preserved the most correct decorum. The Duke's numerous family were introduced and admired by the Prince, the Royal Dukes, and the whole company; an infant in arms, with a most beautiful white head of hair, was brought into the dining-room by the nursery-maid." From this statement, the reader will be able to entertain some notion of the estimation in which Mrs. Jordan was held by the Royal Family, and how great must have been the prospects which she indulged in, from such encouragement as she received. We find that, before her introduction to the Duke, this lady had three daughters, the whole of whom, by a singular coincidence, she was engaged in disposing of by marriage, during the years 1808 and 1809. Mr. Boaden tells us, that— The eldest, Frances, became Mrs. Alsop: her husband was in the Ordnance office, and I think, if I can trust to memory, clerk of the delivery of small arms. I am confirmed in this notion by knowing that the situation has been abolished. There is a respectability attached to the clerkships in government offices, which belongs to no other subordinates in life. The gentlemen who fill them rank as esquires in the red book; and, why I know not, are supposed, in their style of living, to be little bounded by the mere salaries of their respective situations. Miss Jordan was in her twenty-sixth year when she gave her hand to Mr. Thomas Alsop-his residence then was at No. 11, Park Place, and, with their married sister, Miss Dora and Miss Lucy domesticated, until, in the year following, with the approbation of their mother, Miss Dora became the wife of Frederick Edward March, Esq., as I understand, a natural son of Lord Henry Fitzgerald, who was also a clerk in the Ordnance office; and, in 1810, the youngest, Miss Lucy, was united to General, then Colonel, Hawker, of the 14th Light Dragoons.'-vol. ii. p. 233. Mr. Boaden continues, Mrs. Jordan now became the subject of a great variety of attacks, in the infamous prints of the time; probably levelled at her purse; and, conceiving the union of her daughters with two gentlemen in public life a happy opportunity to work upon her fears or their delicacy. Among other matters," they understood (by which the reader always understands if he knows them, they invented) a violent quarrel between the Duke and herself." Royal Dukes, at this time, occupied, unfortunately, the full breath of rumour; and one unhappy business soon bared to the public eye a scene of gross and most inexcusable folly, on one part, and of wanton, profligate, subtle, and unblushing exposure on the other. The leveller rioted now in evidence of royal weakness; and saw in this childish prologue the opening of a scene sufficient to destroy the credit of a throne, that should exist only by its virtue.'-vol. ii. p. 236.. Now, as to this levelling at the purse,' &c., Mr. Boaden might have spared himself the necessity of departing from the duties of christian charity, so violently as he has done; for that there were elements of discord in play at this time, between the Duke and Mrs. Jordan, appears sufficiently evident, and we know, at all events, that, at the Duke's instance, a complete, and even eternal, separation took place between them in a year or two afterwards. Of that separation, or the cause of it, we have no other account from Mr. Boaden, than the following oue, which is quite as laconic, it must be admitted, as it is satisfactory. 'At length, while she was acting at Cheltenham, a storm burst upon her totally unexpected, which is thus recorded by an actor, who was at the time in the theatre. She received a letter from his Royal Highness desiring her to meet him at Maidenhead, where they were to bid each other farewell. Mrs. Jordan had concluded her engagement, but remained one night over to perform Nell, for the manager, Mr. Watson's benefit. It was in the afternoon of this very day she received the fatal letter. With that steady kindness that always distinguished her, she arrived at the theatre dreadfully weakened by a succession of fainting fits. She, however, struggled on with Nell, until Jobson arrived at the passage where he has to accuse the conjuror of making her laughing drunk. When the actress here attempted to laugh, the afflicted woman burst into tears. Her Jobson with great presence of mind altered the text and exclaimed to her—“Why, Nell, the conjuror has not only made thee drunk; he has made thee crying drunk," thus covering her personal distress, and carrying her through the scene in character. After the performance, she was put into a travelling chariot in her stage dress, to keep her appointment with the Royal Duke, in a state of anguish easily to be conceived. What passed at the meeting I would not wish to detail. After allowing her due time to recover her spirits, and endeavour to do herself justice by making her statement to the Regent-submitting herself entirely to his judgment, and finally to the generous nature of the Duke himself, she thus writes upon the subject of the separation to her confidential friend. She may now be pardoned for omitting to date the communication. But her mind is still amiable in its disappointments; and she turns herself unaffectedly to apologise for the rashness by which she has suffered.'