amuse his leisure, and place Mrs. JORDAN herself, and PERSONS connected with her in life, in the true relative positions, either as to the present age or posterity.

60, Warren Street, Fitzroy Square,

November, 1830.

J. B.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAP. I.

What is to be expected in these Memoirs-Mrs. Jordan's fa-

mily theatrical-Irregularity commonly progressive-Mrs.

Bland-her story-her husband-her sisters-Ryder first

employs the talent of Miss Francis-Daly's Duenna-Sketch

of his character as a man and a manager-Lieutenant Charles

Doyne proposes marriage to Miss Francis-After some deli-

beration his proposals are declined; by whose advice in par-

ticular-Ireland a good school of acting-Mrs. Abington-

Miss Francis as an actress, and her own notion of her powers

-compared with Mrs. Abington.

P. 1

CHAP. II.

Miss Francis arrives at Leeds in July, 1782-Her interview

with Tate Wilkinson-His determination in her favour-

Her first appearance was in tragedy, in the part of Calista-

her reception-the Greenwood Laddie, and its effect-Tate

prophesies that she will reach the summit-Change of name

at York, the choice of one on that occasion-Her aunt, Miss

Phillips, dangerously ill at York, makes her niece her heir-

The application of Mrs. Jordan when a young actress-Mr.

William Smith sees her in the race week-She acted Rut-

land and the Romp before him-Interests himself warmly

about her-She acts Arionelli-Mr. Knight-Lady Leake

-Swan, the critic, teaches Mrs. Jordan Zara-Sheffield, an

alarm-The Duke of Norfolk-Mrs. Jordan's rivals-Mrs.

Smith, and her march extraordinary

CHAP. III.

p. 22

The year 1783-Mrs. Jordan's amazing popularity in the cha-

racter of William, in Rosina-Mrs. Brooke the authoress-

Her husband, curate to Wilkinson's father at the Savoy-The

King's chaplain transported-Garrick's officious meddling-

Mrs. Baddeley at York-A lesson to our heroine of negative

instruction-Mrs. Mills Fawcett's first wife an example of

application to her-The art of mortifying a scenic rival—

Mrs. Ward, a great professor-Mrs. Brown, the wife of Har-

lequin Brown, her Country Girl-Miss Wilkinson, afterwards

Mrs. Mountain-Season of 1785, the last of Mrs. Jordan as

a member of the York company-An instance of her caprice-

Sees Mrs. Yates as Margaret of Anjou-Dick Yates's opinion

of Mrs. Jordan-Mrs. Siddons also for rustication-Mrs.

Robinson, the prophetess-Takes leave of Yorkshire in the

Poor Soldier, to proceed to London

p. 45

CHAP. 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 her-

Fulness and comic richness of tone not provincialism-Ex-

cited unbounded laughter-Her male figure-Her letter

scene-About nineteen, the age of Miss Peggy-Hender-

son-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. Jordan-

She would and she would not, her Hypolita-The Irish

Widow, on her benefit night-Now, certainly, the great

support of the theatre.

p. 65

CHAP. V.

In the recess thinks of her old friends in Yorkshire-Differ-

ence of nine months-Odd conjecture-Mrs. Robinson the

Prophetess Return to Leeds of Mrs. Jordan on the night

of that lady's benefit-Acts a single night, now dividing the

house-Mrs. Jordan at Edinburgh-The Belle's Stratagem

-Her own epilogue, its point-Death of Mrs. Baddeley at

this juncture-Mrs. Jordan succeeds Mrs. Siddons at Hull

and Wakefield-General Burgoyne translates Richard Cœur

de Lion for Drury, in 1786, and Mrs. Jordan accepts Ma-

tilda-Death of Princess Amelia closes the theatres-H. R.

H.'s clock, by Tompion-The royal vault-A friend of the

Author's passes the night in it-His feelings compared with

Juliet's imagination-Dodsley's Cleone, and Mrs. Siddons-

Love for Love, and the Miss Prue of Jordan-Congreve and

his preferments-Mrs. Jordan's Roxalana

-

CHAP. VI.

• p. 86

-

King's management-Mrs. Jordan in the summer of 1787-

Miss Farren too in Yorkshire, distinguishes Fawcett, since a

truly original actor-Kemble alters the Pilgrim for Mrs.

Jordan - Her Juletta-The character describes itself.

Beautiful passages-Madness exhibited frequently on the

stage The New Peerage-Old Macklin remembered when

he had forgotten Shylock-Interesting appeal of the veteran

-New plays by Miss Lee and Captain Jephson-Smith did

not act much with Mrs Jordan-His last benefit-Anecdote

of him when at Eton-His intimacy with Garrick-His

comedy-Lewis and Bensley compared with him as gentle-

men-Abington and Farren-Palmer returns to his Viola-

Mrs. Jordan's Sir Harry Wildair-Theatrical Politics-

King's abdication .

CHAP. VII.

P. 108

Kemble's management from October 1788-The Panel, for

Mrs. Jordan-Beatrice and her gown-Her performance in

the Confederacy-Her Rosalind somewhat divides the town-

Whether the sprightliness or the sensibility should predomi-

nate?-Perhaps the truer Rosalind, if Shakspeare were to

decide Her Nell, in the Devil to Pay-Moody, in Jobson-

Mrs. Jordan's opinion of her own art-Her aspiration after