UC-NRLF
BEHKELEY^
LIBRARY I
UNIVERSITY OF I
CALIFORNIA J
'^"i^
yPUBLIC AND PRIVATE
LIFE
OF THAT CELEBRATED ACTRESS,
MISS BLAND, OTHERWISE MRS. FORD, OR,
MRS. JORDAN;
fate iltstrcss of i.g.f. % g. of Clarence;
NOW
KING WILLIAM IV.,
FOUNDER OF TH,E FITZCLARENCE FAMILY:
DELINEATING
The Vicissitudes attendant on her Early Life;
The Splendour of her Noon-tide Blaze, as Mistress of the Royal Duke;
and her untimely Dissolution at St. Cloud, near Paris, —
resulting from a Broken Heart.
ACCOMPANIED BY NUMEROUS REMARKS AND ANECDOTES OF
ILLUSTRIOUS AND FASHIONABLE CHARACTERS.
BY A CONFIDENTIAL FRIEND OF THE DEPARTED.
PUBLISHED BY J. DUNCOMBE, 19, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
HOLBORN.
J 6
THE
LIFE OF MRS. JORDSN.
There is no walk of literature so essentially calculated to
instil salutary instruction, as that which results from the study
of biograpliical sketches of public characters. The great mass of
society propelled by one undeviating course, affords no materials
of a prominent nature worthy the attention of a reflecting writer.
It is the being schooled in active scenes of life, which displays
materials calculated to awaken the energies of the mind : it is
then we contemplate the changes and vicissitudes to which the
march of human nature is subjected, and thence we are led to
reason on causes and eSects ; in the progress of which research,
we frequently discover that circumstances of the greatest moment
owe their birth to events apparently inconsequential.
In sketching the present biography, it is our task to arouse
feelings diametrically opposed to each other : we shall touch, as
it were, the several chords of the human heart, and awaken
every thrill — its vibrations alternately sounding to pleasure and
to pain,
Miss Phillips, the mother of the heroine of our pages, was one
of three sisters, and the ofispring of a Welsh dignitary of the
church, possessed of a good living ; independent of which, his
circumstances were affluent, and his character as a divine, in
every respect moral and unimpeachable.
At an early period of life, Miss Grace Phillips eloped with
one Captain Bland, a gentleman whose parents bore a high rank
in society, from fortune as well as family connections ; while
in his own person he displayed great accomplishments. She
was united to the Captain in Ireland by the rites of the Catholic
church, of which country he was a native — being both at the
time under the age of twenty : after which, they lived together
for several years, and during the period in question, she bore
her husband nine children, of whom, Mrs. Jordan was born at
Waterford in 1762 or 1764.
698
4 Life of Mus. Jordan.
At tlie time wliou the clo^^enieiit took place, Captain Illancl
was on duty with his regiment in Wales, and having incensed his
parents with the step thus clandestinely taken, they refused him
pecuniary supplies, when the youthful couple, in order to pro-
cure a subsistence, had recourse to the stage. In consequence of
this step, ]\Irs. Jordan may be said to have inhaled the earliest
breath of life among a Thespian corps, of which profession she
was ultimately doomed to figure as the Comic Queen. The family
of the Captain inheriting all the pride of Irish Ijirth, on finding
that he had embraced the theatrical calling, became more exas-
perated ; and the breach was in consetjuence .so widened, that for
a length of time all correspondence ceased between himself and
his relatives. — Doctor Bland, however, the Captain's father, still
anxious to see his son in prosperity', at length had recourse to
legal advice ; when having never consented to the union, and
taking advantage of the ceremony being performed during his
minoi'ity, he commenced legal measures in order to invalidate the
marriage, in which he ultimately succeeded, when the unfox*-
tunate wife was left with a numerous progeny to struggle against
every difficulty. At the period to which we allude. Captain
Bland had attained the rank of Colonel ; when finding himself
freed from the mati-imonial bond — unmindful of the duties of
a father, and the line of conduct honour sliould have prescribed
— he wholly abandoned his former partner, and in a short time
led to the hymeneal altar another lady, possessed of an ample
revenue ; allowing his former wife a very mediocre stipend for
the maintenance of herself and the numerous progeny she had
borne him. Fortune, however, cannot control happiness, and the
wealth obtained by Colonel Bland proved no panacea to the
stings of a goading conscience : his former serenity soon vanished,
and he died after a short lapse of time the victim of his own
heartless conduct. — As the fortune of the second INIrs. Bland had
been settled upon herself prior to marriage, in the event of the
Colonel's death, his children by the former union were left totally
destitute ; until actuated by sentiments of common humanity,
his relatives afforded some relief to the offspring, but totally
abandoned the wretched mother to her cruel fate.
It was at the trying period alluded to, that the humane heroine
of our pages, then under sixteen years of age, Avith that noble
spirit which uniformly actuated her conduct, determined on
attempting the stage in order to pi'ocure the means of sub-
sistence for herself and her suffering mother.
Having made application to Mr. Ryder, the manager of the
Dublin Theatre, her first appearance was in the character of
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 5
Phoebe, in As You Like It — she having assumed the name of
Francis, in order to avoid giving umbrage to the haughty rela-
tions of her deceased father. Little did Mrs. Jordan, at that
time, imagine she was destined at a future period to fascinate
the overflowing audiences of a London playhouse, when sus-
taining the part of Rosalind in the same beautiful drama—
and that the song of the Cuckoo would never be heard without
commanding a rapturous encore.
In this opening attempt, Miss Francis experienced very little
encouragement, yet was not depressed, but pursued her studies
with indefatigable industry — applying herself to the acquirement
of the various accomplishments so requisite for those who tread
the theatrical boards.
Not long after the above essay, she procured an engagement
with Mr. Daly, of the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, when her
favour with the public rapidly increased, particularly in her
performance of the character of Adelaide, in the " Count of
Narbonne ;" at which period, she is supposed to have just
attained her sixteenth year.
Soon after the above engagement, the theatrical company being
at Waterford, the fascinating manners of Miss Francis arrested
the attention of Lieut. Charles Doyne, of the third regiment of
heavy horse (greens), then quartered in that city, who became
sei'iously and honourably attached to her. This aspirant to our
heroine's affections, though not possessing personal attractions,
was a gentleman in manners and education, and in every sense of
the word an honest man. Whatsoever might be the feelings of
the daughter on this occasion, the mother was averse to the
union ; as in the event of her changing her name, the family
would be deprived of their only means of support : in addition
to which. Lieutenant Doyne having but a very circumscribed
income, coupled with his pay, such slender resources were very
inadequate to meet the wants of a growing family. The latter
obstacle, therefore, proved insurmountable, added to which, Mrs.
Bland, probably anticipating the future celebrity of her child,
so powerfully woi'ked upon her feelings, that the Lieutenant's
offer was ultimately rejected.
Subsequent to this occurrence, an event took place that
entailed infinite affliction on our youthful aspirant for fame.
The manners and person of our heroine having attracted Mr.
Daly's attention, he followed the glorious precedent of many
individuals holding similar managerial stations : conceiving him-
self entitled to command the favours of every lady in his service,
under pain of displeasure. Poor Miss Francis proved too virtuous
6 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
to submit, and for a period the unprincipled desires of her employer
received a salutary check fi-om the stern dictates of innate virtue.
Finding himself foiled, the unprincipled manager caused his victim
to be seduced to the residence of a dei^endent, where she was
forcibly detained, and every unfair advantage takeii of her help-
less condition ; wherefore, as soon as released, accompanied by
her mother, brother, and sister, she clandestinely left Dublin, and
arrived in safety at the town of Leeds, in Yorkshire ; which event
occurred in the month of July, 1782.
The tirst step taken by our actress was to apply to 'Slv. Tate
Wilkinson, then manager of the York Company ; who on meeting
her and her family at the inn, found them in a very miserable
pliglit. The parent of our actress, liowever, talked so highly of
her daughter's merits, as neax-ly to disgust Mr. Wilkinson, who
was, tlierefore, on the point of giving a flat denial to our aspirant.
In this state of mind he quitted the family, but returned to the
inn, being forcibly struck by the dejected and melancholy appear-
ance of Miss Francis, which strongly pleaded in her behalf with
the kind-hearted Mr. Wilkinson, who then requested her to give
him a specimen of her talent, when she repeated a speech from
the part of Calista, in Rowe's Fair Penitent, whereby he acquired
some idea of her abilities ; and it was in consequence determined,
that on the Thursday following, being the 11th of July, she
should make her opening essay under the name of Miss Francis.
Her success, which was pai'ticulai'ly due to the plaintive sweet-
ness of her voice, proved complete ; and on the termination of
the tragedy, what Mr. Wilkinson feared would have proved
detrimental to her interest, tended still more to ingratiate her
with the audience ; for no sooner had she closed the tragedy by
her supposed death, when putting on a frock and mob cap, she
ran upon the stage and warbled the Greenvood Laddie with such
an eftect, as completely fascinated the auditors. — The result of
this essaj^ was an engagement at a salary of fifteen shillings per
week, one guinea being the higliest sum given to any performer
of that Thespian band.
Fi'om Leeds the company proceeded to York, in order to per-
form during the race week ; where our heroine again personated
Calista to the Lotliario of Mr. Knight, who then made his debut,
but was not well received in that character.
On the fifth of August our heroine took her benefit at Leeds,
when she again selected the part of Calista ; but preparatory
to the performance, it was requested by the mother of our actress
that her daughter's name, which had of course been announced
as Miss Francis, might be altered to that of Jordan. Mr.
Llfe of Mrs. Jordan. 7
Wilkinson being desirous to ascertain the cause of this change of
appellation, "waited upon Mrs. Bland ; when he was given to
understand, that her daughter's aunt, a Miss Phillips, was then
at York upon her death bed — and the lady in question greatly
priding herself on family honours, and having figured on the
stage, in which line she deemed herself pre-eminent, it was
thought most prudent, under all circumstances, to pursue this
line of conduct. The lady in question having had an inter\'iew
with Mrs. Bland and her niece, expired the following week, after
having pronounced Dorothy an honour to the blood of the Ap-
Phillips's.
During the race week at York, our heroine performed Rutland
and the Romp, ttc; upon which occasion Gentleman Smith, as he
was denominated, being present, felt so much pleased with our
actress, as to repeat his visits every night Mrs. Jordan trod the
boards. On this occasion, the latter gentleman assured Mr.
Wilkinson, he was singularly struck with our actress's talents,
which made the manager secretly rejoice in having executed
articles with her ; and in the course of the race week she had an
extraordinary benefit on accovmt of her services, which Mr.
Wilkinson found truly beneficial to his interest.
Speaking of our heroine's success at York, Mr. Wilkinson, in
his work entitled " The Wandering Patentee," remarks : — " She
(Mrs. Jordan) was much admired in Arionelli. A Mr. Tyler
had performed that character, and with a degree of deserved
credit — but Mrs. Jordan was not only new, but an object to the
public and to me, as she gi'eatly helped my coffers."
Prom York, early in September, she proceeded with the
company of theatricals to Wakefield, then to Doncaster, and
subsequently Sheffield, where her benefit though well patronised
did not prove very productive. While at the latter town, our
actress played the part of a chambei'-maid in the opera of the
"Pair American," on the 28th of October, 1782; in the per-
sonification of which character, she displayed infinite talent. In
the last mentioned piece, during a scene that occurred, she and
Mr. Knight, who personated a footman being on the stage, a
certain scene and roller of an immense weight gave way, and was
precipitated from the top of the theatre close at the feet of the
performers, which, had it fallen on the head of either must have
caused immediate death. While at Sheffield, his Grace the late
Duke of Xorfolk predicted the future fame of our heroine, that
nobleman ha-^ang from the period alluded to uniformly continued
the friend of the subject of our memoirs.
The next remove of Mr. Wilkinson's theatricals, was to Hull,
8 Life op Mrs. Jordan.
where on Thursday, December 26th, Mrs. Jordan performed
Galista, and sang the GreenAvood Laddie, which was hissed,
although executed with her accustomed sweetness. The fact is,
a party had been raised against her, and it was some time ere
the prejudices, under which she laboured from the tongue of
malevolence, were subdued.
It is here necessary to state that when Mrs. Jordan's engage-
ment with Mr. Tate Wilkinson had continued for a period, she
was doomed to experience the effects of persecution, from one
who, of all others, should have pursued a different line of conduct.
Sometime previous to her seduction by Mr. Daly the Dublin
manager, the mother of our heroine having been attacked by a
dangerous fit of illness, physical aid was resorted to, when the
feeling daughter having exhausted all the pecuniary means her
slender salary afforded, had been compelled under existing
exigencies to procure a loan from the managei', who immediately
complied, not actuated from feelings of commisseration for the
afflicted mother and her child ; but under the dastardly idea of
thereby placing within his power the object of his base desires.
Having thus become a debtor fx'om the most noble of impulses :
the salvation of a parent's life, efforts were set on foot by the
manager to intimidate our actress into a compliance with his
wishes, by legally proceeding to enforce payment, and we believe
the issue of a writ, for the arrest of her person, actually took
place ; which reminds us of the fiend-like Colonel Ket, recorded
in English history, who offered to spare the life of a brother in
case the sister yielded to his infamous wishes. Having refused
to act according to his, Mr. Daly's will, the lady disdaining to
make her chastity the price of such demoniac forbearance, braved
the hori'ors of a gaol to maintain her character unsullied ; when
the manager was instigated to adopt the treacherous mode pre-
viously described, and ultimately triumphed over his devoted
victim.
Mr. Daly having at length ascertained the residence of our
heroine, who by her precipitate flight from Dublin had broken the
engagement entered into with the manager, determined to pursue
his victim for damages as well as the sum lent during her parent's
illness, and proceedings had actually commenced.
Notwithstanding the change of name, Mr. Daly at length
discovered the retreat of his victim ; who, on account of her
talents, had had her salary doubled ; his resentment, therefore,
increased ; wherefore, as she had forfeited her articles in conse-
quence of the precipitate flight from Dublin, added to which, the
sum advanced during her mother's illness, still remained out.
Life of Mrs. Jordax. 9
standing against her, as previously observed, she was a second
time threatened with arrest unless an immediate return to the
Irish capital for the completion of her engagement took place.
Thus cruelly circumstanced, a Mr. Swan, having investigated the
whole case and taking pity on her forlorn situation, humanely
paid down two Jnindred and fifty pounds, the sum stipulated
in case she forfeited her articles, together with the amouiit of the
small debt incurred. By this means, Mi^s. Jordan was released
from the dread of incarceration, liaving ever after found a sincere
and disinterested friend in the gentleman whose name stands thus
honourably recorded.
We shall now with pleasure dismiss from our pages the name
of such a fiend as Mr. Daly, having only to add that when our
heroine subsequently acquired that notoriety and fame in London,
which her brilliant talents commanded, the Dublin manager in
more instances than one, visited the metropolis of England, and
used every endeavour to procure an interview with the lady
whose annals we record, and obtain a sight of the offspring she
had borne him ; but in vain, her stern resolve proved inexorable,
for as she had sworn so she acted, neither suffering her sight to
be blasted by the betrayer of her honour or yielding the fruit of
her disgrace to the arms of an inhuman and profligate parent.
Such is the unvarnished tale respecting the first dereliction from
the path of rectitude, of which Mrs. Jordan was guilty; if so
harsh a term can be attachable to the act under all its bearings,
as for ourselves, casting aside all prejudice of a favourable nature
as the biographer of the lady in question, we must conscientiously
declare that under similar circumstances, a daughter would not
appear contaminated in our eyes; we should execrate her despoiler,
commisserate her sufferings, and shed tears for her disgrace — but
never brand her with an opprobius epithet or attach a thought of
culpability to her name.
In reference to the Dublin manager, above adverted to, we give
the following appropriate extract from a late writer :
" Our heroine (Mrs. Jordan) encouraged by maternal example,
of course, looked to the stage as her future profession ; and, about
the year 1778, made her first appearance at Ryder's theatre, in
Dublin, in the unimportant jDart of Phoebe, in 'As You Like It.'
From prudential motives, and fearful of offending her father's
family, to whom she still looked with hope, — for the child thinks
not her fatlier a villain, tliough all the world beside know him to
be one ; — she played under tlie name of Francis, and ran the
round of maudlin young ladies, and third-rate sentimentalists,
until she attracted the notice of Mr. Daly, a weak-minded villain,
an unjust manager, and an unprincipled libertine.
lU Life of Mrs. Jordan.
" It was the practice of this liollow sensualist, to advance money
to those ladies lie had a design upon, and then second his attempts,
not only with bi'utal violence, but a threat of arrest for debt.
Those amiable peculiarities he displayed towards our heroine ;
and to relieve the exigences of her family, she borrowed of the
brute a small sum. She was daily rising in estimation in Dublin,
and her juvenile tragedy was particulaily admired. Mr. Daly
made a proposition to her, which our heroine repelled with
disgust, and we can readily conceive how hateful must that
rei^tile have appeared, who made her distresses the plea for his
insolence, and tempted her with gold on the one hand, whilst
he threatened her with a prison on the other. Certainly, we
of the irritable genus must be particularly irritable on this score ;
for even now, when that weak villain's bones have returned to
the corruption that best befitted them, we could find it in our
hearts to call them from the grave, to be burnt as a sacrifice to
offended decency ; and in saying this, we arrogate no peculiar
virtue to ourselves ; we do not mean to condemn, in one sweeping
clause, the race called (falsely called) men of pleasure ; but let
them fight their battles fairly, at all events, and not win by
meanness, that which should be gained by favour."
Mr. Boaden in his illustrations to the life of Mrs. Jordan, vol. 1,
p. 360, after quoting as above, from Oxberry's memoirs, with great
justice, adds as follows :
"We might have alluded to the actual perpetration of violence
the most brutal, in one particular instance, the scene of Avhich
(like the Field of the Forty Footsteps), is still pointed out with
strong shudders near Limerick ; as having sullied a spirit every
way amiable, and fixed its fate in life, far, far indeed, below the
level of either its genius or its virtues.
"It will here be asked, why were not the violated laws appealed
to, and the ruffian gibbetted for his atrocity ? The answer must
be, that the Irish gentleman of 1782 considered himself beyond
their reach. His victim was young and poor, and embarrassed
with the parents, who should have protected Aer. Who would
have believed in the virtuous resistance of an actress 1 I will
proceed no further."
"In 1783, we find our heroine returned to York ; she was the
great supporter of the opera of Rosina, particularly in the cele-
brated air, " Let Jionour with desert be crowned." From York,
she proceeded, as during the preceding year, to Leeds, Wakefield,
Doncaster, and Hull.
It was at this period, Mrs. Jordan experienced the effect of
intrinsic merit ; she was scandalised by her rivals, and frequently
Life of Mes. Jordax. 11
annoyed during her nightly performances, by the enemies who
occupied the wings and stage doors of the theatre, where, by
persevering malignity they laboured to destroy her. She was,
however, fortunate enough in having such a manager as Mr. Tate
Wilkinson, where love of justice was stretched beyond personal
interest, and he therefore struggled to secure for our actress
fair play. She was sometimes indolent, and at others refractory,
capricious, and imprudent.
The permanent and unrivalled distinction of our heroine was
not then her only characteristic. The Romj), it is true, was pur-
posely curtailed for her in Ireland, and Priscilla Tomhoy she had
fi'equently personated with infinite effect ; notwithstanding which
however, she inclined to tragedy and pai-ts in sentimental comedy.
The Country Girl had not as then attracted her notice, until she
witnessed its performance by Mrs. Brown, of the same company,
after which she studied it with great attention, and thus became
aware of the various opportunities it presented for the display of
the wildness, laughing vivacity, rich and abundant humour, that
ultimately combined to make it her own, far beyond all com-
petition. It was owing to those circumstances that when the
object of our memoirs began to be firmly established in the
metropolis ; she reminded of Mrs. Brown, as having made known
to her the secrets of the character, as the rival manager conceived
it worth while to ti-y whether the reputed mistress could not
outrival the pupil. There was, however, no ground to detract
from the merits of JMrs. Jordan, and the charms of youth secured
her from a rival's vivacity, which was rather ungenerously ob-
truded in a lady, who had passed the season of life in which the
hoyden can alone look natural and prove attractive.
During the Spring of 1784, when the Poor Soldier was got up
at Sheffield, our actress was principally instrumental in supporting
the piece, which proved very lucrative for her employer, both in
that and the other towns of Yorkshire.
She had now attained considerable celebrity at York as a settled
performer; but when subsequently engaged for the London boards,
she no doubt trembled for her success, and little dreamed of
equipage and splendour. Among the characters in which our
actress particularly figured, were Ummeline, Lady Packet, Lady
Pell, Lady Teazle, Lady Alton, Lndiana, &c.
It was towards the close of the above year that the feelings of
Mrs. Jordan were sensibly awakened by the calls of a young lady
about fifteen years of age, who made application to Mr. Tate
Wilkinson for an engagement. She, as had previously been our
actress, was accompanied by her necessitous parents, who solely
12 LiFK OF Mrs. Jordan.
depended on her efforts for assistance. The young lady alluded
to possessed a lovely figure and beautiful face, in short, every
captivating attraction, which must be allowed by all such as
remember her fascinations, when I state, that she ultimately
became the universally admired Mrs. Mountain of Covent Garden
theatre. Mr. Wilkinson's company being then complete, how-
ever, unwillingly was compelled to decline the engagement, but
made her the offer of a benefit ; when she acted in the Maid of
the Mill, and afterwards delivered with considerable ability,
George Alexander Stephens' Lecture on Heads. So great was
the satisfaction given, that Mr. Inchbald, son-in-law of the
celebrated female dramatist of the same name, made her an offer
to personate Rosetta, in Love in a Village, on his benefit night,
which took place Dec. 3rd, 1784. The effect produced on that
occasion was decisive with the manager, by whom she was
immediately engaged, from which period her fame progressively
increased. She subsequently appeared as Clarissa, when Lionel
was personified by Mrs. Jordan, who volunteered her services
with all that commisserative feeling which was the inherent
charactei'istic of her lieart. In short, she beheld a sister of the
mimic band, struggling to support her indigent parents, a senti-
ment in itself sufficient to awaken every genuine impulse of her
soul — an appeal, in short, that was in her estimation irresistible !
Early in the year 1785, Mrs. Jordan witnessed the acting of
the celebrated Mrs. Yates, in her favourite character of Margaret
of Anjoti, ill the Uarl of Warwick, being her last appearance but
one upon the boards ; after which the final display of her talents
was for the benefit of poor Mrs. Bellamy, another rival of no less
a personage than Mrs. Gibber. In the farce Mrs. Jordan per-
sonated Fatima, in Cymon ; when Mr. Richard Yates being
present, notwithstanding his acknowledged taste and judgment
as to everything connected with the stage, pronounced that our
actress was 'a mere piece o/ theatrical mediocrity.' This jDerhaps
originated in a want of exertion on her part, as she was then
far from gaining celebrity in her profession, being careless and
inattentive, and often either in reality or fictitiously seized with
indisposition, an instance of which occurred on the 1 5th of March,
when she appeared for the benefit of Mrs. Mills, being announced
to sing an air at the termination of the third act of Ci/mbeline,
and perform in the afterpiece of the Poor Soldier; but she alleged
indisposition, and no persuasions could urge her to warble the
song in question.
Having mentioned Cymbeline, we cannot refrain from remark-
ing that Mrs. Jordan had frequently to personate the character
Live op Mrs. Jordan. 13
of Imogen, a part however completely out of her element, par-
ticularly in the scene where lachimo attempts her honour, in
which she proved deficient in delineating the conflicting senti-
ments of wonder, indignation, grief, reconcilement, and virtuous
dignity.
On the 2nd of April, Mrs. Jordan, for the first time, witnessed
Mrs. Brooks' performance of the Country Girl, a comedy then
obsolete, and which had completely escaped her attention. This
part, subsequently the most celebrated eflbrt of our actress, so
forcibly struck her that she determined on studying the author
in order to sustain it the ensuing winter in London : indeed it
seems almost certain that the witnessing Mrs. Brown's per-
formance of Peggy, and other gii'lish characters, was the fortunate
moment that prompted her to attempt the jaersonification of the
same.
Nothing of any material consequence occurred to our actress
previous to her departure for the metropolis, except her becoming
so careless, that her fame obviously decreased during the summer
of this year, and on Monday, the 25th of July, when she took her
benefit, and performed Imogen in the play, and Rachel, in the
afterpiece of the Fair Amp,rican, the house was very thinly
attended ; this circumstance we notice, as, the following year.
Fate so awarded, that London audiences should bow obedient to
her nod.
We have, on a former occasion, remarked that Gentleman
Smith, of the Druiy Lane company, had been particularly struck
with the talents of Mrs. Jordan, when attending the performances,
during a race week at York. This impression proved lasting in
his mind, and a favourable opportunity presenting itself, he spoke
of her talents in such exalted terms to the managers of Drury
Lane theatre, that an engagement was proposed and agreed to, at
a salary of four pounds weekly; our actress having to perform
second-rate characters to Mrs. Siddons, in the walk of tragedy.
It is singular to observe that those very persons in the country,
who began to slacken in the estimation of the powers of Mrs.
Jordan, prior to her departure for the metropolis, on her re-visitino-
the north, after the applause she acquired at Drury Lane, literally
crammed the provincial theatres to suftbcation. The fact is, no
change had taken place in our actress as regarded abilities ; but
her circumstances were widely different, and thence originated
this vacillation in public sentiment.
Previous to her journey to the metropolis, a variety of com-
ments were hazarded, among which, one of her opponents, in
the assumption of male characters, remarked to the manager,
14 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
tliat : " When he had lost liis great treasure (a term uniformly
applied to Mrs. Jordan) it would soon be thrown back upon his
hands, and it would be glad to come if he would accept it ! "
This sarcasm was answered by the mother of our actress, wiio
being seated at the stage-door while Mrs. Robinson was on the
stage, addressing the manager, begged as an act of kindness, that
he would inform her when that fright had done speaking and
acting, for it was so horrid she could not look at it. The fright
alluded to, however, was a remarkably handsome woman, of
refined manners, good delivery, and so uniformly tasty and neat
in her dress, that it was a general observation, that the Graces
attended the toilet of Mrs. Robinson.
In the month of August, 1785, when Mrs. Siddons witnessed
the performance of our actress at York, her remark was : " She
had better remain there than venture on the London hoards I "
Little did the tragedian conjecture how soon they would jostle
each other in their carriages at the stage-door of a London play-
house.
The last performance of Mrs. Jordan, prior to her essay in the
capital, was on the 9th of September, 1785, when she sustained
her part in the Poor Soldier, at Wakefield ; after which she took
her leave of Mr. Wilkinson, in whose company she had exerted
herself for three years. The reputation of Mrs. Siddons had
attained such a pitch of celebrity, tliat on the arrival of Mrs.
Jordan in London, she entertained little hope of ever becoming
her rival, and therefore resolved that her debut should be in
comedy.
On the 18th of October, 1785, Mrs. Jordan made her first essay
before a London audience ; when she personated Peggy in the
Country Girl: no favourable reports had been disseminated
respecting her, and the house was by no means crowded ; but the
heart she displayed, and the witchery of nature, were so com-
pletely manifested, that the company were rapturous in their
applause, and the unanimous opinion was, that no actress ever
displayed greater power in drawing from her auditors incessant
peals of laughter.
Notwithstanding this favourable reception, opinions differed in
regard to the talents of our actress : one critic judged her ratlier
vulgar, another conceived she could personate Filch, in the
Beggar'' s Opera, with eclat ; but denied her being gifted with
stei'ling comic powers. She however pursued her course, and at
the close of the first season commanded such a train of fashion-
ables on her nights, as had never been known to assemble, except
when ]\lrs. Siddons trod the boards.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 15
Peggy was unquestionably the chef d'ceuvj'e of Mrs. Jordan's
comic powers, and we despair of ever again witnessing the stei'ling
naivete with which she sustained that arduous personilication
throughout ; every scene possessed its characteristic excellencies ;
but in that where she pens the letter in presence of, and after
the exit of her guardian, the powers of comic delineation had
attained the highest pitch of excellence ; in short, the mimic art
could extend the witchery of its influence no further. After
the celebrity acquired in sustaining the part of Peggy, Mrs.
Jordan's salary was augmented to twelve pounds a week, two
benefits during the season, being also allowed her, while among
various other valuable presents, she received a purse from the
club at Brooks's enclosing three hundred pounds.
A short time subsequent to her debut in London, Mrs. Jordan
varied the style of her attraction, and in supporting the character
of Viola, in Ttvel/th Night, displayed her tendei'ness and grace, as
well as the lovely symmetry of her figure in male costume. It
would be superfluous to dwell upon a part which she stamped
peculiarly her own. The charms of her enunciation in the above
character found the happiest expressions of the mighty poet,
and the harmony of her tone afi'ected the hearts even of the
most insensible of her auditors. It may with truth be said, that
the wild mellifluence of our heroine, according to the remark of a
modern writer, caught a grace beyond the reach of art, and never
failed to fascinate all hearers ; but when accompanied by the
orchestra, it seemed as if her wings were clipped, her liberty fled,
and we might almost say, — the sweet bird sang no more. In the
air to Constancy, which she introduced in the fourth act of the
Belles Stratagem, some years after, namely on the 22nd of
December, 1807, she gave the musicians such a specimen of
^^ unjoyous constancy'^ as kept them all alive. Those singers who
religiously adhere to Swift's Canon, should be left to themselves.
In the month of January, 1786, our heroine appeared as the
Hoyden, in the Trij) to Scarborough, a piece altered from Sir
John Vanbrugh's comedy of the Relapse; when she gave ad
ditional proofs of her inimitable talent, in representing the
complete Tom-boy. The magic efiect of her laugh was never
displayed to greater advantage, while the sparkling hilarity of her
countenance completely fascinated an overflowing audience.
It was in the progress of the present season that the Covent
Gai'den manager, aware of the success attendant on Mrs. Jordan's
performance of the above cast of characters, made application to
Mrs. Brown, the lady who had originally given our heroine the
idea of personating that character at York. The latter in con
16 Life of Mhs. Jordan.
sequence essayed to become her rival, but the attempt proved a
complete failure, and in consequence the reputation of our heroine
was so permanently established as to defy the attempts of any
aspirant in that walk of the drama. Shortly after this decided
victory, Mrs. Jordan undertook the personification of Hipollita,
in the comedy of Site Would and iSlie Would JVof, which only
tended to enhance her in the estimation of the public, and it may
with truth be affirmed that when Drury Lane closed, no public
character ever enjoyed in a more ample manner, the smiles and
sincere good wishes of every lover of the legitimate drama.
In the year 1786, our heroine having resolved upon a pro-
fessional excursion to Edinburgh, set out accordingly ; and in her
progress to the north, arrived at Leeds just at the peiiod when
her former opponent, Mrs. Robinson, was to take her benefit in
that town. We have before adverted to this lady's prognostic to
Mr. Tate Wilkinson in regard to his " great treasure ! ^cho
would be glad to return, if lie (the manager) would accept it."
