the bottom part of a playbill, bearing ‘No money returned after the rising of the curtain.’ To the objections of her lover is ascribed the absence of Mrs. Jordan from the stage in the seasons of 1806–7 and 1809–1810. Her late appearances were due to her anxiety to make provision for her earlier brood of children. She looked upon 10,000l. as requisite for the portion of each of her daughters by Ford. In 1811 she received, while acting at Cheltenham, a letter from the duke asking her to meet him at Maidenhead, with a view to a final separation. From her letters at the time we gather that want of money was the cause of separation. She acquits the duke of all blame, states that his letters are full of the most unqualified praise of her conduct, and wishes to shield him from unfair abuse. The terms allowed her were liberal. For the maintenance of herself, her daughters, and her earlier family an income of 4,400l. was secured to her; but in case of her returning to the stage the care of the duke's daughters and the allowance for their maintenance were to revert to the duke (cf. letter from Mr. Barton, master of the mint, January 1824).
Curious mystery envelopes her last days. She is said to have been in danger of imprisonment in consequence of liabilities which she had incurred in behalf of Alsop, then a civil magistrate at Calcutta, who had married her eldest daughter. But, according to Sir Jonah Barrington, she was really affluent, having made by her acting in 1814 as much as 7,000l. On 3 Dec. 1814 she wrote: ‘When everything is adjusted it will be impossible for me to remain in England. I shall therefore go abroad, appropriating as much as I can spare of the remainder of my income to pay my debts.’ This appears inconceivable, as her debts, due to personal friends, did not much exceed 2,000l.; but, according to Boaden (Life of Jordan, ii. 310), ‘all her connections of every degree were her annuitants.’ In one of her letters, dated Bath, 22 April 1809, she says: ‘My professional success through life has, indeed, been most extraordinary, and consequently attended with great emoluments. But from my first starting in life, at the early age of fourteen, I have always had a large family to support. My mother was a duty. But on brothers and sisters I have lavished more money than can be supposed.’ In August 1815, taking with her a Miss Sketchley and, according to Barrington, her son-in-law, Colonel Hawker, she went to France. Strange and apparently visionary alarms took possession of her. She passed as a Mrs. James, and her place of residence was kept a secret. She first established herself at Boulogne-sur-Mer. This place she quitted for Versailles, and thence, in still greater secrecy, proceeded to St. Cloud. Here, in complete seclusion and under the name of Johnson, in a large, dilapidated, and shabby house in ‘the square adjoining the palace,’ she remained from morning to night, ‘sighing upon the sofa,’ and waiting for news from England. On 3 July 1816, after sending for letters and being told there were none, she fell back on the sofa, and, sobbing deeply, died. She left no will, and letters of administration were taken out at Doctors' Commons by the treasury solicitor on 24 May 1817, and the property sworn to be under 300l. She was buried in the cemetery of St. Cloud, Mr. Forster, the chaplain to the English ambassador, officiating. Ireland, the Shakespearean forger, asserts that he attended the funeral (Vortigern, 1832, Preface). Her personal effects, including her body-linen, were sold in France under dishonouring circumstances. After a delay of years a stone was put on her grave, with a Latin epitaph, in the composition of which Genest says he assisted. Every circumstance connected with her death, which was generally said to be due to heartbreak, was calculated to arouse public sympathy, and a notice in the ‘Morning Post,’ 8 Dec. 1823, that a dividend of 5s. in the pound was to be paid to her creditors caused much outcry, which was met by a declaration that this was not a composition. It was long before the controversy to which these things gave rise was closed. Further mystery remains. A report that she was not dead long prevailed. Various persons, including her daughter, Mrs. Alsop, declared they saw her after she was supposed to have been buried, and Boaden, who knew her well, asserts that he saw her in Piccadilly after 1816, and that she dropped a long white veil over her face.
Many stories are current, all to the credit of her generosity and her good-heartedness, including one in which she effected a complete conquest of a Wesleyan minister, who left her with a warm blessing. Her brother, as Mr. Bland, was engaged by Kemble, and more than once played Sebastian to her Viola. Mrs. Inchbald is among those who spoke highly of her, and Kemble, quoting from Sterne, said: ‘I could have taken her into my arms, and cherished her, though it was in the open street, without blushing.’ A portrait of her by Romney, as the Country Girl, was in the possession of Colonel Fitzclarence, afterwards first Earl of Munster. The Garrick Club possesses two portraits of her by De Wilde, one as Phædra in ‘Amphytrion,’ a second as the Country Girl. A statue of her by Chantrey, executed for William IV,
