Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 131.7.2007 3:38pm Irish Literature, 1750–1900 Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 231.7.2007 3:38pm Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 331.7.2007 3:38pm Thomas Sheridan (1719–1788) Thomas Sheridan, probably born in Dublin but Humble Appeal also included a proposal for a possibly in Co. Cavan, was the son of another national theater in Dublin that would be publicly Thomas Sheridan (clergyman and author) and administered and ensure fair treatment of theater the godson of Jonathan Swift (a close friend of workers. the family). He may have been a descendant of As a dramatist, Sheridan mostly adapted other Denis Sheridan (c.1610–83), a native Irish authors’ works, as was common in his day; he speaker who assisted in the translation of the adapted, for instance, Coriolanus (1755) from Old Testament into Irish as part of Bishop texts by English authors William Shakespeare Bedell’s efforts to make the Church of Ireland and James Thomson. His enduringly popular accessible to Irish speakers. The younger Thomas farce The Brave Irishman: Or, Captain O’Blunder Sheridan worked primarily in the theater, as was published and staged throughout the second actor, manager, playwright, and author of var- half of the eighteenth century and compactly ious tracts related to theater reform, but also abbreviated in three double-columned pages published on other subjects, including British for the Cabinet of Irish Literature a century Education: Or the Source of Disorders in Great later. Based on the English play Squire Trelooby Britain (1755), A Course of Lectures on Elocu- (1704), itself an adaptation of Molie`re’s Mon- tion (1762), a dictionary (1780), and an edition sieur de Pourceaugnac (1669), Sheridan’s play of Swift’s works (1784). Sheridan married differs from its predecessors in being concerned Frances Chamberlaine in 1747, and they had a with challenging the pejorative theatrical figure number of children. All those who survived into of the ‘‘stage Irishman.’’ The farce was reputedly adulthood became published authors: playwrights written while Sheridan attended Trinity College Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Alicia Sheridan Dublin in the mid-1730s, but it remained un- Lefanu, novelist (Anne) Elizabeth Lefanu, and published for some time. It also demonstrates essayist Charles Francis Sheridan (the sisters Sheridan’s continuing interest in language and married Lefanu brothers). dialect differences in the British Isles. Generally, Sheridan’s career as a theater-manager in O’Blunder’s accent is represented by replacing Dublin was generally successful, though notori- ‘‘s’’ sounds with ‘‘sh,’’ ‘‘wh’’ sounds with ‘‘ph,’’ ously marred by two riots spurred by political and sometimes by dropping ‘‘h’’s or lengthening tensions. In 1747, Sheridan expelled a man vowels: ‘‘shoul’’ for ‘‘soul,’’ ‘‘phat’’ for ‘‘what,’’ named Kelly for assaulting an actress during and ‘‘plaash’’ for ‘‘place.’’ Sheridan detailed such a performance; Kelly’s supporters rioted at variations in Irish pronunciation in his Complete Sheridan’s theater two nights later on the grounds Dictionary of the English Language, where he that Sheridan had exceeded his authority in dis- laments in general the lack of connection between ciplining a man of a higher social class. Another spelling and sound in English. riot in 1754, after an actor failed to repeat Two distinct versions of the play appeared in a speech with political resonances, destroyed print in the 1750s, reflecting regional adapta- Sheridan’s theater and left him financially tions of Sheridan’s play: ‘‘as it is acted at the ruined, a subject he deals with in his pamphlet, Theatre in Edinburgh’’ and ‘‘as it is acted at An Humble Appeal to the Publick (1758). His the Theatre-Royal in Smock-Alley’’ in Dublin. Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 431.7.2007 3:38pm 4 The 1759 Dublin edition of the latter is the copy- Further reading text here; the Edinburgh version is available Burke, Helen M., Riotous Performances: The in Ten English Farces (Hughes and Scouten Struggle for Hegemony in the Irish Theatre, 1970). Among the significant differences are 1712–1784. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. the inclusion of a prologue as well as a closing Hughes, Leo and Scouten, A. H. eds., Ten English moral and epilogue in the Dublin version; the Farces. New York: University of Texas Press, Thomas Sheridan Edinburgh version ends on O’Blunder’s song. 1970. In the Dublin version, Lucy has a more substan- Schneller, Beverly E., ‘‘No ‘Brave Irishman’ Need Apply: Thomas Sheridan, Shakespeare and tial and well-rounded role, and there is less the Smock-Alley Theater,’’ in Shakespeare emphasis on O’Blunder’s Irish accent and idiom. and Ireland: History, Politics, Culture, ed. The 1759 edition also corrects mistranscriptions Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, 175–91. New York: Macmillan/St. Martin’s of Irish in earlier editions, while contemporary Press, 1997. British editions retain the error; a Belfast edition Sheldon, Esther, Thomas Sheridan of Smock- at the end of the century further improved the Alley. