of Mrs. Siddons's masterpieces was acted in Liverpool, she went through the entire performance in dumb show.
In December 1785 her second son, George, was born. As soon as she was able to write, she communicated the fact to her friends, the Whalleys, in one of her lively, light-hearted letters:—
"I have another son, healthy and lovely as an angel, born the 26th Dec.; so, you see, I take the earliest opportunity of relieving the anxiety which I know you and my dear Mrs. Whalley will feel till you hear of me. My sweet boy is so like a person of the Royal Family, that I'm rather afraid he'll bring me to disgrace. My sister jokingly tells me she's sure 'my lady his mother has played false with the prince,' and I must own he's more like him than anybody else. I will just hint to you that my father was at one time very like the King, which a little saves my credit. I rejoice that you are well, and have such pleasant society, but I wish to God you would return! I have no news for you, except that the prince is going to devote himself entirely to a Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the whole world is in an uproar about it. I know very little of her history more than that it is agreed on all hands that she is a very ambitious and clever woman, and that 'all good seeming by her revolt will be thought put on for villany,' for she was thought an example of propriety. I hear, too, that the Duchess of Devonshire is to take her by the hand, and to give her the first dinner when the preliminaries are settled; for it seems everything goes on with the utmost formality—provision made for children, and so on. Some people rejoice and some mourn at this event. I have not heard what his mother says to it. The Royal
