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Ir is truly grateful to the Biographer, as well as to the general observer on life and manners, to direct his attention to characters in whom he can trace the elements of future eminence. And it is with such feelings that we can now enter on the biography of Miss Smith.

Miss Smith entered upon the stage at a very early period in life. Her first engagement was with Stanton, the Lancaster Manager. Here she made her first appearance as Joanna, in Mr. Holcroft's

came a favourite, not only on the stage, but in every private circle that she entered. The most fashionable people of Bath began to countenance and encourage her, and she was frequently invited to the houses of se veral of those ladies who direct this little metropolis of the west.

There are some persons who, however solid may be their understandings, and however excellent their hearts, yet from some deficiency of address, can by no means succeed in obtaining the rank to

Miss Smith has, fortunately for her comfort and connection inlife, been completely exempt from any such awkwardness of manner. She has a particular affability, which conciliates nine people out of ten: she has an undeviating perseverance in obtainingthe most creditable introductions: she has a habit of yielding her own opinions to the opinions of her well-informed and sensible friends: and with all these requisites for advancing herself in society, she of course has procured herself many agreeable and useful acquaintances. London, as well as at Bath, these insinuat

Deserted Daughter. She shortly after-which they are entitled amid society. wards left Lancaster, and formed an engagement, with Mr. Stephen Kemble, at Edinburgh. Her next engagement was with Mr. Tate Wilkinson, at York, with whom she continued till his death. Upon this occurrence she formed an engagement with Mr. M'Ready, the manager of the Birmingham company, who treated her with remarkable kindness; and was instrumental in procuring for her an engagement at Bath. To Bath her talents were now transferred: and a city, which yields to London alone in all the arts that make life agreeable, appeared the most favourable sphere in which the abilitying qualifications have been attended with of Miss Smith could display itself. How-very advantageous effects. ever ardent her expectations may have been, they certainly were not disappointed. Both in tragedy and in comedy she was conspicuously successful; and she soon be

In

The Proprietors of Covent-Garden haying heard of the celebrity of Miss Smith, made an offer to her of an engagement in "their theatre. But she was not inclined to

leave so comfortable a situation as that in which she then stood, and agreed to sign an article for four years longer with Mr. Dimond of Bath.

In London she made her first appearance at Covent-Garden theatre, early during the season of 1805-6. Her reputation has been constantly increasing, and she has become a general favourite. She remained at Covent-Garden till the conclusion of the season 1807, and then accepted an engagement at the Dublin theatre. Mr. Harris, however, finding Miss Smith an actress of genius, re-engaged her to return to CoventGarden at the conclusion of her Dublin engagement.

is well proportioned; the face is extremely interesting, and bears an extraordinary resemblance to that of Mrs. Siddons. The fiue dark eyes of Miss Smith, the acqui In about a fortnight after this arrange- line nose, and the straight, expressive ment had been made, Mr. Harris, the prin- || brow, continually give the sensation of a cipal Proprietor of Covent-Garden, was in-family resembiance, although every body duced to take a journey to Bath for the knows there is no sort of relationship. purpose of ascertaining how far the world's favourable report of Miss Smith's abilities deserved to be believed. On the evening of his attendance at the Bath theatre, she performed the characters of Juliana in the Honey Moon, and Lady Racket in Three Weeks after Marriage: and Mr. Harris professed himself so much gratified by the talent she evinced in these representations, that he proposed to engage her at a considerable salary. Miss Smith still considered that her situation with the Bath and Bristol audiences was so agreeable and so secure, as to make any alteration of necessity unpleasing and hazardous; but the desire of making a more effectual provision for her family, at length prevailed over every other consideration, and receiving the liberal consent of the Bath Proprietors, Miss Smith, in the year 1805, transferred herself to Covent-Garden theatre. was here engaged for three years, at the weekly sum of eighteen pounds for the first season, nineteen for the second, and twenty for the third.

She

She appeared for the last time at Bath, in the character of Beleidera, and after the play recited Collins's Ode on the Passions The house was crowded in every part: and it is recorded, that on this occasion her feelings were so overpowered by the situation in which the acclamations and other favours of the audience placed her, that at the close of the Ode, where hope, and mirth, and joy, are described by the poet, the actress represented regret, and melancholy, and grief. She took leave of her friends and the public, not by the usual mode of addressing the audience from the stage, but by farewells to the people of Bath and Bristol, made public through the medium of the newspapers.

The figure of Miss Smith, though small,

The style of acting in which Miss Smith has acquired a reputation which is daily increasing, is the same line to which Mrs. Siddons owes her fame. She endea. vours to represent to her own mind what the poet peculiarly intended, and having thus formed a just conception of the character she labours, with all her physical powers, to exhibit it in the energy and simplicity of natural feeling. Miss Smith, therefore, has always been a favourite with all those who admire tragic sentiment and passion, and when Mrs. Siddons shall have passed off the stage, there is certainly no one so well calculated to succeed her as Miss Smith. We must be allowed, however, to express a wish that this Lady will not suffer herself to be spoiled by the applause of the pit and galleries, and thus whilst she is thinking of the energy of passion, she will be careful not to overstep the modesty of nature. Many actors and actresses of the most promising talents' have nipped the hope induced by their early excellence, by a servile adoption of what seems to be the public taste. The true means of excellence is to form the taste by good models to a correct judg ment, and then to act up to that image of excellence, which study and attention and genius will always pourtray in the mind..

