a
 
 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCHES
 
 MllS. BLACK
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 PEN, PENCIL, BATON 
 AND MASK 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 BY 
 
 HELEN C. BLACK 
 
 AUTHOK OF ' NOTABLE WOMEN AUTHORS OF THE DAY : 
 ' TWO WOMEN'S TRAMP IN SOUTH AFRICA ' ETC. 
 
 WITH SIX PORTRAITS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE & CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, E.G. 
 
 AND 54 GRACECHURCH STREET 
 
 1896 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 C 
 
 f TT>T> A T>-y 
 
 T~Y OV r. , 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 TO 
 LADY BARNEY 
 
 WITH MUCH AFFECTION
 
 NOTE 
 
 EIGHTEEN of the following biographical sketches have 
 not hitherto been published. Of the remainder, many 
 ran as a series in ' Lloyd's Weekly ' under the title of 
 ' Half Hours with Celebrities ' ; some few have appeared 
 in ' The World ' ; portions of two, respectively, in 
 ' Black and White ' and in ' The Sketch ' ; ' The Queen,' 
 ' St. Paul's ' ; while two were written for ' The National 
 Press Agency.' These are now republished, with the 
 respective Editors' kind permission, and are revised, 
 corrected, and brought up to date. 
 
 HELEN C. BLACK.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BARNEY 1 
 
 MARIE CORELLI 6 
 
 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I 12 
 
 ELLEN TERRY 18 
 
 W. E. NOREIS 23 
 
 CARLOTTA ADDISON (MRS. LA TROBE) 34 
 
 SIR HENRY IRVING 41 
 
 MADAME ALBANI-GYE 46 
 
 GEORGE ALEXANDER . . 50 
 
 MRS. PARR 57 
 
 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS (54 
 
 SARAH GRAND 70 
 
 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 77 
 
 MRS. CROKER 83 
 
 GEORGE R. SIMS 02 
 
 KATE TERRY (MRS. ARTHUR LEWIS) OH 
 
 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 105 
 
 MRS. AMYOT 115 
 
 F. C. PHILIPS ... 1-27 
 
 SOPHIE LARKIN 134 
 
 FREDERIC COWEN 139 
 
 EMILY GERARD (MADAME DE LASZOWSKA) AND DOROTHEA 
 
 GERARD (MADAME LONGARD DE LONGARDE) . . . 144 
 
 WILLIAM TERRISS 1(52 
 
 MARION TERRY KM 
 
 THE REV. PROF. MOMERIE, M.A., D.Sc., LL.D 170 
 
 GENEVIEVE WARD (MADAME LA COMTESSE DE GUERBEL) 178 
 
 G. A. STOREY, A.R.A . . . 182
 
 x CONTENTS 
 
 PAGK 
 
 DORA RUSSELL 188 
 
 GEORGE GROSSMITH . . . ' 194 
 
 KATE PHILLIPS (MRS. H. B. CONWAY) 199 
 
 THE VERY REV. R. HERBERT STORY, D.D., LATE MODE- 
 RATOR OP THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 205 
 
 MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL . 213 
 
 HENRY BLACKBURN 216 
 
 MRS. L. T. MEADE .' 222 
 
 FRED TERRY AND MRS. FRED TERRY (JULIA NEILSON) . 229 
 
 KATE RORKE (MRS. GARDINER) 234 
 
 EDWARD TERRY 238 
 
 MARY MOORE (MRS. JAMES ALBERY) 243 
 
 CLIFFORD HARRISON 248 
 
 MISS LE THIERE 254 
 
 W. H. PREECE, C.B., F.R S 260 
 
 OLGA NETHERSOLE 268 
 
 JOSEPH HATTON 273 
 
 PHYLLIS BROUGHTON 283 
 
 FITZGERALD MOLLOY 287 
 
 GERTRUDE KINGSTON (MRS. SILVER) 294 
 
 THE REV. PROF. SHUTTLE WORTH 299 
 
 MISS FORTESCUE 306 
 
 TIVADAR NACHEZ 311 
 
 BEATRICE WHITBY (MRS. PHILIP HICKS) 316 
 
 ARTHUR A BECKETT 320 
 
 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 327 
 
 CICELY RICHARDS 333 
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN (MRS. BURNETT SMITH) 338 
 
 TRISTRAM ELLIS 345 
 
 MRS. KENT SPENDER 851 
 
 VIOLET VANBRUGH (MRS. ARTHUR BOURCHIER). . . . 357 
 
 EVELYN MILLARD 361 
 
 FANNY BROUGH . . 366
 
 LIST OF PORTRAITS 
 
 MRS. BLACK 
 
 SIR JOSEPH BARNEY 
 
 MADAME SARAH GRAND .... 
 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE, LL.D. . 
 MR. CLIFFORD HARRISON 
 MR. ARTHUR A BECKETT . 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 To face p. I 
 70 
 
 170 
 
 248 
 
 820
 
 S1E JOSEPH BARNEY
 
 SIB JOSEPH BARNEY 1 
 
 IF there be one thing more remarkable than another 
 outside the musical gifts of the distinguished oratorio- 
 leader and composer, Sir Joseph Barnby, it is his absolute 
 hatred of humbug, his gentle, genuine nature, and his 
 simplicity of character. The same atmosphere is obser- 
 vable throughout the family, from your gracious hostess 
 herself to the three children of the house a bright, 
 friendly pair of Westminster scholars, and a sweet young 
 maiden just at the age where ' the brook and river meet.' 
 The air is full of winning cordiality and kindness in this 
 home of harmony and of love, for Lady Barnby has the 
 happy knack of bringing people together, and of impress- 
 ing her charming and vivid personality on them, and the 
 young people have imbibed the unconscious influence of 
 their parents, and are natural and unaffected as heart 
 could wish. 
 
 Sir Joseph Barnby was born at York, and is the 
 youngest of fifteen children a circumstance which 
 naturally caused his father to be a poor man. 'But 
 remarkable in his way and a perfect dear,' says his gifted 
 son. From both sides he inherited musical talents, and 
 it is on record that the Sheriff of York's sister well re- 
 membered the infant Joseph standing on her knee and 
 at the early age of two years singing, in true if lisping 
 accents, the anthem ' Lord of all power and might,' 
 though Sir Joseph laughingly declares that, with six elder 
 brothers choristers at the Minster, he was so steeped in 
 music that the achievement was not half so wonderful as 
 
 1 Since the serial publication of this sketch, the death of the much- 
 beloved musician has taken place. 
 
 B
 
 2 SIR JOSEPH BARNEY 
 
 it looks. At the age of eight he too took his place in 
 the choir, and before he was fifteen he held an organ in 
 a church, while during his holidays every spare moment 
 was spent in reading. ' I was an omnivorous reader,' he 
 remarks, ' and was so wrapped up in my books that I 
 used to forget meals. Architecture ran music close, and 
 has ever been a passion with me.' When the young 
 chorister's voice was no longer suitable he gave lessons 
 for a year, and then in family council it was decided 
 that he should be sent to the Royal Academy of Music, 
 where, being saturated with the compositions of old Church 
 masters, he got to the head of the class in his first term. 
 He remained a few years at the Academy, and the end of 
 his career there was marked by what he calls ' a failure,' 
 though it was one that tended to his own credit. It was 
 the first time the Mendelssohn scholarship, founded by 
 Jenny Lind, who collected between two and three thousand 
 pounds for the purpose, was put up for competition. 
 Among the thirty-nine candidates were Arthur Sullivan 
 and himself. These two came out at the top, and ran a 
 dead heat, so it had to be tried for again. ' Sullivan got 
 it,' says Sir Joseph, ' and very justly. I do not know any 
 composer whose works have given me more pleasure. I 
 look on him as the greatest that England has ever produced, 
 and she may well be proud of him.' About this time the 
 young musician was summoned to York to relieve his 
 brother, who was doing a large musical practice in his 
 native town, but a few weeks' experience were sufficient 
 to show him that his thirst for knowledge could never be 
 satisfied in that city, or obtained in the volume that he 
 desired. Curbing his ambition, however, for a time, he 
 made a home for his father and sister, which had a 
 steadying effect, and when the beloved and honoured 
 father passed away suddenly and, a year later, his sister 
 married, he felt free to soar. ' I wrote to my brother,' 
 says Sir Joseph, reflectively, ' and said I would go to 
 London if he could find me a post at SQL a year. He
 
 SIR JOSEPH BARNEY 3 
 
 found one at the exact sum as organist of St. Michael's, 
 Queenhithe. I had not enjoyed that princely income 
 more than three months before I was offered a new 
 appointment with an additional 10Z. at St. James the 
 Less, which you can almost see from this window. I had 
 never contemplated much success, but,' he adds softly, 
 after a pause, ' in going through life I have been uniformly 
 lucky.' After a period of ten months the first great 
 opening came. The young musician was appointed 
 organist and director of the choir at St. Andrew's, Wells 
 Street, where he worked a complete reformation. Hitherto 
 the music in churches had been of the antiquarian type, 
 while its performance was often discreditable ; indeed, 
 Sir Joseph remembers on his first visit to St. Paul's 
 Cathedral only two choirmen were present, both altos, and 
 one of these was an old man who evidently thought him- 
 self one too many, as he sat down and took no part in the 
 service. But another state of things was speedily brought 
 about. Gathering around him good men, among whom 
 was Edward Lloyd, who remained with him for four 
 years, the new organist and director introduced Gounod's 
 sacred music for the first time with orchestral instruments. 
 Just about that time he received an offer from Messrs. 
 Novello to act as their musical adviser, and these two 
 events enabled him to begin the development of modern 
 cathedral music, for which the world owes him a deep 
 debt of gratitude. In a year or two, at the suggestion of 
 the Novellos, and with their assistance, he organised the 
 famous Barnby choir, and began a series of concerts every 
 year at St. James's Hall. Sims Beeves, who had sung at 
 some of them, pressed the idea of turning it into an 
 oratorio choir, and so began that wonderful series of 
 oratorio concerts that became known all over the country. 
 In one evening alone Beethoven's ninth Choral Symphony 
 and the great ' Mass in D ' were given, and in the same 
 series Sir Joseph Barnby resuscitated the ' Great Passion ' 
 of Bach, together with innumerable other works. As time 
 
 it 2
 
 4 SIR JOSEPH BARNEY 
 
 went on the indefatigable leader found that his engage- 
 ments were considerably interfered with by three heavy 
 services on Sundays and two on week-days, and he ex- 
 changed St. Andrew's for St. Anne's, Soho. 
 
 It was at Westminster Abbey that Sir Joseph Barnby 
 first started the series of Passion services that, later, he 
 inaugurated with full orchestra every Friday during Lent 
 at St. Anne's, the fame of which spread all over the land. 
 Going to Dean Stanley, he obtained his sanction for 
 special services on Tuesday in Holy Week, whereat the 
 ' Great Passion ' of Bach should form a meditative service. 
 Those who were present can never forget the impressive 
 and thrilling nature of that performance. Sir Joseph got 
 together a surpliced orchestra and chorus of five hundred 
 people, who assembled in the semi-darkness of the tran- 
 septs. As soon as the great organ pealed out, the proces- 
 sion moved along, carrying their instruments, and appeared 
 to the crowded congregation who were assembled in the 
 nave, in the broad glare of gaslight under the organ 
 screen. Jenny Lind, who was present, remarked to Sir 
 Joseph that she had never been more affected in all her 
 life. His whole soul is in the orchestra. Unlike the 
 organ, where each stop is of wood or metal, he regards 
 each stop as an immortal soul in orchestra, and with his 
 great choir, composed chiefly of persons of strong indivi- 
 duality, he welds them into one harmonious whole with 
 the utmost subtlety of mind and sympathy. ' It is not/ 
 he explains, ' like a general who orders his men in a certain 
 direction. You make them think with you identify 
 themselves with you.' 
 
 In 1870 the Franco-Prussian war sent Gounod to these 
 shores, just about the time the Albert Hall was completed. 
 The opportunity was hailed to raise a great choir, of which 
 Gounod was conductor for eighteen months. When he 
 returned to Paris, and it became necessary to seek for a 
 successor, Sir Joseph Barnby was unanimously elected to 
 the conductorship of the Albert Hall Choral Society.
 
 SIR JOSEPH BARNEY 5 
 
 After two or three years of successful work in conjunction 
 with this society, he was offered the exceedingly lucrative 
 post of Precentor and Director of Musical Education at 
 Eton, and as this was not to interfere with his work at St. 
 Anne's, or with the conductorship at the Albert Hall 
 where he has introduced more new works of a large 
 calibre to London audiences than any man living he 
 found it possible to accept the offer, and carried on his 
 Eton work for seventeen years. In addition to these 
 duties he has conducted at most of the State receptions 
 of the Shah twice, after an interval of eighteen years of 
 the Czar, of the Emperor of Germany, and also at the 
 opening of the Fisheries and Colonial Exhibitions, &c. 
 In 1892 a vacancy occurred in the principalship of the 
 Guildhall School of Music, and Sir Joseph, feeling a strong 
 desire to enter once more into the fierce fight of metropo- 
 litan life, accepted the appointment, although it entailed 
 the serious loss of half his income. It is characteristic of 
 the unselfish nature of the man, who had done all that he 
 could do, and who felt that the power of doing good in 
 such a position would be gigantic, to let no such mundane 
 considerations stand in the way. He had scarcely accepted 
 the post when he received an intimation from Lord Salis- 
 bury that the Queen had notified her desire that he should 
 receive the well-merited reward of knighthood. As a com- 
 poser Sir Joseph Barnby has contributed largely to the 
 world of music. Among many works are his oratorio 
 4 Rebekah,' his motett ' King all Glorious,' the cantata 
 ' Psalm xcvii.' composed for the Leeds Festival, together 
 with hundreds of anthems, part-songs, services, trios and 
 chants. Indeed, hard work, ' the genius of industry,' may 
 be said to be the keynote of his existence. 
 
 Alike in private life and as a conductor, Sir Joseph 
 Barnby possesses a personal magnetism that draws all 
 hearts towards him. Souvenirs of the esteem and affec- 
 tion in which he is held abound on all sides of Lady 
 Barnby's drawing-rooms. Albums in handsome "Russia
 
 leather bindings, with inscriptions and autographs illu- 
 minated by hand in gold, red, and blue one from his 
 ' German admirers in London, in grateful remembrance of 
 his " Parsifal " concerts at the Eoyal Albert Hall ' ; another 
 from the E.C.E.V. band at Eton, with a silver salver, a 
 gift of the Musical Society ; a massive silver tray from 
 the entire staff of the Professors of the Guildhall School ; 
 a silver casket from the Cardiff Musical Festival com- 
 mittee, and innumerable other offerings. Lady Barnby 
 mentions, with tender pride, the marriage gift presented 
 to Sir Joseph, a dessert-service of gold dishes and silver 
 candelabra and candlesticks from the Royal Choral Society, 
 Albert Hall, to which they added a tea and coffee service 
 ' for his wife,' which she has used every day since. Then 
 there are a great four-handled Eton loving cup, a silver- 
 gilt rosewater dish from the choir of St. Anne's ; the 
 beautiful old punch bowls, gifts from Sir Arthur Sullivan 
 and the students of the Royal Academy of Music, and silver 
 cigar and cigarette cases galore. 
 
 But amidst all these outward tokens of affectionate 
 appreciation the noble-hearted wife and devoted children 
 have a deeper joy and pride in the knowledge of what 
 Sir Joseph Barnby has done for the world in elevating 
 and refining the soul of the public by work that will never 
 die. 
 
 MAEIE COEELLI 
 
 IT is an open secret that Miss Marie Corelli has the 
 strongest objection to being ' interviewed,' and has never 
 even availed herself of the oft-repeated invitation to ' sit 
 for her photograph.' In the circumstances, therefore, the 
 reminiscences of sundry hours spent in her company, to- 
 gether with a subsequent conversation during a journey 
 with a group of people who as yet know her not, save 
 through her writings, may convey some idea, not only of
 
 MARIE CORELLI 7 
 
 the personality, but also of the character of the gifted 
 young author. 
 
 Reminiscences first. A chance meeting and a grace- 
 ful act of courtesy on her part began what has since deve- 
 loped into a firm friendship. Some few years ago, there 
 happened to be a particularly brilliant meeting of the 
 popular Salon of Science, Literature, and Art. The 
 rooms were filling fast, and the whole assembly thronged 
 in to listen to a recitation by a clever American humourist. 
 Gently urged on by the stream, I found myself standing 
 near a large divan, already well filled by guests. Among 
 them sat a little fair girl, robed in white silk, with a ribbon 
 of the same colour round her abundant golden-brown 
 hair. She looked so youthful as almost to suggest the 
 idea that she could hardly yet be ' out.' Catching her 
 eye, she smiled, and with a baby hand made a gesture to 
 indicate that space could be made for me. No word was 
 spoken until the recitation was concluded, and then, on 
 thanking her cordially, a brief conversation on music 
 ensued, which at once convinced me that here was no 
 ordinary individual. Gliding on from one subject to 
 another, the talk presently turned on the people around, 
 and, having previously heard that Miss Corelli was 
 expected to be present, I asked my companion if she 
 knew her by sight. ' Yes,' said the young lady, demurely, 
 
 ' I may say that I know her fairly well, and ' But 
 
 before the sentence was finished, a friend had claimed her 
 attention and pronounced her name. Then, giving me a 
 little mischievous bow and an arch smile, she was borne 
 away to the refreshment room. And as time went on, 
 many more meetings came about, and, bit by bit, the 
 young author's personality, surroundings, and writings 
 became more and more familiar, and enabled me, without 
 betraying any confidence, to enlighten the group of people 
 aforementioned upon many points. 
 
 But a few days ago a journey had to be made to Hants 
 on business. Arriving somewhat late at Waterloo, the
 
 carriages were nearly all full, and while I was hurriedly 
 seeking for a place, a head was popped out at the window 
 of a compartment, and I was bidden by a friendly voice to 
 take a vacant seat therein. The voice proceeded from a 
 bride, who, with her husband, was returning from a three 
 months' honeymoon tour. Glancing round, it was pleasant 
 to note that the two remaining passengers were also not 
 strangers. One was an eminent divine, distinguished no 
 less for his eloquence in the pulpit than for his genial 
 
 nature. The other was Sister , a lady of renowned 
 
 goodness and of ancient lineage. Amid cordial greetings 
 and desired introductions the train sped on its way, and 
 conversation soon became general. 
 
 ' I see you have our favourite book in your hand,' said 
 the bride ; ' we bought it in Paris, and all Marie Corelli's 
 other works in the Tauchnitz edition, and I am ashamed 
 to say we smuggled them over, and are having them 
 bound in morocco. Have you ever seen her ? and is it 
 true that she is very tall and stout, with prominent eyes, 
 and an incipient moustache ? ' But ere I could reply for 
 inward mirth, the clergyman remarked, in all good faith : 
 * I can tell you. She was pointed out to me in Eome, on 
 the Prado, two years ago. She is a majestic and massive 
 woman, with black hair, bound tightly round her head, 
 dark eyes, a deep, contralto voice, and commanding pre- 
 sence. I was discussing her once with our mutual friend ' 
 turning to me 'the late Edmund Yates, and I re- 
 member that he said he always pictured her to himself in 
 classic draperies, with Greek symbols about her, and 
 sandals.' 
 
 But at this juncture the situation became too much 
 for my gravity, and a laugh was irresistible. ' For you are 
 all so wrong,' I exclaimed, ' so funnily and entirely wrong. 
 I know her personally have known her for years. She 
 is petite, and extremely fair, and her eyes are grey, and 
 deeply set, and her hair is soft and fluffy, and curls round 
 her head. Her voice, too, is sweet and silvery ; she is so
 
 MARIE CORELLI 9 
 
 bright and joyous in manner, and, besides, she was not in 
 Rome at all that year ! ' After various exclamations of 
 surprise from my fellow-travellers, the Sister observed, 
 with a smile : ' Well, as there is still nearly an hour before 
 we arrive, and we are all admirers of her books, pray tell 
 us all you can about her.' Musing awhile to collect my 
 thoughts, I began with the mention of the meeting at the 
 Salon, and continued thus : ' The motif of this work, 
 " Barabbas," now in its sixteenth edition, was actually 
 conceived when Marie Corelli was at her studies in a con- 
 vent. By nature mystical and profoundly religious, she 
 was even then vividly impressed by the beauty and the 
 reality of the services at the chapel, and used to long to 
 write down these impressions. The idea grew and 
 strengthened until it finally resulted in this impassioned 
 and intellectual work, which none can carefully read with- 
 out being struck by the powerful style of the young 
 author, the conscientious and earnest feeling, the reve- 
 rence for the subject, and the deeply poetic vein displayed 
 throughout.' 
 
 ' Quite true,' said the clergyman, ' I entirely agree with 
 you. Opinions may differ, always will differ, on every 
 subject under the sun, but, as Clement Scott lately observed, 
 the public taste is healthy not morbid, and that public 
 taste has given a verdict for Marie Corelli of which she has 
 every reason to be proud, but, pardon me, I interrupt you.' 
 
 ' Her works,' I resumed, ' have been more widely 
 translated than those of any living author, into Dutch, 
 Swedish, Russian, German, French, Modern Greek, and 
 Spanish. " Barabbas," indeed, can be found in Gujurathi, 
 and both that and "A Romance of Two Worlds" in 
 Hindustani. This of itself is sufficient to indicate the 
 popularity of her books, abroad as well as at home, where 
 they have all passed into many editions, and are as exten- 
 sively circulated now as when they were originally brought 
 out. Her letter-boxes and autograph-albums are treasures 
 that would tempt a collector to make raids on them, so
 
 io MARIE CORELLI 
 
 numerous are the letters from all parts of the world from 
 crowned heads, from distinguished statesmen, and so forth, 
 down to the working miners in Australia and in California, 
 who, reading her books, seem mysteriously constrained to 
 write to her with the plain address of " London, England," 
 simply to express their gratitude and admiration.' 
 
 ' From her writings,' remarked the bridegroom, himself 
 a ' double first ' Oxford man, ' it is manifest that Miss 
 Corelli must be well versed in all the classical authors, 
 living and dead, and is likewise a good linguist.' ' That 
 is so,' I replied, ' and her library is remarkable. The books 
 are so well worn, too. She delights in Plato, nearly knows 
 her Shakespeare by heart, and studies Dante and Goethe 
 in the original.' 
 
 '"Thelma," "A Eomance of Two Worlds," and 
 " Ardath," ' observed the bride, ' were first favourites for a 
 long time. My husband used to prefer "Vendetta" and 
 "Wormwood." But now we think that her latest book, 
 "The Sorrows of Satan," bids fair to run "Barabbas" 
 close in public favour. It is so vivid and realistic, and so 
 powerfully descriptive.' The Sister put in a word for 
 ' The Soul of Lilith,' but confessed that she ' could hardly 
 make a choice,' and added, after a pause, as she touched 
 the crucifix at her side, ' But she is of our faith, and 
 evidently a great student of the Bible, for she is so correct 
 in all her details.' 
 
