the influence of court favour, being appointed one of the royal chaplains, and presented to a living in the diocess of Cork. On going down to be inducted, he was requested by Archdeacon Russell of Cork to supply his place in the pulpit on the following Sunday. The Doctor, who was a very absent man, had forgotten his engagement, and was sitting quietly at his lodging, when a message from the parish clerk, who saw no preacher arrive after the service had begun, roused him from his reverie. He dressed himself with as much speed as he could, and having but two sermons with him, took up the first that came to hand, without looking at it. That day happened to be the first of August, which, being the anniversary of the death of Queen Anne, and of the accession of George the First, was observed with different feelings by the violent Tories and the zealous Whigs, Bút this circumstance did not once occur to the Doctor, who very innocently gave out the remarkable text of " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." The instant these words were pronounced, the quick ears of the more intelligent part of the congregation began to be fixed in attention, expecting, of course, what was by no means an uncommon thing in those times, a discourse well seasoned with political allusions. Though in this they experienced a disappointment, for the sermon was a plain, practical disquisition upon the ordinary duty of husbanding time, and of submitting to the course of providence; there were not wanting some quick-scented persons who fancied that the preacher had a seditious object in view by selecting so appropriate a passage. One of the hearers thinking, perhaps, that this was a good opportunity to recommend himself at the castle, took post for Dublin, where he set forth the transgression of the Doctor in such colours, that his friends began to be seriously alarmed; and Swift, in one of his letters, says, "Such a. clamour was raised by the zeal of one man, of no large dimensions

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either of body or mind, that we in Dublin could apprehend no less than an invasion by the Pretender, who must be landed in the south."

The incident is a striking proof of the virulent party-spirit of the times, and of the extravagant lengths to which it carried men in the manifestation of their loyalty. But if the intemperance of the people was excessive, the jealousy of the government was impolitic and weak in the extreme. Of this, a more glaring instance could hardly have been shewn than the act of striking out Dr. Sheridan's name from the list of chaplains, and prohibiting his appearance at the castle. It was in vain for the poor unlucky preacher to allege in his defence that the sermon was not a new one, and that it contained nothing of an inflammatory nature : he could neither obtain a hearing, nor was his discourse suffered to be examined, but all was taken upon trust, because he was known to be a Tory, and consequently was suspected to be a Jacobite. Swift, however, remained his friend in this unforeseen calamity, though it was not in his nature to forbear a joke upon the blunder that had been committed. On this occasion he said, alluding to Sheridan's skill as a sportsman, that he was so good a marksman as to kill his preferment by a single text. In one of his letters, however, the Dean says, " It is, indeed, against common sense to think that you should choose such a time, when you had received a favour from the lord-lieutenant, and had reason 'to expect more, to discover your disloyalty in the pulpit. But what will that avail? It is safer for a man's interest to blaspheme God, than to be a party out of power, or even to be thought so; and since the last was the case, how could you imagine that all mouths would not be open when you were received, and in some manner preferred by government, although in a poor way. I tell you there is hardly a Whig in Ireland who would allow a potatoe and butter-milk to a reputed Tory."

What aggravated the misfortune was the ridicule that attended it, since the most intimate of the Doctor's associates could not avoid laughing at the blunder which he had committed, while they lamented its consequences, and resented the injustice with which he had been treated. Still he had no great reason to complain; and though he was obliged to endure undeserved obloquy on one hand, and the satirical condolence of his friends on the other, he had the satisfaction of experiencing an uncommon act of generosity from the archdeacon, who had been the innocent cause of the mischief. That worthy man, who entertained a thorough respect for Sheridan, and pitied his numerous family, went immediately to Dublin, where, by a deed of gift, he made over to him the valuable manor of Drumlane, in the county of Cavan, which at that time produced a clear rent of two hundred and fifty pounds a-year.

It might reasonably have been expected that this very rare instance of liberality would have operated upon the mind of the Doctor in such a way as to lead him into an economical line of conduct, for the advantage of those who were professedly the objects of the benevolence of the donor. Instead of this, neither the mortification he had suffered, nor the kindness which had been shewn him under it, could cure his levity, or restrain his prodigality. His income was now above twelve hundred a-year, and yet that large sum was not sufficient to supply his extravagance; of which some idea may be formed from the slight account given by his son, who says, that he was the greatest dupe in the world, and a constant prey to all the indigent of his acquaintance, as well as those who were recommended to him by others. Not content with receiving several into his school, whom he taught without pay, he had always two or three whom he lodged and boarded in his house gratis; nay, some he maintained in clothes, and every other necessary, and afterwards entered and supported them in the col

lege, at his own charge, as if they had been his sons. To his daughters he gave the genteelest education, and dressed them in the most fashionable style. As he was an adept in music, both in the scientific and practical part, he had frequent private concerts at his house, at no small cost; and the expences of his table were certainly not diminished by his increase of fortune."

The instances, indeed, of his utter want of common sense, in the ordinary concerns of life, would almost stagger belief, if they did not come attested by authority not to be questioned. Besides the reluctant evidence of the son, we have the testimony of Swift, who drew a very faithful picture of his friend, under the title of "The History of the Second Solomon," in which poor Sheridan appears to about the same advantage as many of the characters in Erasmus's "Praise of Folly." Besides his house in Dublin, the Doctor took another at Rathfarnham, upon a lease of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, at twelve pounds per annum, when, according to Swift, it was hardly worth forty shillings. After laying out more money in repairs than the house was worth, the Doctor conceived a dislike to his bargain, abandoned the place; and though he was obliged to pay the rent, he took no measures to reimburse himself by procuring a tenant. He had also another estate held by lease, which he forgot to renew from time to time, was obliged to pay fines according to the agreement, and at length was sued for dilapidations. Another act of his folly was that of holding Quilca in his own hands, and expending large sums in building and planting upon it, instead of letting it out for the benefit of his family. In doing this, however, he gratified his own vanity, and indulged his friend the Dean, who made Quilca his retreat when he wanted to withdraw from observation, and to put into execution any of his literary projects. Here he wrote Gulliver's Travels, the secret of which he imparted to no one but Sheridan; and it is at least

honourable to the latter, that he preserved in silence what was entrusted to him in confidence. This was not the only instance in which Swift placed an important trust in the fidelity of Sheridan, who conducted the publication of the Drapier's Letters, and corrected the manuscripts before they went to the press. Yet while Swift made use of his friend's country-house, and employed him in many services of importance, he could not avoid exercising his splenetic humour, and caustic wit, at the expense of his host, and amanuensis. During his residence at Quilca, he ordered a canal to be dug, trees to be planted, and an enclosure to be made, in the absence of the owner, merely to excite his surprize at the improvements; and when the Doctor affected to treat the whole with indifference, he cursed his stupidity, and abused him for want of taste. But Sheridan shortly after was even with the Dean; for when he was on a visit at some distance, several labourers were set to form an island in the middle of the lake, after which, the spot was covered with green sod, and planted with osiers, to the great astonishment of Swift, who thought at first that the water had sunk so low as to lay the ground bare in that part. To this the Doctor replied with a sneer, " It must have greatly sunk indeed, to discover the tops of those osiers :" on which the Dean perceived that a trick had been played upon him, and he had the candour to confess that the alterations surpassed his own in beauty and ingenuity.

Sheridan was exceedingly proud of his paternal mansion, and of the fancied state of improvement into which he had brought the ground around it by his skill in farming, and judgment in ornamental gardening.

The Dean, who hated prodigality and ostentation, was resolved to mortify the vanity of Sheridan on this point, and accordingly wrote the following ludicrous description of Quilca: