SOURCE: “The Political Career of Richard Brinsley Sheridan,” in Sheridan Studies, edited by James Morwood and David Crane, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 131-50.

In the following essay, Clayton recounts Sheridan's actions and reputation as a Whig politician and a member of Parliament.

When Thomas Moore was preparing his biography of Sheridan he was told by Lord Thanet that Sheridan never liked any allusion to his being a dramatic writer.¹ Outstanding success as a playwright eased, and arguably enabled, Sheridan's introduction to the society of the Westminster political world, but his theatrical work, both as writer and manager, was a potent reminder that Sheridan had to work for a living and did not spring from a background of landed wealth and aristocratic leisure. This background remained the most powerful qualification for political leadership amongst the Whig élite—far more powerful than the recommendation of talent by itself. Charles James...