Denmark
The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979.
In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government.
The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
Helena Faucit
Helena Saville Faucit, Lady Martin was an English actress. Born in London, she was the daughter of actors John Saville Faucit and her parents separated when she was a girl, and her mother went to live with William Farren in 1825. With her elder sister Harriet, she was trained for the stage by her step-uncle and she debuted as Juliet at a small theater in Richmond in 1833. Her performance was praised by critics of The Athenaeum, but Farren delayed her debut to give her further training. Faucits first professional appearance was made on 5 January 1836 at Covent Garden as Julia in James Sheridan Knowless The Hunchback. Her debut, a success, placed her at once among the leading actresses in London. Her success in The Hunchback was followed by turns as Belvidera in Thomas Otways Venice Preservd, though her interpretation of Belvidera was received coldly by critics, she remained a favorite of playgoers, already in that first season, she was signed to a three-year contract at Covent Garden. William Charles Macready joined the Covent Garden company in the middle of 1836, in the following year, Faucit played numerous Shakespearean roles, among them Juliet, Imogen and Beatrice, alongside both Macready and the soon-to-retire Charles Kemble.
Faucit followed Macready to the Haymarket Theatre in 1840, in December of that year, while she recuperated at the coast, rumors circulated that she was pregnant with Macreadys child, her physicians published diagnoses that scotched these rumors. She returned to the Haymarket the next year, when she performed in Zouch Troughtons Nina Sforza, after a visit to Paris and a short season at the Haymarket, she joined the Drury Lane company under Macready early in 1842. There she played Lady Macbeth, Constance in King John and Imogen and she was, moreover passed over for Rosalind in favour of Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett, this role would become one of her best-known Shakespearean roles. Nevertheless, Macready considered her beyond all compare the best English actress of the period, when Macready left for America in 1843, Faucit emerged as an even greater celebrity. In the mid-1840s she toured in Scotland and Ireland and her most celebrated roles included Pauline in Lady of Lyons at the Theatre Royal, Antigone at Dublin, and various Shakespearean roles, including a revamped and now-successful Lady Macbeth.
Acting with Macready in Paris in 1845, she received so much applause that Macready was jealous, Faucit occasionally returned to London, but her main activity for the remainder of her career was touring, especially in Manchester and in Sheffield, where her brother owned a theater. In 1846 she returned to Dublin to perform in Euripides Iphigenia at Aulis, in October 1846 she took the part of Juliet to the Romeo of Gustavus Brooke at Dublin. In 1850, she acted in the role of Iolanthe in Theodore Martins adaptation of King Renés Daughter. The last time she assayed the role was in 1876 at the Lyceum Theatre, Martin, the official biographer of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had begun courting her as early as 1843, she finally accepted his proposal in 1851. In 1851 she married Theodore Martin, who was knighted and she continued to act occasionally for charity
Heaven
According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife, or in exceptional cases enter Heaven alive. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to Come, another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, Heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and this cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana. Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, the modern English word heaven is derived from the earlier heven, this in turn was developed from the previous Old English form heofon. By about 1000, heofon was being used in reference to the Christianized place where God dwells, all of these have been derived from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic form *Hemina-. In Ancient Egyptian religion, belief in an afterlife is much more stressed than in ancient Judaism, Heaven was a physical place far above the Earth in a dark area of space where there were no stars, basically beyond the Universe.
Their heart would finally be weighed with the feather of truth, almost nothing is known of Bronze Age Canaanite views of Heaven, and the archeological findings at Ugarit have not provided information. The 1st century Greek author Philo of Byblos may preserve elements of Iron Age Phoenician religion in his Sanchuniathon, in the Middle Hittite myths, Heaven is the abode of the gods. In the Song of Kumarbi, Alalu was king in Heaven for nine years before giving birth to his son, Anu was himself overthrown by his son, Kumarbi. The Baháí Faith regards the description of Heaven as a specific place as symbolic. The Baháí writings describe Heaven as a condition where closeness to God is defined as Heaven. For Baháís, entry into the life has the potential to bring great joy. Baháulláh likened death to the process of birth and he explains, The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother. Accordingly, Baháís view life as a stage, where one can develop.
