There are few names more associated with the brilliant days of Bath,
the days of its social and artistic prominence, than those of Thomas
Linley, the composer, and of his daughter, Eliza Anne, known abroad as
"the Fair Maid of Bath." Linley was born there, in 1735; and after his
studies in music on the Continent, under Paradies, he returned to the
then fashionable city on the Avon. He conducted oratorios and concerts
there, and became a power in the community. Delicacy, tenderness,
simplicity, and taste were the characteristics of his compositions. It
was said of him, that as Garrick had restored Shakspeare, so Linley
has restored the sublime music of Handel. He trained his family to
take part in the performances. His son Thomas, born in 1756,
developed a marvellous ability in music,--playing the violin with
great brilliancy and expression. He was the friend of Mozart, and took
at times his father's place as conductor of the oratorios. His career
was cut short by drowning, in 1778.
But it was his beautiful daughter Eliza, born in 1754, who made the
sensation of the time, when she sang with her sister, afterwards Mrs.
Tickell. "A nest of nightingales," the family was termed. Walpole
writes, in 1773: "I was not at the ball last night, and have only been
to the opera, where I was infinitely struck with the Carrara, who is
the prettiest creature upon earth. Mrs. Hartley I own to still find
handsomer, and Miss Linley, to be the superlative degree. The king
admires the last, and ogles her as much as he dares to do in so holy a
place as an oratorio, and at so devout a service as 'Alexander's
Feast.'" Musical prominence and personal beauty in this maid of but
twenty made her an attractive flower in bloom to others than the king.
The wits and gallants of the gay city sought and courted her. The
family of Tom Sheridan, the Irish actor, and then a teacher of
elocution in Bath, was intimate with the Linley family. Richard, who
was born in Dublin in 1751, his elder brother Charles, and Nathaniel
Halhed, a companion and literary partner with Richard, all admired the
daughter Eliza. Halhed went to India,--afterwards becoming a judge
there,--and Charles Sheridan retired from the race, and left the
literary youth to win as pure a heart as ever cheered incipient genius
to works of worth. She was lauded in verse by her young Irish suitor,
and championed in deed. He asserts his constancy in a poem, of which
the first stanza is--
"Dry that tear, my gentlest love;
Be hushed that struggling sigh;
Nor seasons, day, nor fate shall prove
More fixed, more true than I.
Hushed be that sigh, be dry that tear;
Cease boding doubt, cease anxious fear;
Dry be that tear."
He proves his devotion by his action when appealed to by his
divinity.
A certain Captain Matthews, one of a numerous breed in Bath in those
days,--that is, a fashionable scoundrel and a married man,--made
himself obnoxious to Miss Linley by improper addresses. He annoyed and
harassed her, threatening to destroy himself unless she gratified him,
and later attempted to sully her reputation by calumnies. This brought
about the culmination of her attachment to Sheridan. She fled her
father's house and sought the protection of her lover. Accompanied by
a chaperon, they left for France. After some romantic adventures, they
were married in March, 1772, at a little village near Calais; but it
was a wedding without the wherewithal to maintain a home, so the bride
entered a convent, and, later, the house of an English physician,
until literature should be remunerative. The eloping lady's father
sought the runaways; and, after some explanations, they returned with
him to England. It was shortly after this that Sheridan fought two
duels with Matthews, being wounded in the later one to such an extent
that his recovery was doubtful. "Sweet Betsy" claimed the right of a
wife to tend her hurt husband, and so revealed the fact of the
marriage in France. The old actor rejected his impulsive son, but
Linley's aversion to the union of his daughter being at last set
aside, the pair were re-married in England in April, 1773.
The sweet singer had been admired by another, an elderly suitor of
much fortune, whom her father had approved, but to whom she was
averse. This gentleman now became the benefactor of the pair. He
settled a moiety of three thousand pounds on the bride. Her father
retained half of this as compensation for the loss of the services of
his daughter. On the balance, the youthful couple lived. Sheridan had
entered himself a student of the Middle Temple shortly before his
marriage. Though their income was small, he would not allow his wife
to accept several proffered professional engagements; he did not wish
his helpmeet to become a servant of the public. This action incited
some discussion, and much acrimonious comment, in her family and among
their friends. Johnson upheld his course. Sheridan, in this instance,
understood himself and understood the times. He knew of the flippant
attitude of the young blades of the town toward all public performers;
so he sought to save her, who was so sacred to him, from such insult,
insincere adulation, and insinuation as she had heretofore suffered
from. They retired to a cottage at East Burnham; and there she, who
had received the plaudits of the public as a vocalist, won as noble a
name in the character of the ideal wife, one in whom were united all
the attributes of loveliness,--temper, manners, virtues, and
surpassing beauty. What the then public lost, later generations have
gained in the picture of that lovable woman, making a golden age of
happiness for her greatly-gifted husband in the little cottage at East
Burnham.
