peculiarly neat in her attire, that it was a common compliment to say that the Graces attended her toilet.

Mrs. Siddons herself saw Mrs. Jordan at York, in the month of August, 1785, and seemed to think (by which I suppose Tate implies said,) that "she was better where she was, than to venture on the London boards." Alas! she did not suspect, how soon the "unthought of" Country Girl would even number carriages with her in the long procession to Drury Lane theatre.

William Woodfall, it may be observed, gave the same advice to Mrs. Siddons, that she should keep to small theatres in the country, where she could be heard, she was too weak for the London stages. This indeed at the time was the fact; but let me add, in behalf of the great genius of tragedy, that, had the Cumaan Sybil herself announced the more than rival progress of the boy Betty, she would have been credited, perhaps, by the Muse of neither tragedy nor comedy, though such a poet as Virgil had added to her ravings the charms of immortal

verse..

"Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summer cloud,

Without our special wonder?"

Her last performance as a member of the company was at Wakefield, on Friday, Sept. 9, 1785, in the favourite Poor Soldier, from which place she set off for London with no great cheer of mind, for she was never sanguine, nor did the long experience of her popularity ever completely divest her of alarm. Some confidence she might place in Mr. Smith's judgment, but then to act the second parts in tragedy to the towering grandeur and deliberate style of Mrs. Siddons could not be contemplated without dismay. As to the salary, the preliminary condition went no farther than four pounds per week, and if it stopt there, her change of place was no advantage; since her circumstances could not improve. The town stamp to be sure gave a currency, but then the weight was to be considered, and the fashion to be verified. If her first article was not soon cancelled, it (to use Mrs. Robinson's neuter pronoun) would be glad to get back again to York and find its former station unoccupied. But

something, in all these cases, must be risked. The state of the Drury Lane and Covent Garden companies is extremely well known, in our country theatres, from the circulation of our newspapers; in addition, the managers of such concerns are in correspondence continually with some town friends, who inform them of every thing material to their interest. After much reflection, Mrs. Jordan thought she saw a line open to her, of the youthful and tender in tragedy or Shakspearian comedy, with the whole class of romps either in the middle comedy or the modern farce; she there resolved to make her mark, not perhaps because she absolutely thought it best suited her own powers, for this it is probable she never was fully convinced of, but because there she would interfere no otherwise with Mrs. Siddons, or Miss Farren, or Miss Pope, than as popularity might so far divide with those ladies the honours of public patronage, and the smiles of a successful management. To the policy, perhaps propriety, of this decision, on many accounts, neither Sheridan nor King offered any objection; and it removed all such enmity as might be expected from invading the business of any other established fa

vourite. With her patron Smith she was not likely to act much, unless she came into tragedy; as the gentleman in comedy, he was most frequently at the side of Miss Farren, and unquestionably the most accomplished man with whom she ever played; for Palmer was never perfectly the gay honourable man of the world, however plausible, insinuating, and graceful in display; and such qualities on the stage, as in life itself, are rather the means by which the designing succeed, than the manifestations of the truly valuable in human character. Let the reader conceive these two actors to have exchanged characters as the Charles and Joseph of the School for Scandal.

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CHAPTER IV.

The ascendancy of Mrs. Siddons-Struggle of Covent Garden -Mrs. Abington-Mr. Henderson-Miss Farren compared with the former Abington-The hopes entertained that the Country Girl might revive the train of Comedy-Within and without door talk of her-Her first appearance, on the 18th of October, 1785-Mrs. Inchbald's opinion of herFulness and comic richness of tone not provincialism-Excited unbounded laughter-Her male figure-Her letter scene-About nineteen, the age of Miss Peggy-Henderson-Mr. Harris-Mrs. Inchbald-Her stepson and Mrs. Jordan-Her Viola, in Twelfth Night, particularly examined -Barbarous curtailments of the play-Viola succeeded by Imogen-Mrs. Clive dies-Compared, in some points, with Mrs. Jordan-The Heiress had no part for Mrs. JordanShe would and she would not, her Hypolita-The Irish Widow, on her benefit night-Now, certainly, the great support of the theatre.

THE Success of Mrs. Siddons had been too dazzling not to excite envy in the profession. If there could be any competition with her excellence, it was in the recollection of the dead rather than the