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strength, to fulfil my engagements with the theatre, and to manifest my respect for the audience; and no person can be more grateful for the indulgence and applause with which I have been constantly honoured. I would not obtrude upon the public attention to anything that does not relate to my profession, in which I alone I may, without presumption, say I am accountable to them; but thus called on, in the present instance, there can be no impropriety in my answering those, who have so ungenerously attacked ine,—that if they could drive me from that profession, they would take from me the ONLY INCOME I have, or mean to possess, the whole earnings of which, upon the past, and one half for the future, I have already settled upon my CHILDREN. Unjustly and cruelly traduced as I have been, upon this subject, I trust that this short declaration will not be deemed impertinent and for the rest, I appeal with confidence to the justice and generosity of the public.

"I am, Sir,

"Your Obedient Servant,

" 'DOR. JORDAN."

A variety of ill-natured paragraphs appeared in the daily prints nothwithstanding this unvarnished explanation of facts, until the 10th of December, when Mrs. Jordan performed the part of "Roxalana," in "The Sultan," on which occasion, the public displeasure was openly manifested, but conscious of the rectitude of her own sentiments, she advanced boldly to the front of the stage, and alluding only to circumstances connected with her theatrical calling, addressed the audience in the following terms :—

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

"I should conceive myself utterly unworthy of your favour, if the slightest mark of public disapprobation did not affect me very sensibly.

"Since I have had the honour and the happiness to strive here to please you, it has been my constant endeavour by unremitting assiduity, to merit your approbation. I beg leave to assure you, upon my honour, that I have never absented myself one minute from the duties of my profession, but from real indisposition. Thus having invariably acted, I do consider myself under the public protection."

The separation of Mrs. Jordan from Mr. Ford was at length made public, when she immediately became the protegee of her royal admirer; it should, however, be explicitly understood that no improper intimacy took place between the parties, anterior to the candid proposal made upon her part to Mr. Ford,

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as previously explained, and his non-acquiescence with the When the proposal of his Royal Highness became the theme of public discussion, Sir Francis and Lady Lumm, most strenously advised Mrs. Jordan never to accede to the terms of his Royal Highness, as in such case, however painful to their feelings, they could no longer tolerate her as a visitor at their mansion.

Immediately after Mrs. Jordan's separation from Mr. Ford, the latter gentleman conceived it necessary, on many accounts, to quit the shores of England for a period until the publicity of the affair should have subsided. We have previously remarked that the individual in question had for a series of years introduced Mrs. Jordan into the best societies, in the character of his lawful wife, and it was no very improbable conjecture upon his part, that some fathers of families, or brothers, tenacious in regard to the characters of their wives, daughters, or sisters, might conceive themselves called upon to demand that explanation, which Mr. Ford was not able to give in a satisfactory manner, and must have brought things to extremities. To this may be added, the vaccillating conduct of the gentleman, after the assurances so often and so solemnly reiterated, that he would give his protegee a legal claim to his affections; being thus placed in no very enviable point of view with men of honourable feelings,-for those reasons he determined on absenting himself from England.

The opposition to Mrs. Jordan, which had previously manifested itself, became more formidable after her open cohabitation with the Duke of Clarence, several attempts being set on foot to drive her from the stage; but these ebullitions gradually subsided, and her talents and sweetness of disposition, ultimately reinstated her completely in public favour.

Among the numerous anecdotes circulated in consequence of this splendid connection, we insert the following::

The late illustrious parent of Thalia's new protector is reported to have said to his son, "Hey, hey ;-what's thiswhat's this; you keep an actress, keep an actress, they say."

"Yes, sir." "Ah, well, well; how much do you give her, eh?"-" One thousand a year, sir."-" A thousand, a thousand; too much, too much! five hundred quite enough,-quite enough!" It is added, that the Duke wrote to Mrs. Jordan expressing this opinion of his parent, and as it was then customary at the bottom of the play bills, to annex these words; "No money returned after the rising of the curtain!" that she tore the same off, and enclosed it in a blank cover, to her protector.

The well-known parsimony, and illiberal sentiments of the individual alluded to in the first of the above statements, tend to confer some appearance of validity as to this anecdote; the latter statement, we have merely inserted, in order to give it an unqualified denial, as any person possessing a tithe of our knowledge of Mrs. Jordan's delicacy of sentiment, would pronounce her wholly incapable of having made the indecent allusion referred to.

