Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/68

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. in. JAN. 27. 1917.

first attempt, nevertheless, does not seem to have been successful :

" Mrs. Esten is not engaged at Drury Lane," says The Rambler's Magazine in May, 1789. " Jephson was consulted with respect to her per- formance in Ireland, and a most melancholy account he gave ' With her borrowed manner and her general faintness,' he said, ' she could only suggest the idea of Mrs. Siddons in a con- sumption."

Soon after the York engagement, however, she achieved her ambition, making her first appearance in London at Covent Garden on Oct. 20, 1790, as Rosalind in ' As You Like It,' which seems to have been one of her most successful roles (European Magazine, xviii. 381 ; Genest, vii. 22) :

" Jackson [the manager of the Edinburgh theatre] was sorry to lose her, but Harris's offers were too advantageous to be refused."

Her grace and beauty captivated the town, and most critics echoed the words of The World newspaper : " She looked and acted divinely."

About this period Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, who a couple of years previously had quarrelled with his Duchess in consequence of a notorious liaison with the wife of a Scottish peer, fell in love with the new star. In July, 1789 so MB. GORDON GOODWIN, who is extremely well informed as to the career of Mrs. Esten, tells us (10 S. iv. 296) the actress and her husband had executed a deed of separation, James Esten " having sought refuge from his creditors in France," and the deserted wife was unable to resist the blandishments of the " gay and gallant " Duke. Thence- forth she became mistress of his home, and it was the general belief that if they had both been able to obtain a divorce he would have married her. Soon afterwards Jack- son, the Edinburgh manager, fell into pecuniary difficulties, and sought to obtain a partner with money. In the midst of his embarrassments he entered into negotiations both with Mrs. Esten and Stephen Kemble, finally accepting the latter as a lessee towards the end of 1791. The actress, however, was bent upon obtaining the theatre ; and the Duke of Hamilton being one of the patentees, she managed not only to eject Kemble from his house, but to prevent him from performing at all in the city. An account of the dispute, which involved much liti- gation and caused great excitement at the time, will be found in the monograph of Stephen Kemble in the ' D.N.B.' (cf. ' Me- moirs of Charles Lee Lewis,' iii. 85-98, 106, 111, 137, 141, 170-71, 176, 178, 179,188, 193, 229, 230 ; iv. 1, 62, 63, 130, 199 ; ' History of

the Scottish Stage,' John Jackson, pp. 200- 241, 295, 285-6, 292 ; ' Kay' s Edinburgh Portraits,' J. Maidment, 1885, ii. 176-7).

Mrs. Esten continued to appear at Covent Garden Theatre, where she attracted large audiences, until 1794, when she retired.. " She was a very pretty woman," says Genest (vii.l 69), " and a good actress." In July of this year she gave birth to her daughter, Anne Douglas Hamilton, of whom the Duke was the father, and who on June 25, 1820, married the third Baron Rossmore, and died childless on Aug. 20, 1844 (Morning Post, June 6 and Sept. 5,. 1794 ; ' Journal of the House of Lords,' xli. 486; MR. GORDON GOODWIN, 10 S. iv. 190). Though her theatrical' career had been so short, she had become a celebrity, and the numerous paragraphs concerning her that continued to appear in the newspapers for many years subsequently show the public had not forgotten her. In 1797 James Esten re- turned to England from St. Domingo, E.I., with a fortune, it is said, of 200,0002. (Morn- ing Post, Sept. 2, 1797), and on July 4 of the same year he obtained a divorce from his wife in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of London. His attempt to get the sentence confirmed by the House of Lords was a failure, for the Bill to dissolve the marriage was rejected on March 2, 1798 (' Journal of the House of Lords,' xli. 487). It was believed that the Hamilton family influenced this decision, fearing that if the divorce took place the Duchess of Hamilton might follow Mr. Esten's example, and so leave the Duke free to marry his mistress (Morning Post, March 5, 1798). According to one statement they were already divorced by the law of Scotland. The connexion, how- ever, was terminated by the Duke of Hamilton's death on Aug. 1, 1799. He had been very generous to her during his lifetime, and is said to have left her an annuity of 3,000?. They seem to have been much attached to one another.

In 1 803 she appeared once more at the Edinburgh Theatre for a short time, her salary being 501. a night (' Annals of the Edinburgh Stage,' J. C. Dibdin, p. 245). From this time onwards she was much less paragraphed in the newspapers, which suggests that she was leading a quiet and reputable life. She does not seem to have returned to the stage again. Michael Kelly tells how he gave singing lessons at Mussel- burgh on the Firth of Forth in 1803 to her " lovely, amiable, and highly accomplished daughter " (' Reminiscences of Michael