This actress had since inspected the London papers, and to her
mortitication heard of her raised salary, two benefits, brilliant
presents, kc: when her pride was doomed to experience a greater
shock at her benefit, announced for the 16th of June, when she
had selected Horatia, in the Roman Father, and Widotv Brady in
the Farce, such having been the character selected by our actress
on her benefit night in London. It was on the very morning of
the above day, that Mrs. Jordan, accompanied by her mother and
her sister, entered Leeds, who after dinner made their appearance
in an upper box of the theatre. — Our heroine was soon recognised
by the audience, for if she had endeavoured to conceal herself, she
failed of success. In the course of the farce she went behind the
scenes, and with her accustomed sweetness of temper, renewed
acquaintance with her former associate.
Mrs. Jordan during her stay at the above place, was solicited
by the manager to play one night, which she agreed to, stipulating
that they were to share the receipts after deducting fifteen
pounds. He acquiesced reluctantly, under an impression that no
profit would result to him ; remembering, that the people of
Leeds had, for three seasons previous to Mrs. Jordan's departure
for the metropolis, very much neglected her performances. In
this suggestion, however, he found himself agreeably mistaken —
the plaudits of a London audience had entirely changed the scene,
and the eagerness evinced to see the once-neglected Thalia, was
inci'eased in a tenfold degi-ee, the theatre being crowded to an
overflow to witness her representation of the Country Girl and
the Eoinp.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 17
In her progress to the capital of Scotland, the same eclat accom-
panied her journey ; and when she took her benefit at Edinburgh
on the 6th of August, she delivered the following address to the
audience, after having personated Letitia Hardy, in Mrs. Cowley's
Belle's Stratagem, in a manner that excited applause bordering
upon enthusiasm.
ADDRESS:
Delivered by Mrs, Jordan to the Audience of Edinburgh.
" Presumption 'tia in learning's seat,
For me the Muses to entreat ;
Yet, bold as the attempt may be,
I'll mount the steed of poesy ;
And as my Pegasus is small.
If stumbling, I've not far to fall.
Hear then, ye Nine ! the boon I ask,
While (throwing off the comic mask)
With gratitude I now confess.
How much you've heighten' d my success.
By stealing thus my sentence now,
You've heap'd your laurels on my brow ;
Nor is the Northern sprig less green
Than that which in the South was seen,
For though your sun may colder be,
Your hearts I've found as warm for me.
One wreath I only gain'd before,
Bat your kind candour gives me more ;
And, like your union, both combine.
To make the garland brighter shine.
'Tis true such planets sparkle here.
As made me tremble to appear ;
A twinkling star, just come in sight.
Which, tow'rds the Pole, might give no light !
Melpomene had made such work,
Eeigning despotic like the Turk,
I feared Thalia had no chance
Her laughing standard to advance ;
Bat yet, her youngest ensign I
Took courage, was resolv'd to try,
And stand the hazard of the die.
Since then the vent'rous game I've tried.
With Nature only for my guide.
The bets, if fairly won, I'll take.
Nor wish to make it my last stake."
From the capital of Caledonia, Mrs. Joi'dan departed to display
her fascinations at Glasgow, where her abilities entitled her to a
18 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
gold medal, bearing a very appropriate inscription, which was
transmitted with the following laconic note : —
TO MRS. JORDAN.
" MBdatn,
Accept this trifle from the Glasgow audience, who are as great
admirers of genius as the critics of Edinburgh."
The Medal represented on one side the armorial bearings of
the city of Glasgow — A Tree ; and on the reverse, A Feather,
with the annexed happy inscription :
" Bays irom our Tree yon could not gather,
No branch of it deserves that name ;
So take it all — call it & feather.
And place it in your cap of Fame."
On the return of our actress to London, she found that General
Burgoyne, calculating on the success of his comedy, entitled IVie
Heiress, had undertaken to adapt for the London Stage the
popular French piece of Sedaine, entitled Richard Cctur de Lion ;
which, aided by the superlative compositions of Gretry, had
created a complete theatrical mania in Paris. This charming
production was seized with avidity by the theatres of Covent
Garden and Drury Lane, but the genius of Burgoyne happily
conceived that making Matilda, the monarch's wife, instead of
Blondel, the discoverer of the place of Bichard's incarceration,
would enhance the scenic effect ; that circumstances gave the
complete preponderance to the representation at Drury Lane, on
which occasion Mrs. Jordan sustained the part of Matilda, with
an effect approximating upon magic. The success was complete
— the piece commanded crowded benches, and the coffers of the
playhouse well repaid the efforts of the translator, and all parties
connected with that establishment.
In Love for Love our actress next acquired considex'able fame,
in sustaining the part of Miss Prue — a cast of character in every
way adapted to her peculiar line of acting — which completely
enchained the feelings of all frequenters and sound judges of
theatrical perfection.
On the 15th of February, 1787, Thalia added fresh laurels to
the blooming wreath she had acquired, by the performance of
Roxalana, in The Sultan. Never shall we forget the fascinations
of her manner while sustaining the part in question ; which were
of such a winning nature, that we have seen Barrymore, who
personated the Grand Turk, unable to keep his countenance,
when it was requisite for him to have looked the stern Bashaw.
In one instance, on quitting the boards, he ran into the green-
room, threw himself on a sofa, and after indulging in a laugh
Life op Mrs. Jordan. 19
that was nearly suffocating, turned to our heroine, exclaiming : —
" By the Holy Prophet, madam, if you continue to play after
this fashion, you will dispatch me in an agony of laughter, to
the seventh heaven, there to enjoy my houiis everlastingly."
In 1787, we find our actress most successfully figuring in the
part of Juletta, in the piece of The Pilgrim, by Fletcher, which
was calculated to afiford every scope for the powers of the lady
whose talents we commemorate.
At the commencement of the ensuing season of 1788, the lovers
of sterling comedy were enchanted on witnessing the character of
Rosalind, in Shakspeare's As You Like It ; no part having been
sustained with more archness of manner — while in the Cuckoo
song, the naivete was beyond all praise.
For her benefit, which took place in May, Mrs. Jordan per-
formed the part of Sir Harry Wildair, in the Constant Couple,
in Avhich Mrs. Woffington had acquired a celebiity that had been
conceived unapproachable : the result proved the contrary, as the
thorough conception of the character, manners, and essence of the
writei', were so completely developed by our performer, that she
bore away the palm of competitorship.
Unlike those filling the highest stations in the theatrical band,
Mrs. Jordan never seceded from her duty, after enjoying the
fruits of a benefit ; on the contrary, she remained uniformly at
her post, continuing to act even in play and farce to the end of
the terra, a fact which occurred on the 1 3th of June in the above
year, being the final night of her performance for that season.
We must now, for a short pei'iod, digress from the theatric
annals of our heroine, to speak of the connection she formed
with Mr. Ford, son of Sir Richard Ford, who then held the
lucrative situation of chief sitting magistrate at Bow Street.
Although every endeavour had been made to ascertain the precise
time when their friendship commenced, we have not been able to
succeed ; however, from circumstances connected with the ofl-
springs which were the fruits of this intercourse, we rather
imagine that she sought the protection of Mr. Ford, about the
period of her life to which we now refer.
It appears most probable, that the pre-eminent talents of the
lady, in the first instance, wrought upon the affections of Mr.
Ford, who being intimate with most of the first-rate performers,
easily obtained an introduction to the acquaintance of Mrs.
Jordan, soon after which he made a formal declaration of his
passion ; this we know was accompanied by a solemn promise of
marriage, which the gentleman said must be deferred, under the
dread of giving oflfence to his father, on whom he was dependant ;
20 Life of Mrs. Jokdan.
when confiding in the honour .and promises of lier suitor, Mrs.
Jordan at length consented to place herself under his protection.
With Mr. Ford she cohabited for many years as his wife, in
full expectation that Sir Richard would become reconciled to the
union at no very distant period, and the fruits of that connection
were several children, who derived their entire support from the
exertion of the mother, her fidelity to the gentleman she regarded
as her husband, having never been called in question, as the
uniform conduct she pursued was so exemplary as to render her
even a pattern of matronly excellence for every married woman.
So invariably correct indeed was the conduct of the lady
whose annals we record, that no suspicion was ever entertained
respecting her not being legally the wife of Mr. Ford. Many
instances illustrative of this fact might be adduced, but as one
will speak for the rest, we beg to instance the names of Sir
Francis Lumm, Bart., and his Lady, who resided in Argyle
Street. They were in the habit of giving splendid routs, at
which Mrs. Ford was constantly received as the wife of that
gentleman, who uniformly attended such parties with his itrotegee;
being by him introduced in the character of a married woman.
The Baronet and his lady, as before observed, kept a great deal
of evening company, but their dinner parties proved exti'emely
select, there being never more than four persons, independent of
themselves, who sat down to table ; of the latter, as constant
attendants, were the late Captain B — yly, neai'ly allied to the
present Ma — s of Ang — • — a, and his lady, with Captain Hill and
his wife, a daughter of Lord Molesworth. The clotli being with-
drawn on those occasions when Mrs. Ford was expected to join
the evening party, the conversation generally turned to the
subject of the advances made by her illustrious suitor, Avhen
Lady Lumm's uniform observation was : " I shall again this
evening instil into her mind the absolute necessity of sticking
to Mr. Ford, for I am well convinced no good will accrue from
the princely association." This advice her ladyship never failed
to inculcate — making our actress take her seat beside her at the
card-table, Avhen she would at intervals in a half whisper, repeat
the counsel alluded to.
There was much play at the Soirees in question ; but Mrs.
Jordan never touched a card ; and among the visitants, were
the Miss Dalrymples, Lady C — 11 — r, famed for pilfering card-
money, ikc.
On more occasions than one, the writer was present at the
parties alluded to, when our heroine's afiability of manners and
sweetness of deportment were the general themes of admiration,
LiFK OF Mrs. Jordan. 21
a sentiment still more enhanced, when she electrified the auditors
by warbling one of her ballads wild,
That flowed like softest music,
O'er the placid surface of the deep.
The earliest introduction of the writer to a knowledge of Mrs.
Jordan, was at the time she resided in Henrietta Street, Covent
Garden, at which period her biographer was a mere stripling.
Nothing was then heard of but the crowded houses she uniformly
bi'ought, as our actress rarely aj^peared bvit to overflowing
benches ; indeed it seemed as if fortune delighted to scatter her
path with flowers, and that it was next to impossible, adverse fate
should ever embitter the days of Mrs. Jordan with its frowns.
So eager was the public desire to catch a glance of our Syren
off the boards, that we have actually known persons take their
stations near the stage-door to witness her stepping from the
carriage or entering the same, on pi'oceeding to, or returning
from, rehearsals. In short, she then ranked unquestionably one
of the most envied daughters of the mimic art that ever appeared
to fascinate a London audience.
Independently of the characters before-mentioned, Mrs. Jordan,
during the season of 1788, figured in a farce, called Tike Pmiet, cut
down by Mr. Kemble from Bickerstaff's ^Tis Well it^s no Worse.
She also played Corinna, in the Confederacy ; while her Nell, in
the Devil to Pay, which she personated after the character of
Rosalind, needs only to be mentioned to excite to action the
risible muscles.
It had long been the wish of Mr. Kemble that some piece
written expressly for Mrs. Jordan should appear, and at length
Mr. Cumberland produced a comedy called the Imj^ostor, wherein
she performed the prominent part, and during the first four acts
the piece met with well merited applause, but the concluding act
pi'oving tedious, the comedy had but a short run.
During the summer of this year (1788), his late Majesty George
III. accompanied by the Royal Family, visited Cheltenham, when
in order that her attractions might not pall upon the lovers of the
drama in London, by a too frequent repetition of her parts, our
heroine determined on a professional excui'sion to the above
watering-place, where she w^as welcomed with enthusiasm. During
her continuance at this town, the nobility and gentiy presented
Mrs. Jordan with a very elegant gold medal, accompanied by a
written document so truly gratifying to her feelings, as to confer
tenfold value on the token by which it was accompanied.
It now appears that the brilliant success and increase of salary
awarded to our heroine, excited great uneasiness in the Kemble
22 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
family. Mrs. Sidclons in particular, the Melpomene of the day,
whose idol was Cra^sus, could not restrain her internal dissatis-
faction, which became so intrusively disagreeable to the subject
of this memoir, that overtures were made to her from the manager
of Covent Garden and a Carte Blanche tendered, in order that she
might stipulate her own terms. Alarmed at the idea of losing
one of the main props of his house, Mr. Sheridan had an interview
with Mrs. Jordan, who having stated her grievances respecting
the Kemble coterie, he at once closed with our heroine at a salary
of thirty pounds per week, then esteemed a very enormous stipend.
In reference to the dissatisfaction of Mrs. Siddons, a caricature
was issued, we believe from a design of Bunbury, i*epresenting the
tragic queen with pockets overgorged Avitli gold and bank paper ;
while hanging to the prong of a pitch-fork thrust up from the in-
fernal regions, was a bag of gold, to obtain which the hungry
Melpomene was stretching forth her hand in a fine tragedy atti-
tude, accompanied by a look of greedy supplication.
If such was a leading trait in the conduct of Melpomene, Thalia
was the very opposite : charity being the prominent characteristic
of her mind. No deserving object ever applied for relief in vain,
and even prior to her connection in a certain quarter, the follow-
ing fact may be relied upon. Bearing in mind the cruel conduct
exerted towards herself by Mr. Dayly, and the difficulties expe-
rienced during her pregnancy, she always entertained the most
humane and lively feelings for destitute females similarly circum-
stanced. Actuated by that praise-worthy sentiment, Mrs. Jordan
provided herself with several complete sets of linen necessary for
lying-in women ; which, upon application and a knowledge that
the objects were deserving, she was accustomed to lend out for
the use of females under such circumstances. Being better enabled
to indulge her philanthropic disposition after joining an exalted
personage, her charitable exertions increased for a time in pro-
portion to her Dieans, and numerous were the objects who showered
blessings upon one whose benevolence was as unostentatious as it
proved liberal and extended in its varied ramifications.
The winter of 1789 was spent by our heroine in personating,
during the season, most of those characters in which she had so
uniformly obtained the plaudits of her hearers. In the summer
of the present year she made another trip to Edinburgh, where
the same success crowned her endeavours until towards the close
of her theatrical exertions, when the manager sought to cast an
odium upon her for not completing her agreement, which she was
prevented from doing on account of the death of her revered
mother. No female ever felt more unbounded love for a parent
Life of Mes. Jordax. 23
than did Mrs. Jordan, who experienced the most acute anguish
for the loss she had sustained ; it was indeed, an affliction so
deeply rooted that it required every effort of reason and pliilosophy
to counteract its poignant effects. Grief, perhaps, found some
alle%"iation from the efforts of the poetic muse, as at the period
alluded to we find that the accompanying lines were written by
our actress, the same having found insertion in the Edinburgh
Herald.
TO THE MEMORY OF A EETERED MOTHER.
" Be ready, reader, if thoa hast a tear,
Nor blush if sympathy bestows it here ;
For a lost mother hear a daughter moan —
Catch the last sounds, and learn like her to groan I
Yet e'en those groans (sad echo's all to mine)
Must prove faint offerings at so dear a shrine :
If feeble these, how feebler far must bo
The tribute to be paid by poesy !
The bleeding heart that's whelm'd with real woe.
Affects no flow'rs near Helicon that grow ;
Sobs and swoln sighs ill suit sweet numbered lays:
The tear that waters cypress, drowns the bays.
Hard then must be the task in mournful verse,
The praise of a lost parent to rehearse.
Mild sufFring saint ! exemplary throngh life,
A tendfer mother and a patient wife ;
Whose firm fidelity no wrongs could shake.
While curbed resentment was forbid to speak.
Thus silent anguish marked her for her own,
And comfort coming late was barely known ;
It, like a shadow, smil'd and slipp'd away —
For churlish Death refused to let it stay :
A two-fold dart he levell'd to destroy.
At once a mother's and a daughter's joy ;
Better a double summons had been given.
To wipe our sorrows score, and make all ev^r
By kindly calling both at once to Heaven.'
It is not a little singular that while our heroine fulfilled this
engagement at the Edinburgh theatre, her uncle, the elder brother
of her father, Colonel Bland officiated as treasurer of that estab-
lishment. In the early part of his life, this gentleman had served
in the army, but being at length reduced in circumstances, was
under the necessity of having recourse to the theatrical profession
in order to procure subsistence.
The first appearance of our actress at Drury Lane after her
return to London from the north, was as late as the 8th of Feb-
ruary, 1790, at which period Mr. Kemble gave a situation in the
theatre to Mr. Bland, ]Mrs. Jordan's brother, who performed
ev'n, >
24 Life of Mks. Jordan.
Sebastian in Ttveljth Night, to his sister's Viola. Tlie gentleman
in question bore a personal reseinl)lance to our actress, and as his
figure "was diminutive, not even towering above that of his dis-
guised relative, the mistaking one for the other was rendered
more agreeable to the eye of the observer. In person, however,
consisted the only resemblance between the niale and female of
this family, Mr. Bland never having displayed talents above
mediocrity.
Mr. Kemble, on the 8th of INIarch, brought forward Mrs. Behn's
comedy of The Hover, under the title of Love in many Masks ;
it had not been peformed for thirty years, at which period it came
out at Covent Garden theatre, the cliaracters of Whihnore, Blunt,
and Helena, having been sustained by Messrs. Smith and Shuter,
and Mrs. Woffington, the latter lady being replaced by Mrs.
Jordan. Although the title adopted by Mr. Kemble, on the re-
vival of this piece, was by no means striking, he had nevertheless
the powers of our actress to support the attempt, which she did
to the universal satisfaction of her auditors.
On the benefit night of our heroine, the 22nd of the same month,
after playing in 2'he Belle's Stratagem with her accustomed excel-
lence, she brought forward the fai'ce of Tlie Spoiled Child, wlien
her Little Pickle was hailed with rapturous enthusiasm. This
piece, ascribed to Mr. Ford, was frequently performed, and to
those Avho recollect her execution of the ballad commencing "Since
then I'm doom'd," it would be superfluous to panegyrise, as her
personification of the mischievous hero of the piece far outstripped
all attempts at praise.
We next find our actress inducted to the part formerly sustained
by Mr. Clive, in Fielding's Intrigxiing Cliamhermaid, and on the
17th of November, Miles Peter Andrews in conjunction with
Messrs. Reynolds and Topham, brought forward Better Late than
Never, wherein Mrs. Jordan had to personate the heroine under
a series of disguises. This piece possessed so little merit that not-
withstanding the efibrts of our actress, it speedily became a dead
letter. Our heroine, for her benefit, revived Tlie Humorous
Lieutenant of Beaumont and Fletcher, under the title of The
Greek Slave, or School for Cotcards, a comedy in which she played
Celia, the part formerly filled by Mrs. Woffington. After the
play, our actress delivered an epilogue, written expressly for the
occasion by Harry Bunbury ; the opening lines, though applicable
to the piece, seem as if in allusion to an event then, perhaps, on
the tapis.
" How str.vnge ! methinkB I hear the critic say,
What she, tlie serious heroine of a play !
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 25
The manager his want of sense evinces,
To pitch on Hoydens for the love of Princes !
To trick out Chamhermaids in awkward pomp, —
Horrid ! to make a Princess of a Romp.
At the close of the season, incessant attendance on her theatrical
duties had so far impaired the health of Mrs. Jordan, that she
became seriously indisposed, and a spitting of blood that took
place, seemed indicatory of an approaching decline. As her medi-
cal adviser thought change of air essential, and being partial to
the north of England, Mrs. Jordan determined to visit York,
where she had not been for some years. Thither she repaired,
accompanied by Mr. Ford, and performed during the race week
in several of her first rate parts. A dislike, however, to the luke-
warm conduct displayed by the York audience, led her to refuse
the fulfilment of stipulations previously entered into, wherefore
she chose to forfeit the sum named in case of failure, rather than
play ; and being then at Castle Howard for the benefit of the
country air, she forwarded a letter, of which the annexed were
the contents.
" Sir. — I agree with pleasure to your proposal of giving you
thirty pounds rather than ever perform in York. I shall return
to-morrow, and settle the balance of the account.
J am. Sir,
Your obliged humble Servt. — D. Ford."
After continuing her tour to Newcastle, and other towns of the
north, Mrs. Jordan returned to the London boards, being how-
ever, compelled at intervals to absent herself, owing to the increase
of her family by Mr. Ford. In this state of affairs she continued
until the summer of 1791, when following her professional avoca-
tions at York, she was on many occasions subjected to gross insults
while on the stage, fi'om the interference of some rigid moralists,
in consequence of her cohabiting with Mr. Ford in the character
of his mistress ; and it was then our actress for the first time
began seriously to contemplate a separation, unless he consented
to ratify his promise by making her his wife.
On resuming her engagement in London, immediately after the
occurence above referred to, it was the adverse fate of the heroine
of our tale, to arrest the attention of an exalted individual, who
became particularly fascinated by her personification of Little
Pickle in The Spoiled Child. The exquisite symmetry of Mrs.
Jordan's form in male attire, and more particularly her unmatched
talents m delineating the character of Little Pickle, combined to
subdue the affections of the personage in question ; and in con-
sequence ovea'tures were made, when the lady, with that delicacy
26 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
of feeling so invariably characteristic of her actions, rejected the
offer, situated as she still was Avith Mr. Ford. Thus for a time
matters continued ; tlie lover's importunities increasing, while
pecuniary offers were tendered in the way of a settlement to the
amount of one thousand pounds per annum, which ultimately led
our heroine to conceive that it became a bounden duty, on account
of her offspring, to reflect seriously on the subject. The ultimatum
of this painful scrutiny was a proposal on the part of ]\Ers. Jordan,
that as she had for so many years cohabited with, and borne him
(Mr. Ford) a family of children ; in consideration also of her having
been uniformly introduced into society as his wife, she conceived
herself justly entitled to his hand ; and in consequence stipulated
that Mr. Ford should at once name a day to ratify the promise so
incessantly made, or in the event of a refusal she conceived her-
self at liberty to act as the dictates of prudence should prescribe.
INIr. Ford, however, thought tit to evade the question, when our
heroine conceived herself at liberty to embrace the protection
offered by the Duke of Clarence ; as in that case, she conceived
ample means would be placed at her disposal to provide for her
offspring, in whose behalf no legal plea on Mr. Ford could be set
forth.
This state of affairs was soon bruited abroad, when a party
sprung up in vindication of Mr. Ford, by whom he was represented
as an abandoned and injured man, to which were added aspei'sions
on her conduct in a professional point of view. Mrs. Jordan,
however, who, when roused, was as capable as any woman to vin-
dicate her own wrongs, determined by a bold step to effect that
end, and in consequence the following letter appeared in all the
public, prints, dated from the treasury of Drury Lane theati'e, the
30th of November, 1790.
" Sir, — I have submitted in silence to the unprovoked and un-
manly abuse which, for some time past, has been directed against
me, — because it has related to subjects about which the public
could not be interested ; but to an attack upon my conduct in my
profession, and the charge of want of respect and gratitude to the
public, I think it my duty to reply.
Nothing can be more cruel and unfounded than the insinuation
that I absented myself from the theatre, on Saturday last, from
any other cause than real inability, from illness, to sustain my
part in the entertainment.
I have ever been ready and proud to exert myself to the utmost
of my sti-ength, to fultil my engagements with the theatre, and to
manifest my respect for tlie audience : and no person can be more
grateful for the indulgence and applause with which I have been
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 27
constantly honoured. I would not obtrude upon the public at-
tention to anything that does not relate to my profession, in
which alone I may, without presumption, say, I am accountable
to them ; but thus called on, in the present instance, there can be
no impropriety in my answering those who have so ungenerously
attacked me, — that if they could drive me from that profession,
they would take from me the only income I have, or mean to
possess, the whole earnings of which, upon the past, and one half
for the future, I have settled upon my Children. Unjustly and
cruelly traduced as I have been, upon this subject, I trust that
this short declaration will not be deemed impertinent ; and for
the rest, I appeal with confidence to the justice and generosity of
the public. I am. Sir,
Your Obedient Servant, — Dor. Jordan."
A variety of ill-natured paragraphs appeared in the daily prints
notwithstanding this unvarnished explanation of facts, until the
10th of December, when Mrs. Jordan performed the part of
Roxalana in The Sultan, on which occasion the public displeasure
was openly manifested, but conscious of the rectitude of her own
sentiments, she advanced boldly to the front of the stage, and
alluding only to circumstances connected with her theatrical
calling, addi'essed the audience in the following terms.
" Ladies and Gentlemen, — I should conceive myself utterly
unworthy of your favour if the slightest mark of public disappro-
bation did not affect me very sensibly.
Since I have had the honour and the happiness to strive here
to please you, it has been my constant endeavour by unremitting
assiduity, to merit your approbation. I beg leave to assure you,
upon my honour, that I have never absented myself one minute
from the duties of my profession, but from real indisposition.
Thus having invariably acted, I do consider myself under the
public protection."
The separation of Mrs. Jordan from Mr. Ford was at length
made public, when she immediately became the protegee of her
royal admii-er ; it should, however, be explicitly understood that
no improper intimacy took place between the parties anterior to
the candid proposal made upon her part to Mr. Ford, as previously
explained, and his non-acquiescence with the same. When the
proposal of his Royal Highness became the theme of public
discussion, Sir Francis and Lady Lumm, whose names we have
previously had occasion to introduce, most strenuously advised
Mrs. Jordan never to accede to the terms of his Royal Highness,
as in such case, however painful to their feelings, they could no
longer tolerate her as a visitor to their mansion.
28 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
Immediately after Mrs. Jordan's separation from Mr. Ford, the
latter gentleman conceived it necessary, on many accounts, to quit
the shores of England for a period until the publicity of the
affair should have subsided. We have previously remarked that
the individual in question had for a series of years introduced our
actress into the best societies, in the character of his lawful wife,
and it was no very improbable conjecture upon his part, that
some fathers of families, or brothers, tenacious in regard to the
characters of their wives, daughters, or sisters, might conceive
tliemselves called upon to demand that explanation which Mr.
Ford was not able to give in a satisfactory manner, and must
have brought things to extremities. To this may be added the
vacillating conduct of the gentleman, after the assurances so
often and so solemnly reiterated, that he would give his j^fotegee
a legal claim to his affections ; being thus placed in no very en-
viable 23oint of view with men of honourable feeling, — for those
reasons he determined on absenting himself from England.
It is singular that the writer, then a youth, accompanied by his
father, was in the packet boat that conveyed Mr. Ford to France,
and as far as we are enabled to call circumstances to our mind,
the gentleman alluded to, whose only intercourse during the pas-
sage was with our parent, — seemed to enjoy no very enviable state
of mind, a fact that in some measure redounds to his credit, as
an apathetic sentiment under similar circumstances, must have
stamped him altogether divested of the best feelings of humanity.
The opposition to our actress, which had previously manifested
itself, became more formidable after her open cohabitation with
the Duke of Clarence, several attempts being set on foot to drive
her from the stage ; but these ebullitions gradually subsided, and
her talents and sweetness of disposition ultimately reinstated
her completely in public favour.
Among the numerous anecdotes circulated in consequence of
this splendid connection, we insert the following : —
The late illustrious parent of Thalia's new protector is reported
to have said to his son, "Hey, hey; — what's this — what's this?
you keep an actress, keep an actress, they say." — "Yes, sir." —
"Ah, well, well; how much do you give her, eh?" — " One thousand
a year, sir." — ^" A thousand ! a thousand ! too much, too much !
five liundred quite enough — quite enough ! " It is added that the
son wrote to our actress, expressing the opinion of his parent,
and as it was then customary at the bottom of the play bills, to
annex these words : "No money returned after the rising of the
curtain ! " that our actress tore the same ofi', and enclosed it in a
blank cover, to her protector.
Life of Mrs. Jordax. 29
The well-known parsimony and illiberal sentiments of the in-
dividual alluded to in the first of the above statements, tend to
confer some appearance of validity as to this anecdote ; the latter
statement we have merely inserted in order to give it an unquali-
fied denial, as any person possessing a tithe of our knowledge of
Mrs. Jordan's delicacy of sentiment, would pronounce her wliolly
incapable of having made the indecent allusion referred to.
We have previously spoken of an annuity of one thousand
pounds a year, said to have been settled on our acti'ess by her new
protector. Now when she ultimately became reduced in circum-
stances, we should like, in the first place, to enquire what had
become of the lai'ge sums obtained during her long and brilliant
theatrical career, placed in the funds, and intended after death,
for the suppoi't of her offspring by Mr. Ford ; and secondly, where
were the proceeds and bi'illiant results expected to accrue from
this princely boon ?
We do not pretend to infer that such settlement did not take
place,— that is to say, as far as the signing a legal instrument was
concerned : but what avail sheets of parchment, with their seals
annexed, and barren autographs ? — the technicalities of the law
can neither create gold, or stamp Bank paper ! The only question,
therefore, resolves itself to this : — Was the annuity ever paid f
Prudent motives deter us from answering ; but from what will
be stated hereafter, we leave its solution to the cool judgment of
every dispassionate reader.
A remarkable addition to the foi'tune of our actress, occurred
in the year 1791, by the death of a near relative of her mother's,
which, coupled ■svith the emoluments derived from her professional
avocations, sv\'elled her income to three thousands pounds per
annum.
This ample fortune, and the high patronage obtained by Thalia,
would, of course, have empowered her to liquidate such pecuniary
obligations as might have oppressed her, had any such existed, or
in the event of a want of principle on her part (than which nothing
was so foreign to her sentiments), the laws were open to have
compelled her acquiescence with the calls of justice : yet no such
means ever were resorted to. We make these observations for
reasons that will become manifest in the progress of our recital.
Our actress was now the inmate of a mansion-house of poten-
tates'; carriages and servants attended her bidding, and she
seemed to bask in the full splendour of fortune ; while to crown
her felicity, she proved in that situation which is uniformly grati-
fying to those who feel anxious to present a progeny to their
protectors.
^ Life of Mrs. Jordan.
So unostentatious and truly domestic were the habits of Mrs.
Jordan, after her new and exalted connection, that we have fre-
quently witnessed her arrival, in a plain yellow chariot, at Miss
Tuting's, a milliner in St. James's Street, when she would alight
with an infant in her arms ; and during her stay, frequently
change the linen of the little one in the shop, while freely con-
versing with the person in attendance to wait upon customers.
Among the personages of note who took delight in the manners
of Mrs. Jordan, were the great Burke, and more particularly,
Sir Joshua Reynolds, who conceived her histrionic talents far
superior to those of M rs. Abington ; and on one occasion, arguing
with a friend upon this topic, who maintained that the latter per-
former had a more extended range of playing. Sir Joshua remarked,
" I do not know that you can make out your point ; for opposed
to the fashionable ladies of Mrs. Abington, you have the fashion-
able men of Mrs. Jordan; and the women who would pass for
men, whether Wildcdrs or Hypolitas, in comedy, and the tender
and exquisite Viola of Shakspeare, where she combines feeling
with sportive effect, and does as much by the music of her melan-
choly, as the music of her laugh."
In the year 1792, our actress found herself compelled to retire
for a short period from professional duties, in consequence of a
miscarriage at Petersham, being far advanced in her pregnancy,
when she gave birth to a daughter. This event occurred early in
August, and being recovered in the September following, she
visited the Richmond Theatre, to witness Mrs. Litchfield, then a
young actress, personate Julia in the Surrender of Calais. The
powers of the lady in question, particulai'ly pleased our actress,
who was unbounded in her applause ; indeed, so violent was her
action, that she literally severed the links of a gold chain, whereto
was appeiided the miniature of a Royal Personage, which dropped
upon the stage, over which was the box occupied by Mrs. Jordan.
