But it was not only from the abftractions of philofophy or the refinements of learning that you difgufted your audience; it was often from an intemperance which philofophy fhould have reftrained, from a groffness which learning fhould have corrected. In the courfe of the profecution against Mr H, you trefpaffed equally against juftice, humanity, and decorum. Surely, Sir, the moral and elegant fyftems in which you are fo converfant, fhould have fuggefted the impropriety of that conduct which you and fome of your brother managers adopted. Mr H ftood

there a prifoner, under that protection which an obligation to filent fufferance fhould have afforded him with generous minds. His accufers were invefted with a high character, the reprefentatives of the Commons of Great Britain: the tribunal they addreffed confifted (abftractly speaking) of every thing that was venerable and auguft. Was that a place for rancour or fcurrility, for ribaldry or railing? You, Sir, in particular, had the calm dignity to fupport of one who fought to affert the tights of mankind, to vindicate the honour of Englishmen. You came not there in the fituation of fome of your colleagues, to wipe away the impeachment of vice in themselves by the declamation of virtue; to obliterate the memory of difhonefty by eulogiums on honour, and to take from public mifchief and diffenfion that general chance of advantage which defperate incendiaries hope for amidst the conflagration they have raifed. It may perhaps wonnd your peculiar and allowable pride, to be accused of as much want of taste as of compaffion or propriety. You reverfed the wellknown compliment to Virgil, who was faid" to tofs about his dung with majefly," you borrowed her flowers borrowed her flowers from rhetoric, and, foiling them with ordure, threw them in the faces of your noble and venerable judicature,

of your high-bred and beautiful auditory. I leave out of this account all doubts of the juftice of your charge, because I give you credit for a belief of its justice. Yet in doing fo, I fear I must deduct as much from your penetration as I allow to your integrity, How elfe fhould it happen that the only objects of your perfecution have been those who have fuccefsfully ferved their country, that your blind humanity fhould have champion'd it. felf in the canfe of the cheats of St Euftatia, and the blackguards of Bengal, against men who had faved the British poffeffions in both Indies from the ruin and difgrace which fome of your friends had fuffered to overwhelm them in other parts of the world?

Moderate men, who know and value you, are aftonished at the wehemence of your ftile, and the violence of your conduct in public, when they compare it with that candour and that gentleness which conciliate fo many friends to you in private. But it needs lefs metaphyfical knowledge than you poffefs, lefs knowledge of life than my age has taught me, to account for this phenomenon. When the mind is imbued with a particular turn of thinking, which it has indulged into a habit, with the audience that roufes, the exertion that warms, the party that inflames; against all thefe circumftances combined, it requires more foundnefs of judgment than men of your genius are commonly bleffed with, to keep the juft and even balance of conduct and demeanour; yet humanity fhould never leave us, becaufe in a good man it is that inftinctive principle which nothing fhould overpower for a moment. There was a time, Sir, when you forgot its call; a remarkable period, when diftrefs and infirmity were feen in fuch elevated place, that the vifitation of heaven was marked with national awe and depreffion. I forbear to recal the general indignation, or to raife the bluth on your own cheek which a repeti.

tion of the expreffions you then ufed muft occafion. For this alfo you wanted the apology fome others might have pleaded; you knew the tendernefs of a parent, the comforts of a family, the connexion of a worthy and honourable fociety. You had not abandoned your heart to play, nor lived a wretched dependent on the proftitution of character, on the wreck of principie. But you had leafed out your humanity to faction! Partyrage had ftified your natural fenfibility, and you forgot the man in the monarch. Yet they who are willing to blame you will quote that parade of feeling which you detailed for the misfortunes of Afiatic princes, of whom the names and defcription threw a ridicule over the pomp of your pity. I will anfwer, fince I have no better apology, that here alfo it was the rage of party still.

The rage of party, Sir, is unworthy of your talents and unbecoming your character. It levels your genius and your virtue with men whofe petulance undervalues the firft, whole profligacy ridicules the latter. In my respect for virtue, in my pride of letters, I cannot bear the advantage which, on this ground, the diffipated,

the worthlefs, the ignorant have over you. Refume the place which nature, education, your own fentiments, and the fentiments of good men would affign you. Do not peevishly (as I have fometimes heard you propose) retire from that poft in which you may ftill be useful to your country. We have not, amidst our recollection of fome weak or cenfurable appearances, forgotten the merit of your better exertions. With the force of a fcholar's ftile, with the richness of a poet's imagination, you have formerly, and may again correct the errors or expofe the abufes of public measures. Be but juft to yourself, to your talents, to your fame. You have lived long enough to contention and cabal. I fpeak, Sir, with the fympathy of a coeval. The ftruggle for place, the bickerings of faction, are at no time very dignified occupations; but at our time of life, and to a man like you, they are particularly degrading; when against the paltry emoluments, or trifling diftinctions of a few joyless years, they ftake the happiness of pre fent peace of mind, and the reputation of future ages.

BRUTUS,

and the Poet, who happen to be fplerdidly defcended, proudly challenge examination and inquiry; while the heroes of mimic life, from a frequent confcioufness of obfcure origin, and a certain ridicule attached to the profeffion of a player, under the rank of the very fit clafs, are ardently folicitous to throw a veil over their carlier years, and invite attention only to meridian fplendour. The hiftory of the first dawn of genius, and the aids by which it is cherished to maturity, is made a facrifice to human pride, and thus loft to the inftruction of the world.

