'Twas Patience!... Gentle Goddess, hear! Nor let one murmur rife; Since ftill fome mighty joys are given, I will not now take up your time or my own with any affected uneafinefs about my Verfes, by way of deprecating your cenfure, &c. I know you will like them for the fake of the Author: and in your hands I have nothing to fear from the severity of the Critic. Mr. Sheridan and the children join in being affectionately remembered to you. I am, Dear Sam, FRANCES SHERIDAN. This Ode to Patience is not a common-place rhapsody of fombrous declamation which youthful poets dream, and, those especially of the female clafs, are wont to think fo charming. In every stanza, almost in every line, the amiable writer has reference to fome peculiar distress, to which, at one time or other, her hard condition had exposed her. She has not given the incidents as they occurred, in an exact chronological feries; but rather confulted poetical effect, more confonant to her own feelings, and the order of nature. In the laft ftanza but one, the fubject of which claims precedence in point of time, fhe alludes to the fatal riot that took place at the Theatre, on the second representation of Mahomet, the 2d of March, 1754, which eventually proved the ruin of her husband, and in a moment totally eclipfed the flattering profpects of better days. That evening fhe was peaceably fitting at home, in converfation with a friend, the person to whom these Letters are addreffed; when a Man, horrour in his countenance, breathless and pale, without cere mony .... mony rushed into the parlour.... Oh, Madam! Smock-alley is in flames! . . . In flames?!... Yes, all in a blaze, Madam. She rofe, and looking wiftfully at the door, advanced a ftep or two towards it; but a little recovering herself, in a half-fmothered, under voice, fhe fcarcely articulated, Where is your Master? . . . At the house; all is uproar and distraction, and I just got away with my life. . . . She had a heart fufceptible and feelingly alive to the calamities of her fellow-creatures. The alarm was fudden; it was too much : What then, fo tried, was her refource? . . 'twas Patience. With pious refignation fits her down, And her smooth cheek upon her white arm leaning, But she remained not long in this disconfolate posture; the carriage ftopped at the door, and Mr. Sheridan came in, unhurt. The fervant, early in the disturbance, anticipating the confequence, in a panic ran home and was premature in his account; but she overlooked his rash precipitance, and never revealed it to his Master. Mrs. Sheridan's fecond Comedy, the Dupe, was brought out at Drury-lane, about the beginning of January, 1764, while Mr. Sheridan was abfent in Dublin. One night at his lodgings in Crow-street, just after supper a packet was delivered to him, which on opening proved to be a copy of the Dupe, which Mrs. Sheridan, in a letter accompanying it, informed him had failed; greatly owing, as it was thought, to fome Theatrical cabals, fomented by a popular actress, who conceived her confequence had been fome how injured by by the Sheridans. To these circumstances the fair Author manifeftly alludes in the fourth stanza of her Ode to Patience, and it is more than probable, that on this very occasion it was written. However, Mr. Sheridan, though that evening he had exerted himself with great eclat in a very laborious part, I think Richard, confulting the inclinations of two or three friends prefent, read to them the whole Comedy through; and afterwards gratified them with the contents of another letter, which at the same time he received along with it enclosed. I cannot take upon me to fay, that I retain it precisely verbatim, having never seen it but once; but I can pofitively affirm, it was (very nearly in the words) to the following effect: MADAM, Τα MRS. SHERIDAN. 1 BELIEVE me, I am truly concerned that your Comedyhas met with such fevere, and, without flattery 1 must add, fuch undeferved treatment on the ftage. Neither am I fingular in this opinion; the rapid fale of it is an undeniable proof of it's merit, which the Public have not been blind to in the clofet. The demand for your piece at my shop, has been fo uncommonly great, that, exclufive of the copy-money, it has enabled me to prefent you with the enclosed, of which I en treat your acceptance, as a small teftimony of that gratitude and refpect, with which I have the honour to subscribe myself, Madam, Your most obliged And obedient humble fervant, ANDREW MILLAR. To the honour of a London bookfeller, the enclosed was A BANK-BILL FOR ONE HUNDRED POUNDS fterling; the same fum which by agreement she had before received from him for the copy-right. This fpeaks for itself and needs no comment. MR. MR. SHERIDAN TO MR. WHYTE. MY DEAR SAM, I HAVE just time to inform you, that I landed fafe today at three, after a good paffage with abominable accommodation on board. I am fetting out directly for London, and hope to reach it by Wednesday evening. Pray communicate this intelligence to Knowles, and let him know, he shall hear from me immediately after my arrival. I beg you will remember me in the kindest manner to Mr. and Mrs. Guinness, and let them know I fhall ever retain the most grateful fenfe of their civilities to me. You fhall hear from me foon again. I am, Dear Sam, Very fincerely, And affectionately yours, THOMAS SHERIDAN. MR. SHERIDAN TO MR. MY DEAR SAM, WHYTE. RICHMOND, MAY 12TH, 1764. I KNOW it will give you pleasure to hear, that my friends have settled matters for me in fuch a way, that I fhall be no longer in apprehensions with regard to what my humane creditors may do. I am at present on a visit, for a few days, to a particular friend at Richmond, while Mrs. Sheridan is preparing for our expedition to Scotland; on which we shall set out in eight or ten days; so that you need not answer this, or write, till I fhall have given you notice of my arrival there. One of my friends, a powerful one, has cut out an employment for me, which will place me in a confpicuous point of view, beyond the reach of my enemies; and I have reafon to believe, that the thing will be done early early next Winter. Pray tell Knowles that I fhould have writ to him, by this poft, but that I forgot to bring fome franks down with me; I am preparing fome neceffary papers which I will fend to him on my return to town. The kind concern you took in my affairs whilft I was in Dublin, has endeared you much to me; and I hope the time is not far off, when I fhall be able to make you fuitable returns. Pray let me be remembered in the kindest manner to our good friends in Crow-street, and believe me to be ever Sincerely, and Affectionately yours, &c. THOMAS SHERIDAN. MR. SHERIDAN ΤΟ MR. WHYTE. DEAR SAM, EDINBURGH, AUGUST 8TH, 1764. I HAVE been fo long filent, for no other reafon, but that I never could find an hour in which I could fit down to write with the leaft fatisfaction. I have past a most disagreeable time for these last three months, having never been one day free from my old complaint, and frequently confined with colds. This, together with some other circumstances, has baffled my defign in coming hither. The last has been a most unfortunate year; but I may hope, from the old proverb, that things will mend foon. I fhall in a few days set out for London; but have two or three vifits to pay by the way; fo that I do not expect to reach it in less than a fortnight or three weeks. My plan of operations is fettled, and I am perfectly easy in my mind, as I think I shall be guarded against all events from without, and have little to fear but from ill health. The completion of my Grammar and Dictionary muft now employ all my time, as the foundation of my future fortune; |