Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable/Siddons (Mrs.)

by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Siddons (Mrs.). Sidney Smith says it was never without awe that he saw this tragedy queen stab the potatoes; and Sir Walter Scott tells us, while she was dining at Ashestiel, he heard her declaim to the footman, "You've brought me water, boy! I asked for beer."