strong sympathies of a poet reading a poet." The scanty fortunes of his father denied him the advantage of finishing his studies at the university; and we find him, in 1770, making some abortive attempts to establish a literary periodical, in conjunction with his old schoolfellow, Nathaniel Halhed, afterwards an Indian judge.

It was about this period that Sheridan wrote some amatory addresses to the beautiful Miss Linley, the Cecilia of her day, whose family lived on terms of intimacy with his own. Halhed, Sheridan, and his elder brother Charles, all entertained, at the same time, a passion for this young lady; but his friendly rivals, wisely taking a hint from the signs of mutual attachment between her and Richard Brinsley, gave way to the favoured lover. The biographers of Sheridan affirm, that the infamous solicitations of one Captain Matthews, a married roué, were the means of ripening this love affair into a marriage. This accomplished scoundrel having fruitlessly employed the common means of seduction, at length endeavoured to blacken, by insidious reports, the reputation he could not sully in deed. Thus harassed and persecuted, Miss Linley quitted her father's roof, and surrendered herself to the protecting care of one whom she had promised to accept as her husband. Accompanied by a respectable woman, whose presence obviated the imputation of impropriety, they crossed the Channel; and after a series of adventures not sufficiently interesting for us to record, they were married at a village near Calais, in March, 1772.

This important step being concluded, and the prospects of the bridegroom being far from flattering, it was arranged that the bride should for a time become the inmate of a convent, and she was subsequently received into the house of an English physician. The father of Miss Linley, who was incensed at the flight of his daughter, pursued and soon overtook the wedded pair; but, after some explanatory statements, they returned with him to England, and in April, 1773, they were re-married

according to the rites of the church of England. We must not, however, forget to mention that two duels were fought between Sheridan and Matthews, and in the latter the champion of a wife's honour received such severe wounds, that his life was for some time considered in danger.

Not long before his marriage, Sheridan had entered himself a student of the Middle Temple; but the close application and industry requisite for success as a lawyer, were incompatible with his volatile disposition, and he relinquished all thoughts of being called to the bar, for politics and the drama. The only fortune they possessed was one moiety of 30007., which had been settled upon Miss Linley by an old gentleman, who, having ineffectually tried to gain her hand, generously gave her this sum as a proof of his esteem, while he as generously desisted from urging a matrimonial alliance which her father had not merely sanctioned but used all his means to promote. The other moiety Linley retained as a compensation for the valuable services of his talented daughter. It is true she might have earned a most respectable income by the use of her professional acquirements; but her husband revolted at the idea of seeing the idol of his heart a servant of the public; and they retired to a cottage at East Burnham, where, delighted with each other's society, the happiest days of their lives were passed.

The moderate property with which he set out in the world being soon gone, he applied himself to dramatic composition with an ardour which showed that want and wedded love had stimulated him to unwonted industry. His first effort was the comedy of "The Rivals." This was followed by the comic opera of "The Duenna;" for which his father-in-law, Linley (by this time reconciled), composed the music. It was performed seventyfive times during the season in which it was first produced; and while it added to his fame, it greatly increased his income. But frugality and economy were known to Sheridan only by name, and his expenses continued to outrun his receipts. Yet, by some

means, in conjunction with Linley and Dr. Ford, he contrived to obtain Garrick's share of Drury-lane Theatre; in which, two years afterwards, he purchased the whole of Lacy's interest for 45,000l. and gave his father the appointment of manager. Having produced "The School for Scandal," and "The Critic," and being in a manner satiated with dramatic fame, he endeavoured to form such connexions as might be conducive to his views of getting into parliament.

By means of Mr., subsequently Lord John Townsend, he became acquainted with Fox. "I made the first dinner party," says his lordship, "at which they met; having told Fox that all the notions he might have conceived of Sheridan's talents and genius, from the comedy of "The Rivals," &c. would fall infinitely short of the admiration of his astonishing powers, which I was sure he would entertain at the first interview. The first interview between them (there were very few present, only Tickell and myself, and one or two more) I shall never forget; Fox told me, after breaking up from dinner, that he had always thought Hare, after my uncle Charles Townsend, the wittiest man he had ever met with, but that Sheridan surpassed them both infinitely." Sheridan's admiration of Fox was equally great; and the congeniality of their minds soon produced a close friendship. With Windham he had been previously intimate; and his acquaintance with Burke speedily followed.