 ' Yes ; that is absolutely true,' I answered, ' which 
 makes it the more remarkable that, quite lately, she was 
 accused of making a " Gospel according to Corelli," and of 
 inventing the two angels at the sepulchre on the Resur- 
 rection morn ! ' 
 
 ' Ah ! ' said the clergyman, quickly, with a smile, ' then 
 her accuser had not read his Gospel according to St. 
 John ' ; and, taking a little volume of Holy Writ from 
 his pocket, he read aloud the 20th chapter to the end of 
 the 12th verse, emphasising the words, ' Two angels in 
 white ! '
 
 MARIE CORELLI n 
 
 A silence followed, and then a question essentially 
 feminine was hesitatingly asked by the bride. 'And 
 her dress ? the Greek fillet, the sandals, the classical 
 draperies ? ' 
 
 ' All purely imaginary,' I said, ' as poor Mr. Yates 
 found out for himself during his last visit to Cannes, 
 where Miss Corelli and her party were staying at the same 
 hotel. They all became devoted friends, and enjoyed 
 many a laugh over his preconceived notions of her. She 
 dresses after the manner of ordinary mortals with a 
 difference. Possessed of highly cultivated artistic tastes, 
 alike observable in her surroundings and costumes, she 
 wears suitable as well as pretty clothes. The last time I 
 went to see her, she was clad in a tea-gown composed of 
 old gold-coloured silk, beautifully embroidered, and a 
 darker shade of golden-hued velvet made the train, which 
 became well the childish figure and fair young face. She 
 showed me, on her wrist, a unique bangle, a much-prized 
 birthday gift from two friends, on which was mounted in 
 classical design, according to an old drawing of the ancient 
 Egyptian era, a specially rare green scarabaeus, six 
 thousand years old, purposely procured from the museum 
 of royal scarabsei in Cairo. At my request she played to 
 me on a peculiarly sweet-toned mandolin with much skill 
 and expression. There were flowers grouped here and 
 there, and on the grand pianoforte stood a large autograph 
 picture of the Prince of Wales, his recent gift at Homburg.' 
 
 Time was speeding, and but five minutes remained ere 
 the train was to arrive at the station. Turning to the 
 Sister, who had been listening with rapt attention, I 
 remarked : ' There is a touching incident to relate, which 
 is not only interesting in itself but is highly indicative of 
 the deep feeling of reverence with which Marie Corelli 
 approached the task of writing " Barabbas : a Dream of 
 the World's Tragedy." Her desk was placed opposite a 
 picture after Guide's " Ecce Homo," under which a red 
 lamp burned continuously. A friend presented her with
 
 12 MARIE CORELLI 
 
 a gold penholder, set with a single pearl at the top. 
 With this pen alone, consecrated to the work, Marie 
 Corelli wrote, from the first word to the last, the book 
 which is now so famous.' 
 
 ' It is deeply interesting,' said the ecclesiastic, with a 
 hearty handshake, as the train glided in and the party 
 prepared to disperse. ' I, for one, can assure you I never 
 had a pleasanter journey in my life, and I shall look for- 
 ward to the honour of being introduced some day to the 
 scholarly and gifted young writer.' 
 
 8IE EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.L 
 
 POET, litterateur, journalist, traveller though he be, the 
 handsome flat wherein Sir Edwin Arnold finds a pied-a- 
 terre bears few indications of his eventful life or of his 
 long residence in India and wanderings over the Land of 
 the Kising Sun, whose people he learned to love so well. 
 A large square anteroom leads into what is naturally the 
 most interesting portion of his home the bright, cheerful 
 study so characteristic of the man. A tiny despatch-box 
 the companion of many journeys stands on a small 
 table, and is quite large enough for one who, with such 
 orderly, methodical habits, knows where to put his hand 
 on any paper required, and ' can write on the top of a hat 
 as well as anywhere else.' The bookcases contain only a 
 few relics of a once vast library, for Sir Edwin dislikes 
 accumulations, and considers that portable property is a 
 great nuisance. Wherefore he has twice dispersed his 
 books and household gods among his children, so as to be 
 free of effects ; nevertheless, there are some little posses- 
 sions of interest which he retains, ' only for the present,' 
 he remarks significantly. ' Those who see my flat know 
 I live elsewhere ; and though I make books I never keep 
 them.' Among the pictures on the walls there is one of
 
 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 13 
 
 the Emperor of Japan on horseback, another of Prince 
 Siddartha drawing the curtain over the couch of his 
 sleeping wife before he went forth on his act of renuncia- 
 tion, and a fine proof-before-letters engraving of Noel 
 Paton's ' Oberon and Titania.' There are plenty of deep, 
 comfortable lounging-chairs, presumably for the use of 
 his friends ; for Sir Edwin himself, with perfect physical 
 health, never knows what it is to be tired or to have had 
 even one headache, and attributes it to the fact that he 
 never frets, never hurries, and looks upon life as a fine 
 art, and that it is as reasonable to study to preserve a 
 healthy body for the soul as it is for a good soldier to keep 
 his scabbard in order for the useful blade. And yet in a 
 career so chequered, so full of incident, adventure, and 
 unceasing work, it can only be the bright, optimistic spirit 
 within that enables Sir Edwin Arnold to declare that, 
 having done everything, seen everything, known most 
 people, and had a vast experience of the world, he has a 
 contented mind, and that to him to-morrow is always 
 better than to-day. If asked when he is happiest, he 
 would say on the present occasion, and he works simply 
 because he loves work. Hence it is that his entourage is 
 of slight importance ; and though he laughingly assures 
 you that he feels somewhat as Dr. Johnson felt when 
 Boswell told him he was going to write his life, and could 
 almost answer in the same words, ' I will take your life if 
 you do,' he yields to your request for a few particulars of 
 his career, 'for auld acquaintance sake and a wish to please.' 
 A born poet and a student from childhood, Edwin 
 Arnold simply was weaned on books, and remembers well, 
 when he was five years old, his father, who always did 
 things on a large scale, sending up to his room a washing- 
 basket full of quartos and folios, among which those of 
 Dampier and La Perouse first fired his imagination with 
 a love of history, of geography, and of travel ; while Pope's 
 ' Iliad ' he would devour in bed, turning his shoulder to 
 the window to catch the last glimpses of the waning light.
 
 i 4 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 
 
 His schooldays were passed at King's School, Rochester, 
 and King's College, London ; after which he was elected 
 to a scholarship at University College, Oxford, where he 
 won the Newdigate prize for his English poem on ' The 
 Feast of Belshazzar,' and the following year was chosen 
 to give the Address to the Prime Minister, Lord Derby, 
 on the occasion of his being installed Chancellor of the 
 University. Leaving Oxford with high honours, he was 
 elected Second Master in the English Division of King 
 Edward VL's School at Birmingham, and later, turning 
 his footsteps towards the East, he was appointed Principal 
 of the Government Sanskrit College at Poona, and Fellow 
 of the Bombay University. The young Principal's quick 
 mastery of Oriental languages and keen insight into the 
 complex Oriental character, together with an innate tact 
 in dealing alike with the native princes, the heads of 
 departments, and the students, enabled him to be of con- 
 siderable use in educational affairs, and he was twice 
 thanked by the Governor in Council for his services. 
 Nor was he distinguished in official and social life only. 
 With the physical vigour and activity which do not 
 generally go with powerful intellects, he was an ardent 
 sportsman, and had many thrilling adventures while in 
 pursuit of ' big game ' and out pig-sticking. Neither was 
 his pen idle during those years. He contributed constantly 
 on subjects of natural history to various journals, and 
 poetry, as well as more abstruse subjects, also occupied 
 his attention. An early work of his was ' Education in 
 India ' a question in which he was deeply interested 
 followed by ' Griselda : a Drama,' and ' Poems, Narrative 
 and Lyrical ' ; after which followed ' The Euterpe of 
 Herodotus ' (which he translated from the Greek text, with 
 vocabulary in English, Sanskrit, and Marathi) and ' The 
 Book of Good Counsel ' a metrical translation of a cele- 
 brated Sanskrit classical work. Following these came a 
 history of the Administration of India under the late 
 Lord Dalhousie. Among other productions were ' The
 
 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 15 
 
 Poets of Greece,' ' Hero and Leander,' and ' The Indian 
 Song of Songs ' ; by-and-by the famous and delightful 
 epic poem upon the life and teaching of Buddha, ' The 
 Light of Asia,' charmed all the world, and passed through 
 more than sixty editions in England and eighty in 
 America. 
 
 Among some of Sir Edwin Arnold's earlier works, 
 which are as widely read to-day as when they were first 
 issued, are volumes respectively entitled ' Indian Poetry,' 
 1 In an Indian Temple,' ' The Song Celestial,' ' Poems 
 National and Non-Oriental,' ' The Secret of Death,' 
 ' Death and Afterwards,' and ' Pearls of the Faith, or 
 Islam's Eosary,' the ' Pearls ' being the ninety-nine beau- 
 tiful names of Allah (Asma-el-Husna), with comments in 
 verse from various Oriental sources. In later years he 
 has published ' Indian Idylls,' ' In My Lady's Praise,' 
 * Lotus and Jewel,' ' Potiphar's Wife and other Poems,' 
 ' Japonica,' &c. With ' The Light of Asia,' and ' With 
 Sadi in the Garden,' must be bracketed one of his most 
 successful works, ' The Light of the World,' which has 
 lately been reissued in an edition de luxe, profusely 
 illustrated with special designs by Mr. Holman Hunt, 
 and which is dedicated to the Queen. A late volume of 
 poetry is entitled ' The Tenth Muse,' which is ' Ephemera, 
 the Muse of Journalism,' and is dedicated by invitation to 
 the Duchess of York. In prose, two deeply interesting 
 books have a fascination of their own, called ' Seas and 
 Lands ' and ' India Kevisited.' He has also written a 
 play in four acts, entitled ' Adzuma, or the Japanese Wife,' 
 and a prose work, ' East and West.' 
 
 Sir Edwin Arnold's foreign Orders alone are a collection 
 of curiosities. ' The Light of Asia ' brought him the 
 decoration of the White Elephant from the King of Siam ; 
 the Order of the Lion and the Sun came from the Shah 
 of Persia on the production of another fascinating volume, 
 4 With Sadi in the Garden ; or, the Book of Love,' a poem 
 founded on a single chapter of the work of the Persian
 
 16 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 
 
 poet, Sadi. In later years, during his visit to Japan, the 
 Emperor conferred on him the Order of the Kising Sun, 
 which carries with it the dignity of Qhokunin of the 
 Empire ; not to speak of the Imperial Order of the 
 Medjidieh from the Sultan, and the Imperial Order of 
 Osmanieh. The decoration of Companion of the Star of 
 India he received on the occasion of the proclamation of 
 the Queen as Empress of India ; and eleven years after 
 he was created Knight Commander of the Indian Empire. 
 He is likewise a Fellow of the Eoyal Asiatic and other 
 societies, and Honorary Correspondent of the Geographical 
 Society of Marseilles. 
 
 In 1861, when peace was restored, Sir Edwin Arnold 
 quitted India for a brief rest after the harassing fatigues 
 and anxieties of the Mutiny, and returned to England. 
 It was then that his long and close connection with the 
 ' Daily Telegraph ' began, almost, it may be said, by acci- 
 dent. He paints in vivid word pictures how he was sitting 
 alone in a punt in one of the most picturesque nooks of 
 the river Dart, with fishing-rod in hand, basking in the 
 quiet sunshine, with a copy of the paper beside him. 
 His eye lighted on an advertisement in the journal for a 
 leader-writer, and in a moment the current of his thoughts 
 was changed. Should he or should he not answer it? 
 On the one hand, he must resign the freedom of his official 
 position, and give up his beloved India ; on the other, a 
 residence in London, but the companionship of his children. 
 It was a momentous question. Slowly and deliberately 
 Edwin Arnold weighed the merits of each course, with 
 the result that he decided to apply for the post, to resign 
 his appointments abroad, and to cast in his lot with the 
 new mission of the popular press. It was a great change 
 to one who had been practically his own master in the 
 luxurious Eastern world, whether in the bustle of official 
 position or in the solitude of the jungle, to consign himself 
 to a town life and to the directorship of others. The 
 brilliant young leader-writer soon found himself at home
 
 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 17 
 
 and happy in Fleet Street with congenial spirits, and ran 
 up the scale so rapidly that it was not long before he 
 joined the editorial staff. From that never-to-be-forgotten 
 summer day in the punt to the present, he has contributed 
 between nine and ten thousand leading articles to the 
 columns of the ' Daily Telegraph,' besides a long series of 
 letters written during his residence in Japan, and when 
 India was 'revisited.' He describes in characteristic 
 words the fascination the Japanese people have for him. 
 ' They are so polite, cheerful, and clean,' he says, ' so 
 simple in mode of life. They love old people, they respect 
 their fathers and mothers, and are free from avarice.' 
 
 It was Sir Edwin Arnold who suggested to the pro- 
 prietors of the ' Daily Telegraph ' and who organised the 
 first expedition of Mr. George Smith to Assyria ; he was 
 also largely associated with the arrangements made on 
 both occasions for sending out Mr. H. M. Stanley by that 
 journal, in connection with the ' New York Herald,' to 
 follow up the work of David Livingstone, and he relates 
 an anecdote a propos of these expeditions. When Mr. 
 Stanley was consulting him about a code of laws to be 
 drawn up in dealing with the people, Sir Edwin suggested 
 that it should contain ' death to any man who killed an 
 elephant noble, useful animal for the sake of getting a 
 paper-knife made out of its tusks,' and, jokingly, death to 
 any one who called his own river and mountain in Africa 
 (the Edwin Arnold river, which runs up into the Congo, 
 and Mount Edwin Arnold, between Victoria and Albert 
 Nyanza) by any other names. That geographical im- 
 mortality has to be strictly defended is proved by the 
 recent conduct of the Intelligence Department of the War 
 Office, for in one of its late maps the name of Mount 
 Edwin Arnold had been omitted, and that of Lobaba 
 substituted an error that has since been corrected. 
 
 With a mind attuned to all that is lofty alike in ideas 
 and in aims and full of the imagery of poetry, Sir Edwin 
 Arnold possesses a peculiar simplicity of character, to-
 
 1 8 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 
 
 gether with a magnetic power of sympathy, and a detesta- 
 tion of all uncharitableness. His conversation is full, now 
 of sparkling anecdote, anon of thrilling pathos, as may 
 suit the subject, while the gentle, courteous manner has a 
 charm all its own. His brightness is infectious ; it seems 
 to brace and invigorate even the most depressed of those 
 with whom he comes in contact, and to cause them to 
 look upon life through his own rose-coloured glasses, as 
 he quotes, in low, earnest tones, from ' The Light of the 
 
 World ' : 
 
 ' Our worst of woes 
 
 Is like the foolish anguish of the babe, 
 Whereat the mother, loving most, smiles most.' 
 
 ELLEN TEEEY 
 
 IN her long white embroidered robes as Guinevere, Miss 
 Ellen Terry might pass for a girl of nineteen. Time deals 
 tenderly with the gifted artist. Would that it could be 
 made to stand still altogether with her as far as the public 
 is concerned, for there can never be a second Ellen Terry, 
 and her name, shining alone in its lustre, will be handed 
 down to generations of posterity. 
 
 But a little while ago you were at Mr. Johnston 
 Forbes Eobertson's (the Sir Lancelot of ' King Arthur '),. 
 and gazed for long at a lovely portrait of her on the wall. 
 She seemed to look down from her frame with a witching 
 smile as you and the actor conversed about her, and 
 recalled one after another of her great histrionic triumphs. 
 Can it be possible that it was painted nearly twenty years 
 ago ? It might have been taken only the other day ; but 
 it is a fact that it was about that date exhibited at the 
 Boyal Academy, and was executed by the painter-actor 
 while in his teens. 
 
 And her voice ! The ' Terry ' voice ! It follows you 
 home through the fog and the frost, with its rich, musical
 
 ELLEN TERRY 19 
 
 cadence, its perfect and harmonious utterance, its clear, 
 bell-like notes, its tones of pathos and unutterable feeling. 
 And the tears that tremble unshed in the blue eyes in the 
 strongly emotional scenes anon a happy, girlish laugh ! 
 Who does not know it all, and love her for it ? There is 
 something so delicious, too, in her underlying sense of 
 humour and her keen appreciation of fun. Quite lately 
 a most comical little incident occurred, which, though 
 simple in itself, was strongly provocative of mirth. She 
 had driven herself in her pony cart to her cottage in the 
 country for a brief ' Saturday to Monday ' rest, as is her 
 wont when engaged in particularly hard work. On her 
 return journey, wishing to be entirely alone and un- 
 interrupted, and in open air among the beautiful sur- 
 roundings of Nature to study and think out the play, her 
 only companion was a kitten in a basket at the back of 
 the cart. But the kitten mewed and cried, and sadly 
 disturbed the current of her thoughts. She took it out of 
 the basket and placed it by her side, where it sat 
 contentedly enough, gazing at her as she declaimed her 
 words aloud, the only other witness the pony ! By-and- 
 by she reached the village inn at Sevenoaks, one of her 
 halting-places during the two days' drive. Going up to 
 her dressing-room, Miss Terry prepared for a private 
 rehearsal, and arranged a row of candles, for footlights, 
 before a large swinging cheval-glass. The kitten, who 
 seemed to know what it was all about, surveyed her 
 quietly from a chair. She was presently ' spouting away,' 
 with arm uplifted in tragic gesture in a most telling scene. 
 It was a supreme moment. Suddenly ' click ' went the 
 spring the looking-glass executed a hasty somersault ! 
 It seemed to jump at her as though it would topple her 
 over. The kitten, much astonished, leaped high in the 
 air ; then, as the mirror righted itself, caught the reflec- 
 tion of its own little person therein, and made a succession 
 of such ridiculous antics and absurd contortions, after the 
 graceful fashion of kittenhood, that Queen Guinevere 
 
 c 2
 
 20 ELLEN TERRY 
 
 almost rolled on the floor in paroxysms of merriment. If 
 the good people below heard the rippling peals of laughter 
 they must have thought that there was something ex- 
 ceedingly funny to come off in at least one scene of ' King 
 Arthur.' 
 
 But to be serious. Looking back through a vista of 
 years, it appears as if your first vivid remembrance of the 
 great actress dates from an early representation of ' The 
 Merchant of Venice,' at the old Prince of Wales's theatre, 
 when, as Portia, she sent the public into ecstasies over 
 the celebrated speech, ' The quality of mercy is not 
 strained,' and the delightful badinage of the scene that 
 followed. Not only remarkable genius was displayed 
 there, but the finished training, the cultivation and 
 unceasing study that she brought to bear upon it. In her 
 childish days she had shown such an extraordinary depth 
 of pathos and skill in juvenile Shakespearean characters 
 that it was even then confidently predicted that she had 
 ' a great future in store ' a prophecy that her subsequent 
 brilliant career has abundantly realised. 
 
 Turning over at random a multitude of cherished old 
 playbills of later years, in which her name appears, 
 picture after picture of her rises distinctly in the mind. 
 Her Mabel Vane in ' Masks and Faces,' Lilian Vavasour 
 in ' New Men and Old Acres,' Olivia, Juliet, Ophelia, 
 Desdemona, Beatrice, Viola, Cordelia, Lady Macbeth, and 
 many others. But it is idle to meditate in which part she is 
 best. There is but one reply to such mental queries. She 
 is best in each. And now it has come to her latest role, 
 and each can form his or her own judgment of her abso- 
 lutely perfect Queen Guinevere. 
 
 Now it is a fact that, since the production of ' King 
 Arthur,' countless letters have poured in from ' country 
 cousins,' and the like, couched in more or less affectionate 
 terms : ' Do write us a long account of Ellen Terry as 
 Queen Guinevere. What does she say in such and such a 
 scene ? How does she look when she says it ? Describe
 
 ELLEN TERRY 2r 
 
 her dresses accurately. Go into graphic details and tell us 
 everything,' and so forth. This is a 'large order.' You could 
 no more ' describe ' her wonderfully artistic apparel than 
 you could the inner appearance of the planet Jupiter ! And 
 as to ' how she looks/ and ' says,' and ' does it,' it would 
 need the entire pages of a newspaper, and the pen of a 
 Clement Scott, to give any adequate idea. Besides, there 
 is a covert hint in the queries. In a moment of weakness 
 you somewhat meanly struggle out of the difficulty through 
 the medium of sixpenny wires : ' Description impossible ; 
 come, see for self.' While on the subject, it may be re- 
 corded that there is a perfect passion in the minds of many 
 people to obtain her autograph, for which many cunning 
 little subterfuges are devised, often through friends. En- 
 joying the privilege of a much-valued friendship with the 
 great artist, it has not infrequently been your own lot to 
 receive fat little albums or ' birthday books ' (stamps for 
 return omitted), with gushing letters enclosed, running 
 thus : ' Do pray try to coax Miss Ellen Terry to write her 
 name in my book, or a verse, or something she has said 
 on the stage, or a proverb anything. I should value it 
 for ever after.' Not for worlds would you take such a 
 liberty ! You get out of this by a post card curtly saying 
 ' cannot,' which often evokes an indignant reply card, 
 ' Say, rather, will not. X.Y.Z.' Miss Terry is simply 
 pestered with such requests ; but, in her goodness of heart 
 and tender charity, she, too, devised a little scheme, and 
 requested a small fee for consenting, the which formed a 
 goodly sum for a child's cot at some hospital. 
 
