She was in the middle of dressing to go and dine at Mrs. Damer’s, when an especial messenger arrived in the dusk, from Lady Stewart, intimating the Queen’s desires. Everything was rose colour. “The charming accomplished Princesses, so _sweetly_ and _graciously_ acknowledge the amusement I was so happy as to afford them. To have been able to amuse a little a few of the heavy mournful hours, the weight of which those royal amiable sufferers must so often feel, has been to me the _greatest_, the _proudest gratification_.” A magnificent gold chain, with a cross of many coloured jewels, was presented to her by the Queen, and a “silken quilt for my bed, which she sewed with her own hands.” On the 9th of June 1819, when past sixty, Mrs. Siddons was induced to appear for the benefit of her brother, Charles Kemble, at Covent Garden. She had done so before, at the command of the Princess Charlotte, who at the last moment had been unable to come. All the best critics were of opinion it was a mistake. The part chosen, too, Lady Randolph, was injudicious, with its lengthy speeches and continual movement. The audience certainly gave three rounds of applause, in recognition of her personal character, when Young Norval asked: But did my sire surpass the rest of men As thou excellest all of woman kind? But this was a poor substitute for the breathless thrill, the agony of emotion, with which she shook her audience in the old days. Unfortunately for us and them, players are not immortal. Health, strength, beauty, voice, fail them, and without these adventitious aids genius is of no avail on the stage. Any loss of reputation to an actress like Mrs. Siddons was a loss to the world; these reappearances, when age and infirmity had weakened her powers, were much to be deplored. Let us, however, turn from this subject to more pleasant ones; and there were so many pleasant incidents and so few mistakes in Mrs. Siddons’s dignified and decorous life, that we can afford to be lenient. In Fanny Kemble’s _Record of a Girlhood_, we get glimpses of Aunt Siddons, stately and gentle, surrounded by children and grandchildren. You know we were to spend Christmas Eve at my Aunt Siddons’s; we had a delightful evening, and I was very happy. My aunt came down from the drawing-room (for we danced in the dining-room on the ground-floor) and sat among us, and you cannot think how nice and pretty it was to see her surrounded by her clan, more than three dozen strong; some of them so handsome, and many with a striking likeness to herself, either in feature or expression. Mrs. Harry and Cecy danced with us, and we enjoyed ourselves very much.