various opinions on him, ... and mine was this:--'Whatever Sheridan has
done or chosen to do has been, _par excellence_, always the _best_ of
its kind. He has written the _best_ comedy (_School for Scandal_), the
_best_ drama (in my mind, far before that St. Giles's lampoon, the
_Beggars Opera_), the best farce (the _Critic_--it is only too good for
a farce), and the best Address ('Monologue on Garrick'), and, to crown
all, delivered the very best Oration (the famous Begum Speech) ever
conceived or heard in this country.'"--_Journal_, December 17, 1813,
_Letters_, 1898, ii. 377.]

[105] [It has often been pointed out (_e.g. Notes and Queries_, 1855,
Series I. xi. 472) that this fine metaphor may be traced to Ariosto's
_Orlando Furioso_. The subject is Zerbino, the son of the King of
Scotland--

"Non e vu si bello in tante altre persone:
Natura il fece e poi ruppe la stampa."

Canto X. stanza lxxxiv. lines 5, 6.]

MANFRED:

A DRAMATIC POEM.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
[_Hamlet,_ Act i. Scene 5, Lines 166, 167.

[_Manfred_, a choral tragedy in three acts, was performed at Covent
Garden Theatre, October 29-November 14, 1834 [Denvil (afterwards known
as "Manfred" Denvil) took the part of "Manfred," and Miss Ellen Tree
(afterwards Mrs. Charles Kean) played "The Witch of the Alps"]; at Drury
Lane Theatre, October 10, 1863-64 [Phelps played "Manfred," Miss Rosa Le
Clercq "The Phantom of Astarte," and Miss Heath "The Witch of the
Alps"]; at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester, March 27-April 20, 1867
[Charles Calvert played "Manfred"]; and again, in 1867, under the same
management, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Liverpool; and at the
Princess's Theatre Royal, London, August 16, 1873 [Charles Dillon played
"Manfred;" music by Sir Henry Bishop, as in 1834].

_Overtures, etc._

"Music to Byron's _Manfred_" (overture and incidental music and
choruses), by R. Schumann, 1850.

"Incidental Music," composed, in 1897, by Sir Alexander Campbell
Mackenzie (at the request of Sir Henry Irving); heard (in part only) at
a concert in Queen's Hall, May, 1899.

"_Manfred_ Symphony" (four tableaux after the Poem by Byron), composed
by Tschaikowsky, 1885; first heard in London, autumn, 1898.]