litics-a precaution for which we can only expect due credit from the reader who is aware of the principal part which political events should otherwise have engrossed in our columns. It is at the same time right to guard against the false impression which the unwary reader may receive from this course. Sheridan, in whatever light posterity may have reason to regard him, was, in his pursuits, and in the ostensible place which he held in the eyes of his contemporary generation, an orator and a politician, and received at every stage some impulse from the proceedings of party and public events. Mr. Moore has preserved many specimens of his speeches, on various occasions, which fully bears out the praise which he bestows on them. They are, for the most part, terse, pointed, and vigorous, and occasionally rising into that gay flight of mingled wit, fancy, and conceit, which was, perhaps, the effective quality of Sheridan as an orator. We have, nevertheless, in our diligent perusal of these morceaux, found nothing which we could venture to extract, as giving a just idea of his genuine powers, as they appear, not only in the dramatic works, but even in the comic stories, of which so many are scattered in the literary history of his time. At this period, the party to which he had adhered, began to crumble away, partly under the influence of events, and partly from the changes of pros. pect, which opened to individuals new avenues to preferment, and shut up old. Sheridan was among those who adhered to his party, while it can be said to have retained existence. In the year 1795, the Prince was at length compelled to yield to the pressure of debts, to the amount of more than half a million, and much against his inclination consent to take a wife selected by his father. He was married to the Princess Caroline of Brunswick; and the subject of his debts soon followed. The Prince had for some time past separated himself from the political faction who would have hurried him into lengths beyond his duty and dignity. In consequence, his wishes met with either opposition, or cold and questioning assent, from those whose names have hitherto been mentioned among the friends and supporters of his claims. Mr. Sheridan, with a consistency more true than often belongs to party, while he dealt with severity on the imprudence and extravagance of the Prince, advocated the payment of his debts. But we hurry on, to the omission of minor topics, to one which must always, however subtracted from by the party prejudice which is so ingenious to find a wrong reason for every act, still be admitted to throw a bright redeeming gleam over the weaknesses and the political faults of Sheridan. If he was carried far as others into the intrigues and duplicities of the courtier and the partizan, his heart was always in the right place, and he did not suffer the narrow ties of party to have the ascendant over the feelings and obligations of public duty. At a time when the country was menaced with two French fleets, an extensive or total mutiny broke out among the English seamen, in Plymouth, Portsmouth, and the Nore. The country was in a state of the most justifiable alarm, while this vast force, on which its safety depended, continued to organize itself into an independent and formidable attitude, and to advance proposals and grievances in a tone inconsistent with subordina tion. Admiral Duncan, by the most admirable firmness and presence of mind, contrived to awe the French fleet in the Texel, by the continuation of his usual signals; but still the cloud of invasion hung formidable and dark on the opposite coast, and the danger was imminent and alarming. In this formidable position of events, the Whigs alone seemed free from apprehension. Animated by an eagerness in strife, which reminds us of the battle of Thrasimene, in the heat of which an earthquake that destroyed twelve cities passed unobserved, they did not see in the danger of their country any thing more than a happy occasion to distress the government, and regain their waning authority over the public mind. Sheridan, with a spirit which only the most confined and narrow bigotry of faction can misrepresent, nobly revolted against this atrocious abuse of party spirit. As we have expressed ourselves thus strongly, we think it due to Mr. Moore to extract some sentences from his fair and manly notice of the affair : "It was," he observes, "one of the happiest instances of good feeling and good sense combined, that ever public man acted upon, in a situation demanding so much of both." On this occasion we have it from Mr. Moore, that he went to Mr. Dundas and said on the river; send Sir C. Grey down to the coast, and set a price on Parker's head. If the administration take this advice instantly, they will 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." In the House his conduct was not less manly-there he stood forth in uncompromising defiance of party: he expressed his full recognition of old ties, while he declared that in such a moment, no honourable man should be swayed by motives inferior to the consideration of the public safety. In this, while the grateful nation acknowledged almost with a single voice the true spirit by which Sheridan's conduct was ennobled, his own friends also received a foretaste of the honest intractability which afterwards had a main share in the overthrow of their political expectations. The years 1798-9 brought out the "Stranger," and "Pizarro," which we notice thus summarily, as we do not think their history essential to our purpose. During this period, Mr. Fox, discouraged by his prospects, or, perhaps, desirous of producing a popular reaction in his favour, had receded with his friends from the house, in which they failed to produce the smallest impression. The public mind was kept from popular aberration, by the rapid emergency of public events; it was no time for the game of faction; and the great leader finding his occupation gone, took counsel with his better nature and genius for a while, among his books and rural pursuits. Sheridan was by this absence excited to encreased exertion, and took a more active part in many of the popular questions of the moment. In the year 1801, Mr. Pitt went out, having carried the union. He was succeeded by the short administration of Mr. Addington, during which Mr. Sheridan for some time took little or no part in public affairs. We must not