from the port of London to Dunkirk, but gave them letters of
recommendation to his correspondents at that place, who with the same
zeal and dispatch facilitated their journey to Lisle.

On their leaving Dunkirk, as was natural to expect, the chivalrous and
disinterested protector degenerated into a mere selfish lover. It was
represented by him, with arguments which seemed to appeal to prudence as
well as feeling, that, after the step which they had taken, she could
not possibly appear in England again but as his wife. He was therefore,
he said, resolved not to deposit her in a convent till she had
consented, by the ceremony of a marriage, to confirm to him that right
of protecting her, which he had now but temporarily assumed. It did not,
we may suppose, require much eloquence to convince her heart of the
truth of this reasoning; and, accordingly, at a little village, not far
from Calais, they were married about the latter end of March, 1772, by a
priest well known for his services on such occasions.

They thence immediately proceeded to Lisle, where Miss Linley, as she
must still be called, giving up her intention of going on to St.
Quentin, procured an apartment in a convent, with the determination of
remaining there, till Sheridan should have the means of supporting her
as his acknowledged wife. A letter which he wrote to his brother from
this place, dated April 15, though it throws but little additional light
on the narrative, is too interesting an illustration of it to be omitted
here:

"Dear brother,

"Most probably you will have thought me very inexcusable for not having
writ to you. You will be surprised, too, to be told that, except your