VIII.] PAYING FOR DRURY LANE 311 solutions of a mystery, appears to be as obvious as it is simple.1 The truth is that Sheridan and his partners had not to find thousands in cash, out of their private means, when they stepped into the place of Garrick. A share in Drury Lane Theatre was a share in a monopoly; it was regarded as good a security as so much free-hold land, upon which a banker had no hesitation in advancing money. Sheridan had no hesitation in pledging the income of the theatre for the payment of annuities and, by this easy method of financing, the property was acquired. The partners were confident that the 1 "Most writers on the subject have taken this note of Sheridan's [quoted by Moore and purporting that he paid Lacy upwards of £45,000] to mean that he paid at least £45,000 in cash, and they have exhausted their efforts in guessing where he got the money. But if we compare Moore's statement with Watkins's, we get nearer a solution of the difficulty. Watkins says that Lacy's share was already mortgaged for £31,500, and that Sheridan assumed this mortgage, and agreed further to pay in return for the equity of redemption, two annuities of £500 each. This double obligation, (the mortgage for £31,500 and the annuities) represents a price exceeding £45,000; but it did not call for the expenditure of a single penny in cash. On the contrary the purchase of Lacy's half of the theatre, actually put money into Sheridan's pocket, for he at once divided his original one-seventh between Linley and Dr. Ford, making each of their shares up to one-fourth; and even if they paid him no increase on the original price, he would have been enabled to pay off the £8,700 mortgages to Dr. Ford, and to Mr. Wallis, and to get back the £1,300 which he seems to have advanced himself. In fact, it appears that Sheridan invested only £1,300 in cash when he bought oneseventh of Drury Lane Theatre, in 1776, and that he received this back when he became possessed of one-half of Drury Lane Theatre, in 1778, then valued at £90,000."-Sheridan's Comedies, by Brander Mathews, pp. 30, 31. It returns under their management would exceed what they had been under that of Garrick; they probably agreed in thinking that Sheridan would show how to double the profits which Garrick had made.1 is as common now, as it was then, for new managers of an old undertaking to base their calculations upon the fanciful ground that those whom they had succeeded did not thoroughly understand their business. Sheridan was blessed with the boldness which frequently commands success and inspired with the ambition which disregards the limitations of commonplace prudence in the conduct of human affairs. He had risen rapidly to a giddy height. He owed every 1 Mr. Linley was quite as sanguine as any of the partners. A fulsome letter from him to Garrick exhibits how greatly he felt himself under an obligation, and it implies that his expectations of the result were very high :-"Bath, 29 January, 1776. My heart tells me I ought not to defer acknowledging, and thanking you most sincerely for the friendship you have shown to me and Sheridan, in permitting us to purchase a part of your share in the patent of Drury Lane Theatre. "The loss to be sustained by the public, by your quitting the stage, will be truly felt, but cannot justly be described; no person, I may boldly say, will ever appear after you, but with diminished lustre. You are a centre star of glory on this stage of the world; and that you may long shine a light to us that walk in darkness, and then retire but to 'new trick your beams, and flame in the forehead of the morning sky' of the next, is the sincere wish and prayer of your ever obedient and most devoted humble servant, Thomas Linley. "I shall be in Town in about ten days, and you may depend upon my punctuality in fulfilling my part of the engagement betwixt us."-" Private Correspondence of David Garrick," vol. ii., p. 131. VIII.] THE BANE OF HIS LIFE 313 thing to himself and he may be pardoned for implicitly trusting in his own powers. His father had opposed him at every turn; his father-in-law, though ready to help, could contribute but little assistance. The world smiled upon him when he had become indifferent to its frown. If he had been more plodding and less venturesome, he might have had a more peaceful existence. Nature and his early training had made of him a man upon whom warnings were wasted. He had the enthusiasm of a sanguine temperament combined with the recklessness which he had inherited and, while possessing in an exceptionally large measure the qualities which enable a man to heap up riches, he had a bias towards sumptuous living and lavish outlay which proved to be the ineradicable bane of his life. IX. MONARCH OF DRURY LANE It ON the 31st of December, 1775, Sheridan told Mr. Linley:—“I am finishing a two-act comedy for Covent Garden, which will be in rehearsal in a week." Nothing is known about this piece. cannot have been ready for representation when, on the 21st of September, 1776, Drury Lane Theatre was opened under Sheridan's management. Playgoers then expected that a new comedy, from his pen, would be provided for their amusement. Though disappointed, they were yet prepared to bide their time. Kitty Clive, the popular actress who was Garrick's favourite and Horace Walpole's friend, wrote to Garrick during the negotiations which ended in his retirement from the stage and said :"What a strange jumble of people they have put in the papers as to the purchasers of the patent! I have some opinion of Mr. Sheridan, as I hear everybody says he is very sensible; then he has a divine wife and I loved his mother dearly."1 He began his career as Manager by reviving The Rivals, which originally appeared at Covent Garden Theatre. The Old Bachelor by Congreve was next 1 "The Private Correspondence of Garrick," vol. i., pp. 128, |