Letters of Anna Seward, 
of the age, both as to rank and talents. 
To preserve that retirement from too 
frequent invasion, they are obliged to be 
somewhat coy as to accessibility, 
. When we consider their intellectual 
_resources, their energy, and industry, we 
are not surprised to hear them asserting, 
that, though they have not once forsaken 
their vale, for thirty hours successively, 
since they entered it seventeen years 
ago, yet neither the long summer's day, 
nor winter's night, nor weeks of impri- 
soning snows, ever inspired one weary 
sensation, one wish of returning to that 
world, first abandoned in the bloom of 
youth, and which they are yet so per- 
fectly qualified to adorn, 
\) 54. = | ACTRESSES. 
I perfectly remember Mrs. Cibber 
and Mrs. Pritchard, young as I was 
when I saw them, in all their capital 
characters, the last season of their per- 
forming. .I have the most discriminating 
recollection of their different excellen- 
cies. Mrs. Cibber had very pathetic 
powers; her features, though not beau- 
tiful, were delicate and very expressive ; 
but she uniformly pitched her silver voice, 
so sweetly plaintive, in too high a key to 
produce that endless variety of intonation 
with which Mrs, Siddons declaims. 
“Mrs. Pritchard’s voice was clear, dis- 
tinct, and various; but her figure coarse 
and large, nor could her features, plain 
even to hudness, at Jeast ivhen I saw 
them, exhibit the witchery of expression. 
She was a just and spirited actress; a 
more perfectly yood speaker than her 
more elegant, more fascinating, contem- 
orary. 
Mrs. Siddons has all the pathos of 
Mrs. Cibber, with a thousand times more 
variety in its exertion; and she has the 
justness of Mrs. Pritchard; while only 
Garrick’s countenance could ever vie 
with her’s in those endless shades of 
meaning, which almost make her charm- 
ing voice superfluous ; while the fine pro- 
‘portion and majesty of her form, and the 
ibeauty of her face, eclipse the remem- 
brance of all her less consummate pre- 
decessors. 
OPINIONS OF 1795. 
O Mr. Whalley, how perilous are the 
times! If Lam disgnsted with ministry, 
for their insane persistence in a war that 
has long been unmotived, and ruinous to 
this country, I am still more indignant at 
the Catilines of the minority, who are 
‘seeking to plunge the nation in all the 
horrors of anarchy, by their gross misre- 
presentations of a bill,’ now- absolutely 
9 6§ 
necessary, to prevent the farther spread« 
ing of the pestilential taint of republican 
principles amidst the undiscerning vui- 
gar; necessary to save us from the ruins 
and horrors in which France is plunged. 
T tremble for the event, though our pros- 
pects brighten in the east, and though the 
demon-legions are repuised in Germany. 
HERSELF. 
I cannot endure to see a creature, so 
imperfect as myself, invested with at- 
tractions and excellencies to which I 
have no pretence. Perfectly do I feel 
the ground on which I stand. I know 
that I have talents, and some good qua- 
lities; that I am ingenuous; that my 
mind is neither stained nor embittered : 
by envy; that I detest injustice, and am 
grateful for every proof of affection. £ 
can believe what 1 am told about my 
countenance expressing the feelings of 
my heart; but I have no charms, na 
grace, no elegance of forin or deporte 
ment. If, in youth, my complexion’ was 
clear, glowing, and animated; if my fea- 
tures were agreeable, though not regular, 
they have been the victuns of time. 
When tolerably well, the cheerfulness of 
my temper is unclouded; but, beneath 
the pressure of disease, 1 am weakly de~ 
jected. I wish to be obliging; yet, if 
my manners are not rustic, there is about 
me an hereditary absence, which always 
did, and always must, prevent their’ 
taking the polish of perfect good breed 
ing; and, to balance my tolerable pro- 
perties, there is frequent indiscretion 
from an excess of frankness, and from 
native and yet unconquered impetugsity 
of temper; and fortitude, alas! I almost 
wholly want. } 
CONFESSIONS OF LOyE. 
Colonel T had a grave and pens 
sive cast of manners when [ first knew 
him, in theflower of our mutual youth, 
Without doubt there is a marked con- 
geniality in some of the circumstances of 
your and my destiny.* To me as to 
you, Colonel T appeared interesting 
in that juvenile period, from a dignified 
seriousness, an air of refined attachment, 
not to a present but an absent object. 
His brother officers confirmed the idea 
which that shaded address, if I may so 
express myself, had excited, and named 
the late Lady Middleton, then Miss 
Georgiana Chadwick, as the lovely 
source of its pensiveness. 
* Addressed co the wife of Colonel T——~ 
and herself, an ingenious and most intcr- 
esting women. 
I made 