pass away from this period of Sheridan's history, without noticing an incident, illustrative of his promptitude, and of the generous and impulsive temperament that, where the feeling of the man or gentleman was concerned, often gained him a moment's freedom from the debasing ties of party, and placed him in the right. It was in the year 1800 that the king was fired at by a maniac of the name of Hatfield, in Drury-lane Theatre: the audience were for some moments paralyzed with mingled astonishment and alarm for the safety of the good old king. George alone retained his presence of mind; and as the smoke cleared from the pit, he was seen with his constitutional composure of nerve, calmly satisfying those around him of his safety. Sheridan stepped into the green-room, and in a few moments the performers came forward, and sung God save the King, with this prompt addition : “From every latent foe, Thy succour bring; O'er him thine arm extend; Our Father, King, and Friend, In politics the mind of Sheridan was for some years passing through a natural and not dishonorable change, which has as naturally been made the subject of reproach among the historians of the party whom he left, and whose views he disconcerted. They who had no view but office, might well retain their consistency, when the experience of events had been such as to expose their fallacious politics. It was easy for Mr. Fox, and the leading Whigs of his day to continue firm to principles which they never sincerely believed. The "sovereignty of the people," and such other self-contradictory absurdities, excellent weapons as they ever were, and will be, for the trade of popular mystification, could have little weight against the mighty facts, and the grave and fearful illustrations of the age. The candor of Mr. Moore, and the inadvertency of other Whig writers, have not failed abundantly to expose the hollowness of the patriotism of those who made it their proud boast. The common sense of Sheridan could not resist the evidence of circumstances; his perspicacity had, perhaps, never been imposed on by views which were borne with a profligate consistency, which appears to justify Johnson's well-known sarcasın on patriots. The same spirit that actuated Sheridan on the occasion of the mutiny at the Nore, was gradually detaching him from that party. We do not mean to affirm that he was not under the combined influence of private feelings; we speak not of his motives here, but of his views, which were all through (so far as he could be said to have any) based on Tory principles, like P2 Mr. Moore's, whose conduct under the same circumstances would, we think, have been similar. He was from taste, gratitude, and duty attached to the Prince; and, if any weight is to be attached to this, it was as good a motive for acting rightly, as the love of place was for acting factiously. He had been all through scandalously treated by his Whig friends, whose objects were advocated by his eloquence in the house, and by his still more efficient talents out of it; but in the division of the spoil he was ever all but set aside. We regret when we find some of our able and much respected Whig authorities laying aside their wonted candour, to find base motives for the best actions, and the most elevated impulses for the most degrading, according as the object of their comment is Whig or Tory. The political conduct of Sheridan, much as we have had occasion to disapprove of it on many occasions, stands honourably distinguished by a sincerity which scarcely belongs to his party. represented. He consulted as his private friend Sheridan, who was not slow in detecting the whole shallow artifice; one of those false moves of a party he had too long and too well known. The move was disconcerted by a very open, fair and straightforward step, which had in it no treachery; and if we are to weigh human conduct by its consequences and ostensible motives, instead of the warped scale of party historians, we would be inclined to place this, with his conduct on the mutiny of the Nore, to Sheridan's credit. His wit was still more felicitously applied on the occasion, in the following lines : : "An Address to the Prince, 1811. "In all humility we crave Our Regent may become our slave, In 1811, when the last and conti- We have noticed the last circumstance out of its chronological order, that we may now proceed uninterrupted by political considerations, to the rapid close of our task. It was in the year 1803 that Mr. Moore first met Sheridan. He mentions that Sheridan was at that time 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." Early in the year 1804 the receivership of the Duchy of Cornwall was bestowed on him by the Prince of Wales," as a trifling proof of that sincere friendship His Royal Highness had always professed and felt for him for a long series of years." On this an extract from Sheridan's letter on the occasion, to Mr. Addington, is an ap "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, or 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 favour, and that upon a subject on which his feelings were so eager and irritable, I cannot but regard the increased attention with which he has since honoured me, as a most gratifying demonstration that he has clearness of judgment, and firmness of spirit, to distinguish the real friends of his true glory and interests from the mean and mercenary sycophants, who fear and abhor that such friends should be near him." In the autumn of 1807 he entered into a treaty with Mr. Jones of Dublin on the subject of Drury Lane. We notice the circumstance here, simply for the sake of a letter which will interest some of our readers, and sufficiently explain the transaction. "One Tun, St James's Market, May 26, 1808. "In the presence of Messrs G. Ponsonby, R. Power, and Mr. Beecher, 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. The theatre of Diury-lane had been the subject of embarrassment and continued annoyance to Sheridan from the first. It had passed through a series of changes, each of which added something to the accumulation of difficulties which were slowly and surely gathering over its proprietors. Controversies, negociations and law-suits, were the vexatious accompaniments of the progress of ruin; and to this was added no small sum of private debts. On the night of 24th Feb. 1809, while Sheridan was attending a debate in the house, word came that the