +May last, was the first direct intimation I had ever received that my +conduct, and that of my brother the Duke of York, during Your Majesty's +late lamented illness, had brought on us the heavy misfortune of Your +Majesty's displeasure. I should be wholly unworthy the return of Your +Majesty's confidence and good opinion, which will ever be the first +objects of my life, if I could have read the passage I refer to in that +letter without the deepest sorrow and regret for the effect produced on +Your Majesty's mind; though at the same time I felt the firmest +persuasion that Your Majesty's generosity and goodness would never permit +that effect to _remain_, without affording us an opportunity of +knowing what had been urged against us, of replying to our accusers, and +of justifying ourselves, if the means of justification were in our power. + +"Great however as my impatience and anxiety were on this subject, I felt +it a superior consideration not to intrude any unpleasing or agitating +discussions upon Your Majesty's attention, during an excursion devoted to +the ease and amusement necessary for the re-establishment of Your +Majesty's health. I determined to sacrifice my own feelings, and to wait +with resignation till the fortunate opportunity should arrive, when Your +Majesty's own paternal goodness would, I was convinced, lead you even to +_invite_ your sons to that fair hearing, which your justice would +not deny to the meanest individual of your subjects. In this painful +interval I have employed myself in drawing up a full statement and +account of my conduct during the period alluded to, and of the motives +and circumstances which influenced me. When these shall be humbly +submitted to Your Majesty's consideration, I may be possibly found to +have erred in judgment, and to have acted on mistaken principles, but I +have the most assured conviction that I shall not be found to have been +deficient in that duteous affection to Your Majesty which nothing shall +ever diminish. Anxious for every thing that may contribute to the comfort +and satisfaction of Your Majesty's mind, I cannot omit this opportunity +of lamenting those appearances of a less gracious disposition in the +Queen, towards my brothers and myself, than we were accustomed to +experience; and to assure Your Majesty that if by your affectionate +interposition these most unpleasant sensations should be happily removed, +it would be an event not less grateful to our minds than satisfactory to +Your Majesty's own benign disposition. I will not longer. &c. &c. + +"G. P." + +The Statement here announced by His Royal Highness (a copy of which I +have seen, occupying, with its Appendix, near a hundred folio pages), is +supposed to have been drawn up by Lord Minto. + +To descend from documents of such high import to one of a much humbler +nature, the following curious memorial was presented this year to Mr. +Sheridan, by a literary gentleman whom the Whig party thought it worth +while to employ in their service, and who, as far as industry went, +appears to have been not unworthy of his hire, Simonides is said to be +the first author that ever wrote for pay, but Simonides little dreamt of +the perfection to which his craft would one day be brought. + +_Memorial for Dr. W. T.,_ [Footnote: This industrious Scotchman (of +whose name I have only given the initials) was not without some share of +humor. On hearing that a certain modern philosopher had carried his +belief in the perfectibility of all living things so far, as to say that +he did not despair of seeing the day when tigers themselves might be +educated, Dr. T. exclaimed, "I should like dearly to see him in a cage +with _two_ of his pupils!"] + +_Fitzroy-street, Fitzroy-Chapel._ + +"In May, 1787, Dr. Parr, in the name of his political friends, engaged +Dr. T. to embrace those opportunities, which his connections with +booksellers and periodical publications might afford him, of supporting +the principles of their party. Mr. Sheridan in August, 1787, gave two +notes, 50_l_. each, to Dr. T. for the first year's service, which +notes were paid at different periods--the first by Mr. Sheridan at +Brookes's, in January, 1788, the second by Mr. Windham in May, 1788. Mr. +Sheridan, in different conversations, encouraged Dr. T. to go on with the +expectation of a like sum yearly, or 50_l_. half yearly. Dr. T. with +this encouragement engaged in different publications for the purpose of +this agreement. He is charged for the most part with the Political and +Historical articles in the Analytic Review, and he also occasionally +writes the Political Appendix to the English Review, of which +particularly he wrote that for April last, and that for June last. He +also every week writes an abridgment of Politics for the Whitehall +Evening Post, and a Political Review every month for a Sunday paper +entitled the Review and Sunday Advertiser. In a Romance, entitled +'Mammoth, or Human Nature Displayed, &c.,' Dr. T. has shown how mindful +he is on all occasions of his engagements to those who confide in him. He +has also occasionally moved other engines, which it would be tedious and +might appear too trifling to mention. Dr. T. is not ignorant that +uncommon charges have happened in the course of this last year, that is, +the year preceding May, 1789. Instead of 100_l_., therefore, he will +be satisfied with 50_l_ for that year, provided that this abatement +shall not form a precedent against his claim of 100_l_. annually, if +his further services shall be deemed acceptable. There is one point on +which Dr. T. particularly reserved himself, namely, to make no attack on +Mr. Hastings, and this will be attested by Dr. Parr, Mr. Sheridan, and, +if the Doctor rightly recollects, by Mr. Windham. + +"_Fitzroy-street, 21st July, 1789."_ + +Taking into account all the various circumstances that concurred to +glorify this period of Sheridan's life, we may allow ourselves, I think, +to pause upon it as the apex of the pyramid, and, whether we consider his +fame, his talents, or his happiness, may safely say, "Here is their +highest point." + +The new splendor which his recent triumphs in eloquence had added to a +reputation already so illustrious,--the power which he seemed to have +acquired over the future destinies of the country, by his acknowledged +influence in the councils of the Heir Apparent, and the tribute paid to +him, by the avowal both of friends and foes, that he had used this +influence in the late trying crisis of the Regency, with a judgment and +delicacy that proved him worthy of it,--all these advantages, both +brilliant and solid, which subsequent circumstances but too much tended +to weaken, at this moment surrounded him in their newest lustre and +promise. + +He was just now, too, in the first enjoyment of a feeling, of which habit +must have afterwards dulled the zest, namely, the proud consciousness of +having surmounted the disadvantages of birth and station, and placed +himself on a level with the highest and noblest of the land. This footing +in the society of the great he could only have attained by parliamentary +eminence;--as a mere writer, with all his genius, he never would have +been thus admitted _ad eundem_ among them. Talents, in literature or +science, unassisted by the advantages of birth, may lead to association +with the great, but rarely to equality;--it is a passport through the +well-guarded frontier, but no title to naturalization within. By him, who +has not been born among them, this can only be achieved by politics. In +that arena, which they look upon as their own, the Legislature of the +land, let a man of genius, like Sheridan, but assert his supremacy,--at +once all these barriers of reserve and pride give way, and he takes, by +storm, a station at their side, which a Shakspeare or a Newton would but +have enjoyed by courtesy. + +In fixing upon this period of Sheridan's life, as the most shining aera +of his talents as well as his fame, it is not meant to be denied that in +his subsequent warfare with the Minister, during the stormy time of the +French Revolution, he exhibited a prowess of oratory no less suited to +that actual service, than his eloquence on the trial of Hastings had been +to such lighter tilts and tournaments of peace. But the effect of his +talents was far less striking;--the current of feeling through England +was against him;--and, however greatly this added to the merit of his +efforts, it deprived him of that echo from the public heart, by which the +voice of the orator is endued with a sort of multiplied life, and, as it +were, survives itself. In the panic, too, that followed the French +Revolution, all eloquence, but that from the lips of Power, was +disregarded, and the voice of him at the helm was the only one listened +to in the storm. + +Of his happiness, at the period of which we are speaking, in the midst of +so much success and hope, there can be but little doubt. Though pecuniary +embarrassment, as appears from his papers, had already begun to weave its +fatal net around him, there was as yet little more than sufficed to give +exercise to his ingenuity, and the resources of the Drury-Lane treasury +were still in full nightly flow. The charms, by which his home was +embellished, were such as few other homes could boast; and, if any thing +made it less happy than it ought to be, the cause was to be found in the +very brilliancy of his life and attractions, and in those triumphs out of +the sphere of domestic love, to which his vanity, perhaps, oftener than +his feelings, impelled him. + +Among his own immediate associates, the gaiety of his spirits amounted +almost to boyishness. He delighted in all sorts of dramatic tricks and +disguises; and the lively parties, with which his country-house was +always filled, were kept in momentary expectation of some new device for +their mystification or amusement. [Footnote: To give some idea of the +youthful tone of this society, I shall mention one out of many anecdotes +related to me by persons who themselves been ornaments of it. The ladies +having one evening received the gentlemen in masquerade dresses, which +with their obstinate silence, made it impossible to distinguish one from +the other, the gentlemen, in their turn invited the ladies next evening, +to a similar trial of conjecture on themselves; and notice being given +that they were ready dressed, Mrs. Sheridan and her companions were +admitted into the dining room, where they found a party of Turks, sitting +silent and masked around the table. After a long course of the usual +guesses, examinations, &c, &c., and each lady having taken the arm of the +person she was most sure of, they heard a burst of laughter through the +half open door, and looking there, saw the gentlemen themselves in their +proper person--the masks upon whom they had been lavishing their +sagacity being no other than the maid servants of the house, who had been +thus dressed up to deceive them.] It was not unusual to dispatch a man +and horse seven or eight miles for a piece of crape or a mask, or some +other such trifle for these frolics. His friends Tickell and Richardson, +both men of wit and humor, and the former possessing the same degree of +light animal spirits as himself, were the constant companions of all his +social hours, and kept up with him that ready rebound of pleasantry, +without which the play of wit languishes. + +There is a letter, written one night by Richardson at Tunbridge +[Footnote: In the year 1790, when Mrs. Sheridan was trying the waters of +Tunbridge for her health. In a letter to Sheridan's sister from this +place, dated September 1790, she says: "I drink the waters once a day, +and ride and drive all the forenoon, which makes me ravenous when I +return. I feel I am in very good health, and I am in high beauty, two +circumstances which ought and do put me in high good humor."] (after +waiting five long hours for Sheridan,) so full of that mixture of +melancholy and humor, which chequered the mind of this interesting man, +that, as illustrative of the character of one of Sheridan's most intimate +friends, it may be inserted here:-- + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"_Half-past nine, Mount Ephraim._ + +"After you had been gone an hour or two I got moped damnably. Perhaps +there is a sympathy between the corporeal and the mind's eye. In the +Temple I can't see far before me, and seldom extend my speculations on +things to come into any fatiguing sketch of reflection.--From your +window, however, there was a tedious scope of black atmosphere, that I +think won my mind into a sort of fellow-travellership, pacing me again +through the cheerless waste of the past, and presenting hardly one little +rarified cloud to give a dim ornament to the future;--not a star to be +seen;--no permanent light to gild my horizon;--only the fading helps to +transient gaiety in the lamps of Tunbridge;--no Law coffee-house at hand, +or any other house of relief;--no antagonist to bicker one into a control +of one's cares by a successful opposition, [Footnote: Richardson was +remarkable for his love of disputation; and Tickell, when hard pressed by +him in argument, used often, as a last resource, to assume the voice and +manner of Mr. Fox, which he had the power of mimicking so exactly, that +Richardson confessed he sometimes stood awed and silenced by the +resemblance. + +This disputatious humor of Richardson was once turned to account by +Sheridan in a very characteristic manner. Having had a hackney-coach in +employ for five or six hours, and not being provided with the means of +paying it, he happened to espy Richardson in the street, and proposed to +take him in the coach some part of his way. The offer being accepted, +Sheridan lost no time in starting a subject of conversation, on which he +knew his companion was sure to become argumentative and animated. Having, +by well-managed contradiction, brought him to the proper pitch of +excitement, he affected to grow impatient and angry, himself, and saying +that "he could not think of staying in the same coach with a person that +would use such language," pulled the check-string, and desired the +coachman to let him out. Richardson, wholly occupied with the argument, +and regarding the retreat of his opponent as an acknowledgment of defeat, +still pressed his point, and even hollowed "more last words" through the +coach-window after Sheridan, who, walking quietly home, left the poor +disputant responsible for the heavy fare of the coach.] nor a softer +enemy to soothe one into an oblivion of them. + +"It is damned foolish for ladies to leave their scissors about;--the +frail thread of a worthless life is soon snipped. I wish to God my fate +had been true to its first destination, and made a parson of me;--I +should have made an excellent country Joll. I think I can, with +confidence, pronounce the character that would have been given of me:--He +was an indolent good-humored man, civil at all times, and hospitable at +others, namely, when he was able to be so, which, truth to say, happened +but seldom. His sermons were better than his preaching, and his doctrine +better than his life; though often grave, and sometimes melancholy, he +nevertheless loved a joke,--the more so when overtaken in his cups, +which, a regard to the faith of history compels us to subjoin, fell out +not unfrequently. He had more thought than was generally imputed to him, +though it must be owned no man alive ever exercised thought to so little +purpose. Rebecca, his wife, the daughter of an opulent farmer in the +neighborhood of his small living, brought him eighteen children; and he +now rests with those who, being rather _not_ absolutely vicious than +actively good, confide in the bounty of Providence to strike a mild +average between the contending negations of their life, and to allow them +in their future state, what he ordained them in this earthly pilgrimage, +a snug neutrality and a useless repose.--I had written thus far, +absolutely determined, under an irresistible influence of the megrims, to +set off for London on foot, when, accidentally searching for a +cardialgic, to my great delight, I discovered three fugitive sixpences, +headed by a vagrant shilling, immerged in the heap in my waistcoat +pocket. This discovery gave an immediate elasticity to my mind; and I +have therefore devised a scheme, worthier the improved state of my +spirits, namely, to swindle your servants out of a horse, under the +pretence of a ride upon the heath, and to jog on contentedly homewards. +So, under the protection of Providence, and the mercy of footpads, I +trust we shall meet again to-morrow; at all events, there is nothing +huffish in this; for, whether sad or merry, I am always, + +"Most affectionately yours, + +"J. RICHARDSON. + +"P.S. Your return only confirmed me in my resolution of going; for I had +worked myself, in five hours solitude, into such a state of nervous +melancholy, that I found I could not help the meanness of crying, even if +any one looked me in the face. I am anxious to avoid a regular conviction +of so disreputable an infirmity;--besides, the night has become quite +pleasant." + +Between Tickell and Sheridan there was a never-ending "skirmish of wit," +both verbal and practical; and the latter kind, in particular, was +carried on between them with all the waggery, and, not unfrequently, the +malice of school-boys. [Footnote: On one occasion, Sheridan having +covered the floor of a dark passage, leading from the drawing room, with +all the plates and dishes of the house, ranged closely together, provoked +his unconscious play-fellow to pursue him into the midst of them. Having +left a path for his own escape, he passed through easily, but Tickell, +falling at full length into the ambuscade, was very much cut in several +places. The next day, Lord John Townshend, on paying a visit to the +bed-side of Tickell, found him covered over with patches, and indignantly +vowing vengeance against Sheridan for this unjustifiable trick. In the +midst of his anger, however, he could not help exclaiming, with the true +feeling of an amateur of this sort of mischief, "but how amazingly well +done it was!"] Tickell, much less occupied by business than his friend, +had always some political _jeux d'esprit_ on the anvil; and +sometimes these trifles were produced by them jointly. The following +string of pasquinades so well known in political circles, and written, as +the reader will perceive, at different dates, though principally by +Sheridan, owes some of its stanzas to Tickel, and a few others, I +believe, to Lord John Townshend. I have strung together, without regard +to chronology, the best of these detached lampoons. Time having removed +their venom, and with it, in a great degree, their wit, they are now, +like dried snakes, mere harmless objects of curiosity. + + "Johnny W--lks, Johnny W--lks, [1] + Thou greatest of bilks, + How chang'd are the notes you now sing! + Your fam'd Forty-five + Is Prerogative, + And your blasphemy, 'God save the King,' + Johnny W-lks, + And your blasphemy, 'God save the King.'" + + "Jack Ch--ch--ll, Jack Ch--ch--ll, + The town sure you search ill, + Your mob has disgraced all your brags; + When next you draw out + Your hospital rout, + Do, prithee, afford them clean rags, + Jack Ch--ch--ll, + Do, prithee, afford them clean rags." + + "Captain K--th, Captain K--th, + Keep your tongue 'twixt your teeth, + Lest bed-chamber tricks you betray; + And, if teeth you want more, + Why, my bold Commodore,-- + You may borrow of Lord G--ll--y, + Captain K--th, + You may borrow of Lord G--ll--y." + + [2]"Joe M--wb--y, Joe M--wb--y, + Your throat sure must raw be, + In striving to make yourself heard; + But it pleased not the pigs. + Nor the Westminster Whigs, + That your Knighthood should utter one word, + Joe M--wb--y, + That your Knighthood should utter one word." + + "M--ntm--res, M--ntm--res, + Whom nobody for is, + And _for_ whom we none of us care; + From Dublin you came-- + It had much been the same + If your Lordship had staid where you were, + M--ntm--res, + If your Lordship had staid where you were." + + "Lord O--gl--y, Lord O--gl--y, + You spoke mighty strongly-- + Who you _are_, tho', all people admire! + But I'll let you depart, + For I believe in my heart, + You had rather they did not inquire, + Lord O--gl--y, + You had rather they did not inquire." + + "Gl--nb--e, Gl--nb--e, + What's good for the scurvy? + For ne'er be your old trade forgot-- + In your arms rather quarter + A pestle and mortar, + And your crest be a spruce gallipot, + Gl--nb--e, + And your crest be a spruce gallipot." + + "Gl--nb--e, Gl--nb--e, + The world's topsy-turvy, + Of this truth you're the fittest attester; + For, who can deny + That the Low become High, + When the King makes a Lord of Silvester, + Gl--nb--e, + When the King makes a Lord of Silvester." + + "Mr. P--l, Mr. P--l, + In return for your zeal, + I am told they have dubb'd you Sir Bob; + Having got wealth enough + By coarse Manchester stuff, + For honors you'll now drive a job, + Mr. P--l, + For honors you'll now drive a job." + + "Oh poor B--ks, oh poor B--ks, + Still condemned to the ranks, + Nor e'en yet from a private promoted; + Pitt ne'er will relent, + Though he knows you repent, + Having once or twice honestly voted, + Poor B--ks, + Having once or twice honestly voted." + + "Dull H--l--y, dull H--l--y, + Your audience feel ye + A speaker of very great weight, + And they wish you were dumb, + When, with ponderous hum, + You lengthened the drowsy debate, + Dull H--l--y, + You lengthened the drowsy debate." + +[Footnote 1: In Sheridan's copy of the stanzas written by him in this +metre at the time of the Union, (beginning "Zooks, Harry! zooks, Harry!") +he entitled them, "An admirable new ballad, which goes excellently well +to the tune of + + "Mrs. Arne, Mrs. Arne, + It gives me concern," &c.] + +[Footnote 2: This stanza and, I rather think, the next were by Lord John +Townshend.] + +There are about as many more of these stanzas, written at different +intervals, according as new victims, with good names for rhyming, +presented themselves,--the metre being a most tempting medium for such +lampoons. There is, indeed, appended to one of Sheridan's copies of them, +a long list (like a Tablet of Proscription), containing about fifteen +other names marked out for the same fate; and it will be seen by the +following specimen that some of them had a very narrow escape: + + + "Will C--rt--s...." + + "V--ns--t--t, V--ns--t--t,--for little thou fit art." + + "Will D--nd--s, Will D--nd--s,--were you only an ass." + + "L--ghb--h,--thorough." + + "Sam H--rsl--y, Sam H--rsl--y, ... coarsely." + + "P--ttym--n, P--ttym--n,--speak truth, if you can." + +But it was not alone for such lively purposes [Footnote: As I have been +mentioning some instances of Sheridan's love of practical jests, I shall +take this opportunity of adding one more anecdote, which I believe is +pretty well known, but which I have had the advantage of hearing from the +person on whom the joke was inflicted. + +The Rev. Mr. O'B---- (afterwards Bishop of ----) having arrived to dinner +at Sheridan's country-house, near Osterley, where, as usual, a gay party +was collected, (consisting of General Burgoyne, Mrs. Crewe, Tickell, &c.) +it was proposed that on the next day (Sunday) the Rev. Gentleman should, +on gaining the consent of the resident clergyman, give a specimen of his +talents as a preacher in the village church. On his objecting that he was +not provided with a sermon, his host offered to write one for him, if he +would consent to preach it; and, the offer being accepted, Sheridan left +the company early, and did not return for the remainder of the evening. +The following morning Mr. O'B---- found the manuscript by his bed-side, +tied together neatly (as he described it) with riband;--the subject of +the discourse being the "Abuse of Riches." Having read it over and +corrected some theological errors, (such as "it is easier for a camel, +_as Moses says_," &c.) he delivered the sermon in his most +impressive style, much to the delight of his own party, and to the +satisfaction, as he unsuspectingly flattered himself, of all the rest of +the congregation, among whom was Mr. Sheridan's wealthy neighbor Mr. C---- + +Some months afterwards, however, Mr. O'B---- perceived that the family of +Mr. C----, with whom he had previously been intimate, treated him with +marked coldness; and, on his expressing some innocent wonder at the +circumstance, was at length informed, to his dismay, by General Burgoyne, +that the sermon which Sheridan had written for him was, throughout, a +personal attack upon Mr. C----, who had at that time rendered himself +very unpopular in the neighborhood by some harsh conduct to the poor, and +to whom every one in the church, except the unconscious preacher, applied +almost every sentence of the sermon.] that Sheridan and his two friends +drew upon their joint wits; they had also but too much to do with +subjects of a far different nature)--with debts, bonds, judgments, writs, +and all those other humiliating matters of fact, that bring Law and Wit +so often and so unnaturally in contact. That they were serviceable to +each other, in their defensive alliance against duns, is fully proved by +various documents; and I have now before me articles of agreement, dated +in 1787, by which Tickell, to avert an execution from the Theatre, bound +himself as security for Sheridan in the sum of 250_l_.,--the +arrears of an annuity charged upon Sheridan's moiety of the property. So +soon did those pecuniary difficulties, by which his peace and character +were afterwards undermined, begin their operations. + +Yet even into transactions of this nature, little as they are akin to +mirth, the following letter of Richardson will show that these brother +wits contrived to infuse a portion of gaiety: + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"_Essex-Street, Saturday evening._ + +"I had a terrible long batch with Bobby this morning, after I wrote to +you by Francois. I have so far succeeded that he has agreed to continue +the day of trial as _we_ call it (that is, in vulgar, unlearned +language, to put it off) from Tuesday till Saturday. He demands, as +preliminaries, that Wright's bill of 500_l_. should be given up to +him, as a prosecution had been commenced against him, which, however, he +has stopped by an injunction from the Court of Chancery. This, if the +transaction be as he states it, appears reasonable enough. He insists, +besides, that the bill should undergo the most rigid examination; that +you should transmit your objections, to which he will send answers, (for +the point of a personal interview has not been yet carried,) and that the +whole amount at last, whatever it may be, should have your clear and +satisfied approbation:--nothing to be done without this--almighty honor! + +"All these things being done, I desired to know what was to be the result +at last:--'Surely, after having carried so many points, you will think it +only common decency to relax a little as to the time of payment? You will +not cut your pound of flesh the nearest from the merchant's heart?' To +this Bobides, 'I must have 2000_l_. put in a shape of practicable +use, and payment immediately;--for the rest I will accept security.' This +was strongly objected to by me, as Jewish in the extreme; but, however, +so we parted. You will think with me, I hope, that something has been +done, however, by this meeting. It has opened an access to a favorable +adjustment, and time and trust may do much. I am to see him again on +Monday morning at two, so pray don't go out of town to-morrow without my +seeing you. The matter is of immense consequence. I never knew till +to-day that the process had been going on so long. I am convinced he +could force you to trial next Tuesday with all your infirmities green +upon your head; so pray attend to it. + +"_R. B. Sheridan, Esq._ + +"Yours ever, + +"_Lower Grosvenor-Street_. + +"J. RICHARDSON." + +This letter was written in the year 1792, when Sheridan's involvements +had begun to thicken around him more rapidly. There is another letter, +about the same date, still more characteristic,--where, after beginning +in evident anger and distress of mind, the writer breaks off, as if +irresistibly, into the old strain of playfulness and good humor. + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"_Wednesday, Essex-Street, July 30_. + +"I write to you with more unpleasant feelings than I ever did in my life. +Westly, after having told me for the last three weeks that nothing was +wanting for my accommodation but your consent, having told me so, so late +as Friday, sends me word on Monday that he would not do it at all. In +four days I have a _cognovit_ expires for 200_l_. I can't +suffer my family to be turned into the streets if I can help it. I have +no resource but my abilities, such as they are. I certainly mean to write +something in the course of the summer. As a matter of business and +bargain I _can_ have no higher hope about it than that you won't +suffer by it. However, if you won't take it somebody else _must_, +for no human consideration will induce me to leave any means untried, +that may rescue my family from this impending misfortune. + +"For the sake of convenience you will probably give me the importance of +construing this into an incendiary letter. I wish to God you may, and +order your treasurer to deposit the acceptance accordingly; for nothing +can be so irksome to me as that the nations of the earth should think +there had been any interruption of friendship between you and me; and +though that would not be the case in fact, both being influenced, I must +believe, by a necessity which we could not control, yet the said nations +would so interpret it. If I don't hear from you before Friday, I shall +conclude that you leave me in this dire scrape to shift for myself. + +"_R. B. Sheridan, Esq._ + +"Yours ever, + +"_Isleworth, Middlesex._ + +"J. RICHARDSON." + +_Diben, Friday, 22d._ + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FRENCH REVOLUTION.--MR. BURKE.--HIS BREACH WITH MR. +SHERIDAN.--DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.--MR. BURKE AND MR. FOX.--RUSSIAN +ARMAMENT.--ROYAL SCOTCH BOROUGHS. + + +We have now to consider the conduct and opinions of Mr. Sheridan, during +the measures and discussions consequent upon the French Revolution,--an +event, by which the minds of men throughout all Europe were thrown into a +state of such feverish excitement, that a more than usual degree of +tolerance should be exercised towards the errors and extremes into which +all parties were hurried during the paroxysm. There was, indeed, no rank +or class of society, whose interests and passions were not deeply +involved in the question. The powerful and the rich, both of State and +Church, must naturally have regarded with dismay the advance of a +political heresy, whose path they saw strewed over with the broken +talismans of rank and authority. Many, too, with a disinterested +reverence for ancient institutions, trembled to see them thus approached +by rash hands, whose talents for ruin were sufficiently certain, but +whose powers of reconstruction were yet to be tried. On the other hand, +the easy triumph of a people over their oppressors was an example which +could not fail to excite the hopes of the many as actively as the fears +of the few. The great problem of the natural rights of mankind seemed +about to be solved in a manner most flattering to the majority; the zeal +of the lover of liberty was kindled into enthusiasm, by a conquest +achieved for his cause upon an arena so vast; and many, who before would +have smiled at the doctrine of human perfectibility, now imagined they +saw, in what the Revolution performed and promised, almost enough to +sanction the indulgence of that splendid dream. It was natural, too, that +the greater portion of that unemployed, and, as it were, homeless talent, +which, in all great communities, is ever abroad on the wing, uncertain +where to settle, should now swarm round the light of the new +principles,--while all those obscure but ambitious spirits, who felt +their aspirings clogged by the medium in which they were sunk, would as +naturally welcome such a state of political effervescence, as might +enable them, like enfranchised air, to mount at once to the surface. + +Amidst all these various interests, imaginations, and fears, which were +brought to life by the dawn of the French Revolution, it is not +surprising that errors and excesses, both of conduct and opinion, should +be among the first products of so new and sudden a movement of the whole +civilized world;--that the friends of popular rights, presuming upon the +triumph that had been gained, should, in the ardor of pursuit, push on +the vanguard of their principles, somewhat farther than was consistent +with prudence and safety; or that, on the other side, Authority and its +supporters, alarmed by the inroads of the Revolutionary spirit, should +but the more stubbornly intrench themselves in established abuses, and +make the dangers they apprehended from liberty a pretext for assailing +its very existence. + +It was not long before these effects of the French Revolution began to +show themselves very strikingly in the politics of England; and, +singularly enough, the two extreme opinions, to which, as I have just +remarked, that disturbing event gave rise, instead of first appearing, as +might naturally be expected, the one on the side of Government, and the +other on that of the Opposition, both broke out simultaneously in the +very heart of the latter body. + +On such an imagination as that of Burke, the scenes now passing in France +were every way calculated to make a most vivid impression. So susceptible +was he, indeed, of such impulses, and so much under the control of the +imaginative department of his intellect, that, whatever might have been +the accidental mood of his mind, at the moment when this astounding event +first burst upon him, it would most probably have acted as a sort of +mental catalepsy, and fixed his reason in the very attitude in which it +found it. He had, however, been prepared for the part which he now took +by much more deep and grounded causes. It was rather from circumstances +than from choice, or any natural affinity, that Mr. Burke had ever +attached himself to the popular party in politics. There was, in truth, +nothing democratic about him but his origin;--his tastes were all on the +side of the splendid and the arbitrary. The chief recommendation of the +cause of India to his fancy and his feeling was that it involved the fate +of ancient dynasties, and invoked retribution for the downfall of thrones +and princedoms, to which his imagination, always most affected by objects +at a distance, lent a state and splendor that did not, in sober reality, +belong to them. Though doomed to make Whiggism his habitual haunt, he +took his perch at all times on its loftiest branches, as far as possible +away from popular contact; and, upon most occasions, adopted a sort of +baronial view of liberty, as rather a question lying between the Throne +and the Aristocracy, than one in which the people had a right to any +efficient voice or agency. Accordingly, the question of Parliamentary +Reform, from the first moment of its agitation, found in him a most +decided opponent. + +This inherent repugnance to popular principles became naturally +heightened into impatience and disgust, by the long and fruitless warfare +which he had waged under their banner, and the uniform ill success with +which they had blasted all his struggles for wealth and power. Nor was he +in any better temper with his associates in the cause,--having found that +the ascendancy, which he had formerly exercised over them, and which, in +some degree, consoled him for the want of official dominion, was of late +considerably diminished, if not wholly transferred to others. Sheridan, +as has been stated, was the most prominent object of his jealousy;--and +it is curious to remark how much, even in feelings of this description, +the aristocratical bias of his mind betrayed itself. For, though Mr. Fox, +too, had overtaken and even passed him in the race, assuming that station +in politics which he himself had previously held, yet so paramount did +those claims of birth and connection, by which the new leader came +recommended, appear in his eyes, that he submitted to be superseded by +him, not only without a murmur, but cheerfully. To Sheridan, however, who +had no such hereditary passport to pre-eminence, he could not give way +without heart burning and humiliation; and to be supplanted thus by a +rival son of earth seemed no less a shock to his superstitious notions +about rank, than it was painful to his feelings of self-love and pride. + +Such, as far as can be ascertained by a distant observer of those times, +was the temper in which the first events of the Revolution found the mind +of this remarkable man;--and, powerfully as they would, at any time, have +appealed to his imagination and prejudices, the state of irritability to +which he had been wrought by the causes already enumerated peculiarly +predisposed him, at this moment, to give way to such impressions without +restraint, and even to welcome as a timely relief to his pride, the +mighty vent thus afforded to the "_splendida bilis_" with which it +was charged. + +There was indeed much to animate and give a zest to the new part which he +now took. He saw those principles, to which he owed a deep grudge, for +the time and the talents he had wasted in their service, now embodied in +a shape so wild and alarming, as seemed to justify him, on grounds of +public safety, in turning against them the hole powers of his mind, and +thus enabled him, opportunely, to dignify desertion, by throwing the +semblance of patriotism and conscientiousness round the reality of +defection and revenge. He saw the party, too, who, from the moment they +had ceased to be ruled by him, were associated only in his mind with +recollections of unpopularity and defeat, about to adopt a line of +politics which his long knowledge of the people of England, and his +sagacious foresight of the consequences of the French Revolution, fully +convinced him would lead to the same barren and mortifying results. On +the contrary, the cause to which he proffered his alliance, would, he was +equally sure, by arraying on its side all the rank, riches, and religion +of Europe, enable him at length to feel that sense of power and triumph, +for which his domineering spirit had so long panted in vain. In this +latter hope, indeed, of a speedy triumph over Jacobinism, his +temperament, as was often the case, outran his sagacity; for, while he +foresaw clearly that the dissolution of social order in France would at +last harden into a military tyranny, he appeared not to be aware that the +violent measures which he recommended against her would not only hasten +this formidable result, but bind the whole mass of the people into union +and resistance during the process. + +Lastly--To these attractions, of various kinds, with which the cause of +Thrones was now encircled in the eyes of Burke, must be added one, which, +however it may still further disenchant our views of his conversion, +cannot wholly be omitted among the inducements to his change,--and this +was the strong claim upon the gratitude of government, which his +seasonable and powerful advocacy in a crisis so difficult established for +him, and which the narrow and embarrassed state of his circumstances +rendered an object by no means of secondary importance in his views. +Unfortunately,--from a delicate wish, perhaps, that the reward should +not appear to come in too close coincidence with the service,--the +pension bestowed upon him arrived too late to admit of his deriving much +more from it than the obloquy by which it was accompanied. + +The consequence, as is well known, of the new course taken by Burke was +that the speeches and writings which he henceforward produced, and in +which, as usual, his judgment was run away with by his temper, form a +complete contrast, in spirit and tendency, to all that he had put on +record in the former part of his life. He has, indeed, left behind him +two separate and distinct armories of opinion, from which both Whig and +Tory may furnish themselves with weapons, the most splendid, if not the +most highly tempered, that ever Genius and Eloquence have condescended to +bequeath to Party. He has thus too, by his own personal versatility, +attained, in the world of politics, what Shakspeare, by the versatility +of his characters, achieved for the world in general,--namely, such a +universality of application to all opinions and purposes, that it would +be difficult for any statesman of any party to find himself placed in any +situation, for which he could not select some golden sentence from Burke, +either to strengthen his position by reasoning or illustrate and adorn it +by, fancy. While, therefore, our respect for the man himself is +diminished by this want of moral identity observable through his life and +writings, we are but the more disposed to admire that unrivalled genius, +which could thus throw itself out in so many various directions with +equal splendor and vigor. In general, political deserters lose their +value and power in the very act, and bring little more than their treason +to the new cause which they espouse:-- + + + _"Fortis in armis + Caesaris Labienus erat; nunc transfuga vilis."_ + + +But Burke was mighty in either camp; and it would have taken _two_ +great men to effect what he, by this division of himself achieved. His +mind, indeed, lies parted asunder in his works, like some vast continent +severed by a convulsion of nature,--each portion peopled by its own giant +race of opinions, differing altogether in features and language, and +committed in eternal hostility with each other. + +It was during the discussions on the Army Estimates, at the commencement +of the session of 1790, that the difference between Mr. Burke and his +party in their views of the French Revolution first manifested itself. +Mr. Fox having taken occasion to praise the late conduct of the French +Guards in refusing to obey the dictates of the Court, and having declared +that he exulted, "both from feelings and from principles," in the +political change that had been brought about in that country, Mr. Burke, +in answering him, entered fully, and, it must be owned, most luminously +into the question,--expressing his apprehension, lest the example of +France, which had, at a former period, threatened England with the +contagion of despotism, should now be the means of introducing among her +people the no less fatal taint of Democracy and Atheism. After some +eloquent tributes of admiration to Mr. Fox, rendered more animated, +perhaps, by the consciousness that they were the last offerings thrown +into the open grave of their friendship, he proceeded to deprecate the +effects which the language of his Right Honorable Friend might have, in +appearing to countenance the disposition observable among "some wicked +persons" to "recommend an imitation of the French spirit of Reform," and +then added a declaration, equally remarkable for the insidious charge +which it implied against his own party, and the notice of his approaching +desertion which it conveyed to the other,--that "so strongly opposed was +he to any the least tendency towards the _means_ of introducing a +democracy like that of the French, as well as to the _end_ itself, +that, much as it would afflict him, if such a thing should be attempted, +and that any friend of his could concur in such measures (he was far, +very far, from believing they could), he would abandon his best friends, +and join with his worst enemies to oppose either the means or the end." + +It is pretty evident, from these words, that Burke had already made up +his mind as to the course he should pursue, and but delayed his +declaration of a total breach, in order to prepare the minds of the +public for such an event, and, by waiting to take advantage of some +moment of provocation, make the intemperance of others responsible for +his own deliberate schism. The reply of Mr. Fox was not such as could +afford this opportunity;--it was, on the contrary, full of candor and +moderation, and repelled the implied charge of being a favorer of the new +doctrines of France in the most decided, but, at the same time, most +conciliatory terms. + +"Did such a declaration," he asked, "warrant the idea that he was a +friend to Democracy? He declared himself equally the enemy of all +absolute forms of government, whether an absolute Monarchy, an absolute +Aristocracy, or an absolute Democracy. He was adverse to all extremes, +and a friend only to a mixed government like our own, in which, if the +Aristocracy, or indeed either of the three branches of the Constitution, +were destroyed, the good effect of the whole, and the happiness derived +under it would, in his mind, be at an end." + +In returning, too, the praises bestowed upon him by his friend, he made +the following memorable and noble acknowledgment of all that he himself +had gained by their intercourse:-- + +"Such (he said) was his sense of the judgment of his Right Honorable +Friend, such his knowledge of his principles, such the value which he set +upon them, and such the estimation in which he held his friendship, that +if he were to put all the political information which he had learned from +books, all which he had gained from science, and all which any knowledge +of the world and its affairs had taught him, into one scale, and the +improvement which he had derived from his Right Honorable Friend's +instruction and conversation were placed in the other, he should be at a +loss to decide to which to give the preference." + +This, from a person so rich in acquirements as Mr. Fox, was the very +highest praise,--nor, except in what related to the judgment and +principles of his friend, was it at all exaggerated. The conversation of +Burke must have been like the procession of a Roman triumph, exhibiting +power and riches at every step--occasionally, perhaps, mingling the low +Fescennine jest with the lofty music of its march, but glittering all +over with the spoils of the whole ransacked world. + +Mr. Burke, in reply, after reiterating his praises of Mr. Fox, and the +full confidence which he felt in his moderation and sagacity, professed +himself perfectly satisfied with the explanations that had been given. +The conversation would thus have passed off without any explosion, had +not Sheridan, who was well aware that against him, in particular, the +charge of a tendency to the adoption of French principles was directed, +risen immediately after, and by a speech warmly in favor of the +Revolution and of the National Assembly, at once lighted the train in the +mind of Burke, and brought the question, as far as regarded themselves, +to an immediate issue. + +"He differed," he said, "decidedly, from his Right Honorable Friend in +almost every word that be had uttered respecting the French Revolution. +He conceived it to be as just a Revolution as ours, proceeding upon as +sound a principle and as just a provocation. He vehemently defended the +general views and conduct of the National Assembly. He could not even +understand what was meant by the charges against them of having +overturned the laws, the justice, and the revenues of their country. What +were their laws? the arbitrary mandates of capricious despotism. What +their justice? the partial adjudications of venal magistrates. What their +revenues? national bankruptcy. This he thought the fundamental error of +his Right Honorable Friend's argument, that he accused the National +Assembly of creating the evils, which they had found existing in full +deformity at the first hour of their meeting. The public creditor had +been defrauded; the manufacturer was without employ; trade was +languishing; famine clung upon the poor; despair on all. In this +situation, the wisdom and feelings of the nation were appealed to by the +government; and was it to be wondered at by Englishmen, that a people, so +circumstanced, should search for the cause and source of all their +calamities, or that they should find them in the arbitrary constitution +of their government, and in the prodigal and corrupt administration of +their revenues? For such an evil when proved, what remedy could be +resorted to, but a radical amendment of the frame and fabric of the +Constitution itself? This change was not the object and wish of the +National Assembly only; it was the claim and cry of all France, united as +one man for one purpose." + +All this is just and unanswerable--as indeed was the greater part of the +sentiments which he uttered. But he seems to have failed, even more +signally than Mr. Fox, in endeavoring to invalidate the masterly view +which Burke had just taken of the Revolution of 1688, as compared, in its +means and object, with that of France. There was, in truth, but little +similarity between them,--the task of the former being to preserve +liberty, that of the latter to destroy tyranny; the one being a regulated +movement of the Aristocracy against the Throne for the Nation, the other +a tumultuous rising of the whole Nation against both for itself. + +The reply of Mr. Burke was conclusive and peremptory,--such, in short, +as might be expected from a person who came prepared to take the first +plausible opportunity of a rupture. He declared that "henceforth, his +Honorable Friend and he were separated in politics,"--complained that his +arguments had been cruelly misrepresented, and that "the Honorable +Gentleman had thought proper to charge him with being the advocate of +despotism." Having endeavored to defend himself from such an imputation, +he concluded by saying,-- + +"Was that a fair and candid mode of treating his arguments? or was it +what he ought to have expected _in the moment of departed +friendship?_ On the contrary, was it not evident that the Honorable +Gentleman had made a sacrifice of his friendship, for the sake of +catching some momentary popularity? If the fact were such, even greatly +as he should continue to admire the Honorable Gentleman's talents, he +must tell him that his argument was chiefly an argument _ad +invidiam_, and all the applause for which he could hope from clubs was +scarcely worth the sacrifice which he had chosen to make for so +insignificant an acquisition." + +I have given the circumstances of this Debate somewhat in detail, not +only on account of its own interest and of the share which Mr. Sheridan +took in it, but from its being the first scene of that great political +schism, which in the following year assumed a still more serious aspect, +and by which the policy of Mr. Pitt at length acquired a predominance, +not speedily to be forgotten in the annals of this country. + +Mr. Sheridan was much blamed for the unseasonable stimulant which, it was +thought, his speech on this occasion had administered to the temper of +Burke; nor can it be doubted that he had thereby, in some degree, +accelerated the public burst of that feeling which had so long been +treasured up against himself But, whether hastened or delayed, such a +breach was ultimately inevitable; the divergence of the parties once +begun, it was in vain to think of restoring their parallelism. That some +of their friends, however, had more sanguine hopes appears from an effort +which was made, within two days after the occurrence of this remarkable +scene, to effect a reconciliation between Burke and Sheridan. The +interview that took place on that occasion is thus described by Mr. +Dennis O'Brien, one of the persons chiefly instrumental in the +arrangements for it:-- + +"It appeared to the author of this pamphlet [Footnote: Entitled "Utrum +Horum."] that the difference between these two great men would be a great +evil to the country and to their own party. Full of this persuasion he +brought them both together the second night after the original contest in +the House of Commons; and carried them to Burlington House to Mr. Fox and +the Duke of Portland, according to a previous arrangement. This +interview, which can never be forgotten by those who were present, lasted +from ten o'clock at night until three in the morning, and afforded a very +remarkable display of the extraordinary talents of the parties." + +It will easily be believed that to the success of this conciliatory +effort the temper on one side would be a greater obstacle than even the +hate on both. Mr. Sheridan, as if anxious to repel from himself the +suspicion of having contributed to its failure, took an opportunity, +during his speech upon the Tobacco Act, in the month of April following, +to express himself in the most friendly terms of Mr. Burke, as "one, for +whose talents and personal virtue he had the highest esteem, veneration, +and regard, and with whom he might be allowed to differ in opinion upon +the subject of France, persuaded, as he was, that they never could differ +in principle." Of this and some other compliments of a similar nature, +Mr. Burke did not deign to take the slightest notice--partly, from an +implacable feeling towards him who offered them, and partly, perhaps, +from a suspicion that they were intended rather for the ears of the +public than his own, and that, while this tendency to conciliation +appeared on the surface, the under-current of feeling and influence set +all the other way. + +Among the measures which engaged the attention of Mr. Sheridan during +this session, the principal was a motion of his own for the repeal of the +Excise Duties on Tobacco, which appears to have called forth a more than +usual portion of his oratory,--his speeches on the subject occupying +nearly forty pages. It is upon topics of this unpromising kind, and from +the very effort, perhaps, to dignity and enliven them, that the peculiar +characteristics of an orator are sometimes most racily brought out. To +the Cider Tax we are indebted for one of the grandest bursts of the +constitutional spirit and eloquence of Lord Chatham; and, in these +orations of Sheridan upon Tobacco, we find examples of the two extreme +varieties of his dramatic talent--both of the broad, natural humor of his +farce, and the pointed, artificial wit of his comedy. For instance, in +representing, as one of the abuses that might arise from the +discretionary power of remitting fines to manufacturers, the danger that +those only should feel the indulgence, who were found to be supporters of +the existing administration, [Footnote: A case of this kind formed the +subject of a spirited Speech of Mr. Windham, in 1792. See his Speeches, +vol. i. p. 207.] he says:-- + +"Were a man whose stock had increased or diminished beyond the standard +table in the Act, to attend the Commissioners and assure them that the +weather alone had caused the increase or decrease of the article, and +that no fraud whatever had been used on the occasion, the Commissioners +might say to him, 'Sir, you need not give yourself so much trouble to +prove your innocence;--we see honesty in your orange cape.' But should a +person of quite a different side in politics attend for the same purpose, +the Commissioners might say, 'Sir, you are not to be believed; we see +fraud in your blue and buff, and it is impossible that you should not be +a smuggler." + +Again, in stating the case between the manufacturers and the Minister, +the former of whom objected to the Bill altogether, while the latter +determined to preserve its principle and only alter its form, he says:-- + +"The manufacturers ask the Right Honorable Gentleman, if he will consent +to give up the principle? The Right Honorable Gentleman answers, 'No; the +principle must not be abandoned, but do you inform me how I shall alter +the Bill.' This the manufacturers refused; and they wisely refused it in +his opinion; for, what was it but the Minister's saying, 'I have a yoke +to put about your necks,--do you help me in fitting it on--only assist +me with your knowledge of the subject, and I'll fit you with the +prettiest pair of fetters that ever were seen in the world.'" + +As a specimen of his quaint and far-sought witticisms, the following +passage in the same speech may vie with Trip's "Post-Obit on the blue and +silver, &c."--Having described the effects of the weather in increasing +or decreasing the weight of the stock, beyond the exact standard +established in the Act, he adds, + +"The Commissioners, before they could, in justice, levy such fines, ought +to ascertain that the weather is always in that precise state of heat or +cold which the Act supposed it would be. They ought to make Christmas +give security for frost, take a bond for hot weather from August, and +oblige damps and fogs to take out permits." + +It was in one of these speeches on the Tobacco Act, that he adverted with +considerable warmth to a rumor, which, he complained, had been +maliciously circulated, of a misunderstanding between himself and the +Duke of Portland, in consequence (as the Report expresses it) of "a +certain opposition affirmed to have been made by this Noble Duke, to some +views or expectations which he (Mr. Sheridan) was said to have +entertained." After declaring that "there was not in these rumors one +grain of truth," he added that-- + +"He would not venture to state to the Committee the opinion that the +Noble Duke was pleased to entertain of him, lest he should be accused of +vanity in publishing what he might deem highly flattering. All that he +would assert on this occasion was, that if he had it in his power to make +the man whose good opinion he should most highly prize think flatteringly +of him, he would have that man think of him precisely as the Noble Duke +did, and then his wish on that subject would be most amply gratified." + +As it is certain, that the feelings which Burke entertained towards +Sheridan were now in some degree shared by all those who afterwards +seceded from the party, this boast of the high opinion of the Duke of +Portland must be taken with what, in Heraldry, is called +_Abatement_--that is, a certain degree of diminution of the +emblazonry. + +Among the papers of Mr. Sheridan, I find a letter addressed to him this +year by one of his most distinguished friends, relative to the motions +that had lately been brought forward for the relief of the Dissenters. +The writer, whose alarm for the interest of the Church had somewhat +disturbed his sense of liberality and justice, endeavors to impress upon +Mr. Sheridan, and through him upon Mr. Fox, how undeserving the +Dissenters were, as a political body, of the recent exertions on their +behalf, and how ungratefully they had more than once requited the +services which the Whigs had rendered them. For this latter charge there +was but too much foundation in truth, however ungenerous might be the +deduction which the writer would draw from it. It is, no doubt, natural +that large bodies of men, impatiently suffering under the ban of +disqualification, should avail themselves, without much regard to persons +or party, of every aid they can muster for their cause, and should (to +use the words of an old Earl of Pembroke) "lean on both sides of the +stairs to get up." But, it is equally natural that the occasional +desertion and ingratitude, of which, in pursuit of this selfish policy, +they are but too likely to be guilty towards their best friends, should, +if not wholly indispose the latter to their service, at least +considerably moderate their zeal in a cause, where all parties alike seem +to be considered but as instruments, and where neither personal +predilections nor principle are regarded in the choice of means. To the +great credit, however, of the Whig party, it must be said, that, though +often set aside and even disowned by their clients, they have rarely +suffered their high duty, as advocates, to be relaxed or interrupted by +such momentary suspensions of confidence. In this respect, the cause of +Ireland has more than once been a trial of their constancy. Even Lord +North was able, by his reluctant concessions, to supersede them for a +time in the favor of my too believing countrymen,--whose despair of +finding justice at any hands has often led them thus to carry their +confidence to market, and to place it in the hands of the first plausible +bidder. The many vicissitudes of popularity which their own illustrious +Whig, Grattan, had to encounter, would have wearied out the ardor of any +less magnanimous champion. But high minds are as little affected by such +unworthy returns for services, as the sun is by those fogs which the +earth throws up between herself and his light. + +With respect to the Dissenters, they had deserted Mr. Fox in his great +struggle with the Crown in 1784, and laid their interest and hopes at the +feet of the new idol of the day. Notwithstanding this, we find him, in +the year 1787, warmly maintaining, and in opposition to his rival, the +cause of the very persons who had contributed to make that rival +triumphant,--and showing just so much remembrance of their late defection +as served to render this sacrifice of personal to public feelings more +signal. "He was determined," he said, "to let them know that, though they +could upon some occasions lose sight of their principles of liberty, he +would not upon any occasion lose sight of his principles of toleration." +In the present session, too, notwithstanding that the great organ of the +Dissenters, Dr. Price, had lately in a sermon, published with a view to +the Test, made a pointed attack on the morals of Mr. Fox and his friends, +this generous advocate of religious liberty not the less promptly acceded +to the request of the body, that he would himself bring the motion for +their relief before the House. + +On the 12th of June the Parliament was dissolved,--and Mr. Sheridan again +succeeded in being elected for Stafford. The following letters, however, +addressed to him by Mrs. Sheridan during the election, will prove that +they were not without some apprehensions of a different result. The +letters are still more interesting, as showing how warmly alive to each +other's feelings the hearts of both husband wife could remain, after the +long lapse of near twenty years, and after trials more fatal to love than +even time itself. + +"This letter will find you, my dear Dick. I hope, encircled with honors +at Stafford. I take it for granted you entered it triumphantly on Sunday, +--but I am very impatient to hear the particulars, and of the utter +discomfiture of S---- and his followers. I received your note from +Birmingham this morning, and am happy to find that you and my dear cub +were well, so far on your journey. You could not be happier than I should +be in the proposed alteration for Tom, but we will talk more of this when +we meet. I sent you Cartwright yesterday, and to-day I pack you off Perry +with the soldiers. I was obliged to give them four guineas for their +expenses. I send you, likewise, by Perry, the note from Mrs. Crewe, to +enable you to speak of your qualification if you should be called upon. +So I think I have executed all your commissions, Sir; and if you want any +of these doubtful votes which I mentioned to you, you will have time +enough to send for them, for I would not let them go till I hear they can +be of any use. + +"And, now for my journal, Sir, which I suppose you expect. Saturday, I +was at home all day busy for you,--kept Mrs. Reid to dinner,--went to the +Opera,--afterwards to Mrs. St. John's, where I lost my money sadly, +Sir,--eat strawberries and cream for supper,--sat between Lord Salisbury +and Mr. Meynell, (hope you approve of that, Sir,)--overheard Lord +Salisbury advise Miss Boyle by no means to subscribe to Taylor's Opera, +as O'Reilly's would certainly have the patent,--confess I did not come +home till past two. Sunday, called on Lady Julia,--father and Mr. Reid to +dinner,--in the evening at Lady Hampden's,--lost my money again, Sir, +and came home by one o'clock. 'Tis now near one o'clock,--my father is +established in my boudoir, and, when I have finished this, I am going +with him to hear Abbé Vogler play on the Stafford organ. I have promised +to dine with Mrs. Crewe, who is to have a female party only,--no +objection to that, I suppose. Sir? Whatever the party do, I shall do of +course,--I suppose it will end in Mrs. Hobart's. Mr. James told me on +Saturday, and I find it is the report of the day, that Bond Hopkins has +gone to Stafford. I am sorry to tell you there is an opposition at York, +Mr. Montague opposes Sir Willam Milner. Mr. Beckford has given up at +Dover, and Lord ** is so provoked at it, that he has given up too, though +they say they were both sure. St. Ives is gone for want of a candidate. +Mr. Barham is beat at Stockbridge. Charles Lenox has offered for Surry, +and they say Lord Egremont might drive him to the deuce, if he would set +any body up against him. You know, I suppose, Mr. Crewe has likewise an +opponent. I am sorry to tell you all this bad news, and, to complete it, +Mr. Adam is sick in bed, and there is nobody to do any good left in town. + +"I am more than ever convinced we must look to other resources for wealth +and independence, and consider politics merely as an amusement,--and in +that light 'tis best to be in Opposition, which I am afraid we are likely +to be for some years again. + +"I see the rumors of war still continue--Stocks continue to fall--is that +good or bad for the Ministers? The little boys are come home to me +to-day. I could not help showing in my answer to Mr. T's letter, that I +was hurt at his conduct,--so I have got another flummery letter, and the +boys, who (as he is pretty sure) will be the best peace-makers. God bless +you, my dear Dick. I am very well, I assure you; pray don't neglect to +write to your ever affectionate + +"E. S." + +"MY DEAREST DICK, + +"_Wednesday_. + +"I am full of anxiety and fright about you.--I cannot but think your +letters are very alarming. Deuce take the Corporation! is it impossible +to make them resign their pretensions, and make peace with the Burgesses? +I have sent Thomas after Mr. Cocker. I suppose you have sent for the +out-votes; but, if they are not good, what a terrible expense will that +be!--however, they are ready. I saw Mr. Cocker yesterday,--he collected +them together last night, and gave them a treat,--so they are in high +good humor. I inclose you a letter which B. left here last night,--I +could not resist opening it. Every thing seems going wrong. I think. I +thought he was not to do anything in your absence.--It strikes me the bad +business he mentions was entirely owing to his own stupidity, and want of +a little patience,--is it of much consequence? I don't hear that the +report is true of Basilico's arrival;--a messenger came to the Spanish +embassy, which gave rise to this tale, I believe. + +"If you were not so worried, I should scold you for the conclusion of +your letter of to-day. Might not I as well accuse you of coldness, for +not filling your letter with professions, at a time when your head must +be full of business? I think of nothing all day long, but how to do good, +some how or other, for you. I have given you a regular Journal of my +time, and all to please you,--so don't, dear Dick, lay so much stress on +words. I should use them oftener, perhaps, but I feel as if it would look +like deceit. You know me well enough, to be sure that I can never do what +I'm bid, Sir,--but, pray, don't think I meant to send you a cold letter, +for indeed nothing was ever farther from my heart. + +"You will see Mr. Horne Tooke's advertisement to-day in the papers;--what +do you think of that to complete the thing? Bishop Dixon has just called +from the hustings:--he says the late Recorder. Adair, proposed Charles +with a good speech, and great applause,--Captain Berkeley, Lord Hood, +with a bad speech, not much applauded; and then Horne Tooke came forward, +and, in the most impudent speech that ever was heard, proposed +himself,--abused both the candidates, and said he should have been +ashamed to have sat and heard such ill-deserved praises given him. But he +told the crowd that, since so many of these fine virtues and +qualifications had never yet done them the least good, they might as well +now choose a candidate without them. He said, however, that if they were +sincere in their professions of standing alone, he was sure of coming in, +for they must all give him their second votes. There was an amazing deal +of laughing and noise in the course of his speech. Charles Fox attempted +to answer him, and so did Lord Hood,--but they would hear neither, and +they are now polling away. + +"Do, my dearest love, if you have possibly time, write me a few more +particulars, for your letters are very unsatisfactory, and I am full of +anxiety. Make Richardson write,--what has he better to do? God bless +thee, my dear, dear Dick,--would it were over and all well! I am afraid, +at any rate, it will be ruinous work. + +"Ever your true and affectionate + +"E. S. + +"_Near five_. I am just come from the hustings;--the state of the +poll when I left it was, Fox, 260; Hood, 75; Home Tooke, 17! But he still +persists in his determination of polling a man an hour for the whole +time--I saw Mr. Wilkes go up to vote for Tooke and Hood, amidst the +hisses and groans of a multitude," + +"My poor Dick, how you are worried! This is the day.