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Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2

T >> Thomas Moore >> Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2




It must be owned, indeed, that, though far too sagacious and liberal not
to be deeply impressed with the justice of the claims advanced by the
Catholics, he was not altogether disposed to go those generous lengths in
their favor, of which Mr. Fox and a few others of their less calculating
friends were capable. It was his avowed opinion, that, though the
measure, whenever brought forward, should be supported and enforced by
the whole weight of the party, they ought never so far to identify or
encumber themselves with it, as to make its adoption a sine-qua-non of
their acceptance or retention of office. His support, too, of the
Ministry of Mr. Addington, which was as virtually pledged against the
Catholics as that which now succeeded to power, sufficiently shows the
secondary station that this great question occupied in his mind; nor can
such a deviation from the usual tone of his political feelings be
otherwise accounted for, than by supposing that he was aware of the
existence of a strong indisposition to the measure in that quarter, by
whose views and wishes his public conduct was, in most cases, regulated.

On the general question, however, of the misgovernment of Ireland, and
the disabilities of the Catholics, as forming its most prominent feature,
his zeal was always forthcoming and ardent,--and never more so than
during the present Session, when, on the question of the Irish Arms Bill,
and his own motion upon the State of Ireland, he distinguished himself by
an animation and vigor worthy of the best period of his eloquence.

Mr. Grattan, in supporting the coercive measures now adopted against his
country, had shown himself, for once, alarmed into a concurrence with the
wretched system of governing by Insurrection Acts, and, for once, lent
his sanction to the principle upon which all such measures are founded,
namely, that of enabling Power to defend itself against the consequences
of its own tyranny and injustice. In alluding to some expressions used by
this great man, Sheridan said:--

"He now happened to recollect what was said by a Right Honorable
Gentleman, to whose opinions they all deferred, (Mr. Grattan,) that
notwithstanding he voted for the present measure, with all its defects,
rather than lose it altogether, yet that gentleman said, that he hoped to
secure the revisionary interest of the Constitution to Ireland. But when
he saw that the Constitution was suspended from the year 1796 to the
present period, and that it was now likely to be continued for three
years longer, the danger was that we might lose the interest
altogether;--when we were mortgaged for such a length of time, at last a
foreclosure might take place."

The following is an instance of that happy power of applying old stories,
for which Mr. Windham, no less than Sheridan, was remarkable, and which,
by promoting anecdote into the service of argument and wit, ennobles it,
when trivial, and gives new youth to it, when old.

"When they and others complain of the discontents of the Irish, they
never appear to consider the cause. When they express their surprise that
the Irish are not contented, while according to their observation, that
people have so much reason to be happy, they betray a total ignorance of
their actual circumstances. The fact is, that the tyranny practised upon
the Irish has been throughout unremitting. There has been no change but
in the manner of inflicting it. They have had nothing but variety in
oppression, extending to all ranks and degrees of a certain description
of the people. If you would know what this varied oppression consisted
in, I refer you to the Penal Statutes you have repealed, and to some of
those which still exist. There you will see the high and the low equally
subjected to the lash of persecution; and yet still some persons affect
to be astonished at the discontents of the Irish. But with all my
reluctance to introduce any thing ludicrous upon so serious an occasion,
I cannot help referring to a little story which those very astonished
persons call to my mind. It was with respect to an Irish drummer, who was
employed to inflict punishment upon a soldier. When the boy struck high,
the poor soldier exclaimed, 'Lower, bless you,' with which the boy
complied. But soon after the soldier exclaimed, 'Higher if you please,'
But again he called out, 'A little lower:' upon which the accommodating
boy addressed him--'Now, upon my conscience, I see you are a discontented
man; for, strike where I may, there's no pleasing you.' Now your
complaint of the discontents of the Irish appears to me quite as
rational, while you continue to strike, only altering the place of
attack."

Upon this speech, which may be considered as the _bouquet_, or last
parting blaze of his eloquence, he appears to have bestowed considerable
care and thought. The concluding sentences of the following passage,
though in his very worst taste, were as anxiously labored by him, and put
through as many rehearsals on paper, as any of the most highly finished
witticisms in The School for Scandal.

