First published in 1972, Sheridan is primarily a rounded, colourful portrait of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, his triumphs and failures, his ferocious duels and sudden romances, and his rise to oratorical fame in the arena of politics. But it is also something more: a wide canvas – sometimes frightening, sometimes amusing – depicting the extraordinarily turbulent and violent theatrical world of London and Dublin in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when an irate audience could destroy a theatre. In this book, Madeleine Bingham explains why Sheridan relegated to second place that field of activity where his wit and satirical mind could have assured him an even greater measure of immortality, and even more of that money which he always needed and always spent so lavishly. Sheridan, his family and his whole world are vividly brought to life; and while his actions can sometimes be condemned, at other times it is clear that he was a prisoner of his heredity, his upbringing and his family’s past. This book will be of interest to students of history and literature.
