[1139] On March 2, 1754 (not 1753), the audience called for a repetition of some lines which they applied against the government. 'Diggs, the actor, refused by order of Sheridan, the manager, to repeat them; Sheridan would not even appear on the stage to justify the prohibition. In an instant the audience demolished the inside of the house, and reduced it to a shell.' Walpole's Reign of George II, i. 389, and Gent. Mag. xxiv. 141. Sheridan's friend, Mr. S. Whyte, says (_Miscellanea Nova, p. 16):—'In the year 1762 Sheridan's scheme for an English Dictionary was published. That memorable year he was nominated for a pension.' He quotes (p. 111) a letter from Mrs. Sheridan, dated Nov. 29, 1762, in which she says:—'I suppose you must have heard that the King has granted him a pension of 200£. a year, merely as an encouragement to his undertaking.'
[1140] See post, March 28, 1776.
[1141] Horace Walpole describes Lord Bute as 'a man that had passed his life in solitude, and was too haughty to admit to his familiarity but half a dozen silly authors and flatterers. Sir Henry Erskine, a military poet, Home, a tragedy-writing parson,' &c. Mem. of the Reign of George III, i. 37.
[1142] See post, March 28, 1776.
[1143] 'Native wood-notes wild.' Milton's L'Allegro, l. 134
[1144]
'In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
Corpora. Di coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas)
Adspirate meis.'
'Of bodies changed to various forms I sing:—
Ye Gods from whence these miracles did spring
Inspired, &c.'—DRYDEN, Ov. Met. i.i.
See post under March 30, 1783, for Lord Loughborough.
[1145] See post, May 17, 1783, and June 24, 1784. Sheridan was not of a forgiving nature. For some years he would not speak to his famous son: yet he went with his daughters to the theatre to see one of his pieces performed. 'The son took up his station by one of the side scenes, opposite to the box where they sat, and there continued, unobserved, to look at them during the greater part of the night. On his return home he burst into tears, and owned how deeply it had gone to his heart, "to think that there sat his father and his sisters before him, and yet that he alone was not permitted to go near them."' Moore's Sheridan, i. 167.
[1146] As Johnson himself said:—'Men hate more steadily than they love; and if I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him.' Post, Sept. 15, 1777.