Having thus become attached to the leaders of the opposition, he endeavoured to signalize himself as a partizan, by abusing the ministers, in a periodical publication, called the " Englishman;" which was, however, soon discontinued, either on account of its unpopularity, or his own habitual negligence. Early in 1780, he signed the report of a society, termed the Westminster SubCommittee, by which it was insisted that English people had a positive right to annual parliaments. Shortly afterwards he became representative for Stafford, for which he secured his seat, during the next five or six years, at the expense of only £2000.

His first speech was relative to a petition presented against his return; the house heard him with particular attention, but his success does not appear to have equalled the expectation of his friends. After he had spoken he went into the gallery, and asked Woodfall, the reporter, with great anxiety, what he thought of his first essay. Woodfall replied, "Oratory is not in your line; you had better cleave to your literary pursuits." Sheridan was dumb-foundered for a few moments, and then exclaimed with great energy, "It is in me, however, Woodfall, and by Heaven I'll have it out."

The employment of the military during the riots, and Fox's bill for the repeal of the marriage act, were the earliest topics of general interest on which he spoke. At this period, although firmly attached to his party, he did not often join in the debates. His modesty or supineness, during the numberless discussions on that inexhaustible subject, the American war, is of itself, perhaps, sufficient to rebut the assertion, although, "coming," as Moore states, "from an authority, worthy in every respect of the most implicit belief," that towards the close of her struggle with her mother country, the government of America offered him a sum of £20,000, as a tribute of esteem for his services in the cause of liberty. Sheridan is said to have declined the offer; and his elegant biographer pertinently remarks that, "with respect to the credibility of the transaction altogether, it is far less easy to believe that the Americans had so much money to give, than that Mr. Sheridan should have been sufficiently high-minded to refuse it."

On the downfal of Lord North's administration, and the accession to power of the Marquis of Rockingham and his friends, Sheridan was appointed under secretary of state for the war departinent. While in office he spoke indignantly against the measures pursued by England towards the sister kingdom, and supported Pitt's motion for an inquiry as to the state of the representation. The new ministry was speedily dissolved, by the sudden death

of its leader, and the elevation of Lord Shelburne to the premiership. Sheridan resigned with his friends, with whom he continued to act, although he highly disapproved of the coalition of Fox and Lord North; and, gradually increasing in power as a speaker, at length became one of the most formidable members on the opposition side of the house. He bore a conspicuous part in the attack of his party on Pitt, then chancellor of the exchequer, who in return took occasion to reflect, with some severity, on Sheridan's theatrical pursuits, "No man," said Pitt, “admires more than I do the abilities of that right honourable gentleman; the elegant sallies of his thought, the gay effusions of his fancy, his dramatic turns, and his epigrammatic point; and if they were reserved for the proper stage, they would, no doubt, receive the plaudits of the audience; and it would be the fortune of the right honourable gentleman, 'sui plausu gaudere theatri.' But parliament was not the proper scene for the exhibitions of those elegancies." Sheridan, in reply, said, "On the particular sort of personality which the right honourable gentleman has thought proper to make use of, I need not make any comment. The propriety, the taste, the gentlemanly point of it must have been obvious to the house. But let me assure the right honourable gentleman, that I do now, and will, at any time he chooses to repeat this sort of allusion, meet it with the most sincere good humour. Nay, I will say more flattered and encouraged by the right honourable gentleman's panegyric on my talents, if ever I again engage in the composition he alludes to, I may be tempted to an act of presumption, and attempt an improvement on one of Ben Johnson's best characters, the character of the Angry Boy in the Alchymist.'

The coalition having gained an ascendancy, at length entered into administration, and Sheridan became secretary to the treasury; but the failure of Fox's Indian bill, in the house of lords, was immediately followed by the abrupt dismissal of his party;