But he possessed merit, and he
compelled applause. He now ranks, by universal consent, as an orator and
a statesman, with the very first names of an age, that will not perhaps
be accounted unproductive in genius and abilities.
It was now generally supposed that he had done with the theatre. For our
own part, we must confess; we entertain all possible veneration for
parliamentary and ministerial abilities; we should be mortified to rank
second to any man in our enthusiasm for the official talents of Mr.
Sheridan: But as the guardians of literature, we regretted the loss of
his comic powers. We wished to preserve the poet, without losing the
statesman. Greatly as we admired the opera and the comedy, we conceived
his unbounded talents capable of something higher still. To say all in a
word, we looked at his hands for the MISANTHROPE of the British muse.
It is unnecessary to say then, that we congratulate the public upon the
present essay. It is meaned only as a _jeu d'esprit_. But we consider it
as the earnest of that perseverance, which we wished to prove, and
feared to lose. The scene we have extracted, and which, with another,
that may be considered as a kind of praxis upon the rules, constitutes
the chief part of the alteration, is apparently personal.
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