"I cannot think patiently of such petty squabbles, while Bonaparte is
grasping the nations; while he is surrounding France, not with that iron
frontier, for which the wish and childish ambition of Louis XIV. was so
eager, but with kingdoms of his own creation; securing the gratitude of
higher minds as the hostage, and the fears of others as pledges for his
safety. His are no ordinary fortifications. His martello towers are
thrones; sceptres tipt with crowns are the palisadoes of his
entrenchments, and Kings are his sentinels."

The Reporter here, by "tipping" the sceptres "with crowns," has improved,
rather unnecessarily, upon the finery of the original. The following are
specimens of the various trials of this passage which I find scribbled
over detached scraps of paper:--

"Contrast the different attitudes and occupations of the two
governments:--B. eighteen months from his capital,--head-quarters in the
villages,--neither Berlin nor Warsaw,--dethroning and creating thrones,--
the works he raises are monarchies,--sceptres his palisadoes, thrones his
martello towers."

"Commissioning kings,--erecting thrones,--martello towers,--Cambaceres
count noses,--Austrians, fine dressed, like Pompey's troops."

"B. fences with sceptres,--his martello towers are thrones,--he alone is,
France."

Another Dissolution of Parliament having taken place this year, he again
became a candidate for the city of Westminster. But, after a violent
contest, during which he stood the coarse abuse of the mob with the
utmost good humor and playfulness, the election ended in favor of Sir
Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane, and Sheridan was returned, with his
friend Mr. Michael Angelo Taylor, for the borough of Ilchester.

In the autumn of 1807 he had conceived some idea of leasing the property
of Drury-Lane Theatre, and with that view had set on foot, through Mr.
Michael Kelly, who was then in Ireland, a negotiation with Mr. Frederick
Jones, the proprietor of the Dublin Theatre. In explaining his object to
Mr. Kelly, in a letter dated August 30, 1807, he describes it as "a plan
by which the property may be leased to those who have the skill and the
industry to manage it as it should be for their own advantage, upon terms
which would render any risk to them almost impossible;--the profit to
them, (he adds,) would probably be beyond what I could now venture to
state, and yet upon terms which would be much better for the real
proprietors than any thing that can arise from the careless and ignorant
manner in which the undertaking is now misconducted by those who, my son
excepted, have no interest in its success, and who lose nothing by its
failure."

The negotiation with Mr. Jones was continued into the following year;
and, according to a draft of agreement, which this gentleman has been
kind enough to show me, in Sheridan's handwriting, it was intended that
Mr. Jones should, on becoming proprietor of one quarter-share of the
property, "undertake the management of the Theatre in conjunction with
Mr. T. Sheridan, and be entitled to the same remuneration, namely, 1000£.
per annum certain income, and a certain per centage on the net profits
arising from the office-receipts, as should be agreed upon," &c. &c.

The following memorandum of a bet connected with this transaction, is of
somewhat a higher class of wagers than the One Tun Tavern has often had
the honor of recording among its archives:--


"_One Tun, St. James's Market, May 26, 1808._"

"In the presence of Messrs. G. Ponsonby, R. Power, and Mr.
Becher, [Footnote: It is not without a deep feeling of melancholy that I
transcribe this paper. Of three of my most valued friends,--whose names
are signed to it,--Becher, Ponsonby, and Power,--the last has, within a
few short months, been snatched away, leaving behind him the recollection
of as many gentle and manly virtues as ever concurred to give sweetness
and strength to character.] Mr. Jones bets Mr. Sheridan five hundred
guineas that he, Mr. Sheridan, does not write, and produce under his
name, a play of five acts, or a first piece of three, within the term of
three years from the 15th of September next.--It is distinctly to be
understood that this bet is not valid unless Mr. Jones becomes a partner
in Drury-Lane Theatre before the commencement of the ensuing season.

"Richard Power, "R. B. SHERIDAN,
"George Ponsonby, "FRED. EDW. JONES.
"W. W. Becher.

"N. B.--W. W. Becher and Richard Power join, one fifty,--the other one
hundred pounds in this bet.

"R. POWER."

