Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/509

 SHERIDAN. 505 years to have produced the sum of 1000l. It does not appear that he had any considerable preferment; but his intimacy with Swift, in 1725, procured for him a living in the south of Ireland, worth about 150l. a-year, of which he went to take possession, and by an act of inadvertence destroyed a l l his future expectations o f rising i n the church for, being a t Cork o n the 1st o f August, the anniversary o f King George's birth-day, h e preached a sermon which had for i t s text, “Sufficient for the day i s the evil thereof;” o n i t s being known h e was struck out o f the list o f chaplains t o the lord-lieutenant, and forbidden the castle. This living Dr. Sheridan afterwards changed for that o f Dunboyne, which, b y the knavery o f the farmers and power o f the gentlemen i n the neighbourhood, fell a s low a s 80l. per annum. He gave i t u p for the free school o f Cavan, where h e might have lived well i n s o cheap a country o n 801. a-year salary, besides his scholars; but the air being, a s h e said, too moist and unwholesome, and being disgusted with some persons who lived there, h e sold the school for about 400l.; and having soon spent the money, became infirin i n health, and died September 10, 1738, i n his fifty-fifth year. Lord Cork has given the following character o f him:— “ Dr. Sheridan was a schoolmaster, and i n many instances perfectly adapted for that station. He was deeply versed i n the Greek and Roman languages, and i n their customs and antiquities. He had that kind o f good nature which absence o f mind, indolence o f body, and carelessness o f fortune produced; and, although not over strict i n his own conduct, yet h e took care o f the morality o f his scholars, whom h e sent t o the university remarkably well founded i n a l l classical learning, and not i l l instructed i n the social duties o f life. He was slovenly, indigent, and cheerful. He knew books much better than men; and h e knew the value o f money least o f all. I n this situ ation, and with this disposition, Swift fastened upon him a s upon a prey with which h e intended t o regale himself whenever h i s appetite should prompt him.” His lordship