When the manager of a theatre engaged Sacchini to write an opera, he was
obliged to shut him up in a room with his mistress and his favourite cats,
without them at his side he could do nothing. The fifth act of _Pizarro_
was actually finished by Sheridan on the first evening of its performance,
when the illustrious playwright was shut up in a room with a plate of
sandwiches and two bottles of claret, to finish his drama.
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