The grand movement of Spain, in the year 1808, which led to consequences
so important to the rest of Europe, though it has left herself as
enslaved and priest-ridden as ever, was hailed by Sheridan with all that
prompt and well-timed ardor, with which he alone, of all his party, knew
how to meet such great occasions. Had his political associates but
learned from his example thus to place themselves in advance of the
procession of events, they would not have had the triumphal wheels pass
by them and over them so frequently. Immediately on the arrival of the
Deputies from Spain, he called the attention of the House to the affairs
of that country; and his speech on the subject, though short and
unstudied, had not only the merit of falling in with the popular feeling
at the moment, but, from the views which it pointed out through the
bright opening now made by Spain, was every way calculated to be useful
both at home and abroad.

"Let Spain," he said, "see, that we were not inclined to stint the
services we had it in our power to render her; that we were not actuated
by the desire of any petty advantage to ourselves; but that our exertions
were to be solely directed to the attainment of the grand and general
object, the emancipation of the world. If the flame were once fairly
caught, our success was certain. France would then find, that she had
hitherto been contending only against principalities, powers, and
authorities, but that she had now to contend against a people."

The death of Lord Lake this year removed those difficulties which had,
ever since the appointment of Sheridan to the receivership of the Duchy
of Cornwall, stood in the way of his reaping the full advantages of that
office. Previously to the departure of General Lake for India, the Prince
had granted to him the reversion of this situation which was then filled
by Lord Elliot. It was afterwards, however, discovered that, according to
the terms of the Grant, the place could not be legally held or deputed by
any one who had not been actually sworn into it before the Prince's
Council. On the death of Lord Elliot, therefore, His Royal Highness
thought himself authorized, as we have seen, in conferring the
appointment upon Mr. Sheridan. This step, however, was considered by the
friends of General Lake as not only a breach of promise, but a violation
of right; and it would seem from one of the documents which I am about to
give, that measures were even in train for enforcing the claim by law.
The first is a Letter on the subject from Sheridan to Colonel M'Mahon:--

"MY DEAR M'MAHON,

"_Thursday evening_.

"I have thoroughly considered and reconsidered the subject we talked upon
today. Nothing on earth shall make me risk the possibility of the
Prince's goodness to me furnishing an opportunity for a single scurrilous
fool's presuming to hint even that he had, in the slightest manner,
departed from the slightest engagement. The Prince's right, in point of
law and justice, on the present occasion to recall the appointment given,
I hold to be incontestible; but, believe me, I am right in the
proposition I took the liberty of submitting to His Royal Highness, and
which (so far is he from wishing to hurt General Lake,) he graciously
approved. But understand me,--my meaning is to give I up the emoluments
of the situation to General Lake, holding the situation at the Prince's
pleasure, and abiding by an arbitrated estimate of General Lake's claim,
supposing His Royal Highness had appointed him; in other words, to value
his interest in the appointment as if he had it, and to pay him for it or
resign to him.

"With the Prince's permission I should be glad to meet Mr. Warwick Lake,
and I am confident that no two men of common sense and good intentions
can fail, in ten minutes, to arrange it so as to meet the Prince's
wishes, and not to leave the shadow of a pretence for envious malignity
to whisper a word against his decision.

"Yours ever,

"R. B. SHERIDAN.

"I write in great haste--going to A----."

The other Paper that I shall give, as throwing light on the transaction,
is a rough and unfinished sketch by Sheridan of a statement, intended to
be transmitted to General Lake, containing the particulars of both
Grants, and the documents connected with them:--

"DEAR GENERAL,

"I am commanded by the Prince of Wales to transmit to you a correct
Statement of a transaction in which your name is so much implicated, and
in which his feelings have been greatly wounded from a quarter, I am
commanded to say, whence he did not expect such conduct.

"As I am directed to communicate the particulars in the most authentic
form, you will, I am sure, excuse on this occasion my not adopting the
mode of a familiar letter.

"Authentic Statement respecting the Appointment by His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales to the Receivership of the Duchy of Cornwall, in the Year
1804, to be transmitted by His Royal Highness's Command, to
Lieutenant-General Lake, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in India.

