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The passing bitterness of reflection upon her own state, produced, as it subsided, a moral sympathy with others. As she knocks at the door of her father-in-law, the following general remark reproves the degeneracy of the heart--

'Where is the charity that us'd to stand,

In our forefathers' hospitable days,

At great men's doors,

Like the good angel of the family,

With open arms taking the needy in,

To feed and clothe, to comfort and relieve them?'

Southern had read Shakspeare, with a soul perhaps as tender as his own ;---Lear in the same way, in his own miseries, remembers the sufferings of others--

'Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,
That bide the pelting of the pitiless storm,' &c.

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The interview with Count Baldwin, that chalky sideling personage, old Packer, was a good deal hurt by his insipid manner; but when he consents to provide for the child, on the condition that his mother never visits him, Mrs. Siddons burst forth with the peculiar wildness of a mother's impatience, and the whole house told her that she was irresistible. WHAT! take him FROM me?

No, we must never part; I LIVE but in my child.'

"The second act of Isabella, is a masterpiece of growing interest. Isabella, hopeless as to relief, discovered ruminating upon her fate, and her child at play, unconscious of the pang which he excites. The two servants who had given her access to Baldwin, sent to diminish her resources, or rather to starve with her---creditors pressing for payment---Villeroy generously engaging to satisfy their demands---the villain, Carlos, urging her obligations to Villeroy, and working her ruin through her gratitude---the melancholy consent to take a second husband---altogether compose an act so thoroughly in nature, and so powerfully written, that if Dryden, in his old age, really felt that truth in the drama, which he had himself in vain attempted through life, he must have placed Southern as the poet of the heart, greatly before all his contemporaries. The scenes of trifling comedy by which he had disgraced his play, were expunged by Mr. Garrick in the year 1758, and so easily were they removed from all the noble interest, that they resembled a series of miserable and ludicrous prints, placed by a child in some work of genius, and shaken out by the first reader who discovers the pollution. Southern, when he addressed his patron, Hammond, told him that the comedy in it was not essential ; that it was against his own opinion, and merely complied with the taste of the town; for, said he, I think every reasonable man will, and ought to, govern in the pleasures be pays for.' The results of such a principle we are now enjoying to an extent that only accuses the reasonable quality of the public. At its first appearance, through three acts of the play, the gaiety of Mrs. Bracegirdle might divide the house with Mrs. Barry. Betterton was her Villeroy, not her Biron. To return, however, to an Isabella greater than Mrs. Barry.

"On the authority of Mr. Fox, I call this power the highest excellence. But if it be, as I think it is, a position extended truly to the epic poet,---as to the DRAMATIC, there can be no doubt whatever; it is the heart of his mystery; and even character is less essential than pathos in the composition of tragedy. Mr. Fox thus expresses himself in a letter to G. Wakefield, dated 13th of April, 1801: The verses you refer to in the 5th Æneid, are indeed delightful; indeed I think that sort of pathetic is Virgil's great excellence in the Eneid, and that in that way he surpasses all other poets of every age and nation, except, perhaps, (and only perhaps) Shakspeare. It is on that account that I rank him so very high; for surely to excel in that style which speaks to the heart, is the GREATEST OF ALL EXCELLENCE.'

"Mr. Fox's politics I must leave to his party. But his mind had a purity, a tenderness, a taste beyond all such feeling; they ennobled the species, and were loved whereever they were known.

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"When I said that the second act of this play was perfect, I apply the term beyond the composition to the actress ;---she threw infinite variety into its hurry of emotions. I remember the following passages with delight :--

To find out HOPE, and only meet despair,

His little sports have taken up his thoughts.'

Who besides her ever so spoke of play in the accents of wretchedness?

'Thinking will make me mad: why must I think,

When no thought brings me comfort?'

On the arrival of the creditors, the answer to the nurse's earnest inquiry--- What will you do, Madam ?'

And, on the noise encreasing--

'Do! NOTHING :'

Hark, they are coming! Let the torrent KOAR;

It can but overwhelm me in its fall.'

"He who remembers that word NOTHING, as Laertes has it, so much more than matter,' and recollects the position her eye-brows assumed, the action of her right arm, and the energy of her tone in the passage, Let the torrent roar,' may be assured that the greatest of tragedians then stood before him.

