SHERIDAN, RICHARD BRINSLEY (BUTLER)

(baptized Nov. 4, 1751, Dublin, Ire.d. July 7, 1816, London, Eng.), Irish-born playwright, impresario, orator, and Whig politician. His plays, notably The School for Scandal (1777), form a link in the history of the comedy of manners between the end of the 17th century and Oscar Wilde in the 19th century.