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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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female youth , her . sufferings and melancholy fate may not have happened in vain . —Eliza Evans was the only child of the Rev . Mr . Evans , of Malpas , in Cheshire , domestic chaplain to Lord Cholmondely . His character , as given hf one who knew him , was in every respect excellent . He was exemplary
and useful in the discharge of his sacred office , noticed and caressed by the rich and great for his acquirements and virtues , and beloved by the poor for liis piety and charities . Eliza lost her mother at the early age of five years , and ten years afterwards was bereft of her father . The interval between these
two deprivations was spent at the best schools which Chester and Shrewsbury afforded . Her attainments we ' re worthy of the opportunities , which she enjoyed , in addition to her native language , she became mistress of French
and Italian , excelled in music and drawing , and attained eminence in the variety of fancy-work , without having neglected the more useful acquisition of plain-work . She was sent for from school to attend the death-bed of her
father : he left her , at the age of fifteen , about 8 © ol . under the guardianship ot Sir Thomas Edwards , of Frodesley . To this little fortune JLcrd Cholmondeley added the life-iriterest of the lease * hold property possessed by her father , estimated at from -6 oJL to 70 L per ann . Her guardian died soon after his curate , and his ward continued to reside with
Lady Edwards . Some circumstances , which at this distance © f time it were useless to detail , separated her from the protection of this family , and she left diem , to reside with an old servant and housekeeper of her father . It is
unnecessary to give any particulars of the early disappointment of her hope ^ . — Young ; , accomplished , in some degree independent , separated from any near connections , and womanly beyond her years , by one imprudent act she plunged herself into embarrassments which
ended only wirh lier life . At this period she became acquainted with Mr . Stan elevens , a young man of three- an dtwenty , the hero , at . that time , of the Shrewsbury Theatre , and who wore the
sock and buskin alternately , with equal and no mean provincial celebrity . hey rnet at a musical party : they were both musical . At sixteen , whilst in mourning for her father , $ he became a wife— * j * r . seventeen a mother , tier hi-. tory is
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now soon told . Her life is what may be seen in the green-room of every provincial theatre . Her talents , were not adapted to the stage ; her figure wag little , her voice had lost its sweetness , and in particular she could not get the better of a timidity which made
her never feel at home upon the stage . She did not rise above very subordinate parts in the theatre ; and , during the greater portion of her career , she was an actress , not from choice , but necessity . She dressed her face with smiles , attd her person with finery , to enable her to still the clamorous
craving , and to clothe the nakedness of six poor children at home . To the wear arid tear of the first actor in all pares in a provincial theatre , Mr . Stan&evensV constitution , originally robust , fell a sacrifice . As his health , and perhaps his theatrical fame and his powers of entertaining decreased , his
family increased . A iong sickness destroyed his only means of helping his wife and children , and added to their embarrassments . The leasehold property , rhe gift of Lord Cholmondeley , had been disposed of . About two years ago death removed poor Standevens from the contemplation of poverty and
suffering , which he could not alleviate . It ought not to be omitted , that when separated from his -wife by sickness , whilst she followed , with part of he-r family , the fortunes of the company , this poor man ' s letters endeavoured to cheer and support her , and breathed unabated tenderness and affection for her
and her children . Mrs . S . endeavoured to retain her station on the sta ^ e , humble as it was , but in vain . On the expiration of her engagement , it could not be . renewed ; her strength was unequal , even to her subordinate parts ; the insidious disease to which she-fell a victim was
gradually undermining a constitution naturally delicate , and her spirit was completely broken . On foot , with her children , in rags and wretchedness , she travelled from Tidswell , in Derbyshire , in search of her husband ' s parish . About a year ago , whilst on this route , she arrived at Halifax , and entering at night , without any previous intimation , the house of a distant female relation of
hC $ 4 husband , threw herself and her children upon her protection . But the ciicumstances of this relative were entirely unequal to such a call : she bad for many years taken care ? of and edu-
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Obituary . 91
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1810, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2401/page/43/
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