Mrs. Siddons's Parents-Names of two distinguished Individuals among her ancestral Relations-List of her Brothers and Sisters-Notices of some of them-Mrs. Whitelock, her eldest Sister, a successful Actress in America-Anecdotes of the Indians during her Performance at Philadelphia-Brecon, in North Wales, the Birth-place of Mrs. Siddons-Sir Hugh Evans, a Personage in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," was Curate of the Priory of Brecon Resemblance between the Frolics of Fairy Puck, in "Midsummer Night's Dream," to the Gambols of his Namesake, in Breconshire-Anecdote of Mrs. Siddons in her Childhood-Her early Fondness for Milton's Poetry-Early Appearance on the Stage-Mr. Siddons joins her Father's CompanyEngages her Affections, and marries her, in her nineteenth year.
MRS. SIDDONS's maiden name was Kemble. She was the daughter of Roger Kemble, the manager of a theatrical company that performed chiefly in the midland and the western towns of England; and of Sarah Ward, whose father was also a strolling manager. Mr. Ward had been an actor in the days of Betterton, and had been the original Hazareth, in Fenton's "Mariamne."
I remember having seen the parents of the great actress in their old age. They were both of them tall and comely personages. The mother had a somewhat austere stateliness of manner; but it seems to have been from her that the family inherited their genius and force of character. Her voice had much of the emphasis of her daughter's; and her portrait, which long graced Mrs. Siddons's drawing-room, has an intellectual expression of the strongest power: she gave you