himself by giving lessons in Latin and Mathematics. They attended also
the fencing and riding schools of Mr. Angelo, and received instructions
from their father in English grammar and oratory. Of this advantage,
however, it is probable, only the elder son availed himself, as Richard,
who seems to have been determined to owe all his excellence to nature
alone, was found as impracticable a pupil at home as at school. But,
however inattentive to his studies he may have been at Harrow, it
appears, from one of the letters of his school-fellow, Mr. Halhed, that
in poetry, which is usually the first exercise in which these young
athletae of intellect try their strength, he had already distinguished
himself; and, in conjunction with his friend Halhed, had translated the
seventh Idyl, and many of the lesser poems of Theocritus. This literary
partnership was resumed soon after their departure from Harrow. In the
year 1770, when Halhed was at Oxford, and Sheridan residing with his
father at Bath, they entered into a correspondence, (of which,
unluckily, only Halhed's share remains,) and, with all the hope and
spirit of young adventurers, began and prosecuted a variety of works
together, of which none but their translation of Aristaenetus ever saw
the light.

There is something in the alliance between these boys peculiarly
interesting. Their united ages, as Halhed boasts in one of his letters,
did not amount to thirty-eight. They were both abounding in wit and
spirits, and as sanguine as the consciousness of talent and youth could
make them; both inspired with a taste for pleasure, and thrown upon
their own resources for the means of gratifying it; both carelessly
embarking, without rivalry or reserve, their venture of fame in the same
bottom, and both, as Halhed discovered at last, passionately in love
with the same woman.