"The circumstances attending the original reversionary Grant to General
Lake are stated in the brief for Counsel on this occasion by Mr. Bignell,
the Prince's solicitor, to be as follow: (No. I.) It was afterwards
understood by the Prince that the service he had wished to render General
Lake, by this Grant, had been defeated by the terms of it; and so clearly
had it been shown that there were essential duties attached to the
office, which no Deputy was competent to execute, and that a Deputy, even
for the collection of the rents, could not be appointed but by a
principal actually in possession of the office, (by having been sworn
into it before his Council,) that upon General appointment to the command
in India, the Prince could have no conception that General Lake, could
have left the country under an impression or expectation that the Prince
would appoint him, in case of a vacancy, to the place in question.
Accordingly, His Royal Highness, on the very day he heard of the death of
Lord Elliot, unsolicited, and of his own gracious suggestion, appointed
Mr. Sheridan. Mr. Sheridan returned, the next day, in a letter to the
Prince, such an answer and acknowledgment as might be expected from him;
and, accordingly, directions were given to make out his patent. On the
ensuing ---- His Royal Highness was greatly surprised at receiving the
following letter from Mr. Warwick Lake. (No. II.)

"His Royal Highness immediately directed Mr. Sheridan to see Mr. W. Lake,
and to state his situation, and how the office was circumstanced; and for
further distinctness to make a minute in writing * * * *."

Such were the circumstances that had, at first, embarrassed his enjoyment
of this office; but, on the death of Lord Lake, all difficulties were
removed, and the appointment was confirmed to Sheridan for his life.

In order to afford some insight into the nature of that friendship, which
existed so long between the Heir Apparent and Sheridan,--though unable,
of course, to produce any of the numerous letters, on the Royal side of
the correspondence, that have been found among the papers in my
possession,--I shall here give, from a rough copy in Sheridan's
hand-writing, a letter which he addressed about this time to the Prince:--

"It is matter of surprise to myself, as well as of deep regret, that I
should have incurred the appearance of ungrateful neglect and disrespect
towards the person to whom I am most obliged on earth, to whom I feel the
most ardent, dutiful, and affectionate attachment, and in whose service I
would readily sacrifice my life. Yet so it is, and to nothing but a
perverse combination of circumstances, which would form no excuse were I
to recapitulate them, can I attribute a conduct so strange on my part;
and from nothing but Your Royal Highness's kindness and benignity alone
can I expect an indulgent allowance and oblivion of that conduct: nor
could I even hope for this were I not conscious of the unabated and
unalterable devotion towards Your Royal Highness which lives in my heart,
and will ever continue to be its pride and boast.

"But I should ill deserve the indulgence I request did I not frankly
state what has passed in my mind, which, though it cannot justify, may,
in some degree, extenuate what must have appeared so strange to Your
Royal Highness, previous to Your Royal Highness's having actually
restored me to the office I had resigned.

"I was mortified and hurt in the keenest manner by having repeated to me
from an authority which _I then trusted,_ some expressions of Your
Royal Highness respecting me, which it was impossible I could have
deserved. Though I was most solemnly pledged never to reveal the source
from which the communication came, I for some time intended to unburthen
my mind to my sincere friend and Your Royal Highness's most attached and
excellent servant, M'Mahon--but I suddenly discovered, beyond a doubt,
that I had been grossly deceived, and that there had not existed the
slightest foundation for the tale that had been imposed on me; and I do
humbly ask Your Royal Highness's pardon for having for a moment credited
a fiction suggested by mischief and I malice. Yet, extraordinary as it
must seem, I had so long, under this false impression, neglected the
course which duty and gratitude required from me, that I felt an
unaccountable shyness and reserve in repairing my error, and to this
procrastination other unlucky circumstances contributed. One day when I
had the honor of meeting Your Royal Highness on horseback in
Oxford-Street, though your manner was as usual gracious and kind to me,
you said that I had deserted you privately and _politically_. I had
long before that been assured, though falsely I am convinced, that Your
Royal Highness had promised to make a point that I should neither speak
nor vote on Lord Wellesly's business. My view of this topic, and my
knowledge of the delicate situation in which Your Royal Highness stood in
respect to the Catholic question, though weak and inadequate motives, I
confess, yet encouraged the continuance of that reserve which my original
error had commenced. These subjects being passed by,--and sure I am Your
Royal Highness would never deliberately ask me to adopt a course of
debasing inconsistency,--it was my hope fully and frankly to have
explained myself and repaired my fault, when I was informed that a
circumstance that happened at Burlington-House, and which must have been
heinously misrepresented, had greatly offended you; and soon after it was
stated to me, by an authority which I have no objection to disclose, that
Your Royal Highness had quoted, with marked disapprobation, words
supposed to have been spoken by me on the Spanish question, and of which
words, as there is a God in heaven, I never uttered one syllable.