 But little do the ' butterflies ' and idlers know of the 
 vast demands on her time and strength, in the art for 
 which she lives and in which genius and ever-constant 
 work exhaust alike body and mind. Her best friends are 
 those who recognise this and leave her most in the quiet and 
 peace that she so greatly needs. But there is one question 
 on which you are able to gratify the longing of those, who, 
 knowing her not save before the footlights, often express
 
 22 ELLEN TERRY 
 
 curiosity as to her immediate surroundings. ' Though you 
 need not exactly localise the spot,' she whispers, with an 
 arch smile. Wild horses should not extract the informa- 
 tion ! Those horrid little albums ! They would soon make 
 their way to her private abode ! Well, then, it is not a 
 hundred miles from Kensington, and is one of a certain 
 set of red-brick buildings with a big garden in front. 
 Directly you enter you feel that it is not, somehow, as 
 other houses. The staircase is hung with original engrav- 
 ings, each of whch is full of interest. A litter of music lies 
 near the open grand piano in the square, yellow drawing- 
 room, with its amber-coloured hangings ; a big, restful 
 couch a comfortable lounge for a weary player is pushed 
 near the fire, with little table, loaded with books, at hand, 
 and a bouquet of white hothouse lilac, while other white 
 flowers, hyacinths, and pale Gloire de Dijon rosebuds are 
 carelessly yet artistically grouped here and there and fill 
 the air with fragrant perfume. The numerous pictures 
 and photographs would take hours to inspect thoroughly. 
 Here are Adelina Patti, Sarah Bernhardt, Eleanora Duse, 
 and many of the Terry family. Two lately added are 
 particularly interesting just now one is of her niece, 
 Mabel Terry Lewis (youngest child of the celebrated Kate 
 Terry, Mrs. Arthur Lewis), who made such a promising 
 debut in ' A Pair of Spectacles,' and showed that she in- 
 herits not only the voice but other charming attributes 
 of this beloved family ; the other is a fair little nephew, 
 Horace, aged seven (the son of Mr. Charles Terry), who, 
 on the same evening, and at the same theatre, made his 
 first bow to the public in Mr. Arthur a Beckett's pretty 
 play ' Faded Flowers.' 
 
 By the way, his little part was too soon cut out, owing 
 to the stern decrees of the L.C.C., simply from the acci- 
 dental omission to procure the necessary ten days' previous 
 licence. As the play was only produced at five days' notice 
 it was obviously impossible to cut each of those days in 
 two. One evening two myrmidons of the law called at the
 
 ELLEN TERRY 23 
 
 theatre and took the clever child in charge, whereat the 
 baby actor up and spake boldly, with threat of future ven- 
 geance, ' Well, never mind, when I'm a man I'll pay them 
 out,' the which terrible menace must have alarmed his 
 captors overmuch. Meantime the bread was taken un- 
 necessarily out of the child's mouth. 
 
 And there is one who sits in a great armchair, knitting, 
 and with the identical kitten curled up peacefully on her 
 lap, whom all love and delight to honour, and this is an 
 elderly lady, with serene and beautiful face and silver hair, 
 who has made her home with Miss Ellen Terry for over 
 thirty years, and who is the great player's most beloved 
 and devoted friend. 
 
 W. E. NOBBIS 
 
 UNQUESTIONABLY it may be said of Torquay that it is one 
 of the fairest, nay, quite the fairest spot on the south coast 
 of England. Situated high above the rivers Exe and 
 Teign on the one side and the Dart on the other, the 
 thickly wooded cliffs and picturesque buildings, the luxuri- 
 ant foliage and ever-turning, twisting roads from each 
 point of which fresh beauties are discovered conspire to 
 make what was described by Tennyson in his youth as 
 ' the most lovely sea- village in England.' It is said that 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, on landing when Torquay was yet 
 in its infancy, exclaimed enthusiastically, ' What a lovely 
 country ! How much it resembles Porto Ferrajo in Elba ! ' 
 Now, in these latter days, when the hand of time has 
 mellowed the work of man, and, with the utmost artistic 
 judgment, every natural advantage has been fully deve- 
 loped, there is, indeed, nothing left to be desired to render 
 the beautiful town an ideal residence in all seasons of the 
 year. It is little wonder, therefore, that the residents 
 regard it with peculiar affection and point out with pride
 
 24 W. E. NORRIS 
 
 that whilst in winter the climate is deliciously mild, being 
 sheltered from the rough east and north-east winds, in 
 the hottest summer it registers twenty degrees cooler than 
 in London. This fact entirely disposes of the erroneous 
 impression that prevails abroad and is so often quoted, ' If 
 you go to Torquay in summer you will be roasted alive ! ' 
 
 It generally happens in life that results gained are by 
 no means in proportion to the amount of physical labour 
 and trouble expended to procure them. The present in- 
 stance, however, is the proverbial exception that proves 
 the rule. Having firmly resolved on one of the brightest 
 days of an abnormally fine season that you will climb to 
 the highest pinnacle of Torquay or perish in the attempt, 
 to see the well-known and popular writer, Mr. W. E. 
 Norris, it is delightful to find on reaching the summit 
 that a strong and cooling sea breeze has arisen, while 
 the glorious scenery around, and presently the hearty wel- 
 come of the genial author, more than repay you for the 
 fatigue incurred. To the jaded Londoner, whose steepest 
 ascent is generally Piccadilly, the circuitous and tortuous 
 hills of Devon are at first somewhat appalling, for Nature 
 has indeed been lavish in these gifts to this highly favoured 
 county. 
 
 It is perhaps the extremely cheerful aspect of Torquay 
 that is so striking on first sight. The diversified and 
 charming scenery, the artistically built residences, each 
 standing in its own garden, the distances that you see 
 around, all give the place a beauty unsurpassed by any 
 other health resort. 
 
 A sharp decline of a few yards from the iron gates of 
 a carriage drive on the right side of the road, leads to the 
 open hall door of a large, stone-coloured, substantial but 
 rather rambling house, built literally on the side of a cliff. 
 Running all along the front and sides is a wide, shaded 
 asphalte verandah, whereof the supports are covered with 
 clustering jasmine and clematis. Entering the hall, the 
 first room on the right into which you are shown is mani-
 
 W. E. NORRIS 25 
 
 festly the room where Mr. Norris composes his fascinating 
 novels ; while resting for a few moments you have leisure 
 to glance around, and naturally your first attraction is 
 the beauteous prospect from the open French windows. 
 A light haze softens every outline, also the horizon where 
 the deep blue of sky and sea merges into each other, 
 varied only by the shadows of a few passing clouds which 
 are reflected in darker tints on the water. As if to 
 heighten the effect of the scene and to complete the 
 picture, a fleet of Brixham trawlers opposite is just 
 sailing out of the port where William of Orange landed 
 in 1688, a glint of sunshine catching every sail in succes- 
 sion. Far away on the right, Paignton is visible, and 
 dotted here and there in the foreground handsome villas 
 of varied build peep out between the trees, no two houses 
 apparently standing on the same degree of altitude. 
 
 The study window faces a slope leading to the yet 
 further sloping lawn by a flight of narrow steps cut into 
 the ground, flanked on both sides by a thick, low hedge 
 of cotoneaster with its green leaves and crimson berries. 
 The kitchen garden much further down is half hidden 
 behind the golden yews, Portugal laurels, deodaras and 
 araucarias that stud the lawn. All this is seen from the 
 small but neatly arranged writing-table, where, however, 
 no particular trace of its owner's craft is to be discovered, 
 though a high cabinet near with narrow drawers looks 
 as if it contained MS. The delicate yellow wall-paper 
 makes a good background for many choice etchings and 
 original engravings. A large Oriental curtain drapes the 
 west wall and harmonises perfectly with the subdued 
 tints of the window curtains and the rich hues of the 
 thick Persian carpet on which no footfall can be heard. 
 Bookcases of every description and shape, revolving and 
 dwarf, narrow and broad, are tightly filled with well-selected 
 and well-bound volumes, for Mr. Norris is as fond of reading 
 as he is expert at writing, and, being a good linguist, his 
 foreign collection is extensive. His favourite writers of
 
 26 W. E. NORRIS 
 
 fiction are Blackmore, Thomas Hardy, and Henry James, 
 for whom he has the strongest admiration. ' The latter is 
 a personal friend,' said Mr. Norris, ' for whom I have the 
 greatest regard. His work, I think, is as true and attractive 
 as he is himself, which is saying a good deal.' 
 
 It is the room of a student, but not too grave a student ; 
 it is luxurious, but not enervating; and on all sides it 
 is indicative of the simple good taste, combined with an 
 innate love and appreciation of all that is beautiful in 
 nature and in art, that is among Mr. Norris's strongest 
 characteristics. 
 
 There is a sense of rest and refinement in this peaceful 
 and lovely home with its grand environments of sea and 
 land that seems to match with the author's appearance. 
 He is above the middle height, slight and graceful in 
 build, fine dark-grey eyes that sparkle below a broad, 
 clever-looking and thoughtful brow, while the high-bred, 
 courteous manner has a charm all its own, and his con- 
 versation, which it is most difficult to get centred at all 
 on himself, is full of brightness and interest. 
 
 So much is indicated by a man's surroundings that it 
 is often easier to arrive at a correct conclusion of his 
 habits and disposition by silent observation than by direct 
 inquiry. The open piano yonder and vast heap of music, 
 the splendid pink begonia in full bloom on a high stand 
 beside the writing-table, alike imply that Mr. Norris is an 
 ardent lover of music and has a passion for flowers. 
 Both suspicions are correct. Meeting your inquiring 
 glance on these subjects, before the question escapes you, 
 he remarks, smiling, ' Yes, I care more for music and 
 gardening than anything else. As to music,' he con- 
 tinues, the while turning over the pages of a volume of 
 Bach, ' I have always loved it. I used to play the piano 
 as a small boy, but being most incorrigibly idle, I declined 
 and much regret it now out of school to, take lessons, 
 and I gradually neglected it again until I was grown up 
 and had got rather too stiff in the fingers to do much good.
 
 W. E. NORRIS 27 
 
 Of the technical side of music and composition I know 
 just enough to be conscious of my own ignorance, there- 
 fore I am most unwilling to dilate on the subject. How- 
 ever, everybody has a right to his more or less ignorant 
 preferences, and I may safely say that the older I grow 
 the more I appreciate Bach. Among living composers 
 I should venture to place Brahms first, but really I have 
 no right to speak didactically upon such a matter. Now-a- 
 days most people seem to think it necessary that they 
 should choose between Schumann and Chopin. If that 
 must be done and I don't see why it should I should 
 have to class myself amongst the humble admirers of the 
 former, much as I delight in the latter.' Hearing this you 
 would fain coax him to the piano, but in vain. He smiles, 
 shakes his head, and says he now plays only for his own 
 amusement. 
 
 William Edward Norris was born in Cavendish Square, 
 London, and is the younger, now the only surviving, son 
 of the late Sir William Norris, formerly Chief Justice of 
 Ceylon. The great house of his birthplace saw but little 
 of his childhood, as all his earlier years were spent at 
 Burrow Green House, a large, old-fashioned homestead 
 taken by his father, near Godstone, where among the 
 beautiful and extensive views of the Surrey Hills his in- 
 born love of fine scenery was fostered and encouraged. 
 He was first sent to school at Twyford, near Winchester, 
 where the Eev. G. W. Kitchin, now Dean of Durham, was 
 head-master. His next move was to Eton, where he spent 
 four years, which he describes as ' four absolutely happy 
 years,' living in the house of the Eev. J. J. Joynes, where 
 he made many friends. 
 
 ' I had a good time during those few years/ Mr. 
 Norris remarks, as he tranquilly smokes a cigarette, and 
 between the puffs seems to be thoughtfully recalling 
 reminiscences of the past. ' I was sorry to leave, though 
 I cannot pretend to have distinguished myself in any 
 respect. I had a certain facility for the composition of
 
 28 W. E. NORRIS 
 
 Latin verse, in those days considered an important branch 
 of study at Eton, and this probably saved me from getting 
 into any very serious trouble. Otherwise I was a 
 decidedly lazy boy, and got on as comfortably as lazy 
 boys used to do in the good old times when it was not 
 thought essential to teach everything badly and nothing 
 thoroughly.' 
 
 On leaving Eton, young Edward Norris went abroad 
 to study modern languages, with the intention of entering 
 the Diplomatic Service, but subsequently gave up this 
 idea and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, 
 although he never practised. It was then that he turned 
 his attention to literature, contributing a short story, 
 entitled ' M. Bedeau,' to the ' Cornhill Magazine.' This 
 story showed so much originality and distinct talent that 
 it was at once accepted. (Mr. Norris's own modest ver- 
 sion of the transaction is : ' Much to my surprise it was 
 published ! ') Being encouraged by Leslie Stephen, who 
 was at that time the editor, the young writer soon sent 
 in some more stories, and began his first novel called 
 ' Heaps of Money,' in which the character of Mainwairing 
 is one never to be forgotten. 
 
 ' Very probably,' remarks Mr. Norris, ' without Leslie 
 Stephen's kind encouragement I should never have 
 written any novels at all. I must just say a word of the 
 sincere respect and gratitude that I feel for him. He was 
 by far the most conscientious and exacting editor with 
 whom I have ever had to deal ; but his criticisms were 
 always right, and were expressed with the utmost con- 
 sideration for the feelings of his contributors.' The first 
 book was speedily followed by ' Mademoiselle de Mersac,' 
 a truly interesting work, in which he guides us through 
 three generations ' as gracefully,' to quote a sapient critic 
 of that time, ' as a well-bred man might point out the 
 portraits of his ancestors in the family picture gallery.' 
 This popular book ran through the same magazine as a 
 serial, and caused so much favourable criticism that the
 
 W. E. MORRIS 29 
 
 first edition was immediately exhausted. Like all Mr. 
 Norris's works, it will bear more than one reading ; with no 
 particularly strong plot, the interest is sustained by the vivid 
 delineation of character and the naturalness of incident. 
 It has now passed through many editions, and with many 
 of his works has wittily been described as having attained 
 that measure of popularity ' of which the outward and 
 visible sign is generally bad print and the superscription 
 " Fscap. 8vo. picture boards, 2s." 
 
 ' Matrimony,' ' No New Thing,' and ' Thirlby Hall ' 
 followed during the next three years. The first of these 
 is distinguished by its clever character sketches, the 
 second is more conspicuous for the true pathos displayed 
 in many of the scenes, combined with the underlying 
 sense of humour prevailing in its pages, while the third 
 forcibly attracts the attention of the reader by the simpli- 
 city, power of style, and facility of expression which bring 
 every description of its scenes so truthfully before him. 
 
 It was after the publication of ' Thirlby Hall ' that 
 people began to say freely that a second Thackeray had 
 arisen in these later days, not only with regard to Mr. 
 Norris's method and manner of writing, but in the bril- 
 liant finish of his literary style and in the quiet, good- 
 humoured cynicism combined with the pathos which 
 distinguished the great bygone writer. 
 
 ' Adrian Vidal ' was the next book, and this history of 
 an author is interesting as giving Mr. Norris's own views 
 on the profession of a novelist. ' The Man of his Word 
 and other Stories,' ' The Bachelor's Blunder ' out of 
 which surely a good play might be made and ' My Friend 
 Jim,' all came out in the same year. No signs, however, 
 of any undue haste are visible in any of Mr. Norris's 
 writings. Each is characterised by minuteness of observa- 
 tion, quiet humour and conscientious study, and, crown- 
 ing joy to the inveterate novel-reader, not a dull page is to 
 be found anywhere. 
 
 ' Chris,' a charming story, ' Major and Minor,' and
 
 3 o W. E. NORRIS 
 
 ' The Kogue,' ' Misadventure,' ' The Baffled Conspirators/ 
 and ' Mrs. Fenton,' are the titles of other of the author's 
 books. All his novels have previously run through differ- 
 ent magazines or the principal weekly illustrated papers 
 before being issued in the orthodox two- or three-volume 
 form. ' The Kogue ' has little or no plot, but a most 
 interesting story is made of it by the ingenuity with 
 which a series of episodes and incidents are woven 
 together. 
 
 Although want of space prevents allusion to the whole 
 of this valuable addition to the world of fiction, mention 
 must just be made of a few other of Mr. Norris's books, as 
 they are too good to be left out. ' Marcia,' ' Mr. Chaine's 
 Sons,' ' Miss Wentworth's Idea,' ' A Deplorable Affair,' 
 ' His Grace,' ' A Victim of Good Luck,' and ' Countess 
 Radna,' a cleverly told tale of ' a marriage which is dis- 
 appointed and a wooing thwarted,' all these suggest them- 
 selves at random as books to be recommended. His 
 latest are ' Matthew Austin,' ' A Despotic Lady,' and ' The 
 Dancer in Yellow.' The charm of Mr. Norris's works 
 undoubtedly lies in the fact that, if somewhat slight 
 in plot as before hinted, there is so much interesting 
 incident, such bright conversation, and the stories are so 
 well told that they carry away the reader to instructive as 
 well as to amusing worlds of romance. Many of their 
 characters awaken lofty and noble ideas in the imagina- 
 tion as well as a sense of admiration of their lovableness. 
 They are never priggish, never conventional, never too 
 exciting nor sensational, yet are they living, breathing, 
 everyday persons that you can almost hear speak, and 
 when all this is clothed in pure diction, in the elegant and 
 fluent phraseology of a refined and scholarly writer, it is 
 easy to imagine the cause of their fascination. 
 
 His working hours are from three to six every after- 
 noon. He plays golf most mornings in the week, and is 
 secretary to the Golf Club. His method in writing he 
 explains as follows : ' I always think a thing out in the
 
 W. E. NORRIS 31 
 
 rough, draw up a skeleton of the whole, make a sort of 
 scheme with some central figure round which I build, 
 then I divide it into chapters, place the contents of each 
 chapter and never start until all that is done. Then I go 
 ahead, and seldom make any alterations or corrections. 
 My secretary copies each day's work when finished. I 
 never make out much of a plot, and,' he adds quaintly, ' it 
 is always a matter of surprise to me that people should 
 like my books. They never turn out what I mean them 
 to be. I have no personal liking for what is called the 
 modern realistic school of fiction, because I don't see the 
 good of it. One does not go to a novel for information as 
 to the uglier facts of existence.' 
 
 In politics Mr. Norris is a strong Conservative, but 
 declares himself in this respect to be ' very old-fashioned, 
 indeed the only old Tory left.' 
 
 For a good many years he spent all his winters abroad 
 in Algeria, Greece, and the Eiviera, &c., traces of which 
 journeyings are to be found in many of his writings, 
 notably in ' Mademoiselle de Mersac.' He has now fallen 
 out of that habit, and, although quite in the prime of life, 
 he lives chiefly in Torquay, seldom staying long in London, 
 and only occasionally visiting friends. By no means 
 robust in constitution, he yet enjoys fairly good health in 
 the equable climate and in the quiet life of his adopted 
 county, save for periodical attacks of gout which, he 
 laughingly declares, he is 'very far from having de- 
 served.' 
 
 At this juncture a summons to luncheon arrives. 
 Rising, Mr. Norris takes you into a bright and cheerful 
 dining-room. On the pale tinted walls hang masterly 
 portraits in crayons, by Richmond, of his parents and only 
 sister, who is married to Sir Arthur Havelock, Governor 
 of Ceylon. These pictures immediately suggest the idea 
 that there is yet one more tour that Mr. Norris may be 
 induced to take, and this is a visit to Ceylon. The inter- 
 ests of the novel-reading public, indeed, almost require
 
 32 W. E. NORRIS 
 
 him to make the expedition and to let his facile pen revel 
 amongst the gorgeous scenery between Colombo and 
 Kandy, and the grand mountains, ' draped with forests of 
 perennial green,' of beautiful Neuera Ellia. 
 
 Nearly the same view as obtained before, but rather 
 more expansive, is seen from the windows. Your host 
 looks too youthful for you readily to credit that he is the 
 father of the fair girl who graces the head of the table and 
 who receives you so pleasantly. They are ' always taken 
 for brother and sister,' she remarks, but it is easy to see 
 in every look how proud she is of her distinguished father. 
 The small hands and slight physique of your young hostess 
 would scarcely lead you to imagine that one of her keenest 
 enjoyments is the chase, but such is the fact, and she can 
 hold her own over a not too easy country, and is generally 
 to be found in first flight, as many a brush and pad in her 
 rooms can testify. 
 
 After luncheon a stroll round the garden is proposed, 
 and this time it is all upward climbing by the back of the 
 house. On the left side of the verandah there is a high 
 hedge of the evergreen escallonia, with its glossy foliage 
 and crimson blossoms, leading to the flower-beds and 
 hothouses, where several varieties of ferns and sundry 
 tropical plants abound, together with a wealth of bloom ; 
 these houses are a great delight to Mr. Norris, although he 
 asserts that ' my own special gardening now-a-days chiefly 
 consists in growling at the gardener, who meets my re- 
 proaches with a benign, superior smile. I haven't time to 
 superintend his so-called duties, and the consequence is 
 that I don't get half the flowers I ought to get, except 
 when a show is imminent, and then he won't let me cut 
 them ! ' 
 
 The next path leads to the kennels, and on entering 
 the yard you are surrounded and noisily greeted by several 
 thoroughbred Irish terriers, big and little, and a great 
 solemn-looking Scotch deerhound, who are all perfectly 
 friendly and escort you to the stable, where a loose box is
 
 W. E. NORRIS 33 
 
 inhabited by 'All Fours,' a handsome, thoroughbred 
 black mare, standing nearly sixteen hands, with powerful 
 quarters, glossy coat and small lean head. The beau- 
 tiful Irish hunter is on the best of terms with her young 
 mistress, and carries her ' like a bird,' through many a 
 long morning's cubbing or run with the South Devon 
 Hounds. 
 
 Another turn leads to the outer gates, and here you 
 take leave of the talented and scholarly author, of whom 
 it has been often said that he ' always writes like a gentle- 
 man, often as a wit,' and that he ' could not if he would 
 write anything that is not worth reading.' 
 
 But, to your great satisfaction, you find that the 
 pleasant day is not to conclude without an excursion. A 
 friend's welcome voice from a carriage that pulls up close 
 by, bids you jump in and accompany her through the New 
 Cut, the Lincombe and Ilsham Drives. The light haze 
 of the morning having lifted, every object is clear ; peeps 
 of Dartmoor can be seen in the distance, far-stretching 
 views of the red-soiled coast from the Teign and the Exe ; 
 anon the Dart, glistening like silver in and out, the great 
 rocky sea-caves at Livermead, in bold relief against the 
 horizon, flooded with sunshine all make a perfect 
 panorama on which one might long linger. Here, just at 
 the best point, the carriage pauses. ' One can scarcely 
 believe,' says your companion in a low, meditative tone, as 
 she gazes dreamily across the distant sea, ' that this was 
 once an obscure fishing village. Torquay first began to 
 gain repute in the Napoleonic war of 1815. Man has 
 done much for it and Nature much more. The geology of 
 the place is also most interesting. At the far-famed 
 Kent's Cavern, which we shall see on the road home, pre- 
 historic remains have often been discovered in layers of 
 different depth. A story is told of a schoolmaster and all 
 his pupils descending to inspect the cavern and never 
 afterwards being heard of, but,' she adds with a laugh, 
 ' that must be taken with a grain of salt.' Not the least 
 
 D
 
 34 W. E. NORRIS 
 
 of the many attractions of the fair city is the raised 
 Terrace running parallel with the Torbay Eoad at the foot 
 of Waldron Hill, where even in mid- winter such plants as 
 orange trees, geraniums, almonds, hydrangeas are always 
 in bloom, and just now you have the good luck to see an 
 aloe in full blossom, an event that popular tradition 
 attributes to it only once in a hundred years ! 
 
