things were at last to be compromised between Jupiter and Juno;
Amphitryon was to be comforted in the birth of so mighty a son; Ixion,
for his presumption, instead of being fixed to a _torturing_ wheel,
was to have been fixed to a vagrant monotroche, as knife-grinder, and a
grand chorus of deities (intermixed with "knives, scissors, pen-knives
to grind," set to music as nearly as possible to the natural cry,) would
have concluded the whole.

That habit of dilatoriness, which is too often attendant upon genius,
and which is for ever making it, like the pistol in the scene just
quoted, "shoot a bar too late," was, through life, remarkable in the
character of Mr. Sheridan,--and we have here an early instance of its
influence over him. Though it was in August, 1770, that he received the
sketch of this piece from his friend, and though they both looked
forward most sanguinely to its success, as likely to realize many a
dream of fame and profit, it was not till the month of May in the
subsequent year, as appears by a letter from Mr. Ker to Sheridan, that
the probability of the arrival of the manuscript was announced to Mr.
Foote. "I have dispatched a card, as from H. H., at Owen's Coffee-house,
to Mr. Foote, to inform him that he may expect to see your dramatic
piece about the 25th instant."

Their hopes and fears in this theatrical speculation are very naturally
and livelily expressed throughout Halhed's letters, sometimes with a
degree of humorous pathos, which is interesting as characteristic of
both the writers:--"the thoughts," he says, "of 200_l_. shared
between us are enough to bring the tears into one's eyes." Sometimes, he
sets more moderate limits to their ambition, and hopes that they will,
at least, get the freedom of the play-house by it. But at all times he
chides, with good-humored impatience, the tardiness of his fellow-