THE JOLLY DUCHESS.*
Ma. PEARCE gives as a sub-title " A Sixty Years' Gossiping Record of ' Stage and Society (1777 to 1837)." It would have been a fairer descrip- tion of his book if he had put this as the chief title, adding " With Some Notes-on ' The Jolly Duchess.' " Roughly speaking, the work may be described as " A Gossiping Record of Stage and Society (1777 to 1837)." A third of it is given up to Mr. Pearee's quarrels as to dates, authorities, &c., with Mrs. Baron-Wilson, Harriet Mellon's florid and partial biographer of the "'eighties " ; and another third is devoted-to the Duchess herself. After gathering up- all the odds and ends of infor- mation in regard to Harriet Mellon, first -as actress, then as Mrs. Coats, and finally as the Duchess Of St. Albans, our impression is that tho bio- grapherks labour was rather -wasted, or that at any rate the proportion' of one-third of the book was all that the interest of his subject demanded. Her chief distillation apparently is that she made two what are generally considered very successful marriages, one of wealth and one -of rank. That this called for cleverness every one must admit, con- sidering her position-and that she did not possess any exceptional beauty. or brilliancy, but it scarcely seems worth chronicling. What was perlaps more clever was that she, so to speak, maintained both marriages successfully, -and she appears to have been an excellent wife, first to the doting old banker and then to a man very many years her junior. Apart from this distinction, if we admit it to be such, there is little in her life that is noteworthy. As an actress she was only second- rate. Opportunities mime to her of making a name for -helve& and -stepping into the front rank, but her talent wee not groat enough for her to take advantage of them. She made her first appearance on the stage !at the-age of ten at Ulveratone, when she and her mother were with a band of- strolling players—the forerunners of our touring com- panies. For some time afterwards she worked regularly in the provinces, playing " tomboy " and " hoyden " parts, and as raw grew older " chambermaid " and " footman " parts ; and " it is doubtful," says .Mr. Pearce, "whether she ever freed herself entirely from their influ- ence." Sheridan gave Harriet her chance in Londcn at Drury Lane,, but -though she- was said to have done " very well," she -made no groat. impression. She had the attraction of good looks, but, as a concern- • perary writer said, " Miss Mellon-was merely a countrified girl; blooming in complexion, with- a very tall, fine figure, raven locks, ivory tooth, a cheek like a peach, and coral lips. All she put you in mind of was a country road and a pillion." Lovers °lathe ".gentle Ella " will be interested to know that ho chose. Harriet Mellon to play the leading lady- in his farce Mr. H.,- which found so little favour that it only ran -for 'one night. "The thinness of -the plot, the long-drawn- out dialogue,- the 'waning of -the curiosity et first excited as to the meaning of the name Mr., H., and the lame andampotont conolusion- only Hogefiesh and-nothing more haprovect.too.rauch. for the patience of the audience, and the piece was thoroughly damned, Lamb joining in. the unanimous hissing and hooting." As an actress Harriot Mellon seems to have had a fault which is arcommon in our day as in hers- - she was always Harriet Mellon. She could not " act," using that word in its fullest sense. Further, she had not that gift. of a strong and attractive personality which makes the. public Overlook the fault and' earns for its possessor a reputation of genius.
-Mr. Pearce is iakindly biographer until Miss Mellon loaves the stage, but from that date onward his-tone is-one rather-carping criticism— undeserved, in our opinion. From .the !glimpses -which are all that we are given of the Duchess we got an impression of a comely, plump, good-natured woman whose chief failing was a love of display. She never' seems to have been ashamed• of law humble 'beginnings, and she had the strength ofamind to disregard the attacks made. upon her by the , scurrilous Press, of her day—two excellent traits. Fanny Kemble said of her : " As !Miss Mellon she was one of -my mothers-stage contem- poraries; a.kind-hearted,g,00d-humoured, buxom, rather coarse actress. with good looks, and good-spirits of a somewhat unrefined sort, which were not without admirers." This estimate is confirmed by Sir Walter Scott's statement that he had always found tho Duchess " a kind, friendly woman, without either affectation, or insolence in the display of her wealth ; most willing to-do good if the means be shown to her , so much wealth can hardly bo enjoyed without the appearance. of -ostentation."
