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294 Original Letter from Miss Linley, afterwards Mrs. Sheridan. [Oct.

been four years, and he would go with me to protect me; and after he had seen me settled, he would return to England, and place my conduct in such a light that the world would applaud and not condemn me.

You may be assured I gladly embraced his offer, as I had the highest opinion of him. He accordingly set tled every thing; so that we resolved to go on that fatal Wednesday which was to determine my fate. Miss Sheridan came to me, approved the scheme, and helped me in putting up my clothes. I kept up my spirits very well till the day came, and then I thought I should go distracted. To add to my affliction, my mother miscarried the day before, owing to the fright of Sunday the being obliged to leave her in such a situation, with the thoughts of the distress in which my whole family would be involved, made me almost give up my resolution; but on the other hand so many circumstances concurred to make it absolutely necessary, that I was in short almost distracted.

At last Sheridan came with two chairs, and having put me half fainting into one, and my trunks into the other, I was carried to a coach that waited in Walcot-street. Sheridan had engaged the wife of one of his servants to go with me as a maid, without my knowledge. You may imagine how pleased I was with his delicate be

haviour. Before he could follow the chairs he met Mathews, who was going to our house, as I had not undeceived him for fear of the consequence. Sheridan framed some excuse, and after telling him that my mother had miscarried, and that the house was in such confusion, it was impossible for him to go in, begged he would go to his sister's, and wait there till he sent for him, as he had an affair of honour on his hands, and perhaps should want his assistance; by this means he got rid of him.

We arrived in London about nine o'clock the next morning. From London we went to Dunkirk by sea, where we were recommended to an English family, who treated me very politely. I changed my name to Harley, as I thought my own rather too public. From thence we proceeded to Lisle, where by chance Sheridan met with an old schoolfellow, who immediately introduced us to an English family, with whom he boarded. They were very amiable people, and recommended us to a Convent, which we resolved to accept without going further.

After we had settled every thing, and I had entered the Convent, Sheridan proposed returning to England; but while he was preparing to go, he received a letter from Mathews, who after abusing him in the most scandalous manner, insisted on seeing him in London to give him satisfaction t.

* Sheridan was at this time little more than twenty, and his companion just entering her eighteenth year. On their arrival in London, with an adroitness which was, at least, very dramatic, he introduced her to an old friend of his family (Mr. Ewart, a respectable brandy-merchant in the City,) as a rich heiress who had consented to elope with him to the Continent; in consequence of which the old gentleman, with many commendations of his wisdom, for having given up the imprudent pursuit of Miss Linley, not only accommodated the fugitives with a passage on board a ship, which he had ready to sail from the port of London to Dunkirk, but gave them letters of recommendation to his correspondents at that place, who with the same zeal and despatch facilitated their journey to Lisle. On their leaving Dunkirk, as was natural to expect, the chivalrous and disinterested protector degenerated into a mere selfish lover. It was represented by him, with arguments which seemed to appeal to prudence as well as feeling, that after the step which they had taken, she could not possibly appear in England again but as his wife. He was, therefore, he said, resolved not to deposit her in a Convent, till she had consented, by the ceremony of a marriage, to confirm to him that right of protecting her which he had now but temporarily assumed. It did not, we may suppose, require much eloquence to convince her heart of the truth of this reasoning; and accordingly, at a little village not far from Calais, they were married about the latter end of March, 1772, by a Priest well known for his services on such occasions. They thence immediately proceeded to Lisle, where Miss Linley, as she must still be called, giving up her intention of going on to St. Quentin, procured an apartment in a Convent, with the determination of remaining there till Sheridan should have the means of supporting her as his acknowledged wife.

It appears that for the first four or five weeks during which the young couple were absent, Mr. Mathews never ceased to haunt the Sheridan family with inquiries, rumours, and other disturbing visitations; and at length, urged on by the restlessness of revenge, inserted a violent advertisement in the Bath Chronicle, calling Sheridan a liar and a treacherous scoundrel.

1825.] Original Letter from Miss Linley, afterwards Mrs. Sheridan. 295

This was a stroke so very unexpected, that for a long time I could resolve on nothing. At last I begged Sheridan not to think of returning till he had heard more from England. He was very unwilling to stay; but as I urged so close, and was so very unhappy, he consented.

While we were in this situation, my father arrived at Lisle. He had written to us, but his letters miscarried, and we did not know how to write to them, till we heard first. My father not receiving any intelligence, came in search of us to Lisle, where he found us. He behaved with the greatest tenderness to me, and expressed his warmest gratitude to Sheridan; but he said my enemies had raised so many wicked reports as to my going, that my friends thought it absolutely necessary for me to return and contradict them. He promised me if I chose to return to the convent in a few months after f had been at home, I should have his consent; but he insisted on my returning then with him.