In the season of 1782-83, she did not appear until the close of
February, when in defiance of Mr. Kemble, the acting manager,
she brought out a new comedy, entitled Anna, said to be the pro-
duction of a Miss Cuthbertson, aided by Mrs. Jordan. Respecting
this composition, disputes ran very high, our heroine maintaining
that novelty was essentially requisite, while Mr. Kemble con-
tended that nothing was required beyond the sterling drama,
whereby she, as well as himself and Mrs. Siddons, had so per-
manently established their reputations. There was, indeed, little
to recommend this comedy, the leading features of which were
the disguise of our actress, and an appeal to her vocal powers
— being, as usual, very effective \ but the production proving too
Life of Mrs. Jorda:!^.
31
vapid to command success, was condemned accordingly. For her
benefit this season, our heroine selected Murphy's comedy of All
in the Wrong, personating Lady Restless ; and Kelt, in the farce
of The Devil to Pay.
On the 29th of Novembei', 1794, was represented a two-act
comedy, from the pen of Mrs. Robinson, entitled Nobody, wherein
Mrs. Jordan sustained a character; but the production was of a
nature by no means suited to the public taste, and the piece was,
in consequence, laid upon the shelf. On this occasion it became
obvious that however kind and sympathising the heart of OT^r
actress might be, she was by no means formed to combat this fury
of opposition, which was manifested in the representation of the
present piece, in no very measured terms. The comedy w^as tried
a second time, but as might be expected, Nobody came to nothing.
At the same juncture, Mrs. Inchbald wrote a farce for Mrs.
Jordan, called Tlte Wedding Day, wherein she warbled that most
effective of ballads. In the dead of the Night, which in itself
possessed sufficient charms to ensure the success that attended
this little production.
Under the continued management of Mr. Kemble, Ave next find
Miss Mellon, afterwards Mrs. Coutts, and now Duchess of St.
Albans, treading the boards of Drury Lane, on the 31st of Jan-
uary, 1795, when she personated the character of Lydia Lang^iish
in The Rivals. This essay proved so satisfactory to the leader of
the dramatic corps, that the lady secured an engagement for the
line of characters sustained by Mrs. Jordan. It is but justice to
add that Miss Mellon possessed a very considerable share of
theatric talent, and when we add — after speaking of our heroine
— that in sustaining the parts of Rosalind and the Romj), the
lady in question maintained a very respectable footing, even be-
fore a London audience, we conceive no further panegyric requisite.
It may not be improper to remark, that Miss Mellon's features
at that period possessed a considerable share of naivete, and her
figure was slim, elastic, and elegant.
On the 12th of May, was produced the comedy of First Lov%
by Mr. Cumberland, wherein Mrs. Jordan was empowered to
display her talents in the pathetic,-— having to sustain the character
of Sahina Rosny, whose parents were supposed to have perished
during the French revolution : when alone and unprotected, she
had effected her escape to Italy, where an English nobleman be-
trayed her by means of a false marriage. Some of the scenes
introduced were painfully afiecting, particularly one between
Miss Farren and our actress, concerning which the author himself
remarked: "When two such exquisite actresses conspired to
32 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
support me, I will not be so vain as to presume I could have stood
without their help."— J/em. Vol. II. j). 281.
In 1796, Mrs. Jordan experienced a miscarriage, and was in
consequence detained for a few months from her duties. This
circumstance led the writers for the public press to renew their
virulent attacks, in the course of which, it was infamously asserted
that her non-attendance was the effect of caprice ; whereas her
pliysician. Dr. Warren, was tlie sole regulator of her conduct, on
that, as well as other occasions.
In February, Mr. Kemble revived the comedy of Tlie Plain
Dealer, by Wyclierly, wherein he personated Manly to the Fidelia
of Mrs. Jordan, on which occasion, according to the statement of
Mr. Boaden, " She quite subdued him." The writei- above alluded
to, then proceeds to state as follows: — "He (Mr. Kemble) told
me that she was absolutely irresistible, and I am sure he thought
what he said ; there had been a good deal of contest, occasionally,
between them, and he was sometimes accused of not sufficiently
studying, or pi'omoting her interest. Miss Fai-ren often disputed
points of management with him ; and he had great difficulty to
keep the steady course which his own judgment had settled. I
freely admit that he had done more for Mrs. Joi'dan in the way
of revival and alteration, than for any other actress, if you even
name his sister, Mrs. Siddons."
In a note, Mr. Boaden further adds, in reference to this topic :
" What he (Mr. Kemble) said to me upon this occasion, will be
rightly understood. He used the language of Yorick, when he
was no jester : — ' It may seem I'idiculous enough to a torpid heart:
I could have taken her into my arms, and cherished her, though
it was in the open street, without blusliing.' " Such an expression
from the frigid lips of Mr. Kemble, was a compliment conferred
upon the pathos of Mrs. Jordan's style of acting, that speaks
volumes in her praise.
From the above period, we have little of consequence to record,
until the ever memorable night of the 2nd of April, 1796, on
which occasion our heroine personated a character in the pseudo
drama of Shakspeare, the production of a youthful impostor under
eighteen years of age ; in whose work, entitled his Confessions,
when speaking of our actress, he thus expresses himself : —
" As the native sweetness of her (Mrs. Jordan's) voice had so
invariably excited public approbation, I conceived that by writing
a ditty expressly for that lady, I should, in a gi'eat measure,
benefft the piece when represented. In consequence of this sup-
position, I composed the annexed verses, which were very suitably
set to music by William Lindley, Esqr., and received with un-
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 33
bounded plaudits when sung by the inimitable actress alluded to,
on the night of the representation of the play.
" I should here acquaint the reader, in order to account for the
statement above (that the ditty was expressly composed for that
personage), that every leading character introduced, was positively
written for some cei"tain performer ; and it was for the same
reason I caused the lady in question to assume the masculine
attire, as she was so universally allowed to become the male
costume."
The Shakspearian fabricator, therefore, feeling conscious from
the applause our actress uniformly received in the execution of
ballads (witness "The Cuckoo " song in As you Like it, — "Since
then I'm doomed," in the Spoiled Child, — " In the dead of the
night," sung in the Wedding Day, &c.), that nothing would tend
so much to render his production palatable, as a strain from the
lips of our Syren — was prompted to compose the following lines,
which were sung by Thalia with her wonted pathos.
BALLAD.
She sung, while from her eye ran down
The silv'ry drop of sorrow ;
From Grief she stole away the crown,
Sweet Patience, too, did borrow : —
Pensive she sat,
While Fortune frown'd.
And smiling, woo'd sad Melancholy.
Keen Anguish fain would rive her heart,
And sour her gentle mind ;
But Charity still play'd her part,
And Meekness to her soul did bind ;
She bowed content,
Heav'd forth one sigh,'
Sang, wept, then turned to Melancholy.
Careless, her locks around her hung.
And strove to catch the dewy tear ;
The plaintive bird in pity sung,
And breath'd his sorrow in her ear.
Amaz'd she look'd,
And thank'd his care,
Then sunk once more to Melancholy.
The same writer, on another occasion, speaking of our actress,
thus expresses himself : —
" I think it but justice in this place to offer my sincere thanks
to that lady, for her kind endeavours on a subsequent occasion,
when she had to sustain one of the principal characters in the
drama. I also beg to state that I shall ever be mindful of her
34 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
particular kindness and aftability during the visit made to lier ;
as also for her complacency and condescension during ray long
continuance in the green-room of the theatre, on the representation
of my play ; when not only her transcendant abilities as an
actress were exerted in my behalf before the curtain, but reani-
mating expressions while in the green-room continually flowed
from her lips, in order to rouse me from the mental depression
under which I so obviously laboured on that eventful occasion."
In reference to his forgeries, young Ireland further informs us,
at page 222 of his Confessions, as follows : —
"In consequence of the general astonishment and curiosity
excited by the manuscripts, his Royal Highness the Duke of
Clarence became desirous of inspecting the papers, which being
intimated to Mr. Ireland, a time was fixed upon, when I was
made of the party, and with Mr. Samuel Ireland i-epaired to the
apartments occupied by his Royal Highness, in St. James's
Palace.
" Having carefully inspected all the documents produced, the
usual questions were put to me respecting the original discovery
of the manuscripts, in which Mrs. Jordan also joined — when
my former statements were, as usual, adhered to. His Royal
Highness, I perfectly remember, made numerous objections, and
particularly to the redundancy of letters, apparent throughout
the papers. To every question, however, the answers were made
as usual, and thus the doubts which arose in his Royal Highness's
mind, were obviated by Mr. Ireland."
Now, without wishing to offer an intentional affront to Mr.
Ireland, we cannot conceive him so iinbued with the attributes of
folly, as seriously to have told us that his Royal Highness of
Clarence was aware of the mode of spelling in the days of our
great poet. The simple fact is. Master Ireland, you were
desirous of hoaxing anew, by giving perspicuity to a brain where-
with you felt fully aware it was not imbued. All this, however
was pardonable ; you deceived his Royal Highness, you subse-
quently confessed the fraud, and therefore tendered the best salve
in your power to heal the wound inflicted.
In the month of October, 1797, a new comedy was rehearsed
at Drury Lane theatre, from the pen of Frederick Reynolds, Esqr.
called Cheap Living, in which piece Mrs. Jordan had to sustain
the character of Sir Edicard Bloomly, a boy of fifteen, who pre-
tended to ape all the airs and manners of an adult. She at this
period began to feel repugnance at assuming the male costume,
and was particularly dissatisfied with the youthful chax'acter above
mentioned ; a circumstance that gave great umbrage to Mr
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 35
Wrougbton, the acting manager, who, during one of the rehearsals
of this piece, said to her in his accustomed frank manner :
" Why, Mrs. Jordan, you are grand — quite the Duchess again
this morning."
" Yery likely," was the reply, "for you are not the first person
who has this very day condescended to honour me, ironically,
with the same title."
Assuming her wonted smile, and without the slightest pique
being apparent in her gesture, Mrs. Jordan, with all that charac-
teristic humour wherewith she had been gifted by nature, pro-
ceeded to make the following statement. That during the morning,
having been necessitated to discharge her Irish cook for imper-
tinence : having paid the wages, the indignant purveyor of the
palate, taking up a shilling and vehemently banging it upon the
table, exclaimed :
"Arrah, now, honey, with this thirteener, won't I sit in the
gallery, and won't your Royal Grace give me a courtesy, and
■won't I give your Royal Highness a howl, and a hiss into the
bargain ! "
It was at this period ]Miss Farren retired from the boards of
Drury Lane theatre, preparatory to her union with the Earl of
Derby, when Mrs. Jordan undertook to personate many of the
characters that had been sustained by that justly esteemed per-
former. We particularly recollect seeing our heroine, on more
occasions than one, support the part of Lady Teazle in the School
for Scandal, which, although not stamped with that air of fashion
and ton assumed by her pi'edecessor, was nevertheless marked by
a peculiar naivete that compensated for any lack of the excel-
lencies elicited by Miss Farren.
The following complimentary lines on the diversified talents of
!Mrs. Jordan, are extracted from a work entitled Memoirs of th»i
Green Room, being thus headed : —
A POETICAL CHAEACTER.
To make us feel ev'n Garrick's loss no more,
And be what he and Pritchard were before, — •
Like them, an equal share of praise to gain,
In mirth's gay sallies or the tragic strain.
This to perform, at last did Jordan come,
And rais'd their buried graces from the tomb.
When Viola, to hopeless flames a prey,
Pines with her smother' d love, and fades away.
Each sentence moves «s, more from lips like those.
And ev'ry line with added beauty glows !
When wandering wild, to seek what climes afford
Some certain tidings of her captive lord —
36 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
Matilda roams ; — the melancholy strain,
Wakes in each breast a gently pleasing pain :
At that sad voice, the nerves responsive beat :
" It lends a very echo to the seat
Where love is tliron'd,"-So soft it sounds that hence,
The tuneful nothings steal the charms of sense.
Again behold the Country Qirl appears,
With arch simplicity. — The Queen of Tears
Flies far away : — Mirth rules the sportive night,
And all is rapture, laughter, and delight !
'Tis not the actress speaks — 'tis Nature all :
No tinsel tricks the -wandering sense recall.
Th' illusion lasts throughout, — in ev'ry tone,
Unfetter'd genius stamps her for its own.
Who that had only seen her in some part,
Where, as in Viola, she charms the heart :
Where ev'ry step is elegance ; — and trrace
Informs each feature of that lovely face I
Who that had seen her thus could e'er presume.
To think those speaking eyes could still assume
The rolling vacancy and senseless si-are.
That mark the gawkiiiess of hoyden's air ? —
Or who that only had Matilda seen,
And the soft tenderness of Richard's Queen,
Would e'er conceive that the same form might show,
The rakish freedom of a rattling beau ?
Such are thy pow'rs, so vast and unconfin'd,
Quick as a thought, and shifting as the wind !
May wealth and fortune all thy steps attend,
And private worth retain the private friend ;
For, if report speaks true, that face imparts
An honest copy from the best of hearts —
The gen'rous feelings of a lib'ral mind,
And solid sense with gay good humour join'd.
The next character in which we find Mrs. Jordan figure was a
melo-dramatic cast, namely, Angela, in the Castle Spectre, a pro-
duction from the pen of Matthew George Lewis, Esqr., otherwise
Monk Lewis, son of the Deputy Secretary at war. This piece
was produced on the 14th of December, and continued such a
favourite as completely to recruit the exhausted treasury of Drury
Lane theatre. The peculiar effect of the phantom scene, when
Mrs. Powel, as the mother, issued in ghostly guise from the chapel,
to administer the benediction on her persecuted daughter, Angela
(Mrs. Jordan), was productive of an efiect upon the audience no
tongue can describe ; the whole being accompanied by a species
of cathedral chaunt from the pen of Jomelli, the composer, that
rendered the scene next to superhuman.
After the successful run cf this melo-dramatic entertainment,
Mrs. Jordan's talents were uniformly called into action to pourtray
the Country Girl, or figure in the Confederacy, the Will, &c.,
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 37
until the representation of Kotzebue's Stranger, on the 24th of
March, 1798, afforded her a respite from the unvarying nightly
toil to which she had been so long subjected.
The fruits of our heroine's brilliant intercourse, were a quick
succession of progeny, which, it will subsequently appear", ter-
minated in a family of ten children, — five males, and an equal
number of the opposite sex ; who, with the offspring formerly
brought to Mr. Ford, and the child supposed to have been the
fruit of the infamous Mr. Daly's criminal proceeding,— placed our
actress among the rank of those who are termed prolific females.
On the 22nd of March, 1799, appeared a comedy from the pen
of Mr. Morris, the Barrister, entitled the Secret, wherein our
heroine sustained the part of Rosa, when it was a general remark
that she seemed to have become more than usually partial to the
expi'ession of sentimental and affecting passions. The fact is, she
sustained the character with such peculiar effect, that the melan-
choly of her demeanour seemed the result of some hidden circum-
stances more intimately connected with mind, than the bare
mimickry of care and sorrow. The epilogue by Mr. Coleman, was
delivered by our heroine with such peculiar effect as to command
an encore, a very unusual theatrical incident. At the pei'iod to
which we refer, we glean the following anecdote from Mr. Boaden's
Life of Mrs. Jordan, vol. 2. p. 12.
" It was about this piece (Tlie Secret) I remember we had been
speaking, when she told me she had another East Indian offered
at her shrine, which she would trouble me to read. I did so, and
we talked the piece over at her town residence in Somerset-street,
Portman-square. She had not told me Avho was the author of the
play, but there was that in it which merited consideration. I
gave Iier my opinion frankly, and pointed out the indecorum of
the interest ; however, though not a moral play, it was written
evidently, I said, by a man of talent, and as a benefit piece, pre-
ferable to an old one. Mrs. Jordan here, in confidence, informed
me that the Duke had taken the trouble to read it at her desire,
also ; and that we agreed most decisively in our opinions. She
was in charming spirits, I remember, that morning, and occa-
sionally ran over the strings of her guitar. Her young family
were playing about us, and the present Colonel Geox'ge Fitzclarence
(now Earl of Munster), then a child, amused me much with his
spirit and strength ; he attacked me, as his mother told me, his
fine tempered father was accustomed to permit him to do himself.
He was certainly an infant Hercules. The reader will judge of
the pleasure with which I have since viewed his career, as a
soldier ; and I owe him my best thanks for his instructive and
38 Life op Mrs. Jordan.
amusing Journey across India, througli Egypt to England, in the
winter of 1817-18, "whicli he dedicated to his late Majesty George
the Fourth, when Prince Regent. I shall here merely say that
his fourth chapter in this work is written with great skill, and
possesses that interest whicli arises from actual facts at critical
periods ; from difficulties surmounted by patience and exertion ;
abounding in the terrible and destructive, unexaggerated and
minutely detailed. As a moving picture, this division of the
work may, with advantage, stand a comparison with the best
passages of those who travel to seek eflects."
Mrs. Jordan, on the 22nd of April, appeared in the East Indian,
for her benefit. This comedy was the production of Mr. Lewis,
as well as a farce called the Twins, which he also presented to
Bannister, who adopted it for his benefit night.
Late in this year (1799), Miss Biggs personified Zorayda, in
the place of our actress, who candidly confessed her predilection
for the pathetic, alleging that had she been blessed early in life
by an intercourse with refined company, she felt convinced that
she might have attained eminence as a tragedian.
Early in the year 1800, our heroine resumed her dramatic
career, and on the 10th of May performed in a comedy written
by Prince Hoare, called Indiscretion. On the 15th of the same
month, their Majesties, accompanied by the Princesses, Sec, visited
Drury Lane theatre, to see She would and She zvould not, and the
Humourist of Mr. Cobb, a farce that had been recommended by
Edmund Burke to Sheridan, in the year 1785. His Majesty had
j*ust entered the box, when a man starting up from the front of the
pit, levelled a horse pistol at the King, which he discharged.
The monarch, advancing to the front of the box, waved his hand
to the Queen in order to deter her from entering, and then, to
dispel all apprehension among the audience respecting liis safety,
laying his right hand upon his breast, bowed in acknowledgment
for the extreme anxiety manifested by the crowds assembled.
Hatfield was secured, but so great was the general horror
evinced, that Mrs. Jordan was obliged to present herself, who gave
assurance to the audience "that he was perfectly secured, and
properly attended," when the play was ordered to proceed.
The Drury Lane company, and more particularly our heroine,
had long lamented that the political sentiments of Mr. Sheridan
should prove a bar to the visits of their Majesties to that theatre;
however, from speeches that had been delivered in parliament,
and the patriotic sentiments put into the mouth of Holla by the
manager, it began to be inferred that the King would be led to
repeat his visits. Thia supposition was strengthened by a know-
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 39
ledge that the Princesses were particularly anxious to witness the
performances of the lady who had so completely captivated their
royal brother. Such had been the feeling entertained prior to
the above incident, which it Avas apprehended, would at once put
a stop to any further attendance on the part of George the Third
and the Royal Family.
Mrs. Jordan, on the 18th of January, 1800, was delivered of a
daughter, at Busby Park, which circumstance acted as a bar to
her appearance in public, until the 12th of March, when she per-
sonated the Country Girl, with all the fascinations attending its
representation in younger days.
In the above month appeared Cumberland's piece, entitled
Lovers' Resolutioiis, in which Mrs. Jordan personified Racket, a
very appropriate name for the busy character assigned to her in
this piece. On the 24:th of ^Nlay, our heroine appeared as Lady
Teazle, for the benefit of that sterling master of his art, the late
Mr. King, who on the night in qnestion, retired from the stage,
accompanied by the rapturous plaudits of his admiring auditors.
As we conceive the ciitique of Mr. Boaden sterling on this occa-
sion, we will quote his words from p. 96 of his Life of Mrs. Jordan.
"She (Mrs. Jordan) differed essentially from her predecessors
in this— that as to tliem, the six inanths of fashionable life had
totally divested them of their original habits— they did not act
the fine lady ; they seemed never to have occupied any other
station than the one present. Mrs. Jordan thought the rather
coarse pleasantries which her Ladyship lavished upon Sir Peter,
were more in the tone of her /ormer than the present condition,
and she therefore returned to its frank and abrupt discontent ;
she quarrelled with her old rustic petulance, and showed her
natural complexion; — her rouge, and her finesse she reserved for
artificial life. She wanted the recovering dignity of Abington,
to advance before the prostrate screen ; but her voice aided her
very natural emotion, and though she was not superior in the
part, she merited consideration, and to be compared with the
printed play, rather than the manner in which it had been acted."
During the summer of this year, Mrs. Jordan occasionally
performed at the Richmond theatre, and subsequently at Margate,
upon the accustomed terms of £180 for six nights, and a clear
benefit. It was on this occasion, that while personating the
Country Girl, our heroine's drapery became ignited, but the
flames were so speedily extinguished, that she sustained no injury;
when in her accustomed playful manner, she returned her heart-
felt thanks to the audience for the sympathy they had evinced in
regard to the dangerous situation in which she had been placed.
4U LlKi: UK -Mus. J GUI) AN.
On the 1 Gth of September, under tlu- direction of Mr. Bannister,
Mrs. Jordan opened the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in the char-
acter of liisiirri', in the comedy of the Inconstant ; soon after whioli,
Mr. Cherry being engaged, resolved to nuike our actress liis friend;
for which purpose he undertook to produce a play, exhiljiting our
heroine to the greatest advantage, of which we shall shortly have
occasion to speak.
Mrs. Jordan, on the 29th of January, 1803, sustained a part
in Holcroft's new comedy of Hear Both Sides, and on that occasion
used every effort to support the piece, which, nothwithst.inding,
proved a dead letter.
On the 16th of April, a five-act comedy was performed, from
the pen of Mr. Allingham t a clever production, wherein Mrs.
Jordan, as Emma Harvey, gave univer.sal satisfaction.
We have previously had occasion to remark, that the philan-
thropy of the heroine of our tale was unbounded, and that her
conduct to the necessitated, in her own profession, was proverbial.
An opportunity of this description presented itself in the case of
Charles Lee Lewis, a performer of forty years" standing, who,
being reduced in circumstances, had a benefit awarded him, when
he, for the last time, performed Lissardo in the Wonder, and Mrs,
Jordan, Viola. As a part of the entertainment, Mrs. Litchfisld
undertook the recitation of Dry den's Alexanders Feast, when,
being ready dressed for the occasion, our heroine complained of
the nervous state of her feelings, — in proof of this, seizing Mrs.
Litchfield's hand, she placed it upon her heart, exclaiming, '* You
are a good, kind, creature, will you take the book to the wing,
and prompt me in case I am at a loss?" To this Mrs. Litchfield
assented, and regularly accompanied her through the part.
We had thus far proceeded in correcting the press for our
memoir, when we were permitted to inspect one of the most volumi-
nous collections of manuscript and printed documents on the
subject of theatricals, we have ever yet inspected. On referring
to the documents respecting Mrs. Jordan, such a multiplicity of
genuine articles appertaining to our actress appeared, that we
deemed it expedient to profit by the permission accorded, and
have in consequence, to introduce a series of statements refei-ring
to years of her life already printed off, that we deem it expedient
to annex them, until the date atjwhich we closed the last page,
viz. 180.3 ; on the attainment of which epoch we shall arrange the
fresh information acquired from the above source, in the chrono-
logical order of each succeeding year.
One of the earliest efforts of our actress that tended to bring
her into repute, was the ballad entitled "To the Green Wood
gang wi' me," the first stanza of which runs as follows : —
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 41
" To speir my love vci' glances fair,
The woodland laddie came ;
He vow'd lie would be ay sincere,
And thus he spake his flame :
"The morn is blith my bonny fair.
As blith as blith can be ;
To the green wood gang, my lassie dear,
To the green wood gang wi' ine," &c.
We now refer to the date of 1785, when the following paragraph
on the subject of our Thalia appeared in one of the London daily
prints.
" The lame, and the halt, and the leprous, were last Tuesday
night invited to bathe in the streams of Jordan humour, and to
go away happy. What were the salutary effects, they best can
tell who stood most in need of them; but if we may be allowed to
hazard an opinion, without detracting from the other properties
the Jordan may possess, we conceive its astringent and emulgent
properties to have most powerful influence on the blind.'"
At the same period, another paragraph emanated from the
public press, in the following words : —
" The great powers of JNlrs. Jordan, cannot be better displayed
than in the wonderful contrast in her Country Girl and Viola.
In one, all archness and vivacity; — in another, serious, gentle,
and sentimental. We understand, in addition to such diversity
of excellence, she is equally happy in opera. There may be greater
actresses in some one line, but where shall we find any so deserving
of applause in all?"
Speaking of the Duke of Clarence's early predilection for Mrs.
Jordan, we find the circumstance thus adverted to at the same
period : —
"We have reason to believe the desire of the Twelfth Night,
and the Ronxf at Drury-lane, this ev-ening, proceeded from a
certain personage, who, as Shakspeare says,
" Might put his witihes, more into commands."
" Certainly the early attention which his Royal Highness was
observed to pay to the performances of Mrs. Jordan, reflects the
greatest honour on his critical discernment."
Mrs. Jordan's performance of the Eovip>, was unquestionably
one of the most complete pieces of comic acting, that was ever exhi-
bited before the public. For a female to assume the masculine attire
with propriety, requires a symmetry of person, and perfection
of shape, ill suited to the costume worn at the time our heroine
flourished. Mrs. Jordan, however, very fortunately proved an
exception to this remark ; as, to a careless, easy manner of de-
42 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
portnient, she added the most perfect elegance of form ; — so that
while the actress excited our admiration, we were no less captiv-
ated by the woman.
Speaking of our actress in male attire, a paragraph to the
following effect appeared : —
"As Mrs. Jordan so often chooses a breeches part, we cannot,
as men, but applaud her penetration. Females sliould envy her ;
for she has the fortunate i)rivilege to be above censure, and there-
fore heedless of what may fall from the tongue of malice ; but if
othar ladies were as openly to avow their partiality, as their
wishes or ideas might dictate, the world would not only smile,
but recriminate."
Tlie following criti(jue on Mrs. Jordan's performances, appeared
in the " Morning Herald," of the 2Gth of October, of the vear
1785:—
" Witli respect to Mrs. Jordan, the reports of the different
editors, though short, were full and discriminating ; yet in no
point wei^ they inconsistent. All were equally favourable to
her, — none fulsome. Slie is universally allowed to possess a
figure, small perhaps, but neat and elegant, as was remarkably
conspicuous where she was dressed as a boy, in the third act. Her
face, if not beautiful, is said by some to be pretty, and by some,
pleasing, intelligent, or impressive. Her voice, if not peculiai'ly
sweet, is not harsh ; — if not strong, is clear and equal to the ex-
tent of the theatre. She has much archness, and gave every
point of the dialogue witli the best comic effect. She is a perfect
mistress of the Jen de Theatre, and improved to the uttermost all
the ludicrous situations with which the Country Girl abounds ;
from such premises there is, and can be but one conclusion that
she is a inost valuable acquisition to the public stock of innocent
entertainment."
A correspondent on the 1st of March, 178G, sent the following
letter to the " Morning Herald," addressed to Mrs. Jordan : —
" Madam, — You will permit me to reduce into this epistolary
form, the general sentiments of this city, with regard to you, and
thus to convey to you the very flattering testimony which every
private circle, and every public assembly bears to your dramatic
excellence. My only motives herein, are these : — first, to give
vent to expressions of that admiration which your playing never
fails to create : — secondly, to give to merit that commendation
which is its due ; for though conscious abilities in a considerable
degree do reward themselves, yet one who, like you, is honourably
emulous of public approbation, derives a powerful addition of
atisf action from an express and formal declaration of it ; and
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 43
though I am not specially appointed secretary to the public, yet
it is an office that lies open to anyone, and I have, in the present
instance, sufficient credentials, wliich may be found in any com-
pany within the metropolis : — lastly, the delight you afford,
naturally creates an interest in your success ; and I have a pleasure
in thinking that this letter may possibly procure you in the
reading, a momentary flush of that satisfaction and honest pride,
which I presume you are susceptible of, in common with sensible
and ingenuous hearts.
"You perceive that you are a great favourite amongst us.
There is no company where Mrs. Jordan is not named with
uncommon applause. But that you may the better know what
particular qualities you possess to charm so extensive an audience,
give me leave to inform you, that they are principally your re-
markable skill in apprehending nature, and your extreme good
humour. Wherever you exert the former talent, I am inclined
to think that you will allow the best criterion of good acting, to
be the favourable sentiments of an audience, delivered from the
first impressions of nature, and not entirely a system of profes-
sional rules, which, in every line usurp a strange authority, and
I fear, have too much weight in the dramatic line with some, who,
in the representation of natural characters, are not content to
make natui'e only their model, nor to observe her only with their
own eyes ; but the case is very different with you : your action
proceeds so exactly and nicely from your characters which you
have the art of seizing, of representing to yourself, and of adopt-
ing, with such wonderful justness and precision, that you rather
seem to realise the circumstances of the drama, with regard to
yourself, than merely to accommodate your action to a character
you assume. I am sensible my language will immediately betray
my ignorance of the dramatic art ; but your nice judgment and
observation will turn this very circumstance to advantage, when
you see how you are understood and tasted by those who possess
no other standard by which to try your real merit, than ordinary
life.
"Your other quality is that of good humour; — after all, the
best recommendation from the stage, and which best secures the
friendship of the public. "VVe conceive you without those airs,
and that caprice which in almost every instance, produce in the
end a lasting rupture between the performer and his audience.
You appear without them, and possess a fund of good humour,
which displays itself in the lively repetition of several fatiguing
parts, which require an extraordinary exertion of the mind and
spirits.
44 Life op Mrs. Jordan.
" Your sentence, cas I convey it to you, is not to be despised,
for it is pronounced by a jury of your peers ; so far, I mean, as
they are acquainted witli pure and genuine nature, and think her
the best interpreter of herself.
" In conclusion of this long letter, which nevertheless, I hope
will not appear quite unreasonable, — let me entreat you, from
the most unselfish motives, to persevere, and cultivate these ad-
mirable qualities ; and that you and the public may remain ever
on the most cordial terms, is the earnest wish of one of your
greatest Admirers."
The folloAving is a copy of Mrs. Jordan's address to the audience
of Edinburgh, after the play of the Beliefs Stratagem, in 1786.
WEITTEN AND SPOKEN BY HERSELF.
Presumption 'tis, in learning's seat,
For me the muses to entreat; —
Yet, bold as the attempt may be,
I'll mount the steed of poesy ;
And, as my Pegasus is small,
If stumbling — I've not far to fall.
Hear then, ye Nine, the boon I ask,
While (throwing off the comic mask),
With gratitude, I here confess,
How much you've heighten'd my success.
By seeking thus, my sentence now,
You've heap'd new laurels on my brow ;
Nor is the northern sprig less green,
Than that which in the south was seen ;
For though your sun may colder be.
Your hearts I've found as warm for me.
