theatre in the evening. Nor did Mrs. Siddons less demand her share of "The Muse's" time; frequently inviting her to dinner, independently of the Sundays usually passed with the Twisses, which commonly assembled the whole family. Sir Charles Bunbury also had the happiness of entertaining her, and in the month of June, with a party of thirty, carried her over Carlton House-an object of great importance to ladies, from the splendid taste of its illustrious owner. Among her distinguished visitors may be numbered Miss Wallis she always called upon her in the carriage of the Lord Chancellor (Loughborough), who treated her with an almost paternal and truly amiable preference. But however pure and captivating such condescensions may be, they are still condescensions; the persons patronised by the great are never upon a level with them, and the proud independent mind of Mrs. Inchbald noticed something of the evils attendant upon such a state. Her record shall be given literatim : 66 May 21st, dined with Miss Wallis; two upper women servants there some time. Saw much of the sorrow of such connexions." To be sure; because, as in palaces, whatever be the functions or talents, all are as servants; and there is little discrimination among dependents. The sorrow of some other connexions she would by no means permit herself to share. Lady Lanesborough sent her two invitations to 354 MEMOIR OF MRS. INCHBALD. dinner, and called upon her two or three times Her invitations were declined, and her ladyship denied admittance. Her scarcely sane acquaintance, Mrs. Wells, called again upon her, with her very lovely children, and the Marquis of Abercorn did her the honour of returning her visit. She has not recorded a single attendance at chapel, nor has she any allusion to the subject of religion; though few years in her existence should seem to have afforded more occasions for seeking its consolation. But the reader is not therefore to imagine her insensible on the subject. We shall at a proper time exhibit her yearly thermometer, as to the condition of her mind, to prove the censorial inspection she always made into her SELF. Her regularity and economy were as striking this year as any former. Between the midsummers she saved £8. 14s. out of her permitted 34s. per week, though the dearness of coals had caused her to expend a guinea beyond the sum she allowed for fuel. Her savings were immediately given among her needy connexions. PRELIMINARY. THIS play was suppressed, though printed, before publication, in deference to political opinions, which we do not absolutely condemn. Now, however, as curiosity may expect to be gratified by the work of our Author, we see no reason for keeping it from the Appendix to the first volume. ADVERTISEMENT. THE writer of the following pages, in laying them before the public, imagines that no further reason requires to be alleged for their not having first been produced at one of our theatres, than the reason assigned by Mr. Horace Walpole (now Lord Orford) in the postscript to his muchadmired tragedy, The Mysterious Mother,' which was never intended for representation:-" From the time that I first undertook the foregoing scenes, I never flattered myself that they would be proper to appear on the stage. The subject is so horrid, that I thought it would shock, rather than give satisfaction, to an audience. Still, I found it so truly tragic in the essential springs of terror and pity, that I could not resist the impulse of adapting it to the scene, though it never could be practicable to produce it there."-Postscript to The Mysterious Mother.' Having applied a paragraph of the noble author's above mentioned, to the present piece, the writer also avers, that the story of this play (as well as that of The Mysterious Mother') is founded upon circumstances which have been related as fucts, and which the unhappy state of a neighbouring nation does but too powerfully give reason to credit. |