The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-31 00:00:00

tie late Mr. Sheridan was often reduced to utiplaasant
icaments. Possibly he had little appetite for breakfast
elf, but the servants complained bitterly on this head,
said that Mrs. Sheridan was sometimes kept waiting
couple of hours while they had to hunt through the
ibourhood, and beat up for coffee, eggs, Lnd French
rolls. The same perplexity in this instance appears to have
extended to the providing for the dinner ; fur so sharp set
were they, that, to cut sort a debate with a butcher's ap-
prentice about leaving a leg of mutton without the money,
the cook clapped it into the pot ; the butcher's boy, pro-
bably used to such encounters, with equal coolness took it
out again, and marched off with it in his tray in triumph. It
required a man to be the author of " The School for Sean-
dal" to run the gauntlet of such disagreeable occurrences
every hour of the day.
Taylor, of the Opera•house, used to say of Sheridan,
that he could not pull off his hat to him in the street
without its costing him fifty pounds ; and if he stopped to
speak to him, it was a hundred. No one could be a
stronger instance than he was cf what is called living from
hand to 7ilouth. He was always in want of money, though
he received vast sums which he must have disbursed ; and
yet nobody can tell what became of them, for he paid no-
body. He spent his wife's fortune (sixteen hundred pounds)
in a six weeks' jaunt to Bath, and returned to town as
poor as a rat. Whenever he and his son were invited out
into the country, they always went in two postchaises
and four—he in one, and his son Tom following in another.
Sheridan once wanted to take Mrs. Sheridan a very hand-
some dress down into the country, and went to Barber
and Nunn's to order it, saying he must have it by such •
a day, but promising they should have ready money.
Mrs. Barber (I think it was) made answer that the time
was short, but that ready money was a very charming
thing, and that he should have it. Accordingly, at the
time appointed she brought the dress, which came to.
and it was sent in to Mr. Sheriden, who sent out a Mr.
Grimm (one of his jackals) to say he admired it exceedingly,
and that he was sure Mrs.. Sheridan would be delighted
with it, but he was sorry to have nothing under a hundred
pound bank-note in the house. She said she had come pro-
vided for such an accident, and could give change for a
hundred, two hundred, or five• hundred pound note if it
were necessary. Grimm then went back to his principal
for farther instructions, who made an r.:xc.use that he had
no stamped receipt by him. For this Mis: B. said she was
also 'provided ; she had brought one in her pocket. At
each message she could hear them laughing heartily in the
next room, at the idea of having met with their match for
once ; and presently after Sheridan came out in high good
humour;and paid her the amount of her bill, in ten, five, or
one pound notes. Once when a creditor brought him a
bill for payment, which had often been presented before,
and the man complained of its soiled and. tattered state,
and said he was quite ashamed to see. it, ".I'll tell you what
I'd advise you to do with it, my friend," said Sheridan,
" take it home, and write it upon parchment !" He once
mounted a horse which a horse-dealer was showing off
near a coffee-house at the bottom of St. James's-street,
rode it to Tattersall's, and sold it, and walked quietly back
to the -spot from which he set out. The owner was fu-
rious, swore he would be the death of him ; and in a quarter
of an hour afterwards they were seen sitting together. over
a bottle of wine in the coffee-house, the horse jockey with
the tears running down his face at -Sheridan's jokes, and
almost ready to hug him as an honest fellow. Sheridan's
house and lobby were beset with duns every morning, who
were told that Mr. Sheridan was not yet up, and shown
into several rooms on each side of the entrance. As soon
as he had breakfasted he asked, "Are those doors all shut,
John ?" and, being assured they were, marched out very
deliberately between them, to the astonishment of his self-
invited guests, who soon found the bird was flown. I have
heard one of his old city friends declare, that such was the
effect of his frank, cordial manner, and insinuating elo-
quence, that he was always afraid to go to ask him for a
debt of long standing, lest he should borrow twice as much.
A play had been put off one night, or a favourite actor
did not -appear, and the audience demanded to have
their money back again ; but when they came to the
door they were told by the check-takers that there was
none for them, for that Mr. Sheridan had been in the
meantime, and had carried off all the money in the
till. He used often to get the old cobler who kept a
stall under the ruins of Drury-lane to broil a beefsteak
for him, and take their dinner together. On the night
that Drury-lane was burnt down Sheridan was in the
House of Commons, making a speech, though he could
hardly stand without leaning his hands on the table, and it
was with some difficulty he was forced away, urging the
plea, " What signified the concerns of a priVate
compared to the good of the state ?" -When he got to Co-
vent-garden he went into the Piazza Coffee-house, to steady
himself with another bottle, and then strolled out to the
end of the Piazza to look at the progress of the fire. Here
be was accosted by Charles Kenible and Fawcett, who
'complimented him on the calmness with which he seemed to
regard so great a loss. He declined this praise, and said—
" Gentlemen, there are but three things in human life that
in my opinion ought to disturb a wise man's patience. The
first of these is bodily pain, and that (whatever the ancient
stoics may have said to the contrary) is too much for any
man to bear without flinching : this I have felt severely,.
and I know it to be the case. The second is the loss of a
friend whom you have dearly loved ; that, gentlemen, is a
great evil : this I have also felt, and I know it to be too
much for any man's fortitude. And the third is the con-
sciousness of having done an unjust action. That, gentle-
men, is a great evil, a very great evil, too much for any man
to endure the reflection of; but that"(laying his hand upon
his heart), " but that, thank God, I have never felt !" I
have been told that these were nearly the very words, except
that he appealed to the Melts sconscia rccli very emphatically
three or four times over, by an excellent authority, Mr.
Mathews the player, who was on the spot at the time. She-
ridan's reply to the watchman who had picked him up in
the street, and who wanted to know who he was, " I am
Mr. Wilberforce !"—is well known, and shows that, how-
ever frequently he might be at a loss for money, he never
wanted wit !