VII.]

GOLDSMITH AND SHERIDAN

291

in the theatrical world was as startling, serviceable, and triumphant as that of the Black Knight who, in the tournament grandly depicted in Ivanhoe, entered the lists unheralded, unhorsed every competitor and carried off the prize.

The critic who should have been called upon in 1775 to prophesy concerning the author of The Rivals, would have shown himself as great a wizard as he who foretold Lochiel's fate, if he had affirmed that Sheridan's first comedy would still be a favourite with the public when the Nineteenth Century was nearing its close. Such critic's considerate friends might have thought that excessive enthusiasm had turned his head. Sheridan would perhaps have listened to the prophecy with mingled indifference and scepticism. He would cheerfully have bartered future fame for the immediate return of his father's love. Nothing is more pathetic in his career than his longing to be restored to his father's favour and forgiven the offence of marrying Miss Linley, at the time when he was the hero of the hour and envied by less fortunate contemporaries. His father and his sisters joined the multitude that flocked to see The Rivals. Sheridan gazed upon them from a distance with an aching heart. After returning home, he shed tears at the thought of the estrangement for which his father was responsible, and told his sympathetic wife that it grieved him "to think that there sat his father and his sisters before him, and yet that he alone was not permitted to go near them or speak to them."

VIII.

ON THE FLOOD-TIDE OF FORTUNE.

This

THE unsatisfactory acting of Mr. Lee as Sir Lucius O'Trigger had contributed to put the success of The Rivals in jeopardy. Mr. Clinch made the same part one of the most popular in the play, and Sheridan was not unmindful of his obligation to the performer who had rendered him an inestimable service. actor's benefit for the year 1775 took place on the 2nd of May, the occasion being made memorable by the representation of a farce styled St. Patrick's Day, which Sheridan wrote for him. Produced to serve a purpose, which it did admirably, this farce exemplified the author's versatility and readiness; but it cannot be classed among the pieces into which he put his whole heart and which do him infinite credit.

The dialogue is sparkling and far superior to the plot, which is devoid of ingenuity and startling incident. Mr. Credulous, a Justice of the Peace, has a daughter Lauretta, with whom Lieutenant O'Connor, in charge of a recruiting party, is in love. Dr. Rosy, the village medical man, is on the side of the Lieutenant, while Mr. Credulous and his wife are resolved that the lovers shall not marry. After

CHAP. VIII.] SHERIDANESQUE PASSAGES

293

a game of cross-purposes, which is not very cleverly planned or played, Mr. Credulous consents to his daughter Lauretta being united to the man whom he detests.

Any skilled playwright of the day could have written a farce like this, with the exception of several passages which, if I may be permitted to coin a word, are Sheridanesque. The originality of Sheridan consists in his having had a style wholly his own from the outset, a style which it was easier to criticize than to copy. The opening The opening passages of this farce differ from any which had appeared from the pen of a contemporary. These are :

"IST SOLDIER. I say you are wrong; we should all speak together, each for himself, and all at once, that we may be heard the better.

"2ND SOLDIER. Right, Jack; we'll argue in platoons.

"3RD SOLDIER. Ay, ay, let him have our grievances in a volley." Again, when these private soldiers complain to Lieutenant O'Connor about the conduct of the innkeepers, he asks :—

"Pray, which of the houses use you ill?

IST SOLDIER. There's the Red Lion ain't half the civility of the Old Red Lion.

"2ND SOLDIER. There's the White Horse, if he wasn't casehardened, ought to be ashamed to show his face.

"O'CONNOR. Very well; the Horse and the Lion shall answer for it at the Quarter Sessions.

"TROUNCE. The Two Magpies are civil enough, but the Angel uses us like devils, and the Rising Sun refuses us light to go to bed by.

"O'CONNOR. Then, upon my word, I'll have the Rising Sun put down, and the Angel shall give security for his good behaviour."

One of Sheridan's marked peculiarities was to be most careful in making his personages use the technical language of their calling. This is praiseworthy-unless carried to extremes, when it becomes unpleasing. For instance, Lieutenant O'Connor, when describing London ladies, and Dr. Rosy when depicting his deceased wife, talk rather too artificially or professionally. O'Connor having said that Lauretta's great charm lay in her simplicity and naturalness, Dr. Rosy remarks :—

"You are for beauty as nature made her, hey! No artificial graces, no cosmetic varnish.

"O'CONNOR. Upon my word, Doctor, you are right; the London ladies are always too handsome for me; then they are so defended, such a circumvallation of hoop, with a breastwork of whalebone that would turn a pistol-bullet, much less Cupid's arrows, then turret on turret on top, with stores of concealed weapons, under pretence of black pins,-and above all a standard of feathers that would do honour to a Knight of the Bath. Upon my conscience, I could as soon embrace an Amazon, armed at all points.

"DR. ROSY. Right, right, my Alexander! my taste to a tittle. "O'CONNOR. Then, Doctor, though I admire modesty in women, I like to see their faces. I am for the changeable rose ; but with one of these quality Amazons, if their midnight dissipations had left them blood enough to raise a blush, they have not room enough in their cheeks to show it. To be sure, bashfulness is a very pretty thing; but in my mind, there is nothing on earth so impudent as an everlasting blush.

"DR. ROSY. My taste, my taste! Well, Lauretta is none of these. Ah! I never see her but she puts me in mind of my poor dear wife. Oh poor Dolly! I never shall see her like again : such an arm for a bandage-veins that seemed to invite the lancet. Then her skin, smooth and white as a gallipot; her mouth as round and not larger than the mouth of a penny phial; her lips, conserve of roses; and then her teeth-none of your sturdy

VIII.]

"ST. PATRICK'S DAY”

295

fixtures-ache as they would, it was but a small pull, and out they came. I believe I have drawn half a score of her poor dear pearls

(weeps). But what avails her beauty? Death has no consideration-one must die as well as another. Fair and ugly, crooked or straight, rich or poor-flesh is grass-flowers fade."

When Dr. Rosy is alone and moralizing about the situation of his friend O'Connor, he adheres to his professional speech even in monologue; he talks "shop" out of season :—

"Well, I think my friend is now in a fair way of succeeding. Ah! I warrant he is full of hope and fear, doubt and anxiety ; truly he has the fever of love strong upon him: faint, peevish, languishing all day, with burning, restless nights. Ah! just my case when I pined for my poor dear Dolly! when she used to have her daily colics, and her dear little doctor be sent for. Then would I interpret the language of her pulse-declare my own sufferings in my receipt for her-send her a pearl necklace in a pill-box, or a cordial draught with an acrostic on the label."

There are, however, many passages which, as I have said, do credit to Sheridan's sparkling pen. The following one is as humorous as that in which Sir Lucius O'Trigger tells Acres, "I'm told there's very snug lying in the Abbey." Mr. Credulous thinks he is dying; his wife urges him to make his will and bequeath all his property to her; he says "I don't like death," and her reply is, “A moment and it is all over;" thereupon he exclaims, Ay, but it leaves a numbness behind that lasts a plaguy long time.”

This account of St. Patrick's Day, while sufficing to exhibit its character, dispenses me from further reference to the piece when I shall deal with those dramatic works of Sheridan which are treasured on account of their incomparable merits.