Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-09-29

our imagination, the tables OF
mythology Of the heroic and der
fed mortals OF elder time. She
was not less than a goddess or
than q prophecies inspired by the
gods. Power was seated on her
brow; passion radiated from her
breast as from a shrineq She was
Tragedy personified." The pub
lie was gazing for the last time
on her who, IS Campbell said,
had Increased the hearts capa-
city for tender, intense and lofty
feelings
On the farewell night, her old
inspiration seemed to have re-
turned. She was supernatural
from the moment she instilled in
to the chieftain's ear the first
poisonous thought of evil till the
time when, a mere wreck of re-
morse and disappointed ambition,
q miserable queen, she moved
like phantom Of the night, NUT
tering fragments Of her dreams
all pervaded by the racking
thought. Her eyes were open,
but they were CONSCIOUSNESS and
black. The soul was absent, and
in torture. When she rubbed her
thin white hands in horrible re-
membrance of the blood that had
once bathed them, the house
shuddered with an ague-ft OF hor-
ror and of pity.
!. At the close of this scene the
applause was frantic and ungov-
ernable. Many persons stood
upon the benches, and, dreading
the anti climax, shouted requests
that the performance might close
when Mrs. Siddops left the stage.
An actor then came forward and
at once promised that this wish
should be complied with.
, The curtain was dropped for
twenty minutes, then rose, and
discovered Mrs. Siddons, dressed
simply in white, sitting at table.
She came forward through tor
nado Of applause, which prevent
ed her speaking for some time.
When the lull spread she moved
forward in her own queenly way,
and delivered the following adj
dress, written for her by her
nephew, Mr.. Horace Twiss:
"who has not felt, how growing use endears
The fond remembrance Of our former years?
Who has not sighed. when doomed to leave at
last
The hopes Of youth, the habits Of the past,
The thousand ties and interests, that inpart
A second nature to the human heart,
And, wreathing round It close. like tendrils,
climb
Blooming in age, and sanctined by time
Eyes at this moment crowd upon my miad
Scenes OF bright days forever left bahind,
Bewildering visions Of enraptured youth,
When hope and fancy wore the hues of truth,
And long forgotten years, that almost seem
The faded traces OF q morning dfeami
Sweet are those inournful thoughts, for they re-
new
For each inspiring smile and soothing tear
For those full honors Of my long career,
That cheered my earliest hope. and chased my
latest fear.
"And though for me, those tears shall fiow no
And the warm sunshine OF your smile is Ger
Though the bright beams are fading fast away
That shone unclouded through my summer day
Yet grateful Memory shall reflect their light
DER the dim shadows Of the coming night,
And lend to later life a softer tone.
A moonlight tint--a iuster Of her own.
"Judgss and friends to whom the magic strain
OF Natures feeling never spoke in vain.
Perhaps your hearts, when years have glided by,
And past emotions wake fieeting sigh.
MAY think on her, whose lips have poured 50 long
The charmed sorrows Of your Shakespeare
song
On her, who parting TO return no more,
Is now the moufner she but seemed before
Herself subdued resigns the melting spell,
And breathes, with swelling heart. her long, last
Farewell r
Towards the close of the ad-
dress Mrs. Siddons became much
agitated, and when, after some
pauses. it ended, Kemble, in his
grand Roman way, came and led
bis sister from the stage amid
whirlwinds Of applause.
Poor Mrs. Siddons! She had
had grand career Of almost
unalloyed triumph, but calumny
had often stung her. The mis-
doings Of a bad sister, who had
read lectures at DR.. Graham's
quack Temple Of Health. and
afterward tried to poison herself
in Westminster Abbey, were all
laid at her door. She was also
accused Of mean thrift, and of al
lowing her old father to become
a petitioner for aims. These
ISLANDERS were, we have every rea-
son to believe, untrue. Mrs. Sid
dons, to judge from her letters,
and the accounts CT her intimate
friends seems to have been q high
minded, prudent, self prospecting
woman, uninaated by her ex-
traordinary fame, and the high
society into which it had led her.