Mrs Jordan has the merit of becoming humility; her conduc, at leaft, is far removed from disgusting oftentation, fo common to her proteffional cotemporaries; and, as the has often been the subject of much acrimonious fallacy, we fhall endeavour to relate with fidelity the leading circumftances of her life.

al contract, than he entered into another with the nymph who adored him, and whofe wealth enabled him to move in a more fplendid file; while the unfortunate deluded indy was fent back to her place of nativity, with her little ones, and a fmall fum was allowed for their maintenance.

Notwithstanding the riches the Colonel acquired by this r alliance, he never enjoyed is former ferenity of mind with his fecond wife; and whether from a mental or bodily dif order, he died foon after.

The fecond Mrs Bland had fecured her fortune; and, on the demife of her husband, refufed the smallest affiftance to his children. Col. Bland's friends, however, with more humanity, did fomething for them; but left their mother totally unprovided for; and Mifs Bland, the prefent Mrs Jordan, with commendable fpirit, and the hope of fupporting herself and parent, determined to attempt the Stage for a livelihood.

Her first appearance was in Dublin, but fearful of drawing any odium on her family by commencing actress, fhe affamed the name of Mifs Francis: and though her efforts were little en

They lived many years together in great happiness, and nine children were the fruits of their affection, one of whom is the prefent Mrs Jordan. Whether Capt. Bland had expended his fortune, or that he was tired of his wife, we cannot decide; but his father, Doctor Bland, a civilian in Dublin, procured the marriage to be annulled, as being made in minority, that his fon might receive the hand of a lady of great fortune, who had long been his known admirer.

The father of our young heroine, who had by this time attained to the rank of Colonel, was no fooner exomerated from his original matrimoni

of the profeffion; ftudied a great va riety of characters, and perfected herfelf in all the accomplishments neceffary to conftitute a first-rate perform

er.

In this fituation fhe unfortunately attracted the notice of one of the proprietors of the Theatre, who, perceiving he met not with that encou ragement he conceived himself entitled to exact from an inferior performer in his Company, found means to feduce her to the houfe of one of his dependants, where he was forcibly detained til every unfair advantage was taken of her defenceless fituation. No fooner, however, was the released from fo cruel and infamous a treachery, than fhe fled from Dublin, and, accompanied by her mother, went to

Leeds,

Mr Wilkinton alked her, for what department of the Drama the conceived her talents best adapted? Whcther Tragedy, genteel or low Comedy, or Opera. She anfwered to all. Wilkinion, with a file that indicated a want of faith in her affertions, promifed her, however, an immediate trial, and haftened back to entertain the company with a defcription of his little female Proteus. Her name was inferted in the bills for Califta, in the Fair Penitent, to fing after the play, to perform in the Virgin Unmafked; and the better to conceal her retreat, the changed her name to Mrs Jordan.

The public curiofity was greatly excited, and the houfe crowded on the night of her appearance. Mrs Jordan performed Califta with great fpirit and grace, and the audience were highly pleafed with the whole of her performance. The manager confidered her as a valuable acquifition, and actually gave her a falary of 158. per week, his highest not exceeding a guinea and half.

Hither, however, the refentment of her perfecutor ftill followed her; and as he had quitted Dublin before the expiration of her articles, fhe was threatened with an arreft, unless the immediately returned. In this crifis Mrs Jordan experienced the humanity and benevolence of Mr Swann, an elderly gentleman, well known and univerfally refpected, who, after a ftrict inquiry into the circumftances of her fituation, being convinced her misfortune was not occafioned by her own conduct, but by the artifices of others, actually releafed her from the apprehenfions of a prifon, by paying the fum of 250 1. the forfeiture contained in her agreement, and ever after manifefted to her the moft parental affection, and the fincereft concern for her welfare and intereft.

She continued in this Company

her rank and income were the higheft at that theatre, when Mr Smith, late of Drury-Line, happening to fee her at York races, was fo pleafed with her abilities in Tragedy, that he obtained for her an engagement at 41. per week, to play fecond to Mrs Siddons.

She foon perceived, on her arrival in the metropolis, that her reputation in the line in which the was engaged, was likely to place her fecond only; and as he knew her talents in Comedy had given univerfal fatisfaction, and that every new performer in London was permitted to make choice of a part for their first appearance, she determined attempting "The Country Girl," a part that had long lain neglected, though abounding in wit, intrigue, and humour. The peculiarity of the character, and the novelty of fuch a line of acting, aided by Mrs Jordan's inimitable powers, furprifed the public with new fcenes of the drama, which had been regarded with indifference, but which now appeared the legitimate offspring of the Comic Mufe.

Novelty is the very foul of the ftage. The best pieces and the beft performers pall by being too often feen; and great as Mrs Jordan undoubtedly is, much of her fuccess may be attributed to the new line of acting the has introduced; for tho' "The Romp," "The Country Girl," and "The Virgin Unmasked," had been reprefented before, they had never been fo much followed. The managers doubled her falary; but even 81. a week was a small fum for the money fhe brought the Houfe. She remonftrated, but the Managers very fairly replied, that the various per fons they engaged at large falaries, and who on trial proved ufelefs, juftified their adherence to fuch bargains as were likely to reimburse them: they, however, raifsd her falary to 12l. per week, and granted her two

benefits