SICK1NGEN SIDDONS. 



Two, and, likewise, Bigelow'a Travels in Sicily and 

 Malta (Boston, U. S. 1831), and Simond's Travels 

 in Italy and Sici/t/. 



SICKINGEN, FRANCIS VON, a German knight 

 of the palatinate of the Rhine, imperial counsellor 

 and general, one of the noblest characters of the 

 disturbed times in which he lived, was born in 

 1481, at Sickingen. From early youth, he devoted 

 himself to the military life. The protection of 

 the oppressed was his chief occupation. He as- 

 sisted many a creditor in procuring what was due 

 him from a powerful debtor. He was the enemy 

 of tyranny, of princes and priests. Without being 

 a scholar, he loved science, and protected men of 

 learning (for instance, Reuchliri, whom he defended 

 against the monks of Cologne) ; and in his castle, 

 culled Ebernburg, many persecuted scholars found 

 a safe asylum. He was a friend of the reforma- 

 tion, and contributed greatly to extend it in the 

 countries which bordered on the Rhine. At last, 

 he engaged in a quarrel with Treves, the palatinate 

 and Hessia, which drew upon him the ban of the 

 empire. He died in 1523, soon after the surrender 

 of Landstuhl, one of his castles, having previously 

 received a severe injury from a fall during a sally. 



SICYON (now Basilicon, a village with about 

 fifty families) ; one of the oldest, most celebrated, 

 and handsomest cities of ancient Greece, lying not 

 far from the gulf of Corinth, on which it had a 

 port. The city was occupied by the Dorians; but 

 the Sicyonians enjoyed so much consideration, that, 

 with the Spartans, they acted as umpires and me- 

 diators. They were not less distinguished for 

 their superiority in the arts of peace than the 

 Spartans for their military fame. Sicyon, although 

 powerful by sea, was seldom engaged in wars ; but 

 was celebrated for its schools of sculpture and 

 painting. The city, with its environs, formed a 

 small state (Sicyonia) at a very early period; and 

 the names of several princes, who are said to have 

 reigned there, are given. At the time of the re- 

 turn of the Heraclidse, it formed a part of the 

 kingdom of Argos. It afterwards became a demo- 

 cracy, and the supreme power was several times 

 usurped by individuals. It maintained its indepen- 

 dence subsequently to the period of the Persian 

 war, but suffered much from the civil contests 

 among the Greeks, in which it was sometimes in 

 favour of, and sometimes in opposition to, Athens. 

 Sicyon was induced, by the influence of Aratus, to 

 join the Achaean league, in which it acted an im- 

 portant part, and of which it finally shared the 

 fate, and fell under the dominion of Rome. 



SIDDONS, MRS, daughter of Roger Kemble, 

 the manager of an itinerant company of players, 

 was born at Brecknock, in South Wales, in 1755. 

 She commenced her theatrical career as a singer, 

 but soon relinquished that line, and attempted tra- 

 gedy. In her fifteenth year, she conceived a pas- 

 sion for a young man, who was an actor of all work 

 in her father's company; but her parents, consider- 

 ing her too young to form a connexion with him, 

 placed her, as lady's maid, with a lady in Warwick- 

 shire. In her eighteenth year, however, she was 

 married to Siddons, with their consent; and the 

 new-married pair entered into a strolling company. 

 She and her husband played at Liverpool, Birming- 

 ham, and other places, gaining both reputation and 

 profit. The theatrical character which she had ac- 

 quired induced the manager of Drury lane to offer 

 her an engagement, which she accepted. It was, 

 however, only in secondary parts that she appeared. 



But in a short .time she quitted the London boards, 

 in consequence of the scurrilous attacks of a dis- 

 appointed editor of a newspaper, in whose con- 

 demned after-piece she had been unlucky enough 

 to perform. Bath was the next scene of her ex- 

 ertions; and, while there, she improved rapidly, 

 and became a general favourite. The duchess of 

 Devonshire, then in the zenith of her charms and 

 influence, became her friend ; and, through the in- 

 tervention of that accomplished lady, she was again 

 engaged at Drury lane. The re-appearance of Mrs 

 Siddons in London took place on the 10th of Octo- 

 ber, 1782, in the character of Isabella. Her suc- 

 cess was complete. The public were astonished 

 by her powers. She was acknowledged to be the 

 first tragic actress of the English stage, and tragedy 

 became fashionable. The manager gave her an ex- 

 tra benefit, and increased her salary. For that 

 benefit she came forward as Belvidera, and at once 

 exalted her fame, and made a considerable increase 

 to her fortune. Such was the delight which she 

 gave, that the gentlemen of the bar subscribed a 

 hundred guineas as a present to her. She subse- 

 quently visited Dublin and Edinburgh with equal 

 applause. In 1784, some calumnies circulated 

 against her, with respect to her conduct towards 

 an unhappy sister, occasioned her to meet with an 

 unkind reception from a London audience, aird af- 

 fected her so much, that she resolved to retire from 

 the stage ; but the calumnies were speedily refuted, 

 and her resolution was given up. For more than 

 twenty years, she continued to astonish and enchant 

 the lovers of the drama; and she was often invited 

 to Buckingham house and to Windsor to read plays 

 to their majesties. But her readings there were 

 rather productive of honour than of profit. The 

 fortune which she had accumulated was, however, 

 large, and for many years she enjoyed it in the pri- 

 vacy of domestic life. It was not only as an actress 

 that Mrs Siddons displayed talents. She had con- 

 siderable merit as a sculptor, in which capacity she 

 produced, among other things, a medallion of her- 

 self, a bust of her brother, John Philip Kemble, in 

 the character of Coriolanus, a study of Brutus be- 

 fore the death of Csesar, and a bust of president 

 Adams. The symmetry of her person was capti- 

 vating. Her face was peculiarly happy, having 

 strength of features, but so well harmonized when 

 quiescent, and so expressive when impassioned, that 

 most people thought her more beautiful than she 

 was. So great, too, was the flexibility of her 

 countenance, that it caught the instantaneous tran- 

 sitions of passion with such variety and effect, as 

 never to fatigue the eye. Her voice was plaintive, 

 yet capable of firmness and exertion. Her eye was 

 large ; her brow capable of contracting with dis- 

 dain or dilating with sympathy or pity; and her 

 articulation clear, penetrating, and distinct. So 

 entirely was she mistress of herself, so collected 

 and so determined in her gestures, tone and man- 

 ner, that she seldom erred, like other actors, be- 

 cause she doubted her own powers of comprehen- 

 sion : she studied her author attentively ; she was 

 sparing in action ; though her acting was the result 

 of the most refined and assiduous attention, no 

 studied trick or start could be predicted ; none of 

 those arts in which the actress is seen, and not the 

 character, could be found in Mrs Siddons. What 

 was still more delightful, she was an original; she 

 copied no one, living or dead, but acted from nature 

 and herself. Mrs Siddons, having acquired an am- 

 ple fortune, took her leave of the stage, in 18!'J, 



