of her
other characters."

_Daily News_, 3d September, 1883.

"It will be recollected that Mr. Irving, in his farewell speech at the
Lyceum Theater, on the 28th of July, made a point of bespeaking a kindly
welcome for Miss Mary Anderson on her appearance at his theater during his
absence, as the actress he alluded to was a lady whose beauty and talent
had made her the favorite of America, from Maine to California. It would
not perhaps be unfair to attribute to this cordial introduction something
of the special interest which was evidently aroused by Miss Anderson's
_debut_ here on Saturday night. English playgoers recognize but vaguely
the distinguishing characteristics of actors and actresses, whose fame has
been won wholly by their performances on the other side of the Atlantic.
It was therefore just as well that before Miss Anderson arrived some
definite claim as to her pretensions should be authoritatively put
forward. These would, it must be confessed, have been liable to
misconception if they had been judged solely by her first performance on
the London stage. 'Ingomar' is not a play, and Parthenia is certainly not
a character, calculated to call forth the higher powers of an ambitious
actress. As a matter of fact, Miss Anderson, who began her histrion career
at an early age, and is even now of extremely youthful appearance, has had
plenty of experience and success in _roles_ of much more difficulty, and
much wider possibilities. Her modest enterprise on Saturday night was
quite as successful as could have been anticipated. There is not enough
human reality about Parthenia to allow her representative to interest very
deeply the sympathy of her hearers. There is not enough poetry in the
drama to enable the actress to mar our imagination by calling her own into
play. What Miss Anderson could achieve was this: she was able in the first
place to prove, by the aid of the Massilian maiden's becoming, yet
exacting attire, that her personal advantages have been by no means
overrated. Her features regular yet full of expression, her figure slight
but not spare, the pose of her small and graceful head, all these,
together with a girlish prettiness of manner, and a singularly refined
bearing, are quite enough to account for at least one of the phases of
Miss Anderson's popularity. Her voice is not wanting in melody of a
certain kind, though its tones lack variety. Her accent is slight, and
seldom unpleasant. Of her elocut