1820.]

powers," &c. the Preacher very forcibly inculcates the duty of submission to the constituted authorities of the State, both Civil and Ecclesiastical; and thus concludes:

"We of this country have more especial cause to give thanks to Almighty God, the disposer of all events, " at whose command nations and empires rise and fall, flourish and decay," for suffering our lot to fall under such a constitution as we enjoy; and that these blessings may be continued to us, let us beseech him that those who act here on earth as his vice

gerents inay ever have his favour and pro

tection, and be endued with such wisdom,

strength, and firmness, as may enable them, heedless of popular remonstrances, effectually to beat down sedition wherever it rears his snaky crest, and to crush the monster in its first efforts to spread abroad ruin and desolation." pp. 22, 23.

7. Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan, with a particular Account of his Family and Connexions. By John Watkins, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo.

BIOGRAPHY is of much importance in developing the characters of public persons, and unfolding the secret springs of complicated events. In the present work the author appears to have risen superior to the influence of party, and has been careful to represent actions as he found them, and to discover the real causes out of which they sprang. The late Mr. Sheridan may be considered as a most prominent character, by the splendour of his eloquence, the bri!liancy of his wit, and the versatility of his powers. A genuine narrative, therefore, of the particulars of the life of the Author of the "School for Scandal" could not fail of being highly acceptable to the literary, as well as to the political world.

The first volume is divided into sixteen chapters, besides the introduction, which contains an account of the antiquity of the family of Sheridan, memoirs of Dr. Thomas Sheridan, and anecdotes of Dean Swift; but these we pass over in order to keep in view the principal and chief character of the work.

If it be true what Plutarch, in his Life of Demosthenes, asserts, that the "first requisite to happiness is, that a mau be born in a famous city," Mr. Sheridan may be said to have been happy even from his cradle, for he

51

was born in October, 1751, in Dorset. street, Dublin, and baptized on the 4th Nov. in the parish church of St. Mary. His mother had the charge of his early education, and when she placed, him under the care of her cousin, Mr. S. Whyte, she observed that she had brought him a subject for the trial of his patience, as he had nearly exhausted hers by his impenetrable dulness. At this time the subject of these memoirs had nearly attained his seventh year, and this anecdote confirms the idea of that constitutional indo

lence which accompanied Mr. Sheridan through life. In August, 1759, young Sheridan arrived in England from Dublin, and the same complaint of sluggish indifference to learning con tinued to be made by his mother, who, in a letter to Mr. Whyte, thus expresses herself:

"My son, thank God, arrived safe and well. I can't say he does bis preceptor as much credit as George Cunningham does, for his progress has been small, for eighteen months; but, mistake me not: I don't say this, as it is too much the absurd custom of parents, by way of throwing a reflection on their teacher, of whose care and abilities I am perfectly satisfied: it is the interest of the master to do every thing to the best of his power for the advantage of his pupils."

His mother now again took her favourite son under her care, and bad the satisfaction of seeing her labours attended with success.

In the beginning of 1762, R. B. Sheridan was sent to Harrow School, then under the snperintendance of Dr. Sumner, but his progress was not cal

culated to remove the unfavourable estimate which his mother had formed of his abilities and diligence. Among his contemporaries at school, were some who have shone with splendour and utility in public life, but these were not his companions; and, in Consequence of his indifference to learning, he was regarded by the superior boys with contempt. This treatment, however, would sometimes provoke exertion which indicated native genius that only wanted a proper stimulus and cultivation to become eminent; and this did not escape the observation of Dr. Samuel Parr, who was one of the under-teachers of the school, who, perceiving in Sheridan strong powers of retention and an acuteness of penetration, generously

undertook

undertook the task of drawing into exercise his opening talents.

But the departure of Parr for Cam bridge was a serious loss to his young pupil, who experienced another affiction of still greater moment by the death of his mother, to whom he was indebted for the elements of knowledge, and whose counsel would, in all likelihood, have been of essential benefit to the direction of his conduct, and the right application of his talents.

Whilst be was at Harrow, his Biographer relates the following anecdote:

"We are told he was made a frequent

butt for the ridicule of the other boys, particularly those who were born of great families, or to brighter prospects. One of the most troublesome and impertinent of these youths, the son of an eminent phy

sician in London, took occasion, in the play-ground, to exercise his wit at the expense of Sheridan, as being the son of a player; on which the latter quickly retorted, 'Tis true, my father lives by pleasing people, but yours lives by killing them.'"

Some of the admirers of Sheridan have attempted the justification of his carelessness at school, by the absurd plea that he did not feel that pedantic attachment to the learned languages which, it is said, too often distracts the attention from better pursuits, and gives to a comparatively useless branch of education, the monopoly of time, talents, and atten

tion.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was in his eighteenth year when he quitted Harrow School, where he passed undistinguished, except by the commiseration of Samuel Parr, but where he neither formed any particular friendship, nor left behind him any pleasing

marks of remembrance.

The second chapter contains the Retirement of Mr. Sheridan from public exhibition, Anecdote Observations of Dr.Johnson, Embarrassments, Private Concerts, Comedy of the Rivals, Farce of St. Patrick's Day, Opera of the Duenna, Abdication of Garrick, succeeded by Sheridan.

