SHERIDAN

1866

A BIOGRAPHY

BY

W. FRASER RAE

With an Introduction

BY

SHERIDAN'S GREAT-GRANDSON

THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA

RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty

1896

[All rights reserved]

"It was a Spirit, SHERIDAN! that breathed

O'er thy young mind such wildly-various power!
My soul hath marked thee in her shaping hour,
Thy temples with Hymettian flow'rets wreathed:
And sweet thy voice, as when o'er Laura's bier
Sad music trembled through Vauclusa's glade;
Sweet, as at dawn the love-lorn serenade
That wafts soft dreams to Slumber's listening ear.

Now patriot Rage! And indignation high
Swell the full tones! And now thy eye-beams dance
Meanings of Scorn and Wit's quaint revelry!"

Dedicate this Work

TO

SIR JOHN R. ROBINSON, K.B.

WITH WHOSE FRIENDSHIP I HAVE LONG BEEN HONOURED

AND TO WHOSE WISE COUNSEL AND ACUTE CRITICISM

I ATTRIBUTE MUCH OF THE PLEASURE

WHICH MY SHORT MEMOIR OF SHERIDAN

GAVE TO LORD DUFFERIN.

1866