"Most justly may Your Royal Highness answer to all this, why have I not
sooner stated these circumstances, and confided in that uniform
friendship and protection which I have so long experienced at your hands.
I can only plead a nervous, procrastinating nature, abetted, perhaps, by
sensations of, I trust, no false pride, which, however I may blame
myself, impel me involuntarily to fly from the risk of even a cold look
from the quarter to which I owe so much, and by whom to be esteemed is
the glory and consolation of my private and public life.

"One point only remains for me to intrude upon Your Royal Highness's
consideration, but it is of a nature fit only for personal communication.
I therefore conclude, with again entreating Your Royal Highness to
continue and extend the indulgence which the imperfections in my
character have so often received from you, and yet to be assured that
there never did exist to Monarch, Prince, or man, a firmer or purer
attachment than I feel, and to my death shall feel, to you, my gracious
Prince and Master."




CHAPTER X.

DESTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE OF DRURY-LANE BY FIRE.--MR. WHITBREAD.--PLAN
FOR A THIRD THEATRE.--ILLNESS OF THE KING.--REGENCY. LORD OBEY AND LORD
GRENVILLE.--CONDUCT OF MR. SHERIDAN.--HIS VINDICATION OF HIMSELF.


With the details of the embarrassments of Drury-Lane Theatre, I have
endeavored, as little as possible, to encumber the attention of the
reader. This part of my subject would, indeed, require a volume to
itself. The successive partnerships entered into with Mr. Grubb and Mr.
Richardson,--the different Trust-deeds for the general and individual
property,--the various creations of shares,--the controversies between
the Trustees and Proprietors, as to the obligations of the Deed of 1793,
which ended in a Chancery-suit in 1799,--the perpetual entanglements of
the property which Sheridan's private debts occasioned, and which even
the friendship and skill of Mr. Adam were wearied out in endeavoring to
rectify,--all this would lead to such a mass of details and
correspondence as, though I have waded through it myself, it is by no
means necessary to inflict upon others.

The great source of the involvements, both of Sheridan himself and of the
concern, is to be found in the enormous excess of the expense of
rebuilding the Theatre in 1793, over the amount stated by the architect
in his estimate. This amount was 75,000_l_.; and the sum of
150,000£. then raised by subscription, would, it was calculated, in
addition to defraying this charge, pay off also the mortgage-debts with
which the Theatre was encumbered. It was soon found, however, that the
expense of building the House alone would exceed the whole amount raised
by subscription; and, notwithstanding the advance of a considerable sum
beyond the estimate, the Theatre was delivered in n very unfinished state
into the hands of the proprietors,--only part of the mortgage-debts was
paid off, and, altogether a debt of 70,000£ was left upon the property.
This debt Mr. Sheridan and the other proprietors took, voluntarily, and,
as it has been thought, inconsiderately, upon themselves,--the builders,
by their contracts, having no legal claim upon them,--and the payment of
it being at various times enforced, not only against the theatre, but
against the private property of Mr. Sheridan, involved both in a degree
of embarrassment from which there appeared no hope of extricating them.

Such was the state of this luckless property,--and it would have been
difficult to imagine any change for the worse that could befall
it,--when, early in the present year, an event occurred, that seemed to
fill up at once the measure of its ruin. On the night of the 24th of
February, while the House of Commons was occupied with Mr. Ponsonby's
motion on the Conduct of the War in Spain, and Mr. Sheridan was in
attendance, with the intention, no doubt, of speaking, the House was
suddenly illuminated by a blaze of light; and, the Debate being
interrupted, it was ascertained that the Theatre of Drury-Lane was on
fire. A motion was made to adjourn; but Mr. Sheridan said with much
calmness, that "whatever might be the extent of the private calamity, he
hoped it would not interfere with the public business of the country." He
then left the House; and, proceeding to Drury-Lane, witnessed, with a
fortitude which strongly interested all who observed him, the entire
destruction of his property. [Footnote: It is said that, as he sat at the
Piazza Coffee-house, during the fire, taking some refreshment, a friend
of his having remarked on the philosophic calmness with which he bore his
misfortune, Sheridan answered, "A man may surely be allowed to take a
glass of wine _by his own fire-side._"

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