The National Register.
London, England, 1815-01-29 00:00:00

JAN. 9.9.

The present week baying been totally barren of novelty at both
theatres, the pen of criticism mny be lard sniwn awhile, and our
readers will not be displeased it we employ this breathing time in -
drawing from :he pages of our predecessors the ebullitions of their
wit on on occasion when, as at present, an actress of superior ex
cellence and immortal fame made her first appearance on the then•
trical horizon. Borne on the tide of popularity, Mrs. Siddons re-
paired to Ireland, at the opening of her career, to add the appro-
bation of the " best judges in the world," to that which she lid al.
ready acquired in the British metropolis. Her reception was so
enthusiastic, that the critics of the time took offence, and in the
following manner ridiculed the excess of admiration which her first
appearance at Dublin excised, but which every succeeding year
only served to coatirm and enerease.
gg Yesterday Mrs. Siddons, about whom all the world has been
talking, exposed her beantaia, adamantine, soft, and lovely person,
for the first time, in the Theatre Royal Smock Alley, in the be.
*itching, melting, and all tearful character of Athena. Iran the
repeated panegyrics in the London Newspapers we were taught to
expect :he sitelit of an heavenly angel, but how were we superman. ,
raltysurpriZed into the most awful joy in beholding an earthly god.
sltss.---The House was crowded with hundreds more than it could
hold—with thousands of admiring spectators, that went away with-
out a sight. This extraordinary phenomenon of tragic excellence,
this star of Melpomene, this comet of the stage, this• situ of the
firmament of the Muses, this moon of blank verse, this Queen and
Princess of tears, this Donellan of the poisoned bowl, this Em.
„press Rusty• Fusty of the Pistol and Dagger, this chaos of Shakes-
peare, this world of weeping clouds, this Juno of commanding as.
pect, this Terpsichore of the curtains and scenes, this Proserpina
of fire and earthquake, this Katterfelto of wonders, exceeded, went
beyond belief, and soared above all the powers of description. She
was nature itself—she was the most exquisite work of art : :he
was the very daisy, primrose, tuberose, wall-flower, and the cauli-
. flower too, auricular, sweet-briar, furze-blosom, gilliflower, and rose-
mary, in short she was the very bouquet of Parnassus. Where ex-
pectations were raised so high, it was thought she would be injured
by her appearance, but it was the audience who were injured. Se•
swat fainted even before the 'retain drew up, but when she came
to the scene of parting with her wedding ring—Oh, what a sight
was there! ! the very fiddlers in the orchestra, albeit noosed to the
melting mood, blubbered like hungry children for their bread and
butter, and when the bell rung for music between the arts, the
tears ran in such plentiful streams from the bassoon player's eyes,
that they choked the finger stops, making a spout of the instrument,
poured such a torrent on the fast fiddling book, that, nut seeing
the Overture was in two sharps, the leader of the • band actually
PkYud it in one flat, but the sobs and sighs of the groaning audience,
arid the noise of the corks drawn from the smelling bottles, pre-
Nented the mistake between the sharps and flats being perceived;
tier -ladies faioted, -16 went into fits, 93 had strong hysterics; the
vorld will scarce credit the assertion, %viten they are told • that .1,1
children, 5 old women, a one-handed Common Coosa-
suers, were actually drowned in the inundation of tears that flowed
from the galleries, lattices, and boxes, to increase the briny pond
in the pit. The water was three feet sleep, and the people that
wcre obliged to stund upon the benches were iu that situation up to