Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/199

 the ‘Fair American,’ in which she had a narrow escape of being killed by the roller of a curtain, William in ‘Rosina,’ Lady Racket, Lady Teazle, Lionel in the ‘School for Fathers,’ Zara, Jane Shore, Indiana, &c. Daly soon renewed his persecution, and proceeded against her for money lent and for breach of engagement. The money, some two or three hundred pounds, was paid for her by a Mr. Swan. Indolent, capricious, imprudent, and at times refractory, she made less way than might have been expected. Yates, who saw her, pronounced her ‘a mere piece of theatrical mediocrity.’ When, on the recommendation of ‘Gentleman’ Smith, she was engaged for Drury Lane Theatre, Mrs. Siddons gravely mistrusted the wisdom of the step. She bade farewell to the Yorkshire stage at Wakefield, 9 Sept. 1785, in the ‘Poor Soldier,’ and appeared at Drury Lane, 18 Oct. 1785, as Peggy in the ‘Country Girl,’ a part in which she had watched Mrs. Brown.

No conspicuous success attended her début. But before the close of her first season, in which she played Viola, Imogen, Priscilla Tomboy, Bellario in ‘Philaster,’ Miss Hoyden, Hypolita in ‘She would and she would not,’ Mrs. Brady in the ‘Irish Widow,’ Miss Lucy in the ‘Virgin Unmasked,’ and was the original Rosa in Cobb's ‘Strangers at Home,’ she was established in public favour. The ‘European Magazine’ for December 1785, p. 465, remarked that, while in tragedy little beyond mediocrity was to be expected, as Miss Tomboy ‘she excelled every performer … at present on the English stage, and almost equalled the celebrated Mrs. Clive.’ Mrs. Jordan was counselled by the critic to confine herself to the characters within her range, and told that she would be, in her line, as great an ornament to the stage as Mrs. Siddons, then at the same theatre. As the original Matilda in Burgoyne's ‘Richard Cœur de Lion’ she obtained much popularity. During her long engagement at Drury Lane, lasting, with a break due to a temporary retirement from the stage in 1806–7 till 1809, she played many sentimental, imaginative, or tragic parts: Roxalana, Rosalind, Beatrice, Helena in ‘All's well that ends well,’ Juliet, Ophelia, and was the original Angela in ‘Monk’ Lewis's ‘Castle Spectre,’ 14 Dec. 1797, Flavia in ‘Vortigern,’ Cora in ‘Pizarro,’ 24 May 1799, and Imogen in Lewis's ‘Adelmorn the Outlaw,’ 4 May 1801. Gradually, however, a sense of her unparalleled excellence in comedy dawned on the management, and Sir Harry Wildair, Mrs. Woffington's great part, Miss Prue, Letitia Hardy, Lady Teazle, Miss Hardcastle, Mrs. Sullen, Bisarre, Lydia Languish, Nell in the ‘Devil to Pay,’ and most leading comic parts were assigned to her, as well as William in ‘Rosina’ and other ‘breeches’ parts. The retirement from the stage of Elizabeth Farren [q. v.] in 1797 led to the assumption by Mrs. Jordan of some characters outside her supposed range.

Her original parts were numerous, but, as a rule, unimportant (see for full list, Hist. Stage). Most conspicuous among her ‘creations’ are: Beatrice in the ‘Pannel,’ an alteration by John Kemble of Bickerstaffe's ‘'Tis well it's no worse,’ 28 Nov. 1788; Aura in the ‘Farm House,’ a version by Kemble of the ‘Country Lasses’ of Charles Johnson [q. v.], 2 May 1789, second representation; Helena in ‘Love in Many Masks,’ Kemble's alteration of Mrs. Behn's ‘Rover,’ 8 March 1790; Little Pickle, a schoolboy, in the farce of the ‘Spoiled Child,’ 22 March 1790, the authorship of which has been assigned to her; Augusta in ‘Better late than never,’ by Reynolds and Andrews, 17 Nov. 1790; a character (?Celia) in the ‘Greek Slave,’ an adaptation of the ‘Humorous Lieutenant’ of Beaumont and Fletcher, 22 March 1791. During the rebuilding of Drury Lane she was with the company at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, where she played the heroine of the ‘Village Coquette,’ an unprinted adaptation from the French by Simons, 16 April 1792; Julia Wingrove in the ‘Fugitive,’ by Richardson, 20 April 1792; and Clara in the ‘French Duellist,’ 22 May 1792. Returning to Drury Lane, she was Lady Contest in Mrs. Inchbald's ‘Wedding Day,’ 4 Nov. 1794 (third time); Miss Plinlimmon in the ‘Welsh Heiress,’ by Jerningham, 17 April 1795; Sabina Rosny in Cumberland's ‘First Love,’ 12 May 1795; Albina Mandeville in Reynolds's ‘Will,’ 19 April 1797; Letitia Manfred in Cumberland's ‘Last of the Family,’ 8 May 1797; Sir Edward Bloomly, a boy, in ‘Cheap Living,’ by Reynolds, 21 Oct. 1797; Susan in Holcroft's ‘Knave or not;’ Rosa in Morris's ‘Secret,’ 2 March 1799; Zorayda in Lewis's ‘East Indian,’ 22 April 1799; Julia in Hoare's ‘Indiscretion,’ 10 May 1800; Eliza in ‘Hear both Sides,’ by Holcroft, 29 Jan. 1803; Emma in Allingham's ‘Marriage Promise,’ 16 April 1803; Widow Cheerly in Cherry's ‘Soldier's Daughter,’ 7 Feb. 1804; Louisa Davenant in Cumberland's ‘Sailor's Daughter,’ 7 April 1804; Lady Lovelace in Holt's ‘Land we live in,’ 29 Dec. 1804; Lady Bloomfield in Kenney's ‘World,’ 31 March 1808; and Helen in Arnold's ‘Man and Wife,’ 5 Jan. 1809. After playing for some benefits at Covent Garden, she made her first appearance there as a mem-