theatre was on fire. A motion was made for the adjournment of the debate; this Sheridan opposed; and, leaving the house, witnessed the destruction of his pre- When the measures for rebuilding the theatre were finally arranged in 1811, Sheridan was to receive 20,000/ out of which various claims were to be satisfied; and his son, Thomas Sheridan, was to receive 12,000l. for his quarter share. Among the conditions was one which Mr. Moore states to he should have no connexion or conhave been very painful to him—that cern of any kind whatever, with the new undertaking." A condition strongly indicating the character of his mind and conduct in matters of business. Mr. Whitbread undertook the adjustment of the intricate and difficult details, and it would have been hard to find one more fitted for a task where industry and precision were the requisite qualifications. Mr. Moore contrasts him strongly with Sheridan; we will extract the passage, as it well brings out a feature of the latter. "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 rigour, as the other to that of laxity. While Sheridan, too, like those painters who endeavour to disguise their ignorance of anatomy by an indistinct and fuzzy 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 him self. 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." As might be anticipated between such minds, the collisions were frequent. On Sheridan's part they were embittered by the urgency of distress, and wounded pride. He could not comprehend the necessity of adhering to the letter of stipulations, or to the forms of business. His anxiety to interfere with the committee, in the building of the theatre, is exhibited with characteristic adroitness and wit, 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. in a long letter to Mr. Whitbread, (Moore, ch. xxi.) But the grievance which he most deeply felt was the refusal of an advance of 2,000l. on terms which must have anticipated the forms of business, and compromised the persons complying with such a request. The object of this demand was to secure his re-election for the borough of Stafford; and to its refusal he attributed the failure of that object. This failure is to be regarded as concluding his career, and as perhaps the remote occasion of his death. Embarrassment, which had followed his steps through life, was now beginning to wreathe the last crushing folds round its victim. The prospect of the 20,000. had the effect of stimulating the activity of his creditors. Among his faults it was not one to be reluctant to pay; but it is the effect of imprudence, that it brings dishonesty in its train; so much of justice consists in the anticipation of a demand, that one entirely devoid of self-control and and precaution, will be unjust from mere want of care. The first fault appears only a defect in foresight, and the next, the necessity of circumstances. Such is the self-mystification which often refines away the grave responsibilities of life; yet we may add that Sheridan seems to have been so far actuated by a principle of honor that he would have paid to the full extent of his means. There is much in his position at this time, not very satisfactorily explained. It appears that there was still a balance over and above such of his debts as had been recognised by the Drury-lane committee; and there had been 20,0007. secured by the marriage-settlement already mentioned. The receivership of the duchy of Cornwall was a provision of itself, sufficient for moderate desires, and with this provision, it is not easy to conceive the state of total destitution which is implied in the histories of his life. The result of this want of information is a most unwarrantable and unjust misrepresentation of the conduct and character of others. We loathe the task of recrimination and critical detection of errors in those persons for whom, in spite of dissent in politics, we entertain a friendly and respectful feeling. We shall, therefore, simply comment on the circumstances, without regard to statements and suggestions from which we disagree in no common measure. They who pay a prudent attention to themselves are never neglected by the world or in want of that just concurrence in their objects which is given by the common sympathies of men. When a person seems rejected from the regard and assistance of those who were through life his generous and admiring friends and benefactors, some reasons of proportionable strength must be sought for; and there is nothing of this, in the vague generalities of Sheridan's historian. The whole case should be stated when the constancy, or the generosity of the Regent was to be impeached. One of the common illusions of biography is the swiftness of transition occasioned by the crowding together on the same page, the events of years. During the latter years of Sheridan's life, changes had been taking place in his mind, which must have had the natural effect of rendering him less an object of sympathy or care, and which altogether destroyed the claims of equal and respectable friendship. He was felt to be one for whom nothing could be done-incorrigible in the infatuation which led him to bankruptcy, and kept him in distress. His friends had become slowly alienated from one whose habits had long ceased to be compatible with friendship, and he was but tolerated by the greater and higher portion of those who once saw reason to honor and admire him. His circumstances were 66 The anci not understood to be such as to make him an object of charity to the last mournful and humiliating scene of his life. And there was on the part of his noble and wealthy friends, no demand until long after the utmost term to which any feeling of friendship could have endured the degradation to which he had fallen. ents, we are told," says Mr. Moore, "by a significant device, inscribed on the wreathe they wore at banquets the name of Minerva. Unfortunately, from the festal wreath of Sheridan, this name was now but too often effaced." This is the melancholy truth, to which our purpose must affix less figurative language. Sheridan was degenerated into a confirmed drunkard; and, with all his amiability and talent, disqualified for the uses of life, as much by this disgusting and debasing propensity, as by his total unfitness for affairs. He could not sustain himself, and all the beneficence or friendship of romance itself could not keep him on his |