he strong compulsion of her father that she had given
her consent; for Mr Long had a purse as elongated as his name, and to
the eyes of the poor singing-master his gold-bags were irresistible. Her
elderly wooer loaded his bride-to-be with costly presents; he showered
jewels on her, bought her a trousseau fit for a Queen; and was on the
eve of marrying her, when--without a word of warning, it was announced
that the wedding, to which all Bath had been excitedly looking forward,
would not take place!

Mr Linley was furious, and threatened the terrors of the law; but the
bridegroom that failed was adamant. It was said that, in cancelling the
engagement, Mr Long was acting a chivalrous part, in response to Miss
Linley's pleading that he would withdraw his suit, since her heart could
never be his, and by withdrawing shield her from her father's anger.
However this may have been, Mr Long steadily declined to go to the
altar, and ultimately appeased the singing-master by settling L3,000 on
his daughter, and allowing her to keep the valuable jewels and other
presents he had given her.

It was at this crisis in the Nightingale's life, when all Bath was
ringing with the fiasco of her engagement, and she herself was overcome
by humiliation, that another and more dangerous lover made his
appearance at Bath--a youth (for such he was) whose life was destined
to be dramatically linked with hers. This newcomer into the arena of
love was none other than Richard Brinsley Sheridan, grandson of Dean
Swift's bosom friend, Dr Thomas Sheridan, one of the two sons of another
Thomas, who, after a roaming and profitless life, had come to Bath to
earn a livelihood by teaching elocution.

This younger Thomas Sheridan seems to have inherited none of the wit and
cleverness of his father, Swift's boon companion. Dr Johnson considered
him "dull, naturally dull. Such an excess of stupidity," he added, "is
not in nature." But, in spite of his dulness, "Sherry"--as he was
commonly called--had been clever enough to coax a pension of L200 a year
out of the Government, and was able to send his two boys to Harrow and
Oxford.

The Sheridan boys had been but a few days in Bath when they both fell
head over heels in love with Elizabeth Linley, with whom their sister
had been equally quick to strike up a friendship. But from the first,
Charles, the elder son, was hopelessly outmatched.

"On our first acquaintance," Miss Linley wrote in later
years