Though it was very disagreeable to me to return, yet as I could not refuse any thing my father wished me, and as I thought he would keep his promise, I consented, and soon after we set off for England. When we got to London, Sheridan went out to speak to a friend of his, but staying longer than he intended, my father was very uneasy. I did not know the reason till dinner, when he returned with his friend, and I was then told that Mathews was in town, and that Sheridan had seen him; but he was such a coward that Sheridan could not prevail on him to fight. He had therefore written an advertisement to be put in the newspapers, wherein he begged Sheridan's pardon for the abuse with which he had loaded him. I was very happy to hear it ended so well, and we set off for Bath the next day in tolerable spirits. His family met us at our house, and we drank tea together very happily. After tea the brothers went out together; the elder did not return, but Richard my friend returned to supper, during which he told me he was going to take a ride with his brother in the morning. We parted at night, after he had promised to come with his sister to spend the next day with us; but judge of my astonishment, when his sister came to ine and told me that both her brothers

went off together at 12 o'clock that night, and she had not seen nor beard any thing from them since. We piissed the day in the greatest distress. Ir the evening we were told they were gone to London to demand satisfaction of Mathews for belying them to ach other, and likewise to get a prioper concession to be put in the newspapers, as Sheridan found on his arrival at Bath that Mathews had put a nost abusing paragraph in the papers concerning him.

They are not yet returned. When this dreadful affair will end God only knows. For my own part, I have not eaten nor slept since they went. My only hope is Mathews's cowardice, as every one says he will stoop to any thing rather than fight.

Thus have I, my dear friend, clisplayed every action of my life to you, my judge; but do not let the ill nattire of the world bias your judgment. 1 know that many have traduced my character, and I am told that Mr. R has said many disrespectful things of me in Dublin, that he calls me jilt, and says I was engaged to him; but his own heart must acquit me of using him ill in any respect.

And now, my dear friend, for I will imagine you will still permit me to call you so, let me entreat your forgiveness for troubling you with this tedious epistle; but I flatter myself you will read my misfortunes with an unprejudiced eye, and as I think you have too good an opinion of me to imagine I would do any thing inten tionally criminal, I hope you will excuse my indiscretions, and pity my distresses. I have laid before you every article of my life; do you, according to your own heart, excuse or condemn me: but if, after you know my temptations and trials, you can excuse the weakness of a heart but too susceptible, let me beg of my dear girl to undeceive her acquaintance, or any one who is prejudiced against me by the malicious report of my enemies, and convince thein that I am not so guilty as unfortunate. Adieu! if you will still permit me the happiness of your friendship, write to me, and give me your opinion of my conduct freely, and favour me with your advice, in regard to my future behaviour to Sheridan. Let me conjure you to write soon, as till then I shall imagine you have given me up entirely; which would be

the

296 Original Letter from Miss Linley, afterwards Mrs. Sheridan. [Oct.

I

the means of making me still more wretched, as there is no one on earth whose good opinion I would wish to retain more than yours. I should never have troubled you with this long letter, if I had not hoped from your gentle disposition that you would, by considering what I have gone through, be sooner brought to forgive my errors. have been many days writing this, but I have not yet heard the event of Sheridan's journey. I am greatly distressed, and my mind is at present in great agitation. God only knows what will become of me; I have almost lost every hope of happiness in this world. Death or a convent is the only view on which I can turn my eyes with any pleasure. I hope one way or other my fate will soon be decided, as I cannot endure my present feelings. Once more, adieu! May God for ever bless and make you as completely happy as I am miserable. Write to me I entreat you; let me not think I am forsaken

by all the world. You are the only comfort remaining; let me therefore be assured of your friendship; the world I despise. Give my kindest love to your sister; may she with you continue to enjoy a long course of uninterrupted happiness, and may those pangs ever be a stranger to your breast, which now rend the heart of your sincere though wretched friend.

P. S. As I will think my dear friend has been the partaker of my griefs, I have opened my letter once more to assure you that I am now a little easier. I have this moment heard that Sheridan is returned. He has seen Mathews, and obliged him to fight; he disarmed him, and gave him his life, after making him promise to beg pardon in the newspapers. Every thing is settled to his satisfaction, and I expect to see him every minute. I am just told he is below. Adieu! my dear girl, and believe me yours. E. LINLEY.

Throughout this interesting sketch, Miss Linley studiously conceals her marriage with Sheridan, which was not then publicly known. Subsequent to this, she appeared in the oratorios at Covent Garden; and Sheridan, though prevented by the vigilance of her father from a private interview, had frequent opportunities of seeing her in public. At length, after a series of stratagems and scenes, which convinced Mr. Linley that it was impossible much longer to keep them asunder, he consented to their union, and on the 13th of April, 1773, they were married by licence.

This amiable and accomplished woman died of consumption at Bristol, on the 28th of June, 1792, in her 38th year. The devotedness of affection with which she was regarded during life, not only by her own father and sisters, but by all her husband's family, showed that while her beauty and music enchanted the world, she had charms more intrinsic and lasting for those around her.

"We have already seen," says Mr. Moore, “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 electious, and even endeavouring 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 anywhere 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.”

* This alludes to the first duel fought by Sheridan, when Mathews was compelled to ask his life. Mathews, being afterwards almost universally shunned for his disgraceful conduct throughout this affair, which he had shamefully misrepresented, at length wished to retrieve his character by fighting a second duel. Sheridan readily accepted the challenge. Mr. Moore has given the particulars very minutely. Both the combatants were desperately wounded, and their swords broken. As neither would descend to ask their lives, they were separated by their seconds. Mr.

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