"But less obtrusive, and yet of equal excellence, was the delicate alarm, lest her devoted attachment to Biron should be undermined by virtues so essential to her safety; and even in her consent to become the wife of Villeroy, entering a sort of protest against his best hopes; all this was given in so soothing a strain ;---the glance at the child to determine the sacrifice, and the final ratification with its graceful compliment, demanded and received every human accomplishment, to do justice to the poet :

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The reader sees from the simplicity of the terms used, the common parlance of life, how essential it was that they should be sustained by a measured dignity of utterance, and a languid sensibility in deportment and expression.

"The third act is a weak one---for Isabella has nothing to do in it---but to sit and hear the epithalamium, at an entertainment given by her husband in the exultation of his heart. In the second act, Isabella had conditioned that she should not change the colour of her apparel. Villeroy gratefully perceives that she is in white when she enters

the saloon--

Isa.---Black might be ominous;

I would not bring ILL-LUCK along with me.'

Mrs. Siddons spoke this so as to conceal the absolute vulgarity of the notion, and the expression of it. She affected this by calling upon that heaviness of the heart, which could not be dispelled by any external change. Unlike Iphigenia, she seemed a conscious, sacrifice.

"In this scene of mere dumb shew, her deportment was inimitable. She closed the act with a melancholy foreboding that hung like night about her. A melancholy which she calls sudden, bakes her blood,'---and as Shakspeare continues, makes it heavy, thick,---her mind, her harass'd mind, is weary.'

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"Man is always striving to anticipate the future, and selects his indications sometimes from external nature, sometimes from the peculiar sadness or hilarity of his present feeling. Shakspeare, the interpreter of his kind, has given us both. In Romeo, a deceiving spirit lifts him above the earth,' on the eve of his greatest disaster,---unwonted gloom precedes the anguish of Isabella.

"With the fourth act of the play, Biron arrives from his captivity. There is a beautiful use made by Southern of the tokens interchanged by lovers. The importance of a ring is heightened with wonderful dexterity. In her greatest poverty, Isabella pulls from her finger one that Biron had given to her; it is all that remains of value in her

possession, and she parts with it to sustain life, which only can be dearer. Her husband arriving late, sends up to her the corresponding token, which eannot fail on every ground to excite the strongest emotion. It operates like a spell upon her.

'Isa.---I've heard of witches,' &c.

Now I believe all possible. This ring,
This LITTLE ring, with necromantic force,
Has raised the ghost of pleasure to my fears;
Conjur'd the sense of honor, and of love,

Into SUCH shapes,--- they fright me from myself.'

The diminutive becoming mighty, as SHE gave the word little; followed by SUCH shapes spoken with horrors teeming in the fancy, made the hearer start with an undefined perturbation,

'Biron died,--

Died to my loss at Candy; there's my HOPE.--

O, do I live to hope that he died there.'

"This jealousy of affection, plunged into circumstances so disastrous, even as to a sentiment that dishonors the ruling passion, was delivered by Mrs. Siddons as it was written by the author, with pathos that will never be excelled.

"I wish it were in the power of the painter to fix every change of that living picture upon the canvas---the courtesy while she cautiously examined the supposed stranger---the joy to observe no trace of Biron---the recognition of him---the stupor that weighed upon her countenance, while she sobbed out the mysterious communications previous to his retiring. The manner in which she occupied the stage during that dreadful soliloquy---Biron's return---the still more alarming exclamations of his wife, till she leaves him in despair.

"Every thing here had a truth of tone, and look, and gesture, to which all that I have ever seen in female art bore no comparison whatever. But until then, so noble a figure, and a countenance so expressive, never stood before me.

