According to musicologist, writer and singer, Mollie Sands, Linley was one of the "most famous of English-born teachers". As a composer, Linley wrote and arranged some songs and ensembles for "The Duenna" in 1775; written at the request of Sheridan and in collaboration with Linley junior, the opera was an exceptional success, being performed seventy-five times at Drury Lane - Lord Byron endorsed it as "the best opera ever written". An earlier composition, Thomas Hull's "The Royal Merchant", performed at Covent Garden in 1767, was noted as a failure as well as a success. An unnamed critic wrote in "The London Stage" that "The music may be good, but the piece is trifling and childish". In 1786 he collaborated with John Burgoyne on the successful "Richard Coeur de lion".