--you will easily +guess how anxious I shall be; but you seem pretty sanguine yourself, +which is my only comfort, for Richardson's letter is rather croaking. You +have never said a word of little Monkton:--has he any chance, or none? I +ask questions without considering that, before you receive this, every +thing will be decided--I hope triumphantly for you. What a sad set of +venal rascals your favorites the Blacks must be, to turn so suddenly from +their professions and promises! I am half sorry you have any thing more +to do with them, and more than ever regret you did not stand for +Westminster with Charles, instead of Lord John;--in that case you would +have come in now, and we should not have been persecuted by this Horne +Tooke. However, it is the dullest contested election that ever was +seen--no canvassing, no houses open, no cockades. But I heard that a +report prevails now, that Horne Tooke polling so few the two or three +first days is an artful trick to put the others off their guard, and that +he means to pour in his votes on the last days, when it will be too late +for them to repair their neglect. But I don't think it possible, either, +for such a fellow to beat Charles in Westminster. + +"I have just had a note from Reid--he is at Canterbury:--the state of the +poll there, Thursday night, was as follows:--Gipps, 220; Lord * *, 211; +Sir T. Honeywood, 216; Mr. Warton, 163. We have got two members for +Wendover, and two at Ailsbury. Mr. Barham is beat at Stockbridge. Mr. +Tierney says he shall be beat, owing to Bate Dudley's manoeuvres, and the +Dissenters having all forsaken him,--a set of ungrateful wretches. E. +Fawkener has just sent me a state of the poll at Northampton, as it stood +yesterday, when they adjourned to dinner:--Lord Compton, 160; Bouverie, +98; Colonel Manners, 72. They are in hopes Mr. Manners will give up, this +is all my news, Sir. + +"We had a very pleasant musical party last night at Lord Erskine's, where +I supped. I am asked to dine to-day with Lady Palmerston, at Sheen; but I +can't go, unless Mrs. Crewe will carry me, as the coach is gone to have +its new lining. I have sent to ask her, for 'tis a fine day, and I should +like it very well. God thee bless, my dear Dick. + +"Yours ever, true and affectionate, + +"E.S. + +"Duke of Portland has just left me:--he is full of anxiety about you:-- +this is the second time he has called to inquire." + +Having secured his own election, Mr. Sheridan now hastened to lend his +aid, where such a lively reinforcement was much wanted, on the hustings +at Westminster. The contest here was protracted to the 2d of July; and it +required no little exercise both of wit and temper to encounter the cool +personalities of Tooke, who had not forgotten the severe remarks of +Sheridan upon his pamphlet the preceding year, and who, in addition to +his strong powers of sarcasm, had all those advantages which, in such a +contest, contempt for the courtesies and compromises of party warfare +gives. Among other sallies of his splenetic humor it is related, that Mr. +Fox having, upon one occasion, retired from the hustings, and left to +Sheridan the task of addressing the multitude, Tooke remarked, that such +was always the practice of quack-doctors, who, whenever they quit the +stage themselves, make it a rule to leave their merry-andrews behind. +[Footnote: Tooke, it is said, upon coming one Monday morning to the +hustings, was thus addressed by a pietism of his opponent, not of a very +reputable character--"Well, Mr. Tooke, you will have all the blackguards +with you to day"--"I am delighted to hear it, Sir," (said Tooke, bowing,) +"and from such good authority."] + +The French Revolution still continued, by its comet-like course, to +dazzle, alarm, and disturb all Europe. Mr. Burke had published his +celebrated "Reflections" in the month of November, 1790; and never did +any work, with the exception, perhaps, of the Eikon Basilike, produce +such a rapid, deep, and general sensation. The Eikon was the book of a +King, and this might, in another sense, be called the Book of Kings. Not +only in England, but throughout all Europe,--in every part of which +monarchy was now trembling for its existence,--this lofty appeal to +loyalty was heard and welcomed. Its effect upon the already tottering +Whig party was like that of "the Voice," in the ruins of Rome, +"disparting towers." The whole fabric of the old Rockingham confederacy +shook to its base. Even some, who afterwards recovered their equilibrium, +at first yielded to the eloquence of this extraordinary book,--which, +like the aera of chivalry, whose loss it deplores, mixes a grandeur with +error, and throws a charm round political superstition, that will long +render its pages a sort of region of Royal romance, to which fancy will +have recourse for illusions that have lost their last hold on reason. + +The undisguised freedom with which Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan expressed +every where their opinions of this work and its principles had, of +course, no small influence on the temper of the author, and, while it +confirmed him in his hatred and jealousy of the one, prepared him for the +breach which he meditated with the other. This breach was now, indeed, +daily expected, as a natural sequel to the rupture with Mr. Sheridan in +the last session; but, by various accidents and interpositions, the +crisis was delayed till the 6th of May, when the recommitment of the +Quebec Bill,--a question upon which both orators had already taken +occasion to unfold their views of the French Revolution,--furnished Burke +with an opportunity, of which he impetuously took advantage, to sever the +tie between himself and Mr. Fox forever. + +This scene, so singular in a public assembly, where the natural +affections are but seldom called out, and where, though bursts of temper +like that of Burke are common, such tears as those shed by Mr. Fox are +rare phenomena,--has been so often described in various publications, +that it would be superfluous to enter into the details of it here. The +following are the solemn and stern words in which sentence of death was +pronounced upon a friendship, that had now lasted for more than the +fourth part of a century. "It certainly," said Mr. Burke, "was +indiscretion at any period, but especially at his time of life, to +provoke enemies, or to give his friends occasion to desert him; yet, if +his firm and steady adherence to the British Constitution placed him in +such a dilemma, he would risk all, and, as public duty and public +prudence taught him, with his last words exclaim, 'Fly from the French +Constitution.'" [Mr. Fox here whispered, that "there was no loss of +friendship."] Mr. Burke said, "Yes, there _was_ a loss of +friendship;--he knew the price of his conduct;--he had done his duty at +the price of his friend; their friendship was at an end." + +In rising to reply to the speech of Burke, Mr. Fox was so affected as to +be for some moments unable to speak:--he wept, it is said, even to +sobbing; and persons who were in the gallery at the time declare, that, +while he spoke, there was hardly a dry eye around them. + +Had it been possible for two natures so incapable of disguise--the one +from simplicity and frankness, the other from ungovernable temper,--to +have continued in relations of amity, notwithstanding their disagreement +upon a question which was at that moment setting the world in arms, both +themselves and the country would have been the better for such a +compromise between them. Their long habits of mutual deference would have +mingled with and moderated the discussion of their present differences; +--the tendency to one common centre to which their minds had been +accustomed, would have prevented them from flying so very widely asunder; +and both might have been thus saved from those extremes of principle, +which Mr. Burke always, and Mr. Fox sometimes, had recourse to in +defending their respective opinions, and which, by lighting, as it were, +the torch at both ends, but hastened a conflagration in which Liberty +herself might have been the sufferer. But it was evident that such a +compromise would have been wholly impossible. Even granting that Mr. +Burke did not welcome the schism as a relief, neither the temper of the +men nor the spirit of the times, which converted opinions at once into +passions, would have admitted of such a peaceable counterbalance of +principles, nor suffered them long to slumber in that hollow truce, which +Tacitus has described,--"_manente in speciem amicitia_" Mr. +Sheridan saw this from the first; and, in hazarding that vehement speech, +by which he provoked the rupture between himself and Burke, neither his +judgment nor his temper were so much off their guard as they who blamed +that speech seemed inclined to infer. But, perceiving that a separation +was in the end inevitable, he thought it safer, perhaps, as well as +manlier, to encounter the extremity at once, than by any temporizing +delay, or too complaisant suppression of opinion, to involve both himself +and Mr. Fox in the suspicion of either sharing or countenancing that +spirit of defection, which, he saw, was fast spreading among the rest of +their associates. + +It is indeed said, and with every appearance of truth, that Mr. Sheridan +had felt offended by the censures which some of his political friends had +pronounced upon the indiscretion (as it was called) of his speech in the +last year, and that, having, in consequence, withdrawn from them the aid +of his powerful talents during a great part of the present session, he +but returned to his post under the express condition, that he should be +allowed to take the earliest opportunity of repeating, fully and +explicitly, the same avowal of his sentiments. + +The following letter from Dr. Parr to Mrs. Sheridan, written immediately +after the scene between Burke and Sheridan in the preceding year, is +curious:-- + +"DEAR MADAM, + +"I am most fixedly and most indignantly on the side of Mr. Sheridan and +Mr. Fox against Mr. Burke. It is not merely French politics that produced +this dispute;--they might have been settled privately. No, no,--there is +jealousy lurking underneath;--jealousy of Mr. Sheridan's eloquence; +--jealousy of his popularity;--jealousy of his influence with Mr. +Fox;--jealousy, perhaps, of his connection with the Prince. + +"Mr. Sheridan was, I think, not too warm; or, at least, I should have +myself been warmer. Why, Burke accused Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan of acts +leading to rebellion,--and he made Mr. Fox a dupe, and Mr. Sheridan a +traitor! I think _this_,--and I am sure, yes, positively sure, that +nothing else will allay the ferment of men's minds. Mr. Sheridan ought, +publicly in Parliament, to demand proof, or a retractation, of this +horrible charge. Pitt's words never did the party half the hurt;--and, +just on the eve of an election, it is worse. As to private bickerings, or +private concessions and reconciliations, they are all nothing. In public +all must be again taken up; for, if drowned, the Public will say, and +Pitt will insinuate, that the charge is well founded, and that they dare +not provoke an inquiry. + +"I know Burke is not addicted to giving up,--and so much the worse for +him and his party. As to Mr. Fox's yielding, well had it been for all, +all, all the party, if Mr. Fox had, now and then, stood out against Mr. +Burke. The ferment and alarm are universal, and something must be done; +for it is a conflagration in which they must perish, unless it be +stopped. All the papers are with Burke,--even the Foxite papers, which I +have seen. I know his violence, and temper, and obstinacy of opinion, +and--but I will not speak out, for, though I think him the greatest man +upon the earth, yet, in politics I think him,--what he has been found, to +the sorrow of those who act with him. He is uncorrupt, I know; but his +passions are quite headstrong; [Footnote: It was well said, (I believe, +by Mr. Fox,) that it was lucky both for Burke and Windham that they took +the Royal side on the subject of the French Revolution, as they would +have got hanged on the other.] and age, and disappointment, and the sight +of other men rising into fame and consequence, sour him. Pray tell me +when they are reconciled,--though, as I said, it is nothing to the +purpose without a public explanation. + +"I am, dear Madam, + +"Yours truly, + +"S. PARR." + +Another letter, communicated to me as having been written about this +period to Sheridan by a Gentleman, then abroad, who was well acquainted +with the whole party, contains allusions to the breach, which make its +introduction here not irrelevant:-- + +"I wish very much to have some account of the state of things with you +that I can rely on. I wish to know how all my old companions and +fellow-laborers do; if the club yet exists; if you, and Richardson, and +Lord John, and Ellis, and Lawrence, and Fitzpatrick, &c., meet, and joke, +and write, as of old. What is become of Becket's, and the +supper-parties,--the _noctes coenaeque_? Poor Burgoyne! I am sure +you all mourned him as I did, particularly Richardson:--pray remember me +affectionately to Richardson. It is a shame for you all, and I will say +ungrateful in many of you, to have so totally forgotten me, and to leave +me in ignorance of every thing public and private in which I am +interested. The only creature who writes to me is the Duke of Portland; +but in the great and weighty occupations that engross his mind, you can +easily conceive that the little details of our Society cannot enter into +His Grace's correspondence. I have indeed carried on a pretty regular +correspondence with young Burke. But that is now at an end. _He_ is +so wrapt up in the importance of his present pursuits, that it is too +great an honor for me to continue to correspond with him. His father I +ever must venerate and ever love; yet I never could admire, even in him, +what his son has inherited from him, a tenacity of opinion and a violence +of _principle_, that makes him lose his friendships in his politics, +and quarrel with every one who differs from him. Bitterly have I lamented +that greatest of these quarrels, and, indeed, the only important one; nor +can I conceive it to have been less afflicting to my private feelings +than fatal to the party. The worst of it to me was, that I was obliged to +condemn the man I loved, and that all the warmth of my affection, and the +zeal of my partiality, could not suggest a single excuse to vindicate him +either to the world or to myself, from the crime (for such it was) of +giving such a triumph to the common enemy. He failed, too, in what I most +loved him for,--his heart. There it was that _Mr. Fox principally rose +above him_; nor, amiable as he ever has been, did he ever appear half +so amiable as on that trying occasion." + +The topic upon which Sheridan most distinguished himself during this +Session was the meditated interference of England in the war between +Russia and the Porte,--one of the few measures of Mr. Pitt on which the +sense of the nation was opposed to him. So unpopular, indeed, was the +Armament, proposed to be raised for this object, and so rapidly did the +majority of the Minister diminish during the discussion of it, that there +appeared for some time a probability that the Whig party would be called +into power,--an event which, happening at this critical juncture, might, +by altering the policy of England, have changed the destinies of all +Europe. + +The circumstance to which at present this Russian question owes its chief +hold upon English memories is the charge, arising out of it, brought +against Mr. Fox of having sent Mr. Adair as his representative to +Petersburg, for the purpose of frustrating the objects for which the +King's ministers were then actually negotiating. This accusation, though +more than once obliquely intimated during the discussions upon the +Russian Armament in 1791, first met the public eye, in any tangible form, +among those celebrated Articles of Impeachment against Mr. Fox, which +were drawn up by Burke's practised hand [Footnote: This was the third +time that his talent for impeaching was exercised, as he acknowledged +having drawn up, during the administration of Lord North, seven distinct +Articles of Impeachment against that nobleman, which, however, the advice +of Lord Rockingham induced him to relinquish] in 1793, and found their +way surreptitiously into print in 1797. The angry and vindictive tone of +this paper was but little calculated to inspire confidence in its +statements, and the charge again died away, unsupported and unrefuted, +till the appearance of the Memoirs of Mr. Pitt by the Bishop of +Winchester; when, upon the authority of documents said to be found among +the papers of Mr. Pitt, but not produced, the accusation was +revived,--the Right Reverend biographer calling in aid of his own view of +the transaction the charitable opinion of the Turks, who, he complacently +assures us, "expressed great surprise that Mr. Fox had not lost his head +for such conduct." Notwithstanding, however, this _Concordat_ +between the Right Reverend Prelate and the Turks, something more is still +wanting to give validity to so serious an accusation. Until the +production of the alleged proofs (which Mr. Adair has confidently +demanded) shall have put the public in possession of more recondite +materials for judging, they must regard as satisfactory and conclusive +the refutation of the whole charge, both as regards himself and his +illustrious friend, which Mr. Adair has laid before the world; and for +the truth of which not only his own high character, but the character of +the ministries of both parties, who have since employed him in missions +of the first trust and importance, seem to offer the strongest and most +convincing pledges. + +The Empress of Russia, in testimony of her admiration of the eloquence of +Mr. Fox on this occasion, sent an order to England, through her +ambassador, for a bust of that statesman, which it was her intention, she +said, to place between those of Demosthenes and Cicero. The following is +a literal copy of Her Imperial Majesty's note on the subject: [Footnote: +Found among Mr. Sheridan's papers, with these words, in his own +hand-writing, annexed:--"N. B. Fox would have lost it, if I had not made +him look for it, and taken a copy."]-- + +"Ecrivés au Cte. Worenzof qu'il me fasse avoir en marbre blanc le Buste +resemblant de Charle Fox. Je veut le mettre sur ma Colonade entre eux de +Demosthene et Ciceron. + +"Il a delivré par son eloquence sa Patrie et la Russie d'une guerre a la +quelle il n'y avoit ni justice ni raisons." + +Another subject that engaged much of the attention of Mr. Sheridan this +year was his own motion relative to the constitution of the Royal Scotch +Boroughs. He had been, singularly enough, selected, in the year 1787, by +the Burgesses of Scotland, in preference to so many others possessing +more personal knowledge of that country, to present to the House the +Petition of the Convention of Delegates, for a Reform of the internal +government of the Royal Boroughs. How fully satisfied they were with his +exertions in their cause may be judged by the following extract from the +Minutes of Convention, dated 11th August, 1791:-- + +"Mr. Mills of Perth, after a suitable introductory speech, moved a vote +of thanks to Mr. Sheridan, in the following words:-- + +"The Delegates of the Burgesses of Scotland, associated for the purpose +of Reform, taking into their most serious consideration the important +services rendered to their cause by the manly and prudent exertions of +Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq., the genuine and fixed attachment to it +which the whole tenor of his conduct has evinced, and the admirable +moderation he has all along displayed, + +"Resolved unanimously, That the most sincere thanks of this meeting be +given to the said Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq., for his steady, +honorable, and judicious conduct in bringing the question relative to the +violated rights of the Scottish Boroughs to its present important and +favorable crisis; and the Burgesses with firm confidence hope that, from +his attachment to the cause, which he has shown to be deeply rooted in +principle, he will persevere to exert his distinguished, abilities, till +the objects of it are obtained, with that inflexible firmness, and +constitutional moderation, which have appeared so conspicuous and +exemplary throughout the whole of his conduct, as to be highly deserving +of the imitation of all good citizens. + +"JOHN EWEN, Secretary." + +From a private letter written this year by one of the Scottish Delegates +to a friend of Mr. Sheridan, (a copy of which letter I have found among +the papers of the latter,) it appears that the disturbing effects of Mr. +Burke's book had already shown themselves so strongly among the Whig +party as to fill the writer with apprehensions of their defection, even +on the safe and moderate question of Scotch Reform. He mentions one +distinguished member of the party, who afterwards stood conspicuously in +the very van of the Opposition, but who at that moment, if the authority +of the letter may be depended upon, was, like others, under the spell of +the great Alarmist, and yielding rapidly to the influence of that +anti-revolutionary terror, which, like the Panic dignified by the +ancients with the name of one of their Gods, will be long associated in +the memories of Englishmen with the mighty name and genius of Burke. A +consultation was, however, held among this portion of the party, with +respect to the prudence of lending their assistance to the measure of +Scotch Reform; and Sir James Mackintosh, as I have heard him say, was in +company with Sheridan, when Dr. Lawrence came direct from the meeting, to +inform him that they had agreed to support his motion. + +The state of the Scotch Representation is one of those cases where a +dread of the ulterior objects of Reform induces many persons to oppose +its first steps, however beneficial and reasonable they may deem them, +rather than risk a further application of the principle, or open a breach +by which a bolder spirit of innovation may enter. As it is, there is no +such thing as popular election in Scotland. We cannot, indeed, more +clearly form to ourselves a notion of the manner in which so important a +portion of the British empire is represented, than by supposing the Lords +of the Manor throughout England to be invested with the power of electing +her representatives,--the manorial rights, too, being, in a much greater +number of instances than at present, held independently of the land from +which they derive their claim, and thus the natural connection between +property and the right of election being, in most cases, wholly +separated. Such would be, as nearly as possible, a parallel to the system +of representation now existing in Scotland;--a system, which it is the +understood duty of all present and future Lord Advocates to defend, and +which neither the lively assaults of a Sheridan nor the sounder reasoning +and industry of an Abercrombie have yet been able to shake. + +The following extract from another of the many letters of Dr. Parr to +Sheridan shows still further the feeling entertained towards Burke, even +by some of those who most violently differed with him:-- + +"During the recess of Parliament I hope you will read the mighty work of +my friend and your friend, and Mr. Fox's friend, Mackintosh: there is +some obscurity and there are many Scotticisms in it; yet I do pronounce +it the work of a most masculine and comprehensive mind. The arrangement +is far more methodical than Mr. Burke's, the sentiments are more +patriotic, the reasoning is more profound, and even the imagery in some +places is scarcely less splendid. I think Mackintosh a better +philosopher, and a better citizen, and I know him to be a far better +scholar and a far better man, than Payne; in whose book there are great +irradiations of genius, but none of the glowing and generous warmth which +virtue inspires; that warmth which is often kindled in the bosom of +Mackintosh, and which pervades almost every page of Mr. Burke's +book--though I confess, and with sorrow I confess, that the holy flame +was quite extinguished in his odious altercation with you and Mr. Fox." + +A letter from the Prince of Wales to Sheridan this year furnishes a new +proof of the confidence reposed in him by His Royal Highness. A question +of much delicacy and importance having arisen between that Illustrious +Personage and the Duke of York, of a nature, as it appears, too urgent to +wait for a reference to Mr. Fox, Sheridan had alone the honor of advising +His Royal Highness in the correspondence that took place between him and +his Royal Brother on that occasion. Though the letter affords no +immediate clue to the subject of these communications, there is little +doubt that they referred to a very important and embarrassing question, +which is known to have been put by the Duke of York to the Heir-Apparent, +previously to his own marriage this year;--a question which involved +considerations connected with the Succession to the Crown, and which the +Prince, with the recollection of what occurred on the same subject in +1787, could only get rid of by an evasive answer. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +DEATH OF MRS. SHERIDAN. + + +In the year 1792, after a long illness, which terminated in consumption, +Mrs. Sheridan died at Bristol, in the thirty-eighth year of her age. + +There has seldom, perhaps, existed a finer combination of all those +qualities that attract both eye and heart, than this accomplished and +lovely person exhibited. To judge by what we hear, it was impossible to +see her without admiration, or know her without love; and a late Bishop +used to say that she "seemed to him the connecting link between woman and +angel." [Footnote: Jackson of Exeter, too, giving a description of her, +in some Memoirs of his own Life that were never published, said that to +see her, as she stood singing beside him at the piano-forte, was "like +looking into the face of an angel."] The devotedness of affection, too, +with which she was regarded, not only by her own father and sisters, but +by all her husband's family, showed that her fascination was of that best +kind which, like charity, "begins at home;" and that while her beauty and +music enchanted the world, she had charms more intrinsic and lasting for +those who came nearer to her. We have already seen with what pliant +sympathy she followed her husband through his various pursuits,-- +identifying herself with the politician as warmly and readily +as with the author, and keeping Love still attendant on Genius through +all his transformations. As the wife of the dramatist and manager, we +find her calculating the receipts of the house, assisting in the +adaptation of her husband's opera, and reading over the plays sent in by +dramatic candidates. As the wife of the senator and orator we see her, +with no less zeal, making extracts from state-papers, and copying out +ponderous pamphlets,--entering with all her heart and soul into the +details of elections, and even endeavoring to fathom the mysteries of the +Funds. The affectionate and sensible care with which she watched over, +not only her own children, but those which her beloved sister, Mrs. +Tickell, confided to her, in dying, gives the finish to this picture of +domestic usefulness. When it is recollected, too, that the person thus +homelily employed was gifted with every charm that could adorn and +delight society, it would be difficult, perhaps, to find any where a more +perfect example of that happy mixture of utility and ornament, in which +all that is prized by the husband and the lover combines, and which +renders woman what the Sacred Fire was to the Parsees,--not only an +object of adoration on their altars, but a source of warmth and comfort +to their hearths. + +To say that, with all this, she was not happy, nor escaped the censure of +the world, is but to assign to her that share of shadow, without which +nothing bright ever existed on this earth. United not only by marriage, +but by love, to a man who was the object of universal admiration, and +whose vanity and passions too often led him to yield to the temptations +by which he was surrounded, it was but natural that, in the consciousness +of her own power to charm, she should be now and then piqued into an +appearance of retaliation, and seem to listen with complaisance to some +of those numerous worshippers, who crowd around such beautiful and +unguarded shrines. Not that she was at any time unwatched by +Sheridan,--on the contrary, he followed her with a lover's eyes +throughout; and it was believed of both, by those who knew them best, +that, even when they seemed most attracted by other objects, they would +willingly, had they consulted the real wishes of their hearts, have given +up every one in the world for each other. So wantonly do those, who have +happiness in their grasp, trifle with that rare and delicate treasure, +till, like the careless hand playing with the rose, + + + "In swinging it rudely, too rudely, alas, + They snap it--it falls to ground." + + +They had, immediately after their marriage, as we have seen, passed some +time in a little cottage at Eastburnham, and it was a period, of course, +long remembered by them both for its happiness. I have been told by a +friend of Sheridan, that he once overheard him exclaiming to himself, +after looking for some moments at his wife, with a pang, no doubt, of +melancholy self-reproach,--"Could anything bring back those first +feelings?" then adding with a sigh, "Yes, perhaps, the cottage at +Eastburnham might." In this as well as in some other traits of the same +kind, there is assuredly any thing but that common-place indifference, +which too often clouds over the evening of married life. On the contrary, +it seems rather the struggle of affection with its own remorse; and, like +the humorist who mourned over the extinction of his intellect so +eloquently as to prove that it was still in full vigor, shows love to be +still warmly alive in the very act of lamenting its death. + +I have already presented the reader with some letters of Mrs. Sheridan, +in which the feminine character of her mind very interestingly displays +itself. Their chief charm is unaffectedness, and the total absence of +that literary style, which in the present day infects even the most +familiar correspondence. I shall here give a few more of her letters, +written at different periods to the elder sister of Sheridan,--it being +one of her many merits to have kept alive between her husband and his +family, though so far separated, a constant and cordial intercourse, +which, unluckily, after her death, from his own indolence and the new +connections into which he entered, was suffered to die away, almost +entirely. The first letter, from its allusion to the Westminster +Scrutiny, must have been written in the year 1784, Mr. Fox having gained +his great victory over Sir Cecil Wray on the 17th of May, and the +Scrutiny having been granted on the same day. + +"MY DEAR LISSY, + +"_London, June 6._ + +"I am happy to find by your last that our apprehensions on Charles's +account were useless. The many reports that were circulated here of his +accident gave us a good deal of uneasiness; but it is no longer wonderful +that he should be buried here, when Mr. Jackman has so barbarously +murdered him with you. I fancy he would risk another broken head, rather +than give up his title to it as an officer of the Crown. We go on here +wrangling as usual, but I am afraid all to no purpose. Those who are in +possession of power are determined to use it without the least pretence +to justice or consistency. They have ordered a Scrutiny for Westminster, +in defiance of all law or precedent, and without any other hope or +expectation but that of harassing and tormenting Mr. Fox and his friends, +and obliging them to waste their time and money, which perhaps they think +might otherwise be employed to a better purpose in another cause. We have +nothing for it but patience and perseverance, which I hope will at last +be crowned with success, though I fear it will be a much longer trial +than we at first expected. I hear from every body that your ... are +vastly disliked--but are you not all kept in awe by such beauty? I know +she flattered herself to subdue all your Volunteers by the fire of her +eyes only:--how astonished she must be to find that they have not yet +laid down their arms! There is nothing would tempt me to trust my sweet +person upon the water sooner than the thoughts of seeing you; but I fear +my friendship will hardly ever be put to so hard a trial. Though Sheridan +is not in office, I think he is more engaged by politics than ever. + +"I suppose we shall not leave town till September. We have promised to +pay many visits, but I fear we shall be obliged to give up many of our +schemes, for I take it for granted Parliament will meet again as soon as +possible. We are to go to Chatsworth, and to another friend of mine in +that neighborhood, so that I doubt our being able to pay our annual visit +to Crewe Hall. Mrs. Crewe has been very ill all this winter with your old +complaint, the rheumatism--she is gone to Brightelmstone to wash it away +in the sea. Do you ever see Mrs. Greville? I am glad to hear my two +nephews are both in so thriving a way. Are you still a nurse? I should +like to take a peep at your bantlings. Which is the handsomest? have you +candor enough to think any thing equal to your own boy? if you have, you +have more merit than I can claim. Pray remember me kindly to Bess, Mr. +L., &c., and don't forget to kiss the little squaller for me when you +have nothing better to do. God bless you. + +"Ever yours." + +"The inclosed came to Dick in one of Charles's franks; he said he should +write to you himself with it, but I think it safest not to trust him." + +In another letter, written in the same year, there are some touches both +of sisterly and of conjugal feeling, which seem to bespeak a heart happy +in all its affections. + +"MY DEAR LISSY, + +_Putney, August 16._ + +"You will no doubt be surprised to find me still dating from this place, +but various reasons have detained me here from day to day, to the great +dissatisfaction of my dear Mary, who has been expecting me hourly for the +last fortnight. I propose going to Hampton-Court tonight, if Dick returns +in any decent time from town. + +"I got your letter and a half the day before yesterday, and shall be very +well pleased to have such blunders occur more frequently. You mistake, if +you suppose I am a friend to your tarrers and featherers:--it is such +wretches that always ruin a good cause. There is no reason on earth why +you should not have a new Parliament as well as us:--it might not, +perhaps, be quite as convenient to our immaculate Minister, but I +sincerely hope he will not find your Volunteers so accommodating as the +present India troops in our House of Commons. What! does the Secretary at +War condescend to reside in any house but his own?--'Tis very odd he +should turn himself out of doors in his situation. I never could perceive +any economy in dragging furniture from one place to another; but, of +course, he has more experience in these matters than I have. + +"Mr. Forbes dined here the other day, and I had a great deal of +conversation with him on various subjects relating to you all. He says, +Charles's manner of talking of his wife, &c. is so ridiculous, that, +whenever he comes into company, they always cry out,--'Now S----a, we +allow you half an hour to talk of the beauties of Mrs. S.----, half an hour +to your child, and another half hour to your farm,--and then we expect +you will behave like a reasonable person.' + +"So Mrs. ---- is not happy: poor thing, I dare say, if the truth were +known, he teazes her to death. Your _very good_ husbands generally +contrive to make you sensible of their merit somehow or other. + +"From a letter Mr. Canning has just got from Dublin, I find you have been +breaking the heads of some of our English heroes. I have no doubt in the +world that they deserved it; and if half a score more that I know had +shared the same fate, it might, perhaps become less the fashion among our +young men to be such contemptible coxcombs as they certainly are. + +"My sister desired me to say all sorts of affectionate things to you, in +return for your kind remembrance of her in your last. I assure you, you +lost a great deal by not seeing her in her maternal character:--it is the +prettiest sight in the world to see her with her children:--they are both +charming creatures, but my little namesake is my delight:--'tis +impossible to say how foolishly fond of her I am. Poor Mary! she is in a +way to have more;--and what will become of them all is sometimes a +consideration that gives me many a painful hour. But _they_ are +happy, with _their_ little portion of the goods of this +world:--then, what are riches good for? For my part, as you know, poor +Dick and I have always been struggling against the stream, and shall +probably continue to do so to the end of our lives,--yet we would not +change sentiments or sensations with ... for all his estate. By the bye, +I was told t'other day he was going to receive eight thousand pounds as a +compromise for his uncle's estate, which has been so long in +litigation;--is it true?--I dare say it is, though, or he would not be so +discontented as you say he is. God bless you.--Give my love to Bess, and +return a kiss to my nephew for me. Remember me to Mr. L. and believe me + +"Truly yours." + +The following letter appears to have been written in 1785, some months +after the death of her sister, Miss Maria Linley. Her playful allusions +to the fame of her own beauty might have been answered in the language of +Paris to Helen:-- + + + "_Minor est tua gloria vero + Famaque de forma pene maligna est_." + + "Thy beauty far outruns even rumor's tongue, + And envious fame leaves half thy charms unsung." + + +"MY DEAR LISSY, + +"_Delapre Abbey, Dec. 27._ + +"Notwithstanding your incredulity, I assure you I wrote to you from +Hampton-Court, very soon after Bess came to England. My letter was a +dismal one; for my mind was at that time entirely occupied by the +affecting circumstance of my poor sister's death. Perhaps you lost +nothing by not receiving my letter, for it was not much calculated to +amuse you. + +"I am still a recluse, you see, but I am preparing to _launch_ for +the winter in a few days. Dick was detained in town by a bad fever:--you +may suppose I was kept in ignorance of his situation, or I should not +have remained so quietly here. He came last week, and the fatigue of the +journey very nearly occasioned a relapse:--but by the help of a jewel of +a doctor that lives in this neighborhood we are both quite stout and well +again, (for _I_ took it into my head to fall sick again, too, +without rhyme or reason.) + +"We purpose going to town to-morrow or next day. Our own house has been +painting and papering, and the weather has been so unfavorable to the +business, that it is probable it will not be fit for us to go into this +month; we have, therefore, accepted a most pressing invitation of General +Burgoyne to take up our abode with him, till our house is ready; so your +next must be directed to Bruton-Street, under cover to Dick, unless +Charles will frank it again. I don't believe what you say of Charles's +not being glad to have seen me in Dublin. You are very flattering in the +reasons you give, but I rather think his vanity would have been more +gratified by showing every body how much prettier and younger his wife +was than the Mrs. Sheridan in whose favor they have been prejudiced by +your good-natured partiality. If I could have persuaded myself to trust +the treacherous ocean, the pleasure of seeing you and your nursery would +have compensated for all the fame I should have lost by a comparison. But +my guardian sylph, vainer of my beauty, perhaps, than myself, would not +suffer me to destroy the flattering illusion _you_ have so often +displayed to your Irish friends. No,--I shall stay till I am past all +pretensions, and then you may excuse your want of taste by saying, 'Oh, +if you had seen her when she was young!' + +"I am very glad that Bess is satisfied with my attention to her. The +unpleasant situation I was in prevented my seeing her as often as I could +wish. For _her_ sake I assure you I shall be glad to have Dick and +your father on good terms, without entering into any arguments on the +subject; but I fear, where _one_ of the parties, at least, has a +_tincture_ of what they call in Latin _damnatus obstinatus +mulio_, the attempt will be difficult, and the success uncertain. God +bless you, and believe me + +"_Mrs. Lefanu, Great Cuff-Street, Dublin_. + +"Truly yours." + +The next letter I shall give refers to the illness with which old Mr. +Sheridan was attacked in the beginning of the year 1788, and of which he +died in the month of August following. It is unnecessary to direct the +reader's attention to the passages in which she speaks of her lost +sister, Mrs. Tickell, and her children:--they have too much of the +heart's best feelings in them to be passed over slightly. + +"MY DEAR LISSY, + +"_London, April 5._ + +"Your last letter I hope was written when you were low spirited, and +consequently inclined to forebode misfortune. I would not show it to +Sheridan:--he has lately been much harassed by business, and I could not +bear to give him the pain I know your letter would have occasioned. +Partial as your father has always been to Charles, I am confident +_he_ never has, nor ever will feel half the duty and affections that +Dick has always exprest. I know how deeply he will be afflicted, if you +confirm the melancholy account of his declining health;--but I trust your +next will remove my apprehensions, and make it unnecessary for me to +wound his affectionate heart by the intelligence. I flatter myself +likewise, that you have been without reason alarmed about poor Bess. Her +life, to be sure, must be dreadful;--but I should hope the good nature +and kindness of her disposition will support her, and enable her to +continue the painful duty so necessary, probably, to the comfort of your +poor father. If Charles has not or does not do every thing in his power +to contribute to the happiness of the few years which nature can allow +him, he will have more to answer to his conscience than I trust any of +those dear to me will have. Mrs. Crewe told us, the other day, she had +heard from Mrs. Greville, that every thing was settled much to your +father's satisfaction. I _will_ hope, therefore, as I have said +before, you were in a gloomy fit when you wrote, and in the mean time I +will congratulate you on the recovery of your own health and that of your +children. + +"I have been confined now near two months:--I caught cold almost +immediately on coming to town, which brought on all those dreadful +complaints with which I was afflicted at Crewe-Hall. By constant +attention and strict regimen I am once more got about again; but I never +go out of my house after the sun is down, and on those terms only can I +enjoy tolerable health. I never knew Dick better. My dear boy is now with +me for his holydays, and a charming creature he is, I assure you, in +every respect. My sweet little charge, too, promises to reward me for all +my care and anxiety. The little ones come to me every day, though they do +not at present live with me. We think of taking a house in the country +this summer as necessary for my health and convenient to S., who must be +often in town. I shall then have _all_ the children with me, as they +now constitute a very great part of my happiness. The scenes of sorrow +and sickness I have lately gone through have depressed my spirits, and +made me incapable of finding pleasure in the amusements which used to +occupy me perhaps too much. My greatest delight is in the reflection that +I am acting according to the wishes of my ever dear and lamented sister, +and that by fulfilling the sacred trust bequeathed me in her last +moments, I insure my own felicity in the grateful affection of the sweet +creatures,--whom, though I love for their own sakes, I idolize when I +consider them as the dearest part of her who was the first and nearest +friend of my heart! God bless you, my dear Liss:--this is a subject that +always carries me away. I will therefore bid you adieu,--only entreating +you as soon as you can to send me a more comfortable letter. My kind love +to Bess, and Mr. L. + +"Yours, ever affectionately." + +I shall give but one more letter; which is perhaps only interesting as +showing how little her heart went along with the gayeties into which her +husband's connection with the world of fashion and politics led her. + +"MY DEAR LISSY, + +"_May 23._ + +"I have only time at present to write a few lines at the request of Mrs. +Crewe, who is made very unhappy by an account of Mrs. Greville's illness, +as she thinks it possible Mrs. G. has not confessed the whole of her +situation. She earnestly wishes you would find out from Dr. Quin what the +nature of her complaint is, with every other particular you can gather on +the subject, and give me a line as soon as possible. + +"I am very glad to find your father is better. As there has been a recess +lately from the Trial, I thought it best to acquaint Sheridan with his +illness. I hope now, however, there is but little reason to be alarmed +about him. Mr. Tickell has just received an account from Holland, that +poor Mrs. Berkeley, (whom you know best as Betty Tickell,) was at the +point of death in a consumption. + +"I hope in a very short time now to get into the country. The Duke of +Norfolk has lent us a house within twenty miles of London; and I am +impatient to be once more out of this noisy, dissipated town, where I do +nothing that I really like, and am forced to appear pleased with every +thing odious to me. God bless you. I write in the hurry of dressing for a +great ball given by the Duke of York to night, which I had determined not +to go to till late last night, when I was persuaded that it would be very +improper to refuse a Royal invitation, if I was not absolutely confined +by illness. Adieu. Believe me truly yours. + +"You must pay for this letter, for Dick has got your last with the +direction; and any thing in his hands is _irrecoverable_!" + +The health of Mrs. Sheridan, as we see by some of her letters, had been +for some time delicate; but it appears that her last, fatal illness +originated in a cold, which she had caught in the summer of the preceding +year. Though she continued from that time to grow gradually worse, her +friends were flattered with the hope that as soon as her confinement +should take place, she would be relieved from all that appeared most +dangerous in her complaint. That event, however, produced but a temporary +intermission of the malady, which returned after a few days with such +increased violence, that it became necessary for her, as a last hope, to +try the waters of Bristol. + +The following affectionate letter of Tickell must have been written at +this period:-- + +"MY DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"I was but too well prepared for the melancholy intelligence contained in +your last letter, in answer to which, as Richardson will give you this, I +leave it to his kindness to do me justice in every sincere and +affectionate expression of my grief for your situation, and my entire +readiness to obey and further your wishes by every possible exertion. + +"If you have any possible opportunity, let me entreat you to remember me +to the dearest, tenderest friend and sister of my heart. Sustain +yourself, my dear Sheridan, + +"And believe me yours, + +"Most affectionately and faithfully, + +"R. TICKELL." + +The circumstances of her death cannot better be told than in the language +of a lady whose name it would be an honor to mention, who, giving up all +other cares and duties, accompanied her dying friend to Bristol, and +devoted herself, with a tenderness rarely equalled even among women, to +the soothing and lightening of her last painful moments. From the letters +written by this lady at the time, some extracts have lately been given by +Miss Lefanu [Footnote: The talents of this young lady are another proof +of the sort of _garet kind_ of genius allotted to the whole race of +Sheridan. I find her very earliest poetical work, "The Sylphid Queen," +thus spoken of in a letter from the second Mrs. Sheridan to her mother, +Mrs. Lefanu--"I should have acknowledged your very welcome present +immediately, had not Mr. Sheridan, on my telling him what it was, run off +with it, and I have been in vain endeavoring to get it from him ever +since. What little I did read of it, I admired particularly, but it will +be much more gratifying to you and your daughter to hear that _he_ +read it with the greatest attention, and thought it showed a great deal +of imagination."] in her interesting Memoirs of her grandmother, Mrs. +Frances Sheridan. But their whole contents are so important to the +characters of the persons concerned, and so delicately draw aside the +veil from a scene of which sorrow and affection were the only witnesses, +that I feel myself justified not only in repeating what has already been +quoted, but in adding a few more valuable particulars, which, by the +kindness of the writer and her correspondent, I am enabled to give from +the same authentic source. The letters are addressed to Mrs. H. Lefanu, +the second sister of Mr. Sheridan. + +"_Bristol, June 1, 1792._ + + * * * * * + +"I am happy to have it in my power to give you any information on a +subject so interesting to you, and to all that have the happiness of +knowing dear Mrs. Sheridan; though I am sorry to add, it cannot be such +as will relieve your anxiety, or abate your fears. The truth is, our poor +friend is in a most precarious state of health, and quite given over by +the faculty. Her physician here, who is esteemed very skilful in +consumptive cases, assured me from the first that it was a _lost +case_; but as your brother seemed unwilling to know the truth, he was +not so explicit with him, and only represented her as being in a very +critical situation. Poor man! he cannot bear to think her in danger +himself, or that any one else should; though he is as attentive and +watchful as if he expected every moment to be her last. It is impossible +for any man to behave with greater tenderness, or to feel more on such an +occasion, than he does. + + * * * * * + +"At times the dear creature suffers a great deal from weakness, and want +of rest. She is very patient under her sufferings, and perfectly +resigned. She is well aware of her danger, and talks of dying with the +greatest composure. I am sure it will give you and Mr. Lefanu pleasure to +know that her mind is well prepared for any change that may happen, and +that she derives every comfort from religion that a sincere Christian can +look for." + +On the 28th of the same month Mrs. Sheridan died; and a letter from this +lady, dated July 19th, thus touchingly describes her last moments. As a +companion-picture to the close of Sheridan's own life, it completes a +lesson of the transitoriness of this world, which might sadden the hearts +of the beautiful and gifted, even in their most brilliant and triumphant +hours. Far happier, however, in her death than he was, she had not only +his affectionate voice to soothe her to the last, but she had one devoted +friend, out of the many whom she had charmed and fascinated, to watch +consolingly over her last struggle, and satisfy her as to the fate of the +beloved objects which she left behind. + +"_July 19, 1792._ + +"Our dear departed friend kept her bed only two days, and seemed to +suffer less during that interval than for some time before. She was +perfectly in her senses to the last moment, and talked with the greatest +composure of her approaching dissolution; assuring us all that she had +the most perfect confidence in the mercies of an all-powerful and +merciful Being, from whom alone she could have derived the inward comfort +and support she felt at that awful moment! She said, she had no fear of +death, and that all her concern arose from the thoughts of leaving so +many dear and tender ties, and of what they would suffer from her loss. +Her own family were at Bath, and had spent one day with her, when she was +tolerably well. Your poor brother now thought it proper to send for them, +and to flatter them no longer. They immediately came;--it was the morning +before she died. They were introduced one at a time at her bed-side, and +were prepared as much as possible for this sad scene. The women bore it +very well, but all our feelings were awakened for her poor father. The +interview between him and the dear angel was afflicting and +heart-breaking to the greatest degree imaginable. I was afraid she would +have sunk under the cruel agitation:--she said it was indeed too much for +her. She gave some kind injunction to each of them, and said everything +she could to comfort them under this severe trial. They then parted, in +the hope of seeing her again in the evening, but they never saw her more! +Mr. Sheridan and I sat up all that night with her:--indeed he had done so +for several nights before, and never left her one moment that could be +avoided. About four o'clock in the morning we perceived an alarming +change, and sent for her physician. [Footnote: This physician was Dr. +Bain, then a very young man, whose friendship with Sheridan began by this +mournful duty to his wife, and only ended with the performance of the +same melancholy office for himself. As the writer of the above letters +was not present during the interview which she describes between him and +Mrs. Sheridan, there are a few slight errors in her account of what +passed, the particulars of which, as related by Dr. Bain himself, are as +follows:--On his arrival, she begged of Sheridan and her female friend to +leave the room, and then, desiring him to lock the door after them, said, +"You have never deceived me:--tell me truly, shall I live over this +night." Dr. Bain immediately felt her pulse, and, finding that she was +dying, answered, "I recommend you to take some laudanum;" upon which she +replied, "I understand you:--then give it me." + +Dr. Bain fully concurs with the writer of these letters in bearing +testimony to the tenderness and affection that Sheridan evinced on this +occasion:--it was, he says, quite "the devotedness of a lover." The +following note, addressed to him after the sad event was over, does honor +alike to the writer and the receiver:-- + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"I must request your acceptance of the inclosed for your professional +attendance. For the kind and friendly attentions, which have accompanied +your efforts, I must remain your debtor. The recollection of them will +live in my mind with the memory of the dear lost object, whose sufferings +you soothed, and whose heart was grateful for it. + +"Believe me, + +"Dear Sir, + +"Very sincerely yours, + +"_Friday night_. + +"R. B. Sheridan."] She said to him, 'If you can relieve me, do it +quickly;--if not do not let me struggle, but give me some laudanum.' His +answer was, 'Then I will give you some laudanum.' She desired to see Tom +and Betty Tickell before she took it, of whom she took a most affecting +leave! Your brother behaved most wonderfully, though his heart was +breaking; and at times his feelings were so violent, that I feared he +would have been quite ungovernable at the last. Yet he summoned up +courage to kneel by the bed-side, till he felt the last pulse of expiring +excellence, and then withdrew. She died at five o'clock in the morning, +28th of June. + +"I hope, my dear Mrs. Lefanu, you will excuse my dwelling on this most +agonizing scene. I have a melancholy pleasure in so doing, and fancy it +will not be disagreeable to you to hear all the particulars of an event +so interesting, so afflicting, to all who knew the beloved creature! For +my part, I never beheld such a scene--never suffered such a +conflict--much as I have suffered on my own account. While I live, the +remembrance of it and the dear lost object can never be effaced from my +mind. + +"We remained ten days after the event took place at Bristol; and on the +7th instant Mr. Sheridan and Tom, accompanied by all her family (except +Mrs. Linley), Mr. and Mrs. Leigh, Betty Tickell and myself, attended the +dear remains [Footnote: The following striking reflection, which I have +found upon a scrap of paper, in Sheridan's handwriting, was suggested, no +doubt, by his feelings on this occasion-- + +"The loss of the breath from a beloved object, long suffering in pain and +certainly to die, is not so great a privation as the last loss of her +beautiful remains, if they remain so. The victory of the Grave is sharper +than the Sting of Death."] to Wells, where we saw her laid beside her +beloved sister in the Cathedral. The choir attended; and there was such a +concourse of people of all sorts assembled on the occasion that we could +hardly move along. Mr. Leigh read the service in a most affecting manner. +Indeed, the whole scene, as you may easily imagine, was awful and +affecting to a very great degree. Though the crowd certainly interrupted +the solemnity very much, and, perhaps, happily for us abated somewhat of +our feelings, which, had we been less observed, would not have been so +easily kept down. + +"The day after the sad scene was closed we separated, your brother +choosing to be left by himself with Tom for a day or two. He afterwards +joined us at Bath, where we spent a few days with our friends, the +Leighs. Last Saturday we took leave of them, and on Sunday we arrived at +Isleworth, where with much regret, I left your brother to his own +melancholy reflections, with no other companions but his two children, in +whom he seems at present entirely wrapped up. He suffered a great deal in +returning the same road, and was most dreadfully agitated on his arrival +at Isleworth. His grief is deep and sincere, and I am sure will be +lasting. He is in very good spirits, and at times is even cheerful, but +the moment he is left alone he feels all the anguish of sorrow and +regret. The dear little girl is the greatest comfort to him:--he cannot +bear to be a moment without her. She thrives amazingly, and is indeed a +charming little creature. Tom behaves with constant and tender attention +to his father:--he laments his dear mother sincerely, and at the time was +violently affected;--but, at his age, the impressions of grief are not +lasting; and his mind is naturally too lively and cheerful to dwell long +on melancholy objects. He is in all respects truly amiable and in many +respects so like his dear, charming mother, that I am sure he will be +ever dear to my heart. I expect to have the pleasure of seeing Mr. +Sheridan again next week, when I hope to find him more composed than when +I took leave of him last Sunday." + +To the mention which is made, in this affecting letter, of the father of +Mrs. Sheridan, whose destiny it had been to follow to the grave, within a +few short years, so many of his accomplished children, [Footnote: In 1778 +his eldest son Thomas was drowned, while amusing himself in a +pleasure-boat at the seat of the Duke of Ancaster. The pretty lines of +Mrs. Sheridan to his violin are well known. A few years after, Samuel, a +lieutenant in the navy, was carried off by a fever. Miss Maria Linley +died in 1785, and Mrs. Tickell in 1787. + +I have erroneously stated, in a former part of this work, that Mr. +William Linley is the only surviving branch of this family;--there is +another brother, Mr. Ozias Linley, still living.] I must add a few +sentences more from another letter of the same lady, which, while they +increase our interest in this amiable and ingenious man, bear testimony +to Sheridan's attaching powers, and prove how affectionate he must have +been to her who was gone, to be thus loved by the father to whom she was +so dear:-- + +"Poor Mr. Linley has been here among us these two months. He is very much +broke, but is still a very interesting and agreeable companion. I do not +know any one more to be pitied than he is. It is evident that the +recollection of past misfortunes preys on his mind, and he has no comfort +in the surviving part of his family, they being all scattered abroad. Mr. +Sheridan seems more his child than any one of his own, and I believe he +likes being near him and his grandchildren." [Footnote: In the Memoirs of +Mrs. Crouch I find the following anecdote:--"Poor Mr. Linley after the +death of one of his sons, when seated at the harpsichord in Drury-Lane +theatre, in order to accompany the vocal parts of an interesting little +piece taken from Prior's Henry and Emma, by Mr. Tickell, and excellently +represented by Paduer and Miss Farren,--when the tutor of Henry, Mr. +Aikin gave an impressive description of a promising young man, in +speaking of his pupil Henry, the feelings of Mr. Linley could not be +suppressed. His tears fell fast--nor did he weep alone." + +In the same work Mrs. Crouch is made to say that, after Miss Maria Linley +died, it was melancholy for her to sing to Mr. Linley, whose tears +continually fell on the keys as he accompanied her; and if, in the course +of her profession, she was obliged to practise a song which he had been +accustomed to hear his lost daughter sing, the similarity of their +manners and their voices, which he had once remarked with pleasure, then +affected him to such a degree, that he was frequently forced to quit the +instrument and walk about the room to recover his composure.] + +Towards the autumn, (as we learn from another letter of this lady,) Mr. +Sheridan endeavored to form a domestic establishment for himself at +Wanstead. + +"_Wanstead, October_ 22, 1792. + +"Your brother has taken a house in this village very near me, where he +means to place his dear little girl to be as much as possible under my +projection. This was the dying request of my beloved friend; and the last +effort of her mind and pen [Footnote: There are some touching allusions +to these last thoughts of Mrs. Sheridan, in an Elegy, written by her +brother, Mr. William Linley, soon after the news of the sad event reached +him in India:-- + + + "Oh most beloved! my sister and my friend! + While kindred woes still breathe around thine urn, + Long with the tear of absence must _I_ blend + The sigh, that speaks thou never shall return. + * * * * + "'Twas Faith, that, bending o'er the bed of death, + Shot o'er thy pallid cheek a transient ray, + With softer effort soothed thy laboring breath, + Gave grace to anguish, beauty to decay. + "Thy friends, thy children, claim'd thy latest care; + Theirs was the last that to thy bosom clung; + For them to heaven thou sent'st the expiring prayer, + The last that falter'd on thy trembling tongue."] +was made the day before she expired, to draw up a solemn promise for +both of us to sign, to ensure the strict performance of this last awful +injunction: so anxious was she to commit this dear treasure to my care, +well knowing how impossible it would be for a father, situated as your +brother is, to pay that constant attention to her which a daughter so +articularly requires. * * * You may be assured I shall engage in the task +with the greatest delight and alacrity:--would to God that I were in the +smallest degree qualified to supply the place of that angelic, +all-accomplished mother, of whose tender care she has been so early +'deprived. All I _can_ do for her I _will_ do; and if I can +succeed so far as to give her early and steady principles of religion, +and to form her mind to virtue, I shall think my time well employed, and +shall feel myself happy in having fulfilled the first wish of her beloved +mother's heart. + + * * * * * + +"To return to your brother, he talks of having his house here immediately +furnished and made ready for the reception of his nursery. It is a very +good sort of common house, with an excellent garden, roomy and fit for +the purpose, but will admit of no show or expense. I understand he has +taken a house in Jermyn-street, where he may see company, but he does not +intend having any other country-house but this. Isleworth he gives up, +his time being expired there. I believe he has got a private tutor for +Tom--somebody very much to his mind. At one time he talked of sending +him abroad with this gentleman, but I know not at present what his +determinations are. He is too fond of Tom's society to let him go from +him for any time; but I think it would be more to his advantage if he +would consent to part with him for two or three years. It is impossible +for any man to be more devotedly attached to his children than he is and +I hope they will be a comfort and a blessing to him, when the world loses +its charms. The last time I saw him, which was for about five minutes, I +thought he looked remarkably well, and seemed tolerably cheerful. But I +have observed in general that this affliction has made a wonderful +alteration in the expression of his countenance and in his manners. +[Footnote: I have heard a Noble friend of Sheridan say that, happening +about this time to sleep in the room next to him, he could plainly hear +him sobbing throughout the greater part of the night.] The Leighs and my +family spent a week with him at Isleworth the beginning of August, where +we were indeed most affectionately and hospitably entertained. I could +hardly believe him to be the same man. In fact, we never saw him do the +honors of his house before; _that,_ you know, he always left the +dear, elegant creature, who never failed to please and charm every one +who came within the sphere of her notice. Nobody could have filled her +place so well:--he seemed to have pleasure in making much of those whom +she loved, and who, he knew, sincerely loved her. We all thought he never +appeared to such advantage. He was attentive to every body and every +thing, though grave and thoughtful; and his feelings, poor fellow, often +ready to break forth in spite of his efforts to suppress them. He spent +his evenings mostly by himself. He desired me, when I wrote, to let you +know that she had by will made a little distribution of what she called +'her own property,' and had left you and your sister rings of +remembrance, and her _fausse montre,_ containing Mr. Sheridan's +picture to you, [Footnote: This bequest is thus announced by Sheridan +himself in a letter to his sister, dated June 3, 1794:--"I mean also to +send by Miss Patrick a picture which has long been your property, by a +bequest from one whose image is not often from my mind, and whose memory, +I am sure, remains in yours."]--Mrs. Joseph Lefanu having got hers. She +left rings also to Mr. and Mrs. Leigh, my sister, daughter, and myself, +and positively forbids any others being given on any pretence, but these +I have specified,--evidently precluding all her _fine friends_ from +this last mark of her esteem and approbation. She had, poor thing, with +some justice, turned from them all in disgust, and I observed, during her +illness, never mentioned any of them with regard or kindness." + +The consolation which Sheridan derived from his little daughter was not +long spared to him. In a letter, without a date, from the same amiable +writer, the following account of her death is given:-- + +"The circumstances attending this melancholy event were particularly +distressing. A large party of young people were assembled at your +brother's to spend a joyous evening in dancing. We were all in the height +of our merriment,--he himself remarkably cheerful, and partaking of the +amusement, when the alarm was given that the dear little angel was dying. +It is impossible to describe the confusion and horror of the scene:--he +was quite frantic, and I knew not what to do. Happily there were present +several kind, good-natured men, who had their recollection, and pointed +out what should be done. We very soon had every possible assistance, and +for a short time we had some hope that her precious life would have been +spared to us--but that was soon at an end! + +"The dear babe never throve to my satisfaction:--she was small and +delicate beyond imagination, and gave very little expectation of long +life; but she had visibly declined during the last month. * * * Mr. +Sheridan made himself very miserable at first, from an apprehension that +she had been neglected or mismanaged; but I trust he is perfectly +convinced that this was not the case. He was severely afflicted at first. +The dear babe's resemblance to her mother after her death was so much +more striking, that it was impossible to see her without recalling every +circumstance of that afflicting scene, and he was continually in the room +indulging the sad remembrance. In this manner he indulged his feelings +for four or five days; then, having indispensable business, he was +obliged to go to London, from whence he returned, on Sunday, apparently +in good spirits and as well as usual. But, however he may assume the +appearance of ease or cheerfulness, his heart is not of a nature to be +quickly reconciled to the loss of any thing he loves. He suffers deeply +and secretly; and I dare say he will long and bitterly lament both mother +and child." + +The reader will, I think, feel with me, after reading the foregoing +letters, as well as those of Mrs. Sheridan, given in the course of this +work, that the impression which they altogether leave on the mind is in +the highest degree favorable to the characters both of husband and wife. +There is, round the whole, an atmosphere of kindly, domestic feeling, +which seems to answer for the soundness of the hearts that breathed in +it. The sensibility, too, displayed by Sheridan at this period, was not +that sort of passionate return to former feelings, which the prospect of +losing what it once loved might awaken in even the most alienated +heart;--on the contrary, there was a depth and mellowness in his sorrow +which could proceed from long habits of affection alone. The idea, +indeed, of seeking solace for the loss of the mother in the endearments +of the children would occur only to one who had been accustomed to find +happiness in his home, and who therefore clung for comfort to what +remained of the wreck. + +Such, I have little doubt, were the natural feelings and dispositions of +Sheridan; and if the vanity of talent too often turned him aside from +their influence, it is but another proof of the danger of that "light +which leads astray," and may console those who, safe under the shadow of +mediocrity, are unvisited by such disturbing splendors. + +The following letters on this occasion, from his eldest sister and her +husband, are a further proof of the warm attachment which he inspired in +those connected with him:-- + +"MY DEAREST BROTHER, + +"Charles has just informed me that the fatal, the dreaded event has taken +place. On my knees I implore the Almighty to look down upon you in your +affliction, to strengthen your noble, your feeling heart to bear it. Oh +my beloved brother, these are sad, sad trials of fortitude. One +consolation, at least, in mitigation of your sorrow, I am sure you +possess,--the consciousness of having done all you could to preserve the +dear angel you have lost, and to soften the last painful days of her +mortal existence. Mrs. Canning wrote to me that she was in a resigned and +happy frame of mind: she is assuredly among the blest; and I feel and I +think she looks down with benignity at my feeble efforts to soothe that +anguish I participate. Let me then conjure you, my dear brother, to +suffer me to endeavor to be of use to you. Could I have done it, I should +have been with you from the time of your arrival at Bristol. The +impossibility of my going has made me miserable, and injured my health, +already in a very bad state. It would give value to my life, could I be +of that service I think I _might_ be of, if I were near you; and as +I cannot go to you, and as there is every reason for your quitting the +scene and objects before you, perhaps you may let us have the happiness +of having you here, and my dear Tom; I will write to him when my spirits +are quieter. I entreat you, my dear brother, try what change of place can +do for you: your character and talents are here held in the highest +estimation; and you have here some who love you beyond the affection any +in England can feel for you. + +"_Cuff-Street, 4th July_. + +"A. LEFANU." + +"MY DEAR GOOD SIR, + +"_Wednesday, 4th July, 1792._ + +"Permit me to join my entreaties to Lissy's to persuade you to come over +to us. A journey might be of service to you, and change of objects a real +relief to your mind. We would try every thing to divert your thoughts +from too intensely dwelling on certain recollections, which are yet too +keen and too fresh to be entertained with safety, at least to occupy you +too entirely. Having been so long separated from your sister, you can +hardly have an adequate idea of her love for you. I, who on many +occasions have observed its operation, can truly and solemnly assure you +that it far exceeds any thing I could ever have supposed to have been +felt by a sister towards a brother. I am convinced you would experience +such soothing in her company and conversation as would restore you to +yourself sooner than any thing that could be imagined. Come, then, my +dear Sir, and be satisfied you will add greatly to her comfort, and to +that of your very affectionate friend, + +"J. LEFANU." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +DRURY-LANE THEATRE.--SOCIETY OF "THE FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE."--MADAME DE +GENLIS.--WAR WITH FRANCE.--WHIG SECEDERS.--SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT.--DEATH +OF TICKELL. + + +The domestic anxieties of Mr. Sheridan, during this year, left but little +room in his mind for public cares. Accordingly, we find that, after the +month of April, he absented himself from the House of Commons altogether. +In addition to his apprehensions for the safety of Mrs. Sheridan, he had +been for some time harassed by the derangement of his theatrical +property, which was now fast falling into a state of arrear and +involvement, from which it never after entirely recovered. + +The Theatre of Drury-Lane having been, in the preceding year, reported by +the surveyors to be unsafe and incapable of repair, it was determined to +erect an entirely new house upon the same site; for the accomplishment of +which purpose a proposal was made, by Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Linley, to +raise the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, by the means of +three hundred debentures, of five hundred pounds each. This part of the +scheme succeeded instantly; and I have now before me a list of the +holders of the 300 shares, appended to the proposal of 1791, at the head +of which the names of the three Trustees, on whom the Theatre was +afterwards vested in the year 1793, stand for the following number of +shares:--Albany Wallis, 20; Hammersley, 50; Richard Ford, 20. But, though +the money was raised without any difficulty, the completion of the new +building was delayed by various negotiations and obstacles, while, in the +mean time, the company were playing, at an enormous expense, first in the +Opera-House, and afterwards at the Haymarket-Theatre, and Mr. Sheridan +and Mr. Linley were paying interest for the first instalment of the loan. + +To these and other causes of the increasing embarrassments of Sheridan is +to be added the extravagance of his own style of living, which became +much more careless and profuse after death had deprived him of her, whose +maternal thoughtfulness alone would have been a check upon such +improvident waste. We are enabled to form some idea of his expensive +habits, by finding, from the letters which have just been quoted, that he +was, at the same time, maintaining three establishments,--one at +Wanstead, where his son resided with his tutor; another at Isleworth, +which he still held, (as I learn from letters directed to him there,) in +1793; and the third, his town-house, in Jermyn Street. Rich and ready as +were the resources which the Treasury of the theatre opened to him, and +fertile as was his own invention in devising new schemes of finance, such +mismanaged expenditure would exhaust even _his_ magic wealth, and +the lamp must cease to answer to the rubbing at last. + +The tutor, whom he was lucky enough to obtain for his son at this time, +was Mr. William Smythe, a gentleman who has since distinguished himself +by his classical attainments and graceful talent for poetry. Young +Sheridan had previously been under the care of Dr. Parr, with whom he +resided a considerable time at Hatton; and the friendship of this learned +man for the father could not have been more strongly shown than in the +disinterestedness with which he devoted himself to the education of the +son. The following letter from him to Mr. Sheridan, in the May of this +year, proves the kind feeling by which he was actuated towards him:-- + +"DEAR SIR, + +"I hope Tom got home safe, and found you in better spirits. He said +something about drawing on your banker; but I do not understand the +process, and shall not take any step. You will consult your own +convenience about these things; for my connection with you is that of +friendship and personal regard. I feel and remember slights from those I +respect, but acts of kindness I cannot forget; and, though my life has +been passed far more in doing than receiving services, yet I know and I +value the good dispositions of yourself and a few other friends,--men who +are worthy of that name from me. + +"If you choose Tom to return, he knows and you know how glad I am always +to see him. If not, pray let him do something, and I will tell you what +he should do. + +"Believe me, dear Sir, + +"Yours sincerely, + +"S. PARR." + +In the spring of this year was established the Society of "The Friends of +the People," for the express purpose of obtaining a Parliamentary Reform. +To this Association, which, less for its professed object than for the +republican tendencies of some of its members, was particularly obnoxious +to the loyalists of the day, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Grey, and many others of +the leading persons of the Whig party, belonged. Their Address to the +People of England, which was put forth in the month of April, contained +an able and temperate exposition of the grounds upon which they sought +for Reform; and the names of Sheridan, Mackintosh, Whitbread, &c., appear +on the list of the Committee by which this paper was drawn up. + +It is a proof of the little zeal which Mr. Fox felt at this period on the +subject of Reform, that he withheld the sanction of his name from a +Society, to which so many of his most intimate political friends +belonged. Some notice was, indeed, taken in the House of this symptom of +backwardness in the cause; and Sheridan, in replying to the insinuation, +said that "they wanted not the signature of his Right Honorable friend to +assure them I of his concurrence. They had his bond in the steadiness of +his political principles and the integrity of his heart." Mr. Fox +himself, however, gave a more definite explanation of the circumstance. +"He might be asked," he said, "why his name was not on the list of the +Society for Reform? His reason was, that though he saw great and enormous +grievances, he did not see the remedy." It is to be doubted, indeed, +whether Mr. Fox ever fully admitted the principle upon which the demand +for a Reform was founded. When he afterward espoused the question so +warmly, it seems to have been merely as one of those weapons caught up in +the heat of a warfare, in which Liberty itself appeared to him too +imminently endangered to admit of the consideration of any abstract +principle, except that summary one of the right of resistance to power +abused. From what has been already said, too, of the language held by +Sheridan on this subject, it may be concluded that, though far more ready +than his friend to inscribe Reform upon the banner of the party, he had +even still less made up his mind as to the practicability or expediency +of the measure. Looking upon it as a question, the agitation of which was +useful to Liberty, and at the same time counting upon the improbability +of its objects being ever accomplished, he adopted at once, as we have +seen, the most speculative of all the plans that had been proposed, and +flattered himself that he thus secured the benefit of the general +principle, without risking the inconvenience of any of the practical +details. + +The following extract of a letter from Sheridan to one of his female +correspondents, at this time, will show that he did not quite approve the +policy of Mr. Fox in holding aloof from the Reformers:-- + +"I am down here with Mrs. Canning and her family, while all my friends +and party are meeting in town, where I have excused myself, to lay their +wise heads together in this crisis. Again I say there is nothing but what +is unpleasant before my mind. I wish to occupy and fill my thoughts with +public matters, and to do justice to the times, they afford materials +enough; but nothing is in prospect to make activity pleasant, or to point +one's efforts against one common enemy, making all that engage in the +attack cordial, social, and united. On the contrary, every day produces +some new schism and absurdity. Windham has signed a nonsensical +association with Lord Mulgrave; and when I left town yesterday, I was +informed that the _Divan_, as the meeting at Debrett's is called, +were furious at an _authentic_ advertisement from the Duke of +Portland against Charles Fox's speech in the Whig Club, which no one +before believed to be genuine, but which they now say Dr. Lawrence +brought from Burlington-House. If this is so, depend on it there will be +a direct breach in what has been called the Whig Party. Charles Fox must +come to the Reformers openly and avowedly; and in a month four-fifths of +the Whig Club will do the same." + +The motion for the Abolition of the Slave-trade, brought forward this +year by Mr. Wilberforce, (on whose brows it may be said, with much more +truth than of the Roman General, "_Annexuit Africa lauros_,") was +signalized by one of the most splendid orations that the lofty eloquence +of Mr. Pitt ever poured forth. [Footnote: It was at the conclusion of +this speech that, in contemplating the period when Africa would, he +hoped, participate in those blessings of civilization and knowledge which +were now enjoyed by more fortunate regions, he applied the happy +quotation, rendered still more striking, it is said, by the circumstance +of the rising sun just then shining in through the windows of the House:-- + + "_Nos ... primus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis, + Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper_."] I mention the Debate, +however, for the mere purpose of remarking, as a singularity, that, often +as this great question was discussed in Parliament, and ample as was the +scope which it afforded for the grander appeals of oratory, Mr. Sheridan +was upon no occasion tempted to utter even a syllabic on the subject,-- +except once for a few minutes, in the year 1787, upon some point relating +to the attendance of a witness. The two or three sentences, however, which +he did speak on that occasion were sufficient to prove, (what, as he was +not a West-India proprietor, no one can doubt,) that the sentiments +entertained by him on this interesting topic were, to the full extent, +those which actuated not only his own party, but every real lover of +justice and humanity throughout the world. To use a quotation which he +himself applied to another branch of the question in 1807:-- + + "I would not have a slave to till my ground, + To fan me when I sleep, and tremble when + I wake, for all that human sinews, bought + And sold, have ever earn'd." + +The National Convention having lately, in the first paroxysm of their +republican vanity, conferred the honor of Citizenship upon several +distinguished Englishmen, and, among others, upon Mr. Wilberforce and Sir +James Mackintosh, it was intended, as appears by the following letter +from Mr. Stone, (a gentleman subsequently brought into notice by the +trial of his brother for High Treason,) to invest Mr. Fox and Mr. +Sheridan with the same distinction, had not the prudent interference of +Mr. Stone saved them from this very questionable honor. + +The following is the letter which this gentleman addressed to Sheridan on +the occasion. + +"_Paris, Nov. 18, Year 1, of the French Republic._ + +"DEAR SIR, + +"I have taken a liberty with your name, of which I ought to give you +notice, and offer some apology. The Convention, having lately enlarged +their connections in Europe, are ambitious of adding to the number of +their friends by bestowing some mark of distinction on those who have +stood forth in support of their cause, when its fate hung doubtful. The +French conceive that they owe this obligation very eminently to you and +Mr. Fox; and, to show their gratitude, the Committee appointed to make +the Report has determined to offer to you and Mr. Fox the honor of +Citizenship. Had this honor never been conferred before, had it been +conferred only on worthy members of society, or were you and Mr. Fox only +to be named at this moment, I should not have interfered. But as they +have given the title to obscure and vulgar men and scoundrels, of which +they are now very much ashamed themselves, I have presumed to suppose +that you would think yourself much more honored in the breach than the +observance, and have therefore caused your nomination to be suspended. +But I was influenced in this also by other considerations, of which one +was, that, though the Committee would be more careful in their selection +than the last had been, yet it was probable you would not like to share +the honors with such as would be chosen. But another more important one +that weighed with me was, that this new character would not be a small +embarrassment in the route which you have to take the next Session of +Parliament, when the affairs of France must necessarily be often the +subject of discussion. No one will suspect Mr. Wilberforce of being +seduced, and no one has thought that he did any thing to render him +liable to seduction; as his superstition and devotedness to Mr. Pitt have +kept him perfectly _à l'abri_ from all temptations to err on the +side of liberty, civil or religious. But to you and Mr. Fox the reproach +will constantly be made, and the blockheads and knaves in the House will +always have the means of influencing the opinions of those without, by +opposing with success your English character to your French one; and that +which is only a mark of gratitude for past services will be construed by +malignity into a bribe of some sort for services yet to be rendered. You +may be certain that, in offering the reasons for my conduct, I blush that +I think it necessary to stoop to such prejudices. Of this, however, you +will be the best judge, and I should esteem it a favor if you would +inform me whether I have done right, or whether I shall suffer your names +to stand as they did before my interference. There will be sufficient +time for me to receive your answer, as I have prevailed on the Reporter, +M. Brissot, to delay a few days. I have given him my reasons for wishing +the suspension, to which he has assented. Mr. O'Brien also prompted me to +this deed, and, if I have done wrong, he must take half the punishment. +My address is "Rose, Huissier," under cover of the President of the +National Convention. + +"I have the honor to be + +"Your most obedient + +"And most humble servant, + +"J.H. STONE." + +It was in the month of October of this year that the romantic adventure +of Madame de Genlis, (in the contrivance of which the practical humor of +Sheridan may, I think, be detected,) occurred on the road between London +and Dartford. This distinguished lady had, at the dose of the year 1791, +with a view of escaping the turbulent scenes then passing in France, come +over with her illustrious pupil, Mademoiselle d'Orleans, and her adopted +daughter, Pamela, [Footnote: Married at Tournay in the month of December, +1792, to Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Lord Edward was the only one, among the +numerous suitors of Mrs. Sheridan, to whom she is supposed to have +listened with any thing like a return of feeling; and that there should +be mutual admiration between two such noble specimens of human nature, it +is easy, without injury to either of them, to believe. + +Some months before her death, when Sheridan had been describing to her +and Lord Edward a beautiful French girl whom he had lately seen, and +added that she put him strongly in mind of what his own wife had been in +the first bloom of her youth and beauty, Mrs. Sheridan turned to Lord +Edward, and said with a melancholy smile, "I should like you, when I am +dead, to marry that girl." This was Pamela, whom Sheridan had just seen +during his visit of a few hours to Madame de Genlis, at Bury, in Suffolk, +and Whom Lord Edward married in about a year after.] to England, where +she received both from Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan, all that attention to +which her high character for talent, as well as the embarrassing nature +of her situation at that moment, claimed for her. + +The following letter from her to Mr. Fox I find inclosed in one from the +latter to Mr. Sheridan:-- + +"SIR, + +"You have, by your infinite kindness, given me the right to show you the +utmost confidence. The situation I am in makes me desire to have with me, +during two days, a person perfectly well instructed in the Laws, and very +sure and honest. I desire such a person that I could offer to him all the +money he would have for this trouble. But there is not a moment to be +lost on the occasion. If you could send me directly this person, you +would render me the most important service. To calm the most cruel +agitation of a sensible and grateful soul shall be your reward.--Oh could +I see you but a minute!--I am uneasy, sick, unhappy; surrounded by the +most dreadful snares of the fraud and wickedness; I am intrusted with the +most interesting and sacred charge!--All these are my claims to hope your +advices, protection and assistance. My friends are absent in that moment; +there is only two names in which I could place my confidence and my +hopes, Pardon this bad language. As Hypolite I may say, + + "'Songez que je vous parle une langue étrangère,' + +but the feelings it expresses cannot be strangers to your heart. + +"Sans avoir l'avantage d'être connue de Monsieur Fox, je prens la liberté +de le supplier de comuniquer cette lettre à Mr. Sheridan, et si ce +dernier n'est pas à Londres, j'ose espérer de Monsieur Fox la même bonté +que j'attendois de Mr. Shéridan dans l'embarras où je me trouve. Je +m'adresse aux deux personnes de l'Angleterre que j'admire le plus, et je +serois doublement heureuse d'être tirée de cette perplexité et de leur en +avoir l'obligation. Je serai peut être à Londres incessament. Je +désirerois vivement les y trouver; mais en attendant je souhaite avec +ardeur avoir ici le plus promptement possible l'homme de loi, ou +seulement en êtat de donner de bons conseils que je demande. Je +renouvelle toutes mes excuses de tant d'importunités." + +It was on her departure for France in the present year that the +celebrated adventure to which I have alluded, occurred; and as it is not +often that the post boys between London and Dartford are promoted into +agents of mystery or romance, I shall give the entire narrative of the +event in the lady's own words,--premising, (what Mr. Sheridan, no doubt +discovered,) that her imagination had been for some time on the watch for +such incidents, as she mentions, in another place, her terrors at the +idea of "crossing the desert plains of Newmarket without an escort." + +"We left London," says Madame de Genlis, "on our return to France the +20th of October, 1792, and a circumstance occurred to us so +extraordinary, that I ought not, I feel, to pass it over in silence. I +shall merely, however, relate the fact, without any attempt to explain +it, or without adding to my recital any of those reflections which the +impartial reader will easily supply. We set out at ten o'clock in the +morning in two carriages, one with six horses, and the other, in which +were our maids, with four. I had, two months before, sent off four of my +servants to Paris, so that we had with us only one French servant, and a +footman, whom we had hired to attend us as far as Dover. When we were +about a quarter of a league from London, the French servant, who had +never made the journey from Dover to London but once before, thought he +perceived that we were not in the right road, and on his making the +remark to me, I perceived it also. The postillions, on being questioned, +said that they had only wished to avoid a small hill, and that they would +soon return into the high road again. After an interval of three quarters +of an hour, seeing that we still continued our way through a country that +was entirely new to me, I again interrogated both the footman and the +postillions, and they repeated their assurance that we should soon regain +the usual road. + +"Notwithstanding this, however, we still pursued our course with extreme +rapidity, in the same unknown route; and as I had remarked that the +post-boys and footman always answered me in a strange sort of laconic +manner, and appeared as if they were afraid to stop, my companions and I +began to look at each other with a mixture of surprise and uneasiness. We +renewed our inquiries, and at last they answered that it was indeed true +they had lost their way, but that they had wished to conceal it from us +till they had found the cross-road to Dartford (our first stage,) and +that now, having been for an hour and a half in that road, we had but two +miles to go before we should reach Dartford. It appeared to us very +strange that people should lose their way between London and Dover, but +the assurance that we were only half a league from Dartford dispelled the +sort of vague fear that had for a moment agitated us. At last, after +nearly an hour had elapsed, seeing that we still were not arrived at the +end of the stage, our uneasiness increased to a degree which amounted +even to terror. It was with much difficulty that I made the post-boys +stop opposite a small village which lay to our left; in spite of my +shouts they still went on, till at last the French servant, (for the +other did not interfere,) compelled them to stop. I then sent to the +village to ask how far we were from Dartford, and my surprise may be +guessed when I received for answer that we were now 22 miles, (more than +seven leagues,) distant from that place. Concealing my suspicions, I took +a guide in the village, and declared that it was my wish to return to +London, as I found I was now at a less distance from that city than from +Dartford. The post-boys made much resistance to my desire, and even +behaved with an extreme degree of insolence, but our French servant, +backed by the guide, compelled them to obey. + +"As we returned at a very slow pace, owing to the sulkiness of the +postboys and the fatigue of the horses, we did not reach London before +nightfall, when I immediately drove to Mr. Sheridan's house. He was +extremely surprised to see me returned, and on my relating to him our +adventure, agreed with us that it could not have been the result of mere +chance. He then sent for a Justice of the Peace to examine the post-boys, +who were detained till his arrival under the pretence of calculating +their account; but in the meantime, the hired footman disappeared and +never returned. The post-boys being examined by the Justice according to +the legal form, and in the presence of witnesses, gave their answers in a +very confused way, but confessed that an unknown gentleman had come in +the morning to their masters, and carrying them from thence to a +public-house, had, by giving them something to drink, persuaded them to +take the road by which we had gone. The examination was continued for a +long time, but no further confession could be drawn from them. Mr. +Sheridan told me, that there was sufficient proof on which to ground an +action against these men, but that it would be a tedious process, and +cost a great deal of money. The post-boys were therefore dismissed, and +we did not pursue the inquiry any further. As Mr. Sheridan saw the terror +I was in at the very idea of again venturing on the road to Dover, he +promised to accompany us thither himself, but added that, having some +indispensable business on his hands, he could not go for some days. He +took us then to Isleworth, a country-house which he had near Richmond, on +the banks of the Thames, and as he was not able to dispatch his business +so quickly as he expected, we remained for a month in that hospitable +retreat, which both gratitude and friendship rendered so agreeable to us." + +It is impossible to read this narrative, with the recollection, at the +same time, in our minds of the boyish propensity of Sheridan to what are +called practical jokes, without strongly suspecting that he was himself +the contriver of the whole adventure. The ready attendance of the +Justice,--the "unknown gentleman" deposed to by the post-boys,--the +disappearance of the laquais, and the advice given by Sheridan that the +affair should be pursued no further,--all strongly savor of dramatic +contrivance, and must have afforded a scene not a little trying to the +gravity of him who took the trouble of getting it up. With respect to his +motive, the agreeable month at his country-house sufficiently explains +it; nor could his conscience have felt much scruples about an imposture, +which, so far from being attended with any disagreeable consequences, +furnished the lady with an incident of romance, of which she was but too +happy to avail herself, and procured for him the presence of such a +distinguished party, to grace and enliven the festivities of Isleworth. +[Footnote: In the Memoirs of Madame Genlis, lately published, she +supplies a still more interesting key to his motives for such a +contrivance. It appears, from the new recollections of this lady, that +"he was passionately in love with Pamela," and that, before her departure +from England, the following scene took place--"Two days before we set +out, Mr. Sheridan made, in my presence, his dedication of love to Pamela, +who was affected by his agreeable manner and high character, and accepted +the offer of his hand with pleasure. In consequence of this, it was +settled that he was to marry her on our return from France, which was +expected to take place in a fortnight." I suspect this to be but a +continuation of the Romance of Dartford.] + +At the end of the month, (adds Madame de Genlis,) + +"Mr. Sheridan having finished his business, we set off together for +Dover, himself, his son, and an English friend of his, Mr. Reid, with +whom I was but a few days acquainted. It was now near the end of the +month of November, 1792. The wind being adverse, detained us for five +days at Dover, during all which time Mr. Sheridan remained with us. At +last the wind grew less unfavorable, but still blew so violently that +nobody would advise me to embark. I resolved, however, to venture, and +Mr. Sheridan attended us into the very packet-boat, where I received his +farewell with a feeling of sadness which I cannot express. He would have +crossed with us, but that some indispensable duty, at that moment, +required his presence in England. He, however, left us Mr. Reid, who had +the goodness to accompany us to Paris." + +In 1793 war was declared between England and France. Though hostilities +might, for a short time longer, have been avoided, by a more +accommodating readiness in listening to the overtures of France, and a +less stately tone on the part of the English negotiator, there could +hardly have existed in dispassionate minds any hope of averting the war +entirely, or even of postponing it for any considerable period. Indeed, +however rational at first might have been the expectation, that France, +if left to pass through the ferment of her own Revolution, would have +either settled at last into a less dangerous form of power, or exhausted +herself into a state of harmlessness during the process, this hope had +been for some time frustrated by the crusade proclaimed against her +liberties by the confederated Princes of Europe. The conference at +Pilnitz and the Manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick had taught the French +people what they were to expect, if conquered, and had given to that +inundation of energy, under which the Republic herself was sinking, a +vent and direction outwards that transferred all the ruin to her enemies. +In the wild career of aggression and lawlessness, of conquest without, +and anarchy within, which naturally followed such an outbreak of a whole +maddened people, it would have been difficult for England, by any +management whatever, to keep herself uninvolved in the general +combustion,--even had her own population been much less heartily +disposed than they were then, and ever have been, to strike in with the +great discords of the world. + +That Mr. Pitt himself was slow and reluctant to yield to the necessity of +hostile measures against France, appears from the whole course of his +financial policy, down to the very close of the session of 1792. The +confidence, indeed, with which he looked forward to a long continuance of +peace, in the midst of events, that were audibly the first mutterings of +the earthquake, seemed but little indicative of that philosophic +sagacity, which enables a statesman to see the rudiments of the Future in +the Present. [Footnote: From the following words in his Speech on the +communication from France in 1800, he appears, himself, to have been +aware of his want of foresight at the commencement of the war:-- + +"Besides this, the reduction of our Peace Establishment in the year 1791, +and continued to the subsequent year, is a fact, from which the inference +is indisputable; a fact, which, I am afraid, shows not only that we were +not waiting for the occasion of war, but that, in our partiality for a +pacific system, we had indulged ourselves in a fond and credulous +security, which wisdom and discretion would not have dictated."] "It is +not unreasonable," said he on the 21st of February, 1792, "to expect that +the peace which we now enjoy should continue at least fifteen years, +since at no period of the British history, whether we consider the +internal situation of this kingdom or its relation to foreign powers, has +the prospect of war been farther removed than at present." + +In pursuance of this feeling of security, he, in the course of the +session of 1791-2, repealed taxes to the amount of 200,000_l_. a +year, made considerable reductions in the naval and military +establishments, and allowed the Hessian Subsidy to expire, without any +movement towards its renewal. He likewise showed his perfect confidence +in the tranquillity of the country, by breaking off a negotiation into +which he had entered with the holders of the four per cents, for the +reduction of their stock to three per cent.--saying, in answer to their +demand of a larger bonus than he thought proper to give, "Then we will +put off the reduction of this stock till next year." The truth is, Mr. +Pitt was proud of his financial system;--the abolition of taxes and the +Reduction of the National Debt were the two great results to which he +looked as a proof of its perfection; and while a war, he knew, would +produce the very reverse of the one, it would leave little more than the +name and semblance of the other. + +The alarm for the safety of their establishments, which at this time +pervaded the great mass of the people of England, earned the proof of its +own needlessness in the wide extent to which it spread, and the very +small minority that was thereby left to be the object of apprehension. +That in this minority, (which was, with few exceptions, confined to the +lower classes,) the elements of sedition and insurrection were actively +at work, cannot be denied. There was not a corner of Europe where the +same ingredients were not brought into ferment; for the French Revolution +had not only the violence, but the pervading influence of the Simoom, and +while it destroyed where it immediately passed, made itself felt every +where. But, surrounded and watched as were the few disaffected in +England, by all the rank, property and power of the country,--animated at +that moment by a more than usual portion of loyalty,--the dangers from +sedition, as yet, were by no means either so deep or extensive, as that a +strict and vigilant exercise of the laws already in being, would not have +been abundantly adequate to all the purposes of their suppression. + +The admiration, indeed, with which the first dawn of the Revolution was +hailed had considerably abated. The excesses into which the new Republic +broke loose had alienated the worship of most of its higher class of +votaries, and in some, as in Mr. Windham, had converted enthusiastic +admiration into horror;--so that, though a strong sympathy with the +general cause of the Revolution was still felt among the few Whigs that +remained, the profession of its wild, republican theories was chiefly +confined to two classes of persons, who coincide more frequently than +they themselves imagine,--the speculative and the ignorant. + +The Minister, however, gave way to a panic which, there is every reason +to believe, he did not himself participate, and in going out of the +precincts of the Constitution for new and arbitrary powers, established a +series of fatal precedents, of which alarmed Authority will be always but +too ready to avail itself. By these stretches of power he produced--what +was far more dangerous than all the ravings of club politicians--that +vehement reaction of feeling on the part of Mr. Fox and his followers, +which increased with the increasing rigor of the government, and +sometimes led them to the brink of such modes and principles of +opposition, as aggressions, so wanton, upon liberty alone could have +either provoked or justified. + +The great promoters of the alarm were Mr. Burke, and those other Whig +Seceders, who had for some time taken part with the administration +against their former friends, and, as is usual with such proselytes, +outran those whom they joined, on every point upon which they before most +differed from them. To justify their defection, the dangers upon which +they grounded it, were exaggerated; and the eagerness with which they +called for restrictions upon the liberty of the subject was but too +worthy of deserters not only from their post but from their principles. +One striking difference between these new pupils of Toryism and their +master was with respect to the ultimate object of the war.--Mr. Pitt +being of opinion that security against the power of France, without any +interference whatever with her internal affairs, was the sole aim to +which hostilities should be directed; while nothing less than the +restoration of the Bourbons to the power which they possessed before the +assembling of the Etats Genereaux could satisfy Mr. Burke and his fellow +converts to the cause of Thrones and Hierarchies. The effect of this +diversity of objects upon the conduct of the war--particularly after Mr. +Pitt had added to "Security for the future," the suspicious supplement of +"Indemnity for the past"--was no less fatal to the success of operations +abroad than to the unity of councils at home. So separate, indeed, were +the views of the two parties considered, that the unfortunate expedition, +in aid of the Vendean insurgents in 1795, was known to be peculiarly the +measure of the _Burke_ part of the cabinet, and to have been +undertaken on the sole responsibility of their ministerial organ, Mr. +Windham. + +It must be owned, too, that the obect of the Alarmists in the war, +however grossly inconsistent with their former principles, had the merit +of being far more definite than that of Mr. Pitt; and, had it been singly +and consistently pursued from the first, with all the vigor and +concentration of means so strenuously recommended by Mr. Burke, might +have justified its quixotism in the end by a more speedy and less ruinous +success. As it was, however, the divisions, jealousies and alarms which +Mr. Pitt's views towards a future dismemberment of France excited not +only among the Continental powers, but among the French themselves, +completely defeated every hope and plan for either concert without or co +operation within. At the same time, the distraction of the efforts of +England from the heart of French power to its remote extremities, in what +Mr. Windham called "a war upon sugar Islands," was a waste of means as +unstatesmanlike as it was calamitous, and fully entitled Mr. Pitt to the +satire on his policy, conveyed in the remark of a certain distinguished +lady, who said to him, upon hearing of some new acquisition in the West +Indies, "I protest, Mr. Pitt, if you go on thus, you will soon be master +of every island in the world except just those two little ones, England +and Ireland." [Footnote: Mr. Sheridan quoted this anecdote in one of his +speeches in 1794.] + +That such was the light in which Mr. Sheridan himself viewed the mode of +carrying on the war recommended by the Alarmists, in comparison with that +which Mr. Pitt in general adopted, appears from the following passage in +his speech upon Spanish affairs in the year 1808:-- + +"There was hardly a person, except his Right Honorable Friend near him, +(Mr. Windham,) and Mr. Burke, who since the Revolution of France had +formed adequate notions of the necessary steps to be taken. The various +governments which this country had seen during that period were always +employed in filching for a sugar-island, or some other object of +comparatively trifling moment, while the main and principal purpose was +lost and forgotten," + +Whatever were the failures of Mr. Pitt abroad, at home his ascendancy was +fixed and indisputable; and, among all the triumphs of power which he +enjoyed during his career, the tribute now paid to him by the Whig +Aristocracy, in taking shelter under his ministry from the dangers of +Revolution, could not have been the least gratifying to his haughty +spirit. The India Bill had ranged on his side the King and the People, +and the Revolution now brought to his banner the flower of the Nobility +of both parties. His own estimate of rank may be fairly collected both +from the indifference which he showed to its honors himself, and from the +depreciating profusion with which he lavished them upon others. It may be +doubted whether his respect for Aristocracy was much increased, by the +readiness which he now saw in some of his high-born opponents, to +volunteer for safety into his already powerful ranks, without even +pausing to try the experiment, whether safety might not have been +reconcilable with principle in their own. It is certain that, without the +accession of so much weight and influence, he never could have ventured +upon the violations of the Constitution that followed--nor would the +Opposition, accordingly, have been driven by these excesses of power into +that reactive violence which was the natural consequence of an effort to +resist them. The prudent apprehensions, therefore, of these Noble Whigs +would have been much more usefully as well as honorably employed, in +mingling with, and moderating the proceedings of the friends of Liberty, +than in ministering fresh fuel to the zeal and vindictiveness of her +enemies. [Footnote: The case against these Noble Seceders is thus +spiritedly stated by Lord Moira:-- + +"I cannot ever sit in a cabinet with the Duke of Portland. He appears to +me to have done more injury to the Constitution and to the estimation of +the higher ranks in this country than any man on the political stage. By +his union with Mr. Pitt he has given it to be understood by the people, +that either all the constitutional charges which he and his friends for +so many years urged against Mr. Put were groundless, or that, being +solid, there was no difficulty in waving them when a convenient partition +of powers and emoluments was proposed. In either case the people must +infer that the constitutional principle which can be so played with is +unimportant, and that parliamentary professions are no security." +--_Letter from the Earl of Moira to Colonel M'Mahon, in 1797. +Parliamentary History_.] + +It may be added, too, that in allowing themselves to be persuaded by +Burke, that the extinction of the ancient Noblesse of France portended +necessarily any danger to the English Aristocracy, these Noble persons +did injustice to the strength of their own order, and to the +characteristics by which it is proudly distinguished from every other +race of Nobility in Europe. Placed, as a sort of break-water, between the +People and the Throne, in a state of double responsibility to liberty on +one side, and authority on the other, the Aristocracy of England hold a +station which is dignified by its own great duties, and of which the +titles transmitted by their ancestors form the least important ornament. +Unlike the Nobility of other countries, where the rank and privileges of +the father are multiplied through his offspring, and equally elevate them +all above the level of the community, the very highest English Nobleman +must consent to be the father but of commoners. Thus, connected with the +class below him by private as well as public sympathies, he gives his +children to the People as hostages for the sincerity of his zeal in their +cause--while on the other hand, the People, in return for these pledges +of the Aristocracy, sends a portion of its own elements aloft into that +higher region, to mingle with its glories and assert their claim to a +share in its power. By this mutual transfusion an equilibrium is +preserved, like that which similar processes maintain in the natural +world, and while a healthy, popular feeling circulates through the +Aristocracy, a sense of their own station in the scale elevates the +People. + +To tremble for the safety of a Nobility so constituted, without much +stronger grounds for alarm than appear to have existed in 1793, was an +injustice not only to that class itself, but the whole nation. The world +has never yet afforded an example, where this artificial distinction +between mankind has been turned to such beneficial account; and as no +monarchy can exist without such an order, so, in any other shape than +this, such an order is a burden and a nuisance. In England, so happy a +conformation of her Aristocracy is one of those fortuitous results which +time and circumstances have brought out in the long-tried experiment of +her Constitution; and, while there is no chance of its being ever again +attained in the Old World, there is but little, probability of its being +attempted in the New,--where the youthful nations now springing into +life, will, if they are wise, make the most of the free career before +them, and unencumbered with the costly trappings of feudalism, adopt, +like their northern neighbors, that form of government, whose simplicity +and cheapness are the best guarantees for its efficacy and purity. + +In judging of the policy of Mr. Pitt, during the Revolutionary war, his +partisans, we know, laud it as having been the means of salvation to +England, while his opponents assert that it was only prevented by chance +from being her ruin--and though the event gives an appearance of triumph +to the former opinion, it by no means removes or even weakens the grounds +of the latter. During the first nine years of his administration, Mr. +Pitt was, in every respect, an able and most useful minister, and, "while +the sea was calm, showed mastership in floating." But the great events +that happened afterwards took him by surprise. When he came to look +abroad from his cabinet into the storm that was brewing through Europe, +the clear and enlarged view of the higher order of statesman was wanting. +Instead of elevating himself above the influence of the agitation and +alarm that prevailed, he gave way to it with the crowd of ordinary minds, +and even took counsel from the panic of others. The consequence was a +series of measures, violent at home and inefficient abroad--far short of +the mark where vigor was wanting, and beyond it, as often, where vigor +was mischievous. + +When we are told to regard his policy as the salvation of the +country--when, (to use a figure of Mr. Dundas,) a _claim of salvage_ +is made for him--it may be allowed us to consider a little the nature of +the measures by which this alleged salvation was achieved. If entering +into a great war without either consistency of plan, or preparation of +means, and with a total ignorance of the financial resources of the enemy +[Footnote: Into his erroneous calculations upon this point he is +supposed to have been led by Sir Francis D'Ivernois.]--if allowing one +part of the Cabinet to flatter the French Royalists, with the hope of +seeing the Bourbons restored to undiminished power, while the other part +acted, whenever an opportunity offered, upon the plan of dismembering +France for the aggrandizement of Austria, and thus, at once, alienated +Prussia at the very moment of subsidizing him, and lost the confidence of +all the Royalist party in France, [Footnote: Among other instances, the +Abbé Maury is reported to have said at Rome in a large company of his +countrymen--"Still we have one remedy--let us not allow France to be +divided--we have seen the partition of Poland we must all turn Jacobins +to preserve our country."] except the few who were ruined by English +assistance at Quiberon--if going to war in 1793 for the right of the +Dutch to a river, and so managing it that in 1794 the Dutch lost their +whole Seven Provinces--if lavishing more money upon failures than the +successes of a century had cost, and supporting this profusion by schemes +of finance, either hollow and delusive, like the Sinking Fund, or +desperately regardless of the future, like the paper issues--if driving +Ireland into rebellion by the perfidious recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, and +reducing England to two of the most, fearful trials, that a nation, +depending upon Credit and a navy, could encounter, the stoppage of her +Bank and a mutiny in her fleet--if, finally, floundering on from effort +to effort against France, and then dying upon the ruins of the last +Coalition he could muster against her--if all this betokens a wise and +able minister, then is Mr. Pitt most amply entitled to that name;--then +are the lessons of wisdom to be read, like Hebrew, backward, and waste +and rashness and systematic failure to be held the only true means of +saving a country. + +Had even success, by one of those anomalous accidents, which sometimes +baffle the best founded calculations of wisdom, been the immediate result +of this long monotony of error, it could not, except with those to whom +the event is every thing--"_Eventus, stultorum magister_" +[Footnote: A saying of the wise Fabius.]--reflect back merit upon the +means by which it was achieved, or, by a retrospective miracle, convert +that into wisdom, which chance had only saved from the worst consequences +of folly. Just as well might we be called upon to pronounce Alchemy a +wise art, because a perseverance in its failures and reveries had led by +accident to the discoveries of Chemistry. But even this sanction of +good-luck was wanting to the unredeemed mistakes of Mr. Pitt. During the +eight years that intervened between his death and the termination of the +contest, the adoption of a far wiser policy was forced upon his more +tractable pupils; and the only share that his measures can claim in the +successful issue of the war, is that of having produced the grievance +that was then abated--of having raised up the power opposed to him to the +portentous and dizzy height, from which it then fell by the giddiness of +its own elevation, [Footnote: + +--"_summisque negatum +Stare din_." + +LUCAN.] and by the reaction, not of the Princes, but the People of Europe +against its yoke. + +What would have been the course of affairs, both foreign and domestic, +had Mr. Fox--as was, at one time, not improbable--been the Minister +during this period, must be left to that superhuman knowledge, which the +schoolmen call "_media scientia_," and which consists in knowing all +that would have happened, had events been otherwise than they have been. +It is probable that some of the results would not have been so different +as the respective principles of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox might naturally lead +us, on the first thought, to assert. If left to himself, there is little +doubt that the latter, from the simple and fearless magnanimity of his +nature, would have consulted for the public safety with that moderation +which true courage inspires; and that, even had it been necessary to +suspend the Constitution for a season, he would have known how to veil +the statue of Liberty, [Footnote: "_Il y a des cas ou il faut mettre +pour un moment un voile sur la Liberté, comme l'on cache les statues des +dieux_."--MONTESQUIEU, liv. xii. chap. 20.] without leaving like his +rival, such marks of mutilation on its limbs. But it is to be recollected +that he would have had to encounter, in his own ranks, the very same +patrician alarm, which could even to Mr. Pitt give an increase of +momentum against liberty, and which the possession of power would have +rendered but more sensitive and arbitrary. Accustomed, too, as he had +long been, to yield to the influence of Burke, it would have required +more firmness than habitually belonged to Mr. Fox, to withstand the +persevering impetuosity of such a counsellor, or keep the balance of his +mind unshaken by those stupendous powers, which, like the horses of the +Sun breaking out of the ecliptic, carried every thing they seized upon, +so splendidly astray:-- + + + "_quaque impetus egit, + Hac sine lege ruunt, altoque sub aethere fixis + Incursant stellis, rapiuntque per avia currum_." + + Where'er the impulse drives, they burst away + In lawless grandeur;--break into the array + Of the fix'd stars, and bound and blaze along + Their devious course, magnificently wrong! + + +Having hazarded these general observations, upon the views and conduct of +the respective parties of England, during the Crusade now begun against +the French people, I shall content myself with briefly and cursorily +noticing the chief questions upon which Mr. Sheridan distinguished +himself, in the course of the parliamentary campaigns that followed. The +sort of _guerilla_ warfare, which he and the rest of the small band +attached to Mr. Fox carried on, during this period, against the invaders +of the Constitution, is interesting rather by its general character than +its detail; for in these, as usual, the episodes of party personality are +found to encroach disproportionately on the main design, and the grandeur +of the cause, as viewed at a distance, becomes diminished to our +imaginations by too near an approach. Englishmen, however, will long look +back to that crisis with interest; and the names of Fox, of Sheridan, and +of Grey will be affectionately remembered, when that sort of false +elevation, which party-feeling now gives to the reputations of some who +were opposed to them, shall have subsided to its due level, or been +succeeded by oblivion. They who act against the general sympathies of +mankind, however they may be artificially buoyed up for the moment, have +the current against them in the long run of fame; while the reputation of +those, whose talents have been employed upon the popular and generous +side of human feelings, receives, through all time, an accelerating +impulse from the countless hearts that go with it in its course. Lord +Chatham, even now, supersedes his son in fame, and will leave him at an +immeasurable distance with posterity. + +Of the events of the private life of Mr. Sheridan, during this stormy +part of his political career, there remain but few memorials among his +papers. As an illustration, however, of his love of betting--the only +sort of gambling in which he ever indulged--the following curious list +of his wagers for the year is not unamusing:-- + +_"25th May, 1793._--Mr. Sheridan bets Gen. Fitzpatrick one hundred +guineas to fifty guineas, that within two years from this date some +measure is adopted in Parliament which shall be (_bonâ fide_) +considered as the adoption of a Parliamentary Reform. + +"_29th January, 1793._--Mr. S. bets Mr. Boothby Clopton five hundred +guineas, that there is a Reform in the Representation of the people of +England within three years from the date hereof. + +"_29th January, 1793_.--Mr. S. bets Mr. Hardy one hundred guineas to +fifty guineas, that Mr. W. Windham does not represent Norwich at the next +general election. + +"_29th January, 1793._--Mr. S. bets Gen. Fitzpatrick fifty guineas, +that a corps of British troops are sent to Holland within two months of +the date hereof. + +"_18th March, 1793._--Mr. S. bets Lord Titchfield two hundred +guineas, that the D. of Portland is at the head of an Administration on +or before the 18th of March, 1796; Mr. Fox to decide whether any place +the Duke may then fill shall _bonâ fide_ come within the meaning of +this bet. + +"_25th March, 1793_.--Mr. S. bets Mr. Hardy one hundred guineas, +that the three per cent. consols are as high this day twelvemonth as at +the date hereof. + +"Mr. S. bets Gen. Tarleton one hundred guineas to fifty guineas, that Mr. +Pitt is first Lord of the Treasury on the 28th of May, 1795.--Mr. S. bets +Mr. St. A. St. John fifteen guineas to five guineas, ditto.--Mr. S. bets +Lord Sefton one hundred and forty guineas to forty guineas, ditto. + +_"19th March, 1793_.--Lord Titchfield and Lord W. Russell bet Mr. S. +three hundred guineas to two hundred guineas, that Mr. Pitt is first Lord +of the Treasury on the 19th of March, 1795. + +"_18th March, 1793_.--Lord Titchfield bets Mr. S. twenty-five +guineas to fifty guineas, that Mr. W. Windham represents Norwich at the +next general election." + +As a sort of moral supplement to this strange list, and one of those +insights into character and conduct which it is the duty of a biographer +to give, I shall subjoin a letter, connected evidently with one of the +above speculations:-- + +"SIR, + +"I am very sorry that I have been so circumstanced as to have been +obliged to disappoint you respecting the payment of the five hundred +guineas: when I gave the draughts on Lord * * I had every reason to be +assured he would accept them, as * * had also. I enclose you, as you will +see by his desire, the letter in which he excuses his not being able to +pay me this part of a larger sum he owes me, and I cannot refuse him any +time he requires, however inconvenient to me. I also enclose you two +draughts accepted by a gentleman from whom the money will be due to me, +and on whose punctuality I can rely. I extremely regret that I cannot at +this juncture command the money. + +"At the same time that I regret your being put to any inconvenience by +this delay, I cannot help adverting to the circumstance which perhaps +misled me into the expectation that you would not unwillingly allow me +any reasonable time I might want for the payment of this bet. The +circumstance I mean, however discreditable the plea, is the total +inebriety of some of the party, particularly of myself, when I made this +preposterous bet. I doubt not you will remember having yourself observed +on this circumstance to a common friend the next day, with an intimation +that you should not object to being off; and for my part, when I was +informed that I had made such a bet and for such a sum,--the first, such +folly on the face of it on my part, and the latter so out of my +practice,--I certainly should have proposed the cancelling it, but that, +from the intimation imparted to me, I hoped the proposition might come +from you. + +"I hope I need not for a moment beg you not to imagine that I am now +alluding to these circumstances as the slightest invalidation of your +due. So much the contrary, that I most perfectly admit that from your not +having heard any thing further from me on the subject, and especially +after I might have heard that if I desired it the bet might be off, you +had every reason to conclude that I was satisfied with the wager, and +whether made in wine or not, was desirous of abiding by it. And this was +further confirmed by my receiving soon after from you 100_l_, on +another bet won by me. + +"Having, I think, put this point very fairly, I again repeat that my only +motive for alluding to the matter was, as some explanation of my seeming +dilatoriness, which certainly did in part arise from always conceiving +that, whenever I should state what was my real wish the day after the bet +was made, you would be the more disposed to allow a little time;--the +same statement admitting, as it must, the bet to be as clearly and as +fairly won as possible; in short, as if I had insisted on it myself the +next morning. + +"I have said more perhaps on the subject than can be necessary; but I +should regret to appear negligent to an application for a just claim. + +"I have the honor to be, + +"Sir, + +"Your obedient servant, + +"_Hertford St. Feb. 26._ + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + +Of the public transactions of Sheridan at this time, his speeches are the +best record. To them, therefore, I shall henceforward principally refer +my readers,--premising, that though the reports of his latter speeches +are somewhat better, in general, than those of his earlier displays, they +still do great injustice to his powers, and exhibit little more than the +mere _Torso_ of his eloquence, curtailed of all those accessories +that lent motion and beauty to its form. The attempts to give the +terseness of his wit particularly fail, and are a strong illustration of +what he himself once said to Lord * *. That Nobleman, who among his many +excellent qualities does not include a very lively sense of humor, having +exclaimed, upon hearing some good anecdote from Sheridan, "I'll go and +tell that to our friend * *." Sheridan called him back instantly and +said, with much gravity, "For God's sake, don't, my dear * *: a joke is +no laughing matter in your mouth." + +It is, indeed, singular, that all the eminent English orators--with the +exception of Mr. Burke and Mr. Windham--should have been so little +anxious for the correct transmission of their eloquence to posterity. Had +not Cicero taken more care of even his extemporaneous effusions, we +should have lost that masterly burst of the moment, to which the clemency +of Caesar towards Marcellus gave birth. The beautiful fragments we have +of Lord Chatham are rather traditional than recorded;--there are but two, +I believe, of the speeches of Mr. Pitt corrected by himself, those on the +Budget of 1792, and on the Union with Ireland;--Mr. Fox committed to +writing but one of his, namely, the tribute to the memory of the Duke of +Bedford;--and the only speech of Mr. Sheridan, that is known with +certainty to have passed under his own revision, was that which he made +at the opening of the following session, (1794,) in answer to Lord +Mornington. + +In the course of the present year he took frequent opportunities of +expressing his disgust at that spirit of ferocity which had so deeply +disgraced the cause of the Revolution. So earnest was his interest in the +fate of the Royal Family of France, that, as appears from one of his +speeches, he drew up a paper on the subject, and transmitted it to the +republican rulers;--with the view, no doubt, of conveying to them the +feelings of the English Opposition, and endeavoring to avert, by the +influence of his own name and that of Mr. Fox, the catastrophe that +awaited those Royal victims of liberty. Of this interesting document I +cannot discover any traces. + +In one of his answers to Burke on the subject of the French Revolution, +adverting to the charge of Deism and Atheism brought against the +republicans, he says, + +"As an argument to the feelings and passions of men, the Honorable Member +had great advantages in dwelling on this topic; because it was a subject +which those who disliked everything that had the air of cant and +profession on the one hand, or of indifference on the other, found it +awkward to meddle with. Establishments, tests, and matters of that +nature, were proper objects of political discussion in that House, but +not general charges of Atheism and Deism, as pressed upon their +consideration by the Honorable Gentleman. Thus far, however, he would +say, and it was an opinion he had never changed or concealed, that, +although no man can command his conviction, he had ever considered a +deliberate disposition to make proselytes in infidelity as an +unaccountable depravity. Whoever attempted to pluck the belief or the +prejudice on this subject, style it which he would, from the bosom of one +man, woman, or child, committed a brutal outrage, the motive for which he +had never been able to trace or conceive." + +I quote these words as creditable to the feeling and good sense of +Sheridan. Whatever may be thought of particular faiths and sects, a +belief in a life beyond this world is the only thing that pierces through +the walls of our prison-house, and lets hope shine in upon a scene, that +would be otherwise bewildered and desolate. The proselytism of the +Atheist is, indeed, a dismal mission. That believers, who have each the +same heaven in prospect, should invite us to join them on their +respective ways to it, is at least a benevolent officiousness,--but that +he, who has no prospect or hope himself, should seek for companionship in +his road to annihilation, can only be explained by that tendency in human +creatures to count upon each other in their despair, as well as their +hope. + +In the speech upon his own motion relative to the existence of seditious +practices in the country, there is some lively ridicule, upon the panic +then prevalent. For instance:-- + +"The alarm had been brought forward in great pomp and form on Saturday +morning. At night all the mail-coaches were stopped; the Duke of Richmond +stationed himself, among other curiosities, at the Tower; a great +municipal officer, too, had made a discovery exceedingly beneficial to +the people of this country. He meant the Lord Mayor of London, who had +found out that there was at the King's Arms at Cornhill a Debating +Society, where principles of the most dangerous tendency were propagated; +where people went to buy treason at sixpence a head; where it was +retailed to them by the glimmering of an inch of candle; and five +minutes, to be measured by the glass, were allowed to each traitor to +perform his part in overturning the State." + +It was in the same speech that he gave the well-known and happy turn to +the motto of the Sun newspaper, which was at that time known to be the +organ of the Alarmists. "There was one paper," he remarked, "in +particular, said to be the property of members of that House, and +published and conducted under their immediate direction, which had for +its motto a garbled part of a beautiful sentence, when it might, with +much more propriety, have assumed the whole-- + + "Solem quis dicere falsum + Audeat? Ille etiam cacos instare tumultus + Saepe monet, fraudemque et operta tumescere bella." + +Among the subjects that occupied the greatest share of his attention +during this Session, was the Memorial of Lord Auckland to the +States-General,--which document he himself brought under the notice of +Parliament as deserving of severe reprobation for the violent and +vindictive tone which it assumed towards the Commissioners of the +National Convention. It was upon one of the discussions connected with +this subject that a dispute, as to the correct translation of the word +"_malheureux_" was maintained with much earnestness between him and +Lord Melville--two persons, the least qualified, perhaps, of any in the +House, to volunteer as either interpreters or pronouncers of the French +language. According to Sheridan, "_ces malheureux_" was to be +translated "these wretches," while Lord Melville contended, to the no +small amusement of the House, that "_mollyroo_" (as he pronounced +it,) meant no more than "these unfortunate gentlemen." + +In the November of this year Mr. Sheridan lost by a kind of death which +must have deepened the feeling of the loss, the most intimate of all his +companions, Tickell. If congeniality of dispositions and pursuits were +always a strengthener of affection, the friendship between Tickell and +Sheridan ought to have been of the most cordial kind; for they resembled +each other in almost every particular--in their wit, their wants, their +talent, and their thoughtlessness. It is but too true, however, that +friendship in general gains far less by such a community of pursuit than +it loses by the competition that naturally springs out of it; and that +two wits or two beauties form the last sort of alliance, in which we +ought to look for specimens of sincere and cordial friendship. The +intercourse between Tickell and Sheridan was not free from such +collisions of vanity. They seem to have lived, indeed, in a state of +alternate repulsion and attraction; and, unable to do without the +excitement of each other's vivacity, seldom parted without trials of +temper as well as of wit. Being both, too, observers of character, and +each finding in the other rich materials for observation, their love of +ridicule could not withstand such a temptation, and they freely +criticised each other to common friends, who, as is usually the case, +agreed with both. Still, however, there was a whim and sprightliness even +about their mischief, which made it seem rather an exercise of ingenuity +than an indulgence of ill nature; and if they had not carried on this +intellectual warfare, neither would have liked the other half so well. + +The two principal productions of Tickell, the "Wreath of Fashion" and +"Anticipation," were both upon temporary subjects, and have accordingly +passed into oblivion. There are, however, some graceful touches of +pleasantry in the poem; and the pamphlet, (which procured for him not +only fame but a place in the Stamp-office,) contains passages of which +the application and the humor have not yet grown stale. As Sheridan is +the hero of the Wreath of Fashion, it is but right to quote the verses +that relate to him; and I do it with the more pleasure, because they also +contain a well-merited tribute to Mrs. Sheridan. After a description of +the various poets of the day that deposit their offerings in Lady +Millar's "Vase of Sentiment," the author thus proceeds:-- + + + "At Fashion's shrine behold a gentler bard + Gaze on the mystic vase with fond regard-- + But see, Thalia checks the doubtful thought, + 'Canst thou, (she cries,) with sense, with genius fraught, + Canst thou to Fashion's tyranny submit, + Secure in native, independent wit? + Or yield to Sentiment's insipid rule, + By Taste, by Fancy, chac'd through Scandal's school? + Ah no--be Sheridan's the comic page, + Or let me fly with Garrick from the stage. + Haste then, my friend, (for let me boast that name,) + Haste to the opening path of genuine fame; + Or, if thy muse a gentler theme pursue, + Ah, 'tis to love and thy Eliza due! + For, sure, the sweetest lay she well may claim, + Whose soul breathes harmony o'er all her frame; + While wedded love, with ray serenely clear, + Beams from her eye, as from its proper sphere." + + +In the year 1781, Tickell brought out at Drury-Lane an opera called "The +Carnival of Venice," on which there is the following remark in Mrs. +Crouch's Memoirs:--"Many songs in this piece so perfectly resemble in +poetic beauty those which adorn The Duenna, that they declare themselves +to be the offspring of the same muse." I know not how far this conjecture +may be founded, but there are four pretty lines which I remember in this +opera, and which, it may be asserted without hesitation, Sheridan never +wrote. He had no feeling for natural scenery, [Footnote: In corroboration +of this remark, I have been allowed to quote the following passage of a +letter written by a very eminent person, whose name all lovers of the +Picturesque associate with their best enjoyment of its beauties:-- + +"At one time I saw a good deal of Sheridan--he and his first wife passed +some time here, and he is an instance that a taste for poetry and for +scenery are not always united. Had this house been in the midst of +Hounslow Heath, he could not have taken less interest in all around it: +his delight was in shooting, all and every day, and my game-keeper said +that of all the gentlemen he had ever been out with he never knew so bad +a shot."] nor is there a trace of such a sentiment discoverable through +his poetry. The following, as well as I can recollect, are the lines:-- + + + "And while the moon shines on the stream, + And as soft music breathes around, + The feathering oar returns the gleam, + And dips in concert to the sound." + + +I have already given a humorous Dedication of the Rivals, written by +Tickell on the margin of a copy of that play in my possession. I shall +now add another piece of still more happy humor, with which he has +filled, in very neat hand-writing, the three or four first pages of the +same copy. + +"The Rivals, a Comedy--one of the best in the English language--written +as long ago as the reign of George the Third. The author's name was +Sheridan--he is mentioned by the historians of that age as a man of +uncommon abilities, very little improved by cultivation. His confidence +in the resources of his own genius and his aversion to any sort of labor +were so great that he could not be prevailed upon to learn either to read +or write. He was, for a short time, Manager of one the play-houses, and +conceived the extraordinary and almost incredible project of composing a +play extempore, which he was to recite in the Green-room to the actors, +who were immediately to come on the stage and perform it. The players +refusing to undertake their parts at so short a notice, and with so +little preparation, he threw up the management in disgust. + +"He was a member of the last Parliaments that were summoned in England, +and signalized himself on many occasions by his wit and eloquence, though +he seldom came to the House till the debate was nearly concluded, and +never spoke, unless he was drunk. He lived on a footing of great intimacy +with the famous Fox, who is said to have concerted with him the audacious +attempt which he made, about the year 1783, to seize the whole property +of the East India Company, amounting at that time to above +12,000,000_l_. sterling, and then to declare himself Lord Protector +of the realm by the title of Carlo Khan. This desperate scheme actually +received the consent of the lower House of Parliament, the majority of +whom were bribed by Fox, or intimidated by his and Sheridan's threats and +violence: and it is generally believed that the Revolution would have +taken place, if the Lords of the King's Bedchamber had not in a body +surrounded the throne and shown the most determined resolution not to +abandon their posts but with their lives. The usurpation being defeated, +Parliament was dissolved and loaded with infamy. Sheridan was one of the +few members of it who were re-elected:--the Burgesses of Stafford, whom +he had kept in a constant state of intoxication for near three weeks, +chose him again to represent them, which he was well qualified to do. + +"Fox's Whig party being very much reduced, or rather almost annihilated, +he and the rest of the conspirators remained quiet for some time; till, +in the year 1788, the French, in conjunction with Tippoo Sultan, having +suddenly seized and divided between themselves the whole of the British +possessions in India, the East India Company broke, and a national +bankruptcy was apprehended. During this confusion Fox and his partisans +assembled in large bodies, and made a violent attack in Parliament on +Pitt, the King's first minister:--Sheridan supported and seconded him. +Parliament seemed disposed to inquire into the cause of the calamity: the +nation was almost in a state of actual rebellion; and it is impossible +for us, at the distance of three hundred years, to form any judgment what +dreadful consequences might have followed, if the King, by the advice of +the Lords of the Bedchamber, had not dissolved the Parliament, and taken +the administration of affairs into his own hands, and those of a few +confidential servants, at the head of whom he was pleased to place one +Mr. Atkinson, a merchant, who had acquired a handsome fortune in the +Jamaica trade, and passed universally for a man of unblemished integrity. +His Majesty having now no farther occasion for Pitt, and being desirous +of rewarding him for his past services, and, at the same time, finding an +adequate employment for his great talents, caused him to enter into holy +orders, and presented him with the Deanery of Windsor; where he became an +excellent preacher, and published several volumes of sermons, all of +which are now lost. + +"To return to Sheridan:--on the abrogation of Parliaments, he entered +into a closer connection than ever with Fox and a few others of lesser +note, forming together as desperate and profligate a gang as ever +disgraced a civilized country. They were guilty of every species of +enormity, and went so far as even to commit robberies on the highway, +with a degree of audacity that could be equalled only by the ingenuity +with which they escaped conviction. Sheridan, not satisfied with eluding, +determined to mock the justice of his country, and composed a Masque +called 'The Foresters,' containing a circumstantial account of some of +the robberies he had committed, and a good deal of sarcasm on the +pusillanimity of those whom he had robbed, and the inefficacy of the +penal laws of the kingdom. This piece was acted at Drury-Lane Theatre +with great applause, to the astonishment of all sober persons, and the +scandal of the nation. His Majesty, who had long wished to curb the +licentiousness of the press and the theatres, thought this a good +opportunity. He ordered the performers to be enlisted into the army, the +play-house to be shut up, and all theatrical exhibitions to be forbid on +pain of death, Drury-Lane play-house was soon after converted into a +barrack for soldiers, which it has continued to be ever since. Sheridan +was arrested, and, it was imagined, would have suffered the rack, if he +had not escaped from his guard by a stratagem, and gone over to Ireland +in a balloon with which his friend Fox furnished him. Immediately on his +arrival in Ireland, he put himself at the head of a party of the most +violent Reformers, commanded a regiment of Volunteers at the siege of +Dublin in 1791, and was supposed to be the person who planned the scheme +for tarring and feathering Mr. Jenkinson, the Lord Lieutenant, and +forcing him in that condition to sign the capitulation of the Castle. The +persons who were to execute this strange enterprise had actually got into +the Lord Lieutenant's apartment at midnight, and would probably have +succeeded in their project, if Sheridan, who was intoxicated with +whiskey, a strong liquor much in vogue with the Volunteers, had not +attempted to force open the door of Mrs. ----'s bed-chamber, and so given +the alarm to the garrison, who instantly flew to arms, seized Sheridan +and every one of his party, and confined them in the castle-dungeon. +Sheridan was ordered for execution the next day, but had no sooner got +his legs and arms at liberty, than he began capering, jumping, dancing, +and making all sorts of antics, to the utter amazement of the spectators. +When the chaplain endeavored, by serious advice and admonition, to bring +him to a proper sense of his dreadful situation, he grinned, made faces +at him, tried to tickle him, and played a thousand other pranks with such +astonishing drollery, that the gravest countenances became cheerful, and +the saddest hearts glad. The soldiers who attended at the gallows were so +delighted with his merriment, which they deemed magnanimity, that the +sheriffs began to apprehend a rescue, and ordered the hangman instantly +to do his duty. He went off in a loud horse-laugh, and cast a look +towards the Castle, accompanied with a gesture expressive of no great +respect. + +"Thus ended the life of this singular and unhappy man--a melancholy +instance of the calamities that attend the misapplication of great and +splendid ability. He was married to a very beautiful and amiable woman, +for whom he is said to have entertained an unalterable affection. He had +one son, a boy of the most promising hopes, whom he would never suffer to +be instructed in the first rudiments of literature. He amused himself, +however, with teaching the boy to draw portraits with his toes, in which +he soon became so astonishing a proficient that he seldom failed to take +a most exact likeness of every person who sat to him. + +"There are a few more plays by the same author, all of them excellent. + +"For further information concerning this strange man, vide 'Macpherson's +Moral History,' Art. '_Drunkenness_.