t impersonators of these parts who
are familiar to the stage. We will not anticipate the verdict of the
public, but of this much we are assured that rarely can Shakespeare's
favorite heroine have been represented by so much youth, and grace, and
beauty, and genuine artistic ability combined. Juliet was her first part,
and has always been, regarded by Mary Anderson with the affection due to a
first love. But it may not be generally known that she imagines her
_forte_ to lie rather in the exhibition of the stormier passions, and that
she succeeds better in parts like Lady Macbeth or Meg Merrilies. I
remember her once saying to me, as she raised her beautiful figure to its
full height, and stretched her hand to the ceiling, "I am always at my
best when I am uttering maledictions." Thus far, Mary Anderson has shown
herself to us in characters which must give a very incomplete estimate of
her powers. None indeed of the parts she assumed were adapted to bring out
the highest qualities of an artist. That she has succeeded in inspiring
the freshness and glow of life into plays, some of which, at least, were
supposed to be consigned almost to the limbo of disused stage properties,
stamps her as possessing genuine histrionic power. She has earned
distinguished fame all over the Western continent. London as well as the
great cities of the kingdom have hailed her as a Queen of the Stage. Such
an experience as hers is rare indeed, almost solitary, in its annals. A
self-trained girl, born quite out of the circle or influence of stage
associations, she burst, when but sixteen, as a star on the theatrical
horizon; and if her grace, her youth, her beauty, have helped her in the
upward flight, they have helped alone, and could not have atoned for the
want of that divine spark, which is the birthright of the artist who makes
a mark upon his generation and his time. When the more recent history of
the English-speaking stage shall once again be written, we do not doubt
that Mary Anderson will take her fitting place, side by side with the many
great artists who have so adorned it in the last half century; with
Charlotte Cushman, Helen Faucit, and Fanny Stirling, who represent its
earlier glories; with Mrs. Kendal, Mrs. Bancroft, and Ellen Terry, whose
names are interwoven with the triumphs of later years.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ANDERSON***

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