62
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