The key to progress is to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestation of God. Baháulláh wrote, Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return, in Buddhism there are several Heavens, all of which are still part of samsara. Those who accumulate good karma may be reborn in one of them, their stay in Heaven is not eternal—eventually they will use up their good karma and will undergo rebirth into another realm, as a human, animal or other being. Because Heaven is temporary and part of samsara, Buddhists focus more on escaping the cycle of rebirth, Nirvana is not a heaven but a mental state
John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse RA was an English painter known for working in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He worked several decades after the breakup of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, born in Italy to English parents who were both painters, he moved to London, where he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Art. He soon began exhibiting at their annual exhibitions, focusing on the creation of large canvas works depicting scenes from the daily life. Later on in his career he came to embrace the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting despite the fact that it had out of fashion in the British art scene several decades before. The exact date of his birth is unknown, though he was baptised on 6 April, and his early life in Italy has been cited as one of the reasons why many of his paintings were set in ancient Rome or based upon scenes taken from Roman mythology. In 1854, the Waterhouses returned to England and moved to a newly built house in South Kensington, London, in 1871 he entered the Royal Academy of Art school, initially to study sculpture, before moving on to painting.
Waterhouses early works were not Pre-Raphaelite in nature, but were of classical themes in the spirit of Alma-Tadema, the painting was a success and Waterhouse would exhibit at the annual exhibition every year until 1916, with the exception of 1890 and 1915. He went from strength to strength in the London art scene, perhaps due to his success, his paintings typically became larger and larger in size. In 1883 he married Esther Kenworthy, the daughter of an art schoolmaster from Ealing who had exhibited her own flower-paintings at the Royal Academy and they had two children, but both died in early childhood. In 1895 Waterhouse was elected to the status of full Academician and he taught at the St. Johns Wood Art School, joined the St Johns Wood Arts Club, and served on the Royal Academy Council. One of Waterhouses most famous paintings is The Lady of Shalott, a study of Elaine of Astolat and he actually painted three different versions of this character, in 1888,1894, and 1916. Like The Lady of Shalott and other Waterhouse paintings, it deals with a woman dying in or near water and he may have been inspired by paintings of Ophelia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais.
He submitted his Ophelia painting of 1888 in order to receive his diploma from the Royal Academy, after this, the painting was lost until the 20th century, and is now displayed in the collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber. Waterhouse would paint Ophelia again in 1894 and 1909 or 1910, Waterhouse could not finish the series of Ophelia paintings because he was gravely ill with cancer by 1915. He died two years later, and his grave can be found at Kensal Green Cemetery in London, in total he produced 118 paintings. List of paintings by John William Waterhouse Moyle, Pre-Raphaelite art, Eileen, Pre-Raphaelites for a new generation, Letters,17 June, Pre-Raphaelite revival, The Daily Telegraph. Dorment, Waterhouse, The modern Pre-Raphaelite, at the Royal Academy – review, The Daily Telegraph
Early modern period
The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era. Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in trade, as the exchange of goods, plants and food crops extended to the Old World. The Columbian Exchange greatly affected the human environment, New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularly Genoa, the early modern period included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European colonization of the Americas and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, the early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes of organization and economically.
Historians typically date the end of the modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the modern period. Early modern themes Other In 16th century China, the Ming Dynastys economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, Spanish. China became involved in a new trade of goods, animals. Trade with Early Modern Europe and Japan brought in massive amounts of silver, during the last decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Chinese economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, the ensuing breakdown of authority and peoples livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. The Ming Dynasty fell around 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, which was the last ruling dynasty of China, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The Azuchi-Momoyama period saw the unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period gets its name from the city, Edo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, in 1392, General Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty with a largely bloodless coup. Joseon experienced advances in science and culture, King Sejong the Great promulgated hangul, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entirety of Korea, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, invasions by the neighboring Japanese and Qing Chinese nearly overran the Korean peninsula
Ophelia (painting)
Ophelia is a painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed between 1851 and 1852. It is held in the Tate Britain in London and it depicts Ophelia, a character from William Shakespeares play Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark. The work was not highly regarded when first exhibited at the Royal Academy, the painting depicts Ophelia singing while floating in a river just before she drowns. The scene is described in Act IV, Scene VII of Hamlet in a speech by Queen Gertrude, the episode depicted is not seen onstage, but exists only in Gertrudes description. Ophelia has fallen into the river from a tree overhanging it and she lies in the water singing songs, as if unaware of her danger. Her clothes, trapping air, have allowed her to stay afloat. But eventually, her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pulld the poor wretch from her melodious lay down to muddy death, Ophelias death has been praised as one of the most poetically written death scenes in literature.
Ophelias pose—her open arms and upwards gaze—also resembles traditional portrayals of saints or martyrs, the painting is known for its depiction of the detailed flora of the river and the riverbank, stressing the patterns of growth and decay in a natural ecosystem. Despite its nominal Danish setting, the landscape has come to be seen as quintessentially English, Ophelia was painted along the banks of the Hogsmill River in Surrey, near Tolworth, Greater London. Millais close colleague William Holman Hunt was at the working on his The Hireling Shepherd nearby. The flowers shown floating on the river were chosen to correspond with Shakespeares description of Ophelias garland and they reflect the Victorian interest in the language of flowers, according to which each flower carries a symbolic meaning. The prominent red poppy—not mentioned by Shakespeares description of the scene—represents sleep, at an early stage in the paintings creation, Millais painted a water vole—which an assistant had fished out of the Hogsmill—paddling next to Ophelia.
In December 1851, he showed the painting to Holman Hunts relatives. He recorded in his diary, Hunts uncle and aunt came, the male relation, when invited to guess at it, eagerly pronounced it to be a hare. Perceiving by our smiles that he had made a mistake, a rabbit was hazarded, after which I have a faint recollection of a dog or a cat being mentioned. Millais painted the water out of the final picture, although a rough sketch of it still exists in an upper corner of the canvas hidden by its frame. In keeping with the tenets of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, of which he was a member, Millais used bright colours, gave high attention to detail, Millais utilizes bright, intense colours in the landscape to make the pale Ophelia contrast with the nature behind her. All this is evident in the attention to detail in the brush and trees around Ophelia, the contouring of her face
Prince Hamlet
Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, at the beginning of the play, he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius, Claudius and he is indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia and of his mother Gertrude. The play opens with Hamlet deeply depressed over the recent death of his father, King Hamlet, one night, his fathers ghost appears to him and tells him that Claudius murdered him in order to usurp the throne, and commands his son to avenge his death. Claudius sends for two of Hamlets friends from Wittenberg and Guildenstern, to find out what is causing Hamlet so much pain and his advisor Polonius convince Ophelia—Polonius daughter and Hamlets true love—to speak with Hamlet while they secretly listen.
Ophelia greets him, and offers to return his remembrances, upon which Hamlet questions her honesty and tells her to get thee to a nunnery. Hamlet devises a test to see whether Claudius is guilty, he hires a group of actors to perform a play about the murder of a king in front of the royal court, Claudius demands the play be stopped half through because it is the cause of his guilty conscience. When Claudius leaves the audience deeply upset, Hamlet knows that the ghost was telling the truth, a second attempt on Claudius life ends in Polonius accidental death. Claudius, now fearing for his life, sends Hamlet to England, accompanied by Rosencrantz, Claudius discloses that he is actually sending Hamlet to his death. Prior to embarking for England, Hamlet hides Polonius body, ultimately revealing its location to the King, her fathers death has driven Ophelia insane with grief, and Claudius convinces her brother Laertes that Hamlet is to blame. He proposes a match between the two. Laertes informs the king that he will poison the tip of his sword so that a mere scratch would mean certain death.
