The following snarl was found among Horace Walpole's papers:—
For the Morning Chronicle. On the King commanding the Tragedy of The Grecian Daughter on Thursday the 2nd inst. Jan. 10th, 1783.
Epigrammatic
Siddons to see—King, Lords, and Commons run,
Glad to forget that Britain is undone.
The Jesuit Shelburne, the apostate Fox,
And Bulls and Bears, together in a Box.
Thurlow neglects his promises to friends;
And scribbling Townsend no more letters sends
Cits leave their feasts, and sots desert their wine;
Each youth cries "Charming!" and each maid, "Divine!"
See, of false tears, a copious torrent flows,
But not one real, for their country's woes.
The club of spendthrifts, the rapacious bar
Of words, not arms, support the bloodless war.
Let Spain Gibraltar get, our islands France,
So Siddons acts, or Vestris leads the dance.
Run on, mad nation! pleasure's frantic round;
For acting, fiddling, dancing be renown'd!
Soon foreign fleets shall rule the Western main;
George fill no throne but that of Drury Lane.
George III. admired her, he said, "for her repose," adding, "Garrick could never stand still; he was a great fidget." The Queen told her, in broken English, that the only resource was to turn away from the stage; the acting was, indeed, too "disagreeable." She was frequently summoned to read at the Palace, and to give lessons in elocution to the young Princesses.
In Mrs. Siddons's memoranda, we are given an account of one of these readings. She felt extremely awkward, she tells us, in the "sack" with "hoop and treble ruffles which it was considered necessary to put on, according to court etiquette." On her arrival she was led into an ante-chamber, where there were ladies
