S H E R 
She soon, however, consigned her sons as two of the “ most 
impenetrable dunces” she had ever met with, to the care 
of Mr. Samuel Whyte, a man of considerable abilities; but 
under whose tuition the boys attained little more progress 
than they had done under their mother. In 1762, Brinsley 
was removed to Harrow. Dr. Sumner, then master of the 
school, seems to have had no great opinion of his scholar; 
and though Dr. Parr stated, after Sheridan’s exaltation in 
after-life, that he had discovered and assisted his latent 
genius, it does not appear that our hero was distinguished at 
all as a classic. Nor is this surprising. It is scarcely pos¬ 
sible to conceive, that any one who had much of fne vivacity 
of wit in his composition, could see any thing very merito¬ 
rious in mastering the tedious translations, exercises and non¬ 
sense verSfes of a grammar school; and, with respect to idle¬ 
ness, there? is no probability that Sheridan ever laboured very 
hard in after-life, and, therefore, nothing to render marvel¬ 
lous the inertness of his youth. There is an anecdote related 
of him, however, during this period of his life which, if true, 
is a greater honour to him than all the praises of all the peda¬ 
gogues that ever flagellated the boys of Harrow. Unfortu- 
natelythis, as most school-boy stories, is not very well au¬ 
thenticated, and bears a suspicious similitude to a hundred 
others of the same class. It runs, however, as follows:— 
“ A schoolmaster had been presumptuous enough to open 
a classical seminary within a short distance of the ancient 
established public school at Harrow. The boys broke the 
windows, and did considerable mischief to the premises. 
Panting after revenge, he had recourse to an unworthy stra¬ 
tagem to discover the offenders. With this view he invited 
some of the delinquents to his house, and, after solemnly pro¬ 
mising an amnesty, and treating them with great apparent 
hospitality, he demanded the names of his new friends. This 
request was immediately complied with by all but ‘ knowing 
Dick,’ who from a suspicion of guile, or some other motive, 
either declined a discovery, or gave a false appellation. Im¬ 
mediately on their departure, a letter was transmitted to Dr. 
Sumner, enclosing a list of the culprits, and all but Sheridan 
were called out, for the express purpose of experiencing the 
classical ceremony of a flagellation, as regulated more ma- 
joruvi, by the enlightened practice of Monkish times. When 
every thing was ready, and the sentence about to be executed, 
in the presence of the whole school, young Sheridan stepped 
forward and demanded, if his name was included in the cata¬ 
logue? He then addressed the headmaster, as follows:— 
* You perceive, Dr. Sumner, that I cannot possibly be actu¬ 
ated by the base motive of fear, for I am not liable to punish¬ 
ment; yet, I am to the full as guilty as the others, and desire 
to share their fate, if they should hi condemned ; but let it 
be recollected. Sir, that an act of oblivion took place on the 
part of the school-master; that we entered his house on con¬ 
ditions, and that he extorted the names of my companions, 
amidst the rights of hospitality, and under the sacred pro¬ 
mise of forgiveness. I trust, therefore. Dr., that you will 
not give the sanction of your respectable name to such a 
complicated act of baseness and treachery.’ It is almost 
unnecessary to add, that the boys were all forgiven, in con¬ 
sequence of this timely and generous interposition.” 
Having quitted Harrow, at the age of eighteen, the next 
step, of course, was a removal to Oxford, or Cambridge; 
but his father’s circumstances denied this gratification. A 
considerable interval now occurred in the life of Mr. Richard 
Sheridan, which is difficult to be accounted for on the part 
of a biographer. It has been suggested, that he made a visit 
of considerable duration to a friend at Bristol; that he was 
employed by his own father in declaiming at Bath ; that he 
was partly occupied in translating the Epistles of Aristaanetus 
from the Greek; and that he consumed a large portion of 
this period in courting his future wife. 
