“God bless you all, and do not forget
“Your faithful, affectionate,
“S. Siddons.”
A little later she writes:—
“Pray ask Mr. G⸺ to send me those sweet lines ‘To Hope’—that which he gave me is almost effaced by my tears—and let it be written by the same hand. I could never describe what I have lost in you, my beloved friends, and the sweet angel that is gone for ever! Good God! what a deprivation in a few days. Adieu! Adieu!”
Needless to say, this “screeching” friendship ended as one might expect. As we have said, she failed to obtain an engagement for Mrs. Galindo at Covent Garden, and lent Galindo a thousand pounds to help him to take shares in a theatrical company at Manchester. He never repaid the thousand pounds, and became abusive when she asked for it. She accused him, in a letter addressed to Miss Wilkinson, of “hypocrisy and ingratitude,” and the wife accused her of having nourished an affection passing the bounds of propriety for her husband. All her real friends mustered round her, but she suffered terribly.
She wrote to Dr. Whalley:—
“Among all the kind attentions I have received, none has comforted me more, my dear friend, than your invaluable letter. I thank God all my friends are exactly of your opinion with respect to the manner of treating this diabolical business. To a delicate mind publicity is in itself painful, and I trust that a life of tolerable rectitude will justify my conduct to my friends. I have been dreadfully shaken, but I trust that the natural disposition to be well will shortly restore me. My dear Cecilia is, indeed, all a fond mother can wish.”