"The last act has some admirable contrivances of the poet. Isabella's distraction--attempt upon the life of Biron---Villeroy's return---the death of Biron---the full detection of Carlos---the raving of Isabella and her death. But the LAUGH, when she plunges the dagger into her bosom, seemed to electrify the audience; and literally the greater part of the spectators were too ill themselves to use their hands in her applause. It was perfectly clear to those who had seen this great woman at Bath, that she came to London, as Garrick's enemy, Quin, expressed himself, to found a new religion; and she came with the full inspiration of the muse. She struck even prejudice with astonishment, from the number of her requisites. So full a measure had never yet fallen to the lot of any one daughter of the stage. Mrs. Yates was majestic, Mrs. Crawford pathetic, Miss Younge enthusiastic; the voice of the first was melodious, that of the second harsh, that of the third tremulous. As to features, Mrs. Yates was after the antique, but she had little flexibility; Mrs. Crawford was even handsome, but the expression of her countenance was rather satirical. Of Miss Younge, the features wanted prominence and relief, and the eye had little colour. Yet sensibility impressed her countenance, and lifted plainness into consequence and interest. In the style of action they differed considerably--- Mrs. Yates studied to be graceful---Mrs. Crawford was vehement, and threw her arms out from side to side---struck the bosom with violence in the bursts of passion, and took all fair advantages of her personal attractions. Miss Younge had acquired the temperance in action which Shakspeare recommends, and in every motion was correct and refined, delicate and persuasive. Their rival had all that was valuable in their respective requisites, and more than all; her mental power seemed to be of a firmer texture, her studies to have been deeper, and partaking less of what may be termed professional habits. The eye of Mrs. Siddons was an inestimable distinction, no rival could pretend to look like her.

"It is much to possess such an artist in any department of art. The public at large is refined by it. In the present case, a fashion was excited that drew the attention of our higher orders particularly to the stage. As we are so constituted as to be purified by terror and by pity, a great moral object was gained by stealing through even their amusements, upon the hearts of the fairest portion of the species; and there where affluence had rendered many of the cares of life no subject of either burden or thought, to

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banish the apathy engendered by pride, and bring the first fruits of the virtues from the sympathy with fictitious sorrow. I think that this deep impression was then made in the female bosom, and that it was no delusion that led me to notice in the loveliest faces in the world a strongly marked sensibility, derived from the enjoyment of this fascinating actress. What our great observer had noticed in the case of Percy, was now repeated. Mrs. Siddons became the glass in which our noble youth did dress themselves;' and those who frequented her exhibitions, became related to her look, to her deportment, and her utterance; the lowest point of imitation, that of the dress, was early and wisely too adopted; for it was at all times the praise of Mrs. Siddons to be exquisitely chaste and dignified in her exterior-SIMPLEX MUNDITIIS.

Our extracts from the second volume will be short, for it really contains scarcely a passage which would bear transplanting. There is in it plenty of gossip, which might entertain the sworn lovers of the drama, but which would not excite the smallest interest in the general reader, neither does it at all relate to Mrs. Siddons. We shall give out the following anecdote, introduced in reference to the general insufficiency of the representatives of confidantes of the English Drama to support the heroines,---and another which relates to

our late Monarch :

"How is the moppet of some loose man of fashion, whose little power is smothered "in the waste fertility of her personal attractions, and who therefore is all prettiness, "and affectation, and constraint,---how is such a one to catch the key-note, and con"tinue the harmonious elocution of a great actress? still farther, as Shakspeare strongly 66 expresses it, how is she to--

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"Tend her in the eyes, and make her bends adornings?'

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"But the great La Clairon shall herself teach us the importance of a confidante. I ""remember,' she writes, being exceedingly unwell at a time when I had to act Ariane "(Ariadne); and fearing that I should not be able to go through the fatigue of the "character, I had caused an easy chair to be placed upon the stage, to sustain me, in case I should require it. In fact, during the fifth act, while expressing my despair 66 6 at the flight of Phedra and Theseus, my strength did fail me, and I sunk almost "senseless into the chair. The intelligence of Mademoiselle Brilland, who played my “confidante, suggested to her the occupation of the scene at this moment by the most ""interesting attentions about me. She threw herself at my feet, took one of my hands, "and bathed it with her tears. In the speech she had to deliver, her words were "slowly articulated, and interrupid by her sobs. She thus gave me time to recover "myself. Her look, her action, affected me deeply; I threw myself into her armis, "and the public, in tears, acknowledged this intelligence by the loudest applause.' "After this tribute of the Siddons of the French stage to Mademoiselle Brilland, nothing "is wanting but the actual speech, broken so judiciously by her sobs, and graced by her expressive attentions, and that is with great certainty supplied by the page of Corneille. "Thus it stands :--

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NERINE.