But, from 1769, when he left school, to the 6th 
of April, 1773, when he entered himself of the Middle 
Temple, there is a lapse of two or three years; and, 
when the “ res angusta domi” is considered, it may 
be difficult to point out the mode in which he obtained 
the means of support. It has been suggested, that he occa- 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1558. 
I D A N. 121 
sionally wrote for the papers; and, indeed, it is a well-known 
fact, that he kept up a close and constant intercourse with 
the editors and publishers of our diurnal prints during the 
whole of his life, and that he advocated their cause,, with 
effect, in the House of Commons, when one of them was 
most unjustly refused admission into the Society of Lincoln’s 
Inn. 
It appears, also, from Moore’s remarks, that he had, during 
this period of his life, projected a volume of “ Crazy Tales," 
which are supposed to have been of a licentious character 
(these, however, are fortunately lost); and that among his 
early essays, was a scheme which for wildness of the ideas, 
and the extravagance of the language, is a perfect curiosity. 
It is a letter to the queen, recommending the establishment 
of an Institution for the instruction and maintenance of 
young females in the better classes of life; her majesty was 
to be the chancellor of the College; some of the first ladies 
in the kingdom sub-chancellors; the professors, except for 
the languages were to be women; the practical parts of the 
sciences were to be taught; the ladies were to read history 
in order to discover that there were other passions in man 
besides love, and some novels were to be recommended, 
but romances infinitely more. The most wonderful part of 
the scheme, however, was, that the king was to give up 
Hampton Court or some other palace for the College. The 
writer was in his 23d year. We give the passages:— 
“ The dispute about the proper sphere of women is idle. 
That men should have attempted to draw a line for their 
own orbit, shows that God meant them for comets, and 
above our jurisdiction. With them the enthusiasm of poetry 
and the idolatry of love is the simple voice of nature.” He 
next proceeds to remark to her Majesty, that in those coun¬ 
tries where “ man is scarce better than a brute, he shows his 
degeneracy by his treatment of women,” and that “ the in¬ 
fluence that women have over us is as the medium through 
which the finer arts act upon us. The incense of our love 
and respect for them creates the atmosphere of our souls, 
which corrects and meliorates the beams of knowledge.” 
In showing how much less women are able to struggle 
against adversity than men, he says,—“ As for us, we are 
born in a state of warfare with poverty and distress. The 
sea of adversity is our natural element, and he that will not 
buffet with the billows deserves to sink. But you, oh you, 
by nature formed of gentler kind, can you endure the biting 
storm ? shall you be turned to the nipping blast, and not a 
door be open to give you shelter ?” 
After describing, with evident seriousness, the nature of 
the institution of Madame de Maintenon, at St. Cyr, he adds 
the following strange romantic allusion:—“ Had such a cha¬ 
rity as I have been speaking of existed here, the mild Par - 
thenia and my poor Laura would not have fallen into un¬ 
timely graves.” 
The practical details of his plan, in which it is equally 
evident that he means to be serious, exhibit the same flighti¬ 
ness of language and notions. The King, he supposes, 
would have no objection to “ grant Hampton-court, or 
some other palace for the purpose,” and “ as it is (he con¬ 
tinues, still addressing the queen) to be immediately under 
your Majesty’s patronage, so should your Majesty be the first 
member of it. Let the constitution of it be like that of a 
University—your Majesty, Chancellor; some of the. first 
ladies of the kingdom, sub-chancellors; whose care it shall 
be to provide instructors of real merit. The classes are to 
be distinguished by age,—none by degree. For, as their 
qualification should be gentility, they are all on a level. 
The instructors should be women, except for the languages. 
Latin and Greek should not be learned—the frown of pe¬ 
dantry destroys the blush of humility. The practical part of 
the sciences, as of astronomy, &c., should be taught. In 
history they would find that there are other passions in man 
than love. As for novels, there are some I would strongly 
recommend; but romances infinitely more. The one is a 
representation of the effects of the passions as they should 
be, though extravagant; the other as they are. The latter is 
falsely called nature, and is a picture of depraved and cor- 
21 rupted 
