Actresses -- Great Britain -- Biography; Siddons, Sarah, 1755-1831
On the 15th of February, Garrick again allowed her to appear; this time
in Mrs. Cowley’s _Runaway_—a slight but telling part, which caused one
of her critics to say that she dropped into the walking gentlewoman, and
was not permitted a long walk before she became the “Runaway.” Garrick
then paid her the compliment of entrusting her with the acting of Mrs.
Strickland to his Ranger in the old comedy of _The Suspicious Husband_.
One lady confesses to being moved to tears by Mrs. Siddons in this part,
but the majority of the audience and the newspapers seem to have passed
her over in complete silence.
Garrick now began his farewell performances. He selected her to act the
Lady Anne to his Richard III.—a selection which was an honour coveted by
most of the ladies of the company. The actor surpassed his finest days;
the young actress was almost petrified by the ferocity and fire of his
gaze. She forgot, in her flurry, his important order that she should
stand so that _his_ face might be presented to the audience. The look she
received made her almost faint with terror, and no doubt betrayed her
fright in her acting. The critics pronounced that she was “lamentable,”
and the public were utterly indifferent. This was her last appearance.
And so ended her first disastrous season at Drury Lane. We think every
unbiassed person in reading the account of it will entirely absolve
Garrick of the charges brought against him. Other causes were at work
which the offended actress did not take into consideration.
Garrick could not forgive crudeness, want of finish. He himself had
stepped on the London stage with as much natural ease, and in his
representation of Richard III. had taken the town as completely by storm
the first time as the last time he acted it. He never made allowances for
timidity, and grew impatient at want of confidence. We know he utterly
despaired of Mrs. Graham, afterwards the great Mrs. Yates, when he
first saw her in the part of Marcia; and Miss Barton, afterwards Mrs.
Abington, he allowed to leave Drury Lane at first because he could not,
he said, give her a fitting part. The Kemble genius, on the other hand,
was a plant of tardy growth, needing much cultivation and many years to
bring it to perfection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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