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SPEECH IN ANSWER TO LORD MORNINGTON.--COALITION OF THE WHIG SECEDERS WITH +MR. PITT.--MR. CANNING.--EVIDENCE ON THE TRIAL OF HORNE TOOKE.--THE +"GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE."--MARRIAGE OF MR. SHERIDAN.--PAMPHLET OF MR. +REEVES.--DEBTS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.--SHAKSPEARE MANUSCRIPTS.--TRIAL +OF STONE.--MUTINY AT THE NORE.--SECESSION OF MR. FOX FROM PARLIAMENT. + + +In the year 1794, the natural consequences of the policy pursued by Mr. +Pitt began rapidly to unfold themselves both at home and abroad. +[Footnote: See, for a masterly exposure of the errors of the War, the +Speech of Lord Lansdowne this year on bringing forward his Motion for +Peace. + +I cannot let the name of this Nobleman pass, without briefly expressing +the deep gratitude which I feel to him, not only for his own kindness to +me, when introduced, as a boy, to his notice, but for the friendship of +his truly Noble descendant, which I, in a great degree, owe to him, and +which has long been the pride and happiness of my life.] The confederated +Princes of the Continent, among whom the gold of England was now the sole +bond of union, had succeeded as might be expected from so noble an +incentive, and, powerful only in provoking France, had by every step they +took but ministered to her aggrandizement. In the mean time, the measures +of the English Minister at home were directed to the two great objects of +his legislation--the raising of supplies and the suppressing of sedition; +or, in other words, to the double and anomalous task of making the people +pay for the failures of their Royal allies, and suffer for their sympathy +with the success of their republican enemies. It is the opinion of a +learned Jesuit that it was by _aqua regia_ the Golden Calf of the +Israelites was dissolved--and the cause of Kings was the Royal solvent, +in which the wealth of Great Britain now melted irrecoverably away. While +the successes, too, of the French had already lowered the tone of the +Minister from projects of aggression to precautions of defence, the +wounds which in the wantonness of alarm, he had inflicted on the +liberties of the country, were spreading an inflammation around them that +threatened real danger. The severity of the sentence upon Muir and Palmer +in Scotland, and the daring confidence with which charges of High Treason +were exhibited against persons who were, at the worst, but indiscreet +reformers, excited the apprehensions of even the least sensitive friends +of freedom. It is, indeed, difficult to say how far the excited temper of +the Government, seconded by the ever ready subservience of state-lawyers +and bishops, might have proceeded at this moment, had not the acquittal +of Tooke and his associates, and the triumph it diffused through the +country, given a lesson to Power such as England is alone capable of +giving, and which will long be remembered, to the honor of that great +political safeguard,--that Life-preserver in stormy times,--the Trial by +Jury. + +At the opening of the Session, Mr. Sheridan delivered his admirable +answer to Lord Mornington, the report of which, as I have already said, +was corrected for publication by himself. In this fine speech, of which +the greater part must have been unprepared, there is a natural +earnestness of feeling and argument that is well contrasted with the able +but artificial harangue that preceded it. In referring to the details +which Lord Mornington had entered into of the various atrocities +committed in France, he says:-- + +"But what was the sum of all that he had told the House? that great and +dreadful enormities had been committed, at which the heart shuddered, and +which not merely wounded every feeling of humanity, but disgusted and +sickened the soul. All this was most true; but what did all this prove? +What, but that eternal and unalterable truth which had always presented +itself to his mind, in whatever way he had viewed the subject, namely, +that a long established despotism so far degraded and debased human +nature, as to render its subjects, on the first recovery of their rights, +unfit for the exercise of them. But never had he, or would he meet but +with re probation that mode of argument which went, in fact, to +establish, as an inference from this truth, that those who had been long +slaves, ought therefore to remain so for over! No; the lesson ought to +be, he would again repeat, a tenfold horror of that despotic form of +government, which had so profaned and changed the nature of civilized +man, and a still more jealous apprehension of any system tending to +withhold the rights and liberties of our fellow-creatures. Such a form of +government might be considered as twice cursed; while it existed, it was +solely responsible for the miseries and calamities of its subjects; and +should a day of retribution come, and the tyranny be destroyed, it was +equally to be charged with all the enormities which the folly or frenzy +of those who overturned it should commit. + +"But the madness of the French people was not confined to their +proceedings within their own country; we, and all the Powers of Europe, +had to dread it. True; but was not this also to be accounted for? Wild +and unsettled as their state of mind was, necessarily, upon the events +which had thrown such power so suddenly into their hands, the surrounding +States had goaded them into a still more savage state of madness, fury, +and desperation. We had unsettled their reason, and then reviled their +insanity; we drove them to the extremities that produced the evils we +arraigned; we baited them like wild beasts, until at length we made them +so. The conspiracy of Pilnitz, and the brutal threats of the Royal +abettors of that plot against the rights of nations and of men, had, in +truth, to answer for all the additional misery, horrors, and iniquity, +which had since disgraced and incensed humanity. Such has been your +conduct towards France, that you have created the passions which you +persecute; you mark a nation to be cut off from the world; you covenant +for their extermination; you swear to hunt them in their inmost recesses; +you load them with every species of execration; and you now come forth +with whining declamations on the horror of their turning upon you with +the fury which you inspired." + +Having alluded to an assertion of Condorcet, quoted by Lord Mornington, +that "Revolutions are always the work of the minority," he adds +livelily:-- + +"--If this be true, it certainly is a most ominous thing for the enemies +of Reform in England; for, if it holds true, of necessity, that the +minority still prevails, in national contests, it must be a consequence +that the smaller the minority the more certain must be the success. In +what a dreadful situation then must the Noble Lord be and all the +Alarmists!--for, never surely was a minority so small, so thin in number +as the present. Conscions, however, that M. Condorcet was mistaken in our +object, I am glad to find that we are terrible in proportion as we are +few; I rejoice that the liberality of secession which has thinned our +ranks has only served to make us more formidable. The Alarmists will hear +this with new apprehensions; they will no doubt return to us with a view +to diminish our force, and encumber us with their alliance in order to +reduce us to insignificance." + +We have here another instance, in addition to the many that have been +given, of the beauties that sprung up under Sheridan's correcting hand. +This last pointed sentence was originally thus: "And we shall swell our +numbers in order to come nearer in a balance of insignificance to the +numerous host of the majority." + +It was at this time evident that the great Whig Seceders would soon yield +to the invitations of Mr. Pitt and the vehement persuasions of Burke, and +commit themselves still further with the Administration by accepting of +office. Though the final arrangements to this effect were not completed +till the summer, on account of the lingering reluctance of the Duke of +Portland and Mr. Windham, Lord Loughborough and others of the former +Opposition had already put on the official livery of the Minister. It is +to be regretted that, in almost all cases of conversion to the side of +power, the coincidence of some worldly advantage with the change should +make it difficult to decide upon the sincerity or disinterestedness of +the convert. That these Noble Whigs were sincere in their alarm there is +no reason to doubt; but the lesson of loyalty they have transmitted would +have been far more edifying, had the usual corollary of honors and +emoluments not followed, and had they left at least one instance of +political conversion on record, where the truth was its own sole reward, +and the proselyte did not subside into the placeman. Mr. Sheridan was +naturally indignant at these desertions, and his bitterness overflows in +many passages of the speech before us. Lord Mornington having contrasted +the privations and sacrifices demanded of the French by their Minister of +Finance with those required of the English nation, he says in answer:-- + +"The Noble Lord need not remind us, that there is no great danger of our +Chancellor of the Exchequer making any such experiment. I can more easily +fancy another sort of speech for our prudent Minister. I can more easily +conceive him modestly comparing himself and his own measures with the +character and conduct of his rival, and saying,--'Do I demand of you, +wealthy citizens, to lend your hoards to Government without interest? On +the contrary, when I shall come to propose a loan, there is not a man of +you to whom I shall not hold out at least a job in every part of the +subscription, and an usurious profit upon every pound you devote to the +necessities of your country. Do I demand of you, my fellow-placemen and +brother-pensioners, that you should sacrifice any part of your stipends +to the public exigency? On the contrary; am I not daily increasing your +emoluments and your numbers in proportion as the country becomes unable +to provide for you? Do I require of you, my latest and most zealous +proselytes, of you who have come over to me for the special purpose of +supporting the war--a war, on the success of which you solemnly protest, +that the salvation of Britain, and of civil society itself, depend--do I +require of you, that you should make a temporary sacrifice, in the cause +of human nature, of the greater part of your private incomes? No, +gentlemen, I scorn to take advantage of the eagerness of your zeal; and +to prove that I think the sincerity of your attachment to me needs no +such test, I will make your interest co-operate with your principle: I +will quarter many of you on the public supply, instead of calling on you +to contribute to it; and, while their whole thoughts are absorbed in +patriotic apprehensions for their country, I will dexterously force upon +others the favorite objects of the vanity or ambition of their lives. + + * * * * * + +"Good God, Sir, that he should have thought it prudent to have forced +this contrast upon our attention; that he should triumphantly remind us +of everything that shame should have withheld, and caution would have +buried in oblivion! Will those who stood forth with a parade of +disinterested patriotism, and vaunted of the _sacrifices_ they had +made, and the _exposed situation_ they had chosen, in order the +better to oppose the friends of Brissot in England--will they thank the +Noble Lord for reminding us how soon these lofty professions dwindled +into little jobbing pursuits for followers and dependents, as unfit to +fill the offices procured for them, as the offices themselves were unfit +to be created?--Will the train of newly titled alarmists, of +supernumerary negotiators, of pensioned paymasters, agents and +commissaries, thank him for remarking to us how profitable their panic +has been to themselves, and how expensive to their country? What a +contrast, indeed, do we exhibit!--What! in such an hour as this, at a +moment pregnant with the national fate, when, pressing as the exigency +may be, the hard task of squeezing the money from the pockets of an +impoverished people, from the toil, the drudgery of the shivering poor, +must make the most practised collector's heart ache while he tears it +from them--can it be that people of high rank, and professing high +principles, that _they_ or _their families_ should seek to +thrive on the spoils of misery and fatten on the meals wrested from +industrious poverty? Can it be that that should be the case with the very +persons, who state the _unprecedented peril of the country_ as the +_sole_ cause of their being found in the ministerial ranks? The +Constitution is in danger, religion is in danger, the very existence of +the nation itself is endangered; all personal and party considerations +ought to vanish; the war must be supported by every possible exertion, +and by every possible sacrifice; the people must not murmur at their +burdens, it is for their salvation, their all is at stake. The time is +come, when all honest and disinterested men should rally round the Throne +as round a standard;--for what? ye honest and disinterested men, to +receive, for your own private emolument, a portion of those very taxes +wrung from the people on the pretence of saving them from the poverty and +distress which you say the enemy would inflict, but which you take care +no enemy shall be able to aggravate. Oh! shame! shame! is this a time for +selfish intrigues, and the little dirty traffic for lucre and emolument? +Does it suit the honor of a gentleman to ask at such a moment? Does it +become the honesty of a Minister to grant? Is it intended to confirm the +pernicious doctrine, so industriously propagated by many, that all public +men are impostors, and that every politician has his price? Or even where +there is no principle in the bosom, why does not prudence hint to the +mercenary and the vain to abstain a while at least, and wait the fitting +of the times? Improvident impatience! Nay, even from those who seem to +have no direct object of office or profit, what is the language which +their actions speak? The Throne is in danger!--'we will support the +Throne; but let us share the smiles of Royalty;'--the order of Nobility +is in danger!--'I will fight for Nobility,' says the Viscount, 'but my +zeal would be much greater if I were made an Earl.' 'Rouse all the +Marquis within me,' exclaims the Earl, 'and the peerage never turned +forth a more undaunted champion in its cause than I shall prove.' 'Stain +my green riband blue,' cries out the illustrious Knight, 'and the +fountain of honor will have a fast and faithful servant.' What are the +people to think of our sincerity?--What credit are they to give to our +professions?--Is this system to be persevered in? Is there nothing that +whispers to that Right Honorable Gentleman that the crisis is too big, +that the times are too gigantic, to be ruled by the little hackneyed and +every-day means of ordinary corruption?" + +The discussions, indeed, during the whole of this Session, were marked by +a degree of personal acrimony, which in the present more sensitive times +would hardly be borne. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Sheridan came, most of all, into +collision; and the retorts of the Minister not unfrequently proved with +what weight the haughty sarcasms of Power may descend even upon the +tempered buckler of Wit. + +It was in this Session, and on the question of the Treaty with the King +of Sardinia, that Mr. Canning made his first appearance, as an orator, in +the House. He brought with him a fame, already full of promise, and has +been one of the brightest ornaments of the senate and the country ever +since. From the political faith in which he had been educated, under the +very eyes of Mr. Sheridan, who had long been the friend of his family, +and at whose house he generally passed his college vacations, the line +that he was to take in the House of Commons seemed already, according to +the usual course of events, marked out for him. Mr. Sheridan had, indeed, +with an eagerness which, however premature, showed the value which he and +others set upon the alliance, taken occasion in the course of a laudatory +tribute to Mr. Jenkinson, [Footnote: Now Lord Liverpool] on the success +of his first effort in the House, to announce the accession which his own +party was about to receive, in the talents of another gentleman,--the +companion and friend of the young orator who had now distinguished +himself. Whether this and other friendships, formed by Mr. Canning at the +University, had any share in alienating him from a political creed, which +he had hitherto, perhaps, adopted rather from habit and authority than +choice--or, whether he was startled at the idea of appearing for the +first time in the world, as the announced pupil and friend of a person +who, both by the vehemence of his politics and the irregularities of his +life, had put himself, in some degree, under the ban of public +opinion--or whether, lastly, he saw the difficulties which even genius +like his would experience, in rising to the full growth of its ambition, +under the shadowing branches of the Whig aristocracy, and that +superseding influence of birth and connections, which had contributed to +keep even such men as Burke and Sheridan out of the Cabinet--_which_ +of these motives it was that now decided the choice of the young +political Hercules, between the two paths that equally wooed his +footsteps, none, perhaps, but himself can fully determine. His decision, +we know, was in favor of the Minister and Toryism; and, after a friendly +and candid explanation to Sheridan of the reasons and feelings that urged +him to this step, he entered into terms with Mr. Pitt, and was by him +immediately brought into Parliament. + +However dangerous it might be to exalt such an example into a precedent, +it is questionable whether, in thus resolving to join the ascendant side, +Mr. Canning has not conferred a greater benefit on the country than he +ever would have been able to effect in the ranks of his original friends. +That Party, which has now so long been the sole depository of the power +of the State, had, in addition to the original narrowness of its +principles, contracted all that proud obstinacy, in antiquated error, +which is the invariable characteristic of such monopolies; and which, +however consonant with its vocation, as the chosen instrument of the +Crown, should have long since _invalided_ it in the service of a +free and enlightened people. Some infusion of the spirit of the times +into this body had become necessary, even for its own preservation,--in +the same manner as the inhalement of youthful breath has been +recommended, by some physicians, to the infirm and superannuated. This +renovating inspiration the genius of Mr. Canning has supplied. His first +political lessons were derived from sources too sacred to his young +admiration to be forgotten. He has carried the spirit of these lessons +with him into the councils which he joined, and by the vigor of the +graft, which already, indeed, shows itself in the fruits, bids fair to +change altogether the nature of Toryism. + +Among the eminent persons summoned as witnesses on the Trial of Horne +Tooke, which took place in November of this year, was Mr. Sheridan; and, +as his evidence contains some curious particulars, both with regard to +himself and the state of political feeling in the year 1790, I shall here +transcribe a part of it:-- + +"He, (Mr. Sheridan,) said he recollects a meeting to celebrate the +establishment of liberty in France in the year 1790. Upon that occasion +he moved a Resolution drawn up the day before by the Whig club. Mr. Horne +Tooke, he says, made no objection to his motion, but proposed an +amendment. Mr. Tooke stated that an unqualified approbation of the French +Revolution, in the terms moved, might produce an ill effect out of doors, +a disposition to a revolution in this country, or, at least, be +misrepresented to have that object; he adverted to the circumstance of +their having all of them national cockades in their hats; he proposed to +add some qualifying expression to the approbation of the French +Revolution, a declaration of attachment to the principles of our own +Constitution; he said Mr. Tooke spoke in a figurative manner of the +former Government of France; he described it as a vessel so foul and +decayed, that no repair could save it from destruction, that in +contrasting our state with that, he said, thank God, the main timbers of +our Constitution are sound; he had before observed, however, that some +reforms might be necessary; he said that sentiment was received with +great disapprobation, and with very rude interruption, insomuch that Lord +Stanhope, who was in the chair, interfered; he said it had happened to +him, in many public meetings, to differ with and oppose the prisoner, and +that he has frequently seen him received with very considerable marks of +disapprobation, but he never saw them affect him much; he said that he +himself objected to Mr. Tooke's amendment; he thinks he withdrew his +amendment, and moved it as a separate motion; he said it was then carried +as unanimously as his own motion had been; that original motion and +separate motion are in these words:--'That this meeting does most +cordially rejoice in the establishment and confirmation of liberty in +France; and it beholds with peculiar satisfaction the sentiments of amity +and good will which appear to pervade the people of that country towards +this kingdom, especially at a time when it is the manifest interest of +both states that nothing should interrupt the harmony which at present +subsists between them, and which is so essentially necessary to the +freedom and happiness, not only of the French nation, but of all mankind.' + +"Mr. Tooke wished to add to his motion some qualifying clause, to guard +against misunderstanding and misrepresentation:--that there was a wide +difference between England and France; that in France the vessel was so +foul and decayed, that no repair could save it from destruction, whereas, +in England, we had a noble and stately vessel, sailing proudly on the +bosom of the ocean; that her main timbers were sound, though it was true, +after so long a course of years, she might want some repairs. Mr. Tooke's +motion was,--'That we feel equal satisfaction that the subjects of +England, by the virtuous exertions of their ancestors, have not so +arduous a task to perform as the French have had, but have only to +maintain and improve the Constitution which their ancestors have +transmitted to them.'--This was carried unanimously." + +The trial of Warren Hastings still "dragged its slow length along," and +in the May of this year Mr. Sheridan was called upon for his Reply on the +Begum Charge. It was usual, on these occasions, for the Manager who spoke +to be assisted by one of his brother Managers, whose task it was to carry +the bag that contained his papers, and to read out whatever Minutes might +be referred to in the course of the argument. Mr. Michael Angelo Taylor +was the person who undertook this office for Sheridan; but, on the +morning of the speech, upon his asking for the bag that he was to carry, +he was told by Sheridan that there was none--neither bag nor papers. +They must manage, he said, as well as they could without them;--and when +the papers were called for, his friend must only put the best countenance +he could upon it. As for himself "he would abuse Ned Law--ridicule +Plumer's long orations--make the Court laugh--please the women, and, in +short, with Taylor's aid would get triumphantly through his task." His +opening of the case was listened to with the profoundest attention; but +when he came to contrast the evidence of the Commons with that adduced by +Hastings, it was not long before the Chancellor interrupted him, with a +request that the printed Minutes to which he referred should be read. +Sheridan answered that his friend Mr. Taylor would read them; and Mr. +Taylor affected to send for the bag, while the orator begged leave, in +the meantime, to proceed. Again, however, his statements rendered a +reference to the Minutes necessary, and again he was interrupted by the +Chancellor, while an outcry after Mr. Sheridan's bag was raised in all +directions. At first the blame was laid on the solicitor's clerk--then a +messenger was dispatched to Mr. Sheridan's house. In the meantime, the +orator was proceeding brilliantly and successfully in his argument; and, +on some further interruption and expostulation from the Chancellor, +raised his voice and said, in a dignified tone, "On the part of the +Commons, and as a Manager of this Impeachment, I shall conduct my case as +I think proper. I mean to be correct, and Your Lordships, having the +printed Minutes before you, will afterwards see whether I am right or +wrong." + +During the bustle produced by the inquiries after the bag, Mr. Fox, +alarmed at the inconvenience which, he feared, the want of it might +occasion Sheridan, ran up from the Managers' room, and demanded eagerly +the cause of this mistake from Mr. Taylor; who, hiding his mouth with his +hand, whispered him, (in a tone of which they alone, who have heard this +gentleman relate the anecdote, can feel the full humor,) "The man has no +bag!" + +The whole of this characteristic contrivance was evidently intended by +Sheridan to raise that sort of surprise at the readiness of his +resources, which it was the favorite triumph of his vanity to create. I +have it on the authority of Mr. William Smythe, that, previously to the +delivery of this speech, he passed two or three days alone at Wanstead, +so occupied from morning till night in writing and reading of papers, as +to complain in the evenings that he "had motes before his eyes." This +mixture of real labor with apparent carelessness was, indeed, one of the +most curious features of his life and character. + +Together with the political contests of this stormy year, he had also on +his mind the cares of his new Theatre, which opened on the 21st of April, +with a prologue, not by himself, as might have been expected, but by his +friend General Fitzpatrick. He found time, however, to assist in the +rapid manufacture of a little piece called "The Glorious First of June," +which was acted immediately after Lord Howe's victory, and of which I +have found some sketches [Footnote: One of these is as follows:-- + +"SCENE I.--Miss _Leake_--Miss _Decamp--Walsh_. + +"Short dialogue--Nancy persuading Susan to go to the Fair, where there is +an entertainment to be given by the Lord of the Manor--Susan melancholy +because Henry, her lover, is at sea with the British Admiral--_Song_ +--Her old mother scolds from the cottage--her little brother (_Walsh_) +comes from the house, with a message--laughs at his sister's fears and +sings--_Trio_. + +"SCENE II.--_The Fair_ + +"Puppet show--dancing bear--bells--hurdy-gurdy--recruiting party--song +and chorus. + +"_Ballet_--D'Egville. + +"Susan says she has no pleasure, and will go and take a solitary walk. + +"SCENE III.--_Dark Wood._ + +"Susan--gipsy--tells her fortune--recitative and ditty. + +"SCENE IV. + +"SEA-FIGHT--hell and the devil! + +"Henry and Susan meet--Chorus introducing burden, + +"Rule Britannia." + +Among other occasional trifles of this kind, to which Sheridan +condescended for the advantage of the theatre, was the pantomime of +Robinson Crusoe, brought out, I believe, in 1781, of which he is +understood to have been the author. There was a practical joke in this +pantomime, (where, in pulling off a man's boot, the leg was pulled off +with it,) which the famous Delpini laid claim to as his own, and publicly +complained of Sheridan's having stolen it from him. The punsters of the +day said it was claimed as literary property--being "in usum +_Delpini_." + +Another of these inglorious tasks of the author of The School for +Scandal, was the furnishing of the first outline or _Programme_ of +"The Forty Thieves." His brother in law, Ward, supplied the dialogue, and +Mr. Colman was employed to season it with an infusion of jokes. The +following is Sheridan's sketch of one of the scenes-- + +"ALI BABA. + +"Bannister called out of the cavern boldly by his son--comes out and +falls on the ground a long time, not knowing him--says he would only have +taken a little gold to Keep off misery and save his son, &c. + +"Afterwards, when he loads his asses, his son reminds him to be +moderate--but it was a promise made to thieves--'it gets nearer the +owner, if taken from the stealer'--the son disputes this morality--'they +stole it, _ergo_, they have no right to it; and we steal it from the +stealer, _ergo_, our title is twice as bad as theirs.'"] in +Sheridan's hand-writing,--though the dialogue was, no doubt, supplied (as +Mr. Boaden says,) "by Cobb, or some other such _pedissequus_ of the +Dramatic Muse. This piece was written, rehearsed, and acted within three +days. The first operation of Mr. Sheridan towards it was to order the +mechanist of the theatre to get ready two fleets. It was in vain that +objections were started to the possibility of equipping these pasteboard +armaments in so short an interval--Lord Chatham's famous order to Lord +Anson was not more peremptory. [Footnote: For the expedition to the coast +of France, after the Convention of Closter seven. When he ordered the +fleet to be equipped, and appointed the time and place of its rendezvous, +Lord Anson said it would be impossible to have it prepared so soon. "It +may," said Mr. Pitt, "be done, and if the ships are not ready at the time +specified, I shall signify Your Lordship's neglect to the King, and +impeach you in the House of Commons." This intimation produced the +desired effect--the ships were ready. See Anecdotes of Lord Chatham, +vol. i] The two fleets were accordingly ready at the time, and the Duke +of Clarence attended the rehearsal of their evolutions. This mixture of +the cares of the Statesman and the Manager is one of those whimsical +peculiarities that made Sheridan's own life so dramatic, and formed a +compound altogether too singular ever to occur again. + +In the spring of the following year, (1795,) we find Mr. Sheridan paying +that sort of tribute to the happiness of a first marriage which is +implied by the step of entering into a second. The lady to whom he now +united himself was Miss Esther Jane Ogle, daughter of the Dean of +Winchester, and grand-daughter, by the mother's side, of the former +Bishop of Winchester. We have here another proof of the ready mine of +wealth which the theatre opened,--as in gratitude it ought,--to him who +had endowed, it with such imperishable treasures. The fortune of the lady +being five thousand pounds, he added to it fifteen thousand more, which +he contrived to raise by the sale of Drury-Lane shares; and the whole of +the sum was subsequently laid out in the purchase from Sir W. Geary of +the estate of Polesden, in Surrey, near Leatherhead. The Trustees of this +settlement were Mr. Grey, (now Lord Grey,) and Mr. Whitbread. + +To a man at the time of life which Sheridan had now attained--four years +beyond that period, at which Petrarch thought it decorous to leave off +writing love-verses [Footnote: See his Epistle, "ad Posteritatem," where, +after lamenting the many years which he had devoted to love, he adds: +"Mox vero ad _quadragesimum annum_ appropinquans, dum adhuc et +caloris satis esset," &c.]--a union with a young and accomplished girl, +ardently devoted to him, must have been like a renewal of his own youth; +and it is, indeed, said by those who were in habits of intimacy with him +at this period, that they had seldom seen his spirits in a state of more +buoyant vivacity. He passed much of his time at the house of his +father-in-law near Southampton;--and in sailing about with his lively +bride on the Southampton river, (in a small cutter called the Phaedria, +after the magic boat in the "Fairy Queen,") forgot for a while his debts, +his theatre, and his politics. It was on one of these occasions that my +friend Mr. Bowles, who was a frequent companion of his parties, +[Footnote: Among other distinguished persons present at these excursions +were Mr. Joseph Richardson, Dr. Howley, now Bishop of London, and Mrs. +Wilmot, now Lady Dacre, a lady, whose various talents,--not the less +delightful for being so feminine,--like the group of the Graces, reflect +beauty on each other.] wrote the following verses, which were much +admired, as they well deserved to be, by Sheridan, for the sweetness of +their thoughts, and the perfect music of their rhythm:-- + + + "Smooth went our boat upon the summer seas, + Leaving, (for so it seem'd.) the world behind, + Its cares, its sounds, its shadows: we reclin'd + Upon the sunny deck, heard but the breeze + That o'er us whispering pass'd or idly play'd + With the lithe flag aloft.--A woodland scene + On either side drew its slope line of green, + And hung the water's shining edge with shade. + Above the woods, Netley! thy ruins pale + Peer'd, as we pass'd; and Vecta's [1] azure hue + Beyond the misty castle [2] met the view; + Where in mid channel hung the scarce-seen sail. + So all was calm and sunshine as we went + Cheerily o'er the briny element. + Oh! were this little boat to us the world, + As thus we wander'd far from sounds of care, + Circled with friends and gentle maidens fair, + Whilst morning airs the waving pendant curl'd, + How sweet were life's long voyage, till in peace + We gain'd that haven still, where all things cease!" + +[Footnote 1: Isle of Wight] +[Footnote 2: Kelshot Castle] + +The events of this year but added fresh impetus to that reaction upon +each other of the Government and the People, which such a system of +misrule is always sure to produce. Among the worst effects, as I have +already remarked, of the rigorous policy adopted by the Minister, was the +extremity to which it drove the principles and language of Opposition, +and that sanction which the vehement rebound against oppression of such +influencing spirits as Fox and Sheridan seemed to hold out to the +obscurer and more practical assertors of freedom. This was at no time +more remarkable than in the present Session, during the discussion of +those arbitrary measures, the Treason and Sedition Bills, when sparks +were struck out, in the collision of the two principles, which the +combustible state of public feeling at the moment rendered not a little +perilous. On the motion that the House should resolve itself into a +Committee upon the Treason Bill, Mr. Fox said, that "if Ministers were +determined, by means of the corrupt influence they already possessed in +the two Houses of Parliament, to pass these Bills, in violent opposition +to the declared sense of the great majority of the nation, and they +should be put in force with all their rigorous provisions,--if his +opinion were asked by the people as to their obedience, he should tell +them, that it was no longer a question of moral obligation and duty, but +of prudence." Mr. Sheridan followed in the bold footsteps of his friend, +and said, that "if a degraded and oppressed majority of the people +applied to him, he would advise them to acquiesce in those bills only as +long as resistance was imprudent." This language was, of course, visited +with the heavy reprobation of the Ministry;--but their own partisans had +already gone as great lengths on the side of absolute power, and it is +the nature of such extremes to generate each other. Bishop Horsley had +preached the doctrine of passive obedience in the House of Lords, +asserting that "man's abuse of his delegated authority is to be borne +with resignation, like any other of God's judgments; and that the +opposition of the individual to the sovereign power is an opposition to +God's providential arrangements." The promotion of the Right Reverend +Prelate that followed, was not likely to abate his zeal in the cause of +power; and, accordingly, we find him in the present session declaring, in +his place in the House of Lords, that "the people have nothing to do with +the laws but to obey them." + +The government, too, had lately given countenance to writers, the absurd +slavishness of whose doctrines would have sunk below contempt, but for +such patronage. Among the ablest of them was Arthur Young,--one of those +renegades from the cause of freedom, who, like the incendiary that set +fire to the Temple with the flame he had stolen from its altar, turn the +fame and the energies which they have acquired in _defence_ of +liberty _against_ her. This gentleman, to whom his situation as +Secretary to the Board of Agriculture afforded facilities for the +circulation of his political heresies, did not scruple, in one of his +pamphlets, roundly to assert, that unequal representation, rotten +boroughs, long parliaments, extravagant courts, selfish Ministers, and +corrupt majorities, are not only intimately interwoven with the practical +freedom of England, but, in a great degree, the causes of it. + +But the most active and notorious of these patronized advocates of the +Court was Mr. John Reeves,--a person who, in his capacity of President of +the Association against Republicans and Levellers, had acted as a sort of +Sub-minister of Alarm to Mr. Burke. In a pamphlet, entitled "Thoughts on +the English Government," which Mr. Sheridan brought under the notice of +the House, as a libel on the Constitution, this pupil of the school of +Filmer advanced the startling doctrine that the Lords and Commons of +England derive their existence and authority from the King, and that the +Kingly government could go on, in all its functions, without them. This +pitiful paradox found an apologist in Mr. Windham, whose chivalry in the +new cause he had espoused left Mr. Pitt himself at a wondering distance +behind. His speeches in defence of Reeves, (which are among the proofs +that remain of that want of equipoise observable in his fine, rather than +solid, understanding,) have been with a judicious charity towards his +memory, omitted in the authentic collection by Mr. Amyot. + +When such libels against the Constitution were not only promulgated, but +acted upon, on one side, it was to be expected, and hardly, perhaps, to +be regretted, that the repercussion should be heard loudly and warningly +from the other. Mr. Fox, by a subsequent explanation, softened down all +that was most menacing in his language; and, though the word +"Resistance," at full length, should, like the hand-writing on the wall, +be reserved for the last intoxication of the Belshazzars of this world, a +letter or two of it may, now and then, glare out upon their eyes, without +producing any thing worse than a salutary alarm amid their revels. At all +events, the high and constitutional grounds on which Mr. Fox defended the +expressions he had hazarded, may well reconcile us to any risk incurred +by their utterance. The tribute to the house of Russell, in the grand and +simple passage beginning, "Dear to this country are the descendants of +the illustrious Russell," is as applicable to that Noble family now as it +was then; and will continue to be so, I trust, as long as a single +vestige of a race, so pledged to the cause of liberty, remains. + +In one of Mr. Sheridan's speeches on the subject of Reeves's libel, there +are some remarks on the character of the people of England, not only +candid and just, but, as applied to them at that trying crisis, +interesting:-- + +"Never was there," he said, "any country in which there was so much +absence of public principle, and at the same time so many instances of +private worth. Never was there so much charity and humanity towards the +poor and the distressed; any act of cruelty or oppression never failed to +excite a sentiment of general indignation against its authors. It was a +circumstance peculiarly strange, that though luxury had arrived to such a +pitch, it had so little effect in depraving the hearts and destroying the +morals of people in private life; and almost every day produced some +fresh example of generous feelings and noble exertions of benevolence. +Yet amidst these phenomena of private virtue, it was to be remarked, that +there was an almost total want of public spirit, and a most deplorable +contempt of public principle. + + * * * * * + +"When Great Britain fell, the case would not be with her as with Rome in +former times. When Rome fell, she fell by the weight of her own vices. +The inhabitants were so corrupted and degraded, as to be unworthy of a +continuance of prosperity, and incapable to enjoy the blessings of +liberty; their minds were bent to the state in which a reverse of fortune +placed them. But when Great Britain falls, she will fall with a people +full of private worth and virtue; she will be ruined by the profligacy of +the governors, and the security of her inhabitants,--the consequence of +those pernicious doctrines which have taught her to place a false +confidence in her strength and freedom, and not to look with distrust and +apprehension to the misconduct and corruption of those to whom she has +trusted the management of her resources." + +To this might have been added, that when Great Britain falls, it will not +be from either ignorance of her rights, or insensibility to their value, +but from that want of energy to assert them which a high state of +civilization produces. The love of ease that luxury brings along with +it,--the selfish and compromising spirit, in which the members of a +polished society countenance each other, and which reverses the principle +of patriotism, by sacrificing public interests to private ones,--the +substitution of intellectual for moral excitement, and the repression of +enthusiasm by fastidiousness and ridicule,--these are among the causes +that undermine a people,--that corrupt in the very act of enlightening +them; till they become, what a French writer calls "_esprits exigeans +et caracteres complaisans_," and the period in which their rights are +best understood may be that in which they most easily surrender them. It +is, indeed, with the advanced age of free States, as with that of +individuals,--they improve in the theory of their existence as they grow +unfit for the practice of it; till, at last, deceiving themselves with +the semblance of rights gone by, and refining upon the forms of their +institutions after they have lost the substance, they smoothly sink into +slavery, with the lessons of liberty on their lips. + +Besides the Treason and Sedition Bills, the Suspension of the Habeas +Corpus Act was another of the momentous questions which, in this as well +as the preceding Session, were chosen as points of assault by Mr. +Sheridan, and contested with a vigor and reiteration of attack, which, +though unavailing against the massy majorities of the Minister, yet told +upon public opinion so as to turn even defeats to account. + +The marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Princess Caroline of Brunswick +having taken place in the spring of this year, it was proposed by His +Majesty to Parliament, not only to provide an establishment for their +Royal Highnesses, but to decide on the best manner of liquidating the +debts of the Prince, which were calculated at 630,000_l_. On the +secession of the leading Whigs, in 1792, His Royal Highness had also +separated himself from Mr. Fox, and held no further intercourse either +with him or any of his party,--except, occasionally, Mr. Sheridan,--till +so late, I believe, as the year 1798. The effects of this estrangement +are sufficiently observable in the tone of the Opposition throughout the +debates on the Message of the King. Mr. Grey said, that he would not +oppose the granting of an establishment to the Prince equal to that of +his ancestors; but neither would he consent to the payment of his debts +by Parliament. A refusal, he added, to liberate His Royal Highness from +his embarrassments would certainly prove a mortification; but it would, +at the same time, awaken a just sense of his imprudence. Mr. Fox asked, +"Was the Prince well advised in applying to that House on the subject of +his debts, after the promise made in 1787?"--and Mr. Sheridan, while he +agreed with his friends that the application should not have been made to +Parliament, still gave it as his "positive opinion that the debts ought +to be paid immediately, for the dignity of the country and the situation +of the Prince, who ought not to be seen rolling about the streets, in his +state-coach, as an insolvent prodigal." With respect to the promise given +in 1787, and now violated, that the Prince would not again apply to +Parliament for the payment of his debts, Mr. Sheridan, with a +communicativeness that seemed hardly prudent, put the House in possession +of some details of the transaction, which, as giving an insight into +Royal character, are worthy of being extracted. + +"In 1787, a pledge was given to the House that no more debts should be +contracted. By that pledge the Prince was bound as much as if he had +given it knowingly and voluntarily. To attempt any explanation of it now +would be unworthy of his honor,--as if he had suffered it to be wrung +from him, with a view of afterwards pleading that it was against his +better judgment, in order to get rid of it. He then advised the Prince +not to make any such promise, because it was not to be expected that he +could himself enforce the details of a system of economy; and, although +he had men of honor and abilities about him, he was totally unprovided +with men of business, adequate to such a task. The Prince said he could +not give such a pledge, and agree at the same time to take back his +establishment. He (Mr. Sheridan) drew up a plan of retrenchment, which +was approved of by the Prince, and afterwards by His Majesty; and the +Prince told him that the promise was not to be insisted upon. In the +King's Message, however, the promise was inserted,--by whose advice he +knew not. He heard it read with surprise, and, on being asked next day by +the Prince to contradict it in his place, he inquired whether the Prince +had seen the Message before it was brought down. Being told that it had +been read to him, but that he did not understand it as containing a +promise, he declined contradicting it, and told the Prince that he must +abide by it in whatever way it might have been obtained. By the plan +then settled, Ministers had a check upon the Prince's expenditure, which +they never exerted, nor enforced adherence to the plan. + + * * * * * + +"While Ministers never interfered to check expenses, of which they could +not pretend ignorance, the Prince had recourse to means for relieving +himself from his embarrassments, which ultimately tended to increase +them. It was attempted to raise a loan for him in foreign countries, a +measure which he thought unconstitutional, and put a stop to; and, after +a consultation with Lord Loughborough, all the bonds were burnt, although +with a considerable loss to the Prince. After that, another plan of +retrenchment was proposed, upon which he had frequent consultations with +Lord Thurlow, who gave the Prince fair, open, and manly advice. That +Noble Lord told the Prince, that, after the promise he had made, he must +not think of applying to Parliament;--that he must avoid being of any +party in politics, but, above all, exposing himself to the suspicion of +being influenced in political opinion by his embarrassments;--that the +only course he could pursue with honor, was to retire from public life +for a time, and appropriate the greater part of his income to the +liquidation of his debts. This plan was agreed upon in the autum of 1792. +Why, it might be asked, was it not carried into effect? About that period +his Royal Highness began to receive unsolicited advice from another +quarter. He was told by Lord Loughborough, both in words and in writing, +that the plan savored too much of the advice given to M. Egalité, and he +could guess from what quarter it came. For his own part, he was then of +opinion, that to have avoided meddling in the great political questions +which were then coming to be discussed, and to have put his affairs in a +train of adjustment, would have better become his high station, and +tended more to secure public respect to it, than the pageantry of +state-liveries." + +The few occasions on which the name of Mr. Sheridan was again connected +with literature, after the final investment of his genius in political +speculations, were such as his fame might have easily dispensed +with;--and one of them, the forgery of the Shakspeare papers, occurred in +the course of the present year. Whether it was that he looked over these +manuscripts with the eye more of a manager than of a critic, and +considered rather to what account the belief in their authenticity might +be turned, than how far it was founded upon internal evidence;--or +whether, as Mr. Ireland asserts, the standard at which he rated the +genius of Shakspeare was not so high as to inspire him with a very +watchful fastidiousness of judgment; certain it is that he was, in some +degree, the dupe of this remarkable imposture, which, as a lesson to the +self-confidence of criticism, and an exposure of the fallibility of +taste, ought never to be forgotten in literary history. + +The immediate payment of 300_l_. and a moiety of the profits for the +first sixty nights, were the terms upon which Mr. Sheridan purchased the +play of Vortigern from the Irelands. The latter part of the conditions +was voided the first night; and, though it is more than probable that a +genuine tragedy of Shakspeare, if presented under similar circumstances, +would have shared the same fate, the public enjoyed the credit of +detecting and condemning a counterfeit, which had passed current through +some of the most learned and tasteful hands of the day. It is but +justice, however, to Mr. Sheridan to add, that, according to the account +of Ireland himself, he was not altogether without misgivings during his +perusal of the manuscripts, and that his name does not appear among the +signatures to that attestation of their authenticity which his friend Dr. +Parr drew up, and was himself the first to sign. The curious statement of +Mr. Ireland, with respect to Sheridan's want of enthusiasm for +Shakspeare, receives some confirmation from the testimony of Mr. Boaden, +the biographer of Kemble, who tells us that "Kemble frequently expressed +to him his wonder that Sheridan should trouble himself _so little_ +about Shakspeare." This peculiarity of taste,--if it really existed to +the degree that these two authorities would lead us to infer,--affords a +remarkable coincidence with the opinions of another illustrious genius, +lately lost to the world, whose admiration of the great Demiurge of the +Drama was leavened with the same sort of heresy. + +In the January of this year, Mr. William Stone--the brother of the +gentleman whose letter from Paris has been given in a preceding +Chapter--was tried upon a charge of High Treason, and Mr. Sheridan was +among the witnesses summoned for the prosecution. He had already in the +year 1794, in consequence of a reference from Mr. Stone himself, been +examined before the Privy Council, relative to a conversation which he +had held with that gentleman, and, on the day after his examination, had, +at the request of Mr. Dundas, transmited to that Minister in writing the +particulars of his testimony before the Council. There is among his +papers a rough draft of this Statement, in comparing which with his +evidence upon the trial in the present year, I find rather a curious +proof of the faithlessness of even the best memories. The object of the +conversation which he had held with Mr. Stone in 1794--and which +constituted the whole of their intercourse with each other--was a +proposal on the part of the latter, submitted also to Lord Lauderdale and +others, to exert his influence in France, through those channels which +his brother's residence there opened to him, for the purpose of averting +the threatened invasion of England, by representing to the French rulers +the utter hopelessness of such an attempt. Mr. Sheridan, on the trial, +after an ineffectual request to be allowed to refer to his written +Statement, gave the following as part of his recollections of the +conversation:-- + +"Mr. Stone stated that, in order to effect this purpose, he had +endeavored to collect the opinions of several gentlemen, political +characters in this country, whose opinions he thought would be of +authority sufficient to advance his object; that for this purpose he had +had interviews with different gentlemen; he named Mr. Smith and, I think, +one or two more, whose names I do not now recollect. He named some +gentlemen connected with Administration--if the Counsel will remind me of +the name--" + +Here Mr. Law, the examining Counsel, remarked, that "upon the +cross-examination, if the gentlemen knew the circumstance, they would +mention it." The cross-examination of Sheridan by Sergeant Adair was as +follows:-- + +"You stated in the course of your examination that Mr. Stone said there +was a gentleman connected with Government, to whom he had made a similar +communication, should you recollect the name of that person if you were +reminded of it?--I certainly should.--Was it General Murray?--General +Murray certainly." + +Notwithstanding this, however, it appears from the written Statement in +my possession, drawn up soon after the conversation in question, that +this "gentleman connected with Government," so difficult to be +remembered, was no other than the Prime Minister, Mr. Pitt himself. So +little is the memory to be relied upon in evidence, particularly when +absolved from responsibility by the commission of its deposit to writing. +The conduct of Mr. Sheridan throughout this transaction appears to have +been sensible and cautious. That he was satisfied with it himself may be +collected from the conclusion of his letter to Mr. Dundas:--"Under the +circumstances in which the application, (from Mr. Dundas,) has been made +to me, I have thought it equally a matter of respect to that application +and of respect to myself, as well as of justice to the person under +suspicion, to give this relation more in detail than at first perhaps +might appear necessary. My own conduct in the matter not being in +question, I can only say that were a similar case to occur, I think I +should act in every circumstance precisely in the manner I did on this +occasion." + +The parliamentary exertions of Mr. Sheridan this year, though various and +active, were chiefly upon subordinate questions; and, except in the +instance of Mr. Fox's Motion of Censure upon Ministers for advancing +money to the Emperor without the consent of Parliament, were not +distinguished by any signal or sustained displays of eloquence. The grand +questions, indeed, connected with the liberty of the subject, had been so +hotly contested, that but few new grounds were left on which to renew the +conflict. Events, however,--the only teachers of the great mass of +mankind,--were beginning to effect what eloquence had in vain attempted. +The people of England, though generally eager for war, are seldom long in +discovering that "the cup but sparkles near the brim;" and in the +occurrences of the following year they were made to taste the full +bitterness of the draught. An alarm for the solvency of the Bank, an +impending invasion, a mutiny in the fleet, and an organized rebellion in +Ireland,--such were the fruits of four years' warfare, and they were +enough to startle even the most sanguine and precipitate into reflection. + +The conduct of Mr. Sheridan on the breaking out of the Mutiny at the Nore +is too well known and appreciated to require any illustration here. It is +placed to his credit on the page of history, and was one of the happiest +impulses of good feeling and good sense combined, that ever public man +acted upon in a situation demanding so much of both. The patriotic +promptitude of his interference was even more striking than it appears in +the record of his parliamentary labors; for, as I have heard at but one +remove from his own authority, while the Ministry were yet hesitating as +to the steps they should take, he went to Mr. Dundas and said.--"My +advice is that you cut the buoys on the river--send Sir Charles Grey down +to the coast, and set a price on Parker's head. If the Administration +take this advice instantly, they ill save the country--if not, they will +lose it; and, on their refusal, I will impeach them in the House of +Commons this very evening." + +Without dwelling on the contrast which is so often drawn--less with a +view to elevate Sheridan than to depreciate his party--between the +conduct of himself and his friends at this fearful crisis, it is +impossible not to concede that, on the scale of public spirit, he rose as +far superior to them as the great claims of the general safety transcend +all personal considerations and all party ties. It was, indeed, a rare +triumph of temper and sagacity. With less temper, he would have seen in +this awful peril but an occasion of triumph over the Minister whom he had +so long been struggling to overturn--and, with less sagacity, he would +have thrown away the golden opportunity of establishing himself for ever +in the affections and the memories of Englishmen, as one whose heart was +in the common-weal, whatever might be his opinions, and who, in the +moment of peril, could sink the partisan in the patriot. + +As soon as he had performed this exemplary duty, he joined Mr. Fox and +the rest of his friends who had seceded from Parliament about a week +before, on the very day after the rejection of Mr. Grey's motion for a +reform. This step, which was intended to create a strong sensation, by +hoisting, as it were, the signal of despair to the country, was followed +by no such striking effects, and left little behind but a question as to +its prudence and patriotism. The public saw, however, with pleasure, that +there were still a few champions of the constitution, who did not "leave +her fair side all unguarded" in this extremity. Mr. Tierney, among +others, remained at his post, encountering Mr. Pitt on financial +questions with a vigor and address to which the latter had been hitherto +unaccustomed, and perfecting by practice that shrewd power of analysis, +which has made him so formidable a sifter of ministerial sophistries ever +since. Sir Francis Burdett, too, was just then entering into his noble +career of patriotism; and, like the youthful servant of the temple in +Euripides, was aiming his first shafts at those unclean birds, that +settle within the sanctuary of the Constitution and sully its treasures:-- + +[Greek: +"ptaenon t'agalas +A blaptusae +Semn' anathaemata"] + +By a letter from the Earl of Moira to Col. M'Mahon in the summer of this +year it appears, that in consequence of the calamitous state of the +country, a plan had been in agitation among some members of the House of +Commons, who had hitherto supported the measures of the Minister, to form +an entirely new Administration, of which the Noble Earl was to be the +head, and from which both Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, as equally obnoxious to +the public, were to be excluded. The only materials that appear to have +been forthcoming for this new Cabinet were Lord Moira himself, Lord +Thurlow, and Sir William Pulteney--the last of whom it was intended to +make Chancellor of the Exchequer. Such a tottering balance of parties, +however, could not have been long maintained; and its relapse, after a +short interval, into Toryism, would but have added to the triumph of Mr. +Pitt, and increased his power. Accordingly Lord Moira, who saw from the +beginning the delicacy and difficulty of the task, wisely abandoned it. +The share that Mr. Sheridan had in this transaction is too honorable to +him not to be recorded, and the particulars cannot be better given than +in Lord Moira's own words:-- + +"You say that Mr. Sheridan has been traduced, as wishing to abandon Mr. +Fox, and to promote a new Administration. I had accidentally a +conversation with that gentleman at the House of Lords. I remonstrated +strongly with him against a principle which I heard Mr. Fox's friends +intended to lay down, namely, that they would support a new +Administration, but that not any of them would take part in it. I +solemnly declare, upon my honor, that I could not shake Mr. Sheridan's +conviction of the propriety of that determination. He said that he and +Mr. Fox's other friends, as well as Mr. Fox himself, would give the most +energetic support to such an Administration as was in contemplation; but +that their acceptance of office would appear an acquiescence under the +injustice of the interdict supposed to be fixed upon Mr. Fox. I did not +and never can admit the fairness of that argument. But I gained nothing +upon Mr. Sheridan, to whose uprightness in that respect I can therefore +bear the most decisive testimony. Indeed I am ashamed of offering +testimony, where suspicion ought not to have been conceived." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PLAY OF "THE STRANGER"--SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT.--PIZARRO.--MINISTRY OF +MR. ADDINGTON.--FRENCH INSTITUTE.