We have previously spoken of an annuity of one thousand pounds a year, said to have been settled on Mrs. Jordan by her new protector. Now when she ultimately became reduced in circumstances, we should like, in the first place, to enquire what had become of the large sums obtained during her long and brilliant theatrical career, placed in the funds, and intended after her death, for the support of her offspring by Mr. Ford? and secondly, where were the proceeds and brilliant results expected to accrue from this princely boon?

We do not pretend to infer that such settlement did not take place, that is to say, as far as the signing a legal instrument was concerned:-but what avail sheets of parchment, with their seals annexed, and barren autographs ?the technicalities of the law can neither create gold, nor stamp Bank paper! The only question, therefore, resolves itself to this:-Was the annuity ever paid? Prudential motives deter us from answering, but from what will be stated hereafter, we leave its solution to the cool judgment of every dispassionate reader.

Mrs. Jordan was now the inmate of a mansion-house of

potentates; carriages and servants attended her bidding, and she seemed to bask in the full splendour of fortune, while to crown her felicity, she proved in that situation which is uniformly gratifying to those, who feel anxious to present a progeny to their protectors.

In the year 1792, Mrs. Jordan found herself compelled to retire, for a short period, from professional duties, in consequence of a miscarriage, at Petersham, being far advanced in her pregnancy, when she gave birth to a daughter.

In 1796, Mrs. Jordan experienced a miscarriage, and was in consequence detained for a few months from her duties. This circumstance led the writers for the public press to renew their virulent attacks, in the course of which, it was infamously asserted that her non-attendance was the effect of capricewhereas her physician, Dr. Warren, was the sole regulator of her conduct, on that, as well as on other occasions.

From the above period, we have little of consequence to re. cord, until the ever memorable night of the 2d of April, 1796, on which occasion our heroine personated a character in the pseudo drama of Shakspeare, the production of a youthful impostor, under eighteen years of age, in whose work, entitled his Confessions, when speaking of our actress and the Duke of Clarence, he thus expresses himself:

"I think it but justice in this place to offer my sincere thanks to that lady, for her kind endeavours, on a subsequent occasion, when she had to sustain one of the principal characters in the drama. I also beg to state that I shall be ever mindful of her particular kindness and affability during the visit made to her; as also for her complacency and condescension, during my long continuance in the green-roon of the theatre, on the representation of my play; when not only her transcendent abilities as an actress, were exerted in my behalf, before the curtain, but reanimating expressions while in the green-room, continually flowed from her lips, in order to arouse me from the mental depression under which I so obviously laboured on that eventful occasion."

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In reference to his forgeries, young Ireland further informs us, at page 222, of his Confessions, as follows:

"In consequence of the general astonishment and curiosity excited by the manuscripts, his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence became desirous of inspecting the papers, which being intimated to Mr. Ireland, a time was fixed upon, when I was made of the party, and with Mr. Samuel Ireland, repaired to the apartments occupied by his Royal Highness, in St. James' Palace."

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Having carefully inspected all the documents produced, the usual questions were put to me respecting the original discovery of the manuscripts, in which Mrs. Jordan also joined when my former statements were, as usual, adhered to. His Royal Highness, I perfectly remember, made numerous objections, and particularly to the redundancy of letters, apparent throughout the papers. To every question, however, the answers were made as usual, and thus the doubts which arose in his Royal Highness' mind, were obviated by Mr. Ireland."

From our personal knowledge of Mr. Ireland, we cannot conceive him so imbued with the attribute of folly, as seriously to have told us that his Royal Highness of Clarence was aware of the mode of spelling in the days of our great poet. The simple fact was, that he was desirous of hoaxing anew, by giving perspicuity to a brain. wherewith he felt fully aware it was not imbued. All this, however, was. pardonable; he deceived his Royal Highness, he subsequently (confessed the fraud, and therefore tendered the best salve in his power to heal the wound inflicted.

In the month of October, 1797, a new comedy was rehearsed at Drury Lane theatre, from the pen of Frederick Reynolds, Esq. called Cheap Living, in which piece Mrs. Jordan had to sustain the character of Sir Edward Bloomly, a boy of fifteen, who pretended to ape all the airs and manners of an adult. She at this period, began to feel repugnance at assuming the male costume, and was particularly dissatisfied with the youthful character above mentioned; a circumstance

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