The Sun.
London, England, 1804-11-29 00:00:00

MRS. SIDDONS.

Tug following Extra(t from the B;bl;otherte
firitannique, publiidted at Geneva, may be accept-
able to our Readers, as it relates to the chief orna-
ment of the English Stage :

" I have been, hut little to the Theatre. Mrs
SIDDONS is in the Country. There are few ex.
amples of an Atress who teas preserved so long the
public favour, and all the means of deserving it.
She is, besides, received in the best society, and
I have often met her at dinner with General fi
COURT. near Windsor. She preset yes (as did
Mademoiselle CLAI RON in her time) dignity in her
Manners,,'and the air of a Princess, which she has
acquired on the.stage she is besides good and ami.
able, and beneath manners a little repulsive, she has
many traits, and an air of nobility which attends
her in all her charaners. Her brother, Mr. KEN.
ut,s,
.one of the best tragic Actors, if not the first,
is also a very fine figure.
" You may judge of the enthusiasm which Mrs.
SIDDONS excites, by the Letter which I send you,
and which she received one day anonymously, with.
out ever having been able, in spite of all her re.
searches, to discover the Author.
...I translate it
word for word, from a copy made from the original
by a Friend of that
.Anress, who is also mine, and
to whom she confided it, with permission to trim.
scribe it. She was then at Dublin, where she gOes
almost every year.

' To MRS. SIDDONS.

MADAM,

4 Although I have not the honour to be personally
known to you, I have the presumption to.address
Myself to you as the :cause it have the air of
nouncinga paradox) hoth' of my happiness and my
ruin.

I am the son of a Gentleman residing in the
South of England, of a good family, but little for.
tune. I.'Was the youngest of three brothers, and
held the least share of his affeCtions. My income
was restritted to an annual rent of 101. Sterling,
with which' I lived frugally, but happily, for a
year and a half. At this epoch my father died of
an apoplexy, my brothers left the country, and I
remained alone, to do as well as I could in the vast
deserts of adversity. All the inheritance of my
father was sold to pay his debts ; and I took my
course towards London, with my 201. five of which
I employed in lodging myself in a garret, and re.;.
etrified myielf to one meal a-day. With the little
money I could spare I frequented the Theatre, to
see Mr. GARRICK, Mr. BARRY, Mrs. Ct. tv'e,
WITS.'CIPIBRR, and 'Mrs. BARRY. I lived in this
manner for forty years, at the end of which period
some of them had left the Theatre, and the others'
had quitted the stage of life. Alas what was then
my situation ? Deprived of the only enjoyment
upon which 1 set any value—having sold my pro. •
petty for a sum of money, which was reduced • by
little and little to a single guinea—possessing no ,
'prOperty but the clothes upon my: lack, and the '
hat upon my head—and having nu place to repose
in—l resolved to try my fortune in Dublin. I
embarked at five in the Morning, and passed fifteen
hours on the passage in the most cruel sufferings,
for which' (afflicting idea !) I had to pay a fourth of
the poor remnant of my cash.

Figure to yourself, Madam, an .unfortunate
Being, thrown into Dublin with twelve shillings
in his purse, sick to death, and not acquainted with
a single person in all Ireland—such was my situa..
Linn. . But when Oingi are at the worst they
must mend : in a paroxysm of despair, I saw a Lot-
tery. Office open ; I expended' there all that I had,
except enough to procure me a supper and a bed.
I will he brief; in about two days I received 4.01.
Sterling. This stun supported me until the last
fortnight. Having learnt that you were expettled
at Dublin, I saved a little, and at your Arrival I
had tl, Sterling to spend to. enjoy the happiness of
seeing you. I seated myself in the middle of the
gallery every night when you played, ,until your
last charaner of Ilelvidrrn. I fear I shall sire
yOu : At my return from the Theatre, my landlord
entered my chamber, swearing that I should pay
him, or immediately quit his house. Representa.
dons were Useless., and my pound Sterling was les.
uned several shillings. I had neither supper nor
breakfast the two following days. The day that
you were announced in the charader of Jane Sbore,
I sold my buckles far iss.; I went to the Theatre,
anti had some supper. At my return to my lodg.
ing, I sound the door shut, and my landlord in.
formed me, from the window, that I might go
where." pleased, but should not return to his house.
Fitlt oriesentment, I withdrew without answering
a single word. 0 God! to what an extremity an
I reduced! Too old to labour, being upwards of
7o—dying with hunger, fur I have had only one
slender repast during four days.—without any fur-.
,ther hope of seeing you, my only happiness ; for in
coatemplating you I forget all my gates, and think
tviy4ll seated at a good dinner; and unable to ex..
perienee an enjoyment approaching to the idea I
have formed of celestial happiness, for such is what
I have tasted in seeing you at the Theatre. But I
have said enough ; I have borrowed from a stranger
the paper on which I write : I have taken the
greatest care that you RhOldli nut discover me, for
tear you should suspect I am :tainted by interested
views.
I aru, with profound resod},

On Thursday an Irish labourer at a puhlic.honse,
at Newinetoti, for a trifling wager, engaged to eat
three pounds of bacon, a pinind of treacle, thirty
eggs, and a quarter!! loaf, and drink hall a gallon
of beer, He was allowed half an hour to complete
the saute, but devoured the whole in 25 minutes, and
afterwards offered a shilling to be permitted to sup
off a goose then roasting for supper, which offer the
host declined,

The clerk whom we stated a few days since to
hare been in costody'fnr an embezzlement, was
yesterday liberated, with the furs of an important'
sitt44tiot), OA deficiency 11,,ving-been wade good by
his Criebtls..