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

HYMENEA IN SEARCH OF A HUSBAND.

(Continued from Page 66.)

SIR DENNIS O'NEALL conducted us over his grounds, which were laid out with a degree of taste very uncommon in this country; but the disposition of the statues, the groves, &c. had still a character of their own. It seems that this gentleman in early life had formed a kind of romantic attachment, in which he had been disappointed; and the result of which had given a tinge of humour and extravagance to his ideas. “For six months," said my aunt, "after his disappointment, he confined himself to his house and estate; during which time he read all the ancient romances; he is thus a singular mixture of the ancient chevalier and the modern fine gentleman."

On the day following, my aunt proposed a visit to a family and lady of whom the whole country was full.-"This young lady," said my aunt, "is the richest heiress in the United Kingdom; fame reports that her annual income is not less than one hundred thousand pounds per annum; and though fame generally exaggerates, in this instance she rather falls short. She has thus a greater annual revenue than all the Princes of our own Royal Family put together. One hundred thousand pounds, as we all know, is considered as a princely portion, even as a capital; what is to be said then, when this lady can present it to her husband every new year's day?"

"I have only to express my hopes," said I, "that the young lady deserves her wealth by a suitable use of it."

that the whole of her family are so much attached to her. Such wealth as hers usually excites envy; it requires, therefore, no small proportion of worth and modesty to reconcile friends and neighbours to this superiority."

This warm praise of the lady from one who, like my aunt, was not much given to exaggerations of this kind, rendered me very anxious to see her; and the coach being ordered, and two gentlemen, strangers to me, but well acquainted with my aunt, having joined us, we all proceeded on our way to W-House. The gentlemen who accompanied us afforded me the pleasure that I had anticipated.

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"The

"Not at all," said the nobleman. matter is this:-I need not tell you that Madame N-, is under my protection; and a famous fine woman I think you will allow her to be. Now, my friend, I need not tell you that the protection of such a lady must cost something, and therefore have hit upon this method by way of saving. Madame N-takes the conduct of the establishment, and has a double allowance from the committee of managers, and therefore wants little, or perhaps nothing, of me. It was better, I think, than setting her up as

a milliner."

"In plain words then," said the other gentleman, "your Lordship has contrived to saddle your mistress on the public, and to have the honour of keeping her under your protection at the public expence."

"Exactly so," said the nobleman; "I think that is as clever as you have done, yourself, who have got your mistress's husband a pension of a thousand a year on the. Irish establishment."

"I understand," replied my aunt, "that her liberality is almost as boundless as her means. The general qualities and disposition of any one may not unfairly be collected from the temper and virtues which they exhibit in their own families. Now Miss bears such an exalted character as a daughter, a sister, and the head of a large household of servants, that it consti- "Why, where is the difference," replied tutes a very reasonable presumption that the other, "whether the country pays us her virtues, in mature life, will dignify her the reward of our services into our own station. It is no small proof of her worth,hauds, or pays it for us into those of our

mistresses. For my own part I would not have gone to Ireland if I could not have provided for my dependants."

The above conversation passed whilst the gentlemen were riding by our carriage, and in the true style of the present fashion, though they did not expressly intend that we should hear them, yet they spoke in a tone as if they were addressing the whole county from the bustings.

“That young man,” said she, “ is the destined husband of the rich heiress, and he is so far remarkable, that he belongs to one of the most fortunate families in England. I myself remember when the family of which he is a member (I do not speak from any disrespect of them), was in the most uncomfortable pecuniary cir cumstances; so much so, indeed, that the Dowager, the mother of the W———s, was;

"Who are these gentlemen?" said I to I believe, a very humble pensioner upon my aunt.

66

Government, having apartments at Hamp-
ton-Court, and the usual allowance to the
decayed nobility. If any one had said at
that time, that within a few years the

"They are both of them noblemen," said my aunt; one of them is the immediate descendant of one of our bravest Admirals, and is himself one of the best whips in Eng-Wland. The other was formerly at the head of the government of Ireland, and the Irish Pension List will very long have cause to remember him; he is one of the most proftigate and worthless men of the day."

"Then why is it," said I, "that he seems to be on such intimate terms with you?"

"Why, what does it signify to me," said my aunt, “what his character is, as long as he is a man of a certain quality and fashion, and generally well received in all companies; his vices do not in any way affect me."

"I am truly sorry to hear you reason in this manner," said I. "If profligacy were as generally discountenanced as it is now covered and protected, the public manners would be reformed perforce, and people would find it necessary to be virtuous in self-defence. This indifference to virtue and vice is what keeps up the predominance of the lafter. Young persons have no indacemeut to resist the impetuous impulses of their headlong passions when they have no public praise or public censure to dread. As to these characters, I hope I shall never have the honour of meeting them again; for whatever may be their fortunes and titles, they both of them deserve the most exemplary punishment; the one of them as the corrupter of youth, and the other as one who has degraded a very noble name, and therein impaired and diminished the glory of his ancestors.”

