I shall now recur to the few Recollections of her Life which Mrs. Siddons has left me in her own writing. My last quotation from them ended with her description of her reception in Isabella. As her Memoranda are resumed at that point, they necessarily refer to some circumstances belonging to the history of her first season. But as she almost immediately passes into recollections of her second season, and as I wished to break upon the continuity of her Memoranda as little as possible, I postponed what I now quote from them to the end of my account of her professional appearances in 1783-4.

CHAPTER VI.

CONTENTS.

Mrs. Siddons's Memoranda-Her Summer Excursion
to Edinburgh and Dublin-Important Quotation
from Lee Lewes's Memoirs.

CHAPTER VI.

"I CANNOT now remember the regular succession of my various characters during this my first season, 1782-3. I think Belvidera came soon after Isabella, who almost precluded the appearance of all others for a very long time; but I well remember my fears and ready tears on each subsequent effort, lest I should fall from my high exaltation. The crowds collected about my carriage, at my outgoings and incomings, and the gratifying and sometimes comical remarks I heard on those occasions, were extremely diverting. The Royal Family very frequently honoured me with their presence.*

* As early as the January of 1783, the Royal Family began to patronize Mrs. Siddons; and they continued to see her in all her characters: her Euphrasia; her

The King was often moved to tears, and the Queen at one time told me,in her gracious manner and broken English, that her only refuge was actually turning her back upon the stage, at the same time protesting that my acting was 'indeed too disagreeble.' In short, all went on most prosperously; and, to complete my triumph, I had the honour to receive the commands of their Majesties to go and read to them, which I frequently did, both at Buckingham-house and at Windsor. Their Majesties were the most

gratifying of auditors, because the most unremittingly attentive. The King was a most judicious and tasteful critic both in acting and dramatic composition. He told me he had endeavoured, vainly, to detect me in a false emphasis, and very humorously repeated many of Mr. Smith's, who was then a principal actor. He

Belvidera; her Jane Shore; her Calista; and her Isabella; and even the offensive politics of the Manager, Sheridan, vanished before the charms of the new sovereign of the stage.