1831.] 



C 337 3 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



MRS. SIODOXa. 



To render justice to the professional 

 character of such an actress as Airs Sid- 

 dons, within a column or two of a 

 periodical, is utterly impossible. All 

 that can be reasonably hoped for are a 

 few dates, facts, and elucidatory points. 

 Mrs. Siddons's mother was the daughter 

 of a Mr. Ward, the manager of an iti- 

 nerant company of players in Wales, 

 and the adjacent English counties. Her 

 father, Mr. Koger Kemble (towards the 

 close of his life one of the Poor Knights 

 of Windsor) ti-avelled with the conii)any 

 in the capacity of hair-dresser. INIiss 

 Ward, who is said to have rejected the 

 honourable advances of the then Earl 

 of Coventry, accepted those of Mr. 

 Kemble, and the parties were privately 

 married. The lady's parents were in- 

 exorable, and, for a time, the newly 

 married pair were obliged to seek their 

 subsistence in another companj'. Soon, 

 however, Mr. Ward relented— resigned 

 the theatrical sceptre into the hands of 

 Mr. Kemble — and shortly afterwards 

 died. The honours to wliich the nevv 

 manager succeeded appear not to have 

 been of the loftiest stamp ; for it is as- 

 serted, on the authority of Mr. Stephen 

 Kemble, that he was accustomed to pro- 

 claim the play at the doors of the dif- 

 ferent farmers, accoutred in a smock- 

 frock and grenadier's cap ; and that he 

 was delighted to regale himself with a 

 pint of ale at the heage-side inn, always 

 taking care to order a lurgc toast in his 

 cann. 



It was on the 14th of July, 17o5, 

 while her father's comjjany were per- 

 forming at Brecknock, in Wales, that 

 Sarah Kemble (Airs. Siddons) was born, 

 at the Shoulder-<jf-Mutton public-house. 

 With her j)arents she passed the first 

 fifteen years of her life. She, and her 

 brothers and sisters, were all jjlayers. 

 When a mere child, Sarah made her 

 dibut in reciting the fable of the Boys 

 and the Frogs, tor her lather's benefit. 

 At the age of fifteen she and Mr. Sid- 

 dons, a clever young actor in the com- 

 pany, became mutually enamoured of 

 each other. To j)reventso unj)romising 

 a match, Sarah was placed, as lady's 

 maid, with Mrs. Greathead, of (Juy's 

 Cliff, near AV'arwick. There she was 

 introduced to Garrick ; but, not struck 

 witli her talent, he rejected her prof- 

 fered services, and discourageil her am- 

 bition. Some busts, modelled by tlie 

 hand!) of Mrs. Siddons, are still pre- 

 served at (iuv's C'liff; thev prove that 



M.M. New'Heriea.—W 01.'. Xn. Ny.«D. 



she possessed a taste for other arts be- 

 sides the drama. At length she was, 

 in her eighteenth year, united to Mr. 

 Siddons, with her father's consent. 



In 1775, while performing with her 

 husband at Cheltenham, she was seen by 

 Eate Dudley, a dramatic writer, a fight- 

 ing parson, &c. He recommended her 

 to Garrick ; and, on the 29tli of Decem- 

 ber, in that year, she came out as 

 Portia, at Drury-lane Theatre ; and 

 afterwards appeared as Mrs. Strickland, 

 in the Suspicious Husband, Lady Anne, 

 in Richard the Third, &c., but without 

 making any great or jiernianent im- 

 pression. 'From an anecdote, related 

 by Miss Lefane in her life of Mrs. 

 Sheridan, it would seem that Garrick, 

 who never was distinguished by gene- 

 rosity or liberality, was apparently 

 rather than really blind to the merit of 

 Airs. Siddons. In a dispute with Miss 

 Young (afterwards Airs. Pope), who, as 

 well as other actresses, had shewn re- 

 fractoriness of temper, Garrick ex- 

 claimed — " I tell you, you had better 

 not give yourselves airs, for there is a 

 woman in the house, who, if I chose to 

 bring her forward, would eclijjse you 

 all in youth, beauty, and talent." Of 

 this woman's abilities, however, he did 

 not avail himself, and at the end of the 

 season Airs. Siddons returned into the 

 country. Her next engagement was at 

 Birmingham, where Henderson, the 

 gi-eat actor of the day, saw and appre- 

 ciated her talents, and predicted that they 

 would never be surpassed. Through 

 his recommendation, she was engaged at 

 Bath, and in the vacation of that theatre, 

 at Vork andAIanchester ; where, espe- 

 cially at Bath, she was, for several sea- 

 sons, the leading favourite. 



At Bath, she is said to have derived 

 considerable advantage from the instruc- 

 tion of the well-known Mr. Pratt. It 

 was at Bath, also, that she was seen by 

 Air. Sheridan (father of the Sheridan.) 

 Strongly urged to witness the perform- 

 ance of a young actress, who distanced 

 all competition in tragedy, he found, to 

 his astonishment, that it was a lady 

 whom he had seen, to little advantage, 

 on the Drury-lane boards. Her im- 

 provement, however, was so gi'eat, that 

 lie introduced himself, urged her to 

 make another attempt in the metropolis, 

 tendered his services, ami actually ob- 

 tained for her an engagement at Drury- 

 lane Theatre, which was then under the 

 management of Mr. King. She pro- 

 posed making her dCbut as Eujjhrasia, in 



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