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A DRAMATIC CRITIC some practiced for effect, some mere pro- ducts of misunderstanding, we had endured at the hands and lips of many noted ac- tresses. A large style here, suited to Shakespeare's large scheme ! A style, that is to say, which takes into account, at every moment, not only the text by itself, but the text as it is related to all the other texts, and to the Juliet revealed by them in her many aspects and in her total definite per- sonality. Not a studied, self-conscious Juliet, not a Juliet adorned with foreign excrescences, not a babyish, lachrymosal Juliet, but Shakespeare's own true love- taught heroine. Illustrations of her strong judgment, and of its cooperation with her delicate intuition, might be indefinitely multiplied: I cite only one other, which relates to a passage that crucially tests both the fineness and the strength of an actress's artist eyesight. In the first act of As You Like It, Miss Neilson's treatment of Rosalind's conclud- C 164 ]
ADELAIDE NEILSON ing interview with Orlando was ideally expressive: the words, "Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown more than your enemies," were made to carry just as far as they ought, and no farther, — winging their message of incipient love to the young man's faithful ear, bravely, modestly, gravely, without smile or sim- per, it might fairly be said without a hint of coquetr3\ It happened that Miss Neilson played at no time in Boston any other than Shake- spearean characters, confining herself, dur- ing her early engagement, to Rosalind and Juliet. At her season here in February, 1880, she added to her record with imper- sonations of Viola and Imogen, presenting Cymbeline on the 23d of that month, for the first time here within twenty-four years. She returned to Boston for one week, two months later in the same year, and on the night of the 19th of April appeared as Isabella, in Measure for Measure, which [ 165 ]
- Page 139 and 140: CHARLES FECHTER man, treasure, pabu
- Page 141 and 142: CHARLES FECHTER clouds, where Shake
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- Page 145 and 146: CHARLES FECHTER Glavis, there was a
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- Page 151 and 152: THERE is XV Edwin Booth no occasion
- Page 155 and 156: EDWIN BOOTH A famous nomen I called
- Page 157 and 158: EDWIN BOOTH creations, because of t
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- Page 161 and 162: EDWIN BOOTH gance and distinction o
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- Page 167 and 168: TOMMASO SALVINI combination tolerab
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- Page 171 and 172: TOMMASO SALVINI ing Shakespeare and
- Page 173 and 174: TOMMASO SALVINI of rare delicacy be
- Page 175 and 176: TOMMASO SALVINI interpretation of K
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- Page 183 and 184: XVII Adelaide Neilson NO player in
- Page 187 and 188: ADELAIDE NEILSON failing health, sh
- Page 189: ADELAIDE NEILSON to be much remembe
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- Page 195 and 196: ADELAIDE NEILSON remember the beaut
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- Page 199 and 200: XVIII Memorable Experiences of Sing
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- Page 203 and 204: MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES mon touch as
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- Page 211 and 212: XIX An American Theatre Privately E
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- Page 217 and 218: AN ENDOWED THEATRE direction. I saw
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- Page 223 and 224: HENRY IRVING against any lively dis
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A DRAMATIC CRITIC<br />
some practiced for effect, some mere pro-<br />
ducts of misunderstanding, we had endured<br />
at the hands and lips of many noted ac-<br />
tresses. A large style here, suited to Shakespeare's<br />
large scheme ! A style, that is to<br />
say, which takes into account, at every<br />
moment, not only the text by itself, but the<br />
text as it is related to all the other texts,<br />
and to the Juliet revealed by them in her<br />
many aspects and in her total definite per-<br />
sonality. Not a studied, self-conscious<br />
Juliet, not a Juliet adorned with foreign<br />
excrescences, not a babyish, lachrymosal<br />
Juliet, but Shakespeare's own true love-<br />
taught heroine. Illustrations of her strong<br />
judgment, and of its cooperation with her<br />
delicate intuition, might be indefinitely<br />
multiplied: I cite only one other, which<br />
relates to a passage that crucially tests<br />
both the fineness and the strength of an<br />
actress's artist eyesight.<br />
In the first act of As You Like It, Miss<br />
Neilson's treatment of Rosalind's conclud-<br />
C 164 ]
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