 Anstis Cove, with its cottage by the sea, is also passed 
 on the road back, which gradually descending, you soon 
 reach the Strand, and after a walk round some open 
 grounds to view the garden of sub-tropical plants, where 
 great feathery palms and broad-leaved shrubs lead you 
 back in imagination to India and Singapore, you finally 
 alight at the Club and reading-rooms facing the pier. 
 This club, founded and organised by the public-spirited 
 and enterprising townsman, Mr. Iredale, is well worth a 
 visit. Thousands, nay, tens of thousands, of volumes, new 
 and old, comprising almost every known work of reference, 
 are to be found in the libraries. The reading-rooms are 
 stocked with copies of the best fiction, of standard works, 
 tomes ancient and modern, and magazines and newspapers 
 up to date. Finally, the secluded writing-room contains 
 temptations not to be resisted, and affords an excellent 
 opportunity of recording the impressions of a most enjoy- 
 able day whilst yet fresh in the memory. 
 
 CAELOTTA ADDISON 
 
 (MBS. LA TROBE) 
 
 ONE of her first ventures on the boards whilst yet a child 
 was well calculated to give any little novice the feeling 
 known as ' stage fright.' She had to come up through a 
 trap as an apparition in the ghost scene of ' Macbeth ' at 
 the Liverpool Theatre. The house was full, the lights 
 were low, there was a hush of expectancy amongst the
 
 CARLOTTA ADDISON 35 
 
 audience. She had just given the Thane the admonition 
 to ' be bloody, bold, and resolute.' As the trap was about 
 to descend with its feather-weight burden clad in ghostly 
 drapery, some slight disarrangement below caused it to 
 sway ominously, which so terrified the child that, for- 
 getting where she was, in an agony of fear she whispered 
 audibly, ' Let me down, let me down ! ' and down she 
 went rapidly. The contretemps, happily, was unobserved 
 in front, and the hasty mutter passed as part of the 
 performance ; but it by no means escaped the Argus eye of 
 the stage-manager, who, at the conclusion of the scene, 
 severely reprimanded the little girl, and told her that if 
 she gave way to such fears she would never ' rise in her 
 profession.' While meekly accepting the rebuke, even at 
 that early age her keen sense suggested the hope to 
 which she of course gave no utterance that the exigencies 
 of her profession might never again require her to ' rise ' 
 in such a dangerous manner. 
 
 It was during a temporary residence of the family at 
 Liverpool that Carlotta Addison, the youngest of three 
 children, first saw the light. Her father, Mr. Edward 
 Addison, who was a well-known actor chiefly associated with 
 Charles Kean's management at the Princess's Theatre, 
 London, happened just then to be fulfilling a short engage- 
 ment at Liverpool. A good all-round actor, his speciality 
 was in impersonating ' old men's ' parts, from the time he 
 was eighteen. ' The talent originated in himself,' remarks 
 his daughter ; ' no member of his family had previously 
 gone on the stage, and, indeed, he gave great offence to 
 his relations by so doing, for they belonged to the stricter 
 sort of those days, and held the calling of a professional 
 actor to be infra dig, Mrs. Addison died when the little 
 ' Lottie ' was an infant, and, with almost her last breath, 
 she exacted a promise from her husband that the two 
 sisters should never be separated during girlhood. This 
 promise was faithfully kept, and they attended the same 
 schools, first in England and then in Paris. Inheriting 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CARLOTTA ADDISON 
 
 much of her father's love of study and of music, the young 
 girl devoted herself to her books and piano, in which she 
 soon became a proficient. She was looked upon as ' very 
 old, very steady, and very quiet in her habits,' but such 
 good use did she make of her time that, when her elder 
 sister was considered sufficiently advanced in her education 
 to leave school, Carlotta, at the age of thirteen, was allowed 
 to leave also. On their return home she suddenly 
 announced her intention of ' going on the stage,' and her 
 sister having the same idea, the girls, with the consent of 
 their father, at once entered upon the requisite course of 
 study. 
 
 ' Never,' says Carlotta Addison with much feeling, 
 ' was there such a parent ! He was father, mother, friend 
 everything to us. He was a man of singular sweetness 
 of disposition, and while from our childhood he was firm 
 in exacting implicit obedience, he had a happy talent for 
 inspiring us with such perfect confidence that we never 
 had a thought apart from him. We showed him all our 
 letters and poured out all our hopes and wishes to him. 
 He was highly intellectual and cultivated, and held strong 
 opinions on the training of the character as well as of the 
 cultivation of the mind. He was most particular where 
 we went, and took us chiefly to houses such as Dr. West- 
 land Marston's, where we met literary and artistic society, 
 and, young as we were, we used to sit spell-bound while 
 listening to all the clever and interesting conversation 
 that we heard an education in itself. To his wise and 
 tender training,' she adds after a pause, the while tears 
 tremble in her blue eyes, ' I owe all everything ! ' 
 
 A severe course of study in the provinces ensued 
 under the management of Mr. Copeland, of Liverpool, 
 whose discipline, though strict, was always tempered with 
 justice. Afterwards she and her sister were transferred 
 to Mr. Chute's company at Bristol, and Miss Carlotta 
 Addison speaks of this period of her work with enthusiasm, 
 and of the great kindness and encouragement that they
 
 CARLOTTA ADDISON 37 
 
 received from him. Here the young actress worked with 
 all her will, playing at first children's parts, later, any- 
 thing and everything, from ' carrying on a message ' to 
 pantomime and Shakespearean characters ; consequently, 
 when she returned to London at the age of sixteen, she 
 had become thoroughly at home in the ' business ' of her 
 profession. Her first engagement in town was at St. 
 James's Theatre (under the management of Miss Herbert) 
 as Lady Frances Touchwood in ' The Belle's Stratagem,' 
 with Mr. Irving as Doricourt, followed by the part of 
 the Little Duck, in Mr. W. S. Gilbert's first burlesque, 
 ' Dulcamara, or, The Little Duck and the Great Quack.' 
 A few weeks after came a great opportunity. The play 
 was ' She Stoops to Conquer,' one of the many old 
 comedies which she had well studied by her father's 
 advice. - At the conclusion of the performance, on one 
 eventful night Miss Herbert was taken suddenly ill and as 
 she had no understudy, Carlotta Addison was asked to take 
 her part of Miss Hardcastle on the ensuing evening, with 
 strict injunctions to ' take the book in her hand and read 
 it.' No such precaution, however, was necessary. She 
 was letter-perfect in the whole, and without even a single 
 rehearsal she impersonated the character with so much 
 grace and aplomb, that she won rounds of applause and 
 was repeatedly called before the curtain. 
 
 After the run of this piece the young player ' rested ' 
 for a brief period ; but, being always willing to take any 
 insignificant role rather than remain idle, she accepted a 
 small engagement with the late Miss Patty Oliver, an 
 actress whose large-hearted and unselfish disposition 
 always prompted her to encourage and push on a 
 promising debutante. Miss Oliver was then playing in 
 ' Meg's Diversion,' and subsequently in the popular 
 burlesque of ' Black-eyed Susan.' She gave the girl her 
 Meg to understudy, and coached her in the business, and 
 very soon handed over that part to her. 
 
 Then came what Carlotta Addison describes as ' the
 
 38 CARLOTTA ADDISON 
 
 happiest time of her life.' It was at the old Prince of 
 Wales' s Theatre, Tottenham Court Eoad, under the 
 management of Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft, in the delightful 
 Eobertson comedies, when she was brought well to the 
 front in the original parts of Euth in ' M.P.,' and Bella 
 in ' School ' roles that will always be associated with her 
 name. Here she struck out for herself an entirely 
 individual line in the natural, spontaneous delicacy and 
 simplicity with which she represented the refined and 
 unaffected girlhood that Mr. Eobertson was so happy in 
 depicting. 
 
 ' No words can describe,' says Miss Addison enthu- 
 siastically, ' what a perfect time that was ! We were like 
 a happy family. It was not only one person's success, 
 but every one's. Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft were always so 
 'kind and encouraging, and so delightful to work with. 
 There was no discordant element, and each did his or her 
 best with hearty good-will. The memory of those days 
 will ever be dear to me.' 
 
 Slowly but surely wending her way to the front ranks, 
 each year scored further successes. The admirable and 
 thorough training of her girlhood stood her in good stead, 
 and each step was one in advance. She played in many 
 notable productions at the Globe (with the late Mr. 
 Montague), such as 'Partners for Life,' and 'Cyril's 
 Success ' (H. J. Byron), and the lame fairy, Peep, in 
 Albery's delightful fairy drama ' Oreana ' ; afterwards 
 Nerissa in the ' Merchant of Venice ' at the Prince of 
 Wales's with Ellen Terry as Portia. But it was later at 
 the Haymarket, in ' Married in Haste,' that she bounded 
 many steps up the ladder of fame ; and none who saw 
 her as Ethel Grainger will forget the sympathetic tender- 
 ness and womanly grace so full of poetic sentiment 
 with which she impersonated the modest, shy, yet impul- 
 sive and passionate heroine. 
 
 ' I remember,' says Miss Addison, laughing, ' an inci- 
 dent connected with the play of " Virginius," in which I
 
 CARLOTTA ADDISON 39 
 
 was Virginia, that even now causes me a shudder. The 
 Roman father (Virginius) was acted by the celebrated 
 tragedian, G. V. Brooke. A sharp, real butcher's knife, 
 instead of the usual " property " harmless weapon, was 
 accidentally placed on the stage. Fortunately Mr. Brooke 
 happened to notice it before the curtain rose. Imagine 
 my horror when he told me that had he not discovered 
 the mistake that had been made, he must have killed me 
 in real earnest in the scene where he had to " kill " 
 Virginia ! ' 
 
 Behind the glass doors of a handsome Chippendale 
 corner cupboard a treasured gift from a valued American 
 friend, Mrs. Prescott among a litter of pretty Venetian 
 glass and Oriental china stands a common earthenware 
 jug in a prominent position. At first sight it looks as if 
 its more appropriate place might be on the kitchen dresser ; 
 but no, it has a story, something like that of the luck of 
 Eden Hall. Miss Addison has a superstition connected 
 with that homely piece of pottery. It is the jug that she 
 used for over four hundred nights, as Bella in ' School,' 
 to fetch the milk. It was originally white, but after the 
 first performance an artist remarked the dead white was 
 too voyante among the surroundings. A yellow one was 
 ordered, but somehow forgotten, and the property man 
 hastily laid a brush of colour over it for the evening's 
 use, offering to get a new one for the next day ; but the 
 young actress had become attached to her jug, and declared 
 it had brought her luck. Everyone laughed at her, and 
 prophesied it would be broken and replaced many times, 
 but she kept it intact throughout the run of the piece 
 and at its conclusion Mr. Bancroft presented it to her 
 before the entire company. There are other memories of 
 her early stage life, notably a handsome silver clock and 
 barometer, a gift from the same kindly manager and his 
 wife ; but this was after her marriage, when she had 
 returned to what she calls her ' old home ' at the Prince 
 of Wales's Theatre, on the conclusion of a revival of
 
 40 CARLOTTA ADDISON 
 
 ' London Assurance,' in which she played Grace Harkaway 
 in that memorable and distinguished cast composed of 
 the Bancrofts, the Kendals, Arthur Cecil, Kemble, and 
 poor George Honey. The great old-fashioned velvet bag 
 with massive silver mounting that hangs by the side of 
 the pale yellow-tinted tiled hearth was given to her by 
 the ' Old Stagers ' the Zingari Cricket Club, with whom 
 Miss Addison played regularly for many years during the 
 Canterbury cricket week. The dainty little silver Queen 
 Anne tea service on yonder small table laid out with 
 appetising cakes and muffins, was also a gift from the 
 Club in commemoration of their jubilee. A picture with 
 a fine sea effect over the mantelpiece was painted by Mr. 
 La Trobe, and the one opposite was the last executed by 
 his father, the late Governor of Victoria, before he went 
 blind. The bright rays of the setting sun cast opal-hued 
 and golden colours on two exquisite Watteau fans, with 
 mother-of-pearl handles, framed and hung on the opposite 
 walls. Mr. La Trobe, his wife says, is responsible for 
 the artistic decoration and originality of the furniture, for 
 he has among many talents a genius for designing and 
 inventing, and he has exercised it to much purpose in the 
 charming little house. 
 
 ' The family,' she remarks with a smile, ' really con- 
 sists of five, for Prince (a handsome, intelligent Dachshund 
 that she is caressing) would be hurt if he were left out ; 
 he is quite a " person," and so lovable and faithful ! ' 
 
 After her marriage Mrs. La Trobe's domestic duties- 
 caused her to retire for a while into private life, but it. 
 was always her intention to return to her beloved art ; 
 and as soon as her two children were of an age to be left, 
 she resumed her career and joined Mr. Clayton's company 
 at the Court, where she played a succession of roles. 
 Inheriting her father's predilection for impersonating 
 middle-aged and elderly parts, she created that of Lady 
 Dolly in ' Moths ' ; but when Pinero's charming play, 
 ' Sweet Lavender,' was produced at Terry's, she scored her
 
 CARLOTTA ADDISON 41 
 
 biggest triumph of all, as the patient, reserved, and long- 
 suffering Kuth Rolt, and showed herself the true artist. 
 The tender womanliness and sympathetic grace of her 
 own nature were here displayed to the fullest advantage, 
 while the style and brilliant finish of her performance 
 made it the perfection of histrionic art. 
 
 ' It was my most favourite part,' she remarks in sub- 
 dued tones ; ' the sorrows and troubles of poor Ruth 
 were so real to me for those few hours nightly, and though 
 the piece ran for over two years I never wearied of it. 
 I could have gone on playing it until now, and when it 
 was over I felt as if I missed something out of my life.' 
 
 Her latest role is Lady Bletchley in F. C. Philips 
 and C. Brookfield's delightful play ' A Woman's Reason.' 
 
 It is only natural that with such a sweet, lovable 
 nature this accomplished actress is a universal favourite, 
 alike in her own profession as in society. Indeed, it may 
 be said that she never made an enemy or lost a friend. 
 It is proverbial amongst those who have the pleasure of 
 knowing her intimately that in Mrs. La Trobe's house 
 one never hears an unkind word nor breath of scandal 
 about anybody, while her well-known and gentle sympathy 
 is extended to each and all, either in trouble or in joy. 
 
 8IE HENRY IEVING 
 
 THERE is always a peculiar glamour and fascination 
 inseparably connected with histrionic life that commends 
 itself more or less forcibly to the imaginative, non-pro- 
 fessional mind. Brilliant vistas of intoxicating triumphs, 
 of applauding audiences, of success easily won, are the 
 enchanting visions of many a young would-be actor, who 
 little dreams of the hard practical work, of the days and 
 nights of unremitting toil, that, even when there is real 
 genius, constitute the life of the true artist. There is no
 
 42 SIR HENRY IRVING 
 
 royal road to this more than to any other profession ; and, 
 as Henry Irving is always the first to proclaim, he who 
 would ascend the heights must climb step by step from 
 the lowest rung of the ladder with patience and with 
 courage ; happy, indeed, if he can also bring to bear the 
 equable temperament and the strength of will that can 
 neither be unduly cast down by failure nor injured by 
 success. 
 
 With considerable trepidation nay, with a feeling 
 that it is almost a presumption do you modestly approach 
 the pleasant task of chronicling a slight sketch of the 
 career of the illustrious actor, whose name, when this 
 brief span is over, will go on for ever aye, in future 
 historic records. The mind involuntarily travels forward, 
 and pictures say, in Anno Domini 1995 some such 
 conversation as the following : ' Grandfather,' will say a 
 lad, who has just seen and grumbled over his first play, 
 and is poring over a well-worn memoir of the great artist, 
 'saw you ever Henry Irving?' (By the way, will the 
 generation of that date revert to the stilted and high-flown 
 phraseology of past centuries, or will they adopt, with the 
 march of civilisation, a still more free and easy style than 
 that of the present epoch?) ' Nay, my boy,' will be the 
 reply of his aged grandsire, in piping voice ; ' but your 
 great-grandfather did, and I mind me well the tales he 
 told me, and how he was present on the opening night of 
 the Lyceum in 1895, when the immortal bard's story of 
 " King Arthur " was produced with scenes of uncommon 
 splendour before a crowded and most distinguished house. 
 The piece was dramatised by an able and scholarly artist 
 of that day, one Mr. Comyns Carr. Irving, the greatest 
 actor of his time the warrior king, saint-like, " half 
 divine " melted the audience to tears by the exquisite 
 and tender pathos of his words : " My sword is drawn ! 
 I want no scabbard now ! " That beauteous and gifted 
 lady, Ellen Terry, of whom you have often read, played 
 Queen Guinevere. But alack ! we have no Irving now ! '
 
 SIR HENRY IRVING 43 
 
 The present generation are more fortunate, and have 
 their Irving in the flesh. Well for them is it that he dis- 
 covered early in life that the dry details of commerce, to 
 which he had been destined, possessed no charms for the 
 soul, full of genius, that longed to spread its wings and 
 to be free to soar into the world of art ! Strange, too, 
 that his first appearance on any stage should actually 
 have taken place at the theatre in Sunderland bearing 
 the same name as the one in the great Metropolis which 
 is the scene of his continuous triumphs, and where he 
 has so long endeared himself to the public. 
 
 Looking back through a heap of old diaries of the last 
 score of years, it appears that your first meeting with 
 the great tragedian occurred during an early revival of 
 * Hamlet,' on a never-to-be-forgotten occasion. It was at 
 a brilliant social gathering at the house of an immediate 
 relative the late William Spottiswoode, President of the 
 Royal Society a man of profound learning, of grand and 
 noble character, withal of singular modesty. Royalty was 
 present and listened with rapt attention as the great 
 scientist spoke on a favourite topic, and explained his 
 researches into and his theories on the ' polarisation of 
 light.' Presently, when the group dispersed, the passing 
 stream of guests brought you into the near vicinity of 
 your host, who was conversing with Mr. Irving about 
 ' Hamlet.' While you stood listening with interest, an 
 introduction took place. Faithful diary ! It also records 
 the fact that . when the next evening came you were 
 privileged to be admitted behind the scenes, received the 
 promised welcome from Hamlet himself, and afterwards 
 sat with sweet Ophelia Ellen Terry in her dressing- 
 room between the acts. 
 
 During his first ten years or thereabouts of stage life 
 Mr. Irving had his ups and downs too, in common with 
 many another young actor who has since become dis- 
 tinguished, for not by a single bound did he leap into 
 fame. He fulfilled many engagements in the provinces.
 
 44 SIR HENRY IRVIN 
 
 and for two or more years was engaged at the theatre in 
 Edinburgh, playing with Miss Helen Faucit, Miss Gush- 
 man, Robson, and other stars of that time. To this day 
 Edinburgh prides herself on having been his training 
 school, and when it is known that Mr. Irving proposes to 
 repair thither on one of his tours, the dignified old city 
 becomes excited, and he is received with more than an 
 ordinary ovation. And a severe training school it was, 
 for during two years or so he impersonated between two 
 and three hundred different characters, thus laying in an 
 enormous stock of experience for future use. These parts, 
 as may be supposed, embraced a wide range, and varied 
 considerably : now it was in pantomime, then in tragedy, 
 next perhaps melodrama, anon comedy, and not infre- 
 quently did it happen that he was called upon to play in 
 three separate roles on the same evening. 
 
 There were early struggles at Manchester, too ; but 
 they were all part of the training, not only in the young 
 actor's art, but in the formation of his mind and character, 
 and were leading him ever upward to his ultimate reward. 
 Hamlet had apparently always an attraction for him, and 
 he played in that part for the first time in Manchester. 
 It perhaps may not have been exactly his grand and 
 finished Hamlet of these later days, but it was all coming. 
 Ten years from his youthful entrance into histrionic life 
 found Henry Irving at a London theatre (the St. James's, 
 then under the management of Miss Herbert) all pre- 
 liminary difficulties vanquished, and a brilliant future 
 assured. Then followed a long period of leading roles, 
 many of which are as fresh to-day in the recollections of 
 playgoers of that time as are those triumphs of subsequent 
 years. The mind reverts at random to his Doricourt in 
 ' The Belle's Stratagem,' his Harry Dorton in ' The Eoad 
 to Ruin,' his Kawdon Scudamorein Boucicault's ' Hunted 
 Down,' in which the gifted Kate Terry played the heroine, 
 Mary Leigh. There was Joseph Surface in ' The School 
 for Scandal,' and the title-rdZe of Eobert Macaire ; and
 
 SIR HENRY IRVING 45 
 
 yet later, that delightful play, ' The Two Koses,' which 
 ran over three hundred nights with such a cast hand- 
 some young Montague, famous for his good looks and 
 genial manner ; George Honey both, alas ! gone over to 
 the silent majority ; Thomas Thorne, and Henry Irving 
 as Digby Grant, polished, finished, and artistic. 
 
 It was at the Queen's Theatre that Mr. Irving and 
 Ellen Terry first played together in ' Katharine and 
 Petruchio,' and afterwards in ' Dearer than Life/ probably 
 little dreaming then that the days were coming when they 
 would have all the world at their feet. His Mr. Chenevix, 
 too, in ' Uncle Dick's Darling,' was a masterpiece, but by 
 and by, when ' The Bells ' was produced, Mr. Irving broke 
 fresh ground. He poured out his whole artistic soul into 
 the part of Matthias with such depth of feeling that the 
 audience sat spell-bound ; and from the first day it was 
 played some twenty years ago until its latest produc- 
 tion, though one may have seen it fifty times, the wonder- 
 ful representation invariably produces the same effect. 
 ' The Fate of Eugene Aram,' ' The Lyons Mail,' Mr. Irving' s 
 dual parts of Joseph Lesurques and Dubosc, were further 
 revelations to the public, and with each he strengthened 
 his hold on their affections ; no less than later by his 
 Doctor Primrose in that touching and picturesque play, 
 ' Olivia,' which displayed the extraordinary versatility of 
 the actor's genius, and depicted him, with exquisite grace 
 and simplicity, as the amiable and affectionate Vicar in an 
 ideal parsonage : as much at home in his art as, when 
 thrilling a crowded house night after night, he enacted the 
 sad and melancholy Charles L, the sardonic Louis XL, 
 the tempter Mephistopheles, the impassioned Romeo, the 
 playful lover, Benedick, and hundreds of other varied and 
 perfect roles. Yet not only before the footlights has the 
 great artist shown himself to be the man of his day. 
 There is a thoroughness of organisation in the strongly 
 practical element in his nature. One can scarcely realise 
 the stupendous task of arranging details in such a vast
 
 46 SIR HENRY IRVING 
 
 work. The costumes always correct to the minutest 
 point the scenic effects, each of which is a living picture 
 of beauty, such as the celebrated Church scene in ' Much 
 Ado About Nothing ' a faithful copy of the interior of a 
 gorgeous church at Messina the Brocken scene in ' Faust,' 
 with its supernatural and lurid effects, the Court scene 
 in the ' Merchant of Venice,' with its correct costumes, 
 portraits, architecture, &c. ; occasionally a stage with five 
 hundred upon it at one time, where, so to speak, not one is 
 lost in the crowd, but has his or her own presence carefully 
 and methodically planned truly only a master-mind could 
 organise such gigantic undertakings ; only a past master 
 in art paint such vivid and harmonious pictures ! The 
 illustrious actor has already the proud satisfaction of look- 
 ing back and feeling that his life's work of instructing, of 
 elevating, and of refining the public taste will leave an 
 undying record. 
 