--NEGOTIATION WITH MR. KEMBLE. + + +The theatrical season of 1798 introduced to the public the German drama +of "The Stranger," translated by Mr. Thompson, and (as we are told by +this gentleman in his preface) altered and improved by Sheridan. There is +reason, however, to believe that the contributions of the latter to the +dialogue were much more considerable than he was perhaps willing to let +the translator acknowledge. My friend Mr. Rogers has heard him, on two +different occasions, declare that he had written every word of the +Stranger from beginning to end; and, as his vanity could not be much +interested in such a claim, it is possible that there was at least some +virtual foundation for it. + +The song introduced in this play, "I have a silent sorrow here," was +avowedly written by Sheridan, as the music of it was by the Duchess of +Devonshire--two such names, so brilliant in their respective spheres, as +the Muses of Song and Verse have seldom had the luck to bring together. +The originality of these lines has been disputed; and that expedient of +borrowing which their author _ought_ to have been independent of in +every way, is supposed to have been resorted to by his indolence on this +occasion. Some verses by Tickell are mentioned as having supplied one of +the best stanzas; but I am inclined to think, from the following +circumstances, that this theft of Sheridan was of that venial and +domestic kind--from himself. A writer, who brings forward the accusation +in the Gentleman's Magazine, (vol. lxxi. p. 904,) thus states his +grounds:-- + +"In a song which I purchased at Bland's music-shop in Holborn in the year +1794, intitled, 'Think not, my love' and professing to be set to music by +Thomas Wright. (I conjecture, Organist of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and +composer of the pretty Opera called Rusticity.) are the following words:-- + +"The song to which the writer alludes, "Think not, my love," was given to +me, as a genuine production of Mr. Sheridan, by a gentleman nearly +connected with his family; and I have little doubt of its being one of +those early love-strains which, in his _tempo de' dolci sospiri_, he +addressed to Miss Linley. As, therefore, it was but "a feather of his +own" that the eagle made free with, he may be forgiven. The following is +the whole of the song:-- + + "This treasured grief, this loved despair, + My lot forever be; + But, dearest, may the pangs I bear + Be never known to thee!' + +"Now, without insisting that the opening thought in Mr. Sheridan's famous +song has been borrowed from that of 'Think not, my love,' the second +verse is manifestly such a theft of the lines I have quoted as entirely +overturns Mr. Sheridan's claim to originality in the matter, unless +'Think not, my love,' has been written by him, and he can be proved to +have only stolen from himself." + + "Think not, my love, when secret grief + Preys on my saddened heart, + Think not I wish a mean relief. + Or would from sorrow part. + + "Dearly I prize the sighs sincere, + That my true fondness prove. + Nor would I wish to check the tear, + That flows from hapless love! + + "Alas! tho' doom'd to hope in vain + The joys that love requite, + Yet will I cherish all its pain, + With sad, but dear delight. + + "This treasured grief, this lov'd despair, + My lot for ever be; + But, dearest, may the pangs I bear + Be never known to thee!" + +Among the political events of this year, the rebellion of Ireland holds a +memorable and fearful preeminence. The only redeeming stipulation which +the Duke of Portland and his brother Alarmists had annexed to their +ill-judged Coalition with Mr. Pitt was, that a system of conciliation and +justice should, at last, be adopted towards Ireland. Had they but carried +thus much wisdom into the ministerial ranks with them, their defection +might have been pardoned for the good it achieved, and, in one respect at +least, would have resembled the policy of those Missionaries, who join in +the ceremonies of the Heathen for the purpose of winning him over to the +truth. On the contrary, however, the usual consequence of such coalitions +with Power ensued,--the good was absorbed in the evil principle, and, by +the false hope which it created, but increased the mischief. Lord +Fitzwilliam was not only deceived himself, but, still worse to a noble +and benevolent nature like his, was made the instrument of deception and +mockery to millions. His recall, in 1795, assisted by the measures of his +successor, drove Ireland into the rebellion which raged during the +present year, and of which the causes have been so little removed from +that hour to this, that if the people have become too wise to look back +to it, as an example, it is assuredly not because their rulers have much +profited by it as a lesson. + +I am aware that, on the subject of Ireland and her wrongs, I can ill +trust myself with the task of expressing what I feel, or preserve that +moderate, historical tone, which it has been my wish to maintain through +the political opinions of this work. On every other point, my homage to +the high character of England, and of her institutions, is prompt and +cordial;--on this topic alone, my feelings towards her have been taught +to wear "the badge of bitterness." As a citizen of the world, I would +point to England as its brightest ornament,--but, as a disfranchised +Irishman, I blush to belong to her. Instead, therefore, of hazarding any +farther reflections of my own on the causes and character of the +Rebellion of 1798, I shall content myself with giving an extract from a +Speech which Mr. Sheridan delivered on the subject, in the June of that +year:-- + +"What! when conciliation was held out to the people of Ireland, was there +any discontent? When the government of Ireland was agreeable to the +people, was there any discontent? After the prospect of that conciliation +was taken away,--after Lord Fitzwilliam was recalled,--after the hopes +which had been raised were blasted,--when the spirit of the people was +beaten down, insulted, despised, I will ask any gentleman to point out a +single act of conciliation which has emanated from the Government of +Ireland? On the contrary; has not that country exhibited one continual +scene of the most grievous oppression, of the most vexatious proceedings; +arbitrary punishments inflicted; torture declared necessary by the +highest authority in the sister-kingdom next to that of the legislature? +And do gentlemen say that the indignant spirit which is roused by such +exercise of government is unprovoked? Is this conciliation? Is this +lenity? Has everything been done to avert the evils of rebellion? It is +the fashion to say, and the Address holds the same language, that the +rebellion which now rages in the sister-kingdom has been owing to the +machinations of 'wicked men.' Agreeing to the amendment proposed, it was +my first intention to move that these words should be omitted. But, Sir, +the fact they assert is true. It is, indeed, to the measures of wicked +men that the deplorable state of Ireland is to be imputed. It is to those +wicked Ministers who have broken the promises they held out, who betrayed +the party they seduced into their views, to be the instruments of the +foulest treachery that ever was practised against any people. It is to +those wicked Ministers who have given up that devoted country to +plunder,--resigned it a prey to this faction, by which it has so long +been trampled upon, and abandoned it to every species of insult and +oppression by which a country was ever overwhelmed, or the spirit of a +people insulted, that we owe the miseries into which Ireland is plunged, +and the dangers by which England is threatened. These evils are the +doings of wicked Ministers, and applied to them, the language of the +Address records a fatal and melancholy truth." + +The popularity which the conduct of Mr. Sheridan, on the occasion of the +Mutiny, had acquired for him,--everywhere but among his own immediate +party,--seems to have produced a sort of thaw in the rigor of his +opposition to Government; and the language which he now began to hold, +with respect to the power and principles of France, was such as procured +for him, more than once in the course of the present Session, the +unaccustomed tribute of compliments from the Treasury-bench. Without, in +the least degree, questioning his sincerity in this change of tone, it +may be remarked, that the most watchful observer of the tide of public +opinion could not have taken it at the turn more seasonably or skilfully. +There was, indeed, just at this time a sensible change in the feeling of +the country. The dangers to which it had been reduced were great, but the +crisis seemed over. The new wings lent to Credit by the paper-currency, +--the return of the navy to discipline and victory,--the disenchantment +that had taken place with respect to French principles, and the growing +persuasion, since strengthened into conviction, that the world has never +committed a more gross mistake than in looking to the French as teachers +of liberty,--the insulting reception of the late pacific overtures at +Lisle, and that never-failing appeal to the pride and spirit of +Englishmen, which a threat of invading their sacred shore brings with +it,--all these causes concurred, at this moment, to rally the people of +England round the Government, and enabled the Minister to extract from +the very mischiefs which himself had created the spirit of all others +most competent to bear and surmount them. Such is the elasticity of a +free country, however, for the moment, misgoverned,--and the only glory +due to the Minister under whom such a people, in spite of misgovernment, +flourishes, is that of having proved, by the experiment, how difficult it +is to ruin them. + +While Mr. Sheridan took these popular opportunities of occasionally +appearing before the public, Mr. Fox persevered, with but little +interruption, in his plan of secession from Parliament altogether. From +the beginning of the Session of this year, when, at the instance of his +constituents, he appeared in his place to oppose the Assessed Taxes Bill, +till the month of February, 1800, he raised his voice in the House but +upon two questions,--each "dignus vindice,"--the Abolition of the +Slave-Trade, and a Change of System in Ireland. He had thrown into his +opposition too much real feeling and earnestness to be able, like +Sheridan, to soften it down, or shape it to the passing temper of the +times. In the harbor of private life alone could that swell subside; and, +however the country missed his warning eloquence, there is little doubt +that his own mind and heart were gainers by a retirement, in which he had +leisure to "prune the ruffled wings" of his benevolent spirit,--to +exchange the ambition of being great for that of being useful, and to +listen, in the stillness of retreat, to the lessons of a mild wisdom, of +which, had his life been prolonged, his country would have felt the full +influence. + +From one of Sheridan's speeches at this time we find that the change +which had lately taken place in his public conduct had given rise to some +unworthy imputations upon his motives. There are few things less politic +in an eminent public man than a too great readiness to answer accusations +against his character. For, as he is, in general, more extensively read +or heard than his accusers, the first intimation, in most cases, that the +public receives of any charge against him will be from his own answer to +it. Neither does the evil rest here;--for the calumny remains embalmed in +the defence, long after its own ephemeral life is gone. To this unlucky +sort of sensitiveness Mr. Sheridan was but too much disposed to give way, +and accordingly has been himself the chronicler of many charges against +him, of which we should have been otherwise wholly ignorant. Of this +nature were the imputations founded on his alleged misunderstanding with +the Duke of Portland, in 1789, to which I have already made some +allusion, and of which we should have known nothing but for his own +notice of it. His vindication of himself, in 1795, from the suspicion of +being actuated by self-interest, in his connection with the Prince, or of +having received from him, (to use his own expressions,) "so much as the +present of a horse or a picture," is another instance of the same kind, +where he has given substance and perpetuity to rumor, and marked out the +track of an obscure calumny, which would otherwise have been forgotten. +At the period immediately under our consideration he has equally enabled +us to collect, from his gratuitous defence of himself, that the line +lately taken by him in Parliament, on the great questions of the Mutiny +and Invasion, had given rise to suspicions of his political steadiness, +and to rumors of his approaching separation from Mr. Fox. + +"I am sorry," he said, on one occasion, "that it is hardly possible for +any man to speak in this House, and to obtain credit for speaking from a +principle of public spirit; that no man can oppose a Minister without +being accused of faction, and none, who usually opposed, can support a +Minister, or lend him assistance in anything, without being accused of +doing so from interested motives. I am not such a coxcomb as to say, that +it is of much importance what part I may take; or that it is essential +that I should divide a little popularity, or some emolument, with the +ministers of the Crown; nor am I so vain as to imagine, that my services +might be solicited. Certainly they have not. That might have arisen from +want of importance in myself, or from others, whom I have been in the +general habit of opposing, conceiving that I was not likely either to +give up my general sentiments, or my personal attachments. However that +may be, certain it is, they never have made any attempt to apply to me +for my assistance." + +In reviewing his parliamentary exertions during this year, it would be +injustice to pass over his speech on the Assessed Taxes Bill, in which, +among other fine passages, the following vehement burst of eloquence +occurs: + +"But we have gained, forsooth, several ships by the victory of the First +of June,--by the capture of Toulon,--by the acquisition of those +charnel-houses in the West Indies, in which 50,000 men have been lost to +this country. Consider the price which has been paid for these successes. +For these boasted successes, I will say, give me back the blood of +Englishmen which has been shed in this fatal Contest.--give me back the +250 millions of debt which it has occasioned.--give me back the honor of +the country which has been tarnished,--give me back the credit of the +country, which has been destroyed,--give me back the solidity of the Bank +of England, which has been overthrown; the attachment of the people to +their ancient Constitution, which has been shaken by acts of oppression +and tyrannical laws,--give me back the kingdom of Ireland, the connection +of which is endangered by a cruel and outrageous system of military +coercion,--give me back that pledge of eternal war, which must be +attended with inevitable ruin !" + +The great success which had attended The Stranger, and the still +increasing taste for the German Drama, induced Mr. Sheridan, in the +present year, to embark his fame even still more responsibly in a venture +to the same romantic shores. The play of Pizarro was brought out on the +24th of May, 1799. The heroic interest of the plot, the splendor of the +pageantry, and some skilful appeals to public feeling in the dialogue, +obtained for it at once a popularity which has seldom been equalled. As +far, indeed, as multiplied representations and editions are a proof of +success, the legitimate issue of his Muse might well have been jealous of +the fame and fortune of their spurious German relative. When the author +of the Critic made Puff say, "Now for my magnificence,--my noise and my +procession!" he little anticipated the illustration which, in twenty +years afterwards, his own example would afford to that ridicule. Not that +in pageantry, when tastefully and subordinately introduced, there is any +thing to which criticism can fairly object:--it is the dialogue of this +play that is unworthy of its author, and ought never, from either motives +of profit or the vanity of success, to have been coupled with his name. +The style in which it is written belongs neither to verse nor prose, but +is a sort of amphibious native of both,--neither gliding gracefully +through the former element, nor walking steadily on the other. In order +to give pomp to the language, inversion is substituted for metre; and one +of the worst faults of poetry, a superfluity of epithet, is adopted, +without that harmony which alone makes it venial or tolerable. + +It is some relief however, to discover, from the manuscripts in my +possession, that Mr. Sheridan's responsibility for the defects of Pizarro +is not very much greater than his claim to a share in its merits. In the +plot, and the arrangement of the scenes, it is well known, there is but +little alteration from the German original. The omission of the comic +scene of Diego, which Kotzebue himself intended to omit,--the judicious +suppression of Elvira's love for Alonzo,--the introduction, so striking +in representation, of Rolla's passage across the bridge, and the +re-appearance of Elvira in the habit of a nun, form, I believe, the only +important points in which the play of Mr. Sheridan deviates from the +structure of the original drama. With respect to the dialogue, his share +in its composition is reducible to a compass not much more considerable. +A few speeches, and a few short scenes, re-written, constitute almost the +whole of the contribution he has furnished to it. The manuscript- +translation, or rather imitation, of the "Spaniards in Pern," +which he used as the ground-work of Pizarro, has been preserved among his +papers:--and, so convenient was it to his indolence to take the style as +he found it, that, except, as I have said, in a few speeches and scenes, +which might be easily enumerated, he adopted, with scarcely any +alteration, the exact words of the translator, whose taste, therefore, +(whoever he may have been,) is answerable for the spirit and style of +three-fourths of the dialogue. Even that scene where Cora describes the +"white buds" and "crimson blossoms" of her infant's teeth, which I have +often heard cited as a specimen of Sheridan's false ornament, is indebted +to this unknown paraphrast for the whole of its embroidery. + +But though he is found to be innocent of much of the contraband matter, +with which his co-partner in this work had already vitiated it, his own +contributions to the dialogue are not of a much higher or purer order. He +seems to have written down, to the model before him, and to have been +inspired by nothing but an emulation of its faults. His style, +accordingly, is kept hovering in the same sort of limbo, between blank +verse and prose,--while his thoughts and images, however shining and +effective on the stage, are like the diamonds of theatrical royalty, and +will not bear inspection off it. The scene between Alonzo and Pizarro, in +the third act, is one of those almost entirely rewritten by Sheridan; and +the following medley group of personifications affords a specimen of the +style to which his taste could descend:-- + +"Then would I point out to him where now, in clustered villages, they +live like brethren, social and confiding, while through the burning day +Content sits basking on the cheek of Toil, till laughing Pastime leads +them to the hour of rest." + +The celebrated harangue of Rolla to the Peruvians, into which Kemble used +to infuse such heroic dignity, is an amplification of the following +sentences of the original, as I find them given in Lewis's manuscript +translation of the play:-- + +"_Rolla_. You Spaniards fight for gold; we for our country. + +"_Alonzo_. They follow an adventurer to the field; we a monarch whom +we love. + +"_Atalib_. And a god whom we adore!" + +This speech, to whose popular sentiments the play owed much of its +success, was chiefly made up by Sheridan of loans from his own oratory. +The image of the Vulture and the Lamb was taken, as I have already +remarked, from a passage in his speech on the trial of Hastings;--and he +had, on the subject of Invasion, in the preceding year, (1798,) delivered +more than once the substance of those patriotic sentiments, which were +now so spirit-stirring in the mouth of Rolla. For instance, on the King's +Message relative to preparation for Invasion:-- + + +"The Directory may instruct their guards to make the fairest professions +of how their army is to act; but of these professions surely not one can +be believed. The victorious Buonaparte may say that he comes like a +minister of grace, with no other purpose than to give peace to the +cottager, to restore citizens to their rights, to establish real freedom, +and a liberal and humane government. But can there be an Englishman so +stupid, so besotted, so befooled, as to give a moment's credit to such +ridiculous professions? ... What, then, is their object? They come for +what they really want: they come for ships, for commerce, for credit, and +for capital. Yes; they come for the sinews, the bones--for the marrow and +the very heart's blood of Great Britain. But let us examine what we are +to purchase at this price. Liberty, it appears, is now their staple +commodity: but attend, I say, and examine how little of real liberty they +themselves enjoy, who are so forward and prodigal in bestowing it on +others." + + +The speech of Rolla in the prison-scene is also an interpolation of his +own,--Kotzebue having, far more judiciously, (considering the unfitness +of the moment for a _tirade_,) condensed the reflections of Rolla +into the short exclamation, "Oh, sacred Nature! thou art still true to +thyself," and then made him hurry into the prison to his friend. + +Of the translation of this play by Lewis, which has been found among the +papers, Mr. Sheridan does not appear to have made any use;--except in so +far as it may have suggested to him the idea of writing a song for Cora, +of which that gentleman had set him an example in a ballad, beginning + + "Soft are thy slumbers, soft and sweet, + Hush thee, hush thee, hush thee, boy." + +The song of Mr. Lewis, however, is introduced, with somewhat less +violence to probability, at the beginning of the Third Act, where the +women are waiting for the tidings of the battle, and when the intrusion +of a ballad from the heroine, though sufficiently unnatural, is not quite +so monstrous as in the situation which Sheridan has chosen for it. + +The following stanza formed a part of the song, as it was originally +written:-- + + 'Those eyes that beam'd this morn the light of youth, + This morn I saw their gentle rays impart + The day-spring sweet of hope, of love, of truth, + The pure Aurora of my lover's heart. + Yet wilt thou rise, oh Sun, and waste thy light, + While my Alonzo's beams are quench'd in night.' + +The only question upon which he spoke this year was the important measure +of the Union, which he strenuously and at great length opposed. Like +every other measure, professing to be for the benefit of Ireland, the +Union has been left incomplete in the one essential point, without which +there is no hope of peace or prosperity for that country. As long as +religious disqualification is left to "lie like lees at the bottom of +men's hearts," [Footnote: "It lay like lees at the bottom of men's +hearts; and, if the vessel was but stirred, it would come up."--BACON, +Henry VII.] in vain doth the voice of Parliament pronounce the word +"Union" to the two Islands--a feeling, deep as the sea that breaks +between them, answers back, sullenly, "Separation." + +Through the remainder of Mr. Sheridan's political career it is my +intention, for many reasons, to proceed with a more rapid step; and +merely to give the particulars of his public conduct, together with such +documents as I can bring to illustrate it, without entering into much +discussion or comment on either. + +Of his speeches in 1800,--during which year, on account, perhaps, of the +absence of Mr. Fox from the House, he was particularly industrious,--I +shall select a few brief specimens for the reader. On the question of the +Grant to the Emperor of Germany, he said:-- + +"I do think, Sir, Jacobin principles never existed much in this country; +and even admitting they had, I say they have been found so hostile to +true liberty, that, in proportion as we love it, (and, whatever may be +said, I must still consider liberty an inestimable blessing,) we must +hate and detest these principles. But more,--I do not think they even +exist in France. They have there died the best of deaths; a death I am +more pleased to see than if it had been effected by foreign force,--they +have stung themselves to death, and died by their own poison." + +The following is a concise and just summary of the causes and effects of +the French Revolutionary war:-- + +"France, in the beginning of the Revolution, had conceived many romantic +notions; she was to put an end to war, and produce, by a pure form of +government, a perfectibility of mind which before had never been +realized. The Monarchs of Europe, seeing the prevalence of these new +principles, trembled for their thrones. France, also, perceiving the +hostility of Kings to her projects, supposed she could not be a Republic +without the overthrow of thrones. Such has been the regular progress of +cause and effect; but who was the first aggressor, with whom the jealousy +first arose, need not now be a matter of discussion. Both the Republic +and the Monarchs who opposed her acted on the same principles;--the +latter said they must exterminate Jacobins, and the former that they must +destroy monarchs. From this source have all the calamities of Europe +flowed; and it is now a waste of time and argument to inquire further +into the subject." + +Adverting, in his Speech on the Negotiation with France, to the overtures +that had been made for a Maritime Truce, he says, with that national +feeling, which rendered him at this time so popular,-- + +"No consideration for our ally, no hope of advantage to be derived from +joint negotiation, should have induced the English Government to think +for a moment of interrupting the course of our naval triumphs. This +measure, Sir, would have broken the heart of the navy, and would have +damped all its future exertions. How would our gallant sailors have felt, +when, chained to their decks like galley-slaves, they saw the enemy's +vessels sailing under their bows in security, and proceeding, without a +possibility of being molested, to revictual those places which had been +so long blockaded by their astonishing skill, perseverance, and valor? We +never stood more in need of their services, and their feelings at no time +deserved to be more studiously consulted. The north of Europe presents to +England a most awful and threatening aspect. Without giving an opinion as +to the origin of these hostile dispositions, or pronouncing decidedly +whether they are wholly ill-founded, I hesitate not to say, that if they +have been excited because we have insisted upon enforcing the old +established Maritime Law of Europe,--because we stood boldly forth in +defence of indisputable privileges,--because we have refused to abandon +the source of our prosperity, the pledge of our security, and the +foundation of our naval greatness,--they ought to be disregarded or set +at defiance. If we are threatened to be deprived of that which is the +charter of our existence, which has procured us the commerce of the +world, and been the means of spreading our glory over every land,--if the +rights and honors of our flag are to be called in question, every risk +should be run, and every danger braved. Then we should have a legitimate +cause of war;--then the heart of every Briton would burn with +indignation, and his hand be stretched forth in defence of his country. +If our flag is to be insulted, let us nail it to the top-mast of the +nation; there let it fly while we shed the last drop of our blood in +protecting it, and let it be degraded only when the nation itself is +overwhelmed." + +He thus ridicules, in the same speech, the etiquette that had been +observed in the selection of the ministers who were to confer with M. +Otto:-- + +"This stiff-necked policy shows insincerity. I see Mr. Napean and Mr. +Hammond also appointed to confer with M. Otto, because they are of the +same rank. Is not this as absurd as if Lord Whitworth were to be sent to +Petersburgh, and told that he was not to treat but with some gentleman of +six feet high, and as handsome as himself? Sir, I repeat, that this is a +stiff-necked policy, when the lives of thousands are at stake." + +In the following year Mr. Pitt was succeeded, as Prime Minister, by Mr. +Addington. The cause assigned for this unexpected change was the +difference of opinion that existed between the King and Mr. Pitt, with +respect to the further enfranchisement of the Catholics of Ireland. To +this measure the Minister and some of his colleagues considered +themselves to have been pledged by the Act of Union; but, on finding that +they could not carry it, against the scruples of their Royal Master, +resigned. + +Though Mr. Pitt so far availed himself of this alleged motive of his +abdication as to found on it rather an indecorous appeal to the +Catholics, in which he courted popularity for himself at the expense of +that of the King, it was suspected that he had other and less +disinterested reasons for his conduct. Indeed, while he took merit to +himself for thus resigning his supremacy, he well knew that he still +commanded it with "a falconer's voice," and, whenever he pleased, "could +lure the tassel-gentle back again." The facility with which he afterwards +returned to power, without making any stipulation for the measure now +held to be essential, proves either that the motive now assigned for his +resignation was false, or that, having sacrificed power to principle in +1801, he took revenge by making principle, in its turn, give way to power +in 1804. + +During the early part of the new Administration, Mr. Sheridan appears to +have rested on his arms,--having spoken so rarely and briefly throughout +the Session as not to have furnished to the collector of his speeches a +single specimen of oratory worth recording. It is not till the discussion +of the Definitive Treaty, in May, 1802, that he is represented as having +professed himself friendly to the existing Ministry:--"Certainly," he +said, "I have in several respects given my testimony in favor of the +present Ministry,--in nothing more than for making the best peace, +perhaps, they could, after their predecessors had left them in such a +deplorable situation." It was on this occasion, however, that, in +ridiculing the understanding supposed to exist between the Ex-minister +and his successor, he left such marks of his wit on the latter as all his +subsequent friendship could not efface. Among other remarks, full of +humor, he said,-- + +"I should like to support the present Minister on fair ground; but what +is he? a sort of _outside passenger_,--or rather a man leading the +horses round a corner, while reins, whip, and all, are in the hands of +the coachman on the _box_! (_looking at Mr. Pitt's elevated seat, +three or four benches above that of the Treasury_.) Why not have an +union of the two Ministers, or, at least, some intelligible connection? +When the Ex-minister quitted office, almost all the _subordinate_ +Ministers kept their places. How was it that the whole family did not +move together? Had he only one _covered waggon_ to carry _friends +and goods_? or has he left directions behind him that they may know +where to call? I remember a fable of _Aristophanes's_, which is +translated from Greek into decent English. I mention this for the country +gentlemen. It is of a man that sat so long on a seat, (about as long, +perhaps, as the Ex-minister did on the Treasury-bench,) that he grew to +it. When Hercules pulled him off, he left all the sitting part of the man +behind him. The House can make the allusion." [Footnote: The following is +another highly humorous passage from this speech:--"But let France have +colonies! Oh, yes! let her have a good trade, that she may be afraid of +war, says the Learned Member,--that's the way to make Buonaparte love +peace. He has had, to be sure, a sort of military education. He has been +abroad, and is rather _rough company_; but if you put him behind the +_counter_ a little, he will mend exceedingly. When I was reading the +Treaty, I thought all the names of foreign places, viz. Poindicherry, +Chandenenagore, Cochin, Martinico, &c, all _cessions_. Not +they--they are all so many _traps_ and _holes_ to catch this +silly fellow in, and make a _merchant_ of him! I really think the +best way upon this principle would be this:--let the merchants of London +open a _public subscription_, and set him up at once. I hear a great +deal respecting a certain _statue_ about to be erected to the Right +Honorable Gentleman, (Mr. Pitt,) now in my eye, at a great expense. Send +all that money over to the First Consul, and give him, what you talk of +so much, _Capital_, to begin trade with. I hope the Right Honorable +Gentleman over the way will, like the First Consul, refuse a statue for +the present, and postpone it as a work to posterity. There is no harm, +however, in marking out the place. The Right Honorable Gentleman is +musing, perhaps, on what square, or place, he will choose for its +erection. I recommend the _Bank of England_. Now for the material. +Not gold: no, no!--he has not left enough of it. I should, however, +propose _papier mache_ and old banknotes."] + +We have here an instance, in addition to the many which I have remarked, +of his adroitness, not only in laying claim to all _waifs_ of wit, +"_ubi non apparebat dominus,_" but in stealing the wit himself, +wherever he could find it. This happy application of the fable of +Hercules and Theseus to the Ministry had been first made by Gilbert +Wakefield, in a Letter to Mr. Fox, which the latter read to Sheridan a +few days before the Debate; and the only remark that Sheridan made, on +hearing it, was, "What an odd pedantic fancy!" But the wit knew well the +value of the jewel that the pedant had raked up, and lost no time in +turning it to account with all his accustomed skill. The Letter of +Wakefield, in which the application of the fable occurs, has been +omitted, I know not why, in his published Correspondence with Mr. Fox: +but a Letter of Mr. Fox in the same collection, thus alludes to +it:--"Your story of Theseus is excellent, as applicable to our present +rulers; if you could point out to me where I could find it, I should be +much obliged to you. The Scholiast on Aristophanes is too wide a +description." Mr. Wakefield in answer, says,--"My Aristophanes, with the +Scholia, is not here. If I am right in my recollection, the story +probably occurs in the Scholia on the Frogs, and would soon be found by +reference to the name of Theseus in Kuster's Index." + +Another instance of this propensity in Sheridan, (which made him a sort +of Catiline in wit, "covetous of another's wealth, and profuse of his +own,") occurred during the preceding Session. As he was walking down to +the House with Sir Philip Francis and another friend, on the day when the +Address of Thanks on the Peace as moved, Sir Philip Francis pithily +remarked, that "it was a Peace which every one would be glad of, but no +one would be proud of." Sheridan, who was in a hurry to get to the House, +did not appear to attend to the observation;--but, before he had been +many minutes in his seat, he rose, and, in the course of a short speech, +(evidently made for the purpose of passing his stolen coin as soon as +possible,) said, "This, Sir, is a peace which every one will be glad of, +but no one can be proud of." [Footnote: A similar theft was his +observation, that "half the Debt of England had been incurred in pulling +down the Bourbons, and the other half in setting them up"--which pointed +remark he had heard, in conversation, from Sir Arthur Pigott.] + +The following letter from Dr. Parr to Sheridan, this year, records an +instance of delicate kindness which renders it well worthy of +preservation:-- + +"DEAR SIR, + +"I believe that you and my old pupil Tom feel a lively interest in my +happiness, and, therefore, I am eager to inform you that, without any +solicitation, and in the most handsome manner, Sir Francis Burdett has +offered me the rectory of Graffham in Huntingdonshire; that the yearly +value of it now amounts to 200_l_., and is capable of considerable +improvement; that the preferment is tenable with my Northamptonshire +rectory; that the situation is pleasant; and that, by making it my place +of residence, I shall be nearer to my respectable scholar and friend, +Edward Maltby, to the University of Cambridge, and to those Norfolk +connections which I value most highly. + +"I am not much skilled in ecclesiastical negotiations; and all my efforts +to avail myself of the very obliging kindness conditionally intended for +me by the Duke of Norfolk completely failed. But the noble friendship of +Sir Francis Burdett has set everything right. I cannot refuse myself the +great satisfaction of laying before you the concluding passage in Sir +Francis's letter:-- + +"'I acknowledge that a great additional motive with me to the offer I now +make Dr. Parr, is, that I believe I cannot do any thing more pleading to +his friends, Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Knight; and I desire you, +Sir, to consider yourself as obliged to them only.' + +"You will readily conceive, that I was highly gratified with this +striking and important passage, and that I wish for an early opportunity +of communicating with yourself, and Mr. Fox, and Mr. Knight. + +"I beg my best compliments to Mrs. Sheridan and Tom; and I have the honor +to be, Dear Sir, your very faithful well-wisher, and respectful, obedient +servant, + +"_September 27, Buckden_. + +"S. PARR." + +"Sir Francis sent his own servant to my house at Hilton with the letter; +and my wife, on reading it, desired the servant to bring it to me at +Buckden, near Huntingdon, where I yesterday received it." + +It was about this time that the Primary Electors of the National +Institute of France having proposed Haydn, the great composer, and Mr. +Sheridan, as candidates for the class of Literature and the Fine Arts, +the Institute, with a choice not altogether indefensible, elected Haydn. +Some French epigrams on this occurrence, which appeared in the Courier, +seem to have suggested to Sheridan the idea of writing a few English +_jeux-d'esprit_ on the same subject, which were intended for the +newspapers, but I rather think never appeared. These verses show that he +was not a little piqued by the decision of the Institute; and the manner +in which he avails himself of his anonymous character to speak of his own +claims to the distinction, is, it must be owned, less remarkable for +modesty than for truth. But Vanity, thus in masquerade, may be allowed +some little license. The following is a specimen:-- + + + "The wise decision all admire; + 'Twas just, beyond dispute-- + Sound taste! which, to Apollo's lyre + Preferred--a German flute!" + + +Mr. Kemble, who had been for some time Manager of Drury-Lane Theatre, +was, in the course of the year 1800-1, tempted, notwithstanding the +knowledge which his situation must have given him of the embarrassed +state of the concern, to enter into negotiation with Sheridan for the +purchase of a share in the property. How much anxiety the latter felt to +secure such an associate in the establishment appears strongly from the +following paper, drawn up by him, to accompany the documents submitted to +Kemble during the negotiation, and containing some particulars of the +property of Drury-Lane, which will be found not uninteresting:-- + +"Outline of the Terms on which it is proposed that Mr. Kemble shall +purchase a Quarter in the Property of Drury-Lane Theatre. + +"I really think there cannot be a negotiation, in matter of purchase and +sale, so evidently for the advantage of both parties, if brought to a +satisfactory conclusion. + +"I am decided that the management of the theatre cannot be respected, or +successful, but in the hands of an actual proprietor; and still the +better, if he is himself in the profession, and at the head of it. I am +desirous, therefore, that Mr. Kemble should be a proprietor and manager. + +"Mr. Kemble is the person, of all others, who must naturally be desirous +of both situations. He is at the head of his profession, without a rival; +he is attached to it, and desirous of elevating its character. He may be +assured of proper respect, &c., while I have the theatre; but I do not +think he could brook his situation were the property to pass into vulgar +and illiberal hands,--an event which he knows contingencies might +produce. Laying aside then all affectation of indifference, so common in +making bargains, let us set out with acknowledging that it is mutually +our interest to agree, if we can. At the same time, let it be avowed, +that I must be considered as trying to get as good a price as I can, and +Mr. Kemble to buy as cheap as he can. In parting with theatrical +property, there is no standard, or measure, to direct the price: the +whole question is, what are the probable profits, and what is such a +proportion of them worth? + +"I bought of Mr. Garrick at the rate of 70,000_l_. for the whole +theatre. I bought of Mr. Lacey at the rate of 94,000_l_. ditto. I +bought of Dr. Ford at the rate of 86,OOO_l_. ditto. In all these +cases there was a perishable patent, and an expiring lease, each having +to run, at the different periods of the purchases, from ten to twenty +years only. + +"All these purchases have undoubtedly answered well; but in the chance of +a Third Theatre consisted the risk; and the want of size and +accommodation must have produced it, had the theatres continued as they +were. But the _great_ and _important feature_ in the present +property, and which is never for a moment to be lost sight of, is, that +the Monopoly is, morally speaking, established for ever, at least as well +as the Monarchy, Constitution, Public Funds, &c.,--as appears by No. 1. +being the copy of' The Final Arrangement' signed by the Lord Chamberlain, +by authority of His Majesty, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Bedford, +&c.; and the dormant patent of Covent-Garden, that former terror of +Drury-Lane, is perpetually annexed to the latter. So that the value of +Drury-Lane at present, and in the former sales, is out of all +comparison,--independently of the new building, superior size, raised +prices, &c., &c. But the incumbrances on the theatre, whose annual charge +must be paid before there can be any surplus profit, are much greater +than in Mr. Garrick's time, or on the old theatre afterwards. Undoubtedly +they are, and very considerably greater; but what is the proportion of +the receipts? Mr. Garrick realized and left a fortune, of +140,OOO_l_. (having lived, certainly, at no mean expense,) acquired +in ---- years, on an average annual receipt of 25,000_l_. (qu. this?) +Our receipts cannot be stated at less than 60,000_l_. per ann.; and +it is demonstrable that preventing the most palpable frauds and abuses, +with even a tolerable system of exertion in the management, must bring +it, at the least, to 75,000_l_.; and this estimate does not include +the advantages to be derived from the new tavern, passages, Chinese hall, +&c.,--an aid to the receipt, respecting the amount of which I am very +sanguine. What then, is the probable profit, and what is a quarter of it +worth? No. 3. is the amount of three seasons' receipts, the only ones on +which an attempt at an average could be justifiable. No. 4. is the future +estimate, on a system of exertion and good management. No. 5. the actual +annual incumbrauces. No. 6. the nightly expenses. No. 7. the estimated +profits. Calculating on which, I demand for a quarter of the property, * +* * *, reserving to myself the existing private boxes, but no more to be +created, and the fruit-offices and houses not part of the theatre. + +"I assume that Mr. Kemble and I agree as to the price, annexing the +following conditions to our agreement:--Mr. Kemble shall have his +engagement as an actor for any rational time he pleases. Mr. Kemble shall +be manager, with a clear salary of 500 guineas per annum, and * * per +cent. on the clear profits. Mr. Sheridan engages to procure from Messrs. +Hammersleys a loan to Mr. Kemble of ten thousand pounds, part of the +purchase-money for four years, for which loan he is content to become +collateral security, and also to leave his other securities, now in their +hands, in mortgage for the same. And for the payment of the rest of the +money, Mr. Sheridan is ready to give Mr. Kemble every facility his +circumstances will admit of. It is not to be overlooked, that if a +private box is also made over to Mr. Kemble, for the whole term of the +theatre lease, its value cannot be stated at less than 3,500_l_. +Indeed, it might at any time produce to Mr. Kemble, or his assigns, +300_l_ per annum. Vide No. 8. This is a material deduction from the +purchase-money to be paid. + +"Supposing all this arrangement made, I conceive Mr. Kemble's income +would stand thus: + + £ s. d. +Salary as an actor, 1050 0 0 +In lieu of benefit, 315 0 0 +As manager, 525 0 0 +Percentage on clear profit, 300 0 0 +Dividend on quarter-share, [Footnote: "I put this on the very lowest +speculation"] 2500 0 0 + ______________ + + £4690 0 0 + ______________ + + +I need not say how soon this would clear the whole of the purchase. With +regard to the title, &c. Mr. Crews and Mr. Pigott are to decide. As to +debts, the share must be made over to Mr. Kemble free from a claim even; +and for this purpose all demands shall be called in, by public +advertisement, to be sent to Mr. Kemble's own solicitor. In short, Mr. +Crews shall be satisfied that there does not exist an unsatisfied demand +on the theatre, or a possibility of Mr. Kemble being involved in the risk +of a shilling. Mr. Hammersley, or such person as Mr. Kemble and Mr. +Sheridan shall agree on, to be Treasurer, and receive and account for the +whole receipts, pay the charges, trusts, &c.; and, at the close of the +season, the surplus profits to the proprietors. A clause in case of +death, or sale, to give the refusal to each other." + +The following letter from Sheridan to Kemble in answer, as it appears, to +some complaint or remonstrance from the latter, in his capacity of +Manager, is too curiously characteristic of the writer to be omitted:-- + +"DEAR KEMBLE, + +"If I had not a real good opinion of your principles and intentions upon +all subjects, and a very bad opinion of your nerves and philosophy upon +some, I should take very ill indeed, the letter I received from you this +evening. + +"That the management of the theatre is a situation capable of becoming +_troublesome_ is information which I do not want, and a discovery +which I thought you had made long since. + +"I should be sorry to write to you gravely on your offer, because I must +consider it as a nervous flight, which it would be as unfriendly in me to +notice seriously as it would be in you seriously to have made it. + +"What I _am_ most serious in is a determination that, while the +theatre is indebted, and others, for it and for me, are so involved and +pressed as they are, I will exert myself, and give every attention and +judgment in my power to the establishment of its interests. In you I +hoped, and do hope, to find an assistant, on principles of liberal and +friendly confidence,--I mean confidence that should be above touchiness +and reserve, and that should trust to me to estimate the value of that +assistance. + +"If there is any thing amiss in your mind, not arising from the +_troublesomeness_ of your situation, it is childish and unmanly not +to disclose it to me. The frankness with which I have always dealt +towards you entitles me to expect that you should have done so. + +"But I have no reason to believe this to be the case; and, attributing +your letter to a disorder which I know ought not to be indulged, I +prescribe that you shall keep your appointment at the Piazza +Coffee-house, to-morrow at five, and, taking four bottles of claret +instead of three, to which in sound health you might stint yourself, +forget that you ever wrote the letter, as I shall that I ever received it. + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +STATE OF PARTIES.--OFFER OF A PLACE TO MR. T. SHERIDAN.--RECEIVERSHIP OF +THE DUCHY OF CORNWALL BESTOWED UPON MR. SHERIDAN.--RETURN OF MR. PITT TO +POWER.--CATHOLIC QUESTION.--ADMINISTRATION OF LORD GRENVILLE AND MR. +FOX.--DEATH OF MR. FOX.--REPRESENTATION OF WESTMINSTER.--DISMISSION OF +THE MINISTRY.--THEATRICAL NEGOTIATION.--SPANISH QUESTION.--LETTER TO THE +PRINCE. + + +During the short interval of peace into which the country was now +lulled,--like a ship becalmed for a moment in the valley between two vast +waves,--such a change took place in the relative positions and bearings +of the parties that had been so long arrayed against each other, and such +new boundaries and divisions of opinion were formed, as considerably +altered the map of the political world. While Mr. Pitt lent his sanction +to the new Administration, they, who had made common cause with him in +resigning, violently opposed it; and, while the Ministers were thus +thwarted by those who had hitherto always agreed with them, they were +supported by those Whigs with whom they had before most vehemently +differed. Among this latter class of their friends was, as I have already +remarked, Mr. Sheridan,--who, convinced that the only chance of excluding +Mr. Pitt from power lay in strengthening the hands of those who were in +possession, not only gave them the aid of his own name and eloquence, but +endeavored to impress the same views upon Mr. Fox, and exerted his +influence also to procure the sanction of Carlton-House in their favor. + +It cannot, indeed, he doubted that Sheridan, at this time, though still +the friend of Mr. Fox, had ceased, in a great degree, to be his follower. +Their views with respect to the renewal of the war were wholly different. +While Sheridan joined in the popular feeling against France, and showed +his knowledge of that great instrument, the Public Mind, by approaching +it only with such themes as suited the martial mood to which it was +tuned, the too confiding spirit of Fox breathed nothing but forbearance +and peace;--and he who, in 1786, had proclaimed the "natural enmity" of +England and France, as an argument against their commercial intercourse, +now asked, with the softened tone which time and retirement had taught +him, "whether France was for ever to be considered our rival?" [Footnote: +Speech on the Address of Thanks in 1803.] + +The following characteristic note, written by him previously to the +debate on the Army Estimates, (December 8, 1802,) shows a consciousness +that the hold which he had once had upon his friend was loosened:-- + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"I mean to be in town for Monday,--that is, for the Army. As for +to-morrow, it is no matter;--I am _for_ a largish fleet, though +perhaps not quite so large as they mean. Pray, do not be absent Monday, +and let me have a quarter of an hour's conversation before the business +begins. Remember, I do not wish you to be inconsistent, at any rate. +Pitt's opinion by Proxy is ridiculous beyond conception, and I hope you +will show it in that light. I am very much against your abusing +Bonaparte, because I am sure it is impolitic both for the country and +ourselves. But, as you please;--only, for God's sake, Peace. [Footnote: +These last words are an interesting illustration of the line in Mr. +Rogers's Verses on this statesman:--"'Peace,' when he spoke, was ever on +his tongue"] + +"Yours ever + +"_Tuesday night._ + +"C. J. Fox." + +It was about this period that the writer of these pages had, for the +first time, the gratification of meeting Mr. Sheridan, at Donington-Park, +the seat of the present Marquis of Hastings;--a circumstance which he +recalls, not only with those lively impressions, that our first +admiration of genius leaves behind, but with many other dreams of youth +and hope, that still endear to him the mansion where that meeting took +place, and among which gratitude to its noble owner is the only one, +perhaps, that has not faded. Mr. Sheridan, I remember, was just then +furnishing a new house, and talked of a plan he had of levying +contributions on his friends for a library. A set of books from each +would, he calculated, amply accomplish it, and already the intimation of +his design had begun to "breathe a soul into the silent walls." +[Footnote: Rogers.] The splendid and well-chosen library of Donington +was, of course, not slow in furnishing its contingent; and little was it +foreseen into what badges of penury these gifts of friendship would be +converted at last. + +As some acknowledgment of the services which Sheridan had rendered to the +Ministry, (though professedly as a tribute to his public character in +general,) Lord St. Vincent, about this time, made an offer to his son, +Mr. Thomas Sheridan, of the place of Registrar of the Vice-Admiralty +Court of Malta,--an office which, during a period of war, is supposed to +be of considerable emolument. The first impulse of Sheridan, when +consulted on the proposal, was, as I have heard, not unfavorable to his +son's acceptance of it. But, on considering the new position which he +had, himself, lately taken in politics, and the inference that might be +drawn against the independence of his motives, if he submitted to an +obligation which was but too liable to be interpreted, as less a return +for past services than a _lien_ upon him for future ones, he thought +it safest for his character to sacrifice the advantage, and, desirable as +was the provision for his son, obliged him to decline it. + +The following passages of a letter to him from Mrs. Sheridan on this +subject do the highest honor to her generosity, spirit, and good sense. +They also confirm what has generally been understood, that the King, +about this time, sent a most gracious message to Sheridan, expressive of +the approbation with which he regarded his public conduct, and of the +pleasure he should feel in conferring upon him some mark of his Royal +favor:-- + +"I am more anxious than I can express about Tom's welfare. It is, indeed, +unfortunate that you have been obliged to refuse these things for him, +but surely there could not be two opinions; yet why will you neglect to +observe those attentions that honor does not compel you to refuse? Don't +you know that when once the King takes offence, he was never known to +forgive? I suppose it would be impossible to have your motives explained +to him, because it would touch his weak side, yet any thing is better +than his attributing your refusal to contempt and indifference. Would to +God I could bear these necessary losses instead of Tom, particularly as I +so entirely approve of your conduct." + +"I trust you will be able to do something positive for Tom about money. I +am willing to make any sacrifice in the world for that purpose, and to +live in any way whatever. Whatever he has _now ought_ to be certain, +or how will he know how to regulate his expenses?" + +The fate, indeed, of young Sheridan was peculiarly tantalizing. Born and +brought up in the midst of those bright hopes, which so long encircled +his father's path, he saw them all die away as he became old enough to +profit by them, leaving difficulty and disappointment, his only +inheritance, behind. Unprovided with any profession by which he could +secure his own independence, and shut out, as in this instance, from +those means of advancement, which, it was feared, might compromise the +independence of his father, he was made the victim even of the +distinction of his situation, and paid dearly for the glory of being the +son of Sheridan. In the expression of his face, he resembled much his +beautiful mother, and derived from her also the fatal complaint of which +he died. His popularity in society was unexampled,--but he knew how to +attach as well as amuse; and, though living chiefly with that class of +persons, who pass over the surface of life, like Camilla over the corn, +without leaving any impression of themselves behind, he had manly and +intelligent qualities, that deserved a far better destiny. There are, +indeed, few individuals, whose lives have been so gay and thoughtless, +whom so many remember with cordiality and interest: and, among the +numerous instances of discriminating good nature, by which the private +conduct of His Royal Highness the Duke of York is distinguished, there +are, none that do him more honor than his prompt and efficient kindness +to the interesting family that the son of Sheridan has left behind him. + +Soon after the Declaration of War against France, when an immediate +invasion was threatened by the enemy, the Heir Apparent, with the true +spirit of an English Prince, came forward to make an offer of his +personal service to the country. A correspondence upon the subject, it is +well known, ensued, in the course of which His Royal Highness addressed +letters to Mr. Addington, to the Duke of York, and the King. It has been +sometimes stated that these letters were from the pen of Mr. Sheridan; +but the first of the series was written by Sir Robert Wilson, and the +remainder by Lord Hutchinson. + +The death of Joseph Richardson, which took place this year, was felt as +strongly by Sheridan as any thing _can_ be felt, by those who, in +the whirl of worldly pursuits, revolve too rapidly round Self, to let any +thing rest long upon their surface. With a fidelity to his old habits of +unpunctuality, at which the shade of Richardson might have smiled, he +arrived too late at Bagshot for the funeral of his friend, but succeeded +in persuading the good-natured clergyman to perform the ceremony over +again. Mr. John Taylor, a gentleman, whose love of good-fellowship and +wit has made him the welcome associate of some of the brightest men of +his day, was one of the assistants at this singular scene, and also +joined in the party at the inn at Bedfont afterwards, where Sheridan, it +is said, drained the "Cup of Memory" to his friend, till he found +oblivion at the bottom. + +At the close of the session of 1803, that strange diversity of opinions, +into which the two leading parties were decomposed by the resignation of +Mr. Pitt, had given way to new varieties, both of cohesion and +separation, quite as little to be expected from the natural affinities of +the ingredients concerned in them. Mr. Pitt, upon perceiving, in those to +whom he had delegated his power, an inclination to surround themselves +with such strength from the adverse ranks as would enable them to contest +his resumption of the trust, had gradually withdrawn the sanction which +he at first afforded them, and taken his station by the side of the other +two parties in opposition, without, however, encumbering himself, in his +views upon office, with either. By a similar movement, though upon +different principles, Mr. Fox and the Whigs, who had begun by supporting +the Ministry against the strong War-party of which Lord Grenville and Mr. +Windham were the leaders, now entered into close co-operation with this +new Opposition, and seemed inclined to forget, both recent and ancient +differences in a combined assault upon the tottering Administration of +Mr. Addington. + +The only parties, perhaps, that acted with consistency through these +transactions, were Mr. Sheridan and the few who followed him on one side, +and Lord Grenville and his friends on the other. The support which the +former had given to the Ministry,--from a conviction that such was the +true policy of his party,--he persevered in, notwithstanding the +suspicion it drew down upon him, to the last; and, to the last, +deprecated the connection with the Grenvilles, as entangling his friends +in the same sort of hollow partnership, out of which they had come +bankrupts in character and confidence before. [Footnote: In a letter +written this year by Mr. Thomas Sheridan to his father, there is the +following passage--"I am glad you intended wrong to Lord ----, he is +_quite right_ about politics--reprobates the idea most strongly of +any union with the Granvilles, &c which, he says he sees as Fox's +leaning. 'I agreed with your father perfectly on the subject, when I left +him in town, but when I saw Charles at St. Ann's Hill, I perceived he was +wrong and obstinate.'"] In like manner, it must be owned the Opposition, +of which Lord Grenville was the head, held a course direct and +undeviating from beginning to end. Unfettered by those reservations in +favor of Addington, which so long embarrassed the movements of their +former leader, they at once started in opposition to the Peace and the +Ministry, and, with not only Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, but the whole people +of England against them, persevered till they had ranged all these +several parties on their side:--nor was it altogether without reason that +this party afterwards boasted that, if any abandonment of principle had +occurred in the connection between them and the Whigs, the surrender was +assuredly not from their side. + +Early in the year 1804, on the death of Lord Elliot, the office of +Receiver of the Duchy of Cornwall, which had been held by that nobleman, +was bestowed by the Prince of Wales upon Mr. Sheridan, "as a trifling +proof of that sincere friendship His Royal Highness had always professed +and felt for him through a long series of years." His Royal Highness also +added, in the same communication, the very cordial words, "I wish to God +it was better worth your acceptance." + +The following letter from Sheridan to Mr. Addington, communicating the +intelligence of this appointment, shows pretty plainly the terms on which +he not only now stood, but was well inclined to continue, with that +Minister:-- + +"DEAR SIR, + +"_George-Street, Tuesday evening._ + +"Convinced as I am of the sincerity of your good will towards me, I do +not regard it as an impertinent intrusion to inform you that the Prince +has, in the most gracious manner, and wholly unsolicited, been pleased to +appoint me to the late Lord Elliot's situation in the Duchy of Cornwall. +I feel a desire to communicate this to you myself, because I feel a +confidence that you will be glad of it. It has been my pride and pleasure +to have exerted my humble efforts to serve the Prince without ever +accepting the slightest obligation from him; but, in the present case, +and under the present circumstances, I think it would have been really +false pride and apparently mischievous affectation to have declined this +mark of His Royal Highness's confidence and favor. I will not disguise +that, at this peculiar crisis, I am greatly gratified at this event. Had +it been the result of a mean and subservient devotion to the Prince's +every wish and object, I could neither have respected the gift, the +giver, nor myself; but when I consider how recently it was my misfortune +to find myself compelled by a sense of duty, stronger than my attachment +to him, wholly to risk the situation I held in his confidence and favor, +and that upon a subject [Footnote: The offer made by the Prince of his +personal services in 1803,--on which occasion Sheridan coincided with the +views of Mr. Addington somewhat more than was agreeable to His Royal +Highness.] on which his feelings were so eager and irritable, I cannot +but regard the increased attention, with which he has since honored me, +as a most gratifying demonstration that he has clearness of judgment and +firmness of spirit to distinguish the real friends to his true glory and +interests from the mean and mercenary sycophants, who fear and abhor that +such friends should be near him. It is satisfactory to me, also, that +this appointment gives me the title and opportunity of seeing the Prince, +on trying occasions, openly and in the face of day, and puts aside the +mask of mystery and concealment. I trust I need not add, that whatever +small portion of fair influence I may at any time possess with the +Prince, it shall be uniformly exerted to promote those feelings of duty +and affection towards their Majesties, which, though seemingly +interrupted by adverse circumstances, I am sure are in his heart warm and +unalterable--and, as far as I may presume, that general concord +throughout his illustrious family, which must be looked to by every +honest subject, as an essential part of the public strength at this +momentous period. I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, + +"Your obedient Servant, + +"_Right Hon. Henry Addington_. + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + +The same views that influenced Mr. Sheridan, Lord Moira, and others, in +supporting an administration which, with all its defects, they considered +preferable to a relapse into the hands of Mr. Pitt, had led Mr. Tierney, +at the close of the last Session, to confer upon it a still more +efficient sanction, by enrolling himself in its ranks as Treasurer of the +Navy. In the early part of the present year, another ornament of the Whig +party, Mr. Erskine, was on the point of following in the same footsteps, +by accepting, from Mr. Addington, the office of Attorney-General. He had, +indeed, proceeded so far in his intention as to submit the overtures of +the Minister to the consideration of the Prince, in a letter which was +transmitted to his Royal Highness by Sheridan. The answer of the Prince, +conveyed also through Sheridan, while it expressed the most friendly +feelings towards Erskine, declined, at the same time, giving any opinion +as to either his acceptance or refusal of the office of Attorney-General, +if offered to him under the present circumstances. His Royal Highness +also added the expression of his sincere regret, that a proposal of this +nature should have been submitted to his consideration by one, of whose +attachment and fidelity to himself he was well convinced, but who ought +to have felt, from the line of conduct adopted and persevered in by his +Royal Highness, that he was the very last person that should have been +applied to for either his opinion or countenance respecting the political +conduct or connection of any public character,--especially of one so +intimately connected with him, and belonging to his family. + +If, at any time, Sheridan had entertained the idea of associating +himself, by office, with the Ministry of Mr. Addington, (and proposals to +this effect were, it is certain, made to him,) his knowledge of the +existence of such feelings as prompted this answer to Mr. Erskine would, +of course, have been sufficient to divert him from the intention. + +The following document, which I have found, in his own handwriting, and +which was intended, apparently, for publication in the newspapers, +contains some particulars with respect to the proceedings of his party at +this time, which, coming from such a source, may be considered as +authentic:-- + +"STATE OF PARTIES. + +"Among the various rumors of Coalitions, or attempted Coalitions, we have +already expressed our disbelief in that reported to have taken place +between the Grenville-Windhamites and Mr. Fox. At least, if it was ever +in negotiation, we have reason to think it received an early check, +arising from a strong party of the _Old Opposition_ protesting +against it. The account of this transaction, as whispered in the +political circles, is as follows:-- + +"In consequence of some of the most respectable members of the Old +Opposition being sounded on the subject, a meeting was held at +Norfolk-House; when it was determined, with very few dissentient voices, +to present a friendly remonstrance on the subject to Mr. Fox, stating the +manifold reasons which obviously presented themselves against such a +procedure, both as affecting Character and Party. it was urged that the +present Ministers had, on the score of innovation on the Constitution, +given the Whigs no pretence for complaint whatever; and, as to their +alleged incapacity, it remained to be proved that they were capable of +committing errors and producing miscarriages, equal to those which had +marked the councils of their predecessors, whom the measure in question +was expressly calculated to replace in power. At such a momentous crisis, +therefore, waving all considerations of past political provocation, to +attempt, by the strength and combination of party, to expel the Ministers +of His Majesty's choice, and to force into his closet those whom the +Whigs ought to be the first to rejoice that he had excluded from it, was +stated to be a proceeding which would assuredly revolt the public +feeling, degrade the character of Parliament, and produce possibly +incalculable mischief to the country. + +"We understand that Mr. Fox's reply was, that he would never take any +political step against the wishes and advice of the majority of his old +friends. + +"The paper is said to have been drawn up by Mr. Erskine, and to have been +presented to Mr. Fox by his Grace of Norfolk, on the day His Majesty was +pronounced to be recovered from his first illness. Rumor places among the +supporters of this measure the written authority of the Duke of +Northumberland and the Earl of Moira, with the signatures of Messrs. +Erskine, Sheridan, Shum, Curwen, Western, Brogden, and a long _et +caetera_. It is said also that the Prince's sanction had been +previously given to the Duke,--His Royal Highness deprecating all party +struggle, at a moment when the defence of all that is dear to Britons +ought to be the single sentiment that should fill the public mind. + +"We do not vouch for the above being strictly accurate; but we are +confident that it is not far from the truth." + +The illness of the King, referred to in this paper, had been first +publicly announced in the month of February, and was for some time +considered of so serious a nature, that arrangements were actually in +progress for the establishment of a Regency. Mr. Sheridan, who now formed +a sort of connecting link between Carlton-House and the Minister, took, +of course, a leading part in the negotiations preparatory to such a +measure. It appears, from a letter of Mr. Fox on the subject, that the +Prince and another person, whom it is unnecessary to name, were at one +moment not a little alarmed by a rumor of an intention to associate the +Duke of York and the Queen in the Regency. Mr. Fox, however, begs of +Sheridan to tranquillize their minds on this point:--the intentions, (he +adds,) of "the Doctor," [Footnote: To the infliction of this nickname on +his friend, Mr. Addington, Sheridan was, in no small degree, accessory, +by applying to those who disapproved of his administration, and yet gave +no reasons for their disapprobation, the well-known lines,-- + + "I do not love thee, Doctor Fell, + And why I cannot tell; + But this I know full well, + I do not love thee, Doctor Fell."] though bad enough in all reason, do +not go to such lengths; and a proposal of this nature, from any other +quarter, could be easily defeated. + +Within about two months from the date of the Remonstrance, which, +according to a statement already given, was presented to Mr. Fox by his +brother Whigs, one of the consequences which it prognosticated from the +connection of their party with the Grenvilles took place, in the +resignation of Mr. Addington and the return of Mr. Pitt to power. + +The confidence of Mr. Pitt, in thus taking upon himself, almost +single-handed, the government of the country at such an awful crisis, +was, he soon perceived, not shared by the public. A general expectation +had prevailed that the three great Parties, which had lately been +encamped together on the field of opposition, would have each sent its +Chiefs into the public councils, and thus formed such a Congress of power +and talent as the difficulties of the empire, in that trying moment, +demanded. This hope had been frustrated by the repugnance of the King to +Mr. Fox, and the too ready facility with which Mr. Pitt had given way to +it. Not only, indeed, in his undignified eagerness for office, did he +sacrifice without stipulation the important question, which, but two +years before, had been made the _sine-qua non_ of his services, but, +in yielding so readily to the Royal prejudices against his rival, he gave +a sanction to that unconstitutional principle of exclusion, [Footnote: +"This principle of personal exclusion, (said Lord Grenville,) is one of +which I never can approve, because, independently of its operation to +prevent Parliament and the people from enjoying the Administration they +desired, and which it was their particular interest to have, it tends to +establish a dangerous precedent, that would afford too much opportunity +of private pique against the public interest. I, for one, therefore, +refused to connect myself with any one argument that should sanction that +principle; and, in my opinion, every man who accepted office under that +Administration is, according to the letter and spirit of the +constitution, responsible for its character and construction, and the +principle upon which it is founded."--_Speech of Lord Grenville on the +motion of Lord Darnley for the repeal of the Additional Force Bill, Feb. +15, 1805._] which, if thus acted upon by the party-feelings of the +Monarch, would soon narrow the Throne into the mere nucleus of a favored +faction. In allowing, too, his friends and partisans to throw the whole +blame of this exclusive Ministry on the King, he but repeated the +indecorum of which he had been guilty in 1802. For, having at that time +made use of the religious prejudices of the Monarch, as a pretext for his +manner of quitting office, he now employed the political prejudices of +the same personage, as an equally convenient excuse for his manner of +returning to it. + +A few extracts from the speech of Mr. Sheridan upon the Additional Force +Bill,--the only occasion on which he seems to have spoken during the +present year,--will show that the rarity of his displays was not owing to +any failure of power, but rather, perhaps, to the increasing involvement +of his circumstances, which left no time for the thought and preparation +that all his public efforts required. + +Mr. Pitt had, at the commencement of this year, condescended to call to +his aid the co-operation of Mr. Addington, Lord Buckinghamshire, and +other members of that Administration, which had withered away, but a few +months before, under the blight of his sarcasm and scorn. In alluding to +this Coalition, Sheridan says-- + +"The Right Honorable Gentleman went into office alone;--but, lest the +government should become too full of vigor from his support, he thought +proper to beckon back some of the weakness of the former administration. +He, I suppose, thought that the Ministry became, from his support, like +spirits above proof, and required to be diluted; that, like gold refined +to a certain degree, it would be unfit for use without a certain mixture +of alloy; that the administration would be too brilliant, and dazzle the +House, unless he called back a certain part of the mist and fog of the +last administration to render it tolerable to the eye. As to the great +change made in the Ministry by the introduction of the Right Honorable +Gentleman himself, I would ask, does he imagine that he came back to +office with the same estimation that he left it? I am sure he is much +mistaken if he fancies that he did. The Right Honorable Gentleman retired +from office because, as was stated, he could not carry an important +question, which he deemed necessary to satisfy the just claims of the +Catholics; and in going out he did not hesitate to tear off the sacred +veil of Majesty, describing his Sovereign as the only person that stood +in the way of this desirable object. After the Right Honorable +Gentleman's retirement, he advised the Catholics to look to no one but +him for the attainment of their rights, and cautiously to abstain from +forming a connection with any other person. But how does it appear, now +that the Right Honorable Gentleman is returned to office? He declines to +perform his promise; and has received, as his colleagues in office, those +who are pledged to resist the measure. Does not the Right Honorable +Gentleman then feel that he comes back to office with a character +degraded by the violation of a solemn pledge, given to a great and +respectable body of the people, upon a particular and momentous occasion? +Does the Right Honorable Gentleman imagine either that he returns to +office with the same character for political wisdom, after the +description which he gave of the talents and capacity of his +predecessors, and after having shown, by his own actions, that his +description was totally unfounded?" + +In alluding to Lord Melville's appointment to the Admiralty; he says,-- + +"But then, I am told, there is the First Lord of the Admiralty,--'Do you +forget the leader of the grand Catamaran project? Are you not aware of +the important change in that department, and the advantage the country is +likely to derive from that change?' Why, I answer, that I do not know of +any peculiar qualifications the Noble Lord has to preside over the +Admiralty; but I do know, that if I were to judge of him from the kind of +capacity he evinced while Minister of War, I should entertain little +hopes of him. If, however, the Right Honorable Gentleman should say to +me, 'Where else would you put that Noble Lord, would you have him +appointed War-Minister again?' I should say, Oh no, by no means,--I +remember too well the expeditions to Toulon, to Quiberon, to Corsica, and +to Holland, the responsibility for each of which the Noble Lord took on +himself, entirely releasing from any responsibility the Commander in +Chief and the Secretary at War. I also remember that, which, although so +glorious to our arms in the result, I still shall call a most +unwarrantable project.