CHAPTER XIII.
SORROWS.
Though still suffering from enfeebled health, Mrs.
Siddons again made up her mind to visit Dublin in
the spring of 1802. A strange depression, partly the
result of physical weakness, and partly the result of
mental anxiety, came over her courageous spirit,
paralysing all energy, and breaking down her usual
calm composure. We find this woman, who to the
outside public presented a cold and hard exterior,
weeping hysterically on taking leave of her friends.
She told Mr. Greatheed she felt that before they met
again a great affliction would have fallen on them both.
They never did meet till after the death of his son
Bertie and her daughter Sarah. To Mrs. Piozzi she
wrote:—
"May 1802.
"Farewell, my beloved friend—a long, long farewell! Oh, such a day as this has been! To leave all that is dear to me. I have been surrounded by my family, and my eyes have dwelt with a foreboding tenderness, too painful, on the venerable face of my dear father, that tells me I shall look on it no more.