 There is but little need to make more than a passing 
 mention of Sir Henry Irving in private life. Kindly, 
 genial, courteous, ever considerate and full of tact, his 
 good works are countless and unobtrusive. His strict 
 justice calls forth respect, while his tender heart and nobility 
 of nature call forth something more, and that is the affec- 
 tion and devotion of his legion of friends. 
 
 MADAME ALBANI-GYE 
 
 IT may, perhaps, not be generally known that the famous 
 singer, Madame Albani-Gye, who so delights the world 
 by her rare gifts, and makes herself so beloved in private 
 life by her gracious and sympathetic nature, adopted the 
 name of Albani on making her debut. It is usually 
 supposed that it was chosen out of compliment to the 
 city of Albany, where her singing at the cathedral, when 
 she was but thirteen years of age, attracted considerable
 
 MADAME ALBANI-GYE 47 
 
 attention, and caused all present to predict a brilliant 
 future a prophecy that has been abundantly realised. 
 According to an eye-witness on that occasion the sweet, 
 pure, bird-like notes trilled through the vaulted arches, 
 while the child-singer, with reverent mien and utter 
 absence of self-consciousness, looked like an angel from 
 heaven. As a matter of fact the name was selected by 
 her singing-master at the beginning of her career, and is 
 the extinct title of an old Italian family. 
 
 Her maiden name was Lajeunesse ; Chambley, near 
 Montreal, claims the honour of having been her birth- 
 place, and her parents were French-Canadians. At an 
 early age the little girl was sent to school at the Convent 
 of the Sacred Heart, Montreal, and remained there until 
 her father removed to Albany. At the convent the 
 children and nuns would gather round her during play- 
 hours while she sang with infinite pathos the chants, 
 anthems, and portions of masses that she had heard at 
 the services in the chapel ; from babyhood, indeed, music 
 was her chief delight, and she could reproduce any air 
 that she had heard once and render it in faultless time 
 and tune. The Mother Superior, too, an Italian lady, 
 was wont to call the child to her and bid her sing. ' I 
 used to make her cry/ says Madame Albani-Gye, softly ; 
 ' but in the chapel itself I was only allowed to sing at 
 Christmas, Easter, and on other special feast days.' Up 
 to that time her father, himself an accomplished musician, 
 had been her sole teacher, but by-and-by, as the magni- 
 ficent voice day by day further developed, it became 
 necessary that she should receive more training than 
 could be procured in America. Accordingly, it was 
 decided in family conclave that she should be sent to 
 Paris, and, under the care of the Baroness Lafitte, become 
 the pupil of the celebrated master Duprez, for two years. 
 During that time the young artist made rapid progress ; 
 later she passed on to Milan and placed herself under the 
 tutelage of Signor Lamperti, a distinguished maestro of
 
 48 MADAME ALBANI-GYE 
 
 the day, and applying herself diligently to her studies for 
 the next year she thoroughly mastered the technicalities 
 of her profession. Then came the momentous occasion 
 of her debut at Messina, before which her master said to 
 her, 'I have found you a name. You shall be called 
 " Albani," ' and as Albani she has won her triumphs and 
 made the world ring with her fame. 
 
 Almost immediately afterwards she sang at Malta, 
 where she took the garrison by storm, so to speak, and 
 received no less warm a reception than had been accorded 
 to her at Messina. No such finished and exquisite singing 
 and acting had hitherto been heard and seen at the place 
 it was a revelation to the inhabitants, and, according 
 to the records of the papers of the time, 'the whole 
 populace went wild about her.' Her next performances 
 were during a winter season at Florence, before crowded 
 audiences at the theatre of La Pergola, where the music- 
 loving Italians warmly appreciated the Canadian nightin- 
 gale, and manifested their approval by the most enthu- 
 siastic applause. One of her special successes at that 
 time was the ' Mignon ' of Ambroise Thomas, an opera 
 that had actually been condemned in four different 
 theatres in Italy ; but the young singer saw great possi- 
 bilities in it. When she had conquered the Italian public 
 Madame Albani was invited to London and made her 
 first appearance at the Royal Italian Opera, where she 
 speedily won all hearts. A few years after her arrival 
 here she married Mr. Ernest Gye, a son of the manager 
 of Covent Garden Opera House. 
 
 'And here I have been ever since,' says Madame 
 Albani-Gye, with a smile, ' varied, of course, by many 
 foreign tours. I love the country and the people, who are 
 all so delightful and so faithful to me, and I am always 
 learning always studying. I had three entirely new 
 works to do last year for the Gloucester, Leeds, and 
 Cardiff festivals.' But not only in England and in 
 Italy is the gifted singer heard. She has made many
 
 MADAME ALBANI-GYE 49 
 
 tours in the United States and Canada. She travels at 
 one time to Berlin, to St. Petersburg, to Paris, &c., anon 
 to the Cape, and has sung before every crowned head in 
 Europe, with the invariable result of universal popularity. 
 
 In such a long and varied repertory of operas, so well 
 known to the public as to need few words, it is difficult to 
 say in which part Madame Albani-Gye excels. Among 
 the most popular of her roles are Marguerite, in ' Faust ' ; 
 Elizabeth, in ' Tannhauser ' ; Desdemona, in ' Otello.' 
 Her own favourites are Valentina, in ' Les Huguenots ' ; 
 and Elsa, in ' Lohengrin.' Of late, Edith, in Mr. Frederic 
 Cowen's ' Harold,' has given her much pleasure ; and she 
 speaks in hearty terms of the composer and his work, and 
 of the prestige given to English opera, in that it is the 
 first time it has been played at Covent Garden during an 
 Italian season. For Sir Augustus, too, she has many 
 kind words, and declares that she ' cannot sufficiently 
 admire his great talents for organisation and he is always 
 so nice to work with.' It is possible that Madame Albani- 
 Gye' s convent training, when she so early made acquaint- 
 ance with the masses and requiems of the great masters, 
 inspired her to turn her attention in after years to oratorio 
 to which her great gifts are so strongly adapted as 
 well as to opera. She is always engaged at the chief 
 festivals, and is acknowledged to have no rival in oratorio. 
 She sings in ' The Messiah,' 'Israel in Egypt,' 'Elijah,' 
 ' St. Paul,' 'Judas Maccabaeus,' and many others, and was 
 the first to sing in ' The Golden Legend,' 'Redemption,' 
 and ' The Martyr of Antioch,' as also in Mr. Cowen's 
 ' Ruth,' and in his cantatas, ' St. Ursula ' and ' Water 
 Lily,' together with Dvorak's ' Spectre Bride,' ' St. Lud- 
 mila,' and Gounod's ' Mors et Vita.' 
 
 Her English home, situated in one of the prettiest 
 spots of South Kensington, presents a picturesque appear- 
 ance, and is filled with interesting souvenirs of her career. 
 Here are the pictures given to her by the Queen, together 
 with many gold and silver articles from her Majesty and 
 
 E
 
 50 MADAME ALBANI-GYE 
 
 the Royal Family. The large groups of figures in Sevres 
 biscuit china was a gift from the President of the French 
 Republic, MacMahon ; the painting of the house in Germany 
 where she sang, from the late Empress Augusta ; and 
 there are valuable works of art too numerous to detail. 
 Photographs, all signed, abound, of Royal personages in 
 Europe; a portrait of her only child a son stands on 
 an easel, and on all sides can be seen pictures of brother 
 and sister artists. One of her most valued treasures is a 
 beautifully bound album containing autographs, headed 
 by that of the Queen. ' But, indeed,' says Madame 
 Albani-Gye, 'it would be impossible to tell you of all 
 the kindness I have received from her Majesty and her 
 children, whom I know, admire, and love.' 
 
 GEORGE ALEXANDER 
 
 IT is not uncommon to find that where nature and 
 heredity have been most prolific in their gifts, the happy 
 possessor of these good things is unusually modest in his 
 own appreciation of them. No better instance of the truth 
 of this theory can be found than in the person of the much- 
 respected and popular young actor-manager, Mr. George 
 Alexander, the charm of whose manly, unaffected character 
 is only equalled by his frank, unassuming manner. His 
 inheritances from both parents were singularly fortunate. 
 His mother an Englishwoman of singular beauty and 
 delicate, refined nature combined with a love of literature 
 strong artistic tastes. To her he is indebted for this side 
 of his nature, together with his personal and physical 
 attractions, while to his father a Scottish manufacturer 
 he owes the good business qualities, the practical, 
 methodical habits, and the clear, level head which have 
 contributed so largely to his successful career as a stage- 
 manager.
 
 GEORGE ALEXANDER 51 
 
 But to no one does George Alexander owe his gifts for 
 histrionic art. These originated entirely in himself, for 
 no member of his family had at any time been before the 
 footlights his mother, indeed, had never been inside a 
 theatre, while his father, a Presbyterian of the strictest 
 type, looked on the whole thing as a positive sin and cut 
 his son for going on the stage. George Alexander was 
 born at Beading, and at the age of fourteen accompanied 
 his parents on their return to Scotland. It was during 
 his school-days at Stirling that his innate talent for 
 acting manifested itself, though even then he was much 
 divided in mind between religion and art. At one time he 
 would be engrossed in the symbolisms of religion, in 
 erecting miniature altars, and preaching attired in a 
 white nightshirt to the boys in the dormitory ; at an- 
 other, his histrionic instincts would get the upper hand. 
 Presently he suggested the idea of getting up a little 
 amateur dramatic club at the school, but when the scheme 
 was laid before the authorities the rector pronounced that 
 a club would be too advanced, and, as a sort of com- 
 promise, Christy Minstrels were allowed. However, at 
 some private theatricals at the Bridge of Allan, a classic 
 burlesque called ' Jupiter Aeger ' was performed, in which 
 the young schoolboy made his first appearance on any 
 stage, and played Mercury so ably that a great friend 
 of the family who was present declared that he would 
 rival Mr. Toole some day ! Young Alexander's acting 
 propensities were at that time greatly influenced by Mr. 
 Davenport Adams, but the paternal eye frowned re- 
 provingly upon these proceedings, for the father desired 
 that his son should succeed him in business. As may be 
 supposed, with such natural gifts the son frowned with 
 equal disapproval upon the notion, and at last it was 
 decided to turn him into a doctor, for which purpose he 
 went to Edinburgh for the requisite course of study. But 
 this after a short experience proved quite as distasteful, 
 so to London he was sent, and there launched into 
 
 E 2
 
 52 GEORGE ALEXANDER 
 
 commerce. It was not to be, however. The stars in 
 their courses had ruled that George Alexander was to be 
 an actor and a successful actor. ' Needless to say,' he 
 remarks, while a smile lights up the earnest, deep blue 
 eyes, ' I devoted the whole time that should have been 
 spent in learning business to the play. I became a 
 regular " first-nighter," and from the pit or gallery 
 watched the opening of each piece, and, indeed, passed 
 every evening at the theatre. Of course, I thought myself 
 an excellent critic in those boyish days, and ready to make 
 or mar any actor who came on the stage,' but, he adds 
 after a pause, with a genial laugh, ' having worked up 
 from the lowest rung of the ladder, I find that I am not 
 as good a critic as I was ! ' About this time Mr. Alexander 
 joined the Thames Bowing Club and a company of amateur 
 actors, where he soon took a lead. He played, among parts 
 of all sorts and kinds, those of Jack Wyatt in ' The Two 
 Roses,' Charles Courtly in 'London Assurance,' &c., then, 
 at the brilliant private theatricals at Lady Freake's, the 
 die was cast. His performance in ' The Critic ' was so 
 well received that, encouraged by Major John Holmes, a 
 prominent member of the Club and others George 
 Alexander took the law into his own hands, renounced the 
 desk for good and all, left home while the family were at 
 church, and joined the ranks of professional players. ' My 
 first step,' he says, 'was to take rooms at Blackheath, 
 where I knew no one, but I soon found out that the 
 charming young lady who was my next-door neighbour 
 was Miss Lottie Venne, the first actress I had ever met. 
 She was most kind in giving me advice and encourage- 
 ment. I silently adored her ! ' Soon after, the young 
 player became acquainted with Miss Carlotta Addison, 
 and with this delightful actress he played in ' London 
 Assurance,' then, through Mr. Blackmore's agency, he 
 obtained his first engagement at Nottingham, in Miss 
 Ada Swanborough and Mr. W. H. Vernon's touring 
 company, where he soon showed of what metal he was
 
 GEORGE ALEXANDER 53 
 
 made, and distinguished himself in many juvenile leads. 
 Towards the close of that time he was seen by an agent 
 in advance, Mr. Ward, in ' A Lesson in Love/ in which 
 it may be noted that Mrs. Canninge now a member 
 of his own company was also playing. Mr. Ward 
 strongly recommended the brilliant young actor to Mr. T. 
 W. Robertson, who was just then planning a tour with 
 his late father's comedies, and he was engaged to play 
 D'Alroy, Beaufoy, and all the jeune premier roles. This 
 tour was succeeded by another, and was followed by a 
 well-merited and big jump upwards. George Alexander 
 may well have felt that good and earnest work for, given 
 any amount of natural talent, each onward step has to be 
 gained by a man's own industry had brought its reward 
 when so early in his career he was selected by Mr. Irving 
 to play the important part of Caleb Deecie in ' The Two 
 Roses,' a part that was for many years his favourite 
 representation. The character of D'Albery's brave and 
 gentle blind hero was well suited to the gifted young 
 actor's polished and artistic style. He remembers a little 
 incident connected with that play. The night before it 
 was produced poor Fanny Josephs slipped and hurt her 
 knee, which prevented her from going on, and her place 
 had to be filled by the understudy. He was dreadfully 
 nervous ; in any circumstances it was anxious work to 
 play a part with one's eyes shut, but how much more so 
 with a strange leading lady with whom one had only 
 rehearsed two or three times ! He and the distinguished 
 comedian, Mr. Howe, shared a dressing-room ; the young 
 * Caleb ' was plying the hare's-foot with trembling hand 
 which he vainly tried to steady, the while he cast furtive 
 glances at the older actor, hoping his embarrassment 
 would not be noticed. Presently he was glad to perceive 
 that Mr. Howe was sharing the same sensation. Taking 
 heart of grace, young Alexander whispered, ' I'm fright- 
 fully nervous, I shall never get through,' to which the 
 veteran actor replied, ' Wait, my dear boy, till you have
 
 54 GEORGE ALEXANDER 
 
 been fifty years on the stage as I have, and then you'll 
 know what it means to be really nervous, I never knew 
 a good actor who wasn't.' And it may here be recorded 
 that for eight years Mr. Howe was an encouraging com- 
 panion and friend to his young brother in art, and always 
 ready with a kindly word and deed. As Caleb Deecie, 
 George Alexander established his reputation, and made 
 his way straight to the heart of the public, on whom, as 
 time rolled on, he accentuated and deepened his hold. 
 He spent altogether eight absolutely happy years at the 
 Lyceum, only broken by a short period at the St. James's, 
 where he scored further successes in the characters of 
 Victor de Kiel in ' Impulse,' Octave in ' The Ironmaster,' 
 &c., and made a subsequent tour with the company, 
 followed by a short season with a provincial Shake- 
 spearian company, where he played Benedick, Orlando, 
 Romeo, &c. Now it happened that ' Romeo and Juliet ' 
 was unexpectedly called for one particular Saturday, and 
 Mr. Alexander, who, from much experience, thought he 
 knew that play backwards, had put off its further study 
 until the others should be off his mind, feeling sure it 
 would be all right. When it came to rehearsal, he dis- 
 covered that the Mercutio was well up in the Cumberland 
 edition, while he trained under Mr. Irving was versed 
 in the actual text ; the result was that when it came off 
 they were all adrift, and his opinion is that a somewhat 
 funny performance must have been introduced into the 
 dramatic profession ! The conclusion, however, was very 
 far from being funny. As Romeo threw himself down to 
 die, he discovered, to his dismay, that he had fallen on 
 the exact line where the drop curtain must presently 
 descend, which would have been awkward in its conse- 
 quences In his deep sympathy with his part, Mr. 
 Alexander was, as usual, feeling intensely the touching 
 tragedy, and tears were streaming down his face, but he 
 had the presence of mind to murmur to Juliet to raise his 
 arm and draw him round towards herself ere the curtain
 
 GEORGE ALEXANDER 55 
 
 fell. This she did dexterously enough, and the drop de- 
 scended and hid them from view, but the actress scarcely 
 realised that Mr. Alexander's emotion proceeded from the 
 pathos of the play not the situation and she exclaimed, 
 ' Oh ! cowardy cowardy custard, to cry because you thought 
 the curtain would fall and hurt you ! ' 
 
 Then back to the Lyceum for the remaining term of 
 years, twice broken by trips with the company to America. 
 Mr. Alexander cannot speak warmly and affectionately 
 enough of Sir Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry's ready 
 sympathy and kindly encouragement, both during those 
 years and since he went into management for himself. 
 He added a long and varied repertory to a large store of 
 practical experience, and played among roles too numerous 
 to mention Laertes, Bassanio, Don Pedro, Claudio, 
 Orsino, Squire Thornhill, &c. When ' Eavenscourt ' was 
 to be produced there was no part suitable for him, and 
 then Mr. Alexander decided to carry out a long-cherished 
 wish and enter into management on his own account. 
 Previous to taking the final plunge he accepted an engage- 
 ment to create the leading role in ' London Day by Day,' 
 at the Adelphi, where, in entirely different surroundings, 
 his audiences appreciated him as fully as had those of the 
 Lyceum. During the run of the piece he made all the 
 arrangements for opening the Avenue Theatre with that 
 most amusing farce, ' Dr. Bill,' which actually began 
 before he was able to leave the Adelphi. He then joined 
 his own company, and played the title role for nearly ten 
 months, followed by Mr. Carton's ' Sunlight and Shadow.' 
 The great success of his first venture justified Mr. 
 Alexander's next move to the St. James's with the same 
 play, which was succeeded by a long run with ' The 
 Idler,' and followed in turn by ' Lord Annerly,' Mr. 
 Comyns Carr's ' Forgiveness,' and ' Lady Windermere's 
 Fan.' The ' youngest manager ' in London had indeed 
 changed the luck of the St. James's by his talents, wits, 
 and excellent judgment, but there were more good things
 
 56 GEORGE ALEXANDER 
 
 to follow. Mr. Carton's charming play, ' Liberty Hall,' 
 proved no less attractive, while the sensation caused by 
 Mr. Pinero's ' The Second Mrs. Tanqueray,' Mr. Henry 
 Arthur Jones's ' The Masqueraders,' and Mr. H. V. 
 Esmond's clever drama, ' The Divided Way,' is fresh in 
 the minds of all playgoers. The latest addition is ' The 
 Prisoner of Zenda,' by Mr. E. Rose from Anthony Hope's 
 novel. 
 
 The house in which Mr. Alexander and his charming 
 wife are located, is artistic in all its decorations, for she 
 too has a keen appreciation of the beautiful, and a fine 
 taste for home as well as for scenic effects. Proof 
 engravings and a humorous series of drawings hang on the 
 walls of his study, as also a large portrait of Mr. Irving as 
 Becket and another of Mr. Pinero, called ' A Freak of 
 Cameron's.' The deep, red-tiled hearth gives a fine bit of 
 colour to the surroundings, and on the mantelpiece 
 stands an autographed photograph of Princess Christian ; 
 well-filled bookcases, revolving and others, are all in the 
 utmost order. Not a paper is awry on the handsome 
 marqueterie writing-table. The telephone is close at 
 hand, and under it stands a cabinet which opens with a 
 spring, disclosing pigeon-holes alphabetically numbered 
 and packets neatly docketed, among which, with a fine 
 vein of irony, he keeps all his first theatrical refusals. 
 And there is one specially valued reminiscence. This is 
 a large volume of Shakespeare as put forth in 1623 
 beautifully bound, which was presented to him by Mr. 
 Euskin in the name of the ' Tale of Troy ' Company, of 
 which play Mr. Alexander undertook the management, 
 when Sir Frederic Leighton and other Royal Academi- 
 cians arranged the tableaux. 
 
 Amid such a pressure of business it is difficult to 
 imagine when the distinguished actor-manager finds time 
 to learn his own lines, but this is done at all sorts of odd 
 moments. In fact, he gets his words last of all, chiefly 
 at rehearsal, and knows the whole of the rest of the play
 
 MRS. PARR 57 
 
 first, but confesses to having ' never been a quick study, 
 perhaps slower now than ever.' Unspoiled by success, 
 which he appraises at its exact value, Mr. Alexander is as 
 great a favourite in his own profession and company as he 
 is with the public, while in private life, among a large 
 circle of friends, he is no less beloved than esteemed. 
 
 MBS. PAEE 
 
 THE ancient landmarks of old Kensington are rapidly 
 being removed. ' The old order changeth,' and in these 
 later days there will soon be nothing left to remind the 
 lover of historical relics of the days when Cromwell and 
 Ireton met in the meadow in which Lord Holland's 
 statue now stands the same meadow in which the lovely 
 Lady Sarah Lennox, whose beauty had caught the heart 
 of the youthful George III., was set to make hay, that 
 the sight of her charms as he rode past might lure back 
 the royal youth whose confidence had been shaken by 
 jealous tongues. 
 
 The old inn, where the Holland Arms now stands, is 
 the house to which Addison repaired when his high-born 
 wife, the Countess of Warwick, drove him out of Holland 
 House, in the green lanes of which one could then see 
 ghosts and hear nightingales. These interesting remini- 
 scences are now all of the long past, as is also the salon 
 of Lady Holland, formerly renowned for its brilliant 
 and intellectual guests, such as Brougham, Addison, and 
 Macaulay. Gone, too, is the charming house in which 
 the immortal John Leech lived and died, and where he 
 had as his neighbour Kenelm Digby, author of ' The 
 Broad Stone of Honour.' In place of these old-world 
 dwellings great blocks of lofty flats have been built, and 
 rows of shops electrically lighted. The besom of so-called
 
 58 MRS. PARR 
 
 improvement sweeps away many memories, and even 
 they who have been familiar with the old places forget 
 them as they grow accustomed to the new. 
 