Most of the stories told oilier refer to her extravagant entertainments, 'and: give amusing sidelights-on the manner in which people enjoyed themselves- at that period. One. of her parties is thus described by a -contemporary newspaper :—
" lt was proposed as a brilliant conclusion to.the fat that the company
• Mho Jay, Dwchtss. By Charles rearm Loudon : igaid4 Maul and Co. Las. net) should partake of a syllabub on the lawn, and for this purpose a favourite white cow properly decorated with flowers and ribands was placed near an immense bowl into which a girl dressed as a Swiss milkmaid was to milk the cow, while an eminent vocalist, who dressed en costume, was placed on one side of the bowl to sing the Ranz des Vachea, accompanied on the harp by her husband dressed d rantique pastorale."
Unhappily for the Duchess, everything did not go well with this item, for " no sooner did the cow hear the sound of the harp than up went her head and her tail, away went the flowers and the ribands, away ran the vocalist, down fell the harp, and off ran the company." The best anecdotes in the book, however, have nothing to do with the Duchess. One of the most amusing is that told of the first Mrs. Coutts, who had been a maid-servant in the Coutts family, and in regard to whom the Court Journal said : " Below par in mind and manners, nature has not fitted her for such lofty associations ; nor has any attempt been made by culture to improve the sterility of the soil." The Couttses were invited by the Duchess of Gordon to a dinner at which the Prince of Wales was to be the principal guest :-
" All the company had arrived save and except his Royal Highness and his cortSge. . . . In the midst of the general anxiety Mrs. Coutts rose from her seat, and walking across the room with her elbows sticking out eight or ten inches behind her back, whilst her arms seemed pinioned to her sides, went up to the Duchess of Gordon, and addressed her nearly in these words : My dearest Duchess, I have no doubt that your 'Grape has got a very fine dish of fish for the Prince, and has probably taken the trouble of sending all the way to Billingsgate for the best, and to have it spoilt will be a sad pity ; but that will certainly be the ease if your cook puts the fish into water and lets it continue to boil. If you would allow me, I would advise your Grace to order that some water should be kept boiling, but the fish not to bo put into it until the Prince arrives ; then the moment that the knock Is heard at the door pop it into the kettle and boil it up and it will be well
done: " , The good dame's hostess, we are told, "laughed outright," which seems to show that, though presumably she had enjoyed those " attempts made by culture " for her improvement which were denied to Mrs. Coutts, she had not benefited by them.
In the theatrical part of the book there is an interesting description of the management of the old companies of strolling players. We still hear of the very low scale of payment made to members of the touring companies of the present day, but compared with the money given to the strolling players of the " eighties " it is munificent :—
" Every night the manager counted out the nightly receipts in the presence of the entire company. The expenses were first taken out of the cash, such as hire of room, musicians, candles, &e. What remained (if anything) was divided into equal shares and handed to each individual. The manager, of course, took the lion's share—that is, he had a share for the company's wardrobe, a share for his scenery, a share for his Playbooks and music, a share for his wife (she generally took the money at the door), and a share for his daughter as the ' walking lady' of the company. In this way the manager appropriated seven shares of the receipts."
Dickens does not say exactly what system of finance was adopted by the immortal Crummles, but if it was anything like the above—which wo think most probable—that gifted man and his family left little for the company. " I am in the theatrical profession myself," said Mr. Vincent Crummles to Nicholas Niokleby, " my wife is in the theatrical profession, my children are in the theatrical profession. I had a dog that lived and died in it from a puppy ; and my chaise-pony goes on in Timour the Tartar."
Mr. Pearce tells an amusing story about Mrs. Siddons, who, like other favourites of the stage, did not realize when ago and a super- abundant figure had made her unfitted for certain ries. After she had grown stout and unwieldy the popular actress tried to repeat her old triumph as Isabella in Measure for Measure. " When she knelt to the Duke, imploring mercy for her brother, two attendants had to come forward to help her to rise ; and to make this appear correct the same ceremony was gone through with a young actress who performed the same part and did not need any assistance whatever!
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