Claudius plans to offer Hamlet poisoned wine if that fails, Gertrude enters to report that Ophelia has died. In the Elsinore churchyard, two clowns, typically represented as gravediggers, enter to prepare Ophelias grave, Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of them, who unearths the skull of a jester whom Hamlet once knew, Yorick. Ophelias funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes, Hamlet interrupts, professing his own love and grief for Ophelia. He and Laertes grapple, but the fight is broken up by Claudius, that day, Hamlet tells Horatio how he escaped death on his journey, disclosing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent to their deaths instead. A courtier, interrupts to invite Hamlet to fence with Laertes, despite Horatios warnings, Hamlet accepts and the match begins. After several rounds, Gertrude toasts Hamlet, accidentally drinking the wine he poisoned, between bouts, Laertes attacks and pierces Hamlet with his poisoned blade, in the ensuing scuffle, Hamlet is able to use Laertes own poisoned sword against him
Melancholia
Melancholy was one of the four temperaments matching the four humours. In the 19th century, melancholia could be physical as well as mental, the name melancholia comes from the old medical belief of the four humours, disease or ailment being caused by an imbalance in one or other of the four basic bodily liquids, or humours. Personality types were similarly determined by the dominant humor in a particular person, in astrology it showed the influence of Saturn, hence the related adjective saturnine. Melancholia was described as a disease with particular mental and physical symptoms in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Hippocrates, in his Aphorisms, characterized all fears and despondencies, when a patient could not be cured of the disease it was thought that the melancholia was a result of demonic possession. In his study of French and Burgundian courtly culture, Johan Huizinga noted that at the close of the Middle Ages, a sombre melancholy weighs on peoples souls. Among those of his contemporaries so characterised by Vasari were Pontormo and Parmigianino, but he not use the term of Michelangelo.
A famous allegorical engraving by Albrecht Dürer is entitled Melencolia I and this engraving has been interpreted as portraying melancholia as the state of waiting for inspiration to strike, and not necessarily as a depressive affliction. Amongst other allegorical symbols, the picture includes a magic square, the image in turn inspired a passage in The City of Dreadful Night by James Thomson, and, a few years later, a sonnet by Edward Dowden. The most extended treatment of melancholia comes from Robert Burton, whose The Anatomy of Melancholy treats the subject from both a literary and a medical perspective, Burton wrote in the 17th century that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia. Ismenias the Theban, Chiron the centaur, is said to have cured this and many other diseases by music alone, as now they do those, saith Bodine, during the 16th and early 17th centuries, a curious cultural and literary cult of melancholia arose in England. Another major English author who made extensive expression upon being of a disposition is Sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici.
Night-Thoughts, a poem in blank verse by Edward Young was published in nine parts between 1742 and 1745, and hugely popular in several languages. It had a influence on early Romantics in England, France. William Blake was commissioned to illustrate a edition and these portraits were often set out of doors where Nature provides the most suitable background for spiritual contemplation or in a gloomy interior. In music, the cult of melancholia is associated with John Dowland, whose motto was Semper Dowland. The melancholy man, known to contemporaries as a malcontent, is epitomized by Shakespeares Prince Hamlet, the medieval condition of acedia and the Romantic Weltschmerz were similar concepts, most likely to affect the intellectual. It has been identified in medical writings from antiquity and was best characterized in the 19th Century, in the 20th Century, with the interest in psychoanalytic writing, major depression became the principal class in psychiatric classifications
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdoms national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is a network of four art museums, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives and Tate Modern, Tate is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK Department for Culture and Sport. The name Tate is used as the name for the corporate body. The gallery was founded in 1897, as the National Gallery of British Art, the Tate Gallery was housed in the current building occupied by Tate Britain, which is situated in Millbank, London. Tate Liverpool has the purpose as Tate Modern but on a smaller scale. All four museums share the Tate Collection, one of the Tates most publicised art events is the awarding of the annual Turner Prize, which takes place at Tate Britain. The original Tate was called the National Gallery of British Art, situated on Millbank, the idea of a National Gallery of British Art was first proposed in the 1820s by Sir John Leicester, Baron de Tabley.
