Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), British dramatist and politician, whose work is considered the finest development of the comedy of manners in 18th-century England.

Sheridan was born in Dublin, Ireland and educated at the University of Oxford. In 1775 three of his comic works; a drama, The Rivals; a farce, St. Patrick's Day; and an opera, The Duenna, were produced with great success at Covent Garden, London. The score for the opera was written by his father-in-law, the composer Thomas Linley, with whom Sheridan purchased the Drury Lane Theatre in London. From 1776, Sheridan served as manager of the theater and produced there several of his other witty satires on fashionable society, quite different from the sentimental comedies then popular. Among his works are The School for Scandal (1777) and The Critic (1779). The School for Scandal is considered his masterpiece: a series of gossipy but polished, fast-paced scenes exposing contemporary foibles through the actions of the vigorously drawn characters. The Critic, an afterpiece designed to be presented after a full-length play, is the work of a writer thoroughly familiar with the theater world; it is a broad satire on contemporary playwrights and their critics. Sheridan's two major trademarks are his incisively exaggerated characters and amusing twists of plot. From the name of Mrs. Malaprop, a humorous character in the early play The Rivals, derives the widely used term malapropism, meaning the absurd misapplication of a long word.

Sheridan became a member of Parliament in 1780, undersecretary for foreign affairs in 1782, secretary to the treasury in 1783, and treasurer of the navy and a member of the Privy Council in 1806. He later became a leader of society and a close adviser to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. The playwright's parliamentary career was notable for his eloquent speeches made in opposition to the British war against the American colonies, in support of the new French Republic, and in denunciation of the British colonial administrator Warren Hastings.

Sheridan died in London on July 7, 1816, his last years having been shadowed by financial ruin after the burning of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1809.