LIVING MUSICIANS.

299

beauty, her tall and graceful figure, her fine eyes, her ample golden hair, her fresh and pure complexion; but they perceived that she was not of the stuff of which great actresses are made. A courageous and determined woman, she would not abandon the career on which she had entered. If she could not triumph through genius, could she not win a moderate renown by application? She and her husband, therefore, walked abroad —uphill and along the sea-shore-reciting their parts, and studying attitude, gesture, expression. She took every opportunity, moreover, of storing her mind with knowledge, and eagerly devoured the books that came in her way. With unwearied industry she studied and performed a wide range of characters; from Imogene in Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" to Fanny in Garrick's "Clandestine Marriage." In 1779 she lost her husband and found herself a widow at twenty-six. Her beauty and celebrity attracted many suitors, but she never married again. She still continued on the stage, and in 1784 began to write for it. Her first comedy, "I'll Tell You What," was produced at the Haymarket, and met with a favourable reception. Three years later she gave to the public a much better play in "Such Things Are," and various dramatic compositions sprang from her active and fertile pen. But her claim to a place in English literature rests on her two novels of " A Simple Story" and "Nature and Art."

In our own day, woman in the world of art maintains a conspicuous and honoured position. Among musical composers the names of Virginia Gabriel and Elizabeth Philp must always be named with respect. Miss Arabella Goddard (Mrs. Davison) and Madame Clara Schumann are equal as pianistes to a Bülow or a Benedict. Mrs. Beesley and Agnes Zimmermann cannot be placed far below them; while, as a violinist, Madame Norman-Neruda is unapproached and unapproachable, challenging the laurel with a Paganini, a Sivori, or an Ernst. On the lyric stage, the late Madame Tietjens (or Titiens) wore with dignity the mantle that had descended from Pasta to Grisi. Madame Adelina Patti, an admirable actress as well as a great singer, charms her audiences by the spontaneity of her melodious voice and the freshness of her style. Then, as Goethe's, or rather Gounod's Marguerite, who can vie with the Swedish prima donna, Madame Nilsson, who seems to have taken up the traditions of Jenny Lind? In the

300

A GROUP OF FRENCH ACTRESSES.

graver and more tragic characters of opera, Madame Pappenheim seems to have succeeded as of right to Madame Titiens, while, in their various styles, Etelka Gerster, Marie Rose, and Clara Louise Kellogg command and deserve the suffrages of musicians. As contraltos, Madame Trebelli-Bettini, with her glorious voice, her perfect manner, and her rare artistic feeling, and Mademoiselle Scalchi, inferior only to one who has no living equal, console us for the "great departed." A finished artist, with a fine contralto organ, is Madame Démeric-Lablache. Mrs. Alfred Shaw, Miss Maria Hawes, and Madame Sainton-Dolby have passed from the scene of their glories, but they belonged to the Victorian era, and did honour to the English school. Supreme in oratorios, and almost equal to Madame Trebelli as a lyric artist, Madame Patey's exquisite contralto voice, the gift of nature, and finished style, the result of culture, have won her a wide and enduring popularity. As lyrist sopranos, accomplished, cultivated, and conscientious, we may name and commend Madame Lemmons-Sherrington, Miss Rose Hersee, and Miss Blanche Cole.

In the dramatic world a throng of admirable and illustrious actresses pass en revue, to vindicate the intellectual dignity of their sex. The fame of a Madame Ristori, a Miss Glyn, a Helen Faucit, or a Mrs. Stirling still lingers among us; their names will be written on the same scroll of honour as those of a Rachel, a Mars, a Champmesle, a Barry, a Woffington. Meanwhile the world pays its homage to the stars that are still above the horizon. Sarah Bernhardt, the leader of the celebrated Comédie Française, is the acknowledged successor of Rachel, and in the “Phèdre” of Racine and the "Doña Sol” of Victor Hugo has full command over our tears. Take her all in all, she claims attention as a remarkably versatile and aggressive genius; with abundant enthusiasm, but too little moral courage; with the boldness and brilliancy of a daring intellect, but too little of the divine patience of wisdom. Then there is Sophie Croizette, the brightest star of Parisian comedy, but happier in the productions of the younger Dumas than in the creations of Molière; a woman of action, diligence, and tenacity, with more of the ingenuity of culture than of the inspiration of genius. Foremost in the second rank stand Jeanne Samary, Dinah Felix, and Madeline Brohan. Mrs. Kendal, on the English stage, claims our admiration by the grace and delicacy of her comedy. She is the one living repre

A GROUP OF ENGLISH ACTRESSES.

301

sentative of Goldsmith's and Sheridan's heroines, and, what is better, she is the best Rosalind - Shakespeare's Rosalind, in all her grace, vivacity, and courage the Rosalind who was at once the peerless lady of her father's court, and the bright sylvan beauty of the Forest of Arden. Mrs. Bancroft once gave distinction to burlesque, and now gives the same distinction to comedy. She has made the heroines of T. W. Robertson's present-day dramatic romances her own, and in all her impersonations exhibits the nicest attention to details. Ellen Terry, the ideal Ophelia—to whom a Hamlet might well lose his heart-and the perfect embodiment of the tender Olivia, is the most spirituelle (to use a significant French word) of English actresses. Her domain is more particularly that wide undefined province which lies between the realms of comedy and tragedy. She excels in pathos rather than passion, in sensibility rather than sentiment. Finally, we must bring together in a sentence the names of Adelaide Neilson, the most picturesque and emotional of living actresses; Genevieve Ward, who displays considerable tragic power, with a fine artistic style; Ellen Wallis, who seems bent upon assuming the crown of a Mrs. Oldfield; and Rose Leclercq, who depicts with force and truth the stronger feminine natures, while in comedy her delicacy and finish are very noticeable.

The English stage has reason to be proud of Mrs. Charles Kean, the "Miss Ellen Tree" of an earlier generation, whose long artistic career, begun in 1825, terminated in 1868 on the death of her husband. In such characters as Shakespeare's Rosalind and Viola, Byron's Myrrha, Sheridan Knowles's Mariana, she exhibited a grace, refinement, and pathos attainable only by a true if not very powerful genius. In "The Provoked Husband," "Love," "Ingomar," "The Wife's Secret," and "King René's Daughter," her acting was always distinguished by its emotional force.

It would be unpardonable if, in our review of women's achievements in the regions of art, we omitted to mention the graceful sculptures of Mrs. Thornycroft. The daughter of

Mr. John Francis, a sculptor of good repute, she was born in 1814. At a very early age her artistic predilections were manifested, and in her father's studio she spent her playhours in modelling figures in clay. So evident were her taste and skill, that her father refrained from attempting to check a natural bias. She adopted sculpture as a profession, and by

-Coventry Patmore.

now what a serious matter our life is; how o trifle it away without heed; what a wretched, eature one comes to be who does not as soon strength, as in stringing a stiff bow, to doing ore him."-John Sterling.

like all lives, this is a tragedy; high hopes, kening difficulties and impediments, ever-new t; and the result death, with conquests by no Carlyle.