-vol. ii. pp. 271-273. Be it observed, that the duration of the connexion between the parties, was that of twenty years-that the fruit of this cohabitation was ten children, and yet the termination of that intercourse,--during which, Mr. Boaden says, the happy mother was an honored wife, in every thing but the legal title,-was the work of a few minutes, apparently; she received a letter from the Duke, desiring her to meet him at Maidenhead, where they were to bid each other farewell! In vain do we read Mr. Boaden's pages, to find out a clue to this extraordinary, and, we have no hesitation in saying, most cruel proceeding. Mrs. Jordan herself seems to have been as much in the dark as we are at this moment; at least, so we conclude from her letter to a friend, written, as it would appear, shortly after the separation. 66 6 My dear Sir, 666 Bushy, Saturday. "I received yours and its inclosure safe this morning. My mind is beginning to feel somewhat reconciled to the shock and surprise it has lately received; for could you or the world believe that we never had, for twenty years, the semblance of a QUARREL. But this is so well known in our domestic circle, that the astonishment is the greater! MONEY, money, my good friend, or the want of it, has, I am convinced, made HIM, at this moment, the most wretched of MEN; but having done wrong, he does not like to retract. But with all his excellent qualities, his domestic virtues, his love for his lovely children, what must he not at this moment suffer! His distresses should have been relieved before; but this is entre nous. All his letters are full of the most unqualified praise of my conduct; and it is the most heartfelt blessing to know that, to the best of my power, I have endeavoured to deserve it. I have received the greatest kindness and attention from the R****t, and every branch of the Royal Family, who, in the most unreserved terms, deplore this melancholy business. The whole correspondence is before the R****t, and I am proud to add, that my past and present conduct has secured me a friend, who declares he never will forsake me. My forbearance,' he says, 'is beyond what he could have imagined!' But what will not a woman do, who is firmly and sincerely attached? Had he left me to starve, I never would have uttered a word to his disadvantage. I inclose you two other letters; and in a day or two you shall see more, the rest being in the hands of the R****t. And now, my dear friend, do not hear the D. of C. unfairly abused. He has done wrong, and he is suffering for it. But as far as he has left it in his own power, he is doing every thing KIND and NOBLE, even to the distressing HIMSELF. I thank you sincerely for the friendly caution at the end of your letter, though I trust there will be no occasion for it; but it was kind and friendly, and as such I shall ever esteem it. "I remain, dear Sir, "DORA JORDAN." -vol. ii. pp. 273-275. What Mrs. Jordan means by money, money,' we really cannot conjecture; and Mr. Boaden, upon this, as well as upon every other point of doubt and difficulty, is utterly bereft of the power of speech. Leaving that matter, however, for the present, we beg the reader's attention, for a few moments, to a passage in the above letter of Mrs. Jordan, with which we wish to compare a subsequent statement, made by Mr. Boaden. That statement, for the sake of convenience, we shall lay before the reader. 'It may be remarked on this occasion, that there were three distinct sources of calumny concurring to swell the tide of persecution which now assailed Mrs. Jordan, and the press was equally disposed to all the three, for they equally purposed mischief. The first was a pretty numerous set of scribblers, who, with the usually wanton ignorance of his conduct and merits, hated the Duke, her illustrious friend: the second, a few writers connected with the theatres, who crediting every rumour with which provincial towns supplied them, attributed to the charming actress every description of sordid or loose attachment; who converted her very virtues into pitch, and, if she exerted herself to benefit any witness of her early progress in life, stated, like Iago, in the instance of Cassio and Desdemona : 'That she repeal'd him for her body's lust.' A third were perhaps set on by persons of graver consideration, but not less doubtful morals, who do evil that good may come of it; and who, affecting a high sense of public virtue and regard for the family on the Throne, and its members within the probability of succession, spared no pains to excite distrust or disgust in the royal person connected with her-trusting to powerful aids in the embarrassments of his circumstances, which, with every disposition to frugality, had accumulated, to the noble Duke's serious annoyance. I have no slight reasons for thinking, that one plan of relief was suggested, which looked to an union with Miss Tilney Long; a matter which it was represented, by the friendship of the Regent, might easily be carried through parliament by bill. If this was ever a matter for deliberation in the royal mind, I am quite sure it was rejected upon principle; and every notion of such a thing was soon closed, by the union of that wealthy heiress, in March, 1812, to William Wellesley Pole, Esq. the son of Lord Maryborough. In fact, TWENTY YEARS of sympathy and truth leave always strong impressions upon the mind; and I have no doubt full justice has always been done to the attachment of Mrs. Jordan, by the royal personage to whom it was borne. The demands of high situation are often imperative, and they must be obeyed; but the MAN must be satisfied as well as the prince; and what father has ever more steadily responded to the claims of his children than the Duke of Clarence? Without too much presumption, we may, perhaps, attribute to such a conduct, that as his early day was gladdened by all that could amuse and fascinate, we find his latter period embellished by all the vIRTUES that either lead or console the progress through the remainder of the journey.'