Siddons, Mrs.
Mrs. (1755-1831), a noted English actress. She was born in Wales and died in London. Her maiden name was Sarah Kemble. She was the daughter of Roger Kemble, a theatrical manager. Her husband, William Siddons, was an actor. Her brother John became part owner and the manager of the Covent Garden Theater, She won reputation in London in 1775 as Portia. Her greatest success was as Lady Macbeth. Other favorite roles were Isabella in The Fatal Marriage, Jane Shore, Rosamond, Ophelia, Desdemona, Queen Elinor in King John and Queen Catherine in Henry VIII. Gainsborough painted her portrait for the National Gallery. In 1784 Sir Joshua Reynolds painted her as The Tragic Muse. The latter represents her seated in deep thought on a throne surrounded by clouds. Two figures stand behind her, impersonating open and secret violence. In private life she was a stormy, imperious person, feared, rather than held in esteem; but on the stage she commanded tears and storms of applause. A great-granddaughter, Mrs. Scott Siddons, inherited no little part of her talent. See Drama; Theater
Sidney,sid'ni, Sir Philip (1554-1586), an English courtier, soldier, and writer. He studied at Oxford. At eighteen he obtained permission to go abroad in the train of the English ambassador with a servant and four horses. He was in Paris at the English embassy during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Travel in Hungary, Italy, Germany, and Flanders fitted him for diplomacy. On his return he was employed repeatedly on diplomatic missions. He was a man of learning, wit, and courtly bearing. Queen Elizabeth is said to have defeated his election as King of Poland "out of fear that she should lose the jewel of her time." In 1586 he was with his uncle, Dudley, Earl of Leicester, at the battle of Zutphen in aid of the Dutch against the Spanish. He led a charge of 500 Englishmen against 3,000 Spaniards and fell from a gunshot wound in the thigh. As he was being carried from the field, an attendant handed him a water bottle to quench his thirst. In the act of putting it to his lips he noted a dying soldier gaze longingly at the bottle. Sir Philip immediately passed the water to the poor fellow, saying "Thy necessity is greater than mine." Sidney's body was carried home and buried in state in old St. Paul's Cathedral. Following the example of the queen, the entire court went into mourning for him. His chief writings are Arcadia, a pastoral romance in prose and verse, and the Defense of Poesy, an exposition of the writer's views of poetry. He is thought to have had an influence on Spenser and on Shakespeare, whom he preceded in point of time. See Arcadia
QUOTATIONS.
High erected thoughts seated in the heart of courtesy.
Of all sciences is our poet the monarch.
They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.
Fool! said my muse to me, look in thy heart and write.
English is void of those cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods, and tenses, which I think was a piece of the Tower of Babylon's curse, that a man should be put to school to learn his mother tongue; but for the uttering sweetly and properly the conceit of the minde, which is the ende of speech, that it hath equally with any other tongue in the world.
SAID OF SIDNEY.
"He hath had as great love in this life, and as many tears for his death, as ever any had." Scholarly, aspiring, brilliant, brave, and gentle.--Welsh. He was so much the poet, that he had no need of verse.--Taine.
Sidon,si'don, an ancient commercial city of Phoenicia. It was older than Tyre, but became subject to its rival. See Tyre for an idea of the wealth and the extent of the commerce of these cities.