--the expedition to Egypt. It may be said, that as +the Noble Lord was so unfit for the military department, the naval was +the proper place for him. Perhaps there wore people who would adopt this +whimsical reasoning. I remember a story told respecting Mr. Garrick, who +was once applied to by an eccentric Scotchman, to introduce a production +of his on the stage. This Scotchman was such a good-humored fellow, that +he was called 'Honest Johnny M'Cree.' Johnny wrote four acts of a +tragedy, which he showed to Mr. Garrick, who dissuaded him from finishing +it; telling him that his talent did not lie that way; so Johnny abandoned +the tragedy, and set about writing a comedy. When this was finished, he +showed it to Mr. Garrick, who found it to be still more exceptionable +than the tragedy, and of course could not be persuaded to bring it +forward on the stage. This surprised poor Johnny, and he remonstrated. +'Nay, now, David, (said Johnny,) did you not tell me my talents did not +lie in tragedy?'--'Yes, (replied Garrick,) but I did not tell you that +they lay in comedy.'--'Then, (exclaimed Johnny,) gin they dinna lie +there, where the de'il dittha lie, mon?' Unless the Noble Lord at the +head of the Admiralty has the same reasoning in his mind as Johnny +M'Cree, he cannot possibly suppose that his incapacity for the direction +of the War-department necessarily qualifies him for the Presidency of the +Naval. Perhaps, if the Noble Lord be told that he has no talents for the +latter, His Lordship may exclaim with honest Johnny M'Cree, 'Gin they +dinna lie there, where the de'il dittha lie, mon?'" + +On the 10th of May, the claims of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, were, +for the first time, brought under the notice of the Imperial Parliament, +by Lord Grenville in the House of Lords, and by Mr. Fox in the House of +Commons. A few days before the debate, as appears, by the following +remarkable letter, Mr. Sheridan was made the medium of a communication +from Carlton House, the object of which was to prevent Mr. Fox from +presenting the Petition. + +"DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"I did not receive your letter till last night. + +"I did, on Thursday, consent to be the presenter of the Catholic +Petition, at the request of the Delegates, and had further conversation +on the subject with them at Lord Grenville's yesterday morning. Lord +Grenville also consented to present the Petition to the House of Lords. +Now, therefore, any discussion on this part of the subject would be too +late; but I will fairly own, that, if it were not, I could not be +dissuaded from doing the public act, which, of all others, it will give +me the greatest satisfaction and pride to perform. No past event in my +political life ever did, and no future one ever can, give me such +pleasure. + +"I am sure you know how painful it would be to me to disobey any command +of His Royal Highness's, or even to act in any manner that might be in +the slightest degree contrary to his wishes, and therefore I am not sorry +that your intimation came too late. I shall endeavor to see the Prince +today; but, if I should fail, pray take care that he knows how things +stand before we meet at dinner, lest any conversation there should appear +to come upon him by surprise. + +"Yours ever, + +_"Arlington Street, Sunday,_ + +"C. J. F." + +It would be rash, without some further insight into the circumstances of +this singular interference, to enter into any speculations with respect +to its nature or motives, or to pronounce how far Mr. Sheridan was +justified in being the instrument of it. But on the share of Mr. Fox in +the transaction, such suspension of opinion is unnecessary. We have here +his simple and honest words before us,--and they breathe a spirit of +sincerity from which even Princes might take a lesson with advantage. + +Mr. Pitt was not long in discovering that place does not always imply +Power, and that in separating himself from the other able men of the day, +he had but created an Opposition as much too strong for the Government, +as the Government itself was too weak for the country. The humiliating +resource to which he was driven, in trying, as a tonic, the reluctant +alliance of Lord Sidmouth,--the abortiveness of his efforts to avert the +full of his old friend, Lord Melville, and the fatality of ill luck that +still attended his exertions against France,--all concurred to render this +reign of the once powerful Minister a series of humiliations, shifts, and +disasters, unlike his former proud period in every thing but ill success. +The powerful Coalition opposed to him already had a prospect of carrying +by storm the post which he occupied, when, by his death, it was +surrendered, without parley, into their hands. + +The Administration that succeeded, under the auspices of Lord Greville +and Mr. Fox, bore a resemblance to the celebrated Brass of Corinth, more, +perhaps, in the variety of the metals brought together, than in the +perfection of the compound that resulted from their fusion. [Footnote: +See in the Annual Register of 1806, some able remarks upon Coalitions in +general, as well as a temperate defence of this Coalition in +particular,--for which that work is, I suspect, indebted to a hand such as +has not often, since the time of Burke, enriched its pages.] There were +comprised in it, indeed, not only the two great parties of the leading +chiefs, but those Whigs who differed with them both under the Addington +Ministry, and the Addingtons that differed with them all on the subject +of the Catholic claims. With this last anomalous addition to the +miscellany the influence of Sheridan is mainly chargeable. Having, for +some time past, exerted all his powers of management to bring about a +coalition between Carlton-House and Lord Sidmouth, he had been at length +so successful, that upon the formation of the present Ministry, it was +the express desire of the Prince that Lord Sidmouth should constitute a +part of it. To the same unlucky influence, too, is to be traced the very +questionable measure, (notwithstanding the great learning and ability +with which it was defended,) of introducing the Chief Justice, Lord +Ellenborough, into the Cabinet. + +As to Sheridan's own share in the arrangements, it was, no doubt, +expected by him that he should now be included among the members of the +Cabinet; and it is probable that Mr. Fox, at the head of a purely Whig +ministry, would have so far considered the services of his ancient ally, +and the popularity still attached to his name through the country, as to +confer upon him this mark of distinction and confidence. But there were +other interests to be consulted;--and the undisguised earnestness with +which Sheridan had opposed the union of his party with the Grenvilles, +left him but little supererogation of services to expect in that quarter. +Some of his nearest friends, and particularly Mrs. Sheridan, entreated, +as I understand, in the most anxious manner, that he would not accept any +such office as that of Treasurer of the Navy, for the responsibility and +business of which they knew his habits so wholly unfitted him,--but that, +if excluded by his colleagues from the distinction of a seat in the +Cabinet, he should decline all office whatsoever, and take his chance in +a friendly independence of them. But the time was now past when he could +afford to adopt this policy,--the emoluments of a place were too +necessary to him to be rejected;--and, in accepting the same office that +had been allotted to him in the Regency--arrangements of 1789, he must +have felt, with no small degree of mortification, how stationary all his +efforts since then had left him, and what a blank was thus made of all +his services in the interval. + +The period of this Ministry, connected with the name of Mr. Fox, though +brief, and in some respects, far from laudable, was distinguished by two +measures,--the Plan of Limited Service, and the Resolution for the +Abolition of the Slave-Trade,--which will long be remembered to the honor +of those concerned in them. The motion of Mr. Fox against the Slave-Trade +was the last he ever made in Parliament;--and the same sort of melancholy +admiration that Pliny expressed, in speaking of a beautiful picture, the +painter of which had died in finishing it,--"dolor manas dum id ageret, +abreptae"--comes naturally over our hearts in thinking of the last, +glorious work, to which this illustrious statesman, in dying, set his +hand. + +Though it is not true, as has been asserted, that Mr. Fox refused to see +Sheridan in his last illness, it is but too certain that those +appearances of alienation or reserve, which had been for some time past +observable in the former, continued to throw a restraint over their +intercourse with each other to the last. It is a proof, however, of the +absence of any serious grounds for this distrust, that Sheridan as the +person selected by the relatives of Mr. Fox to preside over and direct +the arrangements of the funeral, and that he put the last, solemn seal to +their long intimacy, by following his friend, as mourner, to the grave. + +The honor of representing the city of Westminster in Parliament had been, +for some time, one of the dreams of Sheridan's ambition. It was +suspected, indeed,--I know not with what justice,--that in advising Mr. +Fox, as he is said to have done, about the year 1800, to secede from +public life altogether, he was actuated by a wish to succeed him in the +representation of Westminster, and had even already set on foot some +private negotiations towards that object. Whatever grounds there may have +been for this suspicion, the strong wish that he felt on the subject had +long been sufficiently known to his colleagues; and on the death of Mr. +Fox, it appeared, not only to himself, but the public, that he was the +person naturally pointed out as most fit to be his parliamentary +successor. It was, therefore, with no slight degree of disappointment he +discovered, that the ascendancy of Aristocratic influence was, as usual, +to prevail, and that the young son of the Duke of Northumberland would be +supported by the Government in preference to him, It is but right, +however, in justice to the Ministry, to state, that the neglect with +which they appear to have treated him on this occasion,--particularly in +not apprising him of their decision in favor of Lord Percy, sufficiently +early to save him from the humiliation of a fruitless attempt,--is +proved, by the following letters, to have originated in a double +misapprehension, by which, while Sheridan, on one side, was led to +believe that the Ministers would favor his pretensions, the Ministers, on +the other, were induced to think that he had given up all intentions of +being a candidate. + +The first letter is addressed to the gentleman, (one of Sheridan's +intimate friends,) who seems to have been, unintentionally, the cause of +the mistake on both sides. + +"DEAR ----, + +"_Somerset-Place, September 14._ + +"You must have seen by my manner, yesterday, how much I was surprised and +hurt at learning, for the first time, that Lord Grenville had, many days +previous to Mr. Fox's death, decided to support Lord Percy on the +expected vacancy for Westminster, and that you had since been the active +agent in the canvass actually commenced. I do not like to think I have +grounds to complain or change my opinion of any friend, without being +very explicit, and opening my mind, without reserve, on such a subject. I +must frankly declare, that I think you have brought yourself and me into +a very unpleasant dilemma. You seemed to say, last night, that you had +not been apprised of my intention to offer for Westminster on the +apprehended vacancy. I am confident you have acted under that impression; +but I must impute to you either great inattention to what fell from me in +our last conversation on the subject, or great inaccuracy of +recollection; for I solemnly protest I considered you as the individual +most distinctly apprised, that at this moment to succeed that great man +and revered friend in Westminster, should the fatal event take place, +would be the highest object of my ambition; for, in that conversation I +thanked you expressly for informing me that Lord Grenville had said to +yourself, upon Lord Percy being suggested to him, that he, Lord +Grenville, '_would decide on nothing until Mr. Sheridan had been spoken +to, and his intentions known_' or words precisely to that effect. I +expressed my grateful sense of Lord Grenville's attention, and said, that +it would confirm me in my intention of making no application, however +hopeless myself respecting Mr. Fox, while life remained with him,--and +these words of Lord Grenville you allowed last night to have been so +stated to me, though not as a message from His Lordship. Since that time +I think we have not happened to meet; at least sure I am, we have had no +conversation on the subject. Having the highest opinion of Lord +Grenville's honor and sincerity, I must be confident that he must have +had another impression made on his mind respecting my wishes before I was +entirely passed by. I do not mean to say that my offering myself was +immediately to entitle me to the support of Government, but I do mean to +say, that my pretensions were entitled to consideration before that +support was offered to another without the slightest notice taken of +me,--the more especially as the words of Lord Grenville, reported by you +to me, had been stated by me to many friends as my reliance and +justification in not following their advice by making a direct +application to Government. I pledged myself to them that Lord Grenville +would not promise the support of Government till my intentions had been +asked, and I quoted your authority for doing so: I never heard a syllable +of that support being promised to Lord Percy until from you on the +evening of Mr. Fox's death. Did I ever authorize you to inform Lord +Grenville that I had abandoned the idea of offering myself? These are +points which it is necessary, for the honor of all parties, should be +amicably explained. I therefore propose, as the shortest way of effecting +it,--wishing you not to consider this letter as in any degree +confidential,--that my statements in this letter may be submitted to any +two common friends, or to the Lord Chancellor alone, and let it be +ascertained where the error has arisen, for error is all I complain of; +and, with regard to Lord Grenville, I desire distinctly to say, that I +feel myself indebted for the fairness and kindness of his intentions +towards me. My disappointment of the protection of Government may be a +sufficient excuse to the friends I am pledged to, should I retire; but I +must have it understood whether or not I deceived them, when I led them +to expect that I should have that support. + +"I hope to remain ever yours sincerely, + +"R. B. SHERIDAN. + +"The sooner the reference I propose the better." + +The second letter, which is still further explanatory of the +misconception, was addressed by Sheridan to Lord Grenville: + +"MY DEAR LORD, + +"Since I had the honor of Your Lordship's letter, I have received one +from Mr. ----, in which, I am sorry to observe he is silent as to my offer +of meeting, in the presence of a third person, in order to ascertain +whether he did or not so report a conversation with Your Lordship as to +impress on my mind a belief that my pretensions would be considered, +before the support of Government should be pledged elsewhere. Instead of +this, he not only does not admit the precise words quoted by me, but does +not state what he allows he did say. If he denies that he ever gave me +reason to adopt the belief I have stated, be it so; but the only +stipulation I have made is that we should come to an explicit +understanding on this subject,--not with a view to quoting words or +repeating names, but that the misapprehension, whatever it was, may be so +admitted as not to leave me under an unmerited degree of discredit and +disgrace. Mr. ---- certainly never encouraged me to stand for Westminster, +but, on the contrary, advised me to support Lord Percy, which made me the +more mark at the time the fairness with which I thought he apprised me of +the preference my pretensions were likely to receive in Your Lordship's +consideration. + +"Unquestionably Your Lordship's recollection of what passed between +Mr. ---- and yourself must be just; and were it no more than what you said +on the same subject to Lord Howick, I consider it as a mark of attention; +but what has astonished me is, that Mr. ---- should ever have informed +Your Lordship, as he admits he did, that I had no intention of offering +myself. This naturally must have put from your mind whatever degree of +disposition was there to have made a preferable application to me; and +Lord Howick's answer to your question, on which I have ventured to make a +friendly remonstrance, must have confirmed Mr. ----'s report. But allow me +to suppose that I had myself seen Your Lordship, and that you had +explicitly promised me the support of Government, and had afterwards sent +for me and informed me that it was at all an object to you that I should +give way to Lord Percy, I assure you, with the utmost sincerity, that I +should cheerfully have withdrawn myself, and applied every interest I +possessed as your Lordship should have directed. + +"All I request is, that what passed between me and Mr. ---- may take an +intelligible shape before any common friend, or before Your Lordship. +This I conceive to be a preliminary due to my own honor, and what he +ought not to evade." + +The Address which he delivered, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in +declining the offer of support which many of the electors still pressed +upon him, contains some of those touches of personal feeling which a +biographer is more particularly bound to preserve. In speaking of Mr. +Fox, he said,-- + +"It is true there have been occasions upon which I have differed with him +--painful recollections of the most painful moments of my political life! +Nor were there wanting those who endeavored to represent these +differences as a departure from the homage which his superior mind, +though unclaimed by him, was entitled to, and from the allegiance of +friendship which our hearts all swore to him. But never was the genuine +and confiding texture of his soul more manifest than on such occasions; +he knew that nothing on earth could detach me from him; and he resented +insinuations against the sincerity and integrity of a friend, which he +would not have noticed had they been pointed against himself. With such a +man to have battled in the cause of genuine liberty,--with such a man to +have struggled against the inroads of oppression and corruption,--with +such an example before me, to have to boast that I never in my life gave +one vote in Parliament that was not on the side of freedom, is the +congratulation that attends the retrospect of my public life. His +friendship was the pride and honor of my days. I never, for one moment, +regretted to share with him the difficulties, the calumnies, and +sometimes even the dangers, that attended an honorable course. And now, +reviewing my past political life, were the option possible that I should +retread the path. I solemnly and deliberately declare that I would prefer +to pursue the same course; to bear up under the same pressure; to abide +by the same principles; and remain by his side an exile from power, +distinction, and emolument, rather than be at this moment a splendid +example of successful servility or prosperous apostacy, though clothed +with power, honor, titles, gorged with sinecures, and lord of hoards +obtained from the plunder of the people." + +At the conclusion of his Address he thus alludes, with evidently a deep +feeling of discontent, to the circumstances that had obliged him to +decline the honor now proposed to him:-- + +"Illiberal warnings have been held out, most unauthoritatively I know, +that by persevering in the present contest I may risk my official +situation, and if I retire, I am aware, that minds, as coarse and +illiberal, may assign the dread of that as my motive. To such +insinuations I shall scorn to make any other reply than a reference to +the whole of my past political career. I consider it as no boast to say, +that any one who has struggled through such a portion of life as I have, +without obtaining an office, is not likely to I abandon his principles to +retain one when acquired. If riches do not give independence, the +next-best thing to being very rich is to have been used to be very poor. +But independence is not allied to wealth, to birth, to rank, to power, to +titles, or to honor. Independence is in the mind of a man, or it is no +where. On this ground were I to decline the contest, should scorn the +imputation that should bring the purity of my purpose into doubt. No +Minister can expect to find in me a servile vassal. No Minister can +expect from me the abandonment of any principle I have avowed, or any +pledge I have given. I know not that I have hitherto shrunk in place from +opinions I have maintained while in opposition. Did there exist a +Minister of a different cast from any I know in being, were he to attempt +to exact from me a different conduct, my office should be at his service +tomorrow. Such a Minister might strip me of my situation, in some +respects of considerable emolument, but he could not strip me of the +proud conviction that I was right; he could not strip me of my own +self-esteem; he could not strip me, I think, of some portion of the +confidence and good opinion of the people. But I am noticing the +calumnious threat I allude to more than it deserves. There can be no +peril, I venture to assert, under the present Government, in the free +exercise of discretion, such as belongs to the present question. I +therefore disclaim the merit of putting anything to hazard. If I have +missed the opportunity of obtaining all the support I might, perhaps, +have had on the present occasion, from a very scrupulous delicacy, which +I think became and was incumbent upon me, but which I by no means +conceive to have been a fit rule for others, I cannot repent it. While +the slightest aspiration of breath passed those lips, now closed for +ever,--while one drop of life's blood beat in that heart, now cold for +ever,--I could not, I ought not, to have acted otherwise than I did.--I +now come with a very embarrassed feeling to that declaration which I yet +think you must have expected from me, but which I make with reluctance, +because, from the marked approbation I have experienced from you, I fear +that with reluctance you will receive it.--I feel myself under the +necessity of retiring from this contest." + +About three weeks after, ensued the Dissolution of Parliament,--a +measure attended with considerable unpopularity to the Ministry, and +originating as much in the enmity of one of its members to Lord Sidmouth, +as the introduction of that noble Lord among them, at all, was owing to +the friendship of another. In consequence of this event, Lord Percy +having declined offering himself again, Mr. Sheridan became a candidate +for Westminster, and after a most riotous contest with a demagogue of the +moment, named Paul, was, together with Sir Samuel Hood, declared duly +elected. + +The moderate measure in favor of the Roman Catholics, which the Ministry +now thought it due to the expectations of that body to bring forward, +was, as might be expected, taken advantage of by the King to rid himself +of their counsels, and produced one of those bursts of bigotry, by which +the people of England have so often disgraced themselves. It is sometimes +a misfortune to men of wit, that they put their opinions in a form to be +remembered. We might, perhaps, have been ignorant of the keen, but +worldly view which Mr. Sheridan, on this occasion, took of the hardihood +of his colleagues, if he had not himself expressed it in a form so +portable to the memory. "He had often," he said, "heard of people +knocking out their brains against a wall, but never before knew of any +one building a wall expressly for the purpose." + +It must be owned, indeed, that, though far too sagacious and liberal not +to be deeply impressed with the justice of the claims advanced by the +Catholics, he was not altogether disposed to go those generous lengths in +their favor, of which Mr. Fox and a few others of their less calculating +friends were capable. It was his avowed opinion, that, though the +measure, whenever brought forward, should be supported and enforced by +the whole weight of the party, they ought never so far to identify or +encumber themselves with it, as to make its adoption a sine-qua-non of +their acceptance or retention of office. His support, too, of the +Ministry of Mr. Addington, which was as virtually pledged against the +Catholics as that which now succeeded to power, sufficiently shows the +secondary station that this great question occupied in his mind; nor can +such a deviation from the usual tone of his political feelings be +otherwise accounted for, than by supposing that he was aware of the +existence of a strong indisposition to the measure in that quarter, by +whose views and wishes his public conduct was, in most cases, regulated. + +On the general question, however, of the misgovernment of Ireland, and +the disabilities of the Catholics, as forming its most prominent feature, +his zeal was always forthcoming and ardent,--and never more so than +during the present Session, when, on the question of the Irish Arms Bill, +and his own motion upon the State of Ireland, he distinguished himself by +an animation and vigor worthy of the best period of his eloquence. + +Mr. Grattan, in supporting the coercive measures now adopted against his +country, had shown himself, for once, alarmed into a concurrence with the +wretched system of governing by Insurrection Acts, and, for once, lent +his sanction to the principle upon which all such measures are founded, +namely, that of enabling Power to defend itself against the consequences +of its own tyranny and injustice. In alluding to some expressions used by +this great man, Sheridan said:-- + +"He now happened to recollect what was said by a Right Honorable +Gentleman, to whose opinions they all deferred, (Mr. Grattan,) that +notwithstanding he voted for the present measure, with all its defects, +rather than lose it altogether, yet that gentleman said, that he hoped to +secure the revisionary interest of the Constitution to Ireland. But when +he saw that the Constitution was suspended from the year 1796 to the +present period, and that it was now likely to be continued for three +years longer, the danger was that we might lose the interest +altogether;--when we were mortgaged for such a length of time, at last a +foreclosure might take place." + +The following is an instance of that happy power of applying old stories, +for which Mr. Windham, no less than Sheridan, was remarkable, and which, +by promoting anecdote into the service of argument and wit, ennobles it, +when trivial, and gives new youth to it, when old. + +"When they and others complain of the discontents of the Irish, they +never appear to consider the cause. When they express their surprise that +the Irish are not contented, while according to their observation, that +people have so much reason to be happy, they betray a total ignorance of +their actual circumstances. The fact is, that the tyranny practised upon +the Irish has been throughout unremitting. There has been no change but +in the manner of inflicting it. They have had nothing but variety in +oppression, extending to all ranks and degrees of a certain description +of the people. If you would know what this varied oppression consisted +in, I refer you to the Penal Statutes you have repealed, and to some of +those which still exist. There you will see the high and the low equally +subjected to the lash of persecution; and yet still some persons affect +to be astonished at the discontents of the Irish. But with all my +reluctance to introduce any thing ludicrous upon so serious an occasion, +I cannot help referring to a little story which those very astonished +persons call to my mind. It was with respect to an Irish drummer, who was +employed to inflict punishment upon a soldier. When the boy struck high, +the poor soldier exclaimed, 'Lower, bless you,' with which the boy +complied. But soon after the soldier exclaimed, 'Higher if you please,' +But again he called out, 'A little lower:' upon which the accommodating +boy addressed him--'Now, upon my conscience, I see you are a discontented +man; for, strike where I may, there's no pleasing you.' Now your +complaint of the discontents of the Irish appears to me quite as +rational, while you continue to strike, only altering the place of +attack." + +Upon this speech, which may be considered as the _bouquet_, or last +parting blaze of his eloquence, he appears to have bestowed considerable +care and thought. The concluding sentences of the following passage, +though in his very worst taste, were as anxiously labored by him, and put +through as many rehearsals on paper, as any of the most highly finished +witticisms in The School for Scandal. + +"I cannot think patiently of such petty squabbles, while Bonaparte is +grasping the nations; while he is surrounding France, not with that iron +frontier, for which the wish and childish ambition of Louis XIV. was so +eager, but with kingdoms of his own creation; securing the gratitude of +higher minds as the hostage, and the fears of others as pledges for his +safety. His are no ordinary fortifications. His martello towers are +thrones; sceptres tipt with crowns are the palisadoes of his +entrenchments, and Kings are his sentinels." + +The Reporter here, by "tipping" the sceptres "with crowns," has improved, +rather unnecessarily, upon the finery of the original. The following are +specimens of the various trials of this passage which I find scribbled +over detached scraps of paper:-- + +"Contrast the different attitudes and occupations of the two +governments:--B. eighteen months from his capital,--head-quarters in the +villages,--neither Berlin nor Warsaw,--dethroning and creating thrones,-- +the works he raises are monarchies,--sceptres his palisadoes, thrones his +martello towers." + +"Commissioning kings,--erecting thrones,--martello towers,--Cambaceres +count noses,--Austrians, fine dressed, like Pompey's troops." + +"B. fences with sceptres,--his martello towers are thrones,--he alone is, +France." + +Another Dissolution of Parliament having taken place this year, he again +became a candidate for the city of Westminster. But, after a violent +contest, during which he stood the coarse abuse of the mob with the +utmost good humor and playfulness, the election ended in favor of Sir +Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, and Sheridan was returned, with his +friend Mr. Michael Angelo Taylor, for the borough of Ilchester. + +In the autumn of 1807 he had conceived some idea of leasing the property +of Drury-Lane Theatre, and with that view had set on foot, through Mr. +Michael Kelly, who was then in Ireland, a negotiation with Mr. Frederick +Jones, the proprietor of the Dublin Theatre. In explaining his object to +Mr. Kelly, in a letter dated August 30, 1807, he describes it as "a plan +by which the property may be leased to those who have the skill and the +industry to manage it as it should be for their own advantage, upon terms +which would render any risk to them almost impossible;--the profit to +them, (he adds,) would probably be beyond what I could now venture to +state, and yet upon terms which would be much better for the real +proprietors than any thing that can arise from the careless and ignorant +manner in which the undertaking is now misconducted by those who, my son +excepted, have no interest in its success, and who lose nothing by its +failure." + +The negotiation with Mr. Jones was continued into the following year; +and, according to a draft of agreement, which this gentleman has been +kind enough to show me, in Sheridan's handwriting, it was intended that +Mr. Jones should, on becoming proprietor of one quarter-share of the +property, "undertake the management of the Theatre in conjunction with +Mr. T. Sheridan, and be entitled to the same remuneration, namely, 1000£. +per annum certain income, and a certain per centage on the net profits +arising from the office-receipts, as should be agreed upon," &c. &c. + +The following memorandum of a bet connected with this transaction, is of +somewhat a higher class of wagers than the One Tun Tavern has often had +the honor of recording among its archives:-- + + +"_One Tun, St. James's Market, May 26, 1808._" + +"In the presence of Messrs. G. Ponsonby, R. Power, and Mr. +Becher, [Footnote: It is not without a deep feeling of melancholy that I +transcribe this paper. Of three of my most valued friends,--whose names +are signed to it,--Becher, Ponsonby, and Power,--the last has, within a +few short months, been snatched away, leaving behind him the recollection +of as many gentle and manly virtues as ever concurred to give sweetness +and strength to character.] Mr. Jones bets Mr. Sheridan five hundred +guineas that he, Mr. Sheridan, does not write, and produce under his +name, a play of five acts, or a first piece of three, within the term of +three years from the 15th of September next.--It is distinctly to be +understood that this bet is not valid unless Mr. Jones becomes a partner +in Drury-Lane Theatre before the commencement of the ensuing season. + +"Richard Power, "R. B. SHERIDAN, +"George Ponsonby, "FRED. EDW. JONES. +"W. W. Becher. + +"N. B.--W. W. Becher and Richard Power join, one fifty,--the other one +hundred pounds in this bet. + +"R. POWER." + +The grand movement of Spain, in the year 1808, which led to consequences +so important to the rest of Europe, though it has left herself as +enslaved and priest-ridden as ever, was hailed by Sheridan with all that +prompt and well-timed ardor, with which he alone, of all his party, knew +how to meet such great occasions. Had his political associates but +learned from his example thus to place themselves in advance of the +procession of events, they would not have had the triumphal wheels pass +by them and over them so frequently. Immediately on the arrival of the +Deputies from Spain, he called the attention of the House to the affairs +of that country; and his speech on the subject, though short and +unstudied, had not only the merit of falling in with the popular feeling +at the moment, but, from the views which it pointed out through the +bright opening now made by Spain, was every way calculated to be useful +both at home and abroad. + +"Let Spain," he said, "see, that we were not inclined to stint the +services we had it in our power to render her; that we were not actuated +by the desire of any petty advantage to ourselves; but that our exertions +were to be solely directed to the attainment of the grand and general +object, the emancipation of the world. If the flame were once fairly +caught, our success was certain. France would then find, that she had +hitherto been contending only against principalities, powers, and +authorities, but that she had now to contend against a people." + +The death of Lord Lake this year removed those difficulties which had, +ever since the appointment of Sheridan to the receivership of the Duchy +of Cornwall, stood in the way of his reaping the full advantages of that +office. Previously to the departure of General Lake for India, the Prince +had granted to him the reversion of this situation which was then filled +by Lord Elliot. It was afterwards, however, discovered that, according to +the terms of the Grant, the place could not be legally held or deputed by +any one who had not been actually sworn into it before the Prince's +Council. On the death of Lord Elliot, therefore, His Royal Highness +thought himself authorized, as we have seen, in conferring the +appointment upon Mr. Sheridan. This step, however, was considered by the +friends of General Lake as not only a breach of promise, but a violation +of right; and it would seem from one of the documents which I am about to +give, that measures were even in train for enforcing the claim by law. +The first is a Letter on the subject from Sheridan to Colonel M'Mahon:-- + +"MY DEAR M'MAHON, + +"_Thursday evening_. + +"I have thoroughly considered and reconsidered the subject we talked upon +today. Nothing on earth shall make me risk the possibility of the +Prince's goodness to me furnishing an opportunity for a single scurrilous +fool's presuming to hint even that he had, in the slightest manner, +departed from the slightest engagement. The Prince's right, in point of +law and justice, on the present occasion to recall the appointment given, +I hold to be incontestible; but, believe me, I am right in the +proposition I took the liberty of submitting to His Royal Highness, and +which (so far is he from wishing to hurt General Lake,) he graciously +approved. But understand me,--my meaning is to give I up the emoluments +of the situation to General Lake, holding the situation at the Prince's +pleasure, and abiding by an arbitrated estimate of General Lake's claim, +supposing His Royal Highness had appointed him; in other words, to value +his interest in the appointment as if he had it, and to pay him for it or +resign to him. + +"With the Prince's permission I should be glad to meet Mr. Warwick Lake, +and I am confident that no two men of common sense and good intentions +can fail, in ten minutes, to arrange it so as to meet the Prince's +wishes, and not to leave the shadow of a pretence for envious malignity +to whisper a word against his decision. + +"Yours ever, + +"R. B. SHERIDAN. + +"I write in great haste--going to A----." + +The other Paper that I shall give, as throwing light on the transaction, +is a rough and unfinished sketch by Sheridan of a statement, intended to +be transmitted to General Lake, containing the particulars of both +Grants, and the documents connected with them:-- + +"DEAR GENERAL, + +"I am commanded by the Prince of Wales to transmit to you a correct +Statement of a transaction in which your name is so much implicated, and +in which his feelings have been greatly wounded from a quarter, I am +commanded to say, whence he did not expect such conduct. + +"As I am directed to communicate the particulars in the most authentic +form, you will, I am sure, excuse on this occasion my not adopting the +mode of a familiar letter. + +"Authentic Statement respecting the Appointment by His Royal Highness the +Prince of Wales to the Receivership of the Duchy of Cornwall, in the Year +1804, to be transmitted by His Royal Highness's Command, to +Lieutenant-General Lake, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in India. + +"The circumstances attending the original reversionary Grant to General +Lake are stated in the brief for Counsel on this occasion by Mr. Bignell, +the Prince's solicitor, to be as follow: (No. I.) It was afterwards +understood by the Prince that the service he had wished to render General +Lake, by this Grant, had been defeated by the terms of it; and so clearly +had it been shown that there were essential duties attached to the +office, which no Deputy was competent to execute, and that a Deputy, even +for the collection of the rents, could not be appointed but by a +principal actually in possession of the office, (by having been sworn +into it before his Council,) that upon General appointment to the command +in India, the Prince could have no conception that General Lake, could +have left the country under an impression or expectation that the Prince +would appoint him, in case of a vacancy, to the place in question. +Accordingly, His Royal Highness, on the very day he heard of the death of +Lord Elliot, unsolicited, and of his own gracious suggestion, appointed +Mr. Sheridan. Mr. Sheridan returned, the next day, in a letter to the +Prince, such an answer and acknowledgment as might be expected from him; +and, accordingly, directions were given to make out his patent. On the +ensuing ---- His Royal Highness was greatly surprised at receiving the +following letter from Mr. Warwick Lake. (No. II.) + +"His Royal Highness immediately directed Mr. Sheridan to see Mr. W. Lake, +and to state his situation, and how the office was circumstanced; and for +further distinctness to make a minute in writing * * * *." + +Such were the circumstances that had, at first, embarrassed his enjoyment +of this office; but, on the death of Lord Lake, all difficulties were +removed, and the appointment was confirmed to Sheridan for his life. + +In order to afford some insight into the nature of that friendship, which +existed so long between the Heir Apparent and Sheridan,--though unable, +of course, to produce any of the numerous letters, on the Royal side of +the correspondence, that have been found among the papers in my +possession,--I shall here give, from a rough copy in Sheridan's +hand-writing, a letter which he addressed about this time to the Prince:-- + +"It is matter of surprise to myself, as well as of deep regret, that I +should have incurred the appearance of ungrateful neglect and disrespect +towards the person to whom I am most obliged on earth, to whom I feel the +most ardent, dutiful, and affectionate attachment, and in whose service I +would readily sacrifice my life. Yet so it is, and to nothing but a +perverse combination of circumstances, which would form no excuse were I +to recapitulate them, can I attribute a conduct so strange on my part; +and from nothing but Your Royal Highness's kindness and benignity alone +can I expect an indulgent allowance and oblivion of that conduct: nor +could I even hope for this were I not conscious of the unabated and +unalterable devotion towards Your Royal Highness which lives in my heart, +and will ever continue to be its pride and boast. + +"But I should ill deserve the indulgence I request did I not frankly +state what has passed in my mind, which, though it cannot justify, may, +in some degree, extenuate what must have appeared so strange to Your +Royal Highness, previous to Your Royal Highness's having actually +restored me to the office I had resigned. + +"I was mortified and hurt in the keenest manner by having repeated to me +from an authority which _I then trusted,_ some expressions of Your +Royal Highness respecting me, which it was impossible I could have +deserved. Though I was most solemnly pledged never to reveal the source +from which the communication came, I for some time intended to unburthen +my mind to my sincere friend and Your Royal Highness's most attached and +excellent servant, M'Mahon--but I suddenly discovered, beyond a doubt, +that I had been grossly deceived, and that there had not existed the +slightest foundation for the tale that had been imposed on me; and I do +humbly ask Your Royal Highness's pardon for having for a moment credited +a fiction suggested by mischief and I malice. Yet, extraordinary as it +must seem, I had so long, under this false impression, neglected the +course which duty and gratitude required from me, that I felt an +unaccountable shyness and reserve in repairing my error, and to this +procrastination other unlucky circumstances contributed. One day when I +had the honor of meeting Your Royal Highness on horseback in +Oxford-Street, though your manner was as usual gracious and kind to me, +you said that I had deserted you privately and _politically_. I had +long before that been assured, though falsely I am convinced, that Your +Royal Highness had promised to make a point that I should neither speak +nor vote on Lord Wellesly's business. My view of this topic, and my +knowledge of the delicate situation in which Your Royal Highness stood in +respect to the Catholic question, though weak and inadequate motives, I +confess, yet encouraged the continuance of that reserve which my original +error had commenced. These subjects being passed by,--and sure I am Your +Royal Highness would never deliberately ask me to adopt a course of +debasing inconsistency,--it was my hope fully and frankly to have +explained myself and repaired my fault, when I was informed that a +circumstance that happened at Burlington-House, and which must have been +heinously misrepresented, had greatly offended you; and soon after it was +stated to me, by an authority which I have no objection to disclose, that +Your Royal Highness had quoted, with marked disapprobation, words +supposed to have been spoken by me on the Spanish question, and of which +words, as there is a God in heaven, I never uttered one syllable. + +"Most justly may Your Royal Highness answer to all this, why have I not +sooner stated these circumstances, and confided in that uniform +friendship and protection which I have so long experienced at your hands. +I can only plead a nervous, procrastinating nature, abetted, perhaps, by +sensations of, I trust, no false pride, which, however I may blame +myself, impel me involuntarily to fly from the risk of even a cold look +from the quarter to which I owe so much, and by whom to be esteemed is +the glory and consolation of my private and public life. + +"One point only remains for me to intrude upon Your Royal Highness's +consideration, but it is of a nature fit only for personal communication. +I therefore conclude, with again entreating Your Royal Highness to +continue and extend the indulgence which the imperfections in my +character have so often received from you, and yet to be assured that +there never did exist to Monarch, Prince, or man, a firmer or purer +attachment than I feel, and to my death shall feel, to you, my gracious +Prince and Master." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DESTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE OF DRURY-LANE BY FIRE.--MR. WHITBREAD.--PLAN +FOR A THIRD THEATRE.--ILLNESS OF THE KING.--REGENCY. LORD OBEY AND LORD +GRENVILLE.--CONDUCT OF MR. SHERIDAN.--HIS VINDICATION OF HIMSELF. + + +With the details of the embarrassments of Drury-Lane Theatre, I have +endeavored, as little as possible, to encumber the attention of the +reader. This part of my subject would, indeed, require a volume to +itself. The successive partnerships entered into with Mr. Grubb and Mr. +Richardson,--the different Trust-deeds for the general and individual +property,--the various creations of shares,--the controversies between +the Trustees and Proprietors, as to the obligations of the Deed of 1793, +which ended in a Chancery-suit in 1799,--the perpetual entanglements of +the property which Sheridan's private debts occasioned, and which even +the friendship and skill of Mr. Adam were wearied out in endeavoring to +rectify,--all this would lead to such a mass of details and +correspondence as, though I have waded through it myself, it is by no +means necessary to inflict upon others. + +The great source of the involvements, both of Sheridan himself and of the +concern, is to be found in the enormous excess of the expense of +rebuilding the Theatre in 1793, over the amount stated by the architect +in his estimate. This amount was 75,000_l_.; and the sum of +150,000£. then raised by subscription, would, it was calculated, in +addition to defraying this charge, pay off also the mortgage-debts with +which the Theatre was encumbered. It was soon found, however, that the +expense of building the House alone would exceed the whole amount raised +by subscription; and, notwithstanding the advance of a considerable sum +beyond the estimate, the Theatre was delivered in n very unfinished state +into the hands of the proprietors,--only part of the mortgage-debts was +paid off, and, altogether a debt of 70,000£ was left upon the property. +This debt Mr. Sheridan and the other proprietors took, voluntarily, and, +as it has been thought, inconsiderately, upon themselves,--the builders, +by their contracts, having no legal claim upon them,--and the payment of +it being at various times enforced, not only against the theatre, but +against the private property of Mr. Sheridan, involved both in a degree +of embarrassment from which there appeared no hope of extricating them. + +Such was the state of this luckless property,--and it would have been +difficult to imagine any change for the worse that could befall +it,--when, early in the present year, an event occurred, that seemed to +fill up at once the measure of its ruin. On the night of the 24th of +February, while the House of Commons was occupied with Mr. Ponsonby's +motion on the Conduct of the War in Spain, and Mr. Sheridan was in +attendance, with the intention, no doubt, of speaking, the House was +suddenly illuminated by a blaze of light; and, the Debate being +interrupted, it was ascertained that the Theatre of Drury-Lane was on +fire. A motion was made to adjourn; but Mr. Sheridan said with much +calmness, that "whatever might be the extent of the private calamity, he +hoped it would not interfere with the public business of the country." He +then left the House; and, proceeding to Drury-Lane, witnessed, with a +fortitude which strongly interested all who observed him, the entire +destruction of his property. [Footnote: It is said that, as he sat at the +Piazza Coffee-house, during the fire, taking some refreshment, a friend +of his having remarked on the philosophic calmness with which he bore his +misfortune, Sheridan answered, "A man may surely be allowed to take a +glass of wine _by his own fire-side._" + +Without vouching for the authenticity or novelty of this anecdote, (which +may have been, for aught I know, like the wandering Jew, a regular +attendant upon all fires, since the time of Hierocles,) I give it as I +heard it.] + +Among his losses on the occasion there was one which, from being +associated with feelings of other times, may have affected him, perhaps, +more deeply than many that were far more serious. A harpsichord, that had +belonged to his first wife, and had long survived her sweet voice in +silent widowhood, was, with other articles of furniture that had been +moved from Somerset-House to the Theatre, lost in the flames. + +The ruin thus brought upon this immense property seemed, for a time, +beyond all hope of retrieval. The embarrassments of the concern were +known to have been so great, and such a swarm of litigious claims lay +slumbering under those ashes, that it is not surprising the public should +have been slow and unwilling to touch them. Nothing, indeed, short of the +intrepid zeal of Mr. Whitbread could have ventured upon the task of +remedying so complex a calamity; nor could any industry less persevering +have compassed the miracle of rebuilding and re-animating that edifice, +among the many-tongued claims that beset and perplexed his enterprise. + +In the following interesting letter to him from Sheridan, we trace the +first steps of his friendly interference on the occasion:-- + +"MY DEAR WHITHBREAD, + +"Procrastination is always the consequence of an indolent man's resolving +to write a long detailed letter, upon any subject, however important to +himself, or whatever may be the confidence he has in the friend he +proposes to write to. To this must be attributed your having escaped the +statement I threatened you with in my last letter, and the brevity with +which I now propose to call your attention to the serious, and, to me, +most important request, contained in this,--reserving all I meant to have +written for personal communication. + +"I pay you no compliment when I say that, without comparison, you are the +man living, in my estimation, the most disposed and the most competent to +bestow a portion of your time and ability to assist the call of +friendship,--on the condition that that call shall be proved to be made +in a cause just and honorable, and in every respect entitled to your +protection. + +"On this ground alone I make my application to you. You said, some time +since, in my house, but in a careless conversation only, that you would +be a Member of a Committee for rebuilding Drury-Lane Theatre, if it would +serve me; and, indeed, you very kindly suggested, yourself, that these +were more persons disposed to assist that object than I might be aware +of. I most thankfully accept the offer of your interference, and am +convinced of the benefits your friendly exertions are competent to +produce. I have worked the whole subject in my own mind, and see a clear +way to retrieve a great property, at least to my son and his family, if +my plan meets the support I hope it will appear to merit. + +"Writing thus to you in the sincerity of private friendship, and the +reliance I place on my opinion of your character, I need not ask of you, +though eager and active in politics as you are, not to be severe in +criticising my palpable neglect of all parliamentary duty. It would not +be easy to explain to you, or even to make you comprehend, or any one in +prosperous and affluent plight, the private difficulties I have to +struggle with. My mind, and the resolute independence belonging to it, +has not been in the least subdued by the late calamity; but the +consequences arising from it have more engaged and embarrassed me than, +perhaps, I have been willing to allow. It has been a principle of my +life, persevered in through great difficulties, never to borrow money of +a private friend and this resolution I would starve rather than violate. +Of course, I except the political aid of election-subscription. When I +ask you to take a part in the settlement of my shattered affairs, I ask +you only to do so after a previous investigation of every part of the +past circumstances which relate to the trust I wish you to accept, in +conjunction with those who wish to serve me, and to whom I think you +could not object. I may be again seized with an illness as alarming as +that I lately experienced. Assist me in relieving my mind from the +greatest affliction that such a situation can again produce,--the fear of +others suffering by my death. + +"To effect this little more is necessary than some resolution on my part, +and the active superintending advice of a mind like yours. + +"Thus far on paper. I will see you next ----, and therefore will not +trouble you for a written reply." + +Encouraged by the opening which the destruction of Drury-Lane seemed to +offer to free adventure in theatrical property, a project was set on foot +for the establishment of a Third Great Theatre, which, being backed by +much of the influence and wealth of the city of London, for some time +threatened destruction to the monopoly that had existed so long. But, by +the exertions of Mr. Sheridan and his friends, this scheme was defeated, +and a Bill for the erection of Drury-Lane Theatre by subscription, and +for the incorporation of the subscribers, was passed through Parliament. + +That Mr. Sheridan himself would have had no objection to a Third Theatre, +if held by a Joint Grant to the Proprietors of the other two, appears not +only from his speeches and petitions on the subject at this time, but +from the following Plan for such an establishment, drawn up by him, some +years before, and intended to be submitted to the consideration of the +Proprietors of both Houses:-- + +"GENTLEMEN, + +"According to your desire, the plan of the proposed Assistant Theatre, is +here explained in writing for your further consideration. + +"From our situations in the Theatres Royal of Drury-Lane and +Covent-Garden we have had opportunities of observing many circumstances +relative to our general property, which must have escaped those who do +not materially interfere in the management of that property. One point in +particular has lately weighed extremely in our opinions, which is, an +apprehension of a new Theatre being erected for some species or other of +dramatic entertainment. Were this event to take place on an opposing +interest, our property would sink in value one-half, and in all +probability, the contest that would ensue would speedily end in the +absolute ruin of one of the present established Theatres. We have reason, +it is true, from His Majesty's gracious patronage to the present Houses, +to hope, that a Third patent for a winter Theatre is not easily to be +obtained; but the motives which appear to call for one are so many, (and +those of such a nature, as to increase every day,) that we cannot, on the +maturest consideration of the subject, divest ourselves of the dread that +such an event may not be very remote. With this apprehension before us, +we have naturally fallen into a joint consideration of the means of +preventing so fatal a blow to the present Theatres, or of deriving a +general advantage from a circumstance which might otherwise be our ruin. + +"Some of the leading motives for the establishment of a Third Theatre are +as follows:-- + +"1st. The great extent of the town and increased residence of a higher +class of people, who, on account of many circumstances, seldom frequent +the Theatre. + +"2d. The distant situation of the Theatres from the politer streets, and +the difficulty with which ladies reach their carriages or chairs. + +"3d. The small number of side-boxes, where only, by the uncontrollable +influence of fashion, ladies of any rank can be induced to sit. + +"4th. The earliness of the hour, which renders it absolutely impossible +for those who attend on Parliament, live at any distance, or, indeed, for +any person who dines at the prevailing hour, to reach the Theatre before +the performance is half over. + +"These considerations have lately been strongly urged to me by many +leading persons of rank. There has also prevailed, as appears by the +number of private plays at gentlemen's seats, an unusual fashion for +theatrical entertainments among the politer class of people; and it is +not to be wondered at that they, feeling themselves, (from the causes +above enumerated,) in a manner, excluded from our Theatres, should +persevere in an endeavor to establish some plan of similar entertainment, +on principles of superior elegance and accommodation. + +"In proof of this disposition, and the effects to be apprehended from it, +we need but instance one fact, among many, which might be produced, and +that is the well-known circumstance of a subscription having actually +been begun last winter, with very powerful patronage, for the importation +of a French company of comedians, a scheme which, though it might not +have answered to the undertaking, would certainly have been the +foundation of other entertainments, whose opposition we should speedily +have experienced. The question, then, upon a full view of our situation, +appears to be, whether the Proprietors of the present Theatres will +contentedly wait till some other person takes advantage of the prevailing +wish for a Third Theatre, or, having the remedy in their power, profit by +a turn of fashion which they cannot control. + +"A full conviction that the latter is the only line of conduct which can +give security to the Patents of Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden Theatres, +and yield a probability of future advantage in the exercise of them, has +prompted us to endeavor at modelling this plan, on which we conceive +those Theatres may unite in the support of a Third, to the general and +mutual advantage of all the Proprietors. + +"PROPOSALS. + +"The Proprietors of the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden appear to be +possessed of two Patents, for the privilege of acting plays, &c., under +one of which the above-mentioned Theatre is opened,--the other lying +dormant and useless;--it is proposed that this dormant Patent shall be +exercised, (with His Majesty's approbation,) in order to license the +dramatic performance of the new Theatre to be erected. + +"It is proposed that the performances of this new Theatre shall be +supported from the united establishments of the two present Theatres, so +that the unemployed part of each company may exert themselves for the +advantage of the whole. + +"As the object of this Assistant Theatre will be to reimburse the +Proprietors of the other two, at the full season, for the expensive +establishment they are obliged to maintain when the town is almost empty, +it is proposed, that the scheme of business to be adopted in the new +Theatre shall differ as much as possible from that of the other two, and +that the performances at the new house shall be exhibited at a superior +price, and shall commence at a later hour. + +"The Proposers will undertake to provide a Theatre for the purpose, in a +proper situation, and on the following terms:--If they engage a Theatre +to be built, being the property of the builder or builders, it must be +for an agreed on rent, with security for a term of years. In this case +the Proprietors of the two present Theatres shall jointly and severally +engage in the whole of the risk; and the Proposers are ready, on +equitable terms, to undertake the management of it. But, if the Proposers +find themselves enabled, either on their own credit, or by the assistance +of their friends, or on a plan of subscription, the mode being devised, +and the security given by themselves, to become the builders of the +Theatre, the interest in the building will, in that case, be the property +of the Proposers, and they will undertake to demand no rent for the +performances therein to be exhibited for the mutual advantage of the two +present Theatres. + +"The Proposers will, in this case, conducting the business under the +dormant Patent above mentioned, bind themselves, that no theatrical +entertainments, as plays, farces, pantomimes, or English operas, shall at +any time be exhibited in this Theatre but for the general advantage of +the Proprietors of the two other Theatres; the Proposers reserving to +themselves any profit they can make of their building, converted to +purposes distinct from the business of the Theatres. + +"The Proposers, undertaking the management of the new Theatre, shall be +entitled to a sum to be settled by the Proprietors at large, or by an +equitable arbitration. + +"It is proposed, that all the Proprietors of the two present Theatres +Royal of Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden shall share all profits from the +dramatic entertainments exhibited at the new Theatre; that is, each shall +be entitled to receive a dividend in proportion to the shares he or she +possesses of the present Theatres: first only deducting a certain nightly +sum to be paid to the Proprietors of Covent-Garden Theatre, as a +consideration for the license furnished by the exercise of their present +dormant Patent. + +"'Fore Heaven! the Plan's a good Plan! I shall add a little Epilogue +to-morrow. + +"R. B. S." + + "'Tis now too late, and I've a letter to write + Before I go to bed,--and then, Good Night." + +In the month of July, this year, the Installation of Lord Grenville, as +Chancellor of Oxford, took place, and Mr. Sheridan was among the +distinguished persons that attended the ceremony. As a number of honorary +degrees were to be conferred on the occasion, it was expected, as a +matter of course, that his name would be among those selected for that +distinction; and, to the honor of the University, it was the general wish +among its leading members that such a tribute should be paid to his high +political character. On the proposal of his name, however, (in a private +meeting, I believe, held previously to the Convocation.) the words +_"Non placet"_ were heard from two scholars, one of whom, it is +said, had no nobler motive for his opposition than that Sheridan did not +pay his father's tithes very regularly. Several efforts were made to win +over these dissentients; and the Rev. Mr. Ingram delivered an able and +liberal Latin speech, in which he indignantly represented the shame that +it would bring on the University, if such a name as that of Sheridan +should be _"clam subductum"_ from the list. The two scholars, +however, were immovable; and nothing remained but to give Sheridan +intimation of their intended opposition, so as to enable him to decline +the honor of having his name proposed. On his appearance, afterwards, in +the Theatre, a burst of acclamation broke forth, with a general cry of +"Mr. Sheridan among the Doctors,--Sheridan among the Doctors;" in +compliance with which he was passed to the seat occupied by the Honorary +Graduates, and sat, in unrobed distinction, among them, during the whole +of the ceremonial. Few occurrences, of a public nature, ever gave him +more pleasure than this reception. + +At the close of the year 1810, the malady, with which the king had been +thrice before afflicted, returned; and, after the usual adjournments of +Parliament, it was found necessary to establish a Regency. On the +question of the second adjournment, Mr. Sheridan took a line directly +opposed to that of his party, and voted with the majority. That in this +step he did not act from any previous concert with the Prince, appears +from the following letter, addressed by him to His Royal Highness on the +subject, and containing particulars which will prepare the mind of the +reader to judge more clearly of the events that followed:-- + +"SIR, + +"I felt infinite satisfaction when I was apprised that Your Royal +Highness had been far from disapproving the line of conduct I had +presumed to pursue, on the last question of adjournment in the House of +Commons. Indeed, I never had a moment's doubt but that Your Royal +Highness would give me credit that I was actuated on that, as I shall on +every other occasion through my existence, by no possible motive but the +most sincere and unmixed desire to look to Your Royal Highness's honor +and true interest, as the objects of my political life,--directed, as I +am sure your efforts will ever be, to the essential interests of the +Country and the Constitution. To this line of conduct I am prompted by +every motive of personal gratitude, and confirmed by every opportunity, +which peculiar circumstances and long experience have afforded me, of +judging of your heart and understanding,--to the superior excellence of +which, (beyond all, I believe, that ever stood in your rank and high +relation to society,) I fear not to advance my humble testimony, because +I scruple not to say for myself, that I am no flatterer, and that I never +found that to _become_ one was the road to your real regard. + +"I state thus much because it has been under the influence of these +feelings that I have not felt myself warranted, (without any previous +communication with Your Royal Highness,) to follow implicitly the +dictates of others, in whom, however they may be my superiors in many +qualities, I can subscribe to no superiority as to devoted attachment and +duteous affection to Your Royal Highness, or in that practical knowledge +of the public mind and character, upon which alone must be built that +popular and personal estimation of Your Royal Highness, so necessary to +your future happiness and glory, and to the prosperity of the nation you +are destined to rule over. + +"On these grounds, I saw no policy or consistency in unnecessarily giving +a general sanction to the examination of the physicians before the +Council, and then attempting, on the question of adjournment, to hold +that examination as naught. On these grounds, I have ventured to doubt +the wisdom or propriety of any endeavor, (if any such endeavor has been +made,) to induce Your Royal Highness, during so critical a moment, to +stir an inch from the strong reserved post you have chosen, or give the +slightest public demonstration of any future intended political +preferences;--convinced as I was that the rule of conduct you had +prescribed to yourself was precisely that which was gaining you the +general heart, and rendering it impracticable for any quarter to succeed +in annexing unworthy conditions to that most difficult situation, which +you were probably so soon to be called on to accept. + +"I may, Sir, have been guilty of error of judgment in both these +respects, differing, as I fear I have done, from those whom I am bound so +highly to respect; but, at the same time, I deem it no presumption to say +that, until better instructed, I feel a strong confidence in the justness +of my own view of the subject; and simply because of this--I am sure that +the decisions of that judgment, be they sound or mistaken, have not, at +least, been rashly taken up, but were founded on deliberate zeal for your +service and glory, unmixed, I will confidently say, with any one selfish +object or political purpose of my own." + +The same limitations and restrictions that Mr. Pitt proposed in 1789, +were, upon the same principles, adopted by the present Minister: nor did +the Opposition differ otherwise from their former line of argument, than +by omitting altogether that claim of Right for the Prince, which Mr. Fox +had, in the proceedings of 1789, asserted. The event that ensued is +sufficiently well known. To the surprise of the public, (who expected, +perhaps, rather than wished, that the Coalesced Party of which Lord Grey +and Lord Grenville were the chiefs, should now succeed to power,) Mr. +Perceval and his colleagues were informed by the Regent that it was the +intention of His Royal Highness to continue them still in office. + +The share taken by Mr. Sheridan in the transactions that led to this +decision, is one of those passages of his political life upon which the +criticism of his own party has been most severely exercised, and into the +details of which I feel most difficulty in entering:--because, however +curious it may be to penetrate into these _"postscenia"_ of public +life, it seems hardly delicate, while so many of the chief actors are +still upon the stage. As there exists, however, a Paper drawn up by Mr. +Sheridan, containing what he considered a satisfactory defence of his +conduct on this occasion, I should ill discharge my duty towards his +memory, were I, from any scruples or predilections of my own, to deprive +him of the advantage of a, statement, on which he appears to have relied +so confidently for his vindication. + +But, first,--in order fully to understand the whole course of feelings +and circumstances, by which not only Sheridan, but his Royal Master, (for +their cause is, in a great degree, identified,) were for some time past, +predisposed towards the line of conduct which they now pursued,--it will +be necessary to recur to a few antecedent events. + +By the death of Mr. Fox the chief personal tie that connected the +Heir-Apparent with the party of that statesman was broken. The political +identity of the party itself had, even before that event, been, in a +great degree, disturbed by a coalition against which Sheridan had always +most strongly protested, and to which the Prince, there is every reason +to believe, was by no means friendly. Immediately after the death of Mr. +Fox, His Royal Highness made known his intentions of withdrawing from all +personal interference in politics; and, though still continuing his +sanction to the remaining Ministry, expressed himself as no longer +desirous of being considered "a party man." [Footnote: This is the phrase +used by the Prince himself, in a Letter addressed to a Noble Lord,(not +long after the dismissal of the Grenville Ministry,) for the purpose of +vindicating his own character from some imputations cast upon it, in +consequence of an interview which he had lately had with the King. This +important exposition of the feelings of His Royal Highness, which, more +than any thing, throws light upon his subsequent conduct, was drawn up by +Sheridan; and I had hoped that I should have been able to lay it before +the reader:--but the liberty of perusing the Letter is all that has been +allowed me.] During the short time that these Ministers continued in +office, the understanding between them and the Prince was by no means of +that cordial and confidential kind, which had been invariably maintained +during the life-time of Mr. Fox. On the contrary, the impression on the +mind, of His Royal Highness, us well as on those of his immediate friends +in the Ministry, Lord Moira and Mr. Sheridan, was, that a cold neglect +had succeeded to the confidence with which they had hitherto been +treated; and that, neither in their opinions nor feelings, were they any +longer sufficiently consulted or considered. The very measure, by which +the Ministers ultimately lost their places, was, it appears, one of those +which the Illustrious Personage in question neither conceived himself to +have been sufficiently consulted upon before its adoption, nor approved +of afterwards. + +Such were the gradual loosenings of a bond, which at no time had promised +much permanence; and such the train of feelings and circumstances which, +(combining with certain prejudices in the Royal mind against one of the +chief leaders of the party,) prepared the way for that result by which +the Public was surprised in 1811, and the private details of which I +shall now, as briefly as possible, relate. + +As soon as the Bill for regulating the office of Regent had passed the +two Houses, the Prince, who, till then, had maintained a strict reserve +with respect to his intentions, signified, through Mr. Adam, his pleasure +that Lord Grenville should wait upon him. He then, in the most gracious +manner, expressed to that Noble Lord his wish that he should, in +conjunction with Lord Grey, prepare the Answer which his Royal Highness +was, in a few days, to return to the Address of the Houses. The same +confidential task was entrusted also to Lord Moira, with an expressed +desire that he should consult with Lord Grey and Lord Grenville on the +subject. But this co-operation, as I understand, the two Noble Lords +declined. + +One of the embarrassing consequences of Coalitions now appeared. The +recorded opinions of Lord Grenville on the Regency Question differed +wholly and in principle not only from those of his coadjutor in this +task, but from those of the Royal person himself, whose sentiments he was +called upon to interpret. In this difficulty, the only alternative that +remained was so to neutralize the terms of the Answer upon the great +point of difference, as to preserve the consistency of the Royal speaker, +without at the same time compromising that of his Noble adviser. It +required, of course, no small art and delicacy thus to throw into the +shade that distinctive opinion of Whigism, which Burke had clothed in his +imperishable language in 1789, and which Fox had solemnly bequeathed to +the Party, when + + "in his upward flight + He left his mantle there." +[Footnote: Joanna Baithe] + +The Answer, drawn up by the Noble Lords, did not, it must be confessed, +surmount this difficulty very skilfully. The assertion of the Prince's +consistency was confined to two meagre sentences, in the first of which +His Royal Highness was made to say:--"With respect to the proposed +limitation of the authority to be entrusted to me, I retain my former +opinion:"--and in the other, the expression of any decided opinion upon +the Constitutional point is thus evaded:--"For such a purpose no +restraint can be necessary to be imposed upon me." Somewhat less vague +and evasive, however, was the justification of the opinion opposed to +that of the Prince, in the following sentence:--"That day when I may +restore to the King those powers, which _as belonging only to him_, +[Footnote: The words which I have put in italics in these quotations, +are, in the same manner, underlined in Sheridan's copy of the +Paper,--doubtless, from a similar view of their import to that which I +have taken.] are in his name and in his behalf," &c. &c. This, it will be +recollected, is precisely the doctrine which, on the great question of +limiting the Prerogative, Mr. Fox attributed to the Tories. In another +passage, the Whig opinion of the Prince was thus tamely +surrendered:--"Conscious that, whatever _degree_ of confidence you +may _think fit_ to repose in me," &c. [Footnote: On the back of +Sheridan's own copy of this Answer, I find, written by him, the following +words "Grenville's and Grey's proposed Answer from the Prince to the +Address of the two Houses,--very flimsy, and attempting to cover +Grenville's conduct and consistency in supporting the present +Restrictions at the expense of the Prince."] The Answer, thus +constructed, was, by the two Noble Lords, transmitted through Mr. Adam, +to the Prince, who, "strongly objecting, (as we are told), to almost +every part of it," acceded to the suggestion of Sheridan, whom he +consulted on the subject, that a new form of Answer should be immediately +sketched out, and submitted to the consideration of Lord Grey and Lord +Grenville. There was no time to be lost, as the Address of the Houses was +to be received the following day. Accordingly, Mr. Adam and Mr. Sheridan +proceeded that night, with the new draft of the Answer to Holland-House, +where, after a warm discussion upon the subject with Lord Grey, which +ended unsatisfactorily to both parties, the final result was that the +Answer drawn up by the Prince and Sheridan was adopted.