ࡱ> ?A>%` FbjbjNN .(,,8 """""""68 6-22222222- - - - - - -$U.h0D-"$22$$D-""22Y-$"2"2-$-""2& [-o-0-111"(2t$222D-D-R222-$$$$666 666 666"""""" The Book of Irish Writers - Chapter 19, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751-1816 Although he lived to be 65, Richard Brinsley Sheridans career as a writer was over by the time he was 28! Sheridan was born in Dublin to a literary family. His grandfather had been a friend of Jonathan Swift and his father was the manager of Dublins Smock Alley Theatre. His mother, Frances, was a playwright and novelist. Although he received a certain amount of his education from his parents, Sheridan didnt see much of them when he was young as they spent a lot of time in France to avoid creditors back home. In 1770, when he wasnt quite 20 years old, Sheridans father moved the family to Bath, a centre of fashionable society. This was where Sheridan first started to write, though without much success to begin with. His first major play, The Rivals, was produced in 1775. It involves thwarted young lovers and a couple of duels - which are averted only at the last moment. Most famously, it introduces the comic figure of Mrs Malaprop, that inventive language mangler: she describes one character as the very pineapple of politeness, and of another she says: she's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile. Even so, shes offended when her language is attacked: an aspersion upon my parts of speech! was ever such a brute! Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs! Although its a very literary play, The Rivals is also a milder version of Sheridans own love life. Elizabeth Linley was a singer and famous beauty. Sheridans relationship with her involved an elopement to France, an unconsummated secret marriage, two duels with a married captain (who was stalking Elizabeth), and the disapproval of both fathers before they were eventually officially married. Mindful that the figure of the stage-Irish Sir Lucius OTrigger in The Rivals had caused some offence (despite his revisions after a poor opening night), Sheridan was careful to have a more positive Irish character in his next play. St Patricks Day is a farce in which Lieutenant OConnor, an Irishman, outwits Justice Credulous - who disapproves of Irishmen and soldiers - to marry his daughter Lauretta. In the following year, 1776, Sheridan was able to buy the Drury Lane Theatre in London from its owner, David Garrick. He was generally successful as a theatre manager and he needed to be! Sheridan and his wife Elizabeth were a witty, attractive, and talented young couple with a growing social circle. They were mixing more and more in aristocratic company and their already extravagant lifestyle was expanding. Sheridans greatest work The School for Scandal appeared in 1777 when he was still only in his mid twenties. The play confirmed his literary reputation. Its a comedy of manners in which hypocrisy and high society are equally mocked as the scheming Joseph Surface loses out to his younger, and more sincere, brother Charles in their competition to marry the wealthy Maria. Although Sheridan would write more plays, his attention was turning to politics by this stage. The Critic, his last original play, was staged in 1779. Its ostensibly about the theatre, but its sharper than ever in its satire of contemporary issues. Sheridan viewed the theatre increasingly as a way to subsidise his political career. He became an MP in 1780 (when he wasnt quite 30 years old) and would serve for the next 32 years. He was a witty and eloquent orator, and a supporter of radical causes like the French Revolution! He was also in contact with the United Irishmen, and shared their aim of uniting Ireland as an independent, democratic country. He defended the United Irishmen in the House of Commons after their rising failed. He also opposed the Act of Union in 1799. He was ahead of his time in arguing for the need for land reform and in supporting Catholic emancipation. A measure of his knowledge of Ireland is that he approached Anne Devlin to find out about her imprisonment after the failure of Robert Emmets rising in 1803. He knew that Devlin had acted as Emmets housekeeper and had been a conspirator in the rising. Sheridans personal life continued to be ramshackle. After Elizabeths death in 1792, he married again three years later. His new bride, Hester Jane Ogle, was 25 years his junior. The Drury Lane Theatre was still his principle source of income. When the theatre burned down in 1806, Sheridan watched from a local coffee house. With typical flair he remarked - A man may surely take a glass of wine by his own fireside.     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