-vol. ii. pp. 280-282. Mr. Boaden, it will be seen, in the latter part of this extract, undertakes to say, on his private information, that a plan of relief, (relief, it must mean, from Mrs. Jordan,) was a marriage on the part of the Duke with Miss Tilney Long, and that the Regent was not only privy to, but an active abettor of, this scheme, since he promised to use his influence to carry a measure for facilitating such a union, through parliament. Now, if that statement be true, how, in the name of all that is sincere, is it, that this very Regent, at the same moment that he was projecting the relief of his brother from Mrs. Jordan, could have justified her declaration, that she experienced the 'greatest kindness,' as she says in her letter just quoted, and attention from the Regent and the Royal Family, who, in the most unreserved terms, deplore this melancholy business?' 'The whole correspondence,' Mrs. Jordan adds, is before the Regent, and, I am proud to add, that my past and present conduct has secured me a friend, who declares he will never forsake me.' And this is the friend who actually is represented, at the very moment that he makes these splendid promises, to be one of the principal parties to that separation, on account of which the unhappy woman requires his assistance at all? If Boaden be not the greatest simpleton in existence, we have no choice, but to fix a character of the basest hypocrisy on the author of such a cold and gratuitous deception. The separation, it appears from a letter written by Mr. Barton, in 1824, took place in the year 1811. To the same gentleman we are indebted for an account of the settlement which the Duke of Clarence made on Mrs. Jordan at their parting. He says: "Upon the separation which took place between Mrs. Jordan and the Duke, in the year 1811, it was agreed, that she should have the care, until a certain age, of her four youngest daughters, and a settlement was made by the Duke for the payment, by him, of the following amounts: "For the maintenance of his four daughters.. £1,500 For a house and carriage for their use.... ...600 1,500 And to enable Mrs. Jordan to make a provision 800 In all 4,400 "This settlement was carried into effect, a trustee was appointed, and the monies, under such trust, were paid quarterly to the respective accounts, at the banking house of Messrs. Coutts and Co. It was a stipulation in the said settlements, that in the event of Mrs. Jordan resuming her profession, the care of the Duke's four daughters, together with the 1,5007. per annum for their maintenance, should revert to his Royal Highness; and this event actually did take place, in the course of a few months, in consequence of Mrs. Jordan's desire to accept certain proposals made to her to perform. Mrs. Jordan did resume her profession; and, not long after, reflections were thrown out against both the Duke and herself; whereupon Mrs. Jordan, indignant at such an attack upon his Royal Highness, wrote the following letter, which was published in the papers of the day: ... Sir, "Though I did not see the morning print that contained the paragraph alluded to in your liberal and respectable paper of yesterday, yet I was not long left in ignorance of the abuse it poured out against me; this I could silently have submitted to, but I was by no means aware that the writer of it had taken the opportunity of throwing out insinuations which he thought might be injurious to a no less honourable than illustrious personage. "In the love of truth, and in justice to his Royal Highness, I think it my duty, publicly and unequivocally to declare, that his liberality towards me has been noble and generous in the highest degree; but, not having it in his power to extendhis bounty beyond the term of his own existence, he has, with his accustomed goodness and consideration, allowed me to endeavour to make that provision for myself, which an event, that better feelings than those of interest, make me hope I shall never live to see, would entirely deprive me of. "This, then, Sir, is my motive for returning to my profession. I am too happy in having every reason to hope and believe, that, under these circumstances, I shall not offend the public at large by seeking their support and protection: and, while I feel that I possess those, I shall patiently submit to that species of unmanly persecution, which a female so particularly situated must always be subject to. Ever ready to acknowledge my deficiencies in every respect, I trust I may add, that I shall never |