The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1877-09-15
Mrs. SiddOnS.

1t was Mrs. Siddons who first com.
menced that pernicious star system
which has done as much as anything to
sap the very foundations of the theatri,
cal profession, and as soon as the Lon
don season was over she secured the
provinces for fanie-and money. At
Dublin she was again opposed by Mrs.
Crawford, who, as the wife of the su-
preme favorite Barry, had been i'm
mensely popular; and the Dublinltes
rallied around their old love, TreferiDg
her to the younger actress. Mrs. Sid
dOns' engagement was not success,
she hated the place and people, and her
opinions oOzing out were quite sufiici-
ent to render her unpopular. The press
wrote her down and ridiculed the emo
tiOns her performances excited. One
of these skits is worth transcrihing: On
Saturday Mrs. Siddons, about whom
all the world has been talking, exposed
her beautiful, almantlne, soft and
comely person, for the first time, in the
theatre royal Smockalley. The house
was crowded with hundreds more than
It could hold, with thousands of admir-.
ing spectators that went away without
q sight, She was nature itself
she was the most exquisite work of
art. Several tainted before the
curtain drew up. The tiddlers in
the orchestra blubbered like hungry
children crying for their bread and but
ter; and when the bell rang for music
between the acts the tears ran from the
bassoon players eyes In such showers
that the chOked they finger stops, and
making a spout of the instrument,
poured ia such a torrent upon the first
tiddler's book that, not seeing the over
ture was in two sharps. the leader of
the band actually played it in two flats; /;
but the sObs and sighs of the grOaning
audience and the noise of the cOrks
drawn from the smelling bottles pre-
vented the mistake being discovered.
= y y The brlny pond in the pit was
three feet deep, and the people who
were obliged to stand upon the benches
were in that position up to their ankles
in tears. An act of parliament to pre-
vent her from playing will certainly
pass, for she has infested the vOlun-
teers, and they sit reading "rhe Fatal
Marriage" crying and roaring all the
time. May the curses of an insulted
nation pursue the gentlemen Of the col
lege, the gentlemen OF the bar, and the
peers aud peeresses that Kissed her on
the second night True it is that Mr..
Garrick never could make anything of
her, and pronounced her belO mediOcri-
ty;true it is the London audience did not
like her. But what of that? The
Scotch capital more than recompensed
her for the Sights OF the Irish. Yet on
her first night in Edinburgh, the house,
although cTammed, was freezing; scene
after scene the audience sat like mutes,
and after one of her greatest efforts a
single voice exclaimed from the pit In q
tone OF judicial calmness, "That's nae
sac badl" But on her second visit the
Scotch went as mad as the LondOners.
In one day 1857 people applied for the
$50 seats at the disposal of the mango
menti the doors were besieged at noon,
and footmen took their stand at the box
entrance as soon as the play was over,
to secure their masters places for the
following night. Even the church
synod arranged is meetings according
TO performances Bar.