 In one of the houses where Sir David Wilkie painted 
 ' Distraining for Kent ' now in the National Gallery 
 lives the talented author, Mrs. Parr, who came here on 
 her marriage nearly twenty-five years ago. Built after a 
 fashion familiar in the days when space was of no such 
 value as in these, and when George III. was king, the 
 house falls back from the road, and, being approached by 
 a short garden, the busy hum of the incessant traffic is 
 scarcely heard, and to ears accustomed to the sound is 
 not noticed. 
 
 It needs but a glance inside to see that those who 
 dwell here are great lovers of art ; indeed it so happens 
 that Dr. and Mrs. Parr have a taste in common in the 
 love of the beautiful and of the artistic. The hall is lined 
 with old prints, engravings, etchings, and rare views of 
 old Kensington. The drawing-rooms are a study of 
 choice specimens of pottery, china, and of genuine mar- 
 queterie work, and you are tempted to linger long over 
 the fascinating art treasures, many of which have a story 
 of interest and of association. ' They were collected/ 
 says Mrs. Parr, ' in the days when taste and judgment 
 helped more than now, and it was not so necessary to 
 have a well-filled purse and a long pocket.' 
 
 The author's own little sitting-room is of a more 
 simple description. Here she has gathered around her 
 the gifts of friends and admirers, little treasures valued 
 when a child, portraits, souvenirs of those dear to her ; 
 among these are many ornaments of an artistic importance, 
 notably a fan hanging in a case on the wall, which 
 belonged to a daughter of Bishop Burnet, the historian 
 of the Keformation, who was born in 1643. He brought 
 various letters from America from persons who claimed 
 to belong to the family, and who were interested in this 
 relic. Another fan, exquisitely painted, is of Louis
 
 MRS. PARR 59 
 
 Quatorze day ; a third, more modern, is perhaps the 
 most valued of the three. It was designed by Mr. 
 George Fox, and bears Mrs. Parr's monogram, crest, and 
 motto, ' Amour avec Loiaulte.' This was a gift from her 
 husband, and on each leaf an artist has left his sign- 
 manual and autograph. Here are the names of Charles 
 Keene, of John Tenniel, Farquharson, Boughton, Hamo 
 Thornycroft, and of Henry Selons, whose portrait hangs 
 opposite a fine etching of the author of ' Self -Help,' Dr. 
 Smiles, by Rajon. On the mantelpiece stands a quaint 
 Staffordshire vase given to Mrs. Parr by the old fisher 
 folk with whom she lodged while at Polperro, where is 
 laid the scene of her well-known novel, ' Adam and Eve,' 
 a smuggling story founded on incidents that actually 
 happened early in the present century, and which are 
 related in Mr. Couch's ' History of Polperro.' 
 
 In order to get the briny essence of the sea into her 
 nature, and to thoroughly imbue herself with its atmo- 
 sphere and the spirit of its people, the author went down 
 to the picturesque village ' which coucheth between two 
 hills,' and wrote a great portion of her novel there. So 
 faithfully is the place portrayed that a friend, led by his 
 interest in the story to pay a visit to the place, said 
 ' "Adam and Eve " is a perfect guide-book to Polperro.' 
 
 ' I used to talk to the old sailors,' says Mrs. Parr, 
 ' and try to get from them all they remembered of bygone 
 days, and I would get them to come in the evenings to 
 the house and relate stories of the smuggling days. Later, 
 they were much surprised and delighted to find that some 
 of the things they said were in a book. These ' (pointing 
 to two pieces of magnificent brocade, woven in gold on a 
 yellow ground) ' are portions of a gown worn by an old 
 fisherman's mother, whose husband was a notorious 
 smuggler ; it had silver buttons, and the elbow ruffles 
 were of lace worth a guinea a yard. The old woman's 
 boast had been that on her wedding-day she curled her 
 hair with five pound notes ! I have a passion,' she adds,
 
 60 MRS. PARR 
 
 smiling, ' for relics and curios, old lace, old silver, all that 
 there is of the most old.' 
 
 Born of a generation of sailors, Mrs. Parr has that 
 love of the sea which comes as a heritage. Her father 
 was an officer in the Royal Navy, and the early part of 
 her life was spent at Plymouth. She says of herself, as 
 of her heroine in ' Adam and Eve,' she was ' a sailor's 
 child, and her inheritance was the love that is born in the 
 hearts of those whose fathers, and their fathers before 
 them, have gone down to the sea in ships and seen the 
 wonders of the deep.' 
 
 With no hereditary leaning to literature, nothing 
 seemed more improbable than that she should ever become 
 a novelist. The talent, however, may perhaps have 
 originated in her early school days, when she would write 
 her own and her companions' themes with ease, while in 
 return they would do her needlework, which she hated. 
 Still, Mrs. Parr is of the opinion that she might never 
 have written at all but for the encouragement she received, 
 before her marriage, from her husband. He stimulated 
 her intellectual faculties, and gave the impetus ijiat she 
 needed, and has ever been her most severe and her kindest 
 critic. 
 
 Her first story, ' How it all Happened,' appeared in 
 ' Good Words,' and was written under the pseudonym of 
 Mrs. Olinthus Lobb. It was at once a success, and in a 
 few weeks was applied for to be reproduced as a feuilleton 
 in the ' Journal des Debats,' the editor apologising to his 
 readers for departing from his rule never to take transla- 
 tions. The Queen of Wurtemburg then asked for it to 
 be rendered into German. In America it was published 
 in pamphlet form. Mrs. Parr may be said to have made 
 a good start, but she is most anxious modestly to explain 
 that she looked upon it more as a chance incident than 
 from her own merits, but here her readers will be inclined 
 to differ from her. It is a particularly bright, amusing 
 little tale, and there is a humorous story connected with
 
 MRS. PARR 61 
 
 it. Some seven or eight years later her husband had 
 asked a few friends to dinner. One of the gentlemen, 
 during a conversation upon authors, said, ' I should much 
 like to meet a Mrs. Olinthus Lobb.' 'Why? ' asked his 
 host. ' Because,' was the reply, ' she completely turned 
 into ridicule the staff of the Jermyn Street Museum [he 
 was the head of one of the departments there] and even 
 caricatured my face and figure.' Great was the laughter 
 when he was told that his hostess was the culprit, and 
 assured that at the time the story was written she had 
 never been to the Museum, and that the artist had never 
 seen him. 
 
 She wrote ' Good Cheer ' in collaboration with the 
 Rev. Norman McLeod, and immediately afterwards was 
 invited by Mr. Strahan to ' try her hand at a novel,' which 
 was at first written as a short tale, called ' The Glove- 
 maker's Daughter.' He returned it, saying it was ' too 
 much like a Chinese puzzle, but would make a good three- 
 volume novel.' The idea was carried out, and it after- 
 wards became the successful work entitled ' Dorothy 
 Fox.' After it had been accepted, on Mrs. Parr going to 
 see Mr. Strahan, he said, while speaking in praise of the 
 story, ' but I wish you had made me like Josiah Crewdon/ 
 ' Give it back to me,' answered the author, ' and I will 
 make you like him.' Taking it home she re-wrote half, 
 entirely altering Crewdon's character. Mr. Strahan saw 
 the improvement and predicted that the book would be 
 very popular, a prophecy that was soon fulfilled, and 
 Mrs. Parr declares that she always felt most grateful for 
 the suggestion. By a strange coincidence the handsome 
 cheque for this work arrived on her wedding morning. 
 The story dealt with life amongst ' The Friends.' Its 
 phenomenal success in America made her most popular, 
 and invitations came from many of the Members to visit 
 the States. The author received a variety of letters on 
 the subject ; some of the more emancipated of the Society 
 were much pleased, but a few of the older and stricter
 
 62 MRS. PARR 
 
 sort made protests on the score of Josiah Crewdon being 
 a portrait and well known in Leeds. This, however, was 
 not the case. 
 
 Her next novel, ' The Prescotts,' is a West-country 
 story, full of the humour that the writer possesses in a 
 high degree, humour which from the first was recognised 
 and welcomed by all her critics. 
 
 In the intervals between the production of longer 
 books, Mrs. Parr contributed articles to various leading 
 magazines, such as the ' History of Fans,' in ' Harper's,' 
 illustrated by Mr. Boughton, and the series of ' Follies in 
 Fashion ' in the ' Pall Mall Magazine.' These last are 
 most amusing, and are illustrated with fac- similes of old 
 prints in Dr. Parr's collection. Some day she proposes 
 to put into proper form a history of Kensington, for which 
 she has been accumulating material for many years. 
 
 ' Robin,' ' The Squire,' and ' Loyalty George ' are the 
 titles of other of the author's works. She is sometimes 
 accused of making sad endings, but the fact is that she 
 never shrinks from what she considers the natural, logical, 
 and consequently the most artistic denouement, to which 
 the force of character and of circumstance has been work- 
 ing. To this quality may be due the reproaches some- 
 times addressed to her in private letters during the run of 
 some novel in a magazine. On one occasion a letter was 
 received by her publishers, saying that the writer should 
 not shield herself with an ' i ' instead of an ' e ' in the 
 name, for it was evident that she must know him, as the 
 circumstances were exactly those of his own life. To this 
 there was but one answer possible. She knew nothing of 
 him, and as the character died in the next number, it was 
 to be hoped that he would be satisfied of the truth of her 
 assertion. 
 
 Mrs. Parr writes of the sea, in which she ever finds a 
 fresh charm, of the winds and storms, of the great jutting 
 rocks, and of the bold cliffs, with an atmospheric truth, 
 in such graceful yet highly descriptive and vivid word-
 
 MRS. PARR 63 
 
 painting, that the reader follows step by step with breath- 
 less interest. She seems to hold one handle of the electric 
 chain, whilst the other is in the hand of her public. Each 
 character is admirably yet simply drawn from close 
 observation of life, with conscientious care. In ' Loyalty 
 George ' there is one Mrs. Coode, who, with her quaint 
 sayings and shrewd wisdom, falls no whit short of the 
 immortal Mrs. Poyser, while Loyalty herself, Miss Anne, 
 and Roger Coode are masterpieces of portraiture. Again 
 there is a tragedy, and the book closes with a scene of rare 
 dramatic power. 
 
 Undoubtedly one of the reasons why Mrs. Parr has 
 the power of evoking so much sympathy in her works, 
 is because, when she is going to write about any 
 particular spot, she visits it, and spends much time there, 
 so as to enter into its spirit and to be influenced by its 
 surroundings. The coast has an effect upon her imagina- 
 tion that mountains and scenery without sea never possess. 
 She has been a great traveller in Italy, in Algeria, in 
 Sicily, and in France, but during these visits she has 
 never been able to write ; she invariably finds that her 
 best work is done in some quiet, out-of-the-world village, 
 where the only relaxation is to be found amongst the 
 simple fisher-folk, and that the rough wild sea-coasts 
 afford the most powerful inspiration. 
 
 A propos of ' Adam and Eve,' a few years ago Mrs. 
 Parr was at Plymouth, and went into a shop to buy a 
 photograph of Polperro. Selecting one, she asked the 
 attendant, a true ' Devonshire maid,' ignorant of her 
 customer, ' Is this one thought good ? ' ' Why, yes,' 
 replied the girl ; ' this is the place where Joan watched the 
 fight from, and 'tis there that Eve stood to take her last 
 look.' 
 
 ' I felt very proud,' says Mrs. Parr, ' nearly as much so 
 as when in return for a copy of the book sent, I had a 
 letter from a rough old sailor who wrote, " I hadn't gone 
 far afore I'd got to take off my coat to it, and there was
 
 64 MRS. PARR 
 
 no turnin' in for me till I'd gone from cover to cover." 
 The author laughingly contrasts this praise with the 
 admiration occasionally offered in the world of Society, 
 and with a fine sense of humour gives an instance. A 
 lady stopped her in the street to say, ' Oh ! we have been 
 so enchanted with " Adam and Eve," we couldn't put it 
 down.' ' I hope you liked Joan?' replied Mrs. Parr. 
 '"Joan?" Oh, yes, by Bhoda Broughton. I've for- 
 gotten now what it was like, but I know we raved over it.' 
 
 There is yet one more recollection of this Cornish 
 story, and one that is of great beauty. The high oak 
 mantelpiece in the dining-room is set with Liverpool tiles, 
 representing the celebrated actors and actresses of the last 
 century in their favourite roles. These tiles of which a 
 similar set is framed in Kensington Museum she brought 
 from Polperro. 
 
 Mrs. Parr remarks pleasantly that she is one of the 
 fortunate people who from the beginning have had occa- 
 sion to speak well of publishers and the public. Perhaps 
 her amiable nature and unfailing tact may have something 
 to do with that. To young and struggling authors she is 
 well known as a kind and helpful adviser ; one who is ever 
 ready to give them the benefit of her large experience, and 
 to comfort and warn them against discouragements, 
 while those who have the privilege of a closer acquaint- 
 ance, can warmly testify to the strength and loyalty of 
 her friendship. 
 
 SIE AUGUSTUS HAEEIS 
 
 A FULL history of the career of the great impresario, Sir 
 Augustus Harris, would fill two or three large volumes, 
 but until he, too, shall have given forth his 'Kemini- 
 scences ' to the world, a brief summary of his life and 
 work will be found of interest. But first, a word of the
 
 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS 65 
 
 man himself, the courteous, genial, kindly gentleman who, 
 with many gigantic enterprises on his shoulders and, 
 besides, his coming opera season, generously accords you 
 the favour of an hour's conversation and, without any 
 semblance of hurry, walks up and down the room and 
 relates a few incidents of a busy, eventful career. Blessed 
 with an enormous talent for organisation, with a quick 
 insight into every business detail, and a profound know- 
 ledge of human nature, he is also brimful of tact ; the 
 consequence is, that his huge machinery of people and 
 of things runs on oiled wheels. But only those who are 
 privileged to get a peep behind the scenes can at all realise 
 the vastness of his undertakings, or the amount of physical 
 and mental strength expended in bringing about such 
 brilliant results. 
 
 His study a harmony in white and blue is a sight 
 to behold, with its doors leading in every direction, and its 
 well-filled book-shelves ; a billiard-table forms his writing- 
 desk, and is loaded with what may be called a tidy litter 
 of proofs, scores, costume-books, plays to be read, photo- 
 graphs, &c. Two shorthand secretaries are hard at work, 
 and a type-writer is at hand. Every few minutes tele- 
 grams and bundles of letters arrive. In the most metho- 
 dical manner Sir Augustus glances over them, says a few 
 words to one, dictates a message to another, anon resumes 
 his walk and, going to a large portfolio opposite, leisurely 
 and as if he had the whole day before him for frivolling, 
 turns over and exhibits a collection #$' beautiful hand- 
 tinted photographs, just received, of Japanese people. 
 
 He was born in Paris, and is the son of the late Mr. 
 Augustus Harris, renowned for his skill as the finest 
 manager of Italian opera in London, but who was looked 
 on as the black sheep of the family when he was first 
 known to enter the portals of a theatre. His grandfather 
 was a Glossop, and his grandmother the celebrated singer 
 Madame Feron ; so on both sides he may be said to have 
 inherited his artistic tastes. The last four years of his 
 
 F
 
 66 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS 
 
 school-days were passed at the College Chaptal, Paris, 
 during which time he was in the habit of spending his 
 Sundays with Madame Patti, and pronounces it to be ' the 
 best turn the Empire ever did him ; ' he had also the 
 additional advantage of being constantly thrown into 
 the society of the greatest artists, Eossini, Auber, Faure, 
 Brandus, the musical editor of Meyerbeer, &c., and was 
 enfant de la maison in all the cream of military and 
 professional circles. Notwithstanding that his natural pro- 
 clivities were fostered by such surroundings, and by being 
 taken daily to the operas on the French stage which he 
 declares was then ' miles ahead of the English ' he was 
 actually destined for business, and on his return to London 
 he went to the Japanese College, and studied silk for a time 
 at St. Katherine Docks. There Baron Erlanger offered 
 him a seat in his office as foreign correspondent, at the end 
 of which period he left for Paris, and entered the American 
 firm of Tiffiny, diamond merchants. Six months later 
 his father died, and the young Augustus Harris not seeing 
 before him the position to which he aspired, and with every 
 thought and idea fixed on the stage threw up a fine appoint- 
 ment, and elected to sink or swim on the waters of histri- 
 onic life. ' I began at the foot of the ladder,' he says, 
 cheerfully. ' There was a revival of " Macbeth " at Man- 
 chester, and my first appearance before the footlights was as 
 Malcolm with Miss Genevieve Ward as the Queen. Thence 
 to Liverpool, where I played different roles every night with 
 Barry Sullivan, and had a hot time learning them ! ' 
 
 Then for a brief while the young player acted as stage- 
 manager to Mr. Mapleson; and his next move was to 
 Germany, where he was introduced to Madame Lucca, and 
 through the influence of Prince Bismarck he obtained the 
 entree to the opera-house every night. A four years' en- 
 gagement ensued as stage-manager to Mr. Mapleson, and 
 on the departure of that gentleman to America, Augustus 
 Harris ' went into pantomime ' at the Crystal Palace ; 
 later, when ' Pink Dominoes ' was to be put into rehearsal
 
 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS 67 
 
 at the Criterion, Mr. Wyndham asked him to read the part 
 of Harry Grunley ; but one reading settled the matter, and 
 he was put into the bill and played the character for 
 500 nights without a break. At its conclusion Mr. Harris 
 heard that there was a similar part in Mr. G. R. Sims's 
 ' Crutch and Toothpick,' about to be produced by Mr. 
 Bruce. Thither the young actor repaired, to hear though 
 the place was not filled there was nothing for him. ' Don't 
 you want a stage-manager, or under- study, or anything ? ' 
 he asked. But no ; Mr. Bruce was in the happy position 
 of wanting nothing ! Not to be daunted, he dropped in 
 another day, found Mr. Bruce busy over a play ' The 
 Zoo ' and helped him so successfully that Mr. Bruce 
 remarked drily, ' You had better stay on as stage-manager, 
 or under-study, or anything,' which he did, and found him- 
 self one day, in conjunction with Mr. E. Rose, staging 
 'Venus/ which brought a small fortune to its owner. 
 
 But the present impresario had no idea of going in for 
 comedy alone. This was all paving the way for what was to 
 follow, and his ambition soared to have a theatre of his 
 own. Drury Lane was then to be let ; a backer was found ; 
 but though the young manager used all his ingenuity and 
 diplomacy to bring him to book, the money promised was 
 not forthcoming. Then did the stout-hearted spirit bestir 
 itself and, after an infinite amount of trouble, succeed. 
 ' Ultimately,' he remarks, reflectively, ' I managed to get 
 the thing together, but that first year was a hard one, and 
 there were many rocks to get through ; however, it was 
 good experience.' It must have been, indeed, an anxious 
 time, as the first venture proved. Mr. Pettitt went to him 
 and asked if, like other managers, he intended to produce 
 Shakespeare only, or would give young authors a chance, 
 further mentioning that he had a play written in conjunc- 
 tion with Mr. Merritt. An appointment was made to hear 
 it read, but though not exactly what was wanted, the joint 
 authors were told that if they liked to collaborate with 
 himself in a play of which he had the scenario, in mind,
 
 68 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS 
 
 the thing might be worked. Accordingly, ' The World ' 
 was put on. At first it did not make much way, though 
 enormously applauded ; for four weeks it looked very 
 dangerous ; it was in the dog-days, and the public came 
 spasmodically. Then it woke up, took a long lease of life, 
 and proved the first of many brilliant successes ; the latest 
 is the popular melodrama, ' Cheer, Boys, Cheer ! ' at Drury 
 Lane. 
 
 But the perfect production of opera was what he 
 yearned after. It had declined since the days when his 
 father staged with much splendid spectacular effects ' Le 
 Prophete,' ' La Juive,' ' Les Huguenots,' &c., and his 
 desire was achieved in this wise. ' One evening,' he 
 relates, ' I went to the opera in Drury Lane and was sur- 
 prised to see what an awful performance it was. I then 
 and there resolved to try my hand, and that I would revive 
 it altogether or give it a decent burial ; but it was at first 
 a very bad patient ! ' he adds with a laugh. Needless to 
 say, the ' patient ' soon recovered under its new doctor 
 Augustus Harris, past master of practical detail and of 
 scenic effects. His first effort, and one which he considers 
 inaugurated a new era on the English stage, was the 
 introduction of the Saxe-Meiningen Company at Covent 
 Garden in 1882. Year after year the enterprising impre- 
 sario has added to his triumphs. Being an excellent 
 linguist, and always on the look-out for fresh novelties and 
 the greatest artists, he has been able to produce opera in 
 many languages. In the Jubilee year he won the well- 
 merited order of Knighthood on the occasion of the late 
 German Emperor's last visit to England. During 1894 
 he put forth light works in German at Drury Lane, together 
 with twenty-one operas at Covent Garden, among which 
 was Mr. Frederic Cowen's 'Signa.' The year 1895 wel- 
 comed Mesdames Patti and Albani (an event of peculiar 
 interest, as these two artists had not been seen on the stage 
 together for some years), Macintyre, Eavogli, Le Jeune, 
 the brothers de Eeszke, Tamagno, Pessina, De Lucia, and
 
 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS 69 
 
 many other popular favourites, while ' Le Prophete,' 
 ' Mefistofele,' ' Otello,' ' Lohengrin/ ' II Trovatore,' ' Phi- 
 lemon et Baucis,' and ' Fra Diavolo ' were among the rich 
 treats provided not to speak of the visit of the Saxe- 
 Coburg Company to Drury Lane by one who owns the 
 proud distinction of having brought the opera to its present 
 state of perfection. But and as if this were not enough 
 for one brain to conceive and carry out Sir Augustus 
 Harris must needs turn his attention to the regeneration 
 of Pantomime, and some years ago waved his magic rod 
 over this branch of theatrical art. A headpiece and the 
 judicious expenditure of 20,OOOZ. where only between 
 2,000?. and 3,OOOZ. had previously been laid out enabled 
 this remarkable man to produce such magnificence as can 
 never be rivalled ; though, to be sure, directly he achieved 
 such marvellous work, many fresh Eichmonds appeared 
 in the field, invariably with the effect of doing no good for 
 themselves, if indeed they do not get a tumble, or a rap 
 over the knuckles ! But it is ever thus : the great mind 
 originates and carries out ; the feebler imitates feebly ; the 
 former makes the success, the latter tries to take the glory 
 away from it. The same spirit of improvement prompted 
 Sir Augustus Harris long ago in melodrama. He desired to 
 make comedy more dramatic with less of the ' blood and 
 thunder ' element, and what he sought to do in that direc- 
 tion he fully succeeded in doing. Again the same wish 
 inspired him to take the Palace of Varieties ; he designed 
 to raise the tone of these entertainments, and when people 
 asked him why he bothered himself about the improve- 
 ment of music-halls, and what class of people he expected 
 and hoped to get there, his reply was prompt and to the 
 point ' The same who come to Covent Garden.' 
 