Upon reaching our destination, we were received with great distinction by the ladies, the mother and her daughters. A young man was present, of whom my aunt afterwards spoke of in some detail.

family would become not only the most wealthy, but the most distinguished family amongst our nobility, they would not readily have procured belief. Yet such has been the splendid success of that fas mily, that one of them possesses a reputa. tion very little inferior to Marlborough himself; another has made not only a splen did fortune, but what is better, a civil name and reputation in the East; and the third, of whom I am now speaking to you, and who will eventually become the head of the family, will, upon his marriage, be possessed of a fortune equal to that of any two Dukes in England put together."

"I have only to hope that he will merit his success," said I.

"It would be a gross flattery," said my aunt, "to speak very fully upon that head. The young man has not began his life in a very promising manner, but as he is young, it is to be hoped that he may eventually see his errors, and may learn in good time, that the steady honourable con duct, liberality, and the manners and information of a gentleman, are qualities that better become his rank and fortune, than to be first in every folly and in vicious extra. vagance."

I must confess that the heiress did not fully answer the expectation which my aunt's account had taught me to expect. Her manners, however, were interesting, and her appearance simple and unaffected. These were qualities certainly very laud. able in circumstances such as those in which the heiress was placed. To be simple, modest, and unaffected, in the midst of an opulence, and the flattering distinctions attendant upon it, which might

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have spoiled a strong head, unless governed by a good heart; these qualities, I say, argue very strongly in favour of her natural goodness. But ought not the passession of such a fortune to have rendered its possessor somewhat more prominent? The fault of this, perhaps, is in the fashionable education which is now given to our ladies.

distribution of it. If I had such wealth I would educate half the children in the county, and cover every parish almost with Sunday schools and alms-houses; and still I would have sufficient for all my own pleasures and dignity. It is inconceivable, my dear aunt, what good might not be done by private charity, and I think that the posşessor of such a fortune as this ought to set the example."

"It is very wisely contrived by the laws of this country," said my aunt," that these immense fortunes should not long remain dead in any hands. Even the dissipation of one rich man feeds the necessities of a hundred poor men; and evil is thus made to administer to good."

"The fault of the present age," said I, " is not so much the deliberate pursuits of vice, as the indifference to virtue, and a

Before we took our leave, we were conducted into a room in which were the bridal paraphernalia; for matters, as I understood, were now nearly fully arranged between the parties. The dress was certainly very magnificent, but I was sorry to see that the family seem more fully possessed, in their thoughts and actions, of the notions of the consequence, importance, and value of this magnificence than I thought it merited. This overvalue for trifles is the sure root of levity and insigni-blind, precipitate pursuit of pleasure, and ficance of character. Teach a family of daughters that nothing is so worthy of their admiration as such dresses, and what must you expect? Will they consume their time in the acquisition of real virtues, good morals, and amiable domestic manners and qualities, when they are taught that it is not virtue, it is not morals, it is not good domestic qualities, but that it is Brussels lace, sprigged muslins, and embroidered hems, which really deserve attention and admiration.

I understood further, that it was the intention of the mother of the young ladies to issue tickets of admission to see this bridal dress, and to advertise in the Morning Post, I presume, that it was hung up for the inspection of all respectable persons. I should hope that this report is not true; it would be the extreme of folly. The excessive admiration and importance assigned to it is foolish enough and mischievous enough; but such an exhibition would be more than ordinarily ridiculous.

When we had taken our seats in the carriage, my aunt observing me in rather a thoughtful mood, asked me what was the subject of my meditations.

in seeking that pleasure in every folly and in every insignificance. One young man seeks only to distinguish himself by being the best driver of the age; another is possessed with the perverse vanity of being the best walker; a third, perhaps, will lift a weight, or eat a beef-steak for a wager; a fourth, as foolish, and more vicious than the others, will fight a duel, keep an Opera mistress, or head a theatrical establishment. Now I do not know which of all these pursuits is the most contemptible, and the folly of all these either begins or ends in vices. There is something, I am afraid, radically wrong in our system of education, or the young men who are formed by it would present themselves in a very different shape and form."

“I am glad at least," said my aunt, “ that you do not extend the same censure to our female mode of education."

"I am sorry," said I, "that I cannot exempt it. No one, I am afraid, can say that the general characters of our fashionable women are perfect, or such as men wish in their wives. Too much time, and too much attention, and too much money, are thrown away on frivolous pursuits and "I am thinking," said I, "what an in- attainments, and even these are but half finite portion of good the possessor of such learned. After a fashionable girl has gone a fortune both might and ought to do; through a fashionable boarding-school, what charities, what patronage, what im- what is she but a thing of gay shreds provements in their county and neighour-and patches, with a something of every hood might be effected by their proper thing, and nothing complete."

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