Excerpt from The Political Career of Richard Brinsley Sheridan: The Stanhope Essay for 1912 His political career Offers comparatively few strik ing events to hamper or, as the case may be, assist the student of temperament. His Virtues and his vices alike kept him in opposition. His tastes and his talents were those of the attacking rhetorician rather than of the constructive administrator;1 his principles, which meant all the world to him, were too liberal to appeal to the oligarchy Of governing houses, too ideal to have much practical meaning for the masses they strove to benefit; his poverty, his irresponsibility, his apparent frivolity, his strange companions inspired no confidence in the breasts of his contemporaries. His life, therefore, is an almost unbroken struggle as one of the leaders of an ill - assorted minority, honey-combed with intrigue, pitted against an obstinate king and a country which was apathetic where it was not corrupt. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.