--Such is the bare +outline of this transaction, the circumstances of which will be found +fully detailed in the Statement that shall presently be given. + +The accusation against Sheridan is, that chiefly to his undermining +influence the view taken by the Prince of the Paper of these Noble Lords +is to be attributed; and that not only was he censurable in a +constitutional point of view, for thus interfering between the Sovereign +and his responsible advisers, but that he had been also guilty of an act +of private perfidy, in endeavoring to represent the Answer drawn up by +these Noble Lords, as an attempt to sacrifice the consistency and dignity +of their Royal Master to the compromise of opinions and principles which +they had entered into themselves. + +Under the impression that such were the nature and motives of his +interference, Lord Grey and Lord Grenville, on the 11th of January, (the +day on which the Answer substituted for their own was delivered), +presented a joint Representation to the Regent, in which they stated that +"the circumstances which had occurred, respecting His Royal Highness's +Answer to the two Houses, had induced them, most humbly, to solicit +permission to submit to His Royal Highness the following considerations, +with the undisguised sincerity which the occasion seemed to require, but, +with every expression that could best convey their respectful duty and +inviolable attachment. When His Royal Highness, (they continued), did +Lord Grenville the honor, through Mr. Adam, to command his attendance, it +was distinctly expressed to him, that His Royal Highness had condescended +to select him, in conjunction with Lord Grey, to be consulted with, as +the public and responsible advisers of that Answer; and Lord Grenville +could never forget the gracious terms in which His Royal Highness had the +goodness to lay these his orders upon him. It was also on the same +grounds of public and responsible advice, that Lord Grey, honored in +like manner by the most gracious expression of His Royal Highness's +confidence on this subject, applied himself to the consideration of it +conjointly with Lord Grenville. They could not but feel the difficulty of +the undertaking, which required them to reconcile two objects essentially +different,--to uphold and distinctly to manifest that unshaken adherence +to His Royal Highness's past and present opinion, which consistency and +honor required, but to conciliate, at the same time, the feelings of the +two Houses, by expressions of confidence and affection, and to lay the +foundation of that good understanding between His Royal Highness and the +Parliament, the establishment of which must be the first wish of every +man who is truly attached to His Royal Highness, and who knows the value +of the Constitution of his country. Lord Grey and Lord Grenville were far +from the presumption of believing that their humble endeavors for the +execution of so difficult a task might not be susceptible of many and +great amendments. + +"The draft, (their Lordships said), which they humbly submitted to His +Royal Highness was considered by them as open to every remark which might +occur to His Royal Highness's better judgment. On every occasion, but +more especially in the preparation of His Royal Highness's first act of +government, it would have been no less their desire than their duty to +have profited by all such objections, and to have labored to accomplish, +in the best manner they were able, every command which His Royal Highness +might have been pleased to lay upon them. Upon the objects to be obtained +there could be no difference of sentiment. These, such as above +described, were, they confidently believed, not less important in His +Royal Highness's view of the subject than in that which they themselves +had ventured to express. But they would be wanting in that sincerity and +openness by which they could alone hope, however imperfectly, to make any +return to that gracious confidence with which His Royal Highness had +condescended to honor them, if they suppressed the expression of their +deep concern, in finding that their humble endeavors in His Royal +Highness's service had been submitted to the judgment of another person, +by whose advice His Royal Highness had been guided in his final decision, +on a matter on which they alone had, however unworthily, been honored +with His Royal Highness's commands. It was their most sincere and ardent +wish that, in the arduous station which His Royal Highness was about to +fill, he might have the benefit of the public advice and responsible +services of those men, whoever they might be, by whom His Royal +Highness's glory and the interests of the country could best be promoted. +It would be with unfeigned distrust of their own means of discharging +such duties that they could, in any case, venture to undertake them; and, +in this humble but respectful representation which they had presumed to +make of their feelings on this occasion, they were conscious of being +actuated not less by their dutiful and grateful attachment to His Royal +Highness, than by those principles of constitutional responsibility, the +maintenance of which they deemed essential to any hope of a successful +administration of the public interests." + +On receiving this Representation, in which, it must be confessed, there +was more of high spirit and dignity than of worldly wisdom, [Footnote: To +the pure and dignified character of the Noble Whig associated in this +Remonstrance, it is unnecessary for me to say how heartily I bear +testimony. The only fault, indeed, of this distinguished person is, that +knowing but one high course of conduct for himself, he impatiently +resents any sinking from that pitch in others. Then, only, in his true +station, when placed between the People and the Crown, as one of those +fortresses that ornament and defend the frontier of Democracy, he has +shown that he can but ill suit the dimensions of his spirit to the narrow +avenues of a Court, or, like that Pope who stooped to look for the keys +of St. Peter, accommodate his natural elevation to the pursuit of +official power. All the pliancy of his nature is, indeed, reserved for +private life, where the repose of the valley succeeds to the grandeur of +the mountain, and where the lofty statesman gracefully subsides into the +gentle husband and father, and the frank, social friend. The eloquence of +Lord Grey, more than that of any other person, brings to mind what +Quintilian says of the great and noble orator, Messala:--"_Quodammodo +prae se ferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam_."] His Royal Highness lost +no time in communicating it to Sheridan, who, proud of the influence +attributed to him by the Noble writers, and now more than ever stimulated +to make them feel its weight, employed the whole force of his shrewdness +and ridicule [Footnote: He called rhymes also to his aid, as appears by +the following:-- + + "_An Address to the Prince_, 1811. + + "In all humility we crave + Our Regent may become our slave, + And being so, we trust that HE + Will thank us for our loyalty. + Then, if he'll help us to pull down + His Father's dignity and Crown, + We'll make him, in some time to come, + The greatest Prince in Christendom."] in exposing the stately tone of +dictation which, according to his view, was assumed throughout this Paper, +and in picturing to the Prince the state of tutelage he might expect under +Ministers who began thus early with their lectures. Such suggestions, even +if less ably urged, were but too sure of a willing audience in the ears to +which they were adressed. Shortly after, His Royal Highness paid a visit +to Windsor, where the Queen and another Royal Personage completed what had +been so skilfully begun; and the important resolution was forthwith taken +to retain Mr. Perceval and his colleagues in the Ministry. + +I shall now give the Statement of the whole transaction, which Mr. +Sheridan thought it necessary to address, in his own defence, to Lord +Holland, and of which a rough and a fair copy have been found carefully +preserved among his papers:-- + +_Queen-Street, January_ 15, 1811. + +"DEAR HOLLAND, + +"As you have been already apprised by His Royal Highness the Prince that +he thought it becoming the frankness of his character, and consistent +with the fairness and openness of proceeding due to any of his servants +whose conduct appears to have incurred the disapprobation of Lord Grey +and Lord Grenville, to communicate their representations on the subject +to the person so censured, I am confident you will give me credit for the +pain I must have felt, to find myself an object of suspicion, or likely, +in the slightest degree, to become the cause of any temporary +misunderstanding between His Royal Highness amid those distinguished +characters, whom His Royal Highness appears to destine to those +responsible situations, which must in all public matters entitle them to +his exclusive confidence. + +"I shall as briefly as I can state the circumstances of the fact, so +distinctly referred to in the following passage of the Noble Lord's +Representation:-- + +"'But they would be wanting in that sincerity and openness by which they +can alone hope, however imperfectly, to make any return to that gracious +confidence with which Your Royal Highness has condescended to honor them, +if they suppressed the expression of their deep concern in finding that +their humble endeavors in Your Royal Highness's service have been +submitted to the judgment of another person, _by whose advice_ Your +Royal Highness has been guided in your final decision on a matter in +which they alone had, however unworthily, been honored with Your Royal +Highness's commands.' + +"I must premise, that from my first intercourse with the Prince during +the present distressing emergency, such conversations as he may have +honored me with have been communications of resolutions already formed on +his part, and not of matter referred to consultation or submitted to +_advice_. I know that my declining to vote for the further +adjournment of the Privy Council's examination of the physicians gave +offence to some, and was considered as a difference from the party I as +rightly esteemed to belong to. The intentions of the leaders of the party +upon that question were in no way distinctly known to me; my secession +was entirely my own act, and not only unauthorized, but perhaps +unexpected by the Prince. My motives for it I took the liberty of +communicating to His Royal Highness by letter, [Footnote: This Letter has +been given in page 268.] the next day, and, previously to that, I had not +even seen His Royal Highness since the confirmation of His Majesty's +malady. + +"If I differed from those who, equally attached to His Royal Highness's +interest and honor, thought that His Royal Highness should have taken the +step which, in my humble opinion, he has since, precisely at the proper +period, taken of sending to Lord Grenville and Lord Grey, I may certainly +have erred in forming an imperfect judgment on the occasion, but, in +doing so, I meant no disrespect to those who had taken a different view +of the subject. But, with all deference, I cannot avoid adding, that +experience of the impression made on the public mind by the reserved and +retired conduct which the Prince thought proper to adopt, has not shaken +my opinion of the wisdom which prompted him to that determination. But +here, again, I declare, that I must reject the presumption that any +suggestion of mine led to the rule which the Prince had prescribed to +himself. My knowledge of it being, as I before said, the communication of +a resolution formed on the part of His Royal Highness, and not of a +proposition awaiting the advice, countenance, or corroboration, of any +other person. Having thought it necessary to premise thus much, as I wish +to write to you without reserve or concealment of any sort, I shall as +briefly as I can relate the facts which attended the composing the Answer +itself, as far as I was concerned. + +"On Sunday, or on Monday the 7th instant, I mentioned to Lord Moira, or +to Adam, that the Address of the two Houses would come very quickly upon +the Prince, and that he should be prepared with his Answer, without +entertaining the least idea of meddling with the subject myself, having +received no authority from His Royal Highness to do so. Either Lord Moira +or Adam informed me, before I left Carlton-House, that His Royal Highness +had directed Lord Moira to sketch an outline of the Answer proposed, and +I left town. On Tuesday evening it occurred to me to try at a sketch also +of the intended reply. On Wednesday morning I read it, at Carlton-House, +very hastily to Adam, before I saw the Prince. And here I must pause to +declare, that I have entirely withdrawn from my mind any doubt, if for a +moment I ever entertained any, of the perfect propriety of Adam's conduct +at that hurried interview; being also long convinced, as well from +intercourse with him at Carlton-House as in every transaction I have +witnessed, that it is impossible for him to act otherwise than with the +most entire sincerity and honor towards all he deals with. I then read +the Paper I had put together to the Prince,--the most essential part of +it literally consisting of sentiments and expressions, which had fallen +from the Prince himself in different conversations; and I read it to him +without _having once heard Lord Grenville's name_ even mentioned as +in any way connected with the Answer proposed to be submitted to the +Prince. On the contrary, indeed, I was under an impression that the +framing this Answer was considered as the single act which it would be an +unfair and embarrassing task to require the performance of from Lord +Grenville. The Prince approved the Paper I read to him, objecting, +however, to some additional paragraphs of my own, and altering others. In +the course of his observations, he cursorily mentioned that Lord +Grenville had undertaken to sketch out his idea of a proper Answer, and +that Lord Moira had done the same,--evidently expressing himself, to my +apprehension, as not considering the framing of this Answer as a matter +of official responsibility any where, but that it was his intention to +take the choice and decision respecting it on himself. If, however, I had +known, before I entered the Prince's apartment, that Lord Grenville and +Lord Grey had in any way undertaken to frame the Answer, and had thought +themselves authorized to do so, I protest the Prince would never even +have heard of the draft which I had prepared, though containing, as I +before said, the Prince's own ideas. + +"His Royal Highness having laid his commands on Adam and me to dine with +him alone on the next day, Thursday, I then, for the first time, learnt +that Lord Grey and Lord Grenville had transmitted, through Adam, a formal +draft of an Answer to be submitted to the Prince. + +"Under these circumstances I thought it became me humbly to request the +Prince not to refer to me, in any respect, the Paper of the Noble Lords, +or to insist even on my hearing its contents; but that I might be +permitted to put the draft he had received from me into the fire. The +Prince, however, who had read the Noble Lords' Paper, declining to hear +of this, proceeded to state, how strongly he objected to almost every +part of it. The draft delivered by Adam he took a copy of himself, as Mr. +Adam read it, affixing shortly, but warmly, his comments to each +paragraph. Finding His Royal Highness's objections to the whole radical +and insuperable, and seeing no means myself by which the Noble Lords +could change their draft, so as to meet the Prince's ideas, I ventured to +propose, as the only expedient of which the time allowed, that both the +Papers should be laid aside, and that a very short Answer, indeed, +keeping clear of all topics liable to disagreement, should be immediately +sketched out and be submitted that night to the judgment of Lord Grey and +Lord Grenville. The lateness of the hour prevented any but very hasty +discussion, and Adam and myself proceeded, by His Royal Highness's +orders, to your house to relate what had passed to Lord Grey. I do not +mean to disguise, however, that when I found myself bound to give my +opinion, I did fully assent to the force and justice of the Prince's +objections, and made other observations of my own, which I thought it my +duty to do, conceiving, as I freely said, that the Paper could not have +been drawn up but under the pressure of embarrassing difficulties, and, +as I conceived also, in considerable haste. + +"Before we left Carlton-House, it was agreed between Adam and myself that +we were not so strictly enjoined by the Prince, as to make it necessary +for us to communicate to the Noble Lords the marginal comments of the +Prince, and we determined to withhold them. But at the meeting with Lord +Grey, at your house, he appeared to me, erroneously perhaps, to decline +considering the objections as coming from the Prince, but as originating +in my suggestions. Upon this, I certainly called on Adam to produce the +Prince's copy, with his notes, in His Royal Highness's own hand-writing. + +"Afterwards, finding myself considerably hurt at an expression of Lord +Grey's, which could only be pointed at me, and which expressed his +opinion that the whole of the Paper, which he assumed me to be +responsible for, was 'drawn up in an invidious spirit,' I certainly did, +with more warmth than was, perhaps, discreet, comment on the Paper +proposed to be substituted; and there ended, with no good effect, our +interview. + +"Adam and I saw the Prince again that night, when His Royal Highness was +graciously pleased to meet our joint and earnest request, by striking out +from the draft of the Answer, to which he still resolved to adhere, every +passage which we conceived to be most liable to objection on the part of +Lord Grey and Lord Grenville. + +"On the next morning, Friday,--a short time before he was to receive the +Address,--when Adam returned from the Noble Lords, with their expressed +disclaimer of the preferred Answer, altered as it was, His Royal Highness +still persevered to eradicate every remaining word which he thought might +yet appear exceptionable to them, and made further alterations, although +the fair copy of the paper had been made out. + +"Thus the Answer, nearly reduced to the expression of the Prince's own +suggestions, and without an opportunity of farther meeting the wishes of +the Noble Lords, was delivered by His Royal Highness, and presented by +the Deputation of the two Houses. + +"I am ashamed to have been thus prolix and circumstantial, upon a matter +which may appear to have admitted of much shorter explanation; but when +misconception has produced distrust among those, I hope, not willingly +disposed to differ, and, who can have, I equally trust, but one common +object in view in their different stations, I know no better way than by +minuteness and accuracy of detail to remove whatever may have appeared +doubtful in conduct, while unexplained, or inconsistent in principle not +clearly re-asserted. + +"And now, my dear Lord, I have only shortly to express my own personal +mortification, I will use no other word, that I should have been +considered by any persons however high in rank, or justly entitled to +high political pretensions, as one so little 'attached to His Royal +Highness,' or so ignorant of the value 'of the Constitution of his +country,' as to be held out to HIM, whose fairly-earned esteem I regard +as the first honor and the sole reward of my political life, in the +character of an interested contriver of a double government, and, in some +measure, as an apostate from all my former principles,--which have taught +me, as well as the Noble Lords, that 'the maintenance of constitutional +responsibility in the ministers of the Crown is essential to any hope of +success in the administration of the public interest.' + +"At the same time, I am most ready to admit that it could not be their +_intention_ so to characterize me; but it is the direct inference +which others must gather from the first paragraph I have quoted from +their Representation, and an inference which, I understand, has already +been raised in public opinion. A departure, my dear Lord, on my part, +from upholding the principle declared by the Noble Lords, much more a +presumptuous and certainly ineffectual attempt to inculcate a contrary +doctrine on the mind of the Prince of Wales, would, I am confident, lose +me every particle of his favor and confidence at once and for ever. But I +am yet to learn what part of my past public life,--and I challenge +observation on every part of my present proceedings,--has warranted the +adoption of any such suspicion of me, or the expression of any such +imputation against me. But I will dwell no longer on this point, as it +relates only to my own feelings and character; which, however, I am the +more bound to consider, as others, in my humble judgment, have so hastily +disregarded both. At the same time, I do sincerely declare, that no +personal disappointment in my own mind interferes with the respect and +esteem I entertain for Lord Grenville, or in addition to those +sentiments, the friendly regard I owe to Lord Grey. To Lord Grenville I +have the honor to be but very little personally known. From Lord Grey, +intimately acquainted as he was with every circumstance of my conduct and +principles in the years 1788-9, I confess I should have expected a very +tardy and reluctant interpretation of any circumstance to my +disadvantage. What the nature of my endeavors were at that time, I have +the written testimonies of Mr. Fox and the Duke of Portland. To you I +know those testimonies are not necessary, and perhaps it has been my +recollection of what passed in those times that may have led me too +securely to conceive myself above the reach even of a suspicion that I +could adopt different principles now. Such as they were they remain +untouched and unaltered. I conclude with sincerely declaring, that to see +the Prince meeting the reward which his own honorable nature, his kind +and generous disposition, and his genuine devotion to the true objects of +our free Constitution so well entitle him to, by being surrounded and +supported by an Administration affectionate to his person, and ambitious +of gaining and meriting his entire esteem, (yet tenacious, above all +things, of the constitutional principle, that exclusive confidence must +attach to the responsibility of those whom he selects to be his public +servants,) I would with heartfelt satisfaction rather be a looker on of +such a Government, giving it such humble support as might be in my power, +than be the possessor of any possible situation either of profit or +ambition, to be obtained by any indirectness, or by the slightest +departure from the principles I have always professed, and which I have +now felt myself in a manner called upon to re-assert. + +"I have only to add, that my respect for the Prince, and my sense of the +frankness he has shown towards me on this occasion, decide me, with all +duty, to submit this letter to his perusal, before I place it in your +hands; meaning it undoubtedly to be by you shown to those to whom your +judgment may deem it of any consequence to communicate it. + +"I have the honor to be, &c. + +"_To Lord Holland_. + +(Signed) + +"R. B. Sheridan + +"Read and approved by the Prince, January 20, 1811. + +"R.B.S." + +Though this Statement, it must be recollected, exhibits but one side of +the question, and is silent as to the part that Sheridan took after the +delivery of the Remonstrance of the two noble Lords, yet, combined with +preceding events and with the insight into motives which they afford, it +may sufficiently enable the reader to form his own judgment, with respect +to the conduct of the different persons concerned in the transaction. +With the better and more ostensible motives of Sheridan, there was, no +doubt, some mixture of, what the Platonists call, "the material alluvion" +of our nature. His political repugnance to the Coalesced Leaders would +have been less strong but for the personal feelings that mingled with it; +and his anxiety that the Prince should not be dictated to by others was +at least equalled by his vanity in showing that he could govern him +himself. But, whatever were the precise views that impelled him to this +trial of strength, the victory which he gained in it was far more +extensive than he himself had either foreseen or wished. He had meant the +party to _feel_ his power,--not to sink under it. Though privately +alienated from them, on personal as well as political grounds, he knew +that, publicly he was too much identified with their ranks, ever to +serve, with credit or consistency, in any other. He had, therefore, in +the ardor of undermining, carried the ground from beneath his own feet. +In helping to disband his party, he had cashiered himself; and there +remained to him now, for the residue of his days, but that frailest of +all sublunary treasures, a Prince's friendship. + +With this conviction, (which, in spite of all the sanguineness of his +disposition, could hardly have failed to force itself on his mind,) it +was not, we should think, with very self-gratulatory feelings that he +undertook the task, a few weeks after, of inditing, for the Regent, that +memorable Letter to Mr. Perceval, which sealed the fate at once both of +his party and himself, and whatever false signs of re-animation may +afterwards have appeared, severed the last life-lock by which the +"struggling spirit" [Footnote: _Lavtans anima_] of this friendship +between Royalty and Whiggism still held:-- + + + --"_dextra crinem secat, omnis et una + Dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit_." + + +With respect to the chief Personage connected with these transactions, it +is a proof of the tendency of knowledge, to produce a spirit of +tolerance, that they who, judging merely from the surface of events, have +been most forward in reprobating his separation from the Whigs, as a +rupture of political ties and an abandonment of private friendships, +must, on becoming more thoroughly acquainted with all the circumstances +that led to this crisis, learn to soften down considerably their angry +feelings; and to see, indeed, in the whole history of the +connection,--from its first formation, in the hey-day of youth and party, +to its faint survival after the death of Mr. Fox,--but a natural and +destined gradation towards the result at which it at last arrived, after +as much fluctuation of political principle, on one side, as there was of +indifference, perhaps, to all political principle on the other. + +Among the arrangements that had been made, in contemplation of a new +Ministry, at this time, it was intended that Lord Moira should go, as +Lord Lieutenant, to Ireland, and that Mr. Sheridan should accompany him, +as Chief Secretary. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +AFFAIRS OF THE NEW THEATRE.--MR. WHITBREAD.--NEGOTIATIONS WITH LORD GREY +AND LORD GRENVILLE.--CONDUCT OF MR. SHERIDAN RELATIVE TO THE +HOUSEHOLD.--HIS LAST WORDS IN PARLIAMENT.--FAILURE AT STAFFORD. +--CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. WHITBREAD.--LORD BYRON.--DISTRESSES OF +SHERIDAN.--ILLNESS.--DEATH AND FUNERAL.--GENERAL REMARKS. + + +It was not till the close of this year that the Reports of the Committee +appointed under the Act for rebuilding the Theatre of Drury-Lane, were +laid before the public. By these it appeared that Sheridan was to +receive, for his moiety of the property, 24,000_l_., out of which +sum the claims of the Linley family and others were to be +satisfied;--that a further sum of 4000_l_. was to be paid to him for +the property of the Fruit Offices and Reversion of Boxes and Shares;--and +that his son, Mr. Thomas Sheridan, was to receive, for his quarter of the +Patent Property, 12,000_l_. + +The gratitude that Sheridan felt to Mr. Whitbread at first, for the +kindness with which he undertook this most arduous task, did not long +remain unembittered when they entered into practical details. It would be +difficult indeed to find two persons less likely to agree in a +transaction of this nature,--the one, in affairs of business, approaching +almost as near to the extreme of rigor as the other to that of laxity. +While Sheridan, too,--like those painters, who endeavor to disguise their +ignorance of anatomy by an indistinct and _furzy_ outline,--had an +imposing method of generalizing his accounts and statements, which, to +most eyes, concealed the negligence and fallacy of the details, Mr. +Whitbread, on the contrary, with an unrelenting accuracy, laid open the +minutiae of every transaction, and made evasion as impossible to others, +as it was alien and inconceivable to himself. He was, perhaps, the only +person, whom Sheridan had ever found proof against his powers of +persuasion,--and this rigidity naturally mortified his pride full as much +as it thwarted and disconcerted his views. + +Among the conditions to which he agreed, in order to facilitate the +arrangements of the Committee, the most painful to him was that which +stipulated that he, himself, should "have no concern or connection, of +any kind whatever, with the new undertaking." This concession, however, +he, at first, regarded as a mere matter of form--feeling confident that, +even without any effort of his own, the necessity under which the new +Committee would find themselves of recurring to his advice and +assistance, would, ere long, reinstate him in all his former influence. +But in this hope he was disappointed--his exclusion from all concern in +the new Theatre, (which, it is said, was made a _sine-qua-non_ by +all who embarked in it,) was inexorably enforced by Whitbread; and the +following letter addressed by him to the latter will show the state of +their respective feelings on this point:-- + +"MY DEAR WHITBREAD, + +"I am not going to write you a controversial or even an argumentative +letter, but simply to put down the heads of a few matters which I wish +shortly to converse with you upon, in the most amicable and temperate +manner, deprecating the impatience which may sometimes have mixed in our +discussions, and not contending who has been the aggressor. + +"The main point you seem to have had so much at heart you have carried, +so there is an end of that; and I shall as fairly and cordially endeavor +to advise and assist Mr. Benjamin Wyatt in the improving and perfecting +his plan as if it had been my own preferable selection, assuming, as I +must do, that there cannot exist an individual in England so presumptuous +or so void of common sense as not sincerely to solicit the aid of my +practical experience on this occasion, even were I not, in justice to the +Subscribers, bound spontaneously to offer it. + +"But it would be unmanly dissimulation in me to retain the sentiments I +do with respect to _your_ doctrine on this subject, and not express +what I so strongly feel. That doctrine was, to my utter astonishment, to +say no more, first promulgated to me in a letter from you, written in +town, in the following terms. Speaking of building and plans, you say to +me, '_You are in no, way answerable if a bad Theatre is built: it is +not_ YOU _who built it; and if we come to the_ STRICT RIGHT _of +the thing, you have_ NO BUSINESS TO INTERFERE;' and further on you +say, '_Will_ YOU _but_ STAND ALOOF, _and every thing will go +smooth_, and a good Theatre shall be built;' and in conversation you +put, as a similar case, that, '_if a man sold another a piece of land, +it was nothing to the seller whether the purchaser built himself a good +or a bad house upon it._' Now I declare before God I never felt more +amazement than that a man of your powerful intellect, just view of all +subjects, and knowledge of the world, should hold such language or resort +to such arguments; and I must be convinced, that, although in an +impatient moment this opinion may have fallen from you, upon the least +reflection or the slightest attention to the reason of the case, you +would, 'albeit unused to the retracting mood,' confess the erroneous view +you had taken of the subject. Otherwise, I must think, and with the +deepest regret would it be, that although you originally engaged in this +business from motives of the purest and kindest regard for me and my +family, your ardor and zealous eagerness to accomplish the difficult task +you had undertaken have led you, in this instance, to overlook what is +due to my feelings, to my honor, and my just interests. For, supposing I +were to '_stand aloof_,' totally unconcerned, provided I were paid +for my share, whether the new Theatre were excellent or execrable, and +that the result should be that the Subscribers, instead of profit, could +not, through the misconstruction of the house, obtain one per cent. for +their money, do you seriously believe you could find a single man, woman, +or child, in the kingdom, out of the Committee, who would believe that I +was wholly guiltless of the failure, having been so stultified and +proscribed by the Committee, (a Committee of _my own nomination)_ as +to have been compelled to admit, as the condition of my being paid for my +share, that 'it was nothing to me whether the Theatre was good or bad' +or, on the contrary? can it be denied that the reproaches of +disappointment, through the great body of the Subscribers, would be +directed against me and me alone? + +"So much as to _character_:--now as to my feelings on the subject;--I +must say that in friendship, at least, if not in '_strict right_,' +they ought to be consulted, even though the Committee could either prove +that I had not to apprehend any share in the discredit and discontent +which might follow the ill success of their plan, or that I was entitled +to brave whatever malice or ignorance might direct against me. Next, and +lastly, as to my just interest in the property I am to part with, a +consideration to which, however careless I might be were I alone +concerned, I am bound to attend in justice to my own private creditors, +observe how the matter stands:--I agree to wave my own '_strict +right_' to be paid before the funds can be applied to the building, +and this in the confidence and on the continued understanding, that my +advice should be so far respected, that, even should the subscription not +fill, I should at least see a Theatre capable of being charged with and +ultimately of discharging what should remain justly due to the +proprietors. To illustrate this I refer to the size of the pit, the +number of private boxes, and the annexation of a tavern; but in what a +situation would the doctrine of your Committee leave me and my son? 'It +is nothing to us how the Theatre is built, or whether it prospers or +not.' These are two circumstances we have nothing to do with; only, +unfortunately, upon them may depend our best chance of receiving any +payment for the property we part with. It is nothing to us how the ship +is refitted or manned, only we must leave all we are worth on board her, +and abide the chance of her success. Now I am confident your justice will +see, that in order that the Committee should, in '_strict right_,' +become entitled to deal thus with us, and bid us _stand aloof_, they +should buy us out, and make good the payment. But the reverse of this has +been my own proposal, and I neither repent nor wish to make any change in +it. + +"I have totally departed from my intention, when I first began this +letter, for which I ought to apologize to you; but it may save much +future talk: other less important matters will do in conversation. You +will allow that I have placed in you the most implicit confidence--have +the reasonable trust in me that, in any communication I may have with B. +Wyatt, my object will not be to _obstruct_, as you have hastily +expressed it, but _bonâ fide_ to assist him to render his Theatre as +perfect as possible, as well with a view to the public accommodation as +to profit to the Subscribers; neither of which can be obtained without +establishing a reputation for him which must be the basis of his future +fortune. + +"And now, after all this statement, you will perhaps be surprised to find +how little I require;--simply some Resolution of the Committee to the +effect of that I enclose. + +"I conclude with heartily thanking you for the declaration you made +respecting me, and reported to me by Peter Moore, at the close of the +last meeting of the Committee. I am convinced of your sincerity; but as I +have before described the character of the gratitude I feel towards you +in a letter written likewise in this house, I have only to say, that +every sentiment in that letter remains unabated and unalterable. + +"Ever, my dear Whitbread, + +"Yours, faithfully. + +"P.S. The discussion we had yesterday respecting some investigation of +the _past_, which I deem so essential to my character and to my +peace of mind, and your present concurrence with me on that subject, have +relieved my mind from great anxiety, though I cannot but still think the +better opportunity has been passed by. One word more, and I release you. +Tom informed me that you had hinted to him that any demands, not +practicable to be settled by the Committee, must fall on the proprietors. +My resolution is to take all such on myself, and to leave Tom's share +untouched." + +Another concession, which Sheridan himself had volunteered, namely, the +postponement of his right of being paid the amount of his claim, till +after the Theatre should be built, was also a subject of much acrimonious +discussion between the two friends,--Sheridan applying to this condition +that sort of lax interpretation, which would have left him the credit of +the sacrifice without its inconvenience, and Whitbread, with a firmness +of grasp, to which, unluckily, the other had been unaccustomed in +business, holding him to the strict letter of his voluntary agreement +with the Subscribers. Never, indeed, was there a more melancholy example +than Sheridan exhibited, at this moment, of the last, hard struggle of +pride and delicacy against the most deadly foe of both, pecuniary +involvement,--which thus gathers round its victims, fold after fold, till +they are at length crushed in its inextricable clasp. + +The mere likelihood of a sum of money being placed at his disposal was +sufficient--like the "bright day that brings forth the adder"--to call +into life the activity of all his duns; and how liberally he made the +fund available among them, appears from the following letter of +Whitbread, addressed, not to Sheridan himself, but, apparently, (for the +direction is wanting,) to some man of business connected with him:-- + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"I had determined not to give any written answer to the note you put into +my hands yesterday morning; but a further perusal of it leads me to think +it better to make a statement in writing, why I, for one, cannot comply +with the request it contains, and to repel the impression which appears +to have existed in Mr. Sheridan's mind at the time that note was written. +He insinuates that to some postponement of his interests, by the +Committee, is owing the distressed situation in which he is unfortunately +placed. + +"Whatever postponement of the interests of the Proprietors may ultimately +be resorted to, as matter of indispensable necessity from the state of +the Subscription Fund, will originate in the written suggestion of Mr. +Sheridan himself; and, in certain circumstances, unless such latitude +were allowed on his part, the execution of the Act could not have been +attempted. + +"At present there is no postponement of his interests,--but there is an +utter impossibility of touching the Subscription Fund at all, except for +very trifling specified articles, until a supplementary Act of Parliament +shall have been obtained. + +"By the present Act, even if the Subscription were full, and no +impediments existed to the use of the money, the Act itself, and the +incidental expenses of plans, surveys, &c., are first to be paid +for,--then the portion of Killegrew's Patent,--then the claimants,--and +_then_ the Proprietors. Now the Act is not paid for: White and +Martindale are not paid; and not one single claimant is paid, nor can any +one of them _be_ paid, until we have fresh powers and additional +subscriptions. + +"How then can Mr. Sheridan attribute to any postponement of his +interests, actually made by the Committee, the present condition of his +affairs? and why are we driven to these observations and explanations? + +"We cannot but all deeply lament his distress, but the palliation he +proposes it is not in our power to give. + +"We cannot guarantee Mr. Hammersley upon the fund coming eventually to +Mr. Sheridan. He alludes to the claims he has already created upon that +fund. He must, besides, recollect the list of names he sent to me some +time ago, of persons to whom he felt himself in honor bound to +appropriate to each his share of that fund, in common with others for +whose names he left a blank, and who, he says in the same letter, have +written engagements from him. Besides, he has communicated both to Mr. +Taylor and to Mr. Shaw, through me, offers to impound the whole of the +sum to answer the issue of the unsettled demands made upon him by those +gentlemen respectively. + +"How then can we guarantee Mr. Hammersley in the payment of any sum out +of this fund, so circumstanced? Mr. Hammersley's possible profits are +prospective, and the prospect remote. I know the positive losses he +sustains, and the sacrifices he is obliged to make to procure the chance +of the compromise he is willing to accept. + +"Add to all this, that we are still struggling with difficulties which we +may or may not overcome; that those difficulties are greatly increased by +the persons whose interest and duty should equally lead them to give us +every facility and assistance in the labors we have disinterestedly +undertaken, and are determined faithfully to discharge. If we fail at +last, from whatever cause, the whole vanishes. + +"You know, my dear Sir, that I grieve for the sad state of Mr. Sheridan's +affairs. I would contribute my mite to their temporary relief, if it +would be acceptable; but as one of the Committee, intrusted with a public +fund, I can do nothing. I cannot be a party to any claim upon Mr. +Hammersley; and I utterly deny that, individually, or as part of the +Committee, any step taken by me, or with my concurrence, has pressed upon +the circumstances of Mr. Sheridan. + +"I am, + +"My dear Sir, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"_Southill, Dec. 19, 1811."_ + +"SAMUEL WHITBREAD." + +A Dissolution of Parliament being expected to take place, Mr. Sheridan +again turned his eyes to Stafford; and, in spite of the estrangement to +which his infidelities at Westminster had given rise, saw enough, he +thought, of the "_veteris vestigia flammae_" to encourage him to +hope for a renewal of the connection. The following letter to Sir Oswald +Moseley explains his views and expectations on the subject:-- + +"DEAR SIR OSWALD, + +"_Cavendish-Square, Nov. 29, 1811._ + +"Being apprised that you have decided to decline offering yourself a +candidate for Stafford, when a future election may arrive,--a place where +you are highly esteemed, and where every humble service in my power, as I +have before declared to you, should have been at your command,--I have +determined to accept the very cordial invitations I have received from +_old friends_ in that quarter, and, (though entirely secure of my +seat at Ilchester, and, indeed, even of the second seat for my son, +through the liberality of Sir W. Manners), to return to the old goal from +whence I started thirty-one years since! You will easily see that +arrangements at Ilchester may be made towards assisting me, in point of +expense, to meet _any opposition_, and, _in that respect,_ +nothing will be _wanting._ It will, I confess, be very gratifying to +me to be again elected _by the sons of those_ who chose me in the +year _eighty_, and adhered to me so stoutly and so long. I think I +was returned for Stafford seven, if not eight, times, including two most +tough and expensive contests; and, in taking a temporary leave of them I +am sure my credit must stand well, for not a shilling did I leave unpaid. +I have written to the Jerninghams, who, in the handsomest manner, have +ever given me their warmest support; and, as no political object +interests my mind so much as the Catholic cause, I have no doubt that +independent of their personal friendship, I shall receive a continuation +of their honorable support. I feel it to be no presumption to add, that +other respectable interests in the neighborhood will be with me. + +"I need scarcely add my sanguine hope, that whatever interest rests with +you, (which ought to be much), will also be in my favor. + +"I have the honor to be, + +"With great esteem and regard, + +"Yours most sincerely, + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + +"I mean to be in Stafford, from Lord G. Levison's, in about a fortnight." + +Among a number of notes addressed to his former constituents at this +time, (which I find written in his neatest hand, as if _intended_ to +be sent), is this curious one:-- + +"DEAR KING JOHN, + +"_Cavendish-Square, Sunday night_, + +"I shall be in Stafford in the course of next week, and if Your Majesty +does not renew our old alliance I shall never again have faith in any +potentate on earth. + +"Yours very sincerely, + +"_Mr. John K_. + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + +The two attempts that were made in the course of the year 1812--the one, +on the cessation of the Regency Restrictions, and the other after the +assassination of Mr. Perceval,--to bring the Whigs into official +relations with the Court, were, it is evident, but little inspired on +either side, with the feelings likely to lead to such a result. It +requires but a perusal of the published correspondence in both cases to +convince us that, at the bottom of all these evolutions of negotiation, +there was anything but a sincere wish that the object to which they +related should be accomplished. The Maréchal Bassompiere was not more +afraid of succeeding in his warfare, when he said, _"Je crois que nous +serons assez fous pour prendre la Rochelle_," than was one of the +parties, at least, in these negotiations, of any favorable turn that +might inflict success upon its overtures. Even where the Court, as in the +contested point of the Household, professed its readiness to accede to +the surrender so injudiciously demanded of it, those who acted as its +discretionary organs knew too well the real wishes in that quarter, and +had been too long and faithfully zealous in their devotion to those +wishes to leave any fear that advantage would be taken of the concession. +But, however high and chivalrous was the feeling with which Lord Moira, +on this occasion, threw himself into the breach for his Royal Master, the +service of Sheridan, though flowing partly from the same zeal, was not, I +grieve to say, of the same clear and honorable character. + +Lord Yarmouth, it is well known, stated in the House of Commons that he +had communicated to Mr. Sheridan the intention of the Household to +resign, with the view of having that intention conveyed to Lord Grey and +Lord Grenville, and thus removing the sole ground upon which these Noble +Lords objected to the acceptance of office. Not only, however, did +Sheridan endeavor to dissuade the Noble Vice-Chamberlain from resigning, +but with an unfairness of dealing which admits, I own, of no vindication, +he withheld from the two leaders of Opposition the intelligence thus +meant to be conveyed to them; and, when questioned by Mr. Tierney as to +the rumored intentions of the Household to resign, offered to bet five +hundred guineas that there was no such step in contemplation. + +In this conduct, which he made but a feeble attempt to explain, and which +I consider as the only indefensible part of his whole public life, he +was, in some degree, no doubt, influenced by personal feelings against +the two Noble Lords, whom his want of fairness on the occasion was so +well calculated to thwart and embarrass. But the main motive of the whole +proceeding is to be found in his devoted deference to what he knew to be +the wishes and feelings of that Personage, who had become now, more than +ever, the mainspring of all his movements,--whose spell over him, in this +instance, was too strong for even his sense of character; and to whom he +might well have applied the words of one of his own beautiful songs-- + + + "Friends, fortune, _fame itself_ I'd lose, + To gain one smile from thee!" + + +So fatal, too often, are Royal friendships, whose attraction, like the +loadstone-rock in Eastern fable, that drew the nails out of the luckless +ship that came near it, steals gradually away the strength by which +character is held together, till, at last, it loosens at all points, and +falls to pieces, a wreck! + +In proof of the fettering influence under which he acted on this +occasion, we find him in one of his evasive attempts at vindication, +suppressing, from delicacy to his Royal Master, a circumstance which, if +mentioned, would have redounded considerably to his own credit. After +mentioning that the Regent had "asked his opinion with respect to the +negotiations that were going on," he adds, "I gave him my opinion, and I +most devoutly wish that that opinion could be published to the world, +that it might serve to shame those who now belie me." + +The following is the fact to which these expressions allude. When the +Prince-Regent, on the death of Mr. Perceval, entrusted to Lord Wellesley +the task of forming an Administration, it appears that His Royal Highness +had signified either his intention or wish to exclude a certain Noble +Earl from the arrangements to be made under that commission. On learning +this, Sheridan not only expressed strongly his opinion against such a +step, but having, afterwards, reason to fear that the freedom with which +he spoke on the subject had been displeasing to the Regent, he addressed +a letter to that Illustrious Person, (a copy of which I have in my +possession,) in which, after praising the "wisdom and magnanimity" +displayed by His Royal Highness, in confiding to Lord Wellesley the +powers that had just been entrusted to him, he repeated his opinion that +any "proscription" of the Noble Earl in question, would be "a proceeding +equally derogatory to the estimation of His Royal Highness's personal +dignity and the security of his political power;"--adding, that the +advice, which he took the liberty of giving against such a step, did not +proceed "from any peculiar partiality to the Noble Earl or to many of +those with whom he was allied; but was founded on what he considered to +be best for His Royal Highness's honor and interest, and for the general +interests of the country." + +The letter (in alluding to the displeasure which he feared he had +incurred by venturing this opinion) concludes thus:-- + +"Junius said in a public letter of his, addressed to Your Royal Father, +'the fate that made you a King forbad your having a friend.' I deny his +proposition as a general maxim--I am confident that Your Royal Highness +possesses qualities to win and secure to you the attachment and devotion +of private friendship, in spite of your being a Sovereign. At least I +feel that I am entitled to make this declaration as far as relates to +myself--and I do it under the assured conviction that you will never +require from me any proof of that attachment and devotion inconsistent +with the clear and honorable independence of mind and conduct, which +constitute my sole value as a public man, and which have hitherto been my +best recommendation to your gracious favor, confidence, and protection." + +It is to be regretted that while by this wise advice he helped to save +His Royal Master from the invidious _appearance_ of acting upon a +principle of exclusion, he should, by his private management afterwards, +have but too well contrived to secure to him all the advantage of that +principle in _reality_. + +The political career of Sheridan was now drawing fast to a close. He +spoke but upon two or three other occasions during the Session; and among +the last sentences uttered by him in the House were the +following;--which, as calculated to leave a sweeter flavor on the memory, +at parting, than those questionable transactions that have just been +related, I have great pleasure in citing:-- + +"My objection to the present Ministry, is that they are avowedly arrayed +and embodied against a principle,--that of concession to the Catholics of +Ireland,--which I think, and must always think, essential to the safety +of this empire. I will never give my vote to any Administration that +opposes the question of Catholic Emancipation. I will not consent to +receive a furlough upon that particular question, even though a Ministry +were carrying every other that I wished. In fine, I think the situation +of Ireland a paramount consideration. If they were to be the last words I +should ever utter in this House, I should say, 'Be just to Ireland, as +you value your own honor,--be just to Ireland, as you value your own +peace.'" + +His very last words in Parliament, on his own motion relative to the +Overtures of Peace from France, were as follow:-- + +"Yet after the general subjugation and ruin of Europe, should there ever +exist an independent historian to record the awful events that produced +this universal calamity, let that historian have to say,--'Great Britain +fell, and with her fell all the best securities for the charities of +human life, for the power and honor, the fame, the glory, and the +liberties, not only of herself, but of the whole civilized world.'" In +the month of September following, Parliament was dissolved; and, +presuming upon the encouragement which he had received from some of his +Stafford friends, he again tried his chance of election for that borough, +but without success. This failure he, himself, imputed, as will be seen +by the following letter, to the refusal of Mr. Whitbread to advance him +2000_l._ out of the sum due to him by the Committee for his share of +the property:-- + +"DEAR WHITBREAD, + +"_Cook's Hotel, Nov._ 1, 1812. + +"I was misled to expect you in town the beginning of last week, but being +positively assured that you will arrive to-morrow, I have declined +accompanying Hester into Hampshire as I intended, and she has gone to-day +without me; but I must leave town to join her _as soon as I can_. We +must have some serious but yet, I hope, friendly conversation respecting +my unsettled claims on the Drury-Lane Theatre Corporation. A concluding +paragraph, in one of your last letters to Burgess, which he thought +himself justified in showing me, leads me to believe that it is not your +object to distress or destroy me. On the subject of your refusing to +advance to me the 2000_l._. I applied for to take with me to +Stafford, out of the large sum confessedly due to me, (unless I signed +some paper containing I know not what, and which you presented to my +breast like a cocked pistol on the last day I saw you,) I will not dwell. +_This, and this alone, lost me my election._ You deceive yourself if +you give credit to any other causes, which the pride of my friends chose +to attribute our failure to, rather than confess our poverty. I do not +mean now to expostulate with you, much less to reproach you, but sure I +am that when you contemplate the positive injustice of refusing me the +accommodation I required, and the irreparable injury that refusal has +cast on me, overturning, probably, all the honor and independence of what +remains of my political life, you will deeply reproach yourself. + +"I shall make an application to the Committee, when I hear you have +appointed one, for the assistance which most pressing circumstances now +compel me to call for; and all I desire is, through a sincere wish that +our friendship may not be interrupted, that the answer to that +application may proceed from a _bonâ fide Committee, with their +signatures_, testifying their decision. + +"I am, yet, + +"Yours very sincerely, + +"_S. Whitbread, Esq._ + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + +Notwithstanding the angry feeling which is expressed in this letter, and +which the state of poor Sheridan's mind, goaded as he was now by distress +and disappointment, may well excuse, it will be seen by the following +letter from Whitbread, written on the very eve of the elections in +September, that there was no want of inclination, on the part of this +honorable and excellent man, to afford assistance to his friend,--but +that the duties of the perplexing trust which he had undertaken rendered +such irregular advances as Sheridan required impossible:-- + +'MY DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"We will not enter into details, although you are quite mistaken in them. +You know how happy I shall be to propose to the Committee to agree to +anything practicable; and you may make all practicable, if you will have +resolution to look at the state of the account between you and the +Committee, and agree to the mode of its liquidation. + +"You will recollect the 5000_l_. pledged to Peter Moore to answer +demands; the certificates given to Giblet, Ker, Ironmonger, Cross, and +Hirdle, five each at your request; the engagements given to Ellis and +myself, and the arrears to the Linley family. All this taken into +consideration will leave a large balance still payable to you. Still +there are upon that balance the claims upon you by Shaw, Taylor, and +Grubb, for all of which you have offered to leave the whole of your +compensation in my hands, to abide the issue of arbitration. + +"This may be managed by your agreeing to take a considerable portion of +your balance in bonds, leaving those bonds in trust to answer the events. + +"I shall be in town on Monday to the Committee, and will be prepared with +a sketch of the state of your account with the Committee, and with the +mode in which I think it would be prudent for you and them to adjust it; +which if you will agree to, and direct the conveyance to be made +forthwith, I will undertake to propose the advance of money you wish. But +without a clear arrangement, as a justification, nothing can be done. + +"I shall be in Dover-Street at nine o'clock, and be there and in +Drury-Lane all day. The Queen comes, but the day is not fixed. The +election will occupy me after Monday. After that is over, I hope we shall +see you. + +"Yours very truly, + +"_Southill, Sept. 25, 1812._ + +"S. WHITBREAD." + +The feeling entertained by Sheridan towards the Committee had already +been strongly manifested this year by the manner in which Mrs. Sheridan +received the Resolution passed by them, offering her the use of a box in +the new Theatre. The notes of Whitbread to Mrs. Sheridan on this subject, +prove how anxious he was to conciliate the wounded feelings of his +friend:-- + +"MY DEAR ESTHER, + +"I have delayed sending the enclosed Resolution of the Drury-Lane +Committee to you, because I had hoped to have found a moment to have +called upon you, and to have delivered it into your hands. But I see no +chance of that, and therefore literally obey my instructions in writing +to you. + +"I had great pleasure in proposing the Resolution, which was cordially +and unanimously adopted. I had it always in contemplation,--but to have +proposed it earlier would have been improper. I hope you will derive much +amusement from your visits to the Theatre, and that you and all of your +name will ultimately be pleased with what has been done. I have just had +a most satisfactory letter from Tom Sheridan. + +"I am, + +"My dear Esther, + +"Affectionately yours, + +"_Dover-Street, July 4, 1812._ + +"SAMUEL WHITBREAD." + +"MY DEAR ESTHER, + +"It has been a great mortification and disappointment to me, to have met +the Committee twice, since the offer of the use of a box at the new +Theatre was made to you, and that I have not had to report the slightest +acknowledgment from you in return. + +"The Committee meet again tomorrow, and after that there will be no +meeting for some time. If I shall be compelled to return the same blank +answer I have hitherto done, the inference drawn will naturally be, that +what was designed by himself, who moved it, and by those who voted it, as +a gratifying mark of attention to Sheridan through you, (as the most +gratifying mode of conveying it,) has, for some unaccountable reason, +been mistaken and is declined. + +"But I shall be glad to know before to-morrow, what is your determination +on the subject. + +"I am, dear Esther, + +"Affectionately yours, + +"_Dover-Street, July_ 12, 1812." + +"S. WHITBREAD. + +The failure of Sheridan at Stafford completed his ruin. He was now +excluded both from the Theatre and from Parliament:--the two anchors by +which he held in life were gone, and he was left a lonely and helpless +wreck upon the waters. The Prince Regent offered to bring him into +Parliament; but the thought of returning to that scene of his triumphs +and his freedom, with the Royal owner's mark, as it were, upon him, was +more than he could bear--and he declined the offer. Indeed, miserable and +insecure as his life was now, when we consider the public humiliations to +which he would have been exposed, between his ancient pledge to Whiggism +and his attachment and gratitude to Royalty, it is not wonderful that he +should have preferred even the alternative of arrests and imprisonments +to the risk of bringing upon his political name any further tarnish in +such a struggle. Neither could his talents have much longer continued to +do themselves justice, amid the pressure of such cares, and the increased +indulgence of habits, which, as is usual, gained upon him, as all other +indulgences vanished. The ancients, we are told, by a significant device, +inscribed on the wreaths they wore at banquets the name of Minerva. +Unfortunately, from the festal wreath of Sheridan this name was now but +too often effaced; and the same charm, that once had served to give a +quicker flow to thought, was now employed to muddy the stream, as it +became painful to contemplate what was at the bottom of it. By his +exclusion, therefore, from Parliament, he was, perhaps, seasonably saved +from affording to that "Folly, which loves the martyrdom of Fame," +[Footnote: "And Folly loves the martyrdom of Fame." + +This fine line is in Lord Byron's Monody to his memory. There is another +line, equally true and touching, where, alluding to the irregularities of +the latter part of Sheridan's life, he says-- + +"And what to them seem'd vice might be but woe."] the spectacle of a +great mind, not only surviving itself, but, like the champion in Berni, +continuing the combat after life is gone:-- + +_"Andava combattendo, ed era morto."