Dr. Fell (Vol. v., p. 296.).
—Mr. Tom Sheridan, the only child of Richard Brinsley Sheridan by his wife (Miss Elizabeth Linley), is author of the lines on Dr. Fell. They were written on the celebrated Dr. Parr, under whose tuition he was. Why he gave to Dr. Parr the nomen "Dr. Fell," I do not know. I have often heard my dear mother repeat the lines:
"I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell,
But this I know full well,
I do not like thee, Dr. Fell."
The metre of the third line would be more perfect by the addition of the dissyllable; but the lines I have so often heard want this.
My mother was very intimate with the Sheridan family, and many years agone she informed me that Miss Jane Linley (afterwards Mrs. Ward) told her that young Tom Sheridan composed the foregoing lines on Dr. Parr.
E. F.