in a second edition in 1773. Halhed translated the epistles, and Sheridan revised and edited them. Another volume of translations from the same author which Sheridan undertook never saw the light. A farce called ‘Ixion’ was written by Halhed, recast by Sheridan, and renamed ‘Jupiter.’ It was offered to Garrick and Foote, but not accepted by either. Sheridan wrote two sets of verses, which appeared in the ‘Bath Chronicle’ during 1771; the title of one set was ‘Clio's Protest, or the Picture Varnished;’ of the other, ‘The Ridotto of Bath,’ which was reprinted and had a large sale.
Sheridan's letters to Halhed have not been preserved; those from Halhed contain many references to Miss Linley, who sang in oratorios at Oxford, and for whom Halhed expressed great admiration, although he failed to excite a corresponding feeling in her. Desiring to escape from the persecution of Major Mathews, an unworthy admirer, Miss Linley appealed to Sheridan to escort her to France, where she hoped to find refuge and repose in a convent. The scheme had the approval and support of Sheridan's sisters. At the end of March 1772 Sheridan, Miss Linley, and a lady's maid left Bath for London, where Mr. Ewart, a friend of Mr. Sheridan, gave them a passage to Dunkirk in one of his vessels. Sheridan's younger sister, Elizabeth, who was in Miss Linley's confidence as well as her brother's, gives the following account of what followed: ‘After quitting Dunkirk, Mr. Sheridan was more explicit with Miss Linley as to his views in accompanying her to France. He told her that he could not be content to leave her in a convent unless she consented to a previous marriage, which had all along been the object of his hopes; and she must be aware that, after the step she had taken, she could not appear in England but as his wife. Miss Linley, who really preferred him greatly to any person, was not difficult to persuade, and at a village not far from Calais the marriage ceremony was performed by a priest who was known to be often employed on such occasions.’ This marriage, if contracted as described, was valid; but neither of the parties to it regarded the ceremony as more binding than a betrothal. Her own feelings were subsequently expressed in a letter to him: ‘You are sensible when I left Bath I had not an idea of you but as a friend. It was not your person that gained my affection. No, it was that delicacy, that tender compassion, that interest which you seemed to take in my welfare, that were the motives which induced me to love you’ (Biography of Sheridan, i. 255).
The lady's father followed the fugitives and took his daughter back to Bath. Meanwhile Mathews had published a letter denouncing Sheridan ‘as a liar and a treacherous scoundrel,’ and on their meeting in London a duel with swords ended with the disarming of Mathews, who was compelled to beg his life and to publish an apology in the ‘Bath Chronicle.’ On 2 July 1772 a second duel was fought, in which Sheridan was seriously wounded. After his recovery, as his father and Mr. Linley both objected to his marrying Miss Linley, he was sent to Waltham Abbey in Essex on 27 Aug. in order that he might continue his studies undisturbed. He remained at Waltham Abbey till April 1773, reading hard and writing many letters to his friends, of whom the chief was Thomas Grenville (1755–1846) [q. v.] He wrote to him: ‘I keep regular hours, use a great deal of exercise, and study very hard. There is a very ingenious man here with whom, besides, I spend two hours every evening in mathematicks, mensuration, astronomy.’ Charles Brinsley, the son of Sheridan by his second marriage, has recorded that his father left behind him ‘six copybooks, each filled with notes and references to mathematics, carefully written by Mr. S. at an early age;’ that is, probably at Waltham Abbey. He told his friend Grenville: ‘I am determined to gain all the knowledge that I can bring within my reach. I will make myself as much master as I can of French and Italian.’ Yet his inclination was for the bar, and he was entered at the Middle Temple on 6 April 1773.
On the 13th of the same month he at length married Miss Linley with her father's consent. His own father looked upon the union, and wrote about it, as a disgrace. The young couple went to live at East Burnham. In the winter of 1773 they lived with Stephen Storace [q. v.] in London, and in the spring of 1774 took a house in Orchard Street. Sheridan wrote much at this period, a scheme for a training school for children of the nobility and comments on Chesterfield's ‘Letters’ being among the subjects he treated; but he published nothing with his name. On 17 Nov. 1774 he informed his father-in-law that a comedy by him would be in rehearsal at Covent Garden Theatre in a few days. This comedy was ‘The Rivals,’ and it was performed for the first time on 17 Jan. 1775. It failed, was withdrawn, and then performed in a revised version on 28 Jan. From that date it has remained one of the most popular among modern comedies. A farce, ‘St. Patrick's Day, or the Scheming Lieutenant,’ was written for the benefit of Mr. Clinch, who had made his mark in the ‘Rivals’ as
