From the opening night of The School for Scandal, Sheridan was launched into the little great world of eighteenth century society. For the next thirty years he was both manager of the Drury Lane Theatre and member of Parliament, rising above the disadvantages of his early poverty to become one of the greatest figures of the age. Despite the permanent chaos of his financial and personal lives, no one could be angry with Sheridan for long. The author of this biography has used contemporary letters, journals and memoirs, to give a detailed portrait of, in the words of Harold Nicolson, one of the kindest and most amusing men that ever lived.