A biography of Elizabeth Linley. The elopement and marriage of Elizabeth Linley and Richard Sheridan was the most talked about event of the 18th century. She, at 18, was the most successful singer of the day. He, a destitute, unknown playwright whose School for Scandal and The Rivals were yet to come. Despite being able to earn over a thousand pounds a year, Sheridan would not let her appear on stage. Unfulfilled and saddened by Sheridan's open infidelities, Eliza fell in love with Irish Patriot Lord Edward Fitzgerald. She enjoyed only brief happiness, dying of consumption shortly after giving birth to his daughter.