On one of Mrs. Jordan's last night's performances, at the Edin-
burgh theatre, she was presented with a gold medal, bearing the
following engraved inscription : —
" A small Tribute from the Admirers of Genius to the
Child of Natttrey
We are told that in 1786, Mrs. Jordan had brought into the
theatre, since her engagement which took place the preceding year,
no less a sum than £5,000, a circumstance that furnished sanguine
hopes of future entertainment to the public, as well as emolument
to the proprietors of that establishment.
The following just tribute of praise to Mrs. Jordan's private
charactei", appeared in a daily paper, in the month of October : —
" Mrs. Jordan's merit has been to the managers of Drury-lane.
a perfect magnet of attraction, and like a magnet, has suffered
no sensible diminution in its attracting powers. We have heard
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 45
much, at times, of the various private virtues of different per-
formers ; let it be remembered, therefore, that this lady likewise
does not rest all her pretentions to public favour, on her abilities
as an actress, but on those to which as a woman and as a member
of society, she is so highly entitled. A person who has known
her for some years, delineates her character as possessed of the
greatest sincerity, humanity, and good nature ; and as he early
saw, so he early foretold, that her merit would one day raise her
to the situation which she now tills so much to the public satis-
faction, as well as to her own advantage."
Many ill-natured aspersions having been disseminated by those
who envied the celebi'ity our actress had acquired, the following
letter appeared in the diurnal undermentioned : —
To the " Morning Herald."
" Mr. Editor, — A variety of paragraphs having lately appeared
in the newspapers, tending to convey an insinuation that I have
declined performing again at Drury-lane theatre, until I am an-
nounced in a manner different from what I have been ; — I beg
the favour of you to insert this letter, as a positive denial of such
charge, and of the supposed circumstances on which it is founded.
A long continuance of severe illness, has alone been the cause of
my absenting myself from my duty to the proprietors and the
public. I am, Sir, «fec.,
Gower-st., Dorothea Jordan."
Feb. 4, 1788.
The following complimentary stanzas, addressed to Mrs. Jordan,
were first handed about in MS., and appeared in print on the
11th of August, 1788.
Embosom'd oft the sullied gem,
Earth's dull recess conceals,
Till the sun's penetrating beam,
The brilliant spark reveals.
The innate beauties of the mind,
Thus spurious powers control,
Till happily, some ray refin'd
Illuminates the soul.
How long the fashionable choice,
Tom-boy and Hoyden reign'd ;
How long thy wiles, the public voice,
Hypolita sustain' d !
Till Viola beautified the scene
And Rosalind, the bower;
Thy blossoms, Jordan, had we seen,
But not thy fairest flower.
46 LiFK OF MitS. JOUDAN.
In the Romp's Hippnnt, wanton dress,
The counterfeit is shown ;
Whilst the sweet churnis of tenderness,
And love — are all thy own.
Cheltenham, G. J.
Auf,'. 8th, 1788.
Mrs. Jordan, during the residence of tlieir Majesties and the
Princesses at Cheltenham, in the above year, liad the good fortune
to secure the Royal favour so successfully, that it was expected
their presence at Drury-lane would be fretjuent in the course of
the following season.
In the month of September following, our actress was waited
upon by Boles Watson, Es(jr., manager of the Cheltenham theatre,
who presented her with an elegant medallion locket, richly set
on one side with line pearls, in the centre of which was a beautiful
painting of the comic muse, from tiie original picture executed by
Sir Joshua Reynolds. On the reverse was placed, in blue enamel,
an oval of fine brilliants, and in the centre, the following inscrip-
tion in gold letters on white enamel : —
"Presented to Mrs. Jordan, Thalia's Sweetest Child,
September 10th, 1788."
The design and workmanship gave general satisfaction to the
noblemen and gentlemen who were subscribers to the above token,
of the very exalted estimation in which they held the unrivalled
talents of our enchanting actress.
In 1789, a misunderstanding took place between our heroine
and Mr. Jackson, manager of the Edinbui'gh theatre, at which
period she penned a letter, dated from Chester, wherein she men-
tions not having seen the above gentleman's public statement of
the cause of their disagreement, which originated in the height of
illiberality on his part. In the communication alluded to, she
denies most of the assertions published by Mr. Jackson, — relates
the great difficulty she encountered in procuring from him any
pecuniary remuneration, — that in consequence she found herself
compelled to lurroiv money, in order to discharge her Edinburgh
engagements, and that the very identical bill he was compelled to
give her at Glasgow, for £100, was protested in London, though
the manager made a boast of his unvarying punctuality in all
pecuniary transactions. Mrs. Jordan concludes in the following
manner, whence it may be inferred, that her equanimity of tem-
per had experienced a violent shock, as she was not accustomed
to use acrimonious terms.
" I have now entirely done with this subject, and, thank God,
with Mr. Jackson, Avho I hope, by his punctuality, to pay his at
Life of Mrs. Jordaw. 47
present protested note, will not compel me to resume any acquain-
tance with him, by the methods the law points out !
"P. S. — As to Mr. Jackson's comparative statement of the
receipts, I am no judge ; — T can only say that the houses were
apparently very good, when I performed. Perliaps it would not
have been amiss, but rather fairer, if he had said that in the year
1785, from whence he drew Mrs. Siddon's account, that lady per-
formed at the advanced London prices."
The following poetical bagatelle has been ascribed to Murphy,
but whether correctly or not, we are ui:able to substantiate.
AX ACROSTIC.
J-ust emblem of all lovely nature,
0-rdaiu'd to charm by ev'ry feature,
B-eigning unrivall'd in thy art,
D-elight of ev'ry feeling heart ;
A-pplause await and crown thy wishes,
N-ations accord, "She all possesses!"
During this year was issued a pamphlet, now of extreme rarity,
under the title of — '■'■ JordavUs Elixir of Life, and Cure for the
Spleen ; or a Collectio7i of all the Songs sung by Mrs, Jordan,
since her first appearance in London. — Published by William
Holland, No. 50, Oxford-street, 1789." This production contains
forty-one ballads, duets, itc, and is illustrated by a whole length
engraving of our actress, in the character of Sir Harry Wildair,
to which is prefixed a very laconic biographical sketch of the lady.
While adverting to the subject of engi-aved portraits that exist
of Mrs. Jordan, in the superb collection whence our latter infor-
mation has been derived, we have enumerated thirty-one prints
of the subject of our biography, some of which are now very scarce.
The following song, introduced by Mrs. Jordan in the part of
Folly Honeycomb, in 1790, was said to be the production of her
own muse, and we consequently deem it admissible in the present
memoir.
SONG.
When late the wretched youth
Breath' d vows of endless truth,
All on the bare boards kneeling ; —
Protesting, sobbing, sighing,
'Mid flames and torment dying ;
Sure it was wond'rous feeling —
♦ Ah ! pity the wretched youth.
O, had you heard him swear,
And call me " cruel fair,"
So adverse to his loving ; —
48 Life of Mrs. Jordax.
nia eyes with madness glaring,
His hair all fnintic tearing,
You'd swear 'twas wond'rous moving;
And pity the wretched youth.
But when a knife he drew,
To pierce his heart so true,
In wild disorder raving ; —
His face with tears all rtowing,
His nose all red with blowing;
Could I refrain from saving,
In pity, the poor yonth ?
On the 20tli of October, appeared in the Morning Herald, the
following composition, entitled,
SEPULCHRAL ANTICIPATION.
"Near a monument to Mrs. Clive, is a superb and richly
decorated urn, entwined with a wreath of fading flowers, and
embossed with a figure of Death trampling on the mask and
emblems of Comedy. On the tomb is the subsequent
INSCRIPTION.
Sacred to tbe /IDemor^
OF
MRS. DOROTHY JORDAN,
Late of Drury Lane Theatre.
Poor injured mortality !
Snatched
From the fostering embrace of
Public admii-ation,
In the full vigour of her attraction
That raised it ; —
Stop, gazer,
And behold the little tyrant of hearts.
The favoured nymph of Euphrosyne;
Thus mournfully entombed !
Disdaining
To wear the trammels of science, which too often
Prevent the intention, and restrain
The effect of the Drama ;
Her exertions were
The dictates of nature,
Whos3 steps it was her profession to follow :
Like the " Child of Fancy,
In wood notes wild,"
She inspired the hearts of her hearers,
With the warmth of sensibility,
And the transports of mirth :
The stem speculation of the pedantic Critic, (that too often blasts
the Oenius of the Stage, to maintain a consequence and
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 49
authority, equally base and unwarrantable)
Lost in the magic of her talents,
Would smooth its wrinkled front,
And, like honest Laughter,
Shake its bursting sides :
The jovial heart
That gave lustre to her scenic charms.
Cherished a sweetness of disposition,
Which rendered her amiable in private life ;
Her gaiety was decent,
As the heart that prompted it was sincere ;
And the frolic humour of the characters
It was her province to represent,
As an Actress,
She scorned to degrade the dignity
That belonged to her own, as a Woman.
In all her rosy train,
Thalia had not such a Nymph.
Tho' traveller, thou badst not witnessed
The powers of which thou read'st,
Eefuse not the tribute of a sigh
To her whose voice was
Public joy :
Nor quit these hallowed mansions.
Till in the ardour of a Sterne,
And the language of a Shakspeare,
Thou hast exclaim' d,
" Alas ! poor Jordan ! "
This monument is the tribute of
An impartial admirer.
Unconnected with the theatre.
Whose only design was to join in that
Approbation of Mrs. Jordan,
Which the public so unanimously testified,
And which her exertions
So justly merited.
We cannot help remarking, that the writer of the above in-
scription, in the year 1790, little dreamed how appropriate the
conclusive line, " Alas ! poor Jordan ! " would subsequently
prove to her melancholy end, and how fitting would be the ejacu-
lation, if engraved upon her tomb at St. Cloud.
In the above year, on the 20th of March, was first performed,
for our actress's benefit, the amusing piece of the Spoilt Child,
attributed to Mr. Ford, but which the daily prints declared Mrs.
Jordan had avowed, as being her own production, when, it is
added, she received the congratulations of her Brethren and Sister-
hood of the sock and buskin.
50 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
As a proof tliat Mrs. Jordan was uniformly received as the
lawful wife of Mr. Ford, several paragraphs appeared in the sum-
mer of 1791, of which we give the annexed by way of sample: —
" Mrs. Jordan has withstood the unbounded offers of a certain
personage ; so much to her own credit, and to the satisfaction of
a certain gentleman, to whom she has for some years afforded her
smiles, that the latter has, from motives of gratitude and love,
introduced her as his wife, and in that character she has been
received in the most fashionable circles."
Among the innumerable tirades that appeared in the news-
papers, on the subject of Mrs. Jordan's connection with the Duke
of Clarence, we give the following specimens : —
''^ A favourite comic actress, if old Goody Rumour is to be trusted,
has thought proper to put herself under the protection of a dis-
tinguished Sailor, who dropped anchor before her last summer, at
Richmond. As she resolutely held out however, at that time,
though the assault was vigorously pushed, perhaps this is only
a flying report ; and the lady thinks there is more security in a
private ybr^, than in the open sea."
"Little Pickle^s assumed character of the Tar, was a prelude
only to her future nautical fame ; for, though pressed into the
service, she has consented, we find, to be close moored under the
guns of the Royal Commodore."
"A correspondent observes, that what was only FoRDaJ^e some
time ago, is now capable of bearing a, first rate I"
"The part of Mrs. Ford has been supported with so much
decorum at Richmond, by Mrs. Jordan, that many respectable
families there are disposed to consider her as quite the character."
In reference to the above topic, we now beg leave to give some
interesting documents which were ushered into publicity with the
prefatory matter annexed.
" As a very considerable part of the public always take an in-
terest in the private characters of those who live by contributing
to the public amusement, such persons have a right to expect
that no part of their private conduct should be represented in a
more unfavourable point of view than it deserves.
" Mrs, Jordan's family affairs having been lately the subject of
much conversation, it is but justice to her to show that whatever
opinion may be entertained of her discretion, she has never been
deficient in the duties of a mother.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 51
" The following letter from the gentleman who has the best
means of knowledge, will clear up this part of the business to the
satisfaction of the most scrupulous : —
MR. FORD'S LETTER TO MRS. JORDAN.
"Lest any insinuations should be circulated to the prejudice of
Mrs. Jordan, in respect to her having behaved improperly towards
her children, in regard to pecuniary matters, I hereby declare
that her conduct has, in that particular, been as laudable, generous,
and as like a fond mother, as in her present situation it was pos-
sible to be. She has indeed given up for their use, every sixpence
she has been able to save from her theatrical profits ; she has also
engaged herself to allow them £550 per annum ; and at the same
time settled £50 a year upon her sister. It is but bare justice to
her for me to assert this, as the father of those children.
Octr. 14, 1791. (Signed) Richard Ford."
To Mrs. Jordan : —
" In gratitude for the care Mrs. Jordan has ever bestowed upon
my children, it is my consent and wish that she should, whenever
she pleases, see and be with them, provided her visits are not at-
tended by any circumstances which may be improper to them, or
unpleasant to me. Richard Ford."
On the 3rd of November, the following paragraph appeared in
one of the morning prints, which subsequently performed the
round of all the other diurnals.
" The connection between Little Pickle and her new Friend
has been paragraphed in every public shape, and unless something
extraordinary should occur, may now be dropped. — We have only
to add, that as Banker to her Highness, he actually received her
weeKs salary from the Treasurer, on Saturday last ! ! ! "
On the 13th of the above month, the annexed impromptu, &c.,
were published on the same subject.
ON A CERTAIN PERSON'S RECEIVING A THEATRICAL
SALARY.
As Jordan's high and mighty squire,
Her play-honse profits deign to skim ;
Some folks audaciously enquire,
If he keeps her, or she keeps him !
Pindar Junb.
" It is said positively to be a fact, that the actress whose elevated
connection has lately engrossed so much newspaper comment, has
52 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
not touched, and is in little likelihood of obtaining any pecuniary
aid from her new protector ; and that besides her domestic sup-
port, to which her own salary contributes, she has only procured
an annuity for her eldest child, for wliom she is supposed to be
indebted to an Irish manager of well-known gallantry."
As some palliative for the scurrility with which the daily
prints abounded in regard to Mrs. Jordan, some admirers were
found to espouse her cause, and among such paragraphic matter,
we beg to insert the following : —
"Among the ungenerous attempts which have been used to
lower Mrs. Jordan in the public estimation, may be ranked the
insinuation that she has made a mercenary agreement with her
present protector — admitting that the public had anything to do
with the business ; her calumniators, however, if they have erred
through ignorance, must be covered Avitli shame when they know
that although she has settled half her fiUure income from her
profession, and all that she has saved in it, wpon her children \ —
she has absolutely rejected every idea of settlement, or pecuniary
aid for herself. Her independence is in her talents, the unrivalled
excellence of which is undoubtedly the real cause of so much un-
manly scurrility having lately appeared against her."
At the close of a biographical sketch of Mrs. Jordan, speaking
of her private character in reference to j;he Duke of Clarence, we
find the following statement :—
" Jn private life, Mrs. Jordan has the best opinion of the best
characters : — towards the Duke she conducts herself in the most
faithful and endearing manner — neither superfluous in expendi-
ture, nor extravagant in expectation, she lives as the nature of
her connection will allow ; and it may be said of her, what of
many ladies legally connected cannot be said —
' Tlio' she boasts not the name, she's the truth of a wife.'
" Unfriendly to the parade of high life, she is contented to
forego the wretched ostentation of less exalted minds, for the more
tranquil pleasures of domestic retirement. She is a fond and
tender mother, and with her children she loves to pass away those
hours, which might be less pleasureably expended in the splendid
delusions of fashionable life."
" In addition to these commendable dispositions, she has the
credit of being liberal to the necessitous, and of uniting to the
proper dignity of conscious talent, the engaging condescension of
lady-like )nanners"
"It is by the ignorant, that worth most usually is injured. Hu-
manity has a natural bias to calumniate, and if the report of a
Life of ]\[rs. Jordan. 53
public cliai'acter is balanced between praise and censure, opinion
turns the scale, and fixes the opprobrium. It is by those who
know her not that Mrs. Jordan is discredited ; — those who do
know her, never can know enough of her good qualities, her con-
ciliatory temper, her engaging manners, her i*eadiness to oblige,
and her willingness to assist, the open generosity of her hand,
the superior liberality of her mind."
The season after Mrs. Jordan had accepted the protection of
his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, she did not perform,
and it was reported that it was her intention to relinquish the
stage, as the Duke had provided for her. In consequence of
this report, Mrs. Jordan soon after published the following letter,
dii'ected to Mr. Sheridan, wherein she explains the occasion of
her non-appearance on the boards.
" Sir, — From the very handsome manner in which you acceded
to my proposals, and as I conceived, concluded my engagement,
I flattered myself I should have no difficulty to encounter in im-
mediately entering into my agreement with you ; — an event I
have waited for with increased anxiety, from the circumstance of
having, through your liberality, been for some time in the receipt
of a very large salary, without being permitted to perform.
" I am totally at a loss to account for the conduct of the mana-
ger, in any other way than his continued disinclination to let me
appear in any new character whatever, — a complaint I have often
been constrained to make to you, and you have as often acknow-
ledged the justice of it ; and, in our last negociation, endeavoured
effectually to remove, but without success.
" As a duty I owe myself and the public, I mean to publish
a copy of this letter, to serve as a simple, hxitfair contradiction to
some malicious reports that are circulated, insinuating that I have
withdi'awn myself from their protection, a circumstance I have
had every reason to be proud, of which I shall ever retain the
most grateful remembrance, accompanied by the sincerest regret
at being def)rived of the happiness of manifesting, in the duties
of my profession, the truth of this assertion. You, sir, I make
no doubt, will candidly confess, that I have already been too much
tormented with regard to this engagement, and also that from
this unnecessary delay in bringing forwaixl the comedy, that it is
now void ; and when I assure you that my situation in the theatre
has, for a considerable time, been made very irksome to me, and
that should I attempt to continue in it, out of respect to you, I
should subject myself to still greater perplexities, which it is not
in your power to prevent ; I am therefore confident, that you will
54 Life of Mks. Jordan.
release me from that kind of embarrassment, which the liberality
of your conduct towards me, makes me suffer in the justice of my
wisli to quit the Haymarket theatre.
" In complying with tlie above request, you will greatly add to
tlie favours already conferred on,
Somerset-street, Sir,
Jan. 29, 1793. Yours, Arc, — Dora Jordan."
On the 13th of December, 1791, the following paragraph ap-
peared in one of the morning papers : —
"A FACT."
" The Naval Officer, who too often infests the scenes of the
Haymarket theatre, to the annoyance of everyone that belongs to
the house, hut one, had the modesty the other day, to desire Mr,
S to forbid Mr. Ford the privilege of appearing behind the
iscenes. Mr. S very properly told the naval officer, that
Mr. Ford's behaviour, as & gentleman, precluded such a prohibition;
and that in point of rigid, Mr. F. had as much pretention as
(Mr. S ) himself."
It appears that there was some idea of introducing Mrs. Jordan
to the public in the character of an oi'atorio singer, as the follow-
ing statement will manifest : —
"Amidst the many contradictory reports which have been
circulated respecting Mrs. Jordan's performance at the ensuing
oratorios, we have been able to asoei'tain the following, as being
the exact state of the business as it at present stands. Some
time since, Dr. Arnold and Mr. Linley applied to Mrs. Jordan,
requesting her assistance as a principal singer for the oratorios at
Drury-lane ; after repeated refusals on her part, from a sense of
her inexperience in that line, it was pi'oposed that Dr. Parsons,
whose reputation stands so high in the musical world, should hear
her sing, and that his judgment respecting her voice should be
conclusive. The trial was accordingly made, and every assurance
of sviccess given ; Dr. Parsons himself undertaking to give her the
necessary instructions ; at the same time the Doctor and her
friends have advised her not to throw away the attractions of her
first appearance, unless she can be supported by a proper band,
and vocal performers of reputation and consequence, — if such can
be engaged so late in the season, and Dr. Parsons approves of
them as proper assistance to his new scholar, Mrs. Jordan will
certainly perform this season, otherwise the curiosity of the public
will remain ungratified until next year."
In reference to the Royal friend of our actress, we annex a
ludicrous skit that appeared on the 1st of May, 1792.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 55
^^ Little Pickups carriage is to be immediately decorated with
something like heraldic bearings : — a crest is already fixed upon,
and what can be more appropriate than a sea gxill ! "
The annexed well-turned letter appeared in a morning print,
on the 19th of March, 1794, two days subsequent to the date it
bore, being written from the Thatched-house tavern.
"TO MRS. JORDAN."
" Madam, — As you and your friends may possibly be at a loss
to account for the abuse that has been for some time thrown out
against you, I will endeavour to explain the mystery, and how
you may avoid it in future. Among the various admonishers
jou have had, not one of them has possessed courage or candour
enough to lay before you your o'eal and numberless offences. It
is fairly said, if we do not know our faults, hoiv are we to mend
them ? This ignorance shall no longer be your plea ; and I flatter
myself, that in the execution of the task I have undertaken, every
friend to you and truth will acknowledge the justice of the accusa-
tions I am about to bring against you. Without further preface,
then, give me leave to ask you, hotv dare you possess such brilliant
talents, and exert them with the success you usually do ? How
dare you deserve, and consequently receive the largest salary given
at either theatre ? These are two capital offences to which even
your friends will acknowledge you must plead guilty. The next
is that you never think it necessary to pay for the panegyric of
any single jyerson, but have the insolence to remain perfectly
happy with the approbation of the audience.
"So much for your public misdeiaeanors, your private ones are
still more extraordinary and aggravating, for have you not had
the presumption, all your life, to conduct yourself most affection-
ately and tenderly towards your relatives, — liberally and benevo-
lently towards the distressed ? Your impertinent conduct,
moreover, in the theatre is monstrous. How dare you presume to
depart from an established rule in your high station, by being
mild and civil to the lowest performer in it 1 You can no longer
be at a loss to account for the abuse, or its origin ; — you must
disj^ossess yourself of all these /aidts, and of the public parti-ality,
before you can hope to be popular ; and if you had been fortunate
enough to have attempted a high conquest, and failed in tlie
attempt, it would have rendered you (with the above set) the most
amiable of women, established your moral character, however
glaring any other connection might be, provided, like the gipsies,
it was confined within the pale of your own profession.
Yeritas."
56 Life of Mrs. Jordan,
The annexed epigranij said to have been from the pen of Peter
Pindar (Dr. Walcott), appeared on the 6th of November, 1794,
soon after Mrs. Jordan's appeai'ance in the character referred to :
EPIGRAM,
On seeing Mrs. Jordan in the character of Rosalind, at Drury
Lane Theatre.
Had Shakspeare's self at Drury beeu,
While Jordan play'd each varied scene,
He would have started from his seat,
And cried — ' That's Rosalind complete ! '
Soon after the above, appeared these lines, under the following
head : —
On Mrs. Jordan's exquisite recital of the Ejnlogue to the Rivals,
To comic Jordan's laughing eye,
The tear of pity stole ;
But in revenge she drew a sigh,
From each spectator's soul.
In reference to the procrastinated warfare that existed between
Mr. Kemble, then acting manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and
Mrs. Jordan, as well as the conduct of the former in regard to
the di'ama of Vortigern, performed on the 2nd of April, 1796, we
deem it expedient to insert the following letter.
" Keiiible can never stand in the first rank of favourites till he
evinces greater abilities, and less self-conceit. Before that period
arrives, he will constantly meet with mortifications whenever he
contends with a performer of Mrs. Jordan's merits, who is singly
capable of supporting the interests of a theati'e, as he has himself
most injudiciously proved by placing her perpetually in situations
whei"e all around her were drawbacks, instead of assistants. If
any dispute between actors be brought before the public, their
motto must of course be, — '■ Spectemur agendo^ — 'Let our per-
formances be the test,' — and upon this ground, the question has
long been completely divided between the contending pai^ties.
" Next to professional talents, professional humility, and a
zeal for the gratification of those to whom they owe their very
existence — will always be the greatest recommendation of persons
in such a situation. In this particular, as well as in many others,
Mrs. Jordan appears to me to exceed almost all her contemporaries;
while Mr. Kemble is as notoriously blameable for the reverse.
When I instance (the most recent of numerous examples) the night
on which the famous Kyyige Vortigerne was announced for general
condemnation ; I would, by no means, be understood to be an
advocate for its authenticity ; on the contrary, my own private
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 57
opinion perfectly coincides with the fiat of the audience, — but the
play having once been accepted, no matter for what reason — by
the proprietors, and eagerly expected by the woi'ld, what could be
more indecorous, to say nothing worse (considering from whom,
and for what he receives a large salary) than tlie behaviour of
Mr. Kemble throughout ?— ISTor could a more striking contrast to
his overweening fastidiousness possibly be exhibited, than in the
deportment of Mrs. Powell and the inimitable actress, his jealousy
of whom has occasioned the present stricture : —
' Though I wish thy death,
I will not be thy executioner.'
While nothing short of downright murder would satiate Mr.
Kemble's thirst of vengeance. To every liberal spectator, whether
credulous or incredulous as to the old trunk and its contents, such
conduct could not fail of being most disgustingly offensive. The
audience, in order to form their judgment, had no need to take
their cue from his 'wreathed smiles,' or even from Mr. Maloxe's
octavo : —
' Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora pcenni,
Nectnm aversus equos Tyria, sol jnngit ab urbe ! *
" I cannot quit this subject without remarking that I have
scai'cely ever observed a more glaring instance of clumsy misre-
presentation, than in a statement made of the loss likely to be
sustained by the lovers of the drama, in conseqiience, forsooth, of
this fracas. A long list of performers is pompously held forth, as
following Mr. Kemble into retirement upon this, his threatened
secession, — whereas, most unfortunately, not only all those who
frequent the theatre, but all who cast their eye upon a newspaper,
have repeatedly been informed that every individual of that list
has, for some time past, resolved upon quitting the stage, at the
conclusion of the present season, and that too, before Hamlet
(which it seems, was the bone of contention) was even put into
rehearsal. Miso Puff."
In regard to the dispute respecting Hamlet, we beg leave to
insert the ensuing paragraph :- -
"There have lately been very high and violent disputes between
Mr. Kemble and Mi's. Jordan, on the subject of Hamlet. The
former, it seems, started some objections to the latter announcing
it for her benefit, he having already advertised it for his night.
The arguments on both sides proceeded to such a length, that the
question became quite confused ; and the only equitable decision
the managers could pronounce petween the contending parties,
was that neither of them have the disputed piece. In consequence
58 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
of the verdict, the Deputy is said to be so much offended, as to
talk of resigning his important /u7ictions."
This affair terminated by Mrs. Jordan choosing the tragedy of
Borneo and Juliet, in which she, for the first time, sustained the
latter character, concerning which we find the following statement
published at the time, viz.: the SOth of April, 1796, five days
subsequent to the representation : —
" The assuming any new part or piece for a benefit, is scarcely
even worth any observation ; — but when the house adopts either,
it becomes a fair subject of criticism. Mrs. Jordan, in every
delicate touch of sensibility in her performances, has been so
accustomed to approbation, tliat it was natural enough she should
attempt the most delicate of all characters — that of Juliet ; but
beautiful and unequalled as she is on such occasions, the brilliancy
is heightened only by the shade that surrounds it ; in Juliet, all
is elegant refinement, while her forte is mere simplicity not rude
but untaught. Her figure and her features are not those of the
' great Capulet's daughter,' — still she showed us much to admire."
We have pi'eviously remarked that our actress was at all times
ready to step forward in behalf of the distressed, an instance of
this kind occurred in the month of May, 1799, respecting which
we insert the following comment : —
"Great as is her theatrical merit, Mrs. Jordan deserves more
of public applause for the natural display of her professional
humanity, than for the superiority of her powers in the mimic
art. Who that sees her transferring those powers to Covent
Garden Theatre in aid of the widow and orphans of the late Mr.
Follet, but must admire her active benevolence, and lament that
so forcible an example is so unfrequently imitated."
In the month of June, 1800, we again find our actress enlisted
in the cause of humanity, as the ensuing paragraph will demon-
strate : —
" For all benevolent purposes, Mrs. Jordan is ever ready and
gratuitous ; notwithstanding her previous exertions this week,
which have been devoted to objects of the same character, she
comes cheerfully forth at Covent Garden Theatre in aid of that
very useful establishment, the Lying-in Hospital, at Bayswater.
Of this lady may be repeated what Dr. Johnson has said of Levet,
that —
In misery's darkest caverns known,
Her useful aid is ever nip^h,
Where hopeless anguish proves its groan,
And lonely want retires to die."
Life of Mrs. Jordax. 59
After a long absence from her theatrical avocations, — Mrs.
Jordan, on the 11th of March, 1801, appeared as Peggy, m the
comedy of the Country Girl, when so irresistible proved the
attraction, that at a very early hour the house was crowded to
an overflow.
On her appearance she was greeted by the splendid crowd with
reiterated testimonials of admiration and respect ; and throughout
the entire performance, was warmly and universally applauded.
She looked extremely well, and exhibited with the most fascinating
effect that irresistible playfulness of manner, those winning ges-
tures, and incomparable diversity of sweet and silvery tones for
which she stood so eminently unrivalled, and proclaimed her the
favourite offspi-ing of Thalia.
In the month of August, 1802, while performing at Margate,
in the Country Girl, Mrs. Jordan met with an accident which
had nearly terminated in a fatal manner. In the scene near the
conclusion of the piece, where she spoke from a window, the flame
from one of the lamps behind the scenes caught the train of her
dress, and she was instantly in a blaze.— The one side was totally
consumed before it could be quite extinguished. Happily she
sustained no other injury than what arose from terror. The
audience testified their extreme interest for her safety, and
throughout the whole house there was a general expression of
alarm. Notwithstanding the accident, Mrs. Jordan sustained the
part, though evidently labouring under considerable depression of
spirits.
Towards the close of November, in the above year, Mrs. Jor-
dan, for the first time, appeared in the character of il/rs. Sullen
in the Beaux Stratagem. It was only an expectation of pleasui'e
beyond all bounds, founded on her well known unrivalled per-
formances that could have occasioned disappointment, if any was
experienced. Had the essay in question been her original entree,
the audience would have been enraptured, and the night would
have been pi'onounced the most memorable in the annals of the
stage that had occurred for a series of years. The character in
question had not appeared of so much importance since the
secession of Miss Farren.
The author appeared to have had her alone in his thoughts, and
to have invented the fable and introduced the other persons of the
drama, only for the purpose of displaying her wit, her frankness,
her gaiety, her happy talent for raillery, her powerful love of
pleasure, and her yielding sense of propriety. At the same time
we must confess that her delineation of the character did not, in
our eyes, attain perfection. Mrs. Sullen is a woman of fashion ;
- ILILJ.,]-. --
60 LiFH OF Mrs. Jordan.
• — she had been buried fourteen months ; — but supposing that she
did not often, in that lapse of time, dance and chat, and flirt with
the Frencli officers, she had previously moved in the first circles
about London, and acquired all the elegant ease of high-life. We
by no means say that she should confine herself to parts of broad
liumour, or deep pathos ; — but certainly on that occasion, the toss
of our actress's head, and the flirt of her fan, did not remind us
of the court ; she did not manage her eyes with all the skilful
freedom of a modern lady of ton, and at times too, she did not
appear altogether free from embarrassment to find proper employ-
ment for her hands. If, indeed, there was any of this awkwardness
discoverable, it was in considerable degree owing to the situation
in which Mrs. Sullen is placed, and the speeches put into her
mouth not being at all times consistent with delicacy, but calcu-
lated to distress the female who performs the part, and her who
witnesses its performance. In fact, the Beaux Stratagem is
throughout the most licentious piece tolerated on the stage, and
we know not if its dramatic excellence ought to be considered as
a sufficient apology for its immoi^al tendency.
