The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-28

tive. Nevertheless, her OpAeIia entranced
the town and her Conscience thrilled 1t.
Though not a beautiful woman, she was
thoroughly expressive and was compared
to an alabaster vase lighted from within.
She brsathed sensibility. The very names
Of her best on-ShAkespearian parts sug-
gest wet pocket handksrchiefs. When,
in 1700. Mars. Cibber was laid in the north
cloister of Westminster Abbey, 0aRrick
exclaimed: Tragedy Is dead on one side
Behind ths scenes, however, he had found
her the plaRuiest Of his ladies. She was,
a. her letters survive to show, terribly per-
sistent; nothing could divert her from her
point. She was undoubtedly in love will
Garrick, but he seems never to have loved
anybody except Wellington and his wife.
".
or all eightesnth century actresses.
George Anne Rellamy nay be known most
intimately. because she published an auto
biography. or. as she called it, an apology
in Ave volumes, which cannot. however,
as our author points out. be recommended
as a gift book for young ladies' schools.
George Anne was an illeRitimate daughter
Of the Lord Tyrawley Of whom Chesterfield
in his old age said: @Tyrawley and l have
been dead these two years; blu We don't
choose to nave it known" Educated by
her fathers direction in a convent at Bou-
logne, she grew up into a pretty, clever.
self reliant and needle tongued baggage
with varied ambitions and a turn for act
ingS She evidently possessed tempera-
ment lin the French sense Of the world and
no doubt acted. as she lived. with a -four
ish-con brio. There s no doubt that
after her stage career began she was tre-
mendously run after. Her power to inspire
a grand passion was plenary. For long
she would listen to nc proposals but mar
rage and a coach. but as time went on she
reduced her demands. When her evil days
fell abe got herself appointed nominal
housekeeper to the Minister Of the Elector
Of Bavaria, because no servant OF a foreign
Ambassador could be arrested for debt.
But the Minister died. and. subsequently,,
hers was the progress COMMUNICATED by
Hogarth. Wracked with rheumatism. al
most starving, she. whose housekeeping
allowance had been e. zoo. was dragged
from her wretched bed TO a sponging house.
and gradually the Rules Of the Kings Bench
became her home. There came a night
when Mrs. Bethany sat on the lowest steps
Of Westminster Bridge stairs. resolved to
put an end to herself. She was dissuaded
by overhearing the tribulations Of n more
unfortunate. IL is not Known where she
ended her days. but il was in the utmost
obecurity-one contemporary seems to
think in prison. That she had much merit
az an actress cannot be denied. When she
came OF the taRe. after acting at the g
OF IA the part OF MonimiG in The Orphan
Guin. than whom there were few better
Judges. caught her in his arms and e1-
claimed. Thou art a divine creature. and
the true spirit ia in thee" After seeing her
as Belriderd in Venice Preserved" Lord
Chief Justice Mansfield said: Il came to
admire Garrick. but go away enchanted
with Bellamy."
Another feminine contemporary Of Gar
rick was Mrs. Frances Abingdon, the origi-
nal Lady TedzIe. She, il seems, was OF a
short faced, snub nosed piquancy, mot
handsome, but very stylish, to use the YER
nacular OF the day. Unless the portrait
reproduced in this volume is much fiattered
she must nave been very fetching. Though
a cobbler's daughter who began life as a
flower girl she was destined to give suppers
to the smartest Of people, including a maid
Of honor n the president Of the Royal
Academy. Like LecOuvreur, she usually
wore her dark hair unpowdered. and set a
fashion for robes loosely flowing, a win
some neglige. With her a she was a
spaniard; she made it a live thing. How
clever she was is manifest from what she
said to Reynolds when she lat to him; Il
always think upon the same subject when
I sit. as I shall by that means be most likely
10 preserve the same kind Of expression
and countenance." One Of her contempora-
ries, John O'Keefe, has recorded that her
manner was fascinating and that she had a
pretty trick in acting Of turning her wrist
and seeming to stick a pin in the side OF her
waist. This action Of hers became the rage.
and every young woman Of fashion copied
Abington's gestures and tried to catch the
graoes of her fan. The Abingdon cap"
was in every shop window. Garrick. it APP
| pears, had an a~ntipathy to Mrs. Abingdon,
and once forgot himself 40 much as to say.
She is beIow the thought Of any honest
man or woman. She is N silly as she is
false and treacherous." Silly she certainly
was not. In business Garrick found her
ultra feminine-as one might imagine from
her portrait.
vi.
Had Garrick any masculine rivals on the
stage2 Our author thinks that in natural
ability Samuel Foote, a man OF good birth