Fanny Burney records her pleasant impressions of the bride,--"I was
absolutely charmed at the sight of her. I think her quite as beautiful
as ever, and even more captivating; for she has now a look of ease and
happiness that animates her whole face. Miss Linley was with her; she
is very handsome, but nothing near her sister; the elegance of Mrs.
Sheridan's beauty is unequalled by any I ever saw, except Mrs. Crewe.
I was pleased with her in all respects. She is much more lively and
agreeable than I had any idea of finding her; she was very gay, and
very unaffected, and totally free from airs of any kind."
In 1775, the husband's genius was acknowledged by the town; for in
January, that year, was first presented "The Rivals." In that play he
draws from the material displayed by the superficial, flashing, and
piquant society of the day at Bath, and from his own experience the
inimitable duel scene therein.
Much success followed for the dramatist. In the following year, in
conjunction with his father-in-law, he purchased from Garrick the
Drury Lane Theatre. They brought out several operas together; Linley's
music in "The Duenna" and "The Beggar's Opera," being especially fine.
Hazlitt speaks of the songs in them as having a joyous spirit of
intoxication, and strains of the most melting tenderness.
In 1777, appeared "The School for Scandal," a theme also suggested by
scandal-mongering Bath. His fond and faithful wife lived not to see
the dimming of the genius that produced these classics; she died of a
decline, at Bristol, in 1792. Her daughter, too, died within the same
year. Two of her accomplished descendants, through her son, have
displayed some of her romantic taste and charm of manner to a
generation just preceding our own,--her granddaughters, Lady Dufferin,
mother of the English ambassador to France, and Hon. Caroline Norton,
author of "Love not, love not, ye hapless sons of men."
Though she whom he had adored was but three years dead, Sheridan
married, in 1795, Esther Jane Ogle, daughter of the Dean of
Winchester. With her he obtained some money and this, added to his
own, purchased the estate of Polesdon, in Surrey. His wife was, at
that time, spoken of as young, amiable, and devoted to him. She died
at about the same time as he, in 1816.
In the first flush of those romantic wedded days of their youth how
impressive must have been the appearance of that markedly clever young
man, eager in the fight for fame, and of his beauteous bride from
Bath. Reynolds painted, in 1779, the standard presentment of Sheridan.
Walpole's comment on it was: "Praise cannot overstate the merits of
this portrait. It is not canvas and color, it is animated nature--all
the unaffected manner and character of the great original." The artist
said that among all his sitters none had such large pupils of the
eyes. With the brilliance of that mind informing the face, his
features, though not regular, were handsome. Of all the portraits of
Miss Linley, perhaps the one by Gainsborough, in which she is
portrayed with her young brother, gives the best idea of the special
character of her type of beauty. Here are the large lustrous eyes and
the very delicately modelled, sensitive, refined features; here, the
luxuriant hair, the slender neck, and the sloping shoulders; and here,
the superb poise of head and of mind. There is another fine picture of
her by Gainsborough, for this painter was one of the brilliant men
who frequented her father's house at Bath. A musician he was, too,
and an excellent performer on the violin, so was congenial company in
that musical family. He admired the daughter, and wrought for us the
delightful records of her beauty. His change of residence, from Bath
to London, coincided in date with that of the Sheridans. Opie, too,
painted her portrait; not an ideal one, but good in respect to her
eyes. And Romney has given us good pictures both of her and Mrs.
Tickell. Reynolds's portrayal is supreme in indicating the exaltation
of spirit, by the poise of head and perfection of profile. This
picture of her as the patron saint of song was exhibited at the
Academy, in 1775, just about the time its subject had abandoned public
singing. It has been most beautifully engraved by Bartolozzi, and
ranks as one of his best plates. When the days of sorrow came to
Sheridan,--when his weaknesses of character brought him to a low
estate; when poverty became his portion, and the long lost days of
romantic love became but a memory; when treasure after treasure,
manuscripts, and sumptuous books were disposed of, and presentation
pictures were pawned,--this picture of St. Cæcilia, a reminder of the
days that had vanished, was the last valued possession to be parted
with.
[Illustration: MARGUERITE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON by LAWRENCE]