Mrs. Jordan appeared in no new character during this year,
when Frances, her eldest daughter, came of age, for whom she
took a handsome mansion in Golden-square, that lady having
subsequently become the wife of Mr. Alsop. With Frances, her
sisters, Lucy and Dora, resided when absent from their mother,
w^hom they usually attended at Bushy Park. It is said that an
elderly gentleman, named Bettsworth, at this juncture, tendered
Mrs. Jordan a very ample fortune, in the event of her taking his
name, and becoming his representative.
Having mentioned Mrs, Alsop, it may not be irrelevant here
to remark, that at a subsequent period of life, she attempted th^
stage, assuming the cast of characters so inimitably personated by
her parent, in reference to which, we shall content ourselves by
quoting Mr. Hazlitt, who, in his View of the English Stage, (one
volume, 8vo. published in 1818), speaking of this lady's delineation
of the character of Jiosalind, observes as follows, at p. 168 : —
"October 22nd, 1815. A lady of the name of Alsop, a daughter
of Mrs. Jordan (by a former husband), has appeared at Covent
Garden theatre, in the character of Jiosalind. Not only the
circumstances of her relationship to that excellent actress, but
the accounts in the papers raised our curiosity and expectations
very high. We Avei'e unwillingly disappointed. The truth is,
Mrs. Alsop is a very nice little woman, who acts her part very
sensibly and cleverly, and with a certain degree of arch huuiour,
but no more like her mother, 'than I to Hercules.' When we say
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 61
this, we mean no disparagement to this lady's talents, who is a
real acquisition to the stage in correct and chaste acting, — but
simply to prevent comparisons, which can only end in disappoint-
ment. Mrs. Alsop would make a better Celia than Rosalind. —
Mrs. Jordan's excellencies were all natural to her ; it was not as
an actress, but as herself, that she charmed every one. Nature
had formed her most prodigal humour, and when nature is in this
humour to make a woman all that is delightful, she does it most
effectually. Mrs. Jordan was the same in all her characters, and
inimitable in all of them, because there was no one else like her.
" Her face, her tears, her manners were irresistible. Her
smile had the effect of sunshine, and her laugh did one good to
hear it. Her voice was eloquence itself : it seemed as if her heart
was always at her mouth. She was all gaiety, openness, and good
nature. She rioted in her fine animal spirits, and gave more
pleasure than any other actress, because slie had the greatest
spirit of enjoyment in herself. Her Nell but we will not
tantalise ourselves, or our readers. Mrs. Alsop has nothing
luxurious about her, and Mrs. Jordan was nothing else. Her voice
is clear and articulate, but not rich or flowing. In pei'son she is
small, and her face is not prepossessing. Her delivery of the
speeches was correct and excellent, as far as it went, but without
much richness, or power ; — lively good sense is what she really
possesses. She also sung the Cuckoo song very pleasingly."
On the 7th of February, 1804, Mr. Cherry, to whom we have
previously alluded, produced his piece, entitled The Soldier's
Daughter, in which Mrs. Jordan personated Widotv Cheerly, with
the most happy effect. This character was alike removed from
that of the Rom]), or the lady of high ton, resting its claim to
favour in the sprightliness, and genuine goodness of heart. At
the close of the piece, which commanded particular success, our
actress spoke an epilogue, terminating with an appeal to the
indulgence of her auditors towards the writer of the comedy,
which entreaty, however, was by no means required, as the play
continued a favourite during the entire season, in the course of
which, however, Mr. Cumberland brought forward his Sailor's
Daughter, a representation that was unattended by success.
Our heroine, for her benefit this year, made choice of the
Hyj)ocrite, with a new farce, from the pen of a Mr. Oulton, of
Dublin, in which she personated an Irish servant. The dialogue
was interspersed with flashes of considerable humour, but upon
the whole, the attempt was not calculated to make a favourable
impression, — and after the first performance, no repetition took
place.
ISH
62 Life of Mrs. Jordax.
The Di'ury Lane company, in 1804-5, commenced operations
on the 15th of September, Mrs. Jordan performing the part of
WidoivClieefly, whose entree was greeted with reiterated applauses.
During this season, she had frequently to repeat the same charac-
ter, as well as those in which she was so well known to the public.
No theatrical novelty, however, was produced, until the 20th of
November, on which night our actress appeared in the popular
farce of Matrimony, adapted to our theatre, from the French, by
Mr. Kenny.
In order to show the favourable light in which Mrs. Jordan
was regarded at this period, and the countenance she received
from the most dignified personages in the realm, we beg leave to
quote the following ai-ticle, originally published in 1806. We
further hope to stand excused for inserting the comments of Mr.
Cobbett, the correctness of which cannot be denied, however they
may, in some measure, militate against the heroine of our pages.
This article was reprinted in the " Political Register," of Saturday,
the 9th of June, 1832, the present year, when its insertion caused
such a rapid sale, that the edition was soon exhausted, and in
consequence, a premium was tendered at the office, for any of the
numbers that might be presented there for disposal.
THE FITZJORDANS.
The following article, which will give rise to striking reflections,
is taken from the " Register," of September 6th, 1806. Twenty-
six years ago, then, and when these people were babies, I foresaw
the consequences that might arise from their existence.
"What a base and foolish thing it is for any consolidated body
of authority to say, or to act as if it said, — I will put my trust,
not in mine own virtues, but in your patience ; — I will indulge
in effeminacy, in indolence, and corruption ; — I will give way to
all my perverse and vicious humours, because you cannot punish
me without the hazard of ruining yourselves ! "
Burke's Works, Vol. VII., p. 364.
"The large grants of public money, made by the Wliig ministry,
just at the close of the last session of parliament, were, by many
persons, and by myself among others, regarded as being totally
unnecessary, seeing that the allowances to the several branches
were already so ample. Colonel Wood has the merit (a merit that
will ere long, be distinguished) of having opposed these grants ;
and, though his opposition proved ineffectual for the time, it
encourages us to hope, that when the House shall again be full,
there will be some few members, at least, found to endeavour to
LiFK OF Mrs. Jordan. 63
cause a revision of this measure, Avhich, I will venture to say, has
given a greater shock to men's feelings, than any one that has been
adopted for many years. But at any rate since the money has
been granted, it must be the wish of every good subject to see it
judiciously expended ; — to see it, agreeably to the declarations of
ministers, employed in, and 'supporting the dignity^ of the several
persons on whom it has been bestowed ; and under the influence
of this wish, what must have been the public feeling at reading
the following account, ostentatiously published in all the London
newspapers, of the 23rd of April, 1806, under the title of : —
" DUKE OF clarence's BIRTHDAY."
[To be precise, however, I shall, previous to my inserting the
account, just state, that I copy it from the Courier newspaper of
the day here mentioned.]
" The Duke of Clarence's birthday was celebrated with much
splendour in Bushy Park, on Thursday. The giand hall was
entirely new fitted up with bronze pilasters, and various marble
imitations ; — the ceiling was correctly clouded, and the whole
illuminated with some brilliant patent lamps, suspended from a
beautiful eagle. The dining-room, in the right wing, was fitted
up in a modern style, with new elegant lamps at the different en-
trances. The pleasure ground was disposed for the occasion, and
the servants had new liveries. In the morning, the Dukes of
York^s and Rentes Bands arrived in caravans; — after dressing
'themselves, and dining, they went into the pleasure grounds, and
played alternately some charming pieces. The Duke of Kent's
played some of the choruses and movements from Haydn's Oratorio
of the Creation, arranged hy command of his Royal Highness,
for a band of wind instruments. About five o'clock the Prince of
Wales, the Dukes of York, Kent, Sussex, and Cambridge, Colonel
Paget, tfec, arrived from reviewing The German Legion. After
they had dressed for dinner, they walked in the pleasure grounds,
accompanied by the Lord Chancellor, Earl and Countess of Athlone
and Daughter, Lord Leicester, Baron Hotham and Lady, Baron
Eden, the Attorney General, Colonels Paget and Mc.Millon, Ser-
jeant Marshall, and a number of other persons. At seven o'clock,
the second bell announced the dinner, when the Prince took
Mrs. Jordan hy the hand, led her into the dining-room, and seated
her at the top of the table. The Prince took his seat at her right
hand, and the Duke of York at her left ; the Duke of Cambridge
sat next to the Prince, the Duke of Kent next to the Duke of
York, and the Lord Chancellor next to his Royal Highness. The
Duke of Clarence sat at the foot oj the table.
64 LiFK OF Mrs. Joudan.
" It is hardly necessary to state the table was sumptuously
covered with every thing the season could afford. The bands
played on the lawn, close to the dining-room window. The popu-
lace were permitted to enter the pleasure grounds, to behold the
royal banquet, while the presence of Messrs. Townsend, Sayers,
and Macmanu preserved the most correct decorum.
" The Duke's numerous Family were introduced, and admired
by the Pi'ince, the Royal Dukes, and the whole company ; an infant
in arms, with a most beautiful white head of haii", was brought
into the dining-room by the nursery maid. After dinner, the
Prince gave ' the Duke of Clarence,' which was drunk with thi-ee
times thx'ee; the Duke then gave 'the King,' which was drunk in
a solemn manner. A discharge of cannon from the lawn followed.
'The Queen and Princesses,' — 'The Duke of York and the Army!'
His Royal Highness's band then struck up his celebrated march !
"Now, first observing that I do not mean to give this paragraph
as a narrative of real facts, but merely as a publication that I
have found in the newspaper above named, and as a statement
which I wish to see contradicted by order of His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales, or some of his brothers; thus observing, and
explicitly stating that my object is to remove the evil impression
which such a publication must necessarily tend to produce upon
the minds of a people, who, h]j the express command of his Majesty,
have read to them from the pulpit, four times a day, a long ex-
hortation against vice and immorality, and who have fresh in their
minds the huge gi^ants of money recently made for the declared
purpose of enabling the several brandies of the Royal Family ' to
support the dignity of their station,' thus previously observing, I
would beg leave, as a beginning of my comments upon the publi-
cation before me, to ask the writer of it what march he Tneans,
when he talks of the ' celebrated march of the Duke of York ? ' —
and I would farther ask him, what necessity there was in a
publication of this sort, to remind the people of England of the
Duke of York's marches? — and why he could not have so far got
the better of his too obvious disposition, as to suffer those ' cele-
brated ' marches to rest quiet, and unalluded to 1
" The representing of the oratorio of the Creation, and arranged
by the Duke of Kent too, applied to the purpose of ushering in
the ' manerous /a7nily ' of tlie Duke of Clarence ; — the thus repre-
senting the Duke of Kent as employed in an act whereby the
procreation of a brood of illegitimate children is put in comparison
with the great works of the Almighty, is in this writer, an act of
the most indiscreet disloyalty, and of blasphemy the most dai'ing.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 65
" We all know that the Duke of Clarence is not married, and
that therefoi-e if he had children, those children must be bastards,
and that the father must be guilty of a crime in the eye of the
law, as well as of religion, — and that he would exhibit a striking
example of that vice and immorality which his Royal father's
proclamation, so regularly read to us by our pastors, commands
us to shun and to abhor, and enjoins upon the magistrates to
mark out and to punish whenever they shall find them existing
among us.
"While we hear this command so often repeated to us, and
know that from the form in which it is conveyed, it comes imme-
diately from his Majesty's mind and conscience, can we possibly
suppose that he would wink at acts in his own family, such as are
described by this writer? And when to this consideration we
add the many others that present themselves upon the subject,
can we hesitate in declaring that to represent the Duke of Clarence
as having a 'numerous family of children,' is foully to slander his
Royal Highness, and that further to represent him as ostenta-
tiously exhibiting this ' numerous family ' in public, and in the
immediate presence of all his Royal brothers, and of the Lord
Chancellor of England and others of the nobles, is to accuse him
of a gratuitous and wanton insult against the laws, manners, and
morals of the country.
" This representation and accusation I must and I do, therefore,
consider as false, and I am confirmed in my opinion when I hear
the same writer assert that the Prince of Wales took Mother
Jordan by the hand, and in the presence of a Countess, a Coun-
tess's Daugliter, and a Baroness, — seated her at the head of the
table, taking his place upon her right hand, his Royal brothers
arranging themselves according to their rank, on both sides of
the table, the 2^0^^ of honour being nearest Mother Jordan, who,
the last time I saw her, cost me eighteen pence in her character
of Nell Jobson. This part of the account proves the falsehood of
the whole. But, though amongst persons who are at all acquainted
with the character of the illustrious personages who are by this
writer represented as having been actors in the scene, there can
be no doubt that the whole of the representation is false, mox-e
especially when we take into view the pious and strenuously en-
forced precepts of their Royal father's proclamation ; yet, amongst
that part of his Majesty's subjects who know nothing of the
manners of the great, except what they learn through the channel
of the newspapers, doubts upon the subject may prevail, nay —
such persons may believe the representation of the Courier, par-
ticularly as it had been given in nearly the same words, too, by all
64 Lu'i or Mrs. Jokdax.
thf other liewsi^wijx'i-w ; and thert'fore beinj; fully owinncfd that
the n'pn*w»ntation luust pnxluce iu wluitever cJejfroe it w b<;lu-ved,
aji iiuprciibion rxtrvinely injurious t<i the chnmcter of the parties
lULUiivl: not letvs iiijuriouK to the manners and moraliiof the }><Hip]e;
and eventually greatly danp>rou8 to the htability of tlw throne,
for this plain reason,- that the most virtuouK part of the jxtiple,
that jMirl of tli«'ni in wIiom; uiiiiiU truth Jind ju8tic-e are pre-
dominant, that juirt of theui on whom alone reliance could safely
U' plared, would iiifallihly Iw the most disj;ust«-d, and the most
alienated, liy the U'lief of such a repntientat.i<»n. li^-ing fully
convincetl of these im^Kirtant truths, I venture to lx"seeih the
royal parties whose names hav»- l»e«-n so unwarrantably brought
before the public in the alxtve cited publication, to cause a ffirmal
contradiction ther«»of to be }>ublicly made. I venture to b<'seech
them to reflect on the fatal consevjuences wiiich have uniforndy
ensued, and esjicvially in recent instjuices, from proceedinp< mch
a£ are here descnb«'d in this publication, and to nMiK-mber that
to be blameless, as they doubtless an-, is not enough, uiili-ss they
are thought to Ix* blamelt«s.
"I venture to l)csee<h them well to weigh the words of my
motto, and to consider whether, thou<_'h the altove cited publiiiition
is a tissue of falsc'lioods, thus f)ermitting it to remain uii<-ontr»-
dicted may not expose them among the uninfonned part of the
people to the imputation of acting upon a principle such as that
in my motto described.
•' I venture to Wseech them above all things to reflect on what
must be the natural and inevitable eflect produced in the minds
of the jieople, if tln-y were once to believe tliat any portion of the
grants made out of taxes, in times like the presi-nt, was expended
upon objects such as those descrilied in this poisonous publication;
and lastly, as I have, in proportion to my menus nnd my cnjiacity,
done as much as any private individual ever did in support of the
throne, and the rej)utation of the Royal Family, I hof)e it will
not l)e thought presumptuous that I now make them a tender of
my pages and my f»en, for the purpose of making and promulgating
that contradiction whicli evj-ry truly loy.il subject is so desirous
to see."
Notwithstanding the large profits derive<l by ^Mi-s. Jord&ii
from her inimitable talents, it has l)een shrewdly surmised they
were not always appropriated to hei- own benefit, there is, how-
ever, nothing wond«'rful in this, as numerous instances might be
recorded of the 7ui»« to which b<Mngs under the human shape, and
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 67
calling themselves gentlemen, have converted their mistresses : nay,
we have been given to understand that in numerous instances,
the salaries derived from professional avocations have not unfre-
quently been applied to the use of such protectors.
We have also heard that in some instances an embargo has been
laid on public performances, unless the nightly salary was paid
over prior to a lady's appearance on the boards; — of course nothing
of such a nature bears reference to our story : —
-Let the gall'd jade go wince,
Our withers are anwrnng I
It may be very glorious to rank a potentate in this world, but
it is a more honourable thing to deserve the name of gentleman,
— for title, though veiling a multitude of sins, will not engraft
honour in a polluted soil.
We live in an age of improvement, and sounding names can no
longer curtain flagrant depravity ; the march of intellect may be
impeded, but never stopped, — it may halt, but cannot retrograde;
mind has received the grand impetus ; reason has been inspired
by the magic wand of truth, and the drayman is now as well
aware that potentates are but fragile clay, and subject to be de-
graded by every vice, — as the mighty Bacon, or the reasoning
Locke.
Little digressions are pardonable in a writer, and the foregoing
remarks are only intended as trimmings to the subject matter of
our theme.
In the progress of the trial of the late unfortunate Queen
Caroline, it was currently reported that a certain illustrious char-
acter insinuated in the committee, that an occurrence had taken
place between two parties, which if true, would have branded the
individuals alluded to with an incestuous intercourse, which to
contemplate only in imagination, makes us shudder.
Whether there was any truth in the statement adverted to, we
will not pretend to decide, but we can assert that so prevalent
was it at the period in question, and so fully credited by one of
the counsel for the accused, that Mr. Denman adverting to the
subject, made use of the following energetic ejaculation which ran
from one end of the kingdom to the other : —
" Come forward, tho^i foul slanderer, and let me see thy face.
If you refuse, you are not so respectable as the. Italian tvitness who
comes to face the court, — you are worse tlian the Italian assassin,
— you are plunging a dagger unseen, and converting your stiletto
to a sword of justice ! "
68 Life of Mas. Jokimk.
Tlie editor of the Trial then proceeds to comment as follows: —
'* I sliould have thought it impossible for any man with the
heart of a sian, and the honour of a peer, to present such a case.
If it can be one of the Blood lloyal, I would say he had done
more to degrade himself, and forfeit his right to the crown, than
my Royal mistress would have done, had every charge been proved
against her."
See the " Trial of Queen Caroline" published by Wright, Fleet'
street, 8vo, vol. 2, ;j. Ji.37.
"Amongst the voters against the Queen are exquisite judges of
morality, and excellent observers of the commandment, — " Thou
shalt not commit adultery." The Dukes of York and Clarence !
It is enough to \itiate the whole proceedings, that on such an
occasion, two such men should dare to present themselves in the
House of Lords.
"What, is the age so lost to decency, that avowed guilt can sit
in judgment upon persecuted innocence? — We would the spectre
of the unfortunate Jordan should push one of them from his stool;
though we must confess we cannot expect anything could abash the
other ; when he could leave the funeral of his wife, to assume the
seat of judgment, in the face of his convicted adulteries with Mrs.
Clark. These things are so monstrous, that we can hardly per-
suade ourselves they occur in England. Are we not at Rome in
the time of Nero ? — Or to what other barbarous but licentious
times, have we reverted 1 "
After an absence of two seasons, Mrs. Jordan was engaged for
Drury-lane, by Mr. Wroughton, who then officiated as actiiag
manager of the establishment, and on the 17th of September,
1808, she appeared in the character of Peggy, in the Country
Girl, which was supported with all her accustomed archness.
On this occasion it may be requisite to remark that her absence
had been much felt by the public ; if any inference may be drawn
from the reception she experienced, which was enthusiastic in the
exti'eme.
Nothing of a novel character transpired at the theatre as re-
garded Mrs. Jordan, until the 5th of January, when INlr. S. J.
Arnold, whose talents had been before exclusively confined to
opera and farce, brought forward a comedy under the title of Man
and Wife, which commanded much applause. In this piece, our
heroine supported a leading character, and spoke the epilogue
with an effect that pi'oved highly advantageous to the author,
whose piece was given out for a second representation, with uni-
versal satisfaction.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 69
On the night of Friday, the 24th of February, 1809, Drury-
lane theatre was consumed by fire, on which occasion our heroine
was one of the greatest sufferers among the company, for as she
generally resided at Bushy Park, the major part of her wardrobe,
and decorations of every description, were left at the play-house.
With this melancholy catastrophe, the retii'ement also of Mrs.
Jordan from any further permanent theatrical engagement took
place ; however, according to custom, when it became requisite
to show a charitable feeling, she was never found deficient, so on
the present occasion was her philanthropy manifested.
Mr. Taylor, of the Opera House, having accorded permission
for the use of that establishment dui'ing three nights, in order to
assist those performers of humble rank who had been sufferers by
the conflagration, our heroine on the 23rd of March, performed
gratuitously in the Country Gii'l.
As we conceive an interesting anecdote, tending further to
illustrate the inherent goodness of our heroine's heart, will not
prove devoid of interest, we shall proceed to narrate it, vouching at
the same time for the correctness of the statement.
Mrs. Jordan, as frequently before remarked, was gifted with a
mind susceptible of every tender emotion that confers honour
upon the female sex, and such sentiments never failed to be called
into action on the appearance of misery or distress.
During one of the visits paid to Chester, her washerwoman, a
poor widow burthened with three small children, was, by an in-
human creditor, cast into prison for a trifling debt of forty shillings
originally, but which had been augmented in a short time by the
rapacity of a lawyer, to eight pounds. No sooner had our heroine
ascertained the circumstance, than she sent for the attorney, paid
the full demand, and then with all the severity she was capable
of displaying, accompanied by a look, the very i-everse of her
accustomed good-natured smile, observed: — "You lawyers are
assuredly infernal spirits, allowed as sojourners on this earth, to
make the unfortunate more miserable." The man of law did not
think fit to hazard a reply, but making an obsequious bow, retired,
well satisfied in having pocketed his expenses.
The same evening, the poor woman received her unexpected
discharge, just at the period when our actress was indulging in
an accustomed walk, with her waiting woman ; when the widow,
accompanied by her children, having ascertained the route she
had taken, followed her steps and overtook Thalia just as a sud-
den shower of rain had obliged her to seek shelter under a porch,
— at which moment the grateful widow dropping on her knees,
with the utmost emotion exclaimed, " God for ever bless you,
madam, you have saved me and my helpless infants from ruin."
70 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
The children seeing their mother in tears, joined their piteous
cries to the affecting scene, which could not fail to awaken all
the impulses of a sensitive mind to sympathy. The uniform
hilarity of our heroine's temper was not easily subdued by scenes
of sorrow ; — yet although endeavouring to conceal it, the tears
coursed down her cheeks, when stooping to kiss the little ones,
she slipped a pound note into the parent's hand, and in her
accustomed playful manner replied, " There, there — all is over ;
— go, my good woman, God bless you ; — I charge you, say not
another word."
The grateful widow would fain have replied, but her silence
was insisted on, and she departed.
It so chanced that another individual had sought shelter under
the same porch, who was witness to the whole of this interesting
scene, and as soon as Mrs. Jordan had observed him, stepped
forward and tendering his hand, with a deep sigh exclaimed : —
" Lady ! forgive the freedom of a total stranger ; but would to
the Lord, all the world were like thee ! "
The figure and costume of the last speaker pronounced his
calling; his visage was pale, and a black suit, grown rather rusty,
arrayed his thin tall figure. Our actress soon appreciated his
character and calling, and good humouredly replied, retreating a
few paces : —
" No, I will not shake hands with you."
" Why 1 "
'' Because you are a methodist preacher, and when you have
ascertained who I am, you will send me to the devil."
" The Lord forbid ! I am, as you judge, a preacher of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, who tells us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry,
and x'elieve the distressed ; and do you think I can behold a sister
fulfil the commands of my great master, Avithout feeling that
spiritual attachment which leads me to break through woi-ldly
customs, and offer you the hand of friendship and brotherly love."
" Well, well ; you are a good old soul, I dare say- — but — I — I
don't like fanatics ; and you'll not like me, when I tell you who
I am."
" I hope I shall."
*' Well then I'll tell you ; — I am a player." [The preacher
sighed.] " Yes, I am a player, and you must have heard of me ;
— Mrs. Jordan is my name."
After a short pause, he once more extended his hand, and with
a complaisant countenance, he replied : —
" The Lord bless thee, whoever thou art ;— his goodness is un-
limited ; He has bestowed upon thee a large portion of his spirit ;
Life of Mrs. Jordax. 71
and as to thy calling, if thy soul upbraid thee not, the Lord forbid
that I should."
A reconciliation having been thus effected, and the shower
being ended, they issued from the sheltering porch together ; the
offer of the preacher's arm was accepted, and the comic muse,
with the disciple of John Wesley, trudged arm-in-arm to the door
of our heroine's residence, and at parting, the latter shook hands
with her, exclaiming : —
" Fare thee well, sister ! I know not what the principles of
persons of thy calling may be, — thou art the first with whom I
ever yet held converse ; but if their practices of benevolence go
hand-in-hand with thine, I hope and trust at the great judgment day
the Almighty Father will say to each '■Thy sins are forgiven thee.'"
Mi-s. Jordan on one occasion when performing at the Margate
theatre, with a new actor of Irish birth, the latter on proceeding
to kiss her, such being a featui'e in the representation, she turned
her head so as to present little more than her ear.
" Och, by Jasus, then," cried the Hibernian, — " I'll be d d
if I kiss you at all at all ; — if you won't let me play my part as
a man should, you may do it all yourself."
Upon which Paddy very deliberately walked off the stage,
accompanied, as may be supposed, by a loud roar of laughter.
In reference to the subject of our theme, the following delinea-
tion by a modern writer, is particularly applicable.
" It was not by a cursory acquaintance she could be known ;
unreserved confidence alone could develope her qualities, and none
of them escaped my observation. I have known her when in the
busy bustling exercise of her profession, — I have known her when
in the tranquil lap of ease, of luxury, and of magnificence, — I
have seen her in a theatre, surrounded by a crowd of adulating
dramatists, — I have seen her in a palace, surrounded by a numer-
ous, interesting, and beloved offspring, I have seen her happy — I
have seen her, alas, miserable; and I could not help participating
in all her feelings.
" At the point of time when I first saw the lady, she could not
be much more, I think, than sixteen years of age, and was making
her debut as Miss Francis, at the Dublin theatre. It is worthy
of observation that her early appearances in Dublin, were not in
any of those characters (save one) wherein she afterwards so
eminently excelled ; but such as being more girlish, were better
suited to her spirits and her age.
"I was then, of coui"se, less competent than now to exercise the
critical art, yet could not but observe that in those parts, she was
perfect even on her first appearance ; she had no art, in fact, to
72 Life op Mrs. Jordan.
study ; — nature was her sole instructress. Youthful, joyous, ani-
mated, and droll, her laugh bubbled up fi'om her heart, and her
tears swelled out ingenuously from the deep spring of feeling.
Her countenance was all expression, without being all beauty ;
her form, then light and elastic, — her flexible limbs, — the juvenile
but indescribable grace of her every movement, — impressed them-
selves, as I perceived, indellibly upon all who attended even her
earliest performances.
" Her expressive features and eloquent action, at all periods,
harmonised blandly with each other— not by artifice, however
skilful, but by intellectual sympathy ; and when her figure was
adapted to the part she assumed, she had onl}' to speak the words
of an author, to become the very person he delineated. Her voice
was clear and distinct, modulating itself with natural and winning
ease; and when exerted in song, its gentle flute-like melody formed
the most captivating contrast to the convulsed and thundering
bravura. She was, throughout, the untutored child of nature ;
she sang without effort, and generally without the accompaniment
of instruments, and whoever heard her 'In the dead of the night,'
and her 'Sweet bird,' either in public or private, if they had any
soul, must have surrendered at discretion."
Those Avho knew Thalia only half as well as we did, could bear
testimony to her worth, and echo forth her praises ; never were
manners more open and undisguised ; beneficence characterised
her look, honey flowed from her tongue, nor could we ever trace
in her conduct an approximation to any of those little failings
that are too prevalent in the female sex. We have observed her
in the green-room, where an aspirant in her OAvn walk of acting
has sought for fame — exert her ineffable sweetness to inspire
courage, and ensure success. If wayward fortune oppressed any
of the theatric company, she was the first to advocate a subscrip-
tion, — and profuse in forwarding the charitable intent, thereby
exemplifying the grand chasm that existed between the liberality
of her spirit, and that whereby the great Melpomene of the day
was warmed.
We knew Thalia at York, when her means had become scanty,
compared with what she had formerly enjoyed, at which period
application was made by a theatric character, whose name, from
motives of delicacy, we refrain from inserting ; — wlien the letter
sent in reply, containing a five pound note, ran as follows :—
" Sir, — I have received your distressing letter, for to a mind
ill at ease, any discordant theme becomes oppressive. The trijle I
remit, I beg you will accept as such, and not conceive it the tri-
bute that would have been paid to your talents in happier days, by
Sir, Your obedt. Servt. il-c, — D. Jordan."
Life of ]Mrs. Jordax. 73
At tlie commencement of the year 1809, oui- lieroine presented
herself at intervals before the public, and in such cases for the
sole purpose of contributing as much as possible to ensure a hand-
some establishment for her daughters by Mr. Ford ; this retire-
ment from theatrical duties, appears to have been the result of a
wish manifested by her illustrious friend, that she should no longer
continue a constant member of any dramatic corps.
Mrs. Jordan had now become corpulent, yet such was the ex-
traordinary pre-eminence of mind over matter, that no sooner did
she open her lips to utter the music of her voice, than her corpu-
lency was forgotten ; everything was absorbed in the brilliancy
of her talents, — the mortal encumbrance was wholly obliterated ;
in short, intellectual refinement cancelled the remembrance of her
altered person, which had then become nearly as broad as it was
long.
We have now attained the most momentous epoch of our
lieroine's life., and to prove the candour we wish to adopt towards
any other party concerned, we shall now give a series of documents
from genuine autograph papers, adduced by Mr. Boaden in his
life of this unfortunate lady, with a view to obliterate painful im-
pressions entertained in another quarter, assuming, however, to
ourselves the privilege of making those comments we deem re-
quisite, after which we shall adduce such statements as we can
avouch for facts, and then leave the reader to draw his own
conclusions.
During this year our actress was sedulously occupied in making
preparations for the marriage and establishment of her three
daughters. Frances, the eldest, espoused Mr. Alsop, a gentleman
holding a situation in the Ordnance Office, who resided at No. 11,
Park-place, with whom Miss Dora and Miss Lucy Jordan lived
until the ensuing year, when the former espoused Frederick
Edward March, Esqr., a natural son of Lord Henry Fitzgerald,
also a clerk in the Ordnance Office, and in 1810, the latter (Miss
Lucy), became the wife of General, then Colonel Hawker, of the
14th Light Dragoons.
To those ladies our heroine devoted part of her fortune, as well
as a portion of what she acquired by her theatrical talents, na-
turally conceiving that any progeny resulting from the elevated
connection she had formed, would be amply provided for by the
father.
