Catherine. All these, in different degrees and different ways, were exquisite. But the readings from Milton were not to my taste. And, some weeks after, when, at Mrs. Hannah More's request, I had read to her some of Lord Byron's most popular works, I got her to acknowledge, in then speaking upon the subject of reading, that perhaps the style of Mrs. Siddons's reading had been too much determined to the dramatic cast of emphasis, and the pointed expression of character and situation which must always belong to a speaker bearing a part in a dialogue, to admit of her assuming the tone of a rapt poetic inspiration. Meantime, whatever she did—whether it were in display of her own matchless talents, but always at the earnest request of the company or of her hostess, or whether it were in gentle acquiescent attention to the display made by others, or whether it were as one member of a general party taking her part occasionally for the amusement of the rest and contributing to the general fund of social pleasurenothing could exceed the amiable, kind, and unassuming deportment of Mrs. Siddons. She had retired from the stage,1 and no longer regarded herself as a public character.2 But so much the stronger did she seem to think the claims of her friends upon anything she could do for their amuse ment. Meantime, amongst the many pleasurable impressions which Mrs. Siddons's presence never failed to make, there was one which was positively painful and humiliating: it was the degradation which it inflicted upon other women. One day there was a large dinner party at Barley Wood: Mrs. Siddons was present; and I remarked to a gentleman who sat next to me a remark which he heartily confirmed --that, upon rising to let the ladies leave us, Mrs. Siddons, by the mere necessity of her regal deportment, dwarfed the 1 I saw her, however, myself upon the stage twice after this meeting at Barley Wood. It was at Edinburgh; and the parts were those of Lady Macbeth and Lady Randolph. But she then performed only as an expression of kindness to her grandchildren. Professor Wilson and myself saw her on the occasion from the stage-box, with a delight embittered by the certainty that we saw her for the last time. 2 Her farewell to the stage had been on the 29th of June 1812 in the character of Lady Macbeth.-M. whole party, and made them look ridiculous; though Mrs. H. More, and others of the ladies present, were otherwise really women of very pleasing appearance. One final remark is forced upon me by my recollections of Mrs. Jordan, and of her most unhappy end: it is this; and strange enough it seems that the child of laughter and comic mirth, whose laugh itself thrilled the heart with pleasure, and who created gaiety of the noblest order for one entire generation of her countrymen, died prematurely, and in exile, and in affliction which really killed her by its own stings. If ever woman died of a broken heart, of tenderness bereaved, and of hope deferred, that woman was Mrs. Jordan.1 On the other hand, this sad votary of Melpomene, the queen of the tragic stage, died full of years and honours, in the bosom of her admiring country, in the centre of idolizing friends, and happy in all things except this, that some of those whom she most loved on earth had gone before her. Strange contrariety of lots for the two transcendent daughters of the comic and tragic muses. For my own part, I shall always regard my recollections of Mrs. Siddons as those in which chiefly I have an advantage over the coming generation; nay, perhaps over all generations; for many centuries may revolve without producing such another transcendent creature. 1 Mrs. Jordan died in 1816, at the age of 54; Mrs. Siddons in 1831, at the age of 76. Hannah More outlived both, dying in 1833, at the age of 88.-M. END OF VOL. II Printed by R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh. In Four Volumes, large crown 8vo, Art Canvas binding, price 6s. each. THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA BY MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA DONE INTO ENGLISH BY A NEW EDITION With Notes Original and Selected. In One Volume, uniform with the above Edition of DON QUIXote, price 7s. 6d. A NEW AND GREATLY ENLARGED LIFE OF CERVANTES BY HENRY EDWARD WATTS The above Life has been wholly recast and almost entirely rewritten, and contains an autogravure frontispiece of an interesting and original portrait, reproduced from an exact copy of the bust of the figure believed to represent Cervantes in Pacheco's picture at Seville. LONDON: A. & C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE. of the Per 2/6 Volume Waverley Novels Complete in 25 Volumes, Crown 8vo, bound in Art Also to be had in full limp leather, gilt edges, Sets, cloth Sets can also be had in various leather bindings. Price £3:2:6. Prices upon application. 1. Waverley; or, "'Tis Sixty Years Since." 2. Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. 3. The Antiquary. 4. Rob Roy. 5. A Legend of Montrose, and The Black Dwarf. 7. The Heart of Mid-Lothian. 8. The Bride of Lammermoor. 9. Ivanhoe: A Romance. 10. The Monastery. 11. The Abbot: A Sequel. 13. The Pirate. 14. The Fortunes of Nigel. 15. Peveril of the Peak. 16. Quentin Durward. 18. 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