_ + +In private society, however, he could, even now, (before the Rubicon of +the cup was passed,) fully justify his high reputation for agreeableness +and wit; and a day which it was my good fortune to spend with him, at the +table of Mr. Rogers, has too many mournful, as well as pleasant, +associations connected with it, to be easily forgotten by the survivors +of the party. The company consisted but of Mr. Rogers himself, Lord +Byron, Mr. Sheridan, and the writer of this Memoir. Sheridan knew the +admiration his audience felt for him; the presence of the young poet, in +particular, seemed to bring back his own youth and wit; and the details +he gave of his early life were not less interesting and animating to +himself than delightful to us. It was in the course of this evening that, +describing to us the poem which Mr. Whitbread had written and sent in, +among the other Addresses, for the opening of Drury-Lane, and which, like +the rest, turned chiefly on allusions to the Phenix, he said,--"But +Whitbread made more of this bird than any of them:--he entered into +particulars, and described its wings, beak, tail, &c.; in short, it was a +_Poulterer's_ description of a Phenix!" + +The following extract from a Diary in my possession, kept by Lord Byron +during six months of his residence in London, 1812-13, will show the +admiration which this great and generous spirit felt for Sheridan:-- + +"_Saturday, December 18, 1813._ + +"Lord Holland told me a curious piece of _sentimentality_ in +Sheridan. The other night we were all delivering our respective and +various opinions on him and other '_hommes marquans,_' and mine was +this:--'Whatever Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been _par +excellence_, always the _best_ of its kind. He has written the +_best_ comedy, (School for Scandal,) the _best_ opera, (The +Duenna--in my mind far before that St. Giles's lampoon, The Beggar's +Opera,) the _best_ farce, (The Critic--it is only too good for an +after-piece,) and the _best_ Address, (Monologue on Garrick,)--and +to crown all, delivered the very _best_ oration, (the famous Begum +Speech,) ever conceived or heard in this country.' Somebody told Sheridan +this the next day, and on hearing it, he burst into tears!--Poor +Brinsley! If they were tears of pleasure, I would rather have said those +few, but sincere, words, than have written the Iliad, or made his own +celebrated Philippic. Nay, his own comedy never gratified me more than to +hear that he had derived a moment's gratification from any praise of mine +--humble as it must appear to 'my elders and my betters.'" + +The distresses of Sheridan now increased every day, and through the short +remainder of his life it is a melancholy task to follow him. The sum +arising from the sale of his theatrical property was soon exhausted by +the various claims upon it, and he was driven to part with all that he +most valued, to satisfy further demands and provide for the subsistence +of the day. Those books which, as I have already mentioned, were +presented to him by various friends, now stood in their splendid +bindings, [Footnote: In most of them, too, were the names of the givers. +The delicacy with which Mr. Harrison of Wardour-Street, (the pawnbroker +with whom the books and the cup were deposited,) behaved, after the death +of Mr. Sheridan, deserves to be mentioned with praise. Instead of +availing himself of the public feeling at that moment, by submitting +these precious relics to the competition of a sale, he privately +communicated to the family and one or two friends of Sheridan the +circumstance of his having such articles in his hands, and demanded +nothing more than the sum regularly due on them. The Stafford cup is in +the possession of Mr. Charles Sheridan.] on the shelves of the +pawnbroker. The handsome cup, given him by the electors of Stafford, +shared the same fate. Three or four fine pictures by Gainsborough, and +one by Morland, were sold for little more than five hundred pounds; +[Footnote: In the following extract from a note to his solicitor, he +refers to these pictures: + +"DEAR BURGESS, + +"I am perfectly satisfied with your account;--nothing can be more clear +or fair, or more disinterested on your part;--but I must grieve to think +that five or six hundred pounds for my poor pictures are added to the +expenditure. However, we shall come through!"] and even the precious +portrait of his first wife, [Footnote: As Saint Cecilia. The portrait of +Mrs. Sheridan at Knowle, though less ideal than that of Sir Joshua, is, +(for this very reason, perhaps, as bearing a closer resemblance to the +original,) still more beautiful.] by Reynolds, though not actually sold +during his life, vanished away from his eyes into other hands. + +One of the most humiliating trials of his pride was yet to come. In the +spring of this year he was arrested and carried to a spunging-house, +where he remained two or three days. This abode, from which the following +painful letter to Whitbread was written, formed a sad contrast to those +Princely halls, of which he had so lately been the most brilliant and +favored guest, and which were possibly, at that very moment, lighted up +and crowded with gay company, unmindful of him within those prison +walls:-- + +"_Tooke's Court, Cursitor-Street, Thursday, past two._ + +"I have done everything in my power with the solicitors, White and +Founes, to obtain my release, by substituting a better security for them +than their detaining me--but in vain. + +"Whitbread, putting all false professions of friendship and feeling out +of the question, you have no right to keep me here!--for it is in truth +_your_ act--if you had not forcibly withheld from me the _twelve +thousand pounds_, in consequence of a threatening letter from a +miserable swindler, whose claim YOU in particular knew to _be a +lie_, I should at least have been out of the reach of _this_ +state of miserable insult--for that, and that only, lost me my seat in +Parliament. And I assert that you cannot find a lawyer in the land, that +is not either a natural-born fool or a corrupted scoundrel, who will not +declare that your conduct in this respect was neither warrantable nor +legal--but let that pass _for the present_. + +"Independently of the 1000_l_. ignorantly withheld from me on the +day of considering my last claim. I require of you to answer the draft I +send herewith on the part of the Committee, pledging myself to prove to +them on the first day I can _personally_ meet them, that there are +still thousands and thousands due to me, both legally, and equitably, +from the Theatre. My word ought to be taken on this subject; and you may +produce to them this document, if one, among them could think that, under +all the circumstances, your conduct required a justification. O God! with +what mad confidence have I trusted _your word_,--I ask +_justice_ from you, and _no boon_. I enclosed you yesterday +three different securities, which had you been disposed to have acted +even as a private friend, would have made it _certain_ that you +might have done so _without the smallest risk_. These you discreetly +offered to put into the fire, when you found the object of your humane +visit satisfied by seeing me safe in prison. + +"I shall only add, that, I think, if I know myself, had our lots been +reversed, and I had seen you in my situation, and had left Lady E. in +that of my wife, I would have risked 600_l_. rather than have left +you so--although I had been in no way accessory in bringing you into that +condition. + +"_S. Whitbread. Esq._ + +"R. B. SHERIDAN." + +Even in this situation the sanguineness of his disposition did not desert +him; for he was found by Mr. Whitbread, on his visit to the +spunging-house, confidently calculating on the representation for +Westminster, in which the proceedings relative to Lord Cochrane at that +moment promised a vacancy. On his return home, however, to Mrs. Sheridan, +(some arrangements having been made by Whitbread for his release,) all +his fortitude forsook him, and he burst into a long and passionate fit of +weeping at the profanation, as he termed it, which his person had +suffered. + +He had for some months had a feeling that his life was near its close; +and I find the following touching passage in a letter from him to Mrs. +Sheridan, after one of those differences which will sometimes occur +between the most affectionate companions, and which, possibly, a +remonstrance on his irregularities and want of care of himself +occasioned:--"Never again let one harsh word pass between us, during the +period, which may not perhaps be long, that we are in this world +together, and life, however clouded to me, is mutually spared to us. I +have expressed this same sentiment to my son, in a letter I wrote to him +a few days since, and I had his answer--a most affecting one, and, I am +sure, very sincere--and have since cordially embraced him. Don't imagine +that I am expressing an interesting apprehension about myself, which I do +not feel." + +Though the new Theatre of Drury-Lane had now been three years built, his +feelings had never allowed him to set his foot within its walls. About +this time, however, he was persuaded by his friend, Lord Essex, to dine +with him and go in the evening to His Lordship's box, to see Kean. Once +there, the "_genius loci_" seems to have regained its influence over +him; for, on missing him from the box, between the Acts, Lord Essex, who +feared that he had left the House, hastened out to inquire, and, to his +great satisfaction, found him installed in the Green-room, with all the +actors around him, welcoming him back to the old region of his glory, +with a sort of filial cordiality. Wine was immediately ordered, and a +bumper to the health of Mr. Sheridan was drank by all present, with the +expression of many a hearty wish that he would often, very often, +re-appear among them. This scene, as was natural, exhilarated his +spirits, and, on parting with Lord Essex that night, at his own door, in +Saville-Row, he said triumphantly that the world would soon hear of him, +for the Duke of Norfolk was about to bring him into Parliament. This, it +appears, was actually the case; but Death stood near as he spoke. In a +few days after his last fatal illness began. + +Amid all the distresses of these latter years of his life, he appears but +rarely to have had recourse to pecuniary assistance from friends. Mr. +Peter Moore, Mr. Ironmonger, and one or two others, who did more for the +comfort of his decline than any of his high and noble associates, concur +in stating that, except for such an occasional trifle as his coach-hire, +he was by no means, as has been sometimes asserted, in the habit of +borrowing. One instance, however, where he laid himself under this sort +of obligation, deserves to be mentioned. Soon after the return of Mr. +Canning from Lisbon, a letter was put into his hands, in the House of +Commons, which proved to be a request from his old friend Sheridan, then +lying ill in bed, that he would oblige him with the loan of a hundred +pounds. It is unnecessary to say that the request was promptly and +feelingly complied with; and if the pupil has ever regretted leaving the +politics of his master, it was not at _that_ moment, at least, such +a feeling was likely to present itself. + +There are, in the possession of a friend of Sheridan, copies of a +correspondence in which he was engaged this year with two noble Lords and +the confidential agent of an illustrious Personage, upon a subject, as it +appears, of the utmost delicacy and importance. The letters of Sheridan, +it is said, (for I have not seen them,) though of too secret and +confidential a nature to meet the public eye, not only prove the great +confidence reposed in him by the parties concerned, but show the +clearness and manliness of mind which he could still command, under the +pressure of all that was most trying to human intellect. + +The disorder, with which he was now attacked, arose from a diseased state +of the stomach, brought on partly by irregular living, and partly by the +harassing anxieties that had, for so many years, without intermission, +beset him. His powers of digestion grew every day worse, till he was at +length unable to retain any sustenance. Notwithstanding this, however, +his strength seemed to be but little broken, and his pulse remained, for +some time, strong and regular. Had he taken, indeed, but ordinary care of +himself through life, the robust conformation of his frame, and +particularly, as I have heard his physician remark, the peculiar width +and capaciousness of his chest, seemed to mark him out for a long course +of healthy existence. In general Nature appears to have a prodigal +delight in enclosing her costliest essences in the most frail and +perishable vessels:--but Sheridan was a signal exception to this remark; +for, with a spirit so "finely touched," he combined all the robustness of +the most uninspired clay. + +Mrs. Sheridan was, at first, not aware of his danger; but Dr. Bain--whose +skill was now, as it ever had been, disinterestedly at the service of his +friend, [Footnote: A letter from Sheridan to this amiable man, (of which +I know not the date,) written in reference to a caution which he had +given Mrs. Sheridan, against sleeping in the same bed with a lady who was +consumptive, expresses feelings creditable alike to the writer and his +physician:-- + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"_July 31._ + +"The caution you recommend proceeds from that attentive kindness which +Hester always receives from you, and upon which I place the greatest +reliance for her safety. I so entirely agree with your apprehensions on +the subject, that I think it was very giddy in me not to have been struck +with them when she first mentioned having slept with her friend. Nothing +can abate my love for her; and the manner in which you apply the interest +you take in her happiness, and direct the influence you possess in her +mind, render you, beyond comparison, the person I feel most obliged to +upon earth. I take this opportunity of saying this upon paper, because it +is a subject on which I always find it difficult to speak. + +"With respect to that part of your note in which you express such +friendly partiality, as to my parliamentary conduct, I need not add that +there is no man whose good opinion can be more flattering to me. + +"I am ever, my dear Bain, + +"Your sincere and obliged + +"R. B. SHERIDAN."]--thought it right to communicate to her the +apprehensions that he felt. From that moment, her attentions to the +sufferer never ceased day or night; and, though drooping herself with an +illness that did not leave her long behind him, she watched over his +every word and wish, with unremitting anxiety, to the last. + +Connected, no doubt, with the disorganization of his stomach, was an +abscess, from which, though distressingly situated, he does not appear to +have suffered much pain. In the spring of this year, however, he was +obliged to confine himself, almost entirely, to his bed. Being expected +to attend the St. Patrick's Dinner, on the 17th of March, he wrote a +letter to the Duke of Kent, who was President, alleging severe +indisposition as the cause of his absence. The contents of this letter +were communicated to the company, and produced, as appears by the +following note from the Duke of Kent, a strong sensation:-- + +_Kensington Palace, March_ 27, 1816. + +"MY DEAR SHERIDAN, + +"I have been so hurried ever since St. Patrick's day, as to be unable +earlier to thank you for your kind letter, which I received while +presiding at the festive board; but I can assure you, I was not unmindful +of it _then_, but announced the afflicting cause of your absence to +the company, who expressed, in a manner that could not be +_misunderstood_, their continued affection for the writer of it. It +now only remains for me to assure you, that I appreciate as I ought the +sentiments of attachment it contains for me, and which will ever be most +cordially returned by him, who is with the most friendly regard, my dear +Sheridan, + +"Yours faithfully, + +"_The Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan_. + +"EDWARD." + +The following letter to him at this time from his elder sister will be +read with interest:-- + +"MY DEAR BROTHER, + +"_Dublin, May 9, 1816._ + +"I am very, very sorry you are ill; but I trust in God your naturally +strong constitution will retrieve all, and that I shall soon have the +satisfaction of hearing that you are in a fair way of recovery. I well +know the nature of your complaint, that it is extremely painful, but if +properly treated, and no doubt you have the best advice, not dangerous. I +know a lady now past seventy four, who many years since was attacked with +a similar complaint, and is now as well as most persons of her time of +life. Where poulticing is necessary, I have known oatmeal used with the +best effect. Forgive, dear brother, this officious zeal. Your son Thomas +told me he felt obliged to me for not prescribing for him. I did not, +because in his case I thought it would be ineffectual; in yours I have +reason to hope the contrary. I am very glad to hear of the good effect +change of climate has made in him;--I took a great liking to him; there +was something kind in his manner that won upon my affections. Of your son +Charles I hear the most delightful accounts:--that he has an excellent +and cultivated understanding, and a heart as good. May he be a blessing +to you, and a compensation for much you have endured! That I do not know +him, that I have not seen you, (so early and so long the object of my +affection,) for so many years, has not been my fault; but I have ever +considered it as a drawback upon a situation not otherwise unfortunate; +for, to use the words of Goldsmith, I have endeavored to 'draw upon +content for the deficiencies of fortune;' and truly I have had some +employment in that way, for considerable have been our worldly +disappointments. But those are not the worst evils of life, and we have +good children, which is its first blessing. I have often told you my son +Tom bore a strong resemblance to you, when I loved you preferably to any +thing the world contained. This, which was the case with him in childhood +and early youth, is still so in mature years. In character of mind, too, +he is very like you, though education and situation have made a great +difference. At that period of existence, when the temper, morals, and +propensities are formed, Tom had a mother who watched over his health, +his well-being, and every part of education in which a female could be +useful. _You_ had lost a mother who would have cherished you, whose +talents you inherited, who would have softened the asperity of our +father's temper, and probably have prevented his unaccountable +partialities. You have always shown a noble independence of spirit, that +the pecuniary difficulties you often had to encounter could not induce +you to forego. As a public man, you have been, like the motto of the +Lefanu family, '_Sine macula_,' and I am persuaded had you not too +early been thrown upon the world, and alienated from your family, you +would have been equally good as a private character. My son is eminently +so. * * * + +"Do, dear brother, send me one line to tell me you are better, and +believe me, most affectionately, + +"Yours, + +"ALICIA LEEANU." + +While death was thus gaining fast on Sheridan, the miseries of his life +were thickening around him also; nor did the last corner, in which he now +lay down to die, afford him any asylum from the clamors of his legal +pursuers. Writs and executions came in rapid succession, and bailiffs at +length gained possession of his house. It was about the beginning of May +that Lord Holland, on being informed by Mr. Rogers, (who was one of the +very few that watched the going out of this great light with interest,) +of the dreary situation in which his old friend was lying, paid him a +visit one evening, in company with Mr. Rogers, and by the cordiality, +suavity, and cheerfulness of his conversation, shed a charm round that +chamber of sickness, which, perhaps, no other voice but his own could +have imparted. + +Sheridan was, I believe, sincerely attached to Lord Holland, in whom he +saw transmitted the same fine qualities, both of mind and heart, which, +notwithstanding occasional appearances to the contrary, he had never +ceased to love and admire in his great relative;--the same ardor for +Right and impatience of Wrong--the same mixture of wisdom and simplicity, +so tempering each other, as to make the simplicity refined and the wisdom +unaffected--the same gentle magnanimity of spirit, intolerant only of +tyranny and injustice--and, in addition to all this, a range and vivacity +of conversation, entirely his own, which leaves no subject untouched or +unadorned, but is, (to borrow a fancy of Dryden,) "as the Morning of the +Mind," bringing new objects and images successively into view, and +scattering its own fresh light over all. Such a visit, therefore, could +not fail to be soothing and gratifying to Sheridan; and, on parting, both +Lord Holland and Mr. Rogers comforted him with the assurance that some +steps should be taken to ward off the immediate evils that he dreaded. + +An evening or two after, (Wednesday, May 15,) I was with Mr. Rogers, +when, on returning home, he found the following afflicting note upon his +table:-- + +"_Saville-Row_. + +"I find things settled so that 150_l_. will remove all difficulty. I +am absolutely undone and broken-hearted. I shall negotiate for the Plays +successfully in the course of a week, when all shall be returned. I have +desired Fairbrother to get back the Guarantee for thirty. + +"They are going to put the carpets out of window, and break into Mrs. +S.'s room and _take me_--for God's sake let me see you. + +"R. B. S." + +It was too late to do any thing when this note was received, being then +between twelve and one at night; but Mr. Rogers and I walked down to +Saville-Row together to assure ourselves that the threatened arrest had +not yet been put in execution. A servant spoke to us out of the area, and +said that all was safe for the night, but that it was intended, in +pursuance of this new proceeding, to paste bills over the front of the +house next day. + +On the following morning I was early with Mr. Rogers, and willingly +undertook to be the bearer of a draft for 150_l_. [Footnote: Lord +Holland afterwards insisted upon paying the half of this sum,--which was +not the first of the same amount that my liberal friend, Mr. Rogers, had +advanced for Sheridan.] to Saville-Row. I found Mr. Sheridan good-natured +and cordial as ever; and though he was then within a few weeks of his +death, his voice had not lost its fulness or strength, nor was that +lustre, for which his eyes were so remarkable, diminished. He showed, +too, his usual sanguineness of disposition in speaking of the price that +he expected for his Dramatic Works, and of the certainty he felt of being +able to arrange all his affairs, if his complaint would but suffer him to +leave his bed. In the following month, his powers began rapidly to fail +him;--his stomach was completely worn out, and could no longer bear any +kind of sustenance. During the whole of this time, as far as I can learn, +it does not appear that, (with the exceptions I have mentioned,) any one +of his Noble or Royal friends ever called at his door, or even sent to +inquire after him! + +About this period Doctor Bain received the following note from Mr. +Vaughan:-- + +"MY DEAR SIR, + +"An apology in a case of humanity is scarcely necessary, besides I have +the honor of a slight acquaintance with you. A friend of mine, hearing of +_our friend_ Sheridan's forlorn situation, and that he has neither +money nor credit for a few comforts, has employed me to convey a small +sum for his use, through such channel as I think right. I can devise none +better than through you. If I had had the good fortune to have seen you, +I should have left for this purpose a draft for 50_l_. Perhaps as +much more might be had if it will be conducive to a good end--of course +you must feel it is not for the purpose of satisfying troublesome people. +I will say more to you if you will do me the honor of a call in your way +to Saville-Street to-morrow. I am a mere agent. + +"I am, + +"My dear Sir, + +"Most truly yours, + +"23, _Grafton-Street_. + +"JOHN TAYLOR VAUGHAN. + +"If I should not see you before twelve, I will come through the passage +to you." + +In his interview with Dr. Bain, Mr. Vaughan stated, that the sum thus +placed at his disposal was, in all, 200_l_.; [Footnote: Mr. Vaughan +did not give Doctor Bain to understand that he was authorized to go +beyond the 200_l_.; but, in a conversation which I had with him a +year or two after, in contemplation of this Memoir, he told me that a +further supply was intended.] and the proposition being submitted to Mrs. +Sheridan, that lady, after consulting with some of her relatives, +returned for answer that, as there was a sufficiency of means to provide +all that was necessary for her husband's comfort, as well as her own, she +begged leave to decline the offer. + +Mr. Vaughan always said, that the donation, thus meant to be doled out, +came from a Royal hand;--but this is hardly credible. It would be safer, +perhaps, to let the suspicion rest upon that gentleman's memory, of +having indulged his own benevolent disposition in this disguise, than to +suppose it possible that so scanty and reluctant a benefaction was the +sole mark of attention accorded by a "gracious Prince and Master" +[Footnote: See Sheridan's Letter, page 268.] to the last, death-bed wants +of one of the most accomplished and faithful servants, that Royalty ever +yet raised or ruined by its smiles. When the philosopher Anaxagoras lay +dying for want of sustenance, his great pupil, Pericles, sent him a sum +of money. "Take it back," said Anaxagoras--"if he wished to keep the lamp +alive, he ought to have administered the oil before!" + +In the mean time, the clamors and incursions of creditors increased. A +sheriff's officer at length arrested the dying man in his bed, and was +about to carry him off, in his blankets, to a spunging-house, when Doctor +Bain interfered--and, by threatening the officer with the responsibility +he must incur, if, as was but too probable, his prisoner should expire on +the way, averted this outrage. + +About the middle of June, the attention and sympathy of the Public were, +for the first time, awakened to the desolate situation of Sheridan, by an +article that appeared in the Morning Post,--written, as I understand, by +a gentleman, who, though on no very cordial terms with him, forgot every +other feeling in a generous pity for his fate, and in honest indignation +against those who now deserted him. "Oh delay not," said the writer, +without naming the person to whom he alluded--"delay not to draw aside +the curtain within which that proud spirit hides its sufferings." He then +adds, with a striking anticipation of what afterwards happened:--"Prefer +ministering in the chamber of sickness to mustering at + + 'The splendid sorrows that adorn the hearse;' + +I say, _Life_ and _Succor_ against Westminster-Abbey and a +Funeral!" + +This article produced a strong and general sensation, and was reprinted +in the same paper the following day. Its effect, too, was soon visible in +the calls made at Sheridan's door, and in the appearance of such names as +the Duke of York, the Duke of Argyle, &c. among the visitors. But it was +now too late;--the spirit, that these unavailing tributes might once have +comforted, was now fast losing the consciousness of every thing earthly, +but pain. After a succession of shivering fits, he fell into a state of +exhaustion, in which he continued, with but few more signs of suffering, +till his death. A day or two before that event, the Bishop of London read +prayers by his bed-side; and on Sunday, the seventh of July, in the +sixty-fifth year of his age, he died. + +On the following Saturday the Funeral took place;--his remains having +been previously removed from Saville-Row to the house of his friend, Mr. +Peter Moore, in Great George-Street, Westminster. From thence, at one +o'clock, the procession moved on foot to the Abbey, where, in the only +spot in Poet's Corner that remained unoccupied, the body was interred; +and the following simple inscription marks its resting-place:-- + + +"RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, + +BORN, 1751, + +DIED, 7th JULY, 1816. + +THIS MARBLE IS THE TRIBUTE OF AN ATTACHED + +FRIEND, + +PETER MOORE." + + +Seldom has there been seen such an array of rank as graced this Funeral. +[Footnote: It was well remarked by a French Journal, in contrasting the +penury of Sheridan's latter years with the splendor of his Funeral, that +"France is the place for a man of letters to live in, and England the +place for him to die in."] The Pall-bearers were the Duke of Bedford, the +Earl of Lauderdale, Earl Mulgrave, the Lord Bishop of London, Lord +Holland, and Lord Spencer. Among the mourners were His Royal Highness the +Duke of York, His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Argyle, +the Marquisses of Anglesea and Tavistock; the Earls of Thanet, Jersey, +Harrington, Besborough, Mexborough, Rosslyn, and Yarmouth; Lords George +Cavendish and Robert Spencer; Viscounts Sidmouth, Granville, and +Duncannon; Lords Rivers, Erskine, and Lynedoch; the Lord Mayor; Right +Hon. G. Canning and W. W. Pole, &c., &c. [Footnote: In the train of all +this phalanx of Dukes, Marquisses, Earls, Viscounts, Barons, Honorables, +and Right Honorables, Princes of the Blood Royal, and First Officers of +the State, it was not a little interesting to see, walking humbly, side +by side, the only two men whose friendship had not waited for the call of +vanity to display itself--Dr. Bain and Mr. Rogers.] + +Where were they all, these Royal and Noble persons, who now crowded to +"partake the gale" of Sheridan's glory--where were they all while any +life remained in him? Where were they all, but a few weeks before, when +their interposition might have saved his heart from breaking,--or when +the zeal, now wasted on the grave, might have soothed and comforted the +death-bed? This is a subject on which it is difficult to speak with +patience. If the man was unworthy of the commonest offices of humanity +while he lived, why all this parade of regret and homage over his tomb? + +There appeared some verses at the time, which, however intemperate in +their satire and careless in their style, came, evidently, warm from the +heart of the writer, and contained sentiments to which, even in his +cooler moments, he needs not hesitate to subscribe:-- + + + "Oh it sickens the heart to see bosoms so hollow, + And friendships so false in the great and high-born;-- + To think what a long line of Titles may follow + The relics of him who died, friendless and lorn! + + "How proud they can press to the funeral array + Of him whom they shunn'd, in his sickness and sorrow-- + How bailiffs may seize his last blanket to-day, + Whose pall shall be held up by Nobles to-morrow!" + +The anonymous writer thus characterizes the talents of Sheridan:-- + + "Was this, then, the fate of that high-gifted man, + The pride of the palace, the bower, and the hall-- + The orator, dramatist, minstrel,--who ran + Through each mode of the lyre, and was master of all. + + "Whose mind was an essence, compounded, with art, + From the finest and best of all other men's powers;-- + Who rul'd, like a wizard, the world of the heart, + And could call up its sunshine, or draw down its showers;-- + + "Whose humor, as gay as the fire-fly's light, + Play'd round every subject, and shone, as it play'd;-- + Whose wit, in the combat as gentle as bright, + Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade;-- + + "Whose eloquence brightened whatever it tried, + Whether reason or fancy, the gay or the grave, + Was as rapid, as deep, and as brilliant a tide, + As ever bore Freedom aloft on its wave!" + + * * * * * + +Though a perusal of the foregoing pages has, I trust, sufficiently +furnished the reader with materials out of which to form his own estimate +of the character of Sheridan, a few general remarks may, at parting, be +allowed me--rather with a view to convey the impressions left upon +myself, than with any presumptuous hope of influencing the deductions of +others. + +In considering the intellectual powers of this extraordinary man, the +circumstance that first strikes us is the very scanty foundation of +instruction, upon which he contrived to raise himself to such eminence +both as a writer and a politician. It is true, in the line of authorship +he pursued, erudition was not so much wanting; and his wit, like the +laurel of Caesar, was leafy enough to hide any bareness in this respect. +In politics, too, he had the advantage of entering upon his career, at a +time when habits of business and a knowledge of details were less looked +for in public men than they are at present, and when the House of Commons +was, for various reasons, a more open play-ground for eloquence and wit. +The great increase of public business, since then, has necessarily made a +considerable change in this respect. Not only has the time of the +Legislature become too precious to be wasted upon the mere gymnastics of +rhetoric, but even those graces, with which true Oratory surrounds her +statements, are but impatiently borne, where the statement itself is the +primary and pressing object of the hearer. [Footnote: The new light that +as been thrown on Political Science may also, perhaps, be assigned as a +reason for this evident revolution in Parliamentary taste. "Truth." says +Lord Bacon, "is a naked and open daylight, that doth not show the +masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the present world half so stately +and daintily as candle-lights;"--and there can be little doubt that the +clearer and important truths are made, the less controversy they will +excite among fair and rational men, and the less passion and fancy +accordingly can eloquence infuse into the discussion of them. Mathematics +have produced no quarrels among mankind--it is by the mysterious and the +vague, that temper as well as imagination is most roused. In proof of +this while the acknowledged clearness almost to truism, which the leading +principles of Political Science have attained, has tended to simplify and +tame down the activities of eloquence on that subject. There is still +another arena left, in the science of the Law, where the same +illumination of truth has not yet penetrated, and where Oratory will +still continue to work her perplexing spells, till Common Sense and the +plain principles of Utility shall find their way there also to weaken +them.] Burke, we know, was, even for his own time, too much addicted to +what falconers would call _raking_, or flying wide of his game; but +there was hardly, perhaps, one among his great contemporaries, who, if +beginning his career at present, would not find it, in some degree, +necessary to conform his style to the taste for business and +matter-of-fact that is prevalent. Mr. Pitt would be compelled to curtail +the march of his sentences--Mr. Fox would learn to repeat himself less +lavishly--nor would Mr. Sheridan venture to enliven a question of +evidence by a long and pathetic appeal to Filial Piety. + +In addition to this change in the character and taste of the House of +Commons, which, while it has lowered the value of some of the +qualifications possessed by Sheridan, has created a demand for others of +a more useful but less splendid kind, which his education and habits of +life would have rendered less easily attainable by him, we must take also +into account the prodigious difference produced by the general movement, +at present, of the whole civilized world towards knowledge;--a movement, +which no public man, however great his natural talents, could now lag +behind with impunity, and which requires nothing less than the versatile +and _encyclopaedic_ powers of a Brougham to keep pace with it. + +Another striking characteristic of Sheridan, as an orator and a writer, +was the great degree of labor and preparation which his productions in +both lines cost him. Of this the reader has seen some curious proofs in +the preceding pages. Though the papers left behind by him have added +nothing to the stock of his _chef-d'oeuvres_, they have given us an +insight into his manner of producing his great works, which is, perhaps, +the next most interesting thing to the works themselves. Though no new +star has been discovered, the history of the formation of those we +already possess, and of the gradual process by which they were brought +"firm to retain their gathered beams," has, as in the instance of The +School for Scandal, been most interestingly unfolded to us. + +The same marks of labor are discoverable throughout the whole of his +Parliamentary career. He never made a speech of any moment, of which the +sketch, more or less detailed, has not been found among his papers--with +the showier passages generally written two or three times over, (often +without any material change in their form,) upon small detached pieces of +paper, or on cards. To such minutiae of effect did he attend, that I have +found, in more than one instance, a memorandum made of the precise place +in which the words "Good God, Mr. Speaker," were to be introduced. These +preparatory sketches are continued down to his latest displays; and it is +observable that when from the increased derangement of his affairs, he +had no longer leisure or collectedness enough to prepare, he ceased to +speak. + +The only time he could have found for this pre-arrangement of his +thoughts, (of which few, from the apparent idleness of his life, +suspected him,) must have been during the many hours of the day that he +remained in bed,--when, frequently, while the world gave him credit for +being asleep, he was employed in laying the frame-work of his wit and +eloquence for the evening. + +That this habit of premeditation was not altogether owing to a want of +quickness, appears from the power and liveliness of his replies in +Parliament, and the vivacity of some of his retorts in conversation. +[Footnote: His best _bon mots_ are in the memory of every one. Among +those less known, perhaps, is his answer to General T----, relative to +some difference of opinion between them on the War in Spain:--"Well, +T----, are you still on your high horse?"--"If I was on a horse before, I +am upon an elephant now." "No, T----, you were upon an _ass_ before, +now you are upon a _mule_." + +Some mention having been made in his presence of a Tax upon Milestones. +Sheridan said, "such a tax would be unconstitutional,--as they were a +race that could not meet to remonstrate." + +As an instance of his humor, I have been told that, in some country-house +where he was on a visit, an elderly maiden lady having set her heart on +being his companion in a walk, he excused himself at first on account of +the badness of the weather. Soon afterwards, however, the lady +intercepted him in an attempt to escape without her:--"Well," she said, +"it has cleared up, I see." "Why, yes," he answered, "it has cleared up +enough for _one_, but not for _two_."] The labor, indeed, which +he found necessary for his public displays, was, in a great degree, the +combined effect of his ignorance and his taste;--the one rendering him +fearful of committing himself on the _matter_ of his task, and the +other making him fastidious and hesitating as to the _manner_ of it. +I cannot help thinking, however, that there must have been, also, a +degree of natural slowness in the first movements of his mind upon any +topic; and, that, like those animals which remain gazing upon their prey +before they seize it, he found it necessary to look intently at his +subject for some time, before he was able to make the last, quick spring +that mastered it. + +Among the proofs of this dependence of his fancy upon time and thought +for its development, may be mentioned his familiar letters, as far as +their fewness enables us to judge. Had his wit been a "fruit, that would +fall without shaking," we should, in these communications at least, find +some casual windfalls of it. But, from the want of sufficient time to +search and cull, he seems to have given up, in despair, all thoughts of +being lively in his letters; and accordingly, as the reader must have +observed in the specimens that have been given, his compositions in this +way are not only unenlivened by any excursions beyond the bounds of mere +matter of fact, but, from the habit or necessity of taking a certain +portion of time for correction, are singularly confused, disjointed, and +inelegant in their style. + +It is certain that even his _bon-mots_ in society were not always to +be set down to the credit of the occasion; but that frequently, like +skilful priests, he prepared the miracle of the moment before-hand. +Nothing, indeed, could be more remarkable than the patience and tact, +with which he would wait through a whole evening for the exact moment, +when the shaft which he had ready feathered, might be let fly with +effect. There was no effort, either obvious or disguised, to lead to the +subject--no "question detached, (as he himself expresses it,) to draw you +into the ambuscade of his ready-made joke"--and, when the lucky moment +did arrive, the natural and accidental manner in which he would let this +treasured sentence fall from his lips, considerably added to the +astonishment and the charm. So bright a thing, produced so easily, seemed +like the delivery of Wieland's [Footnote: See Sotheby's admirable +Translation of Oberon, Canto 9.] Amanda in a dream;--and his own apparent +unconsciousness of the value of what he said might have deceived dull +people into the idea that there was really nothing in it. + +The consequence of this practice of waiting for the moment of effect was, +(as all, who have been much in his society, must have observed,) that he +would remain inert in conversation, and even taciturn, for hours, and +then suddenly come out with some brilliant sally, which threw a light +over the whole evening, and was carried away in the memories of all +present. Nor must it be supposed that in the intervals, either before or +after these flashes, he ceased to be agreeable; on the contrary, he had a +grace and good nature in his manner, which gave a charm to even his most +ordinary sayings,--and there was, besides, that ever-speaking lustre in +his eye, which made it impossible, even when he was silent, to forget who +he was. + +A curious instance of the care with which he treasured up the felicities +of his wit, appears in the use he made of one of those epigrammatic +passages, which the reader may remember among the memorandums for his +Comedy of Affectation, and which, in its first form, ran thus:--"He +certainly has a great deal of fancy, and a very good memory; but, with a +perverse ingenuity, he employs these qualities as no other person +does--for he employs his fancy in his narratives, and keeps his +recollection for his wit:--when he makes his jokes, you applaud the +accuracy of his memory, and 'tis only when he states his facts that you +admire the flights of his imagination." After many efforts to express +this thought more concisely, and to reduce the language of it to that +condensed and elastic state, in which alone it gives force to the +projectiles of wit, he kept the passage by him patiently some +years,--till at length he found an opportunity of turning it to account, +in a reply, I believe, to Mr. Dundas, in the House of Commons, when, with +the most extemporaneous air, he brought it forth, in the following +compact and pointed form:--"The Right Honorable Gentleman is indebted to +his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts." + +His Political Character stands out so fully in these pages, that it is +needless, by any comments, to attempt to raise it into stronger relief. +If to watch over the Rights of the Subject, and guard them against the +encroachments of Power, be, even in safe and ordinary times, a task full +of usefulness and honor, how much more glorious to have stood sentinel +over the same sacred trust, through a period so trying as that with which +Sheridan had to struggle--when Liberty itself had become suspected and +unpopular--when Authority had succeeded in identifying patriotism with +treason, and when the few remaining and deserted friends of Freedom were +reduced to take their stand on a narrowing isthmus, between Anarchy on +one side, and the angry incursions of Power on the other. How manfully he +maintained his ground in a position so critical, the annals of England +and of the Champions of her Constitution will long testify. The truly +national spirit, too, with which, when that struggle was past, and the +dangers to liberty from without seemed greater than any from within, he +forgot all past differences, in the one common cause of Englishmen, and, +while others "gave but the _left_ hand to the Country," [Footnote: +His own words] proffered her _both_ of his, stamped a seal of +sincerity on his public conduct, which, in the eyes of all England, +authenticated it as genuine patriotism. + +To his own party, it is true, his conduct presented a very different +phasis; and if implicit partisanship were the sole merit of a public man, +his movements, at this and other junctures, were far too independent and +unharnessed to lay claim to it. But, however useful may be the bond of +Party, there are occasions that supersede it; and, in all such deviations +from the fidelity which it enjoins, the two questions to be asked +are--were they, as regarded the Public, right? were they, as regarded the +individual himself, unpurchased? To the former question, in the instance +of Sheridan, the whole country responded in the affirmative; and to the +latter, his account with the Treasury, from first to last, is a +sufficient answer. + +Even, however, on the score of fidelity to Party, when we recollect that +he more than once submitted to some of the worst martyrdoms which it +imposes--that of sharing in the responsibility of opinions from which he +dissented, and suffering by the ill consequences of measures against +which he had protested;--when we call to mind, too, that during the +Administration of Mr. Addington, though agreeing wholly with the Ministry +and differing with the Whigs, he even then refused to profit by a +position so favorable to his interests, and submitted, like certain +religionists, from a point of honor, to suffer for a faith in which he +did not believe--it seems impossible not to concede that even to the +obligations of Party he was as faithful as could be expected from a +spirit that so far outgrew its limits, and, in paying the tax of fidelity +while he asserted the freedom of dissent, showed that he could sacrifice +every thing to it, except his opinion. Through all these occasional +variations, too, he remained a genuine Whig to the last; and, as I have +heard one of his own party happily express it, was "like pure gold, that +changes color in the fire, but comes out unaltered." + +The transaction in 1812, relative to the Household, was, as I have +already said, the least defensible part of his public life. But it should +be recollected hove broken he was, both in mind and body, at that +period;--his resources from the Theatre at an end,--the shelter of +Parliament about to be taken from over his head also,--and old age and +sickness coming on, as every hope and comfort vanished. In that wreck of +all around him, the friendship of Carlton-House was the last asylum left +to his pride and his hope; and that even character itself should, in a +too zealous moment, have been one of the sacrifices offered up at the +shrine that protected him, is a subject more of deep regret than of +wonder. The poet Cowley, in speaking of the unproductiveness of those +pursuits connected with Wit and Fancy, says beautifully-- + + "Where such fairies once have danc'd, no grass will ever grow;" + +but, unfortunately, thorns _will_ grow there;--and he who walks +unsteadily among such thorns as now beset the once enchanted path of +Sheridan, ought not, after all, to be very severely criticised. + +His social qualities were, unluckily for himself but too attractive. In +addition to his powers of conversation, there was a well-bred good-nature +in his manner, as well as a deference to the remarks and opinions of +others, the want of which very often, in distinguished wits, offends the +self-love of their hearers, and makes even the dues of admiration that +they levy a sort of "_Droit de Seigneur_," paid with unwillingness +and distaste. + +No one was so ready and cheerful in promoting the amusements of a +country-house; and on a rural excursion he was always the soul of the +party. His talent at dressing a little dish was often put in requisition +on such occasions, and an Irish stew was that on which he particularly +plumed himself. Some friends of his recall with delight a day of this +kind which they passed with him, when he made the whole party act over +the Battle of the Pyramids on Marsden Moor, and ordered "Captain" Creevey +and others upon various services, against the cows and donkeys entrenched +in the ditches. Being of so playful a disposition himself, it was not +wonderful that he should take such pleasure in the society of children. I +have been told, as doubly characteristic of him, that he has often, at +Mr. Monckton's, kept a chaise and four waiting half the day for him at +the door, while he romped with the children. + +In what are called _Ver de Sociétié_, or drawing-room verses, he +took great delight; and there remain among his papers several sketches of +these trifles. I once heard him repeat in a ballroom, some verses which +he had lately written on Waltzing, and of which I remember the following: + + "With tranquil step, and timid, downcast glance, + Behold the well-pair'd couple now advance. + In such sweet posture our first Parents mov'd, + While, hand in hand, through Eden's bowers they rov'd; + Ere yet the Devil, with promise foul and false, + Turn'd their poor heads and taught them how to _Walse_. + One hand grasps hers, the other holds her hip-- + * * * * * + For so the Law's laid down by Baron Trip." + +[Footnote: This gentleman, whose name suits so aptly as legal authority +on the subject of Waltzing, was at the time these verses were written, +well known in the dancing circles.] + +He had a sort of hereditary fancy for difficult trifling in +poetry;--particularly for that sort, which consists in rhyming to the +same word through a long string of couplets, till every rhyme that the +language supplies for it is exhausted, [Footnote: Some verses by General +Fitzpatrick on Lord Holland's father are the best specimen that I know of +this sort of _Scherzo_.] The following are specimens from a poem of +this kind, which he wrote on the loss of a lady's trunk:-- + +"MY TRUNK! + +"(_To Anne_.) + + "Have you heard, my deer Anne, how my spirits are sunk? + Have you heard of the cause? Oh, the loss of my _Trunk_! + From exertion or firmness I've never yet slunk; + But my fortitude's gone with the loss of my _Trunk_! + Stout Lucy, my maid, is a damsel of spunk; + Yet she weeps night and day for the loss of my _Trunk_! + I'd better turn nun, and coquet with a monk; + For with whom can I flirt without aid from my _Trunk_! + * * * * * + Accurs'd be the thief, the old rascally hunks; + Who rifles the fair, and lays hands on their _Trunks_! + He, who robs the King's stores of the least bit of junk, + Is hang'd--while he's safe, who has plunder'd my _Trunk_! + * * * * * + There's a phrase amongst lawyers, when _nune's_ put for _tune_; + But, tune and nune both, must I grieve for my _Trunk_! + Huge leaves of that great commentator, old Brunck, + Perhaps was the paper that lin'd my poor _Trunk_! + But my rhymes are all out;--for I dare not use st--k; [1] + 'Twould shock Sheridan more than the loss of my _Trunk_!" + +[Footnote 1: He had a particular horror of this word.] + +From another of these trifles, (which, no doubt, produced much gaiety at +the breakfast-table,) the following extracts will be sufficient:-- + + "Muse, assist me to complain, + While I grieve for Lady _Jane_. + I ne'er was in so sad a vein, + Deserted now by Lady _Jane_. + * * * * * + Lord Petre's house was built by Payne-- + No mortal architect made _Jane_. + If hearts had windows, through the pane + Of mine you'd see sweet Lady _Jane_. + * * * * * + At breakfast I could scarce refrain + From tears at missing lovely _Jane_, + Nine rolls I eat, in hopes to gain + The roll that might have fall'n to _Jane_," &c. + +Another written on a Mr. _Bigg_, contains some ludicrous couplets:-- + + "I own he's not fam'd for a reel or a jig, + Tom Sheridan there surpasses Tom _Bigg_.-- + For lam'd in one thigh, he is obliged to go zig- + Zag, like a crab--for no dancer is _Bigg_. + Those who think him a coxcomb, or call him a prig, + How little they know of the mind of my _Bigg_! + Tho' he ne'er can be mine, Hope will catch a twig-- + Two Deaths--and I yet may become Mrs. _Bigg_. + Oh give me, with him, but a cottage and pig, + And content I would live on Beans, Bacon, and _Bigg_." + +A few more of these light productions remain among his papers, but their +wit is gone with those for whom they were written;--the wings of Time +"eripuere _jocos_." + +Of a very different description are the following striking and spirited +fragments, (which ought to have been mentioned in a former part of this +work,) written by him, apparently, about the year 1794, and addressed to +the Naval heroes of that period, to console them for the neglect they +experienced from the Government, while ribands and titles were lavished +on the Whig Seceders:-- + + "Never mind them, brave black Dick, + Though they've played thee such a trick-- + Damn their ribands and their garters, + Get you to your post and quarters. + Look upon the azure sea, + There's a Sailor's Taffety! + Mark the Zodiac's radiant bow, + That's a collar fit for HOWE!-- + And, then P--tl--d's brighter far, + The Pole shall furnish you a Star! [1] + Damn their ribands and their garters, + Get you to your post and quarters, + Think, on what things are ribands showered-- + The two Sir Georges--Y---- and H---! + Look to what rubbish Stars will stick, + To Dicky H----n and Johnny D----k! + Would it be for your country's good, + That you might pass for Alec. H----d, + Or, perhaps,--and worse by half-- + To be mistaken for Sir R----h! + Would you, like C----, pine with spleen, + Because your bit of silk was green? + Would you, like C----, change your side, + To have your silk new dipt and dyed?-- + Like him exclaim, 'My riband's hue + Was green--and now, by Heav'ns! 'tis blue,' + And, like him--stain your honor too? + Damn their ribands and their garters, + Get you to your post and quarters. + On the foes of Britain close, + While B----k garters his Dutch hose, + And cons, with spectacles on nose, + (While to battle _you_ advance,) + His '_Honi soit qui mal y pense_.'" + * * * * * +[Footnote 1: This reminds me of a happy application which he made, upon a +subsequent occasion, of two lines of Dryden:-- + + "When men like Erskine go astray, + The stars are more in fault than they."] + +It has been seen, by a letter of his sister already given, that, when +young, he was generally accounted handsome; but, in later years, his eyes +were the only testimonials of beauty that remained to him. It was, +indeed, in the upper part of his face that the Spirit of the man chiefly +reigned;--the dominion of the world and the Senses being rather strongly +marked out in the lower. In his person, he was above the middle size, and +his general make was, as I have already said, robust and well +proportioned. It is remarkable that his arms, though of powerful +strength, were thin, and appeared by no means muscular. His hands were +small and delicate; and the following couplet, written on a cast from one +of them, very livelily enumerates both its physical and moral qualities:-- + + "Good at a Fight, but better at a Play, + Godlike in giving, but--the Devil to Pay!" + +Among his habits, it may not be uninteresting to know that his hours of +composition, as long as he continued to be an author, were at night, and +that he required a profusion of lights around him while he wrote. Wine, +too, was one of his favorite helps to inspiration;--"If the thought, (he +would say,) is slow to come, a glass of good wine encourages it, and, +when it _does_ come, a glass of good wine rewards it." + +Having taken a cursory view of his Literary, Political, and Social +qualities, it remains for me to say a few words upon that most important +point of all, his Moral character. + +There are few persons, as we have seen, to whose kind and affectionate +conduct, in some of the most interesting relations of domestic life, so +many strong and honorable testimonies remain. The pains he took to win +back the estranged feelings of his father, and the filial tenderness with +which he repaid long years of parental caprice, show a heart that had, at +least, set out by the right road, however, in after years, it may have +missed the way. The enthusiastic love which his sister bore him, and +retained unblighted by distance or neglect, is another proof of the +influence of his amiable feelings, at that period of life when he was as +yet unspoiled by the world. We have seen the romantic fondness which he +preserved towards the first Mrs. Sheridan, even while doing his utmost, +and in vain, to extinguish the same feeling in her. With the second wife, +a course, nearly similar, was run;--the same "scatterings and eclipses" +of affection, from the irregularities and vanities, in which he continued +to indulge, but the same hold kept of each other's hearts to the last. +Her early letters to him breathe a passion little short of idolatry, and +her devoted attentions beside his death-bed showed that the essential +part of the feeling still remained. + +To claim an exemption for frailties and irregularities on the score of +genius, while there are such names as Milton and Newton on record, were +to be blind to the example which these and other great men have left, of +the grandest intellectual powers combined with the most virtuous lives. +But, for the bias given early to the mind by education and circumstances, +even the least charitable may be inclined to make large allowances. We +have seen how idly the young days of Sheridan were wasted--how soon he +was left, (in the words of the Prophet,) "to dwell carelessly ," and with +what an undisciplined temperament he was thrown upon the world, to meet +at every step that never-failing spring of temptation, which, like the +fatal fountain in the Garden of Armida, sparkles up for ever in the +pathway of such a man:-- + + "Un fonte sorge in lei, che vaghe e monde + Ha l'acque si, che i riguardanti asseta, + Ma dentro ai freddi suoi cristalli asconde + Di tosco estran malvagita secreta." + +Even marriage, which is among the sedatives of other men's lives, but +formed a part of the romance of his. The very attractions of his wife +increased his danger, by doubling, as it were the power of the world over +him, and leading him astray by her light as well as by his own. Had his +talents, even then, been subjected to the _manège_ of a profession, +there was still a chance that business, and the round of regularity which +it requires, might have infused some spirit of order into his life. But +the Stage--his glory and his ruin--opened upon him; and the property of +which it made him master was exactly of that treacherous kind which not +only deceives a man himself, but enables him to deceive others, and thus +combined all that a person of his carelessness and ambition had most to +dread. An uncertain income, which, by eluding calculation, gives an +excuse for improvidence, [Footnote: How feelingly aware he was of this +great source of all his misfortunes appears from a passage in the able +speech which he delivered before the Chancellor, as Counsel in his own +case, in the year 1799 or 1800:-- + +"It is a great disadvantage, relatively speaking, to any man, and +especially to a very careless, and a very sanguine man, to have possessed +an uncertain and fluctuating income. That disadvantage is greatly +increased, if the person so circumstanced has conceived himself to be in +some degree entitled to presume that, by the exertion of his own talents, +he may at pleasure increase that income--thereby becoming induced to make +promises to himself which he may afterwards fail to fulfil. + +"Occasional excess and frequent unpunctuality will be the natural +consequences of such a situation. But, my Lord, to exceed an ascertained +and limited income, I hold to be a very different matter. In that +situation I have placed myself, (not since the present unexpected +contention arose, for since then I would have adopted no arrangements,) +but months since, by my Deed of Trust to Mr. Adam, and in that situation +I shall remain until every debt on earth, in which the Theatre or I am +concerned, shall be fully and fairly discharged. Till then I will live on +what remains to me--preserving that spirit of undaunted independence, +which, both as a public and a private man, I trust, I have hitherto +maintained."] and, still more fatal, a facility of raising money, by +which the lesson, that the pressure of distress brings with it, is evaded +till it comes too late to be of use--such was the dangerous power put +into his hands, in his six-and-twentieth year, and amidst the +intoxication of as deep and quick draughts of fame as ever young author +quaffed. Scarcely had the zest of this excitement begun to wear off, when +he was suddenly transported into another sphere, where successes still +more flattering to his vanity awaited him. Without any increase of means, +he became the companion and friend of the first Nobles and Princes, and +paid the usual tax of such unequal friendships, by, in the end, losing +them and ruining himself. The vicissitudes of a political life, and those +deceitful vistas into office that were for ever opening on his party, +made his hopes as fluctuating and uncertain as his means, and encouraged +the same delusive calculations on both. He seemed, at every new turn of +affairs, to be on the point of redeeming himself; and the confidence of +others in his resources was no less fatal to him than his own, as it but +increased the facilities of ruin that surrounded him. + +Such a career as this--so shaped towards wrong, so inevitably devious--it +is impossible to regard otherwise than with the most charitable +allowances. It was one long paroxysm of excitement--no pause for +thought--no inducements to prudence--the attractions all drawing the +wrong way, and a Voice, like that which Bossuet describes, crying +inexorably from behind him "On, on!" [Footnote: "La loi est prononcee; il +faut avancer toujours. Je voudrois retourner sur mes pas; 'Marche, +Marche!' Un poids invincible nous entraine; il faut sans cesse avancer +vers le precipice. On se console pourtant, parce que de tems en tems on +rencontre des objets qui nous divertissent, des eaux courantes, des +fleurs qui passent. On voudroit arreter; 'Marche, Marche!'"--_Sermon +sur la Resurrection_.] Instead of wondering at the wreck that followed +all this, our only surprise should be, that so much remained uninjured +through the trial,--that his natural good feelings should have struggled +to the last with his habits, and his sense of all that was right in +conduct so long survived his ability to practise it. + +Numerous, however, as were the causes that concurred to disorganize his +moral character, in his pecuniary embarrassment lay the source of those +blemishes, that discredited him most in the eyes of the world. He might +have indulged his vanity and his passions, like others, with but little +loss of reputation, if the consequence of these indulgences had not been +obtruded upon observation in the forbidding form of debts and distresses. +So much did his friend Richardson, who thoroughly knew him, consider his +whole character to have been influenced by the straitened circumstances +in which he was placed, that he used often to say, "If an enchanter +could, by the touch of his wand, endow Sheridan suddenly with fortune, he +would instantly transform him into a most honorable and moral man." As +some corroboration of this opinion, I must say that, in the course of the +inquiries which my task of biographer imposed upon me, I have found all +who were ever engaged in pecuniary dealings with him, not excepting those +who suffered most severely by his irregularities, (among which class I +may cite the respected name of Mr. Hammersley,) unanimous in expressing +their conviction that he always _meant_ fairly and honorably; and +that to the inevitable pressure of circumstances alone, any failure that +occurred in his engagements was to be imputed. + +There cannot, indeed, be a stronger exemplification of the truth, that a +want of regularity [Footnote: His improvidence in every thing connected +with money was most remarkable. He would frequently be obliged to stop on +his journies, for want of the means of getting on, and to remain living +expensively at an inn, till a remittance could reach him. His letters to +the treasurer of the theatre on these occasions were generally headed +with the words "Money-bound." A friend of his told me, that one morning, +while waiting for him in his study, he cast his eyes over the heap of +unopened letters that lay upon the table, and, seeing one or two with +coronets on the seals, said to Mr. Westley, the treasurer, who was +present, "I see we are all treated alike." Mr. Westley then informed him +that he had once found, on looking over this table, a letter which he had +himself sent, a few weeks before, to Mr. Sheridan, enclosing a ten-pound +note, to release him from some inn, but which Sheridan, having raised the +supplies in some other way, had never thought of opening. The prudent +treasurer took away the letter, and reserved the enclosure for some +future exigence. + +Among instances of his inattention to letters, the following is +mentioned. Going one day to the banking-house, where he was accustomed to +receive his salary, as Receiver of Cornwall, and where they sometimes +accommodated him with small sums before the regular time of payment, he +asked, with all due humility, whether they could oblige him with the loan +of twenty pounds. "Certainly, Sir," said the clerk,--"would you like any +more--fifty, or a hundred?" Sheridan, all smiles and gratitude, answered +that a hundred pounds would be of the greatest convenience to him. +"Perhaps you would like to take two hundred, or three?" said the clerk. +At every increase of the sum, the surprise of the borrower increased. +"Have not you then received our letter?" said the clerk;--on which it +turned out that, in consequence of the falling in of some fine, a sum of +twelve hundred pounds had been lately placed to the credit of the +Receiver-General, and that, from not having opened the letter written to +apprise him, he had been left in ignorance of his good luck.] becomes, +itself, a vice, from the manifold evils to which it leads, than the whole +history of Mr. Sheridan's pecuniary transactions. So far from never +paying his debts, as is often asserted of him, he was, in fact, always +paying;--but in such a careless and indiscriminate manner, and with so +little justice to himself or others, as often to leave the respectable +creditor to suffer for his patience, while the fraudulent dun was paid +two or three times over. Never examining accounts nor referring to +receipts, he seemed as if, (in imitation of his own Charles, preferring +generosity to justice,) he wished to make paying as like as possible to +giving. Interest, too, with its usual, silent accumulation, swelled every +debt; and I have found several instances among his accounts where the +interest upon a small sum had been suffered to increase till it outgrew +the principal;--"_minima pars ipsa puella sui_." + +Notwithstanding all this, however, his debts were by no means so +considerable as has been supposed. In the year 1808, he empowered Sir R. +Berkely, Mr. Peter Moore, and Mr. Frederick Homan, by power of attorney, +to examine into his pecuniary affairs and take measures for the discharge +of all claims upon him. These gentlemen, on examination, found that his +_bona fide_ debts were about ten thousand pounds, while his apparent +debts amounted to five or six times as much. Whether from +conscientiousness or from pride, however, he would not suffer any of the +claims to be contested, but said that the demands were all fair, and must +be paid just as they were stated;--though it was well known that many of +them had been satisfied more than once. These gentlemen, accordingly, +declined to proceed any further with their commission. + +On the same false feeling he acted in 1813-14, when the balance due on +the sale of his theatrical property was paid him, in a certain number of +Shares. When applied to by any creditor, he would give him one of these +Shares, and allowing his claim entirely on his own showing, leave him to +pay himself out of it, and refund the balance. Thus irregular at all +times, even when most wishing to be right, he deprived honesty itself of +its merit and advantages; and, where he happened to be just, left it +doubtful, (as Locke says of those religious people, who believe right by +chance, without examination,) "whether even the luckiness of the accident +excused the irregularity of the proceeding." [Footnote: Chapter on Reason] + +The consequence, however, of this continual paying was that the number of +his creditors gradually diminished, and that ultimately the amount of his +debts was, taking all circumstances into account, by no means +considerable. Two years after his death it appeared by a list made up by +his Solicitor from claims sent in to him, in consequence of an +advertisement in the newspapers, that the _bonâ fide_ debts amounted +to about five thousand five hundred pounds. + +If, therefore, we consider his pecuniary irregularities in reference to +the injury that they inflicted upon others, the quantum of evil for which +he is responsible becomes, after all, not so great. There are many +persons in the enjoyment of fair characters in the world, who would be +happy to have no deeper encroachment upon the property of others to +answer for; and who may well wonder by what unlucky management Sheridan +could contrive to found so extensive a reputation for bad pay upon so +small an amount of debt. + +Let it never, too, be forgotten, in estimating this part of his +character, that had he been less consistent and disinterested in his +public conduct, he might have commanded the means of being independent +and respectable in private. He might have died a rich apostate, instead +of closing a life of patriotism in beggary. He might, (to use a fine +expression of his own,) have 'hid his head in a coronet,' instead of +earning for it but the barren wreath of public gratitude. While, +therefore, we admire the great sacrifice that he made, let us be tolerant +to the errors and imprudences which it entailed upon him; and, +recollecting how vain it is to look for any thing unalloyed in this +world, rest satisfied with the Martyr, without requiring, also, the Saint. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. +Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2, by Thomas Moore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF R. B. SHERIDAN *** + +This file should be named 7775-8.txt or 7775-8.zip + +Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Connal +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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