The settlements intended for the daughters are clearly designated
in the quotation from a letter given by Mr. Boaden, which runs
as follows : —
74 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
" I am sure you will be pleased to hear that your young friend
Lucy is about to be married, much to my satisfaction, to Colonel
Hawker, of the 14th Dragoons; he is a most excellent man, and
has a very good private property ; she will make the best of wives,
— a better girl never lived ; it makes me quite happy, and I intend
to give her the value of ten thousand pounds."
To this she is said to have added £200 a year, while she was
enabled by her theatrical avocations to make such disbursements.
In reference to the above statement, we have to offer a string
of observations which we conceive it would be i-ather difficult to
I'econcile with reason or common sense, without the intervention
of some secret mode, not hitherto explained, in which thousands
were disposed of ; now to the point. —
When Mrs. Jordan was first connected with Mr. Ford, slie was
living in affluence, kept a carriage, and all the necessary auxilaries;
in short, her income was estimated as amounting to two thousand
pounds a year, being the interest of a capital of £40,000. Miss
Frances Jordan, her eldest daughter, was then, of course, an infant,
from which time to her marriage with Mr. Alsop, a lapse of
twenty-five years took place, during which, as previously shown
in the progress of our memoirs, Mrs. Jordan was indefatigable in
pursuing her professional career, both in the metropolis and
vai'ious parts of England.
Sir Jonah Barrington whom we shall have occasion to quote in
the sequel, asserts that at the close of our actress's theatrical
career, when age, corpulency, and other circumstances combined
to diminish her former attractions, she nevertlieless netted in one
year, seven thousand pounds, a calculation we certainly conceive,
over-rated. Without wishing, therefore, to make our estimate on
such an exaggerated scale, suppose we average her gains at four
thousand pounds per annum, which is certainly speaking within
compass, when all the fascinations and novelty of the zenith of
her powers be taken into consideration. — the result at the end of
twenty-five years, would be a gross amount of one hundred
thousand pounds, which added to her previous fortune, made a
total of one hundred and forty thousand pounds.
During our heroine's long continuance with an illustrious
individual, it is but natural to conjecture that house-rent, the
expenditure of the table, &g., were not at her charge, consequently
she had only to find her private wardrobe and theatrical dresses,
which taken at the most extravagant rate could make a very
trifling inroad upon an annual income of seven thousand pounds,
the interest of the capital above mentioned.
LiFK OF Mrs. Jord.vx. 75
However, we now find Mrs. Jordan anxious to make a pro-
vision for her three daughters, to efiect which she settles upon
each ten thousand pounds, being a reduction of tliirty thousand
pounds from the fortune she had acquired, when there still re-
mained one hundred and ten thousand pounds, — a statement, I
believe, not to be refuted by the ablest calculator existing. We
shall, in the sequel, have occasion to speak of a bond executed in
favour of a valued relative, together with acceptances given in
blank to the same party, for Avhich she was in dread of legal
pursuit; but to what amount were those claims? — why two
thousand povnds, which would have been a very trifling diminu-
tion from the £110,000, of which by right she ought to have been
possessed ; yet notwithstanding this, we tind her compelled to
sacrifice property of every description, and fly for refuge to the
continent, for the comparative trifling amount of two thousand
pounds.
" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Then are dreamt of in our philosophy."
At the period when Mrs. Jordan's daughters were disposed of
in nxarriage, it was currently reported that a quarrel had taken
place between that lady and her illustrious protector, for which
various causes were assigned ; and at the same juncture another
exposure took place in regard to an elevated personage and his
notorious mistress, Mary Ann Clarke.
Had we any desire to interlard our pages with anecdotic matter
relating to the last mentioned transaction, we might insert ma-
terials as multifarious and diversified as they would prove in
opposition to correct morals and common decency. These were
derived from an intimacy with Colonel "Wardle, M.P., of so much
celebrity at the time, by whom we were informed that the royal
inamorato now deceased, used to relate to his mistress, all the
secrets of an exalted progeny, not forgetting those of papa and
mamma, the whole condensing a body of materials calculated to
form a record of iniquities, crimes, and fooleries, that might aflford
an excellent scope for a modern Gay to found a new opera, under
the title of Royal Knaveries.
Refinements in pleasure were never formed for the slaves of
debauchery, who are neither possessed of delicacy or judgment,
since being all corporeal, they are incapable of appreciating the
refinements of real passion. O ! divine love, how few there are
enabled to estimate thy blessings and enjoy the rapture thou art
calculated to afford ; those possessing only the grosser passions —
who regard the qualities of the heart as of no account, are un-
worthy to be ranked among thy votaries, or participate m thy
blessings.
76 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
Ill reference to the alleged misunderstanding between our
actress and her royal friend, Ave quote the following letter, as it
refers to the subject ; having only to observe, that whatsoever dis-
agreement might have existed, we feel thoroughly convinced that
tlie lady in question would have tacitly submitted to any suffering
rather than allow the fact. With this comment, we leave the
reader to form his own estimate of the assertions contained in the
annexed document.
" Bushy House, Sunday,
" Dear Sir, — I should be very ungrateful indeed if I could for
a moment consider as an enemy, one from whom I have received
very decided proofs of kindness and attention. I love candour
and truth on all occasions, and the frankness with which you
speak of my professional merit, stamps a value on your opinion
of them, and which {entre nous) I really believe is quite as much
as they deserve ; but we do not feel inclined to quarrel with the
world for thinking better of us then we deserve.
"I do not know how to thank you for the humanity with which
you seem to enter into my feelings ; they are, indeed, very acute,
and did you know the three incomparable and truly amiable
objects of my anxiety, you would not be inclined to withdraw
your sympathy.
"With regard to the report of my quarrel with the Duke, every
day of our past and px-esent lives must give the lie to it. He is
an example for half the fathers and husbands in the world, the
best of masters and the most firm and generous of friends. I will,
in a day or two, avail myself of your kind offer to contradict
those odious and truly wicked reports. I am so ill that I can do
nothing myself, but must wait for the assistance of a good and
clever friend, who is at present out of the way, and who (if truth
is not quite scared out of the world) will endeavour to do away
the ill impression those reports were meant to make. In the
meantime accept my thanks, and believe me.
Yours truly,
Dora Jordan."
As the daily prints continued their attacks upon the conduct
of the Royal personage alluded to, our actress was at length
prompted to seek the advice referred to in the above communi-
cation ; after which we find from the same authority, a second
epistle, containing the result of the conference, and the ultimatum
of the Duke's wishes as regarded the future proceedings of our
heroine in her professional career.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 77
" Bushy House, March 27th, 1809.
" Dear Sir, — When I last did myself the pleasure of writmg
to you, I mentioned that T waited for the assistance of a friend
who was not just then in the way, to contradict the cruel and
infamous reports that were then in circulation ; but on my appli-
cation to him, (perhaps he was right) he said that what had been
done had every good effect that could possibly be expected or
wished for ; and that a reneival of the subject might do more
harm than good.
" Of this I should like to have your opiriion, when you have
read the enclosed. — I need not add that you will set the author
down for a very partial friend indeed. In obedience to the
Duke's wishes I have withdrawn myself, for the present, or at
least till there is a theatre royal for me to appear in. Mr. March,
and Mr. Alsop, the two gentlemen to whom my daughters are
married, will do themselves the pleasure of leaving their cards at
your door, next week. I ever am. Sir,
Your obliged humble Servt.
Dora Jordax.
" I am to play to-morrow week at the Opera House, and as it
is likely to be my last night, it would not be amiss to have it
insinuated into the boxes."
"Whether there existed any real ground for the reports circulated
in regard to a quarrel between our heroine and her friend, we do
not take upon ourselves to decide ; it however appears evident
that not only herself, but her family were also rendered subser-
vient to the scurrility of the public press, as we find from an
undated letter, written in 1809, the following statement relative
to her three daughters.
Without date, written in 1809.
" Dear Sir, — Having frequently experienced your kindness in
assisting to do away any unfair impression, your candour, believe
me, cannot be better employed than in the defence of three as
good and virtuous girls as ever existed.
"It would be painful to me, and unnecessary to you to mention
the cruel and infamous reports for some time in circulation, and
to the extent of which I was really a stranger till last week. To
say it has made me sick at heart, is saying little.
I remain. Your obliged humble Servt.,
Dora Jordan."
In a postscript to the letter preceding the above, mention is
made of Mrs. Jordan's ha\'ing to perform at the Opera House,
which she did gratuitously, for the benefit of the necessitated
78 Life op Mrs. Jordan.
members of the Drury Lane company, after which she quitted
London to perform at Bath, being accompanied on that occasion,
by one of lier daughters. Our heroine, soon after her arrival,
discovered that the tales, so industriously circulated in the metro-
polis respecting a separation from the Duke, had found their way
to the gay circles of that celebrated resort of fashion, as in a
communication to a friend, we find the ensuing curious statements
respecting herself and the subject adverted to.
"Bath, Sunday, 22nd April, 1809.
" Dear Sir, — I sliould be more insensible than my heart tells
me I am, if I did not expei'ience much gratification from your
very kind and friendly letteA's :—/riendly tliey must be, for though
I am ever asking favours of you, I feel it impossible that I can
ever return them.
" My professional success through life, has indeed been most
extraordinary, and consequently attended with great emoluments ;
but from my first starting in life, at the early age of fourteen, I
have always had a large family to support. My mother was a
duty ; but on brothers and sisters I have lavished more money
than can be supposed ; and more, I am sorry to say, than I can
well justify to those wlio have a stronger and prior claim on my
exertions.
" With regard to myself (as much depends upon our ideas of
riches), I have certainly enough ; but this is too selfish a con-
sideration to weigh one moment against what I consider to be a
duty. I am quite tired of the profession. I have lost those great
excitements vanity and emulation ; the first has been amply
gratified, and the last I see no occasion for ; but still without
these, it is a mere money getting drudgery.
" The enthusiasm of the good people here, is really ridiculous,
but it brings ' grist to the mill,' and I shall, notwithstanding tlie
great drawback of unsettled weather, clear between this place and
Bristol, from £800 to £900.
" Though I very seldom go out when from liome, I was, tempted
by my dear girl to go to a fashionable library, to read the papers,
and not being known, was entertained by some ladies with a most
pathetic description of the parting between me and the Duke ! —
My very dress was described, and the whole conversation accurately
repeated I — unfortunately for the party, a lady came in who im-
mediately addressed me by name, which threw them into the
most ridiculous and (I conceive) embarrassing situation imagin-
able. In pity to them, I left the place immediately, and flatter
myself I did not show any disgust or ill nature on the occasion.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 79
" The last favour I asked of you, was not to gratify my own
vanity, but my best friends ; — who in spite of the world, are I
can with truth assure you as much interested about me as they
were seventeen years ago.
Believe me ever, your truly obliged,
Dora Jordan.
" P.S. — I fear I have tired you with my scrawl."
Having terminated her engagement at Bath, which proved very
lucrative, our actress next repaired to Dublin, and from that place
shortly after her arrival, she penned tlie following letter, which
is interesting, as it contains an expression of her maternal feelings
in regard to one of her sons, then serving in the army on the
Peninsula.
"Dublin, Sunday, June 18th, 1809.
"Dear Sir, — I had left Bushy for this place, before the arrival
of your letter. That you would enter into my feelings respecting
my dear boy, I was convinced when T sent you tlie exti'act, aiid
as you very rightly supposed, only meant for your perusal ; — for
however gratifying it might be to my feelings to see any testimonial
of his good conduct before the world, I iiave reason to believe
that he would be very angry with me if he thought I had made it
public. I only mention this to show you that he is an unassuming
modest boy ; — so much so, that we never could get him to speak
of the business at Corunna, where he was himself concerned, but
the accounts of him from every other quarter, were indeed most
gratifying.
"With regard to myself, I have not much to say: the audience
are of course very kind, and my reception was most brilliant,—
but entre nous, I do not think I shall make as much money as I
expected. With every good wish, I remain.
Dear Sir, Your most obliged Humble Servant,
Dora Jordan."
The visit of our heroine to Dublin proved in one point of view,
most gratifying to her feelings, being particularly noticed by many
of the leading personages of that city; but as regarded her profes-
sional avocations, she was not quite so fortunate, as the dramatic
corps engaged by Mr. Jones, then manager of the theatre, proved
the very refuse of the mimic tribe. Not only were they of vulgar
habits, and addicted to liquor, but so neglectful of the duties of
their profession as not even to attend to the business of the stage,
so that after one or two attempts, our actress at length found
herself under the painful necessity of refusing to play.
80 LiFK OF Mrs. Johdan.
It is by no means improbable that the disgust manifested by
Mrs. Jordan, tended to heap upon her the injuries slie had to
sustain from those unwortliy members of her own profession, more
particularly a performer named Corri, who pertinaciously continued
his abuse against our actress, and all those who stood forward to
befriend her.
Among the advocates of our heroine, was in particular Sir
Jonah Barrington, who for reiterated attacks that appeared in
the daily papers, commenced an action against the printer. Upon
the trial, the counsel employed for the defendent delivered a
speech by no means credital)Ie to him as a man of feeling, or a
gentleman, in reference to which, as well as the contrarieties she
was subjected to while at Dublin, — Mrs. Jordan thus expi-esses
herself : —
"To Sir Jonah Bai-rington.
" Bushy House, Wednesday.
"My Dear Sir, — Not having the least suspicion of the business
in Dublin, it shocked and grieved me very much ; — not only on
tny own account, but I regret that I should have been the invol-
untary cause of anything painful to you, or to your amiable
family. But of Mr. Jones T can think anything, and I beg you
will do me the justice to believe that my feelings are not selfish.
— Why indeed should I expect to escape their infamous calumnies?
Truth, however, will force its way, and justice exterminate that
nest of vipers. I wanted nothing from Mr. Crompton's generosity,
but I had a claim on his justice — his honour.
" During the two representations of the Inconstant, I repre-
sented to him the state Mr. Dwyer was in, and implored him out
of respect to the audience, if not in pity to my terrors, to change
the play. As to the libel on Mr. Dwyer, charged to me by Mr.
Gold, I never directly or indirectly, by words or by writing,
demeaned myself l)y interfering in the most remote degree Avith
so wretched a concern.
" I knew no Editor, — -I read no newspapers while in Dublin.
The charge is false and libellous on me, — published I presume,
tln'ough Mr. Gold's assistance. Under that view of the case, he
will feel himself rather unpleasantly circumstanced should I call
upon him either to prove or disavow his assertions. To be intro-
duced any way into such a business, shocks and grieves me ; he
might have pleaded for his companions without calumniating me;
— but for the present, I shall drop an irksome subject, which has
already given me more than ordinary uneasiness.
Yours, etc. — Dora Jordan."
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 81
It may be imagined to what an extent the scurrility and abuse
levelled at Mrs. Jordan, was carried, when her quiescent spirit
was at length so wrought upon, that she came to the determination
of applying legally for redress, a proceeding that would in all
probability have been put in force but for the timely and salutary
advice of some confidential friend.
Shortly after the termination of this disagreeable business, the
battle of Talavera was fought, when her son displayed his gallantry,
on which subject the annexed document is suflSciently indicatory
of the agitated state of her feelings.
"Bushy, Thursday, August 17, 1809.
" I am very vain, but still I have judgment enough not to be
fond of doing that which I know I do very ill. Still I feel pleasure
in writing to you who so kindly enter into all my feelings. You
may easily guess what they were last Monday night, when 1 heard
the account of the battle of Talavera. Five thousand killed ! — •
the Duke at Brighton ! — I went to bed, but not to sleep.
" The Duke set out at five o'clock on the Tuesday, to be the first
to relieve me from my misery. I am mentally reKeved ; but it has
torn my nerves to pieces. I have five boys, and must look forward
to a life of constant anxiety and suspense. I am at present very
ill — excuse this hasty scrawl, and believe me.
Your ever obliged. — Dora Jordan."
The coolness on the part of our actress's protector which had
been so long talked of, seemed at length confirmed by her removal
from Bushy Park, when she took up her abode at Hammersmith,
not far from the late villa of the deceased Margravine of Anspach,
which also became the partial residence of her illustrious friend.
The sensitive feelings of our heroine were ill attuned to witness
this neglect with stoicism, and in order, therefore, to recruit her
finances and separate herself from scenes that goaded her mind
to agony, she undertook some professional excursions.
Notwithstanding our actress's removal to Hammersmith, as
above mentioned, we nevertheless find that there were short in-
tervals during which she was either at Bushy, or St. James's, as
two or three subsequent correspondences tend to prove, of which
we shall speedily have proofs to demonstrate.
At the above mentioned residence, it was currently reported
that very unpleasant bickerings frequently occurred ; that the
children of our actress were estranged from her, and as j)&cuniary
resources failed, a palpable coldness and total neglect became ap-
parent in a certain quarter. We do not pretend to deny that a
82 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
■want of money might be experienced by one individual, but we
are by no means enabled to account for any such deficiency in
another party.
From all the foregoing statements in this volume, containing
every event on record relative to our actress, we cannot trace one
feasible reason for her being reduced in circumstances ; yet that
she did begin to feel pecuniary embarrassment is a notorious fact,
the solution of which some persons, perhaps, may shrewdly sur-
mise, notwithstanding all varnish used to gloss over and mystify
the fact.
Although we cannot, for a certainty, point out the precise
period when the final interview took place between the heroine of
our tale, and her soidisant friend, yet tlie effects produced upon
our feelings will not easily be erased from our memory.
She happened to be on the point of sustaining a character at
the Cheltenham Theatre, when a letter was received from the
individual alluded to, appointing a meeting at Maidenhead, for
the purpose of exchanging an eternal farewell. Thalia, at the
. time referred to, had actually terminated her engagement for a
few nights, having only to continue one evening longer, in order
to appear in the character of Nell, in The Devil to Pay, for the
benefit of Mr. Watson, then manager of the Cheltenham company.
It was during the afternoon of the last mentioned day, that
the fatal letter came to hand, notwithstanding which, with that
generous kindness that uniformly characterised her conduct, she
refused to withdraw her name from the play bills, though lier
mental agitation at the time was such, that on her arrival at the
play-house, from having sufi'ered continued hysterics, it might be
said she was saturated from excess of grief.
The following circumstance, however, having occurred during
the performance, we deem it necessary to record the incident.
In the scene with Jobson, the Conjuror having seen her, Nell
laughs immoderately, upon which the former is made to exclaim : —
"Why, Nell, the conjuror has not only made you drunk, but
he has made you laughing drunk ! "
On this occasion, when the suffering creature attempted to
laugh, she burst into a flood of tears, upon which the personifier
of Jobson, with great presence of mind changed the text, saying: —
"Why, Nell, the conjuror has not only made thee drunk, he
has made thee crying drunk ! "
By which means the scene passed off with the accustomed eclat.
At the conclusion of the performance, our actress more dead than
LiFF, OF Mrs. Jordan. 83
alive, was placed in a travelling chariot, without having time to
throw off her dress as Nell, and in that state set off to keep the
final appointment with her foraier protector.
It may in this place be requisite to insert a list of Mrs. Jordan's
progeny by this illustrious connection thus terminated, which runs
as follows : —
•George Fitzclarence, Viscount Fitzclarence, Baron Tewkesbury,
Earl of Munster, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ; —
born on the 29th of January, 1794, married Mary, daughter
of George, Earl of Egremont, the 18th of October, 1819, by
whom he has issue : —
William George Viscount Fitzclarence; — born the 19th
of May, 1824.
Frederick Charles Geoi'ge; — born the 1st of February, 1826.
Adelaide Georgina; — born the 28th of October, 1820.
Augusta Margaret ; — born on the 31st of July, 1822.
Colonel Fitzclarence was raised to the peerage in the above
dignities, by Letters Patent, dated May 1831, with special re-
mainder, in default of his own male issue, to his lordship's brothers,
Lords Frederick Adolphus and Augustus Fitzclarence, primo-
geniturely, and their male descendants. The Earl of Munster
is a Colonel in the Army, Aide-de-camp to his Majesty, and
Lieutenant of the Tower.
The Earl of Munster has the following surviving brothers and
sisters : —
2. Frederick Fitzclarence, a Colonel in the Army, and Aide-
de-camp to the King ; — he married Lady Augusta Boyle,
daughter of George, Earl of Glasgow, and has one daughter.
3. Adolphus Fitzclarence, Captain in the Royal Navy, Com-
mander of the Royal Sovereign Yacht.
4. Augustus Fitzclarence, in Holy Orders, Rector of Maple
Durham, Oxfordshire.
5. Sophia Fitzclarence, married to Sir Philip Sidney, eldest son
of Sir John Sidney, Bart., of Penshurst Place, Kent.
6. Mary Fitzclarence, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Fox, of the
Grenadier Guards.
7. Elizabeth Fitzclarence, married to William George, Earl of
Errol, hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland, Avho has
issue.
8. Augusta Fitzclarence, married to the Honourable John
Kennedy Erskine, second son of the present Marquis of
Ailsa (who died the 16th of March, 1832), by whom her
ladyship has issue.
9. Amelia Fitzclai-ence, married 27th of December, 1830, to
Lucius, Viscount Falkland, and has issue.
84 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
His Majesty, William the Fourth, was pleased on the 24th of
May, 1831, to grant to all the above mentioned ladies and
gentlemen, with the exception of the Countess of Errol, and
Viscountess Falkland (who, through their marriages had ah-eady
attained higher rank), the title and 2^ii'€'Cedency of the younger
issue of a Marquess.
The next document we have to offer, is a letter from the pen of
Mrs. Jordan to a confidential friend, on the subject of the recent
separation, which runs as follows : —
THE SEPARATION.
Bushy, Saturday.
"My Dear Sir, — I received yours and its inclosure safe this
morning. My mind is beginning to feel somewhat reconciled to
the sliock and surprise it has lately received ; for could you or the
world believe that we never had, for twenty years, tlie semblance
of a Quarrel. But this is so well known in our domestic circle,
that the astonishment is the greater ! Money, money, my good
friend, or the xvant of it, has, I am convinced, made him at this
moment, the most wretched of men ; but having done wrong, he
does not like to retract. But with all his excellent qualities, his
domestic virtues, his love for his lovely children, what must he
not at this moment suffer .? His distresses should have been re-
lieved before ; — but this is entre nous.
" All his letters are full of the most unqualified praise of my
conduct ; and it is the most heartfelt blessing to know that to the
best of my power, I have endeavoured to deserve it. I have
received the greatest kindness and attention from the R****t,
and every branch of the Royal Family, who, in the most unre-
served terms, deplore this melancholy business. The whole cor-
respondence is before the R****t, and I am proud to add that
my 2^o.st and j^'i'eseyit conduct has secured me a friend, who declares
he never will forsake me.
"My forbearance, he says, is beyond wliat he could have
imagined ; — but what will not a Avoman do, who is firmly and
sincerely attached ? Had he left me to starve, I never would have
uttered a word to his disadvantage. I enclose you two other
letters, and in a day or two you shall see more, the rest being in
the hands of R 1. And now, my dear friend, do not hear the
Duke of C. unfairly abused. He has done wi'ong, and he is
suffering for it ; but as far as he has left it in his own j^ower, he
is doing everything kind and noble, even to the distressing him-
Life op Mrs. Jordan. 85
SELF. — I thank you sincerely for the friendly caution at the end
of your letter, though I trust there will be no occasion for it ;
but it was kind and friendly, and as such I shall ever esteem it.
I remain, Dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
Dora Jordan.
" These letters are for your eye alone."*
Let it be observed that notwithstanding the praise lavished
upon the D of C , which sprang from the writer's
goodness of heart, she nevertheless cannot refrain at the close of
her epistle, from allowing that he had done wrong and ^y&s suj^ering
for it. The first assertion no one can deny ; but in regard to the
second, we can only judge of persons by their actions ; and for
our parts, we very much doubt whether an individual, having so
conducted himself, could be susceptible of a compunctious yearn-
ing towards tlie being who was withering under the blight of his
unkindness.
" My dear Sir, — I should be sorry the letters I have enclosed
to you were the only vouchers I could produce to the world, i£
necessary. But, good God ! what will not the world say ? I
received two letters this day, telling me I was accused of intri'
gueing with the Duke of Cumberland !
"I am heart sick and almost worn out with this cruel business,
but I am, very gratefully yours,
Dora Jordan."
Well, indeed, might the wretched lady exclaim, that she teas
heart sick at such a monstrous idea, as that referred to in the
above note. It is true, tastes may be depraved, but there is one
EXTEME in DEPRAVITY, which SO rarely occurs, as to rank almost
impossible ; and of that description, would have been all inter-
course between Mrs. Jordan and the being above adverted to. De
gustibus non est disjjutancluin, says the Latin adage, and certainly
had such a taste been manifested by our actress, it would have
ranked her ; not on a level — but far more degraded than the
lowest trull at Wapping ; as there are certain associations, which
even the most dissolute of the female race would shun enhorrored,
and of such a nature is the supposition to which we allude. This
preposterous and nauseating idea, brings to our recollection the
disgraceful trial of the late unfortunate Queen Caroline, when
the revolting charge was made of her having submitted to the
embraces of her father-in-law, King George the Third, which
* The two letters enclosed by Mrs. Jordan, returned faithfully to her-
self, the condition attached to their communication.
86 LiFK OF Mrs. Jokdan.
aljominablc allpfjatioii jiroduced the celeljrated words of Mr.
Demiian, comk kohtii Tiior slandehkd ! levelled at the exalted
individual who had ventured to hint at such a crime.
From the ensuing' letter, as well as the next but one, it seems
that although tlie separation had taken place, Mrs. Jordan con-
tinued undertlie roof of her late protector, as these communications
are dated from Bushy and St. James's ; however, they are the last
bearing such supersci-iption ; whence it may be inferred, that she
was preparing to quit those royal residences for ever.
" Bushy, Tiiursday.
"My dear Sir, — Allow me to thank you for your kind attention
to my request. We really live so much in the country, and so
entirely within ourselves, that we might be dead and buried,
without our friends knowing even that we had been ill. I have
the heartfelt happiness of informing you, that the Duke is con-
siderably better, though far from being as we could wish ; however,
his physicians have given his Royal Highness permission to go to
town to-morrow. 1 have been confined ever since my return,
owing to the fatigues and anxiety I have gone through. I hear
it will l)e some time before I recover the very great sliock I
received. I hear there are to be two Drury Lanes ; I believe
just as likely as one.
Yours, ever, — Doha Jordan."
" Cadogan Place, Thursday.
" My dear Sir, — I fear I must have appeared unmindful of
your many kindnesses, in having been such a length of time without
writing to you ; but really, till very lately, my spirits have been
so depressed, that I am sure you will understand my feelings, when
I say, it cost me more pain to write to those interested about nie,
than to a common acquaintance. But the constant kindness and
attention, I meet with from the Duke, in every respect, but per-
sonal intercourse, (and which depends as much on my feelings as
his) has in a great measure restored me to my former health and
spirits. Among many noble traits of goodness, he has lately added
one more, that of exonerating me from my promise of not returning
to my profession. This he has done, under the idea of its benefiting
my health, and adding to my pleasures and comforts ; and though
it is very uncertain, whether I shall ever avail myself of this
kindness, yet you, if you choose, are at liberty to make it known,
w^hether publicly or privately.
Yours, ever, — Dora Jordan.
- *' P.S. — I wish I could see you, but it is such a long way for
you to come."
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 87
It appears from the above letter, that all personal association
between the Duke and Mrs. Jordan, had terminated, while she
eulogises his bounty in permitting her to resume her theatrical
avocation, should she be desirous of so doing. Truly, a mighty
condescension this, to permit a repudiated mistress, after twenty
years cohabitation, to betake herself to a profession, after growing
grey in the service, for the purpose of contributing to her jileasures
and comforts. Pleasures forsooth ! a mighty accession of delight
she had to contemplate from toiling on the theatrical boards, of
which she had long been sick ; as to comforts, indeed, the labour
was seasonably recommended, as the good things of this life can
only be procured through the medium of money, whereof she was
then disburthened ; consequently, the profits accruing became a
very requisite desideratum.
We are such rooted admirers of the divine Shakspeare, that we
never fail to bear him in our remembrance ; and therefore, as
Polonius observes, speaking of Hamlet harping on his daughter.
We must still continue to harp upon the old string, and enquire,
what in the name of heaven had become of the hundred and ten
thousand pounds %
"My dear Sir, — I lose not a moment in letting you know that
the Duke of Clarence has concluded and settled on me and his
children, the most liberal and generous provisions ; and I trust
everything will sink into oblivion.
Yours, ever, — Dora Jordan."
What was to sink into oblivion ? The remembrance of an in-
tercourse of twenty years standing % the having borne a numerous
progeny % or the hie presto disappearance of a hundred and ten
thousand pounds 1 These are events in a person's life not easily
to be erased from the memory; and however forgiving the generous
creature might be, we have a shrewd surmise that she did not
FORGET !
At the period of the separation, an intended union between
the Duke of Clarence and the late ill-fated Miss Tylney Long
was Ipublicly talked of, and report went so far as to state tliat the
Prince Regent contemplated the bringing a bill into parliament,
in order to sanction such union. In reference to this topic, Mr.
Boaden observes: — "In fact twenty years of sympathy and truth
leave always sti'ong impressions upon the mind ; and I have no
doubt full justice has always been done to the attachment of Mrs.
Jordan, by the royal personage to whom it was borne."
If this be not ofFei'ing undeserved adulation, we never heard
of flattery before ; however, upon second thoughts, we conceive
88 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
that ^Ir. Boaden may not merit reprehension, as the daubing is
so truly preposterous, as to verify the famous line of Pope : —
Praise undeserved is satire in disgaise.
Mr. Boaden observes — " The letter from Mrs. Jordan upon the
subject of the disagreement, mentions lier forbearance, and that
it was highly applauded by a great personage." We take it for
granted, the then Prince Regent, "nor is it unlikely that she might
have placed some part of her fortune at the temporary disposition
of her noble friend. Everything of a pecuniary nature, however,
it will be shown by adequate proof, was settled, with interest, up
to the veiy hour of adjustment, and Mrs. Jordan's receipt in full
taken by the gentleman commissioned to make the arrangement."
Here then we have something like an admission, that the poor
lady had forbearance, and that a portion of her fortune might
have been placed at the disposal of her j^rotector. We now wish
to enquire the motive of this forbearance, that gave such delight
to an exalted personage. Was it her concealment of tlic nature
of those pecuniary transactions ; their amount ; non-restitution,
or failure in the payment of the annual allowance of a thousand
pounds which had been secured by a bond 1 Forbearance ! a
great personage to applaud the lenity of an actress towards no less
an individual than his own brother ; it must indoed have been a
circumstance of no very trifling nature, that could wring such
plaudit on a vagabond actress, from one of the haughtiest men
in existence !
Although we have on former occasions commented on the lai'ge
sums realised by our actress during her professional career ; we
cannot refrain from recurrinsc to the theme. We once more beg
leave to advert to the ample settlement of £1000 a year, and a
sum bequeathed her by a deceased relative of her mother's ;
making with her professional gains, an annual rental of no less
than .£8000, including the £1000 annuity. Now suppose we
deduct the latter amount as never having been ^mid, £7000 per
annum still remained, being the interest of a capital of £140,000.