"Calmez-cette douleur;---ou vous emporto---t'elle ?---
Madame,---songez---vous---que tous---ces vains projets---

Par l'eclat---de vous cris---s'entendent---au palais?'

"The French critic cannot fail to see how admirably the address of the actress is "seconded by the language of Corneille; and I am not at all sure that this accidental "heightening of the scene should not pass into a custom, and the invention of Madem"oiselle Brilland, brille à jamais dans la tragedie d'Ariane!

"I have many reasons for wishing to press this event upon the English actress. "It is true, in general, that little attention is paid to the inferior characters, and such "intelligence might often be thrown away upon our noisy audiences; but, if the effort "strike one true admirer of the stage, it will not be lost; nor will the imitator of "Mademoiselle Brilland remain long in obscurity. The quickness and adroitness of the French confidante, I do not quite expect, however, from my fair countrywomen."

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"In the early part of the summer of 1788, an event occurred of the deepest moment to the nation. I allude to the late King's alarming indisposition, of which "the first symptoms indicated nothing beyond bilious fever; and accordingly Sir George "Baker was inclined to keep his Majesty from the hurry to which he would be exposed by going to town, and recommended that he should remain at Kew, until the com"plaint was quite removed. His Majesty's physicians, however, thought it advisable to "try the effect of the mineral waters at Cheltenham: the King unfortunately derived "little or no benefit from the springs, and returned on the 16th of August to Windsor. "Soon after this, symptoms of mental aberration appeared, which called for the solemn "attention of the legislature of the country.

"The reason for noticing that event in this place is, that the subject of these "Memoirs became among the very earliest to perceive that the royal mind was some"what unsettled. The attention paid by his Majesty to the great actress was not con"fined to the public exhibition of her talents---he was a professed admirer of her manners in private life, and the royal family saw her frequently at Buckingham"House and at Windsor.

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“His Majesty's conversation always expressed the gracious feeling of his mind, "and his wish to promote the interests of herself and her family. However, on one “occasion, the King put into her hands a sheet of paper, merely subscribed with his name, intended, it may be presumed, to afford the opportunity to Mrs. Siddons of pledging the royal signature to any provision of a pecuniary nature, which might be "most agreeable to the actress herself. This paper, with the discretion that was suited "to the circumstance itself, and which was so characteristic of Mrs. Siddons, she, I was "assured, delivered into the hand of the Queen; upon whom conduct so delicate and dignified was not likely to be lost.'

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Here, with many a yawn, we bid farewell to Mr. Boaden.

GAIETIES AND GRAVITIES OF THE MONTH.

LITERARY AND POLITICAL CHIT CHAT.

The people of England have this month been startled by the rumour of war.In other parts of our pages will be found the Debate on the subject, which will exonerate us from giving any further details respecting it here. We merely express our concurrence in the opinion of our Diarist-" that there will be no fight.” ́

A splendid engraving, executed by Martin from one of his own designs, has just been published by Mr. Moon, of Threadneedle Street. The genius of the painter is above all praise of ours-he has created a style peculiarly his own-blending the actual forms and appearances of nature and art, in their grandest and most beautiful combinations, with the suggestions of an imagination teeming with brilliancy, even to a faulty excess. In this engraving, which represents the Paphian bower, in which the Graces found the young God of Love, the artist's faults and beauties are equally apparent; but it is impossible to gaze upon it without feeling the soul expand with the ideas that swarm upon it, from the contemplation of the infinity of space, apparently comprised by the magic of the pencil within limits really so small,-extending from a rich and lovely foreground, adorned with the trees, flowers, and brooks of the abode of Venus, and leading the eye onward over a succession of landscapes, variegated with the majestic temples of antiquity, receding into a distance of cloud-capped mountains, whose sublime peaks blending with the heavens, form an appropriate termination to a picture deriving the idea of the principal personages from that Power, which is almost selitary in the grand, if indefinite, emotions it conveys to the heart of eternity. It is a noble work, and should have an article devoted to it if we had time.-Other artists make us yawn, but Martin always makes us feel.

"Jamaica papers have been received to the 22d of October; but they contain no "marine or political intelligence."

This extract, from the Times of the 26th of December, shows the manner in which the Colonial Interests are neglected. These papers contain important information as to

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