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 friends, who afterwards aided in the establishment of a school which emptied his own. In consequence, he felt obliged to leave the city and exchange his living at Dunboyne for the free school at Cavan. In 1738 he disposed of this school and went to stay with Swift at St. Patrick's deanery, where he had a serious illness, and was told after his recovery that his presence was no longer welcome. He had, it is true, alienated Swift by being faithful to a promise made in earlier years to inform him when he showed signs of avarice. Having noted many instances, he gave Swift the paper on which he had written them. After perusal he asked Dr. Sheridan, ‘Did you never read “Gil Blas”? ’ Not long afterwards Sheridan died suddenly at the dinner-table in the house of a former pupil at Rathfarnham on 10 Oct. 1738. By his wife, Elizabeth MacFadden of Ulster, he had issue James, Richard, (1719–1788) [q. v.], and a daughter, who was the ancestress of Sheridan Knowles.

Sheridan wrote much and published little. Translations of the ‘Satyrs of Persius’ (1728, 8vo) and ‘Satires of Juvenal’ (1739, 8vo), both of which had several editions, and the ‘Philoctetes’ of Sophocles (1725) were the most noteworthy of his productions. His son Thomas prepared a volume of his writings for publication in England, the contents being a translation of ‘Pastor Fido,’ poetical pieces on divers subjects, and a choice collection of apophthegms, bons mots, and jests. The public would not subscribe for the work, which did not appear, while the manuscript itself was lost or destroyed. Swift said that Sheridan ‘shone in his proper element’ at the head of a school; in a letter to Alderman Barber he characterised him as ‘the best scholar in these kingdoms.’ Sir Walter Scott, in his ‘Memoir of Swift,’ writes about ‘the good-natured, light-hearted, and ingenious Sheridan.’ Not a day passed that he did not make a rebus, an anagram, or a madrigal. Idle, poor, and gay, he managed his own affairs badly, and he justly wrote of himself, ‘I am famous for giving the best advice and following the worst.’



SHERIDAN, THOMAS (1719–1788), actor and ‘orthoepist,’ father of [q. v.], was the third son of (1687–1738) [q. v.], Swift's friend, and had Swift for godfather (, Life of Swift, p. 382). According to Chalmers he was born at Quilca (Dictionary, xxvii. 458), while Watkins gives his birthplace as King's Mint House, Capel Street, Dublin, adding that he was baptised in ‘the parish church of St. Mary’ (Memoirs of Sheridan, i. 34). There is no record of his baptism in St. Mary's. His father sent him to Westminster school, where he became a king's scholar, but his father's lack of means compelled the boy's return to Dublin. Through the influence of Dr. Sheridan's friends in Trinity College, young Thomas, to use Swift's phrase, ‘was chosen of the foundation’ on 26 May 1735. He was elected a scholar in 1738, and took his B.A. degree in 1739.

Sheridan wished his son Thomas to become a schoolmaster, but the young man preferred to go on the stage, for which, while an undergraduate, he had written a farce called ‘Captain O'Blunder, or the Brave Irishman.’ He appeared as Richard III at the Theatre Royal in Smock Alley in January 1743, and his success determined his vocation. In the following year he obtained an engagement at Drury Lane Theatre. After his return to Dublin he became manager of the Theatre Royal, which he made a more reputable place of resort than it had been. His reforms were unwelcome to many playgoers. A young man from Galway named Kelly, being intoxicated, insulted the actresses one evening, and threatened Sheridan with his vengeance when reprimanded for his conduct. What is called the Kelly riot ensued, with the result that Kelly was sent to prison and fined 500l., and that Sheridan magnanimously sued for, and succeeded in obtaining, his release and the remission of the fine. Miss Frances Chamberlaine wrote verses and a pamphlet in Sheridan's praise, and on his discovering their authorship Sheridan made the lady's acquaintance and married her in 1747 [see ]. On 2 March 1754 he was the victim of another outbreak of popular fury, because he had forbidden [q. v.] to repeat some lines from Miller's tragedy of ‘Mahomet the Impostor,’ in which Digges played Alcanor.

Sheridan now left the theatre for two years, started for England, and appeared at Covent Garden Theatre. Many critics praised his acting, and Churchill ranked him, in the ‘Rosciad,’ next to Garrick as a tragedian. In 1756 he was again manager of the Theatre Royal in Dublin; but a new theatre built for Spranger Barry being opened and attracting playgoers to the detriment of his own, Sheridan finally determined to seek in