56 Mr*. Jordan and her Biographer. |[JAN. 



her manager was told, that " when he had lost his great treasure (his 

 term for Mrs. Jordan), it would soon be turned back upon his hand, 

 and it would be glad to come, if he would accept it" Siddons herself 

 was not without her prophets ; and William Woodfall, who seems to 

 have delighted to be busy in every thing, from politics to plays, ad- 

 vised her, on her first appearance, " to keep to small theatres in the 

 country, where she could be heard; she was too weak for London 

 stages." The same authority had decided on Sheridan's first speech, with 

 equal success, and recommended to him " to give up all expectation of 

 being a public speaker, and stick to some trade in which he would not 

 have to open his mouth." 



In 1785, Mrs. Jordan, by the recommendation of " a gentleman," 

 Smith, was engaged at Drury-lane. Siddons was then the rage. The 

 world of fashion would look at no one else. She had two benefits a year, 

 which swept away all their patronage. On the benefit nights of other 

 performers, the answer of the " highest world" was, ff You know we 

 must go on Mrs. Siddons's night, and then we leave town immediately." 

 When she did not play, no person of ton would be present ; and when 

 she did, it was the etiquette for all who professed taste, to run away the 

 moment the performance was over ! We are afraid all the coxcombry of 

 the world was not reserved for the present age. 



Mr. Boaden's observations on his heroine's debut also shews us that in 

 some things we have refined on our ancestors. She was not much 

 puffed previously. The affair was not dandled with the dexterity so fa- 

 miliar to our time. All was cold ; the " first authorities," even those 

 admitted behind the scenes, were unprepared w r ith anything more 

 predisposing than "I think she is clever." " One thing I can 

 tell you, she is like nothing you have been used to." " Her laugh 

 is good, but then she is, or seems to be, very nervous we shall see ;" 

 concluding with that humblest of all assumptions "I am sure we 

 want something." Mrs. Inchbald's account is, "that she came to town 

 with no report in her favour to elevate her above a very moderate 

 salary (four pounds), or to attract more than a very moderate house 

 when she appeared. But here all moderation stopped. She at once 

 displayed such consummate art, with such bewitching nature, such 

 excellent sense, and such innocent simplicity, that her auditors were 

 boundless in their plaudits, and so warm in her praises when they 

 left the theatre, that their friends at home would not give credit to their 

 eulogiums." This was Mrs. Jordan in the " Country Girl." a per- 

 formance which we confess that we have never seen without disgust, as 

 a vulgar exhibition of the most vulgar of all hoydens, an exaggeration 

 of a she clown engrafted upon a she rake. Yet Mrs. Jordan's powers 

 certainly made it popular, and, so far as a mere evidence of powers, 

 nothing can be more decisive. Her display in male attire in the latter 

 part of the play, however, greatly added to her success, for her figure 

 at that period was beautiful. Mr. Boaden tells us that the "great 

 painter of the age (Sir Joshua of course), pronounced it the neatest and 

 most perfect in symmetry he had ever seen." Her face was expressive, 

 bnt at no time handsome. Still the portrait in the front of the volume 

 is, even of that face, a caricature. 



We have then a few lines on Sheridan's theatre, descriptive enough. 

 He had the two wonders of the day Siddons and Jordan but his 

 intolerable negligence suffered them both to weary the town with repe- 

 titions of their characters. " He would undertake every thing and do 

 nothing. There was a committee of proprietors who attended only to 