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Irish-language content. Press, 1967. A Proposal From An Humble Appeal to the Publick (1758) For saving the Stage in Dublin from the Ruin with which it is threatened, and establishing it on such a footing as may make it the Source of great Benefits to the Public. N. B. Mr. Sheridan intended to have offered this Proposal to the Consideration of Parliament this Winter, but from his want of Knowledge of the Rules of the House, and thro’ Hurry of Business, he delayed it till the Time was elapsed that any Money could be granted, but he makes no doubt of meeting with Success in his Application next Sessions. After much Thought on the Subject, as well as much Experience, Mr. Sheridan thinks that he can lay down this as a Maxim. That the Dublin Stage never will remain long in a flourishing Condition whilst it is the Property of a private Person. The Constitution of the Stage of Paris, where the Theatre is the Property of the Public, and gives a certain Portion of the Profits to charitable Uses, seems to him the only one that would place that of Dublin on a good or durable Foundation. The Actors there are divided into several Classes, according to their several Degrees of Merit. The Government is a kind of Commonwealth. And the Receipts are divided amongst the several Classes, according to their different Rates of Merit. Upon a Vacancy in one Class, the best Actor in the next is elected to supply the Place. Thus each Individual is interested in the Success of the Entertainment; their Incomes are larger or smaller in Proportion to the exerting or slackening of their united Endeavours to please. And their Advancement is the Reward of Merit, not Caprice. In order to establish such a Theatre here, the following PROPOSAL was intended: That Mr. Sheridan’s Interest in the Theatres, during the Remainder of the Lease, be purchased by Parliamentary Bounty, upon such Terms as shall be judged reasonable; together with the Wardrobe, Scenes, and all other Properties whatsoever belonging to him, for the Use of the Dublin Society, whose Property they shall become. That, in Consideration of such Purchase, Mr. Sheridan shall undertake, that the Sum of three Pounds per Night for every Play, or publick Representation whatsoever, Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 531.7.2007 3:38pm 5 that shall be exhibited in the said Theatres, until the Expiration of said Lease, shall be paid in for the sole Use of the Dublin Society, to be by them employed in Premiums, for the Encouragement of the Liberal Arts, or for such other Purposes as they shall think meet. Which Sums of three Pounds per Night, according to the usual Number of times of performing, will probably produce an Income of near four hundred Pounds per Annum. He will farther undertake, that the Sum of one Pound per Night shall be laid aside for supplying the Wardrobe, whenever there may be any Deficiencies, and keeping the Scenery in repair, which, at a moderate Computation, may amount to one hundred and thirty Pounds per Annum: And considering the present State of the Scenery and The Brave Irishman Cloaths, that they are for the most Part new, will be a sufficient Provision to keep them to the Expiration of the Lease, in as good a Condition as they are at present. Mr. Sheridan will farther undertake, that during that Term there shall be four Nights in each Season allotted for the sole Benefits and Advantage of four Publick Charities, viz. the Hospital of Incurables, the Lying-in Hospital, the Hospital in Meath- Street, and the Infirmary on the Inns-quay, without any Cost or Charge to them for the said Benefits. The Receipts of those four Nights will probably not fall short of Thomas Sheridan five hundred Pounds; and thus the Theatre will yield a Fund of one thousand Pounds per Annum, to publick and charitable Uses. If this Proposal is accepted, Mr. Sheridan will use his utmost Endeavours, and makes no doubt, but that he shall be able to execute some long-concerted Plans, whereby the Theatre of Dublin may be put upon a better footing than any in Europe; which may make it a pleasing School of Manners and Instruction to Youth; and a most rational Amusement to the Adult: Which may not only carry the Entertainments exhibited there to a much higher pitch of Perfection, than they can be brought to under the present Circumstances of the Stage, but also fix them upon a solid and durable Foundation.