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._