Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 52.djvu/90

 Sir Lucius O'Trigger, and it was played on 2 May. It was favourably received, and repeated several times at Covent Garden. A comic opera, ‘The Duenna,’ was represented at Covent Garden on 21 Nov. 1775 and on seventy-four other nights during the season, a success which was then unprecedented.

By the end of 1775 Sheridan had become a favourite with playgoers. Before the end of the next year he was manager of Drury Lane Theatre in succession to Garrick, having entered into partnership with Mr. Linley and Dr. Ford, and become the proprietor of Garrick's share in the theatre, for which Garrick received 35,000l. Two years later the share of Lacy, the partner of Garrick, which was valued at the same sum, was bought by the new proprietors. Mr. Brander Matthews has pointed out, in his introduction to Sheridan's ‘Comedies’ (pp. 30, 31), that the money was chiefly raised on mortgage; that when Sheridan bought one-seventh of the shares in 1776 he only had to find 1,300l. in cash; and that when he became the proprietor in 1778 of the half of the shares, this sum was returned to him.

Drury Lane Theatre was opened under Sheridan's management on 21 Sept. 1776. A prelude written for the occasion by Colman, containing a neat compliment to Garrick, was then performed. On 16 Jan. 1777 Sheridan gave ‘The Rivals’ for the first time at Drury Lane, and on 24 Feb. ‘A Trip to Scarborough,’ which he had adapted from Vanbrugh's ‘Relapse;’ but he achieved his crowning triumph as a dramatist on 8 May in that year, when ‘The School for Scandal’ was put on the stage. The play narrowly escaped suppression. Sheridan told the House of Commons on 3 Dec. 1793 that a license for its performance had been refused, and that it was only through his personal influence with Lord Hertford, the lord chamberlain, that the license was granted the day before that fixed for the performance. On 29 Oct. 1779 Sheridan's farce, ‘The Critic,’ and, on 24 May 1799, his patriotic melodrama, ‘Pizarro,’ were produced at Drury Lane. With ‘Pizarro’ his career as a dramatist ended.

Sheridan had meanwhile become as great a favourite in society and in parliament as among playgoers. In March 1777 he was elected a member of the Literary Club on the motion of Dr. Johnson, and he lived to be one of the oldest of the thirty-five members. Having made the acquaintance of Charles James Fox, he joined him in his efforts for political reform, and desired to enter parliament as his supporter. He failed in his candidature for Honiton, but he was returned for Stafford on 12 Sept. 1780. A letter in his favour from the Duchess of Devonshire proved of great service. On the proposition of Fitzpatrick, he was elected a member of Brooks's Club on 2 Nov. 1780. Two years before, he had been twice proposed by Fox and rejected, the first time on 28 Nov. the second on 25 Dec. 1778 (candidates' book, Brooks's Club).

His first speech in parliament was made on 20 Nov. 1780, in defence of a charge of bribery which Whitworth, his defeated opponent at Stafford, had brought against him, and the speech was both well received and successful in its object. The allegation that he had failed was circulated for the first time by Moore forty-five years after the speech was delivered (cf., Biography, i. 359). He became a frequent speaker, and by common consent was soon ranked as highly among parliamentary orators as among dramatic writers. His opposition to the war in America was deemed so effective by the representatives of congress that a thank-offering of 20,000l. was made to him. He wisely and gracefully declined to accept the gift (, Diary, i. 212, 213). In 1782 his marked abilities received more practical recognition. Lord Rockingham, who then became premier for the second time, appointed him under-secretary for foreign affairs. After the death of Rockingham on 1 July, Shelburne was appointed prime minister. Sheridan, with other colleagues in the Rockingham administration, refused to serve under him. But he returned to office on 21 Feb. 1783 as secretary to the treasury when the coalition ministry, with the Duke of Portland as figure-head, was formed. The ministry was dismissed by the king on the 18th of the following December. During the brief interval, Sheridan addressed the house twenty-six times on matters concerning the treasury.

Sheridan made the personal acquaintance of the Prince of Wales at Devonshire House soon after he entered parliament, and thenceforth acted as his confidential adviser. He gave advice and drafted documents for the prince in 1788, when the king was suffering from mental disorder, and it was proposed to appoint the prince as regent subject to certain restrictions. With Fox and Lord Loughborough he injudiciously upheld the right of the prince to assume the regency without the sanction of parliament. It was arranged that, should the king not recover and should a whig administration be formed by the regent, the office of treasurer of the navy would be assigned to Sheridan; but the king's recovery rendered the plan nugatory. Sheridan was conspicuous in the proceedings against Warren Hastings [q. v.] He attended the committee which examined witnesses in