Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Volume I Part 26

"_Pev._ What was the quarrel?

"_Ludov._ I never had time to ask. The children of peace, who make our quarrels, must be Your Wors.h.i.+p's informants there.

"_Pev._ And art thou not ashamed to draw the sword for thou know'st not what--and to be the victim and food of others' folly?

"_Ludov._ Vastly.

"_Pev._ (_to the Devils_.) Well, take him for to-day, and only score his skin and pepper it with powder--then chain him to a cannon, and let the Devils practise at his head--his be the reward who hits it with a single ball.

"_Ludov._ Oh mercy, mercy!

"_Pev._ Bring Savodi.

"(_A Devil brings in_ SAVODI.)

"_Chorus as before_.

"Welcome, welcome, &c.

"_Pev._ Who art thou?

"_Sav._ A courtier at Your Grace's service.

"_Pev._ Your name?

"_Sav._ Savodi, an' please Your Highnesses.

"_Pev._ Your use?

"_Sav._ A foolish utensil of state--a clock kept in the waiting- chamber, to count the hours.

"_Pev._ Are you not one of those who fawn and lie, and cringe like spaniels to those a little higher, and take revenge by tyranny on all beneath?

"_Sav._ Most true, Your Highnesses.

"_Pev._ Is't not thy trade to promise what thou canst not do,--to gull the credulous of money, to shut the royal door on una.s.suming merit --to catch the scandal for thy master's ear, and stop the people's voice....

"_Sav._ Exactly, an' please Your Highnesses' Wors.h.i.+ps.

"_Pev._ Thou dost not now deny it?

"_Sav._ Oh no, no, no.

"_Pev._ Here--baths of flaming sulphur!--quick--stir up the cauldron of boiling lead--this crime deserves it.

"_1st Dev._ Great Judge of this infernal place, allow him but the mercy of the court.

"_Sav._ Oh kind Devil!--yes, Great Judge, allow.

"_1st Dev._ The punishment is undergone already--truth from him is something.

"_Sav._ Oh, most unusual--sweet devil!

"_1st Dev._ Then, he is tender, and might not be able to endure--

"_Sav._ Endure! I shall be annihilated by the thoughts of it--dear devil.

"_1st Dev._ Then let him, I beseech you, in scalding brimstone be first soaked a little, to inure and prepare him for the other.

"_Sav._ Oh hear me, hear me.

"_Pev._ Well, be it so.

"(_Devils take him out and bring in_ PAMPHILES.)

"_Pev._ This is he we rescued from the ladies--a dainty one, I warrant.

"_Pamphil._ (_affectedly_.) This is h.e.l.l certainly by the smell.

"_Pev._ What, art thou a soldier too?

"_Pamphil._ No, on my life--a Colonel, but no soldier--innocent even of a review, as I exist.

"_Pev._ How rose you then? come, come--the truth.

"_Pamphil._ Nay, be not angry, sir--if I was preferred it was not my fault--upon my soul, I never did anything to incur preferment.

"_Pev._ Indeed! what was thy employment then, friend?

"_Pamphil._ Hunting--

"_Pev._ 'Tis false.

"_Pamphil._ Hunting women's reputations.

"_Pev._ What, thou wert amorous?

"_Pamphil._ No, on my honor, sir, but vain, confounded vain--the character of bringing down my game was all I wished, and, like a true sportsman, I would have given my birds to my pointers.

"_Pev._ This crime is new--what shall we do with him?" &c. &c.

This singular Drama does not appear to have been ever finished. With respect to the winding up of the story, the hermit, we may conclude, would have turned out to be the banished counsellor, and the devils, his followers; while the young huntsman would most probably have proved to be the rightful heir of the dukedom.

In a more crude and unfinished state are the fragments that remain of his projected opera of "The Foresters." To this piece (which appears to have been undertaken at a later period than the preceding one) Mr.

Sheridan often alluded in conversation--particularly when any regret was expressed at his having ceased to a.s.sist Old Drury with his pen,--"wait (he would say smiling) till I bring out my Foresters." The plot, as far as can be judged from the few meagre scenes that exist, was intended to be an improvement upon that of the Drama just described--the Devils being transformed into Foresters, and the action commencing, not with the loss of a son, but the recovery of a daughter, who had fallen by accident into the hands of these free-booters. At the opening of the piece the young lady has just been restored to her father by the heroic Captain of the Foresters, with no other loss than that of her heart, which she is suspected of having left with her preserver. The list of the Dramatis Personae (to which however he did not afterwards adhere) is as follows:--

Old Oscar.