XI.
BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS.
There was upon the London stage, in the year 1815, a pretty actress named Harriet Mellon. Her abilities, though by no means commanding, were yet considerable, and in a certain line of parts she was at that time without a superior. She played soubrette rôles, for which she was fitted by her style of beauty and her vivacious manners. Leigh Hunt refers to her with praise, speaking especially of her acting of chambermaids' parts.
"She catches with wonderful discrimination," he says, "their probable touches of character and manner."
Besides being an agreeable actress, Miss Mellon was a person of unblemished reputation at a time when there were many engaged in her profession of whom the same could not be said. Her first London engagement was obtained through the efforts of Sheridan, who was visiting a friend, a banker, in the town of Stafford, while she was acting there with a strolling company. This gentleman's daughters had made her acquaintance, and were so greatly pleased with her that they insisted on Sheridan's going to see her act. He did this, and was so well satisfied that shortly afterward he obtained her a situation at the Drury Lane Theatre, where she first appeared as Lydia Languish in his own play of The Rivals. Her success was immediate, and she was for several years a favorite with London audiences.
Among the frequenters of the theater where she per-