After his marriage his chief resource appears to have been derived from writing for the fugitive publications of the day, in which he was assisted by his wife; and many years he has been heard to say, that if he had stuck

"

to the law, he believed he should have done as much as his friend Tom Erskine, but (continued he) I had no: time for such studies: Mrs. Sheridan and myself were often obliged to keep writing for our daily leg or shoulder of mutton, otherwise we should have. had no dinner." One of his friends, to whom he confessed this, wittily replied, "Then, I perceive, it was a joint concern."

It was in the year 1782, upon the fall of Lord North's Administration, that Mr. Sheridan began to shine as a first-rate Statesman, and he never missed an opportunity of exercising his wit, when he could display it with

effect.

"At length, on the 20th March, Lord North came down to the House, and declared that he and his colleagues were no Mr. Sheridan, on this longer in power. change, obtained the appointment of Under Secretary of State for the Northern department, which office, however, he held but a' short time; for the death of the Marquis, in July, occasioned a breach in the Cabinet of so serious a nature, that Mr. Fox and his immediate friends gave up their places. Various were the reasons assigned for this hasty measure; but though the seceders endeavoured to justify their conduct upon public principles, no doubt can be now entertained that the ele

vation of the Earl of Shelburne, afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne, to the vacant post of First Lord of the Treasury, was the real ground of separation."

It was in the month of February 1783, that Mr. Sheridan, for the first time, came in contact with Mr. Pitt, who was then Chancellor of the Ex

chequer. The subject of debate in the

House of Commons was the terms of the peace just concluded with Holland in the course of the debate, Mr. Sheridan animadverted upon Mr.Pitt's language and conduct in having recommended that temper to others, of which he failed to set them an example; and he concluded by advising Mr. Pitt and his friends to reserve themselves for the approaching day of disAlluding to Sheridan's dramatic connexions and pursuits, Mr. Pitt said:

cussion.

"No man admired more than he did the abilities of the honourable Gentleman, the elegant sallies of his thoughts, the gay effusions of his fancy, his dramatic turns, his epigrammatic points; and if they were reserved for their proper stage, they would, no doubt, receive what the Hon. Gentleman's abilities always did re

pious and reflecting; and, when, upon the death of Lady Ulverstone, the mystery of her birth is revealed, she disinterestedly refuses to expose the failings of her uncle, of laying claim to the estate; but is prevailed upon to accept from the family a sum of money. The Story concludes by her union with a gentleman to whom she had been from infancy attached.

9. Lucilla; or, the Reconciliation. By the Author of the Twin Sisters, &c. &c. 2 vols. cr. 8vo. Sherwood and Co.

THE intention of this Novel is to expose the mischiefs which may result from female confidantes, here effecting the cruel separation of a fond and dignified couple. As to the other matters, they turn of course upon the usual pivot of courtship: "Says a pig to a pig, pretty piggy say, "If your mammy will say yes, you will not say nay."

The character of the heroine and various other friends, is a very proper rebuke of weak and proud girls of fortune and the lover is an honourable constant swine, as rusticks pervert the old poetical word “ swain.”

10. An Address to the Philharmonic Society. By T. D. Worgan, Professor of Music. pp. 52.

THE numberless publications of this nature to which Mr. Logier's system of musical education has given rise, have unquestionably, in a greater or less degree, claims upon the attention of the public. We cannot, however, discover in the work before us any new arguments in favour of a theoretical knowledge of music in the amateur; nor are we quite certain that Mr. Worgan has not advanced tissue of reasonings already sifted to the bottom, and nearly worn threadbare by the endless controversies which they have created. We regret that his ideas upon the subject, which, if occasionally void of originality, are not equally destitute of ingenuity,

should have been delivered in a strain of such pedantic egotism as must tend in a great degree to obviate his own intentions in the endeavour to give them publicity, and to destroy all the effects which might otherwise have been expected to arise from rational and well-founded argument. The

question to which this pamphlet refers has been so frequently discussed, that we shall not waste our readers' time and our own by enlarging far ther upon it on the present occasion. Suffice it to observe, that in order to comprehend its beauties and feel its excellencies, music must, to a certain extent, be understood and cultivated as a science, although we are by no means disposed to agree with Mr. Worgan, in thinking it absolutely necessary for ladies to take scores with them to concerts. The want of this knowledge must undoubtedly prevent an amateur from comprehending the merits of abstruse and studied compositions of music, almost in the same ratio as a deficiency of literary knowledge would render it impossible for a man to enter into all the recondite beauties of Shakspeare or Milton. But as the powers and effect of me lody and harmony do not require to be studied in order to be felt and enjoyed, so will the generality of amateurs, and especially the female part of them, be content with the gratifi cations which are thus instinctively produced, and we fear shrink from the laborious task which necessarily imposes itself upon this branch of musical education, notwithstanding all Mr. Worgan's attempts to prové the facility with which it may be attained, and the advantages of attaining it; nay, notwithstanding bis quaint endeavours to strew the 66 thorny path" with the flaunting flowers of bis tragi-comic Sonatinas. It is, we believe, Quintilian, who very pertitis intelligunt, indocti VOLUPTATEM. nently remarks, Docti RATIONEM arMr. W. is much too severe upon what he is pleased to term the " feathery versatility of the fair sex," and talks too much about the "growling and squeaking of gentleman amateurs,"

to become a favourite with either the one of the other; and whilst he very candidly confesses that one of his main objects in thus obtruding himself upon beneficial as possible to himself and the public is to render his labours as family, he has not, we conceive, devised the best method of "sprinkling himself with the golden showers" which he appears to consider at present so entirely monopolized by the music shops.

11. Odes