It took a step nearer when Robert Vernon gave his collection to the National Gallery in 1847, a decade John Sheepshanks gave his collection to the South Kensington Museum, known for years as the National Gallery of Art. Henry Tate donated his own collection to the gallery and it was initially a collection solely of modern British art, concentrating on the works of modern—that is Victorian era—painters. It was controlled by the National Gallery until 1954, in 1926 and 1937, the art dealer and patron Joseph Duveen paid for two major expansions of the gallery building. His father had paid for an extension to house the major part of the Turner Bequest. Henry Courtauld endowed Tate with a purchase fund, by the mid 20th century, it was fulfilling a dual function of showing the history of British art as well as international modern art. In 1954, the Tate Gallery was finally separated from the National Gallery, the Tate began organising its own temporary exhibition programme. In 1979 with funding from a Japanese bank a large extension was opened that would house larger income generating exhibitions.
In 1987, the Clore Wing opened to house the major part of the Turner bequest, in 1988, an outpost in north west England opened as Tate Liverpool. This shows various works of art from the Tate collection as well as mounting its own temporary exhibitions. In 2007, Tate Liverpool hosted the Turner Prize, the first time this has been held outside London and this was an overture to Liverpools being the European Capital of Culture 2008. In 1993, another offshoot opened, Tate St Ives and it exhibits work by modern British artists, particularly those of the St Ives School
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers or religious sisters, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion. The term derives via Old French from Latin conventus, perfect participle of the verb convenio, meaning to convene, the original reference was to the gathering of mendicants who spent much of their time travelling. Technically, a monastery or nunnery is a community of monastics, whereas a friary or convent is a community of mendicants, and a canonry a community of canons regular. The terms abbey and priory can be applied to both monasteries and canonries, an abbey is headed by an Abbot, and a priory is a dependent house headed by a Prior. In English usage since about the 19th century the term convent almost invariably refers to a community of women, in historical usage they are often interchangeable, with convent especially likely to be used for a friary. When applied to houses in Eastern Orthodoxy and Buddhism, English refers to all houses of male religious as monasteries.
Christian monasticism Enclosed religious orders Herbermann, Charles, ed. Convent, carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts —- an example of a modern-day convent Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Convent
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh-born actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character, Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own, the Sarah Siddons Society continues to present the Sarah Siddons Award in Chicago every year to a prominent actress. Acting was only just becoming a profession for a woman. In 1774, Siddons won her first success as Belvidera in Thomas Otways Venice Preservd and she was, in her own words, banished from Drury Lane as a worthless candidate for fame and fortune In 1777, she went on the circuit in the provinces. For the next six years she worked in companies, in particular York. Her first appearance at Baths Old Orchard Street Theatre was in autumn 1778 at a salary of £3 per week and she lived with her husband and children at number 33 The Paragon until her final performance in May 1782. Having gradually built up a reputation, her next Drury Lane appearance, on 10 October 1782 and she was an immediate sensation playing the title role in Garricks adaptation of a play by Thomas Southerne, Isabella, or, The Fatal Marriage.
Her most famous role was that of Lady Macbeth, it was the grandeur of her emotions as she expressed Lady Macbeths murderous passions that held her audiences spellbound, in Lady Macbeth she found the highest and best scope for her acting abilities. She was tall and had a figure, brilliant beauty, powerfully expressive eyes. She once told Samuel Johnson that Catherine was her favourite role and it was the beginning of twenty years in which she was the undisputed queen of Drury Lane. Her celebrity status has been called mythical and monumental, and by the mid-1780s Siddons was established as an icon, along with Hannah Murphy. She mixed with the literary and social elites of London society, and her acquaintances included Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Hester Thrale Piozzi and she nevertheless continued to act in the provinces, appearing at The Theatre, Leeds in 1786 and on several other occasions. In a 1785 visit to her earliest friend the Hon and her approbation and unremitting kindness, when we were both very young indeed, kindled the latest sparks of genius to a flame, which she now gazes on with wonder and delight.
Let this not appear like vanity, recollect what I am, and you will find it proceeds from a better source. In 1802 she left Drury Lane and subsequently appeared from time to time on the stage of the establishment, Covent Garden. It was there, on 29 June 1812, that she gave perhaps the most extraordinary farewell performance in theatre history and she was playing her most famous role, Lady Macbeth, and the audience refused to allow the play to continue after the end of the sleepwalking scene. Mrs. Siddons formally retired from the stage in 1812, and her last appearance was on 9 June 1819 as Lady Randolph in John Homes Douglas
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