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SHE  with the words: "There never did exist to monarch, prince, or man, a firmer or purer attachment than I feel, and to my death shall feel, to you, my gracious prince and master." In 1806 Sheridan was elected member for Westminster. The loss of this seat at the next election was a great mortification and a serious blow to his prestige, although he was returned for Ilchester. The destruction of Drury-lane Theatre by fire in 1809 completed his financial ruin. He was called out of the House of Commons on the occasion, and is reported to have said to a friend who remarked on the philosophical calmness with which he sat in view of the fire taking some refreshment: "A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fire-side," Mr. Whitbread endeavoured to lighten Sheridan's difficulties by taking upon himself the responsibilities of the theatre and its rebuilding, but received the return too often accorded to those who strive to help men hopelessly involved, Sheridan before long came to regard him as his bitterest enemy—the author of all his misfortunes, "Whitbread was perhaps the only person he had ever found proof against his powers of persuasion—and this rigidity naturally mortified Sheridan's pride full as much as it thwarted and disconcerted his plans. His failure, in 1812, to be returned for Stafford ended his political career. He was now excluded from the theatre and from Parliament—his two dependencies in life were gone, and he was left a helpless wreck. It is to his credit that he refused the Prince's offer again to bring him into Parliament, He was forced to part with all his pictures, books, and presents. The handsome cup given him on one occasion by the electors of Stafford was sold, and the portrait, by Reynolds, of his first wife in the character of St. Cecilia, was pawned. In the spring of 1815 he was arrested, and carried to a sponging-house. Illness supervened, brought on by irregular living, and increased by harassing cares, Moore and Rogers proved his best helpers, and Mrs. Sheridan's care and watchfulness were unceasing. Some assistance was obtained from friends through a newspaper appeal. He was again arrested, and would have been carried to prison but for the firmness of his doctor. He lingered until the 7th July 1816, when, after a succession of shivering fits, he fell into a state of exhaustion, and expired. He was in his 65th year. His residence, 17 Saville-row, was then in the possession of the bailiffs, and his body had to be removed to a friend's house, whence a few days afterwards a train of the highest in the land followed his remains to Westminster Abbey. Sheridan's speeches cost much labour in the preparation, and his most brilliant, and apparently least premeditated repartees and witty sayings were generally thought out long before he produced them. In person he was above the middle size, robust and well-proportioned; handsome in youth. In later years his beautiful eyes were the only remains of early grace of person. He was often guilty of appropriating the sentiments and work of others, both in his speeches and writings. Lord Byron says: "whatever Sheridan has done or chosen to do, has been, par excellence, always the best of its kind. He has written the best comedy (School for Scandal), the best drama (The Duenna), the best farce (The Critic—it is only too good for a farce), and the best address ('Monologue on Garrick'), and, to crown all, delivered the very best oration (the famous 'Begum speech') ever conceived or heard in this country." Lord Macaulay says: "No writers have injured the comedy of England so deeply as Congreve and Sheridan. Both were men of splendid wit and polished taste. Unhappily they made all their characters in their own likeness. Their works bear the same relation to the legitimate drama which a transparency bears to a painting. There are no delicate touches, no hues imperceptibly fading into each other; the whole is lighted up with an universal glare. Outlines and tints are forgotten in the common blaze which illuminates all. The flowers and fruit of the intellect abound; but it is the abundance of a jungle, not of a garden—unwholesome, bewildering, unprofitable from its very plenty, rank from its very fragrance. Every fop, every boor, every valet is a man of wit," Sheridan left two sons, Thomas, who died in 1817, at the Cape, where he held the post of Colonial Paymaster, and Charles, who obtained a limited reputation as a poet. Thomas had three daughters, all born out of Ireland: (I) Selina (born 1807, died 1867), married the Hon. Price Blackwood, afterwards Lord Dufferin and Clandeboy. After his death, she married the Earl of Gifford when on his death-bed. She was mother of the present Earl of Dufferin. She was the authoress of "The Irish Emigrant," "Katie's Letter," "Terence's Farewell," and other ballads. (2) Caroline, (born in 1808, died in 1877), married the Hon. G. C. Norton, and after his death Sir William Stirling-Maxwell. Her first marriage was unhappy, and led to  479