Square; the back of it is most effectually in the country and delightfully pleasant.
"God bless you, my dear Mrs. Whalley! How perfectly do I see you at this moment; and you, too, my dear friend, for it is impossible to separate your images in my mind. Pray write to me soon, and give me another instance of your unwearied kindness. Adieu!"
We can see how bruised and sore her heart is. For the moment she thinks all are conspiring to betray her.
The Mr. Pratt she alludes to was a Bath bookseller and dramatist, much admired by his townsmen. This admiration was not shared by the managers of Drury Lane, who would not allow Mrs. Siddons to act in his drama the first year she appeared. She had already sacrificed herself to a failure, The Fatal Interview, which had really injured her professional reputation. Pratt maintained, however, she might have done him this service had she been so minded. She herself writes kindly of the aspirant to fame, but we can see his cause of irritation.
"Your letter," she writes in 1783 to Dr. Whalley, "to poor Pratty is lying on the table by me, and I am selfish enough to grudge it him from the bottom of my heart, and yet I will not; for just now, poor soul, he wants much comfort; therefore, let him take it, and God bless him with it!"
And again:—
"The Fatal Interview has been played three times, and is quite done with; it was the dullest of all representations. Pratty's Epilogue was vastly applauded indeed. I shall take care how I get into such another play; but I fancy the managers will take
