Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/68

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. JULY 25, 1914,

consequence to mention hereafter. Dr. Burney, you say in his " biographical sketch " calls the Linley Family " a not of Nightingales." I have now before me a letter from Garrick to my Father dated from Hampton, in which is the following passage : " my call upon you, my friend, is only for your nest of nightingales. ' It is a letter on the subject of the theatrical transfer, and it is an odd coincidence, for Burney's Sketch must have been written many years subsequently to that transaction. In page 136 should not Garrick's Partner be young Lacy instead of Leasy ? the last name, however, is frequently repeated. I have heard my mother say that the drama you allude to in P. 224 was originally Mrs. SWeridan's, that she (Mrs. S.) called it ' the haunted village,' and that my father & brother had actually begun the music for it. ' Robinson Crusoe ' too, I have every reason to believe, was Mrs. Sheridan's pantomime ; as was one of very great originality in point of story, called ' Harlequin Junior or the Magic Cestus.' The little book with delineations of character for ' Affectation,' I was the first to discover, and to dislodge from an old Chest full of nothing but the coverings of old letters, though p or Sheridan used to accuse me of having pur- loined from it sundry notes of hand and bonds to an immense amount. This scrap book together with the contents of the Chest Mr. C. Sheridan received from me a short time only before his father died. P. 353 when Sheridan in his speech facetiously gives his veracity to one, and to Mr. Shore the Finance Depart -query should not Middleton have had Memory instead of Humanity assigned to him ? witness the cross questioning during that worthy's examination. There are three of S.'s country residences which you have not mentioned Heston in Middlesex, Harrow, and RandalVs. I suspect that the Gambols you have noticed were played principally at Harrow. One farce I well remember being myself a spectator of there, for I was at school at the time and lived with S. & my sister. Fitzpatrick, Tickell & my Sister Mrs. Tickell, were of the party. The gentlemen had been left as usual by the ladies after dinner, and when summoned to Coffee, found, on entering the room, not the Ladies, but several Barristers in their gowns and wigs, in high debate with parch- ments before them a huge bowl of punch, pipes, and tobacco the rest of the fun was to discover each lady, they were all variously & ludicrously masked, according to her gesture & disguised tone of voice. I remember Mrs. Tickell being very comical on the occasion. At Heston, I was first introduced to my nephew poor Tom, there was only a difference of four years in our ages. And there I well remember a most cruel trick having been played upon me by Tickell & Sheridan. I had done something amiss, and they made me believe it was necessary for them to hang me for my fault ; and actually worked upon my feelings to such a degree, carrying on the preparation of a rope and cap with such solemnity, as to induce me, in my agony of mind to begin " the Lord's prayer." At length Mrs. Sheridan made her appearance, and guessed in a moment what had been doing. I never saw her so seriously enraged (as well she might be) and it was a long time before she would speak to either wicked wight. Tom was rather too young to be included in this pretty piece of waggery, otherwise we had been equally faulty.

The Song of " Think not, my Love " was written by Sheridan for my Father, and makes one of twelve beautiful ballads composed by him : not long before his settlement in London. Tickell supplied the words of another beginning "Aht dearest Maid " addressed before his marriage to my Sister Mary.

You do not seem to be aware, my friend, that my father presented to both my Sisters 2,000 on> their marriage ; and of another circumtances,. that Miss Browne and Mrs. C'argill were one & the same person. She was shipwrecked, poor woman,, on board an East Indiaman.

Poor S. says " I never borrowed money of a private Friend " ; he has, however, nude free with his own relations ; for I have a cheque of his for 100 on Biddulph & Co. and I remember hi once borrowing 2 gs. of me tiH the post came in to- pay the Piano Forte Tuner at Randall's. This was truly comical & he saw at the time that I was ready to laugh. In part payment, (I considered 1 it full payt), of the 100 loan, however, I have got Gainsborough's charming picture it is now excel- lently placed in the Dulwich Gallery.

In your distressing & highly interesting acct. of Mrs. Sheridan's last moments, the name of her dearest friend is not mentioned ; but I know it to be that excellent woman Mrs. Canning is she- yet alive ?

How admirable is Tickell's description of Sheridan " written 300 years to come." How I laughed ! I am right glad you did ) ot omit it~ " The one idea between us " from his ' Anticipa- tion ' might not have been amiss.

The " Rudis Indigestaque moles " before we- come to the compleat ' School for Scandal ' is highly interesting ; indeed in every page of your invaluable volume, there is scarcely a foil to set off a gem. You may call this flattery be it so. T shall indulge my feelings nevertheless. I shall be happy to know that you have received this letter.

When you have leisure indulge me with a line & with a hope that you will not forget your promise- to be my guest at the Catch Club any Tuesday before the 17th of Janry. next

believe me, my dear Moore, Your most faithful

& obliged friend & servant

WILLIAM LJNLET.

It will be remembered that, " being himself a poet, [Dr. Samuel] Johnson was; peculiarly happy in mentioning how many of the- sons of Pembroke [Oxon] were poets ; adding, with a smile of sportive triumph, ' Sir, we are a nest of singing birds.' "

Both Sheridan and his biographer Moore were bom in Dublin, and the former in his early letters turns " Lacy " into " Leasy." Willoughby Lacy began as an actor, his father having long been Garrick's partner. Lacy House, near the riverside at Isleworth,. was built by James Lacy, and was at one- time the residence of Sir Robert Walpole. In 1792 the owner was the younger Lacy ; but Sheridan leased it from Mrs. Keppel,. Walpole's daughter, and widow of the- Bishop of Exeter.

In his 'Sheridan' (1909), i. 67 n. and 458 n., Mr. Walter Sichel says that in 1785