We next find it stated that our heroine settled £30,000 on her
three daughters, and ultimately, that she was necessitated to
abandon England on account of numerous demands on a bond
and bills she had accepted ; now if such be the fact, she had not
liquidated them; then how were the £110,000 that remained
disposed of ? The advocates for certain illustrious and fashionable
individuals, may turn round upon us with brazen impudence (for
assurance dwells with tlie great) and say, — "Ah ! but the bills
and bond concerns were only in part cancelled." What ? £110,000
Life of Mrs. Jordax. 89
a mere wiping oif of those incumbrances ; p.altry evasion — wicked
subterfuge ! Then we again demand, What became of the capital ?
Our actress was no gambler, her habits were uniformly frugal, and
for a sei'ies of years her house rent ; expenditure for the table, etc.,
had or ought to have been defrayed by another • the advocates of
greatness will never solve this problem — not so the abbettors of
truth ; they see through the flimsy veil : sponges Avill suck up,
and sinks engulph the largest torrents.
Now the pecuniary embarrassments under which our heroine
suffered, did certainly result from a bond and bill involvements,
the amount of which is stated at £2000, a sum she could not
liquidate, although it seems more than probable, her claims upon
others were of such magnitude, and this was coupled with other
circumstances, that completely annihilated her peace, and com-
pelled her to abandon her native land.
In regard to the thousand pound settlement, such things have
been heard of as procuring the loan of a bond under specious
pretences, and never returning the same. Transactions of this
nature will sometimes occur in families, as a lady of the name of
Robinson could testify was she still i»n existence.
We now come to the authentic statement respecting the unfor-
tunate business transactions in which our heroine became involved
for the sole purpose of relieving an esteemed, though worthless
friend.
" Authentic Statement.
"In the autumn of 1813, Mrs. Jordan was called upon very
unexpectedly, to redeem some securities given by her, for money
raised to assist a near relative. The cause of this aid was the
pressure of matters, purely of a domestic nature. The call upon
her was suddeai and certainly unexpected ; and not finding herself
in a situation to advance the £2000 claimed, she withdrew herself
to France, deputing a friend in England, to make every necessary
arrangement for paying all the creditors as soon as possible. At
the time of Mrs. Jordan's quitting England, she was in the receipt
of an annual income of upwards of £2000 paid with the greatest
punctuality quarterly, without demur, drawback, or impediment,
and so continued to the hour of her death. Up to April, 1816,
Mrs. Jordan's drafts on Messrs. Coutts and Co. wei-e duly paid ;
never for a moment could she have felt the griping hand of poverty.
" I can positively assert, that never during her life time was
one shilling paid towards liqiddating the securities in question ;
nor was it urgent that it should be done : because the creditors,
for the most part personal friends, well knew the upright princi-
ples they had to depend upon ; nor were they ignorant, that the
90 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
transcendant talents of this gifted being were always sure to
receive a munificent reward from the hands of the public, when-
ever she should again seek their assistance ; and in the fruits of
this, THEY were sure of participating. Her protracted stay
abroad was occasioned by untoward circumstances, over which
the PRINCIPALS had no control.
" Up to the hour of Mrs. Jordan's lea\dng England, she had
been living under the same roof, with the relative with whom she
was concerned in the securities alluded to. Reciprocal acts of
kindness, mutual confidence, in all domestic matters, and many
points of private aflTairs tended to create in Mrs. Jordan's mind a
reliance upon this person. Never for a moment during the six
years that her daughter had been married, had Mrs. Jordan reason
to doubt his sincere aflfection or his vei'acity ; nor did she doubt
them when she left England.
" Immediately upon the derangement of Mrs. Jordan's affairs,
and before she left England, a statement of all the claims to
which she was liable, was made out together with a list of the
PERSONS holding her bonds and bills of acceptance ; the result of
which convinced Mrs. Jordan that her liabilities did not much
exceed £2000, and that the claimants wei'e one and all the
personal friends of the parties.
" In August, 1815, Mrs. Jordan left England for France, with
the intention of remaining away some ten days, the time computed
necessary to place matters in that state, as to render her person
legally secure from arrest. Her affairs were placed in the hands
of pereons well informed in every particular thereof, as of all other
matters connected with her life. Mrs. Jordan was well aware
that the creditors were only anxious to have their claims placed
in a secure state, and that they were willing to give every accom-
modation required. She was also aware that her fellow sufferer
had given up a considerable portion of his income ; and she felt
that her represetitative in England could in one hour's time settle
any doubtful point that might arise during the arrangement. In
short, she knew that no impedime7it existed. Consequently, when
she found that month after month elapsed, without anything
being finally settled, her mind became troubled.
"Mrs. Jordan left England ; she took with her as a companion,
a lady who had for some years previously been employed in
superintending the education of Mrs. Jordan's younger children,
and who had for the last twelve months, been Mrs. Jordan's con-
stant attendant. This person came to England in January 1816,
to receive and take Mrs. Jordan her quarter's income, then in
Messrs. Coutts' house. From the moment of her arrival in Eng-
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 91
land, until she quitted it, she pursued a line of conduct towards
the daughters of Mrs. Jordan, (then residing in Mrs. Jordan's
house) tliat was offensive beyond measure ; she peremptorily and
in a most insulting manner, called upon the person concerned
with Mrs. Jordan in the affairs of the bills and bonds, to make
oath that Mrs. Jordan was not liable to any claims beyond those
of which she already knew. The demand was accompanied by
base insinuations. Justly doubting this to be really the wish of
Mrs. Jordan, and irritated at the circumstances at ending the
demand, it was refused ; and on the same day this lady returned
to France, and there is little doubt, but then for the first time,
Mrs. Jordan did become apprehensive."
During her stay in England, the lady alluded to informed two
of Mrs. Jordan's daughters, that Mrs. Jordan's future place of
residence in France, was to be kept a profound secret from them,
and that all letters from them to their mother, must be sent
through a third person, and be directed to Mrs. James, instead of
Mrs. Jordan ; thus, from that tiiiie, all such communications first
passed through the hands of a person who might withdraw Mrs.
Jordan's confidence and affection, from those most interested in
getting her back to England. It is necessary to revert to the
verbal refusal given to take the oath demanded, because it has
been made a point of much importance as connected with Mrs.
Jordan's state of feeling in consequence of the publication made
in the Morning Chronicle of 26th January 1824, of a letter of
Mrs. Jordan's, bearing date 16th January 1816.
Mrs. Jordan's letter must have been written immediately after
the return of the above-mentioned lady to France, and there is
great reason to think that then only for the first time, did a feeling
of apprehension of furthur demands awake in Mrs. Jordan's mind,
and the fatal step of cutting off the source of communications
prevented altogether, or perhaps only delayed the receipt of a
letter written by the person refusing to take the oath on the very
same day ; to say that he was truly willing to do whatever ^rs.
Jordan should herself require, and that the oath should be taken
whenever she wrote to say it was her tvish.
There can be no question that the mind of this great woman
had been long and grievously oppressed. Nor will this be any
matter of wonder when a retrospect is taken of her eventful life.
Who can deny, that in the flow of her prosperity, she had many
bitter memorials that good and ill will mingle in every human
condition. The greatest pleasure that acquiring could bestow
upon Mrs. Jordan, was its affoi'ding her the power of shedding
greater happiness around her. Can there be a severer censure
92 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
on Ikt memory tlmii to think that pkcun'IARY DIFFICULTIES, even
iiri(/hty, (wliicli hor's never were) could for Jiny length of time
have depressed a mind such as her's in its perfect st^ite ?
I have tlirown this statement together, in the hope tliat you
will deem it satisfactory.
And remain, my dear Sir,
Most sincerely your's,
This document we take it for granted, is given as a most satisfac-
tory and conclusive elucidation of all that may be reijuired by the
reader on tlie suljject of Mrs. Jordan's pecuniary embarrassments.
Now, so far from conceding to such opinion, we regard tiiis
authentic stateinent as one of the most unsatisfactory and incon-
clusive papers we ever perused. Tiie unfortunate lady it seems
was very unexpectedly called upon to pay two thousand pounds,
and not having assets so to do, she, in order to secure her personal
safety, fled to France. At the period alluded to, she was in the
enjoyment of upwards of <£2000 a year, yet no security could be
given, nor any composition entered into with the claimants;
finally, nothing short of expatriation could ensure her safety.
So mucii for the first paragraph. We are next told that during
the lady's life time, not one shillinrj was ever paid in liqiiidnfinn
of the bonds and bills, whereon the £2000 were claimed ; and
why 1 because the creditors were personal friends of the debtor
who felt so perfectly satisfied with her honourable conduct, that
nothing could be further from their minds, tlian having recoui*se
to any unpleasant measures. Then why in the name of common
sense, did she absent herself from England ? and what is the
meaning of the conclusive lines of the second paragraph, tJiat her
protracted stay abroad ivas occasioned by imtotcard circnvistnnces
orer ichich the principals liad no control. Who are the persons
alluded to under the term principals ? were they the creditors ;
her own family ; or the individual with whom she had last co-
habited ? We confess there is something so enigmatical in this
sentence, that we are not ashamed to own our inability to solve
its meaning.
The following anecdote, never recorded, is one of the last
occurrences that took place previous to Mrs. Jordan's bidding a
final adieu to the land she had so prominently embellished — to the
soil that gave her birth.
Mr. Charles Wigley, who possessed the spacious apartments
formerly existing in Spring Gardens, and appropriated to the
display of public exhibitions, was applied to by Mrs. Jordan, of
whom he had some previous knowledge, in order that he might
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 93
become the purchaser of her furniture, &c. The above-mentioned,
gentleman who was well acquainted with Mr. Fisher, the auc-
tioneer, father of the celebrated Clara Fisher, of histrionic fame —
called upon the latter, and requested he would accompany him to
estimate the household goods, pictures, &c., at a dwelling in
Sloane-square, without intimating the name of the individual to
whom the property belonged.
Mr. Fisher accordingly accompanied Mr. Wigley through the
apartments, and as had been previously agreed, without proceeding
to make an inventory, gave his estimate from the cursory glance,
being from habit perfectly conversant with the value of furniture.
Having completed the survey, they adjourned to a coffee house,
when Mr. Fisher informed his fi'iend that supposing an individual
wanted the articles as they stood, the carpets, &c., being fitted to
the rooms, they wei'e well worth three hundred pounds ; but if
to be removed, he conceived one hundred less would be a fair
estimate, though he might go as far as £220.
Mr. Fisher then accompanied Mr. Wigley back to Sloane-square,
when the former gentleman, to his no small astonishment, was
introduced to Mrs. Jordan, who he then found to be the pi'oprie-
tress of the articles he had been requested to appraise. After
some conversation upon the subject, Mr. Fisher retired, leaving
Mr. Wigley to close the bargain with our actress alone, which
was done for the reduced sum of one hundred guineas, notwith-
standing Mr. Fisher had stated that the property was worth
£220 — added to which, the lease of the premises was thrown into
the bargain, which the last mentioned gentlemen assured the
writer, was in his estimation worth £500, yielding to Mr. Wigley,
the purchaser, a very snug profit, if he could reconcile the tran-
saction to his conscience.
This melancholy fact tends to prove two things : first, the
unsuspecting and easy mind of Mrs. Jordan, and lastly, her
anxiety to conclude the sale without the least delay, in order that
she might quit the country with all the expedition possible, so
much had her feelings been wrought upon, and her apprehension of
legal proceeding, excited in the event of a protracted continuance
in London.
Our actress retired from her native soil with all the secrecy
possible, when the first spot she selected for her residence, was a
cottage at Marquetra, about a quarter of a mile from the town of
Boulogne-sur-Mer. The habitation was small but neat, and the
general appearance extremely cheerful. To this residence we find
a single, solitary letter, forwarded by one of her ten children,
which runs as follows : —
54 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
Colonel Fitzclarence to Mrs. Jordan.
[Copy.]
"My Dear Mother, — My dear Sophia* has been very low
spirited since she received my ever dear Dora's letter ; and she
took the earliest opportunity to speak to Mrs. Arburtlniot, who
would speak to her husband about it. I am afraid avc shall not
come home for this long time. I long to see dear Lucy. The
Arburthnots are very kind to me.- — I have got a room in Paris.
Hall is better behaved. I have had a horse shot. Tell all about
the 's If you want money for them, don't ask me for it,
but take my allowance for them : because with a little cai*e, I
could live on my father's till theAr business. Now, do as I ask you,
— mind you do, for they have always been so kind to us all ; —
and if I can make any return, I should be a devil if I did not ;
so take my next quarter, — and as you may want to give thera
some, do that for my sake. — I am very well.
God bless you !
(Signed) Fred. Fitzclarence.
" P. S. — Sophia will write to you on Thursday."
Addressed — ' To Mrs. James, Post Office, Boulogne, France.'
At this residence, however, INIrs. Jordan did not long remain,
for the mind ill at ease, becomes naturally restless, and that
which affords delight one day, becomes irksome the next. From
that tranquil residence, her care-worn mind was next directed to
decide upon Versailles, whither .she repaired to sojourn but for a
transient period, when under the idea of living in greater seclusion,
she made choice of St. Cloud, and adopting the name of James,
thei'e established herself.
Previously to her arrival at the latter place, she was rendered
miserable by receiving no communications whatever from any of
her children, or the last individual with whom she had cohabited
for such a series of years, — though every member of her family
had been repeatedly addressed in the most urgent manner. She
therefore still continued to await letters, under a depression of
spirits not to be described. Independent of her anxiety to acquire
information respecting her ofispring, the situation of her finances
was much reduced ; and on that account, advices from England
were absolutely necessary to determine the future line of conduct
she ought to pursue.
Day succeeded day, yet no letter came to hand, when the senti-
ment of indignation that pervaded her mind, was succeeded by
* His sister, no doubt attracted to Paris by the extraordinary events of
1815.
Life of Mrs. Jordan, 95
disgust at the base ingratitude and inhumanity displayed towards
her, by the father of her ofispring, on the one hand, — and the
cruelty and undutifulness of her children on the other : — in short,
the mask which had so long veiled the truth from her eyes, was
withdrawn, and she perceived with horror that the fixed deter-
mination was to abandon her to her wayward destiny.
It appears obvious that Mrs. Jordan, who had naturally been
imbued with no small portion of nervous irritability, even during
her prosperous days, was not framed in the decline of life, when
fortune frowned upon her, to rally her feelings and become as it
were by supernatural agency, gifted with powers to stem the
torrent of adversity. She entertained dreadful apprehensions as
to her personal safety, and the thought of incarceration shook her
mind to its centre. This terror, far from being lepelled through
the medium of any wholesome advice, was rather fomented by
persons who under the specious pretence of friendship, used every
effort to urge an abandonment of her native land. It was this
manoeuvre that prompted the almost instantaneous resolution
previously detailed, of quitting Sloane-square, and sacrificing her
property as she did upon that occasion. We have traced our
heroine to her several residences in France, and we have now to
record circumstances never before published to the world. In the
days of her prosperity, and when basking in the sunshine of
princely protection, the subject of our memoir had been in the
habit of visiting with her infant offspring, the residence of a con-
fectioner to his late Majesty George the Third, where she used to
meet former acquaintances, whom she could not with propriety
tolerate in the Stable-yard, St. James's. On such occasions the
party to whom we refer used to gambol with the thriving progeny
of the princely father, and, as may be supposed, the choicest of
sweetmeats used to be spread to regale them ; in short, during
such visits (and we are not exactly certain that the Royal parent
himself was not in some instances present) all reserve was laid
aside, and our actress enjoyed that unrestrained intei'course which
was so consonant with the unsophisticated effusions of her heart.
Thus far we have to state as regards the season of prospeiity :
we must now suffer the revolution of years and events previously
developed in these pages, to transpire, when not only our actress
experienced the sad reverse already pourtrayed, but the individual
to whom we allude, from enjoying affluence acquired as a confec-
tioner of George the Third, became in some degree reduced, and
repaired to Paris ; in which city, with the residue of his means,
he established himself in his former business. Aware that his
old munificent visitor was at St. Cloud, he proceeded thither,
96 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
under the hope of obtaining an interview, but to his no small
astonishment found our heroine subjected to a positive state of
esjnonage. A variety of questions were asked, and in reply to his
anxious desire to be introduced to the unfortunate lady, evasive
answers were given, so that he was ultimately compelled to re-
linquish the attempt, and thus retired without seeing the object
of his enquiry.
Shortly after this occurrence, a letter came to his hands penned
by Mrs. Jordan, entreating he would attend after midnight under
a certain window designated, of the dwelling she inhabited at St.
Cloud, when it may be naturally supposed he proved punctual to
the appointment given. From the casement in question, he as-
certained that our wretched actress was in a complete state of
captivity ; that she tvas environed by spies ; and stood in need of
the necessaries of life — being reduced to a state of great indigence.
This interview continued for two hours, and such were the imme-
diate wants of the poor supplicant, that she literally received the
eighteen or twenty fi-ancs her visitant had about him, with a
promise that he would return the following day ; an appointment
being made when she might communicate with him unmolested ;
he having further promised to provide himself with twenty pounds,
the loan required at his hands, in order to make the necessary
arrangements preparatory to her escape to England.
True to his word, he met the suffering creature, and gave into
her hands twenty-four Napoleons, when it was agreed that in ten
days after they should meet — the requisite plans being entered
into — and that, under his protection, she would return to her
native land. Strict to his promise, he attended at the time
stipulated, when, to his infinite mortification and sorrow, he was
given to understand she had expired the day pi'eceding.
A few years elapsed, when circumstances not becoming more
prosperous with our informant, he returned to England ; and,
pressed by the exigency to which he was reduced, made application
in a certain quarter for repayment of the twenty pounds, advanced
as above-mentioned ; but the demand was resisted, under the plea
that he possessed no receipt from the borrowei' — though letters
were produced supplicating the loan in question — and thus the
matter terminated \ at least when we last saw the creditor (a year
ago), who at the period in question produced a bundle of docu-
ments, which he stated his determination to make public, in
consequence of the non-liquidation of the advance so philanthropi-
cally made upon his part. He farther added, that in the course
of his application — being much changed in appearance and dress,
and not being recognised by them — he nevertheless saw two or
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 97
three individuals enjoying posts in a great establishment who he
recollected as having lield the situations of spies, or keepers, over
Mrs. Joi'dan. We may be asked the name of the individual of
whom this information was acquired — which we certainly could
communicate — but as twelve months have elapsed, and since that
period he may have obtained the twenty pounds, we forbear to
implicate him further. We know the last lodging in which he
resided, where a sum for rental has been left unpaid, but we have
not been able down to the present moment to trace him further,
otherwise a moi'e detailed account of this mysterious and black
afi'air should have been given to the public, as we have very little
idea that his applications were attended to subsequent to our final
meeting.
To return to our wretched actress. Left to feed upon the
anguish of her mind, she gradually became enfeebled in body, and
a bilious attack was the result, which slowly increased, but its
growth did not create uneasiness, so completely dejected and lost
was the wretched lady to everything connected with herself, or
that took place around her. Thus circumstanced life became so
burthensome that she was led to contemplate the approach of
dissolution with calmness, being resolved to welcome the final
struggle with placidity.
The chambers occupied by our sufierer were in a hotel in the
square adjoining the palace ; the mansion was spacious, gloomy,
cold, and inconvenient — similar to those habitations so frequently
pictured in the romances of thirty years back. A long flagged
corridor stretched from one extremity of the building to the other,
the chambers were lofty and comfortless, and the toiit ensemble
demonstrated that the edifice had once been the habitation of a
French nobleman. The apartments of the poor sufferer were
most shabbily decorated ; not one of those domestic comforts, so
common in her native land, having saluted her regard during the
last scene of existence ! A small tarnished sofa was the most
respectable article of furniture that adorned what might be termed
the drawing-room, whereon she incessantly reclined, and upon
which she yielded up her tortured spirit into the hands of her
Maker.
We shall now proceed to delineate the closing scene of our un-
fortunate heroine, as described by the owner of the dwelling ; and
we venture to say a more afiecting finale never stood recorded in
the page of biogi'aphy.
The individual in question, denominated as Mr. C , con-
ceived she was poor and tendered her the loan of money, which
98 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
was declined ; notwitlistanding this he uniformly regai'ded her
apparent poverty and the wearing upon her finger a diamond ring
an enigma not to be unravelled. The gem in question, from some
secret motive, she never would relinquish — added to this, she is
stated to have been possessed of some other valuable articles of
jewellery.
From the moment of lier arrival at St. Cloud, as previously
observed, Mrs. Jordan manifested the most restless anxiety for
intelligence from England. That feeling gradually increased, and
became so intense that the skin actually became discoloured ; she
continued from morning till night sighing deeply, and in a dejected
posture on the sofa. Several posts arrived, yet no tidings reached
her, so that the intensity of he-r anguish became at length too
oppressive for mortal strength to endure. When the morning of
her death arrived, this torture of suspense had attained its acme ;
her agitation was dreadful ; her regard, now restless, would then
become rivetted to one spot ; the motion of her limbs assumed a
rapid and unmeaning movement, and her whole demeanour seemed
to indicate that a convulsive jaaroxysm was on the point of taking
possession of her frame. In this situation she eagerly requested
Mr. C , prior to the accustomed hour for the delivery of let-
ters, to go to the post-office, and on his return, starting up, she
stretched forth her hand, as if impatient to grasp the ex^^ected
communication from England. She was informed no letters for
her had arrived : — for a moment she continued motionless,
regarding Mr. C with a wild and vacant stare ; and again
held forth her haiid, as if by an involuntary motion not to be
controlled ; she then as quickly withdrew it, and fell back upon
the sofa from which she had so recently arisen.
Alarmed, Mr. C- hastily left the apartment to summon her
attendant, who had, however, stepped out on an errand. He
then returned, and, adyancing to the sufferer, remarked an
alteration in her countenance that appalled him. She uttered
not a word — she breathed not, but gazed steadfastly upon him.
She wept not — no tear bedewed her cheek, which was one instant
flushed, and then assumed the livid hue of death. Deep drawn
sighs were heard at intervals — it seemed the convulsive struggle
of a heart on the point of bursting.
Mr. C continued irresolute, not knowing how to act. In
a minute he heard the breath drawn with increased difficulty,
accompanied, as it were, by an internal sobbing ; at which
moment the stupified observer became thoroughly terrified. He
hastily advanced to the sofa, and stretching over the unfortunate
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 99
ci^eature, found that the last deep drawn sob had been the im-
mediate precursor of her untimely dissolution. She was a corpse!
Alas ! our actress breathed no more I
******
Let the vivid pencil of Fancy conjure up this harrowing scene;
let the form, once animated by the soul of hilarity, be pourtrayed
to the mind's eye struggling in an agony of insupportable sus-
pense ; the bosom alternately heaving and motionless, and the
overswollen heart's irregular palpitations proclaiming the unutter-
able anguish reigning within, and as it were beating heavy time
to the quickly approaching march of death. We stand aghast
as the linal convulsive throb burst open the storehouse of life,
and leaves the late crucitied sufferer a breathless and inanimate
corpse. Who, T repeat, can contemplate in imagination such an
innocent and unoffending victim of cruelty and neglect without
vending the groan of bitterness and draining the x'ivulet of the
eye ? who, in fine, can stifle the execration, " deep not loud,"
that springs from an indignant feeling, or refuse the prayer of
pity that uniformly awaits the suffering of the gentle and the
good ? — if such there be, let them go herd with sj)irits great in
name and heartless as those by whom she was abandoned.
" Illud amicitiae sanctum ac venerabile nomen
Nunc tibi pro vili, sub pedibusq, jacot."
Ovid.
As an illustration of the manner in which Mrs. Jordan's death
was announced in the public newspapers, we insert the following
paragraghs, not one of which contains anything like a correct
delineation of the events attending that unfortunate lady's un-
timely dissolution.
On the 1st of July, 1816, appeared as follows : — " It is but too
true we hear that this excellent actress (Mrs. Jordan) is no more.
She died on Monday last at Saint Clou.d, in the vicinity of Paris.
About nine months ago she went to France, but her health did
not improve by the change — it gradually declined. ]n her letters
to her fi'iends in England, written early in the present year, she
expresses in the strongest terms a presentiment that she should
never see them moi'e. The disease, howevei', which closed her
eyes, and fixed in death those playful smiles which so long
charmed the admiring world, was not connected with decline of
spirits. She was seized with a violent inflammation in the chest,
under which she suffered several days. The rupture of a blood-
vessel in that region took place and closed the scene."
On the 2d of July, 1816, appeared the following paragraj)li in
one of the London diurnal prints : — " Hopes are entertained that
100 Life of ]\[rs. Jordan.
Mrs. Jordan still lives. The letter which announced her death
last week was received on Thursday. Letters of a subsequent
date received in town yesterday, from a lady wlio accompanies
Mrs. Jordan, states, that her life had been despaired of, but that
severe blisters had been applied, and hopes were entertained of
her recovery. None of her family have received any account of
her death. The letter in which it was mentioned last week was
received by a gentleman in town as law agent with the family."
" The Paris papers, received yesterday morning, mention the
death of Mrs. Jordan. This charming actress lingered in a state
of insensibility until Friday last, when she exjDired at two o'clock
in the morning, at her apartment at St. Cloud. The former re-
port of her death was therefore premature."
Oh, where were the yearnings of filial affection, — where the
manly sympathy of the dutiful son, — where the tender com-
miseration of the sensitive daughter ? At such a season even the
paternal command should have been spurned with indignation,
and the base thirst of lucre resulting from exalted patronage
been rendered subservient to a mother's wants and anguish.
Well, indeed, might Thalia have exclaimed in the emphatic
language of the heart-broken Lear, —
" How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is,
To have a thankless child,"
Go, and adorn yourselves in the tinsel gew-gaws of fashion, —
go, and indulge your pampered appetites at the ample board, and
wallow on the couch of luxury, — we envy not your glittering
guise, we covet not your splendid banquetings, or seek to share
your down beds of voluptuousness ; poverty with a light heart
and approving conscience is to us more acceptable than splendour
purchased at such a price.
We cannot tefrain from remarking on this occasion, that any
father ranks a despicable being who only controls the affections
of his offspring in proportion to the necessity they experience of
ensuring his support and patronage ; a parent should be respected
on account of his virtues, and rendered estimable in the eyes of
his children by the goodness and rectitude of his heart.
It is impossible that we can stand acquitted of the obligations
due to a mother, and it is one of the greater reproaches where-
with human nature is burthened, that in respect to tenderness the
maternal instinct far surpasses that wherewith the child is
imbued. Benefits received are less powerful incentives to grati-
tude and love than those accorded, and the care bestowed renders
the child dearer to the mother than the parent to her offspring.
Life op Mrs. Jordax. 101
In reference to Sir Jonah Barrington's account of Mrs. Jordan's
last moments, Mr. Boaden observes :— " Nothing is said of the
attendant — how soon or how late she returned. Nothing is said
of any resort to the faculty — as is common in such cases — that
after trying the usual resources of their art in convulsive spasms,
they might ultimately pronounce the actual extinction of life.
Mr. C was satisfied that she was no more ; and, after all,
Mrs. Jordan, it seems, was really not dead. Towards the latter
end of June a letter was received, written by Mrs. Jordan's com-
panion to one of her daughters, informing her that ' after a few
days illness the lady had died at St. Cloud ! ' At the same time
the death was announced in some of the morning journals, Mr.
Barton himself in his letter — shortly to follow in this work —
says, that she died in the month of June. Her daughter was
dreadfully shocked, as may be supposed, at the intelligence ;
at the time it arrived a month had not elapsed since her own
accouchement. Three days after the first tidings, a second letter
was received, from the same writer, saying, that ' she had been
deceived hy Mrs. JordarCs apiiearance ; that she was alive, but
very ill.'
" Immediate preparations were now made for this daughter's
going to her mother ; but before they could be completed, a third
letter came to hand announcing that ' Mrs. Jordan was really
dead.' General Hawker himself then went to Paris to ascertain
the fact, and I believe arrived there about three days after the
interment had taken place."
Mr. Boaden then proceeds to detail the following very singular
circumstances : — "Indeed, about the period in question there was
a notion that, so far from her being dead, Mrs. Jordan had been
met by various persons in London, and I myself was very strongly
impressed with a notion that I had seen her. Tli^ dear lady was
not an every day sort of woman. Not that there were not per-
sons who resembled her — for some such I knew, who had more
than a sliyht resemblance in features, and who, to enhance their
own attractions, copied her smile and a peculiar action of the
mouth, which was full of effect, and pointed an ironical sentence.
But there is physiognomy so minute, if we tvill observe, as to
decide the almost indifferent actions of the human character.
She was near sighted, and wore a glass attached to a gold chain
about her neck. Her manner of using this to assist her sight was
extremely peculiar. I was taking a very usual walk before dinner,
and I stopped at a bookseller's window on the left side of Picca-
dilly to look at an embellishment to some new publication that
struck my eye. On a sudden a lady stood by my side, who had
102 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
stopped with a similai' impulse — to my conviction it was Mrs.
Jordan. As she did not speak, but di'opped a long white veil
immediately over her face, I concluded that she did not wish to
be recognised, and therefore, however I should have wished an ex-
planation of what so surprised me, I yielded to her pleasure upon
the occasion — gi'ounded, I had no doubt, upon sufficient reasons.
"When I returned to my own home, at dinner time I mentioned
the circumstance at table, and the way in which it struck me is
still remembered in the family. I used on the occasion the strong
language of Macbeth, ' If I stand here, I saw her.' It was but
very recently I heard, for the first time, that one of her daughters
(Mrs. Alsop) had, to her entire conviction, met her mother in the
Strand, after the report of her death : that the I'eality, or the
fancy, threw her into fits at the time, and that, to her own death,
she believed that she had not been deceived. With her, indeed,
it was deemed a vision — a sepulchral appeai'ance at noon-day —
which I need not say was not my impression in the rencontre
with myself. I have had, it is true, some ghostly intercourse, as
a dramatic author ; but Voltaire — no mean authority as a poet —
has never rendered by his Semiramis a noon-day spectre either
terrible or credible.
" AVhatever becomes of the above, I cannot doubt that every
care has been taken to ascertain the facts attendant upon her
illness — her medical friend — her spasmodic suffering — her death
and burial ! "
The only memento left to point out the spot where moulder the
ashes of our heroine, is a flat stone, a little raised, bearing the
annexed inscription. It was erected at the expense of Henry
Woodgate, Esq., of Dedham, Essex: who, accompanied by his lady,
was with Mrs. Jordan a short period prior to her dissolution.
•
Memorise Sacram
DOROTHY JORDAN,
Qua? per multos annos Londini
Juque aliis Britannias urbibus
Scenam egregie ornavit,
Lepore Comico
Voces suavitate,
PuellaruM Hilarium alteriusque sexus
Moribus Habitu Imitandia nulla secunda :
Ad Exercendam eamque
Dnm feliciter versata est artem
Ut res egenorum adversas snblevarit
Nemo Promptior ;
Evitu exiit 3d novas Julii, 1816,
Annos Nata 50 :
Memextote, Lugate ! !
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 103
[ Thus Anglicised.']
Sacred to the Memory of
DOROTHY JORDAN,
Who, for a series of years, in London
As well as other cities of Britain,
Pre-eminently adorned the Stage.