 As may be supposed, the charming home of Sir 
 Augustus and Lady Harris contains all that there is of the 
 most artistic within and without. It stands secluded in 
 the most beautiful corner of Eegent's Park, and is sur- 
 rounded by fine old trees and undulating lawns that are
 
 70 SIR AUGUSTUS HARRIS 
 
 gay with flower-beds. The approach is by a turfed lane, 
 bordered on each side by trees, and on the left stands the 
 Church of St. Stephen with its old-fashioned tower that 
 forms a picturesque object in the foreground. 
 
 ' The place has a musical reputation,' says Sir Augustus, 
 as he leads the way out to the garden. ' Grisi lived here 
 many years ago, but it has been much enlarged since 
 then. It is so quiet and retired we might be miles in the 
 country, and I do a good deal of thinking out and planning 
 on these lawns.' 
 
 Lady Harris's delightful garden parties in this peaceful 
 spot have a great renown. A perfect hostess, she and Sir 
 Augustus here gather around them the most distinguished 
 in the world of fashion and of art, and their home is 
 enlivened by the presence of an only child, a sweet little 
 maiden of ten years, who is the idol of her parents' hearts. 
 
 ' I have stuck to my guns,' says Sir Augustus with a 
 kindly smile, ' even when I have been mauled about by 
 the enemy, which reminds me of a little story told me by 
 Sir Evelyn Wood. When he was going up the Nile he 
 didn't know how to cross the rapids ; he was advised not 
 to attempt it, but Lord Charles Beresford said, " Get 
 through, or leave the ship's bottom stranded." It was 
 the spirit of a soldier, and should be the same of a theatri- 
 cal manager. Do or die \ ' 
 
 And it is precisely this spirit that has animated Sir 
 Augustus Harris in his gigantic undertakings, and has won 
 for him unprecedented success and the undying gratitude 
 of the public. 
 
 SARAH GEAND 
 
 DESCENDED alike on each side from a race of artistic and 
 talented families, of whom it might confidently have 
 been predicted that, sooner or later, they would give to the 
 world a poet, a painter, or an author of great note, Sarah
 
 MADAME SARAH GRAND
 
 SARAH GRAND 71 
 
 Grand has fully verified these expectations, and proved 
 that bon sang ne pent pas mentir by making for her- 
 self early in life a distinguished and unique name in 
 literature. 
 
 Highly educated and accustomed from childhood to 
 associate with cultured people, she was reared, so to speak, 
 in an artistic as well as in a good social atmosphere, which 
 has imbued her whole being, and led her to cultivate to 
 the uttermost the intellectual gifts for which she is so 
 renowned. 
 
 With every womanly grace and charm, a very gentle, 
 quiet manner, and a low, musical voice, the young author 
 is in herself a proof that it is generally the most highly 
 educated of her sex who are the most refined ; she holds 
 the strongest opinions on this point, and maintains ear- 
 nestly and on all occasions, that there is no reason why 
 women who have attained unto knowledge should lose any 
 of the charm of their feminine attributes, and that culture 
 should not only stimulate them to increased efforts to 
 stand by each other at all times and seasons, but also to 
 preserve each in herself, in all its strength and glory, the 
 respect and reverence due to womanhood. 
 
 ' I always think,' she remarks quietly, ' that women 
 who cultivate the best there is within themselves, will do 
 more with a word than the too combative with their 
 insistence and arguments, and they should never let it be 
 supposed that because they advocate the " higher educa- 
 tion," it unfits them for domestic duties or renders them 
 unable to handle a baby, or darn a stocking. As it hap- 
 pens,' she adds, with a smile, ' I can manage to do both, I 
 think.' 
 
 Sarah Grand's surroundings are in complete harmony 
 with her opinions. In one of the oldest roads of historic 
 Kensington, there has lately been erected a gigantic block 
 of buildings that stand well back from the noisy hum 
 of traffic, and by reason of their great height ensure the 
 peace and quiet so necessary to a student. At the top
 
 72 SARAH GRAND 
 
 floor of the further end of these mansions, a door opens 
 into a broad, carpeted hall the walls of which are decorated 
 with spears, quaint old daggers, swords and other warlike 
 implements sent to her by her soldier stepsons, from 
 Africa and Abyssinia, together with various cleverly exe- 
 cuted etchings and drawings. On the left, the large, 
 nearly square room where you presently find yourself, 
 presents a bright and picturesque aspect. The four long 
 windows in one broad flat bay running entirely across 
 the south side with tapestry settees below, are hung with 
 rich, gold embroidered Rose du Barri silk curtains. The 
 rays of the summer sun stealing through their soft folds, 
 cast ruddy tints on the amber-tiled fireplace and white 
 Louis Quinze carved mantelshelf, a faint gleam of colour 
 just resting on the central figure above a gravure of the 
 ' Cruche Cassee,' after Greuze's painting in the Louvre. 
 A thick Persian carpet of subdued tints with deep border 
 of exquisite colouring nearly covers the polished floor ; a 
 restful looking Chesterfield couch with big down cushions, 
 is covered with rare old Gobelin tapestry ; in the further 
 corner stands an ancient Chippendale writing-bureau with 
 papers neatly arranged. Two large photographs, hand- 
 somely framed, stand on a small Sheraton table near, to 
 which Madame Sarah Grand draws your attention. ' They 
 are the portraits of my stepsons/ she explains. ' They 
 do all the business of life for me, and are the greatest 
 friends I have in the world.' Eoses everywhere in 
 abundance, gifts from many friends, who seem to have 
 vied with each other on her fete day to bring to Sarah 
 Grand the tributes she loves best. On yonder Chinese 
 ebony stand with marble top is a gigantic bowl of old 
 blue and white Delft full of roses, Marechal Niel, gloire 
 de Dijon, and the deep red, velvety blossoms of the ' Black 
 Prince,' amidst which a bumble bee drones and hums, 
 filling the air with languorous sound. A butterfly from 
 the neighbouring gardens, attracted by the sweet breath 
 of the flowers, has flown in and poises lightly with
 
 SARAH GRAND 73 
 
 quivering wings on a fragrant bunch of mignonette. The 
 pale China-blue walls with deeper tinted friezes are hung 
 with choice original etchings of ' Morninquest.' 
 
 Madame Sarah Grand's taste in literature is indicated 
 by many well-worn volumes in the bookcase. Never a 
 great reader of stories, she prefers fact to fiction, and 
 natural history, physiology, and also what may be called 
 quasi-scientific books such as Nesbit's. She delights in 
 Emerson's ' Essays,' and Oliver Wendell Holmes's ' Break- 
 fast Table Series ' occupy a prominent place. ' All that 
 warm one's heart and enlarge one's sympathies,' she says, 
 ' all that are sweet, wholesome and most nourishing 
 amongst the poets, Shelley, Swinburne, Tennyson, Long- 
 fellow, according to one's mood.' The piano opposite has 
 its own special use as an aid to thought, as when she 
 wants to think out any serious thing, she sits down to 
 play and finds that Beethoven and Chopin are the most 
 helpful composers. 
 
 A small Chippendale table is laid out with a dainty 
 little Queen Anne tea-service, and whilst your hostess dis- 
 penses the tea, her personality is rapidly committed to 
 your memory and may be described as follows : Something 
 over the medium height, and slight in figure, the face, of 
 pure ova'l shape, is crowned with soft brown curly hair ; a 
 brow that indicates intellect and spirituality ; eyes deep 
 grey in hue ; and a complexion of delicate colouring ; a 
 serious, somewhat sad, expression when in repose, but 
 which relaxes into a smile of winning sweetness as she 
 indulges you at your earnest request with a slight sketch 
 of her brief literary career. 
 
 ' I was neither particularly thoughtful nor studious as 
 a child,' she remarks, as she hands you a cup of tea ; ' in- 
 deed, I can remember getting into various scrapes at 
 school, owing to over high spirits.' She loved out-of-door 
 life, pet animals taking the place of dolls, whilst her special 
 delight was an aquarium, for which she used to grub about 
 in ditches in search of specimens ; but at a very early age
 
 74 SARAH GRAND 
 
 her imagination began to work, long before her intellect 
 was fully awakened ; for she used to tell serial stories 
 some time before she had learnt to write them. She had 
 always the run of a good library, and began to realise 
 quite suddenly the depth of social questions ; then the 
 impulse to express her ideas grew strong in her mind, 
 ' and,' she remarks thoughtfully, after a pause, ' I wrote 
 simply because I could not help it.' 
 
 Her musical nature found vent at the age of eleven, 
 when she wrote a song and set it to music, a remembrance 
 at which she laughs now, though at the time she felt it 
 to be a distinct grievance that it was not published. 
 Gifted with keen powers of observation, she had been 
 from youth up in the habit of always carrying a note-book, 
 in which she recorded impressions of people and things, a 
 habit which she pronounces to have been invaluable in 
 her profession, and she has now a large collection of little 
 volumes filled with these jottings. 
 
 Sarah Grand's first real start in literature was made 
 with the production of ' Ideala,' a study from life, though 
 she had previously written several short stories and essays. 
 There was considerable difficulty with this work. After 
 many rejections, the author, nothing daunted by failure, 
 decided to publish it at her own expense, and having the 
 courage of her opinions, she was rewarded by seeing 
 the book pass into four editions. It is perhaps interest- 
 ing to note, in relation to the late controversy about the 
 three-volume novel that Madame Sarah Grand's first 
 work was brought out by herself in one volume. That 
 she succeeded in making herself heard and appreciated 
 by the public is proved by the fact that, although it is 
 eight years since ' Ideala ' was written, a new edition of 
 ten thousand copies has been lately brought out by Mr. 
 Heinemann. 
 
 Her next important venture was ' The Heavenly 
 Twins,' a work which was more discussed and more 
 widely sold than any book of the day. Two years of
 
 SARAH GRAND 75 
 
 much preparation and thought, of patient and earnest 
 study for such a book could not have been written on 
 the impulse of the moment were expended on this cele- 
 brated novel. Into it Sarah Grand put all that was best 
 of herself. She sat down, not to write what is ordinarily 
 meant by writing a novel with a purpose, but to depict a 
 neighbourhood with its group of characters, types evolved 
 by close observation, with the idea of developing them on 
 natural lines, treating them without prejudice or making 
 them answer to foregone conclusions. One great pleasure 
 that this remarkable book has given the author, is the 
 receipt of many letters from medical men, known and 
 unknown, complimenting her on her accurate knowledge 
 of physiology and of pathology ; another keen enjoyment 
 has been derived from letters from absolute strangers, 
 women in distant lands, telling her that she has done 
 more for the cause of women and children than she will 
 ever know. 
 
 But Sarah Grand's writings are by no means confined 
 to abstruse physiological subjects. A keen sense of 
 humour peeps out in the story of ' Ah Man,' the Chinese 
 servant, and a note of indescribable pathos in ' Janey, a 
 Humble Administrator ; ' while the other stories in ' Our 
 Manifold Nature ' are full of exquisite little episodes which 
 betray the deep poetic feeling of the gifted writer. 
 
 She has enlarged her experience greatly by foreign 
 travel. A prolonged tour in the East gave Sarah Grand a 
 fine opportunity for making herself thoroughly acquainted 
 with the various types of Oriental character and their 
 manner of life. She passed through Egypt, Ceylon, the 
 Straits Settlements, and so on to China and Japan, where,, 
 with her English maid and a Chinese cook, she spent 
 some time in the house of the mayor of a little village, and 
 there learnt much of native life from the inside. Then 
 she returned through the beautiful Inland Sea, touching 
 at Shanghai. Always a worshipper of the sea in its ever- 
 changing moods and an ardent admirer of nature and of
 
 76 SARAH GRAND 
 
 fine views, the picturesque loveliness of the Land of the 
 Rising Sun, with its tranquillising and inspiring scenery, 
 appealed strongly to Sarah Grand's artistic temperament. 
 Strolling here and there as fancy dictated, she extended 
 her interesting and instructive wanderings, and it was 
 about five years before she turned her footsteps home- 
 ward. 
 
 An early riser, she devotes from eight o'clock to three 
 daily to intellectual pursuits. She has no settled method 
 of weaving a plot ; but before a new work is in contempla- 
 tion, as is the case at present, she has a general idea of 
 the whole, with a knowledge of what she is going to do 
 with a central figure or two in the foreground. Then the 
 characters shape themselves as they develop, and some- 
 times, as she says, they run away with her ; but she finds 
 that the manifold interruptions and distractions of busy 
 London are very serious hindrances to steady work, so, 
 disliking crowds and retaining her early love of outdoor 
 life, she is apt occasionally to make a temporary retreat 
 to some lovely spot, where, among picturesque surround- 
 ings, in pure air and under the leafy trees, she can 
 commune with nature and pursue her art in comparative 
 solitude. 
 
 Not to all authors is it given to win fame and inde- 
 pendence so early in life; but with Sarah Grand the 
 prominent idea is to be sincere, thorough, and true to 
 herself. ' Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might,' she observes reverently. Like one of her own 
 heroines, she possesses a ' mind of exceptional purity as 
 well as of exceptional strength ; one to be enlightened by 
 knowledge, not corrupted.' The keynote of her nature is 
 her intense and tender sympathy with the weak and the 
 oppressed. It is undoubtedly this earnestness and tho- 
 roughness of purpose, this ' doing with her might,' that 
 has stood her in good stead thoroughout her hitherto short 
 but brilliant literary career
 
 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 77 
 
 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 
 
 IT is curious and interesting to notice, if you go through 
 life with observant eyes and a somewhat inquiring mind, 
 how often that which seems to be the merest chance inci- 
 dent is capable of deciding that all-important matter a 
 man's career. Perhaps, if Mr. Henry Arthur Jones had 
 not on one memorable evening when he was only eighteen 
 years of age, dropped in at the Haymarket Theatre, it 
 might never have occurred to him to turn his attention to 
 dramatic literature. He might, instead, now have been 
 one of the merchant princes of London, and the world 
 might never have enjoyed the rich treats of such powerful 
 and original plays as ' Judah,' ' The Dancing Girl,' ' The 
 Crusaders,' 'The Middleman,' 'The Tempter,' 'The 
 Masqueraders,' ' The Case of Eebellious Susan,' ' The 
 Triumph of the Philistines,' not to mention ' The Silver 
 King,' that universal darling of the public, old and young, 
 which many years ago took the town by storm, ran over a 
 year, and merrily pursued its course through the provinces, 
 then travelled to America and Australia, with a success 
 that has never yet seemed to tire. His latest play is 
 ' Michael and His Lost Angel.' 
 
 The author was born in Buckinghamshire, at a large 
 old-fashioned homestead overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury. 
 About forty years ago railways were almost unknown in 
 that part of England, or at any rate their influence had 
 not begun to be felt. It was practically in the very heart 
 of the country, all day long in the open air, that his childish 
 days were spent. This early communing with mother- 
 Nature has probably influenced his whole life, as even in 
 these later days, whenever a particularly knotty point pro- 
 trudes itself in his work, he is in the habit of rising early 
 and going forth for a long day's ride or walk to where he 
 can find most solitude and the prettiest views. Then the
 
 78 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 
 
 difficulty is solved, and the hitherto tangled skein is 
 invariably unravelled and made smooth. 
 
 Blessed with a naturally keen perception of persons 
 and things, with eyes and ears ever open to observe and 
 to learn, even at that early age he noticed amongst the 
 North Buckinghamshire villagers various types of rustic 
 life. These types his remarkably retentive memory 
 enabled him to recollect, and from the storehouse of his 
 brain they were brought forth later and introduced into 
 some of his plays. 
 
 At school he plodded and studied with dogged per- 
 severance. While other boys were engrossed in the 
 charms of cricket and of football, the young lad was 
 absorbed in his books, among them his edition of Shake- 
 speare was well scored and thumbed. At the age of 
 thirteen he had already written many stories, and having 
 made such good use of his time, he was considered suffi- 
 ciently advanced in his education to leave school and to 
 enter an office as a clerk. Here he resolutely turned his 
 young mind to learning the business to which, uncongenial 
 as it was to a youth of such pronounced literary tastes, he 
 brought the strong will and unflagging perseverance that 
 have stood him in such good stead throughout his 
 career. 
 
 That these good qualities sooner or later bring their 
 own reward, is proved by the fact that at the age of 
 twenty-three Mr. Jones was able to marry and settle down 
 into domestic life. 
 
 During his office years every hour that was not occu- 
 pied in business was devoted to literature, although no 
 idea of writing plays had as yet entered his mind. Tales, 
 essays, articles, social and even political, poured from his 
 pen. These were regularly sent to papers and magazines, 
 but were as regularly returned. As fast as one editor 
 declined them, they were despatched to another ; however, 
 he had determined to write at least one three-volume 
 novel. It was fortunately not in the young author to be
 
 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 79 
 
 daunted by any failure. Having ' determined,' it stood to 
 reason that he would carry out the intention, and accord- 
 ingly the three- volume novel was written and took three 
 precious years to accomplish. Although that literary 
 effort shared the same fate as its predecessors, the work 
 was not altogether thrown away, as a large portion of it 
 was utilised in the production of ' The Silver King,' prov- 
 ing that what was pronounced by a ' reader ' to be only 
 ' a passable third-rate novel,' had stuff in it that was 
 capable of making a first-class and very popular play. 
 
 Beared in the country and in somewhat narrow puri- 
 tanical doctrine, it so happened that the boy had never 
 seen the inside of a theatre. At last came the never-to- 
 be-forgotten night which marked the turning-point in his 
 life. He had now arrived at an age to think for himself. 
 Having occasion to run up to town for a day or two on 
 business connected with his firm, he bent his steps that 
 evening to the Haymarket Theatre, and sat spell-bound 
 through the famous play of ' Leah,' in which Miss Bate- 
 man so distinguished herself as to draw all London. 
 Perhaps no better play could be found to stir for the first 
 time an ardent and receptive mind. Certain it is that on 
 the eventful evening Henry Arthur Jones may be said to 
 have met his fate, as he resolved that some day it might 
 be in the far future he would write a piece of his own. 
 It is characteristic of the man with whom to will is to do, 
 that twenty years later his ' Dancing Girl ' was produced 
 at that selfsame theatre and achieved an overwhelming 
 success. 
 
 There were, however, many years of hard work to be 
 got through before a first triumph was achieved. Every 
 spare moment now was devoted to writing plays, every 
 spare evening to the study of the drama. He would go night 
 after night to the same piece to analyse its technique and 
 composition. Looking back, Mr. Jones cannot recollect 
 that he had any inherited talent for dramatic literature ; 
 but as his brother, under the pseudonym of ' Silvanus
 
 8o HENRY ARTHUR JONES 
 
 Dauncey,' has also written several minor plays and one 
 four-act piece called ' The Beckoning/ it is possible 
 that the strain may be traced back to some remote 
 ancestor. 
 
 Never crushed by disappointment nor beaten by the 
 constant rejection of his compositions, the persevering 
 young dramatist steadily toiled on. ' The race is not to 
 the swift ; ' but with the goal ever before him, and the un- 
 conquerable spirit that would let no obstacle baffle him, it 
 followed sooner or later that he was bound to come to the 
 front. It came to him ' sooner,' for, before he was thirty 
 years of age, being in a position to relinquish the cares 
 of office life, he was enabled to turn the whole of his 
 attention to the profession in which he has become so 
 distinguished. 
 
 His first farce, ' Only Eound the Corner,' was accepted 
 in 1878 by Eousby, then manager of the Exeter Theatre. 
 This little piece had not much of a run in England, 
 although only two years ago, when brought out in America, 
 under the title of ' The Organist,' it made a decided hit, 
 and met with an amount of such favourable criticism 
 as would have greatly encouraged the then struggling 
 young writer. 
 
 ' A Clerical Error ' a play that had been offered to 
 and declined by every manager in London was Mr. 
 Jones's next effort. The piece was at once accepted by 
 Wilson Barrett, who was just then leaving the manage- 
 ment of the Grand Theatre, Leeds. Mr. Barrett, almost 
 immediately after, took the Court Theatre, and brought 
 out the piece during the following season. It was bright 
 and witty, it created considerable attention, had a long 
 run at home and abroad, and has since been constantly 
 revived. 
 
 His foot had now climbed the first rung of the ladder, 
 and in the next few years it rapidly ascended a good many 
 more steps. His name was well before the public, and 
 there was no longer any question of his ultimate success.
 
 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 81 
 
 Miss Bateman brought out the next piece, ' His Wife,' at 
 the Sadler's Wells Theatre, and, later, took it round the 
 provinces. ' The Silver King,' in 1882, sent the author 
 with a bound up the remaining stairs of the ladder. For 
 a while he accepted commissions for such plays as ' Hard 
 Hit,' ' Hoodman Blind,' ' The Noble Vagabond,' &c. ; but it 
 was not likely that a mind so entirely original in its con- 
 ceptions could settle down to compose ' to order.' This 
 method of work fettered and stifled him ; he desired to 
 soar on his own wings. Intensely disliking spectacular 
 melodrama, and intent on depicting different phases of the 
 English life of to-day, he resolved for the future to allow 
 himself a free hand and to strike out in the direction of 
 his ideal. The result of this decision is found in his suc- 
 ceeding plays. 
 
 ' Saints and Sinners ' ran for two hundred nights at 
 the Vaudeville. ' The Middleman,' which ' caught on ' at 
 once, was played for even a longer time at the Shaftesbury. 
 ' Judah ' followed in 1890. ' The Dancing Girl,' which 
 with many people was the greatest favourite of all, was 
 played for nearly a year at the Haymarket. ' The Cru- 
 saders,' a strong and striking conception, filled the Avenue 
 Theatre for over a hundred nights. To Mr. Henry 
 Arthur Jones has fallen an honour which has never before 
 come to the lot of an English dramatist. Besides being 
 produced in America and Australia, most of his pieces have 
 been played successfully in Germany and in Holland, in 
 Austria, Denmark, and in Belgium. 
 
 ' The Tempter ' is the first play that he has produced 
 in blank verse, though not the first he has written. Here 
 he has broken entirely new ground, but the reception ac- 
 corded to this powerful and poetic tragedy proved that he 
 is as much in his element in portraying mediaeval England 
 as in depicting the less romantic life of modern times. 
 
