266 | RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. |
I now proceed to give, in as few and simple words as I am able to command, a history of what will henceforth, he known as The Sheridan Papers.
About two and twenty years ago a valued friend, now deceased, who knew that my studies had been much directed to dramatic literature, placed in my hands several MS. dramas, with the view, if I saw fit on examining them, to their production before the public, either on the stage or otherwise.
The source whence these MS. were stated to have come into my friend’s
hands, namely, from the actual hands of Richard Brinsley
Sheridan himself, and the large sum of money my friend had advanced upon
them, were calculated to excite, and, in fact, did excite, considerable interest and
curiosity in my mind, as to the nature of these papers; but, as they were merely described
to me as
AND THOMAS SHERIDAN. | 267 |
That leisure did not occur till six or seven years afterwards, the MSS. having in the interval lain undisturbed, and almost unthought of, in the case in which they were sent to me. A casual inquiry made by my friend about this time, as to whether I had done or was doing anything about the “Old Plays,” opportunely reminded me of a matter which precisely fell in with my favourite studies, and I immediately took the MSS. in hand, with the intention of ascertaining whether any of them were suited to the stage, and if so, what alterations and adaptations were required in order to fit them for the audiences of that period, viz.—about 1838.
My first impression on reading the three principal MSS. of which I am now to
speak
268 | RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. |
This impression led me at once to conclude that the dramas of which I am now
specially speaking—namely, the three that are alone referred to in the first portion of the
following pages—were the productions, severally, of some first-rate hands (for it never for
an instant occurred to me that they were all by one and the same hand) of the period to
which they belonged—a period that was expressly and distinctly indicated on the very face
of one of them, by an assignment of every one of its numerous dramatis
personæ to well-known actors and
AND THOMAS SHERIDAN. | 269 |
The intrinsic merit and interest of these dramas being thus established in my estimation, it became advisable, before I proceeded further in my investigation as to authorship, &c., to ascertain and settle the important question of whether or not these dramas, or any one of them, had been printed or produced upon the stage. As my friend was not in a condition to give me any positive information on this point, I devoted several entire weeks to consulting every contemporary authority with which I was or am acquainted, but without meeting with any reference to any one of these dramas.
This result of my investigation would, as I conceive, have settled the
question as to all these dramas being unacted and unedited, even if the point had not been
virtually decided by the fact of the deposit of the MSS. as security for a large sum of
money: for though Sheridan did not enjoy a very
enviable reputation as to money transactions, it is not for a moment to be supposed that
270 | RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. |
As the literary holiday which had given me leisure to make the investigation
above described lasted but a few weeks, I once more laid aside these dramatic MSS., with a
greatly augmented impression of their value and interest, and a renewed determination to
let slip no favourable opportunity of pursuing my investigations, especially as to their
authorship, but still regarding them as “Old Plays” merely—not the remotest
glimpse of their real origin having as yet come to me; for I had, at that time, little or
no knowledge of autographs, and there was nothing in the shape of what is called
“internal evidence,” in either of the three pieces now under consideration, to
induce their assignment to any known writer of the
AND THOMAS SHERIDAN. | 271 |
I now approach the discovery of the authorship of these dramas; a discovery which, as it involves nothing in the shape of merit on my part—indeed it may be regarded as almost purely accidental—I may perhaps be permitted to characterise as one of the most remarkable and interesting in the whole history of modern literature.
Among the MSS. placed at my disposal I found (as if it had got among the
others by accident) a single act of Thompson’s
version of Kotzebue’s famous play known to
English playgoers as The
Stranger. This play was put upon the stage by Sheridan and it was well known that before doing so he had
carefully prepared and revised it, with a view to the English tastes of that day. By many
it was supposed and said that it was entirely translated and prepared by him; and its
extraordinary success, as compared
272 | RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. |
This little fragmentary windfall became, apart from its intrinsic interest
and curiosity,
AND THOMAS SHERIDAN. | 273 |
Though I found in “Moore’s Life” little of what I sought, the fac-similes given by him
of Sheridan’s writing at another period of his
life perfected that familiarity with his hand which ultimately led me to the discovery of
which I am giving the history. Ultimately, I say, for at the period now referred to I had
still no glimpse of that discovery. The MSS. in question, with the exception of the
fragment I have just referred to, had for many months been laid aside in favour of more
pressing literary avocations, and were quietly awaiting another period of comparative
leisure for further inquiry into their authorship. Luckily, as that leisure has never since
come till within the last
274 | RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. |
In brief, the point was settled as to this one drama. Not so, however, with regard to the other two, which I did not take up for some months afterwards. What was the exact amount of the interval my recollection does not enable me to say; but when I did take up the other two MSS. respectively, the case became as clear with regard to them as to their companion.
As this all-important point of identity of hand-writing will not and ought
not to rest on my impressions of the matter—especially on impressions so gathered—and as it
is
AND THOMAS SHERIDAN. | 275 |
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