AN M.P. Ill 



desideratum, as a partnership in an extensive 

 London brewery, or a Manchester manu- 

 facture, as subsequent events have shewn. 



The first among the few coach-proprietors 

 who ever attained this distinction stands an 

 individual who was originally a book-keeper 

 in one of the principal coach-offices in Lon- 

 don.* Possessed of a dashing exterior, he 

 managed to possess himself, by a matrimonial 

 alliance, of considerable property ; and, upon 

 the failure of his employer, became sole pro- 

 prietor of a large establishment. Con- 

 nected with one stage as well as another, 

 he contrived to insinuate himself into the 

 favour of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 

 Esq., a thing not very difficult with men 

 in affluent circumstances, and armed with 

 a little self-importance. Accompanying 

 him in his frequent electioneering expe- 

 ditions, he became known to the elec- 

 tors; and, imbibing a fatal ambition, 

 upon the death of that brilliant, but eccen- 



* Richard Ironmonger, Esq., M.P. for Stafford. 



