woman, how true should be your judgment, when your resolution is so
weak!" he remarks, "On the contrary, it seems to be of little
consequence whether any person's judgment be weak or not, who wants
resolution to act according to it."] He has also prefixed to it, as
coming from Sheridan, the following humorous dedication, which, I take
for granted, has never before met the light, and which the reader will
perceive, by the allusions in it to the two Whig ministries, could not
have been written before the year 1784:--

"DEDICATION TO IDLENESS.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

"If it were necessary to make any apology for this freedom, I know you
would think it a sufficient one, that I shall find it easier to dedicate
my play to you than to any other person. There is likewise a propriety
in prefixing your name to a work begun entirely at your suggestion, and
finished under your auspices; and I should think myself wanting in
gratitude to you, if I did not take an early opportunity of
acknowledging the obligations which I owe you. There was a time--though
it is so long ago that I now scarcely remember it, and cannot mention it
without compunction--but there was a time, when the importunity of
parents, and the example of a few injudicious young men of my
acquaintance, had almost prevailed on me to thwart my genius, and
prostitute my abilities by an application to serious pursuits. And if
you had not opened my eyes to the absurdity and profligacy of such a
perversion of the best gifts of nature, I am by no means clear that I
might not have been a wealthy merchant or an eminent lawyer at this very
moment. Nor was it only on my first setting out in life that I availed
myself of a connection with you, though perhaps I never reaped such