For Comic Wit,
Sweetness of Voice,
And imitating the Manners and Customs
Of Laughing Maidens,
As well as the opposite sex,
She ranked second to none
In the display of that Art,
Wherein she was so pre-eminently skilled,
Neither was anyone more prompt
In relieving the necessitous.
She departed this Life,
The 3d of July, 1816,
Aged Fifty.
Remember and weep for her !
"We cannot dismiss the subject of the lamented lady's grave
without expressing our astonishment that among the countless
English visitants of Paris and its environs no independent gen-
tleman of feeling should have been found to set on foot, and head
a subscription for erecting a cenotaph, commemorative of the
talents of the departed. Such a mausoleum would stand a signal
record to eternize the shame of beings now existing ; who by of-
fering such a tribute would have tendered some atonement to the
dead for the scandalous neglect they had displayed in regard to her
sufferings and privations during the latter period of her existence.
In consequence of the anathemas thundered against stage-
players by the members of the Catholic church the remains of
Mrs. Jordan were in the first instance denied Christian burial,
until, through the strenuous interference of an English gentleman
of some weight, she was ultimately interred in the cemetery of St.
Cloud, being followed to the grave by nine of her countrymen,
when the funeral service was performed by the Rev. Mr. Foster,
officiating clergyman of the British Embassy at Paris.
Thus terminated the mortal career of Britain's matchless
representative of comedy, — the darling favourite of the public —
the mistress of a prince — and the universally acknowledged best
actress that perhaps ever figured on a London stage.
In order to prove how little credit ought to be placed on
newspaper reports, we find that on the 8th of September, 1816,
the following paragraph, which has anything but veracity to
recommend it, appeared in one of the daily papers.
104 Life of Mhs. Jordan.
" The funeral of the late Mrs. Jordan was not conducted in
the manner which has been described ; it was attended by the
Mayor of Saint Cloud, in liis full dress robes, accompanied by up-
wards of two hundred of the most respectable of his parishioners.
The Protestant service was read over her in the cliurch, and
afterwards a French minister pronounced an oration upon her —
enumerating her talents, and many amiable (jualities. She had,
for a short time before her death, assumed the name of Jones."
Penny subscriptions having frequently been set on foot to
pay wliat were deemed cruel and arbitrary fines, or to relieve
individuals persecuted for their political creeds, we tliink a similar
plan adopted, to raise a monument to the memory of our departed
Thalia, would redound to the credit of society at large, and more
particularly that portion of the community who are partial to
theatrical amusements. Should such an idea be seconded by any
of our readers, we should feel happy to forward their views by
entering into a systematic plan to effect the design ; for which
purpose any written communications, addressed to the publisher
of these Memoirs will be immediately attended to.
In order again to show how far the statements of newspaper
informants may be relied upon, we extract the ensuing pai'agraph
from a London newspaper, in reference to the individuals stated
as constituting the only £n(/liiihm^7i v>'ho witnessed the ceremonial
en passant, instead of having formed a portion of the actual
assistants on that melancholy occasion.
" Mrs. Jordan was buried in the cemetery of Saint Cloud.
She had resided in the village for some time with great privacy,
under the name of Mrs. James. She was buried in a thin shell,
stained black, but uncovered with cloth or ornament of any kind.
Mr. .John Greatorex, an hotel-keeper in Paris, and Mr. William
Henshall, statuary, of Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, were
by accident passing and saw lier interred. They were the only
Englishmen present."
The following correct announcement first appeared in the
English print published by Galignani, in Paris, entitled The
Messenger, whence it was quoted by several English diurnals —
the copy from which we derived our extract being under date of
the 4th of July, 1819.
" We some days since inserted a letter on the subject of an
unliquidated debt of sixty francs, due to the municipality of St.
Cloud, for the space of ground appropriated as the last resting
place of the late ]\Irs, Jordan. We feel called upon to state, that
immediately after the publication of the above-mentioned letter.
Life op Mrs. Jordan. 105
we received repeated applications, both personally and in writing,
from various liritish residents, all expressing an anxious desire to
be permitted to take the debt upon themselves, both from a
national feeling of what was due to the character of our country,
and an individual sentiment of respect for the amiable deceased ;
and although, as we have authority to mention, the sum in
question has been paid by a particularly active competitor in the
honourable race of generosity, we nevertheless continue each day
to receive letters of the same import, and to the same purpose,
from the departments.
"To those who knew the fine domestic and benevolent qualities
of this veiy eminent and gifted actress, whose very frailties were
excused by almost every mitigating fact whereby female frailty
can be excused, and still more, to those who were residents some
years ago in the neighbourhood of Bushy Park, (our own case)
the foregoing statement will afford a melancholy proof of worldly
vicissitude, and of the peculiar fragile nature of the most natural
links in a certain atmosphere. Speaking of Bushy Park, we
recollect that in August, 1806, a grand dinner was given there,
in honour of the Duke of Clarence's birthday, which dinner was
attended by a brilliant assembly of Royalty and FasJiion of both
sexes, and of the first distinction, including even Dignitaries of
the Law. At dinner, Mrs. Jordan took the head of the table,
supported by the Dukes of York and Kent, while the Duke of
Clarence officiated at the bottom. After dinner the youyig family
was introduced, even to a white-headed infant in the nurse's arms.
Drums, trumpets, healths, congratulations, and festivity were the
order of the day. — See file of the Courier, 1806, 22, 23, 24,
August.
"About the same time of the year, ten years after (1816) Mrs.
Jordan dies at St. Cloud, near Paris, in a state of foverty and
obscurity, and is buried in a deal coffin paijited black, her funeral
being conducted and attended by strangers : and now in 1819, we
learn that an appeal to the public is necessary, to pay a part of
the expense, sixty francs — ttvo p)ounds, tivelve shillitigs, and six-
pence.
" That numbers of Englishmen should be eager to discharge
that for the honour of their country, whiclt other people have so
grossly neglected to the dishonour of themselves, is not to be v/on-
dered at, particularly when in addition to the above facts, the
peculiar generosity and benevolence of Mrs. Jordan's character
are understood, as also that she did not become poor by folly or
extravagance ; and that lastly, if unconnected, she might have
died mistress of a very respectable fortune. Taking all these
106 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
circuiiistancos into consideration, the Paris advertisement forms
one of the severest libels upon inniuj jn'rsons in higJi life, to whom
hei talents were once rendered conrenient, that ever was furnished.
We Ijcliexe the present Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzclarence and the
Misses Fitzclarence formed a part of the young family mentioned
in the above reminiscences from the Courier of 1806."
Were any further proofs necessary to render valid the assertions
so repeatedly made in the progress of the foregoing pages, we
certainly conceive the above pretty conclusive evidence. The
commemoration of the Duke of Clarence's l)irthday, as reported
by the Courier in 180G, we have previously given at full-length,
with ]Mr. Cobbett's very caustic observations, and certainly such
a striking instance of the strange vicissitudes of fortune is very
unconnnon, as that of the Uolidaij Feast and the BURIAL
SOLEMNITY above recorded !
Gracious Heaven ! the mediocre sum of two pounds, twelve
shillings, and sixpence was not forthcoming to pay for the break-
ing of the burial ground of St. Cloud, without seeking it through
the medium of chanty ; — -let us hear no more respecting Mrs.
Jordan's having died in easy circumstances, if not in affluence.
The above statement is conclusive, as regards the extreme
indigence which attended her latest moments, and we blush when
the recollection comes across us of those who were enabled, yet
did not come forward to tender the aid required. What becomes
of the laboured statements of Mi". Carton, the Ducal agent, which
we shall ere long present to our readers ; with all the trumped up
tales concocted by the friends of the Great, to cast a veil over
their ingratitude and uncharitableness. The whole vanishes like
mist, and leaves the naked truth developed ; — our actress expired
as reduced in circumstances as blighted at the soul, — she closed
her eyes heartbroken, neglected, and forgotten !
After the death of Mrs. Jordan, when most of the daily prints
were pointedly acrimonious in their comments upon a certain
exalted personage, while they commiserated the penury which
had characterised the final stage of our heroine's career ; reports
were industriously circulated in another quarter, attributing all
her necessities to the bond and bills signed for a valued friend,
which had compelled her to abandon England under the dread of
legal pursuit and ultimate imprisonment. As on previous occa-
sions, we beg acrain to ask what had become of the hundred and
ten thousand pounds she had accumulated, and why did the
holders of such bond and bills await until the hour of poverty had.
arrived, to pounce upon their unfortunate victim ; this bond
and bill transaction liad been of considerable standing, and while
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 107
Mrs. Jordan was in the enjoyment of every comfort this life
could afford, then surely such would have been the season for
bond and bill holders to commence operations. Is it reasonable to
suppose they would let slip such a golden opportunity, and sleep
during the season of affluence — only rousing to action when
penury and affliction were the attendants on the object of their
pursuit ! The bare supposition is too ridiculous to require further
comment. For what purpose then was this bill and bond affair
brought in evidence, but to conceal facts that would have proved
disgraceful to the living ? It is our firm conviction that the timid
mind of the heroine was thus wrought upon for the express pur-
pose of urging her to quit the country, it having been pre-arranged
she should never return. Has it not appeared in evidence none
will dare dispute that her mind had been impressed with an idea
that the absence would be for ten days or a fortnight at most,
during which her pecuniary affairs would be finally adjusted, so
as to admit of her coming back in safety ; yet what was the
result ? — The communications from home were at the commence-
ment of her absence very vinfrequent, and after the lapse of a
short period never attended to at all, which was productive of a state
of unceasing anxiety that tended to hasten the final catastrophe.
Let us enquire further, has it ever been proved that Mrs. Jordan
was actually sued by the holders of the bond and bills ? — ^in all
we have read upon the subject, no such inference can be drawn,
and it therefore appears to us that the whole was produced by a
side-wind influence, for the sole purpose of expatriating this ill
used lady. The worm when trampled on will turn, and there is
little doubt but she was in possession of secrets worth knowing,
and might have blown a mine calculated to set St. James's in an
uproar.
The year subsequent to the death of Mrs. Jordan, on the 13th
of the month of June appeared the following announcement,
which, howevei', was not productive of the expected publication.
Whether any such manuscript did exist we cannot undertake to
say, though we conceive such to have been the case, and that the
work was suppressed.
"Thirteenth of June, 1817, will be published in one Vol. octavo,
with original letters. Authentic Memoirs of Mrs. Jordan. This
favourite retired to the continent, where she closed an existence
insupportable to her feelings as a mother. By Colburn, Conduit
Street, Bond Street."
On the subject of Mrs. Jordan's consummate talents in her
profession, little need be said, as they were of such a description
108 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
as to outstrip all oui' attempts at praise. She unquestionably
was not intended by nature to personate the woman of quality,
for when put in competition with Miss Farren, her Lady Teazle
wanted energy of manner, and her genteel comedy always savoured
too much of the Hoyden to rank as a legitimate personification of
high life. In the cast of sentimental comedy she was very efi"ective,
and for this reason, because not being required to bend, she never
forfeited her dignity. In the Rosalind of '■'■As You Like It" she
was beyond all panegyric ; her Homp, Nelly, Little Pickle, and
Miss Biddy, so far surpassed the efforts of any other performer,
that tliey might be pronounced unequalled without any fear of a
dissentient voice. In the walk of tragedy, though not so naturally
pathetic as Fanny Kelly, she was far more correct, and in accord-
ance with nature, as she would appear in reality, and though not
endowed with the violence of feeling assumed by Miss Kelly, her
delivery was more true. As to our actress's smile and laugh,
they were bewitching, — nothing in nature could be so enlivening;
in short they wex'e as much beyond the pale of description, as
above all praise. Her laugh in particular gradually increased,
and as imperceptibly diminished, so that the faintest sigh of its
existence was as natural, and pregnant with effect as when it had
attained the loudest swell ; — this was as naturally resorted to by
our heroine, as the best tutored and most mellifluent singer has
recourse to a shake or cadence, and she was capable of managing
all its modulations with equal skill.
Mrs. Jordan was of the middle stature, her face oval, not
strictly handsome, but possessing great fascination, while her
figure always inclining to the en hon point, for some years pi'e-
vious to her death had assumed a corpulency which did not
assimilate with her theatrical avocations.
One of the earliest miniatures of our actress was delineated by
Mr. Bai'ber (now Barber Beaumont, Esqr.), while he followed
the profession of a miniature painter in Southampton Street. It
was done expressly for a theatrical publication of great elegance
and popularity in its day, entitled TIte Monthly Mirror, conducted
by a gentleman well known in the fashionable world, who is as
young and as gay as at the period alluded to — in fine, a complete
evergreen.
In the Theatrical Examiner of the 7th of Jany., 1815, under the
head "Sketches of the Performers," No. 187, we find as follows :
" Of all the actresses whom we were in the habit of seeing
before we came to prison,* and who still keep possession of the
* Written by Leigh Hunt, then in confinenaent for a political libel.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 109
stage, the truest and most native is unquestionably Mrs. Jordan.
Her talent lies in the expression of a warm, unsophisticated
heart, full of kindly impulses, and quick as a child to everything
new and pleasui'able. Her range, in consequence, is not extensive.
In sentimental comedy, she is particvilarly poor ; and she is all
deficient in the Lady, though as everybody must have their blind-
ness of some kind, she does not appear conscious of it, and is
sometimes injudiciously praised for the I'everse by those who
confound gentility with flirts of the fan, and a fine dashing
manner. In fact, the principal secret of gentility is certain
graceful orderliness — an habitual subjugation, more or less, of
impulse to manner ; and Mrs. Jordan is deficient in this respect,
not because she is impudent or vulgar-minded, for apparently as
well as by all account, she possesses those generous and aflfectionate
qualities upon which the truest good breeding is founded : — but
because from circumstances perhaps not to be found out, she
seems never to be in the habit of controlling her impressions
externally. We do not believe, with tlie world in genei'al, that
great powers of a diflferent nature may not unite in the same
person ; but some, we believe, are less likely to do so than others,
particularly if they depend on every day habits, and of these
kinds is the talent possessed by Mrs. Jordan, and that which
Miss Farren is said to have exliibited. If Mrs. Jordan were
what she ought to be in the lady, we more than doubt whether
she could be what she is in the boarding school girl, or the buxom
woman.
" But then, how true to the life is she in charactei's of that
description ! In the girl, what hey-day veracity, what bounding
eagerness, what tip-toe spirits and expectations, what exquisite
ignorance of received habits ! — In the woman, what generous
confidence, what a flush of mirth and tenderness, what a breath
suspended, and the blurting kind of pleasantry, relieved from
coarseness by a delicious voice !
" There are some primitive expressions of feeling, to excel in
which implies at once a taste for nature. Miss O'Neil, we are
told, is pre-eminent in what is elegantly termed 'a cry,' and Mrs.
Jordan always appeared to us unrivalled in a laugh. A sta^e
laugh generally follows the speech which it should accompany,
and is as good a set 'ha! ha! ha!' as the author has put down in
his book ; — but the laughter of Mrs. Jordan, in all its branches,
from the giggle to the full burst, is social and genuine ; it clips,
as it were, and tickles the dialogue ; it breaks in and about her
words, like sparkles of bubbling water ; and when the whole
stream comes out, nothing can be fuller of heart and soul."
110 Life of Mrs. Jordan.
The last time we saw this charming actress, she was of a size,
however convenient for the widow, certainly obstructed a little
the dancing vivacity of the hoyden ; but such is the effect of
native feeling, vivacity, and a tone of generous temper that even
in a portly young girl of forty hardly appeared an extravagance ;
and we had scarcely to shut our eyes in order to fancy ourselves
in the middle of a school room when the governess had gone out
of the way.
"Mrs. Jordan is not only the first living actress in comedy, but
we fear that when our readers consider the matter nicely, she will
be found to be the only actress since the retii-ement of Miss Pope,
who can any way be reckoned great and oi'iginal. There are
some other clever actresses no doubt, but they fix upon one's mind
no idea of themselves which we may not connect Avith that of
another. — We shall therefore be very brief with the remainder."
The observations contained in the foregoing comment, are in
general very correct, and conveyed in appropriate language ; we
cannot, however, coincide in opinion with all that the writer has
thought fit to advance. There was not a character in which Mrs.
Jordan appeared, that we did not witness frequently, and from
critical observation beg to dissent from the foregoing decision as
regards the representation of sentimental comedy by the lady
under review. So far from observing any paucity in her personi-
fication of such characters, our actress on the contrary uniformly
excited sentiments of the most lively sympathy ; the tones of
her voice on such occasions were plaintive beyond expression,
accompanied by acting that evinced a perfect knowledge — from
inherent feeling of what was requisite in jDorsonifying the suppli-
catory and the pathetic. In the beautiful melo-dramatic piece of
^'■Richard Camr de Lion,^' for instance, what could be a stronger
appeal to the heart than her representation of the disguised
Matilda, and in the scene where she discovers Lauretta's (repre-
sented by Mrs. Crouch) love for Florestin, the jailor of her own
captured king and husband, there were blended in her speech and
acting such mingled pity for her friend, with exultation at the
discovery of her lord, that a finer struggle between the passions
of friendship, gratitude, and fervent love could not be developed.
In regard to the fine lady of Mrs. Jordan, we cannot advance
thus much, though from the first time she appeared in Lady Teazle,
which we witnessed, equally with other characters of the haul
ton, we cannot find so much to reprehend as the writer of the
foregoing article, whose comments, as previously observed, we in
every other respect regard as strictly correct, and a most faithful
personification of the comic powers of a lady who we never saw
LiFR OF Mrs Jordan. Ill
equalled, and may confidently venture to assert will never be
surpassed.
TJie last time she appeared before a London audience, her
powers were evidently on the decline, and her corpulency had so
much increased as to deteriorate greatly from the fascinations of
her acting. With a very trifling compass of voice, she possessed
the art of singing every species of air in a manner to command
attention and ensure applause ; and in many instances she ex-
ecuted very difficult compositions with success; — added to this, her
ear was remai'kably acute, and Jier recollection of an air retentive
in the extreme. That our heroine was a most extraordinary
genius and talented woman, cannot be denied, and that she
possessed more natural attributes for the walk of life in which
she figured, than any actress upon record, is a fact so universally
allowed by the ablest judges, that we do no more than justice
when we accord her the blooming wreath of Fame, and hail her
as : — -
" The unmatched Thalia of the British Stasre."
In reference to our heroine having changed her name from
Francis to that of Jordan, in order to elude the pursuit of the
profligate Irish manager through whose infamous practices her
first seduction was effected, we have learned the ensuing anecdote.
After her engagement with Mr. Tate Wilkinson, at Leeds, took
place, having on one occasion described the misfortunes and
dreadful treatment she had undergone in Ireland, the subject of
our Memoir at length exclaimed : —
"/« short, I am certain that I shed tears enough to overflow the
river Jordan ! "
W^hen not having decided upon the designation she should
assume, that of Jordan which had been so emphatically dwelt
upon, was selected by a friend as the most appropriate apellation
she could adopt, and was accordingly resorted to. Another ver-
sion of this story is that after passing the Irish channel, she
likened herself to the Children of Israel, who having traversed
the Jordan, escaped from persecution and bondage, and on that
account she assumed the name of the river in question.
During Mrs. Jordan's earliest engagement, with Mr. Wilkinson,
at York, her personal attractions and histrionic talents so power-
fully interested Mr. George Inchbald, then a member of the same
theatrical company, that he made her honourable proposals.
The gentleman alluded to was son-in-law to Mrs. Inchbald, and
his assiduities were by no means displeasing to our heroine, but
the visit of Gentleman Smith, the actor, to York, where he
112 Life op Mrs. Jordan.
became so struck with Mrs. Jordan's talents as to procure for
her an engagement with the managers of Drury Lane, put a stop
to this matrimonial speculation, as her immediate removal from
the North to London proved the consequence.
It has been justly remarked by an anonymous writer, that
when at York, " Mrs. Jordan uniformly distinguished herself by
propriety in her domestic conduct, and the untaxed modesty of
her manners ; thus rendering herself the more amiable and dis-
tinguished by supporting and firmly protecting a breach which
had been so lately assaulted and violated."
"Mrs. Jordan, therefore, in the view of a. /ashio7iable Cyprian,
claims a fair and honourable distinction. Though always a
tnistress, still she has invariably acted up to the rigid principles
and economy of the wife. She has never been lavish in her
favours, but uniformly true and constant to the man she has
lived with.
" To Mr. Ford she bore four children, one of whom died, and
she ever comported herself as a constant wife, an affectionate
mother, and a sincere friend ; ever solicitous, and on the watch
for their united comforts and happiness. This tender conduct so
far and justly gained on the esteem and affection of Mr. Ford,
that he promised to make her Ids wife."
"Mrs. Jordan," says the same writer, "has seven children living ;
at the period in question (1798) she has only three children by the
Duke of Clarence. The eldest, who is a tine accomplished girl,
about fourteen, is the offspring of Mr. Daly, the late Irish man-
ager. — She passes by the name of Miss Jordan. She has three
by Mr. Ford, who also pass by the same name, and three more,
a boy and two girls by the Duke, who were christened by the name
of Fitzclai-ence* They are all under the care and education
(together with Miss Jordan, a sister of our heroine's) of the Rev.
M. Lloyd, at Ewell, chaplain to His Grace, who receives from
Mrs. Jordan the yearly sum of £400 for their maintenance and
instruction.
" And now to follow up the above little soliloquy. — As a
mother, Mrs. Jordan will behold her children anxiously and
attentively watching over her declining powers, blessing herself
as she surveys their fondness and affection, that fortune and her
prudence have rendered them thus cheerful, happy, and indepen-
dent. The noble sentiments flowing from a liberal education, will
teach them to reverence the mother, without sprinkling the tender
* Fitz signifies Bastard. — I do not see what absolute necessity there was
of attaching this word to the children's names.
Life of Mrs, Jokdax. 113
nomination with any unworthy reflections on the father. And
the base ungenerous tongue that ignorantly reflects upon their
own bii'th, that education will teach them to despise ; whilst if
necessary, it will also teach them to resent and chastise. The sense
ingrafted in their youthful minds by the liberal and Christian
principals of a Lloyd, will likewise teach them that one Being is
the Great and Universal Parent of Mankind, and that Being
will instruct them that next to him, they owe all their love and
homage to a fond, a tender, and ever anxious mother."
So much for the generous comments and affectionate anticipa-
tions of an unknown writer, whose wishes were anything but
realised by the lapse of years, as we have amply demonstrated in
the progress of the foi-egoing pages. Had we not on previous
occasions expressed our sentiments on this head, we would further
dilate upon the topic of the ingratitude of children to their parents ;
we cannot, however, close the subject without alluding to the titled
Fitzclarence, who not content with the honours and wealth already
heaped upon him by his father, is said to have disagreed with him
because further importunities on his part have not been complied
with. Alas ! poor Jordan, couldst thou rise from the grave, and
behold the upstart pretensions of thy progeny, so diametrically
opposed to those sentiments which it was thy constant practice to
infuse into their minds, thou wouldst have a fresh pang inflicted
on thy sensitive nature, and more bitterly lament the hour when
fate decreed that thou shouldst rank the mother of such a race.
Anxious to render these memoirs of the utmost importance to
the public, the editor having been credibly informed that a chan-
nel existed at Paris, through which some curious information
might be gleaned respecting our heroine, the requisite steps were
pursued. Through the medium of a gentleman, therefore, who
had occasion to visit the French capital on business, the annexed
statements were acquii'ed, which we feel infinite pleasure in laying
before the public, as containing many facts hitherto unpublished,
and correcting erroneous statements that have hitherto passed
current with the world.
Much misrepresentation and a variety of false reports having
been disseminated through the medium of the diurnal press, as
well as pretended memoirs, respecting the state of seclusion and
retirement of Mrs. Dorothea Jordan from the land of her birth ;
of the causes which conduced to her adoption of that mode of
proceeding, together with her premature decease, we think it
requisite to annex the ensuing details, for the strict veracity of
which we can conscientiously avouch.
n
114 LiFK OF Mrs. Jordan.
NARRATIVE OF THE LAST DAYS,
DEATH, AND FUNERAL OF MRS. JORDAN.
BY A GENTLEMAX STILL LIVING IN PARIS ; WHO
ATTENDED THE FUNERAL, ETC., ETC.
" It is most probable that the real motive of our late actress's
expatriation was confined to lierself and some branches of Iior
family, to whom might be added a confidential and most faithful
attendant ; one Miss Sketchley, wlio appears to have uniformly
acted the most devoted part towards the lady who honoured her
with unreserved confidence. The retired and humble mode of life
pursued by Mrs. Jordan at Saint Cloud, under a fictitious name,
contrasted with the affluence and splendour of her former station,
most probably conduced to render valid the variety of reports
afterwards disseminated respecting the treatment and neglect
which she is stated to have experienced from a certain very ex-
alted personage. The inference thence deducted was to the effect
that Mrs. Jordan was subjected to a state of the most abject
poverty and destitution, resulting from a cruel, dishonourable, and
cold blooded abandonment, on the part of her former munificent
protector. These assertions, however, were not correct to the
extent reported, but whether true or false, being based on no
other authority than surmise ; the positive fact is, that the
unfortunate lady was no more in a state of absolute destitution
or positive starvation than she was in the enjoyment of that
affluence, luxury, and splendour which had been the attendants
of her former years.
" Among the very limited number of individuals who were
accustomed to visit Mrs. Jordan during the period of her exile,
it has been ascertained that she in no one instance made the
slightest communication respecting the source of her mental
anguish, or ever uttered a syllable in the shape of complaint or
reproach, that tended to attach blame in the remotest degree to
the exalted personage above alluded to. We do not thence pre-
tend to infer that no blame was attachable in that quarter, as it
was evident to every person possessing a knowledge of the patient
sufferer, that she was gifted with a temperament so truly refined,
as rather to pine and waste in silence than breathe her wrongs
and sufferings to the world. Be the source of her sorrows what
it might, it was nevertheless evident that the depression of her
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 115
spirits as far sui'passed the limits of what might liave been the
result of pecuniary distress, as relief of a pecuniary nature must
have proved inadequate in affecting a removal of the dreadful
weight under which her afflicted spirit succumbed and was ulti-
mately bowed down. The real fact is, that the internal disease
under which Mrs. Jordan laboured, was the canker-worm, that
never abandoned its devoted victim until the fore-doomed prey
had ceased to exist and was numbered with the dead.
"Whatever might have been the cause that determined the
wretched lady to bury herself in obscurity, there can be little doubt
but the incitement was of no very ordinary character ; no trivial
disappointments, or temporary chagrin could have tended to
su.bdue the hilarity, the buoyant energies and playful vivacity of
her superior and well regulated mind, or compelled her to renounce
her name, her friends, and a country so dear to her, a land where
she had been next to idolised ; — no ; there must have been some
hidden, some potent cause that could have impelled her to have
recourse to such an unlooked-for line of proceeding, and there can
be little doubt her family, if they thought fit, could develope the
grand mystery.
" Mrs. Jordan had been visibly upon the decline for a long
period pi'ior to her dissolution ; the acuteness of her malady,
however, was considerably alleviated by the unvarying assiduities
and watchful attention of Miss Sketchley, who had been her
companion for a long series of years, and to whom several peers
and peeresses of the present day stand indebted for the peculiar
interest she took in the superintendence of their comforts and
happiness during the period of their juvenile days. At the time
of Mrs. Jordan's retirement one Mr. John Greatorex kept a highly
respectable hotel in the Rue Pelletier, Pai'is, who was in the habit
of supplying many English families with wine, spirits, and other
commodities — he was in the frequent practice of repairing to St.
Cloud, being one among the few individuals who was aware that
the supposed Mrs. James was no other than the once highly-
favoured and celebrated Mrs. Jordan. She uniformly received
Mr. Greatorex with all that amiability of manner and unaffected
condescension that were universally allowed to be peculiarly her
own ; the last visit he paid having been only two days' previous
to her decease. On the occasion alluded to she ordered refresh-
ments to be brought, whereof he partook — observing at the time
that she was labouring under bodily indisposition, though she
certainly did not appear on the eve of dissolution. After the lapse
of two days, on Mr. Greatorex again presenting himself to enquire
after the state of Mrs. Jordan's health, he found she had ceased
116 LlFli OF Mus. JOUUAN.
to be an iiih;iljit;int of this world, ;ind in coiifoniiity with the
revolting custom pursued in France, though not in strict accord-
ance with the law — that preparations for the funeral had already
commenced.
"The arrival of Mr. Greatorex, at the period adverted to,
proved opportune in the extreme, and of the greatest service to
Miss Sketchley — who, in addition to the extreme affliction whereby
she was overwhelmed, had to superintend the arrangements for
the funeral, surrounded by strangers, and unassisted l)y any friend
or compatriot, in whom she could place confidence. But for the
arrival of Mr. Greatorex, therefore, there cannot be a doubt l)ut
the remains of Mrs. Jordan would have been conveyed to their
final home unattended by any one of her countrymen ; and, from
the intolerant operation of superstitious prejudice and bigotry,
would have been committed to the earth without the rites of
Christian sepulture. *
"In this painful dilemma Mr. Greatorex hurried back to Paris,
where his primary object was to obtain the assistance of a Pro-
testant clergyman. Unfortunately, the Rev. Mr. Foster, resident
Chaplain to the British Embassy, chanced either to be unwell, or
unable to attend on this melancholy occasion, when after much
enquiry, trouble, and research, he ultimately succeeded in finding
the Rev. ISlr. Marron, officiating pastor at the French Protestant
Church of the Oratoire. Mr. Greatorex having fortunately
obtained the assistance of the gentleman in question, they were
joined by Mr. William Henshaw, Statuary, of Mortimer Street,
Cavendish Square, London, Mr. Keith, and other English residents
— who hastily collected for the occasion, to the number of eight —
and repaired to St. Cloud, when the funeral took place ; on which
occasion the mayor of the town assisted, accoutred in his official
costume.
" The funeral service was then performed by Mr. Marron, with
every appropriate solemnity, and in the most impressive manner.
* For the information of snch persons as may not be conversant with the
nsap;es of our Gallic neighbours, it may be requisite to observe that the law
of France on such occasions is, " that no one be interred until after the
expiration of twenty-four hours from the period of dissolution," this being
enacted to guard against the danger of premature interments ; which owing
to the aversion entertained by the French as regards tristosse, or anything
of a melancholy description, not unfrequently occurs, owing to the departed
being hurried ofE to the grave in such a brief space of time. It must, how-
ever, lie remarked, that the burial of any person may, and ought to bo
resisted, notwithstanding the authoritative blusterings of the Comniissaire
de Police, until unequivocal signs of decomposition .shall be mauifest — thua
proving that the principle of vitality has become extinct.
Life of Mrs. Jordan. 117
The ceremony attending Mrs. Jordan's interment, althougli plain,
was in every respect decorous — the coffin being covered with light
blue cloth, lined and embellished witli whfte furniture. After
the office had been performed, a cold collation, consisting of fruits
and different wines, was prepared by order of Miss Sketchley, for
the pastor and gentlemen who had officiated.
" Thus terminated the earthly cai'eer of the being, who havin"-
for"such a series of years participated in the smiles and sunshine
of Royalty, became an additional instance of that melancholy
versatility of fortune so frequently experienced by those whose
confidence has been placed in the insidious and faithless promises
of Princes."
FINIS.
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