error, was the invention of the actress: and from that moment to the
final exit she was the incarnation of abject fear. The situation is one
of the strongest that dramatic ingenuity has invented: the actress
invested it with a colouring of pathetic and awful truth.

XXII.

EDWARD S. WILLARD IN THE MIDDLEMAN AND JUDAH.

E.S. Willard accomplished his first appearance upon the American stage
(at Palmer's theatre, November 10, 1890), in the powerful play of _The
Middleman_, by Henry Arthur Jones. A representative audience welcomed
the modest and gentle stranger and the greeting that hailed him was that
of earnest respect. Willard had long been known and esteemed in New York
by the dramatic profession and by those persons who habitually observe
the changeful aspects of the contemporary stage on both sides of the
ocean; but to the American public his name had been comparatively
strange. The sentiment of kindness with which he was received deepened
into admiration as the night wore on, and before the last curtain fell
upon his performance of Cyrus Blenkarn he had gained an unequivocal and
auspicious victory. In no case has the first appearance of a new actor
been accompanied with a more brilliant exemplification of simple worth;
and in no case has its conquest of the public enthusiasm been more
decisive. Not the least impressive feature of the night was the steadily
increasing surprise of the audience as the performance proceeded. It was
the actor's way to build slowly, and at the opening of the piece the
poor inventor's blind ignorance of the calamity that is impending is
chiefly trusted to create essential sympathy. Through those moments of
approaching sorrow the sweet unconsciousness of the loving father was
expressed by Willard with touching truth. In this he astonished even as
much as he pleased his auditors; for they were not expecting it.

One of the most exquisite enjoyments provided by the stage is the advent
of a new actor who is not only new but good. It is the pleasure of
discovery. It is the pleasure of contact with a rich mind hitherto
unexplored. The personal appearance, the power of the eye, the variety
of the facial expression, the tones of the voice, the carriage of the
person, the salient attributes of the individual character, the altitude
of the intellectual development, the quality of the spirit, the extent
and the nature of those artistic faculties and resources that constitute
the professiona