 As may be supposed, Mr. Jones is a great reader, but 
 not of modern fiction. He is naturally well versed in the 
 old dramatists, the old English humourists, and in all the 
 
 G
 
 82 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 
 
 standard English poets. Kuskin and Matthew Arnold, 
 the philosophical works of Huxley, Spencer, and Darwin 
 are his favourite studies. His usual working hours are 
 either very early in the morning or from six to eight in 
 the evening. He always has three or four embryo plays 
 seething and brewing in his brain, but until they are 
 somewhat matured and arranged he puts no pen to paper. 
 Once fairly started he writes off each succeeding act more 
 quickly than the last. As far as the actual writing goes 
 the strong emotional scenes are seldom retouched. The 
 comedy parts are polished and re-polished. He is very 
 particular about the names of his characters, and declares 
 that he finds it almost impossible to draw them until he 
 has hit on names that seem to describe them. 
 
 He works better at the seaside than in London, but he 
 will sometimes takes a fancy that he cannot work well at 
 one place and goes off to another. Thus, the first two 
 acts of ' The Tempter ' were written at Folkestone, the 
 last two at Nice. 
 
 Mr. Henry Arthur Jones's home is ideal in all respects. 
 Situated in the heights of north-western London, it 
 commands a fine view of Eegent's Park. The hall is 
 hung with choice works of Albert Diirer and other proof - 
 before-letters engravings. Here is one of Mr. Harry 
 Furniss's witty etchings round the margin of his letter, 
 there several interesting collections of playbills and pro- 
 grammes framed. The three reception-rooms lead into 
 one another ; the floor of one is curiously inlaid with narrow 
 lines of ivory. There are a few handsome specimens of 
 genuine old Chippendale bureaus, tables and chairs which 
 stand out well against the soft tapestry hangings; and 
 many bits of antique china. Everything is indicative of 
 the highly cultivated and artistic taste of its owners. 
 
 By the way, an irreparable catastrophe occurred in 
 the once beautiful study. It was formerly Alma Tadema's 
 studio, and the exquisite ceiling was painted by the great 
 artist's own hand with mythological scenes and figures.
 
 HENRY ARTHUR JONES 83 
 
 Mr. Jones was busily occupied at his desk when he sud- 
 denly reflected that he would be late for an appointment 
 he had made. He hastily rose and left the house. A few 
 moments later, without sign or sound of warning, down 
 with a crash came the beautiful ceiling. A large portion 
 of the debris actually fell on the very spot where the 
 author's old-fashioned, high-backed tapestry-covered chair 
 had just been vacated. 
 
 Success has come to the accomplished playwright 
 comparatively very early in life. A brilliant and intellec- 
 tual conversationalist, he is also an excellent listener. 
 With a singularly quiet, sympathetic manner, he has the 
 happy knack of drawing out the best that is in those with 
 whom he converses, and although besieged with business 
 he yet never conveys the impression that he is in any 
 haste ; while the receptions held by Mr. and Mrs. Henry 
 Arthur Jones are among the most attractive and intellec- 
 tual in London. 
 
 MRS. CEOKEE 
 
 THE scene is a lovely view of the Wicklow Mountains, 
 which seem as if divided into groups separated by pre- 
 cipitous ravines, generally straight and narrow. The 
 declivities slope gently downwards in many places, ter- 
 minating in glens and valleys. The lofty promontory 
 of Bray Head rises to the height of some 800 feet above 
 the level of the sea and, overhanging it, makes a con- 
 spicuous sea-mark. The landscape is wild and picturesque. 
 Facing all this grandeur of nature by the south, there 
 stands, in about five acres of garden, lawn, and pleasure 
 ground, a large, old-fashioned cottage, which has apparently 
 been added to at different times by artistic hands that 
 knew better than to destroy its original beauty. Protected 
 by the great mountains from the wild, rough winds that 
 blowup from St. George's Channel, the aspect of the cottage 
 
 a 2
 
 84 MRS. CROKER 
 
 is such that even in mid-winter the whole is covered with 
 roses and creepers which, clustering upwards, peep in at 
 the bay-windows. 
 
 Nothing could be more disassociated with the scenes 
 of death and battle than this quiet, peaceful spot ; never- 
 theless, it bears the warlike name of Lordello, and was 
 so called by the man who built it in memory of his 
 brother, who fell in an engagement at the village of 
 Lordello in Spain during the Peninsular war. But the 
 place has been destined to have military surroundings, 
 and is now the abode of Colonel Croker, lately retired 
 from the service, and his talented wife, who is so well 
 known to the world through her delightful novels of 
 Indian life and experiences. 
 
 The tall, soldierly looking man who comes out into 
 the hall has been a great traveller, and is a renowned 
 shikari. The young girl yonder is their only child, and 
 bears a striking resemblance to her father, with just a 
 look of her mother, who is tall and very fair, with great Irish 
 blue-grey eyes, in which a merry sparkle may be observed. 
 
 The interior of the cottage is all in keeping. The 
 long, narrow hall, with two sitting-rooms on each side, is 
 liberally decorated with tiger and leopard skins, Indian 
 daggers, knives, horns and other trophies, whilst a magni- 
 ficent stuffed tiger's head with gnashing teeth hangs 
 over a door facing the entrance. 
 
 The pretty, bright drawing-room is daintily draped 
 with silk embroideries from the East ; the carpet was 
 made at Agra ; the piano has twice crossed the sea. 
 Palms and ferns stand here and there among quaint 
 Oriental carvings, brasses, and foreign ornaments of all 
 sorts. On the walls hang several good water-colour 
 sketches of places in India. Here a view of the blue 
 hills of the Neilgherries, there scenes from the snow- 
 covered Himalayan mountains. 
 
 Mrs. Croker's own little study has a French window 
 opening on to the lawn, and has a warm, cheerful appear-
 
 MRS. CROKER 85 
 
 ance with its bright-hued Indian carpet and easy-chairs, 
 its great writing-table and bookcases. A good many 
 novels can be detected behind its glass doors. ' Hitherto,' 
 says Mrs. Croker, ' I have had no means of knowing my 
 fellow-workers except through their books. It is always 
 a matter of regret to me that, living so much abroad, or in 
 garrison towns at home, I have never had the opportunity 
 of becoming personally acquainted with many of my own 
 profession ; but in future I do hope to go occasionally to 
 England and get into touch with those whose books I so 
 much admire.' 
 
 Mrs. Croker was born in Ireland, and comes of old 
 Puritan families on both sides. Her father, the Eev. W. 
 Sheppard, rector of Kilgriffer, died in the prime of life 
 when his only daughter was but seven years of age. He 
 was a man of considerable intellectual attainments, a 
 good writer and a brilliant conversationalist. The young 
 girl was educated mostly in France, and being by nature 
 a student, all her leisure hours were spent in reading. 
 At school she distinguished herself by the fluency of her 
 essays and the ease of her letter- writing, in which she 
 depicted with equal reality the people whom she met and 
 the places that she saw. History, geography political and 
 physical, poetry and languages, were her favourite studies, 
 but arithmetic and algebra were alike repugnant. ' In- 
 deed, to be quite candid,' says Mrs. Croker, laughing, 
 ' there used to be some sort of friendly exchange among 
 the girls. Some, who were clever enough in other ways, 
 would come to me in despair over a subject for a theme, 
 such as " Memory," " Sympathy," and so on. I easily 
 undertook their task and they in return took my algebra.' 
 
 Accustomed from childhood to the saddle, her favourite 
 recreation was riding ; on her return from school she 
 became a famous horsewoman and used to hunt with 
 the Kildares. Shortly after she became engaged to 
 Colonel Croker, of the Munster Fusiliers, then a lieu- 
 tenant in the 21st Eoyal Scots Fusiliers, and when very
 
 86 MRS. CROKER 
 
 young she married and immediately afterwards accom- 
 panied him to India. 
 
 Up to 1880 no idea of adopting literature as a pro- 
 fession had entered her head. She had never thought of 
 writing a novel, still less of getting it published, but being 
 naturally a close observer of places and of persons, she 
 had accumulated a storehouse of information which was 
 destined suddenly to be opened and drawn upon. 
 
 It happened that the 'hot weather' of that year was 
 abnormally hot ; Secunderabad was more than usually 
 scorched by the dry, arid winds of the Deccan. Ice was 
 scarce, and even the incessant punkah day and night 
 seemed to give no relief. The greater number of the 
 residents had fled to the hills in search of cool breezes. 
 Merely to amuse herself and to beguile the long weary 
 days, she secretly drew out her pen. Then, as in a dream, 
 everything passed swiftly before her : fleeting visions of 
 places, people past and present, conversations, ideas, &c. 
 The moment of inspiration had come and was seized ; 
 the hours now passed quickly enough ; the intense heat 
 such as no one can imagine who has not passed a hot 
 season in the plains was forgotten, as day after day 
 was spent in transmitting her thoughts to paper. But it 
 was impossible wholly to conceal her occupation from the 
 other ladies in the regiment, and after sundry veiled 
 hints and delicate inquiries from her friends, Mrs. Croker, 
 with many blushes, reluctantly revealed her secret and, 
 after much persuasion, was prevailed upon to read aloud 
 her MS. 
 
 ' I called the book " Proper Pride," ' says Mrs. Croker. 
 ' For many days we used to meet daily for these readings, 
 but I never once thought of its finding its way into print. 
 My friends kindly declared that it gave quite a new 
 interest in their lives and unanimously pronounced that 
 it ought to be published, but this was easier said than 
 done. None of us had the slightest idea of how to set 
 about getting a book printed. At last I sent it home to a.
 
 MRS. CROKER 87 
 
 publisher, and heard no more of it for a year ; then, thinking 
 that probably the parcel had been lost, I re-wrote the 
 whole from memory.' 
 
 Although this first effort had not as yet seen the 
 light, the young author had become absorbed in the 
 fascination of story-telling, and, nothing daunted, wrote 
 her second work, ' Pretty Miss Neville,' which again ran 
 the gauntlet of her intimate friends only, in a series of 
 private readings. In 1881 she and her husband went 
 home with the regiment, and on their arrival the second 
 MS. was sent to another firm of publishers. ' I remember 
 that it was Christmas Day,' remarks Mrs. Croker, cheerfully 
 for she can afford now to laugh at these reminiscences 
 ' I received an unwelcome Christmas-box in the shape of 
 a most polite letter from the firm, and I can recall the 
 very words in it : " The story had no pretensions whatso- 
 ever to style or interest, and would not obtain even a 
 passing notice from the public ! " I was disheartened, but 
 as my hopes had never been high, I was by no means a prey 
 to despair. I supposed the verdict must be right, so I just 
 put the whole MS. into a big grate where there was a 
 fire smouldering and left the room. Luckily for me the fire 
 was very low ; my daughter, then a little girl, snatched it 
 off and rescued it. She had heard the story read aloud 
 and naturally thought a great deal of it. I then fell back 
 on " Proper Pride," which was not lost but only reposing 
 with string uncut in the office where I had sent it, and 
 it was eventually brought out. Needless to say, I was 
 charmed to see myself in print, but I awaited with terror 
 the reviews. I said to myself, that as long as a certain 
 great weekly journal does not mention it at all I shall not 
 so much mind, for I feared its ridicule.' 
 
 But the author was needlessly alarmed. Her own 
 modesty had led her to expect nothing more than an 
 insignificant debut, and she had scarcely even hoped that 
 a mere amateur such as she considered herself would be 
 noticed at all. She published anonymously, and no one
 
 88 MRS. CROKER 
 
 was more surprised than she when the much-dreaded 
 weekly, devoted to the novel two columns of that meed of 
 favourable criticism so dear to the heart of a writer. The 
 principal daily paper too, and others, reviewed it equally 
 pleasantly and nearly all the critics spoke of it as the 
 work of a man. The book passed into three editions in 
 six weeks. Like all Mrs. Croker's subsequent works, it 
 has been translated into (3-erman, running previously 
 through a German paper, and appeared simultaneously 
 in Great Britain, in Australia, the United States and in 
 Canada. It is now in its twelfth edition. 
 
 A propos of this book the author has a little anecdote 
 to relate. So well had she concealed her identity that 
 none of her friends in England had associated her with 
 it. She was in the habit of hearing it frequently discussed 
 at dinner parties and afternoon teas. One day she met 
 an acquaintance at the Dover bookstall where they 
 mutually subscribed. The lady, after mentioning the 
 novel as being so popular and so widely read, remarked, 
 ' Someone actually told me that it was written by a Mrs. 
 Croker in Dover, wife of an officer in the Royal Scots 
 Fusiliers. Of course I laughed him to scorn. You are 
 about the last person to write a book ! ' The author 
 joined in the laugh. Presently the librarian came up and, 
 bringing her own novel, whispered mysteriously, ' I kept 
 a copy aside for you as you are such a quick reader ; 
 there is a wonderful run on it. They say it is written 
 by a lady in Dover.' Mrs. Croker walked away with her 
 book and made no remark. 
 
 Almost immediately after came the story that had been 
 rescued from the flames, 'Pretty Miss Neville,' which 
 was even a greater success. It has lately been dramatised, 
 and is shortly to be played in Vienna. This was followed 
 at intervals of a year by ' Someone Else,' ' A Bird of 
 Passage,' and ' Diana Barrington.' These last two are the 
 author's own favourites. Then came ' Two Masters,' 
 ' Interference, '' A Family Likeness,' ' To Let' (short
 
 MRS. CROKER 89 
 
 stories), 'A Third Person,' ' The Poor Eelation,' 'Married 
 or Single,' and ' The Real Lady Hilda.' 
 
 These delightful tales of India are studies from life. The 
 descriptions of scenery so graphically and artistically 
 given are all true backgrounds to the stories. The natives 
 are all real persons and described as the author saw them. 
 She has indeed had peculiar opportunities for becoming 
 so intimately acquainted with India. Owing to exceptional 
 circumstances, she had been enabled to travel over the 
 greater part of the country. Exclusive of trips home, 
 Mrs. Croker has spent about fourteen years in the East, 
 and has seen nearly the whole of the Madras Presi- 
 dency, Burmah, the Andamans, the Deccan and the 
 Neilgherries. 
 
 This long residence was not, however, altogether of 
 their own choice. Colonel Croker had done one tour of 
 India and then spent a few years at home when he was 
 placed on half-pay, owing to one of the many Koyal 
 Warrants. He was subsequently brought into another 
 regiment and despatched on a second tour to the East, 
 when they visited most of the Central and North- West 
 Provinces. 
 
 Of the Neilgherries the author speaks with much 
 enthusiasm. She ' has an admiration almost amounting 
 to a passion for these Blue Hills,' and declares them to 
 be ' in all respects the most delightful and salubrious of 
 ranges.' As she journeyed up, ' the close, tropical vege- 
 tation was left behind, the trees assumed a more European 
 aspect, the air lost its steamy feel and became every 
 instant more rarefied and pure. The path appeared to 
 wind in and out through mountain-sides clothed with 
 trees and foliage of every description. A foaming river 
 was tearing headlong down a wide, rocky channel and 
 taking frantic leaps over all impediments. Wild roses 
 and wild geraniums abounded on all sides ; enormous 
 bunches of heliotrope were growing between the stones ; 
 lovely flowering creepers connected the trees. Before the
 
 90 MRS. CROKER 
 
 windows of the hotel there was a hedge of heliotrope cut 
 like box at home, so high and so dense that you could ride 
 on one side of it and someone else on the other without 
 either being aware of mutual proximity. It was one 
 mass of flowers, and smelt like ten thousand cherry-pies, 
 and was one of the sights of the Neilgherries ; but for 
 actual grandeur and magnificence of scenery even these 
 hills cannot be compared to the Himalayas.' 
 
 Loving the beauties of Nature before all things, and 
 having enjoyed the advantages of living amidst some of 
 the finest scenery in the world, Mrs. Croker is peculiarly 
 happy in her brilliant and vivid word-painting of the 
 places she depicts. The reader can see with his own eyes 
 the views that she describes. He feels himself to be one 
 of those present whether in the home-life of a bungalow 
 in the plains, or in the gay society of a fashionable hill- 
 station in these most attractive and interesting pictures 
 of life in India. He makes one of the group of passengers 
 on board the P. and 0. steamer, one of the party at the 
 exciting tiger-hunts and pig-sticking adventures. The 
 reason is not far to seek. There is an atmosphere of 
 reality about her books. The very animals of which she 
 writes seem to have an individuality of their own. The 
 brightness and crispness of the dialogue cause each 
 character to stand out and contribute its share to the 
 development of the story. 
 
 She is equally at home in her description of fox-hunt- 
 ing in Ireland as in her race meeting and sporting scenes 
 in India, and the reader would imagine that she must 
 have been present at many a tiger-hunt, but this is not 
 the case. Colonel Croker was, however, a keen sportsman 
 and his experiences came in quite fresh to her ; but this 
 would not be enough without the special faculty of obser- 
 vation and the gift of forcibly expressing so much in so 
 few words, that constitute the charm of Mrs. Croker's 
 writing. The stories are told simply and with much 
 vivacity. The most telling situations are concisely nar-
 
 MRS. CROKER 91 
 
 rated and the interest is never allowed to flag. Certainly, 
 she was never present on a field of battle, yet her stirring 
 account of the Afghanistan expedition, and the camp-life 
 of the troops in South Africa, are related with so much 
 spirit and veracity that those who in the flesh, took part 
 in both can vouch for their fidelity. 
 
 ' There were a few things that were only too real to 
 me,' says Mrs. Croker. ' I have twice been in camp when 
 a tiger has been in the neighbourhood, and seen the mark 
 of his pugs, after he had carried off a pet dog. Once a 
 panther took a dear little dog out of the verandah of our 
 bungalow, and I have often, to my sorrow, been up and 
 down the six hundred steps described in " Diana Barring- 
 ton," when we were at Earn Tek dak Bungalow. It was 
 the only means of getting down to the water. Bam Tek 
 is a wonderful place, quite off the beaten track and but 
 little known.' 
 
 Mrs. Croker has a volume of native stories and a new 
 Indian novel in hand, which has, indeed, been on the 
 stocks for two years. All are sketched out in the rough 
 from copious notes taken on the spot. She never writes 
 in haste, and finds it so hard to please herself that often 
 one chapter is re-written ten times before it is allowed to 
 pass. Her working hours are generally in the early 
 morning, for she preserves the habit acquired in India of 
 being up betimes. When deeply engrossed in a story and 
 in writing mood, she is often known to work for ten or 
 twelve hours for many consecutive days, until the people 
 who are worrying her brain are drawn in black and white ; 
 but then someone in authority is apt to intervene, and his 
 slightest wish is her law. She loves writing for its own 
 sake, even if it were never to produce a penny. Luckily, 
 however, it brings in a good many pennies ; but she main- 
 tains that the greatest pleasure she derives from it con- 
 sists in the receipt of many letters from strangers and 
 invalids, often at the other end of the world, saying that 
 her books have wiled away many a long and weary hour
 
 92 MRS. CROKER 
 
 of sickness, or have produced much temporary distraction 
 and comfort when in anxiety or in sorrow. 
 
 With all her experiences of sport at home and abroad, 
 Mrs. Croker is essentially gentle and feminine in her 
 tastes and habits. She is bright and frank in manner, 
 with a pretty wit, for which her Irish blood is partly 
 responsible. She has plenty of practical good sense, and 
 a happy, sunny nature which looks on things from the 
 brightest point of view. Her concluding words are 
 thoroughly characteristic. ' The press,' she observes, with 
 much feeling, ' on which I do not know a soul, has always 
 treated me most generously, and much of my encourage- 
 ment has come from my unknown critics, to whom I am 
 truly grateful.' 
 
 GEORGE E. SIMS 
 
 ACCOEDING to Mr. G. B. Sims's own statement, he is ' a 
 humdrum, old-fashioned, quiet individual, who has met 
 with no adventures : never was in a railway accident, 
 never wrecked at sea, and the only romance that he ever 
 experienced was when he was once pitched out of his trap 
 and alighted on his head, and even then was not injured 
 enough to be in any way interesting.' He further asserts 
 that he ' has no genius only wishes he had as genius 
 comes down from the ceiling, and does your work for you, 
 whereas he is only a hard worker, and has to do his work 
 for himself.' Yet those who get a peep behind the scenes, 
 and know something of the gifted writer's inner nature, 
 will promptly contradict these statements. His literary 
 works numerous and versatile speak for themselves, 
 while under what he would fain make you believe to be a 
 prosaic, stern, nay, cynical character, there lies the kindest, 
 softest heart ; a deep, poetic vein ; an ever-working im- 
 agination, a brilliant originality of thought, with ample 
 power of carrying it out, and a wonderful way of evoking
 
 GEORGE R. SIMS 93 
 
 the sympathy of those with whom he is brought in con- 
 tact, even after a brief acquaintance. With an acutely 
 strung nervous organisation usually an accompaniment 
 of true genius Mr. Sims combines what is by no means 
 one of its ordinary attributes. He is so scrupulously 
 orderly, methodical and practical to the utmost detail, 
 that in his house, which is a perfect dream of beauty and of 
 art, and which must certainly contain more possessions 
 than the contents of any three houses in the terrace put 
 together, there is no appearance of overcrowding. Nor is 
 it in any way stiff. Everything has its raison d'etre, and 
 is so arranged and disposed that, even with a bird's-eye 
 view, it needs no perspicacity to determine that none but 
 a master-mind and an artistic hand, guided by an inborn 
 love of the beautiful, could have produced such delightful 
 and unique effects. 
 
 Educated partly at Eastbourne, and partly at Hanwell 
 College, George K. Sims manifested his literary propensi- 
 ties at a very early age. He was in the habit of writing 
 his home letters in verse, and of composing little plays, 
 for which he says ' he took chunks out of H. J. Byron's.' 
 His first attempt as an essayist very nearly got him into 
 trouble, for it was no less than a sweeping denunciation, 
 in the ' College Gazette,' of the scheme of the school 
 management, to which the head-master not unnaturally 
 objected. 
 
 ' But you ask if I inherit talent ? ' says Mr. Sims. 
 ' My mother was a very clever woman, and various rela- 
 tions " did things." The doctrine of heredity is so large that 
 I should have to invite you to spend a week with me to 
 thresh it out thoroughly.' Moving on first to Germany, 
 then to Paris, to learn languages, after a few years the 
 young student returned to London and entered into busi- 
 ness. From the age of fourteen he was a journalist and 
 constantly sent stories and poems to different journals, 
 that were nearly always returned, or, if accepted, were 
 never paid for. With dogged perseverance he went on,
 
 94 GEORGE R. SIMS 
 
 and when, after thirteen years, his first book, ' The Social 
 Kaleidoscope ' which had previously run as a serial 
 through a magazine was brought out and ran into a sale 
 of 30,000 during its first year alone, G. B. Sims at last 
 tasted the sweets of success. He remembers well his first 
 guinea earned by writing. A chance meeting with an 
 amateur actor led to his joining a Bohemian club, where 
 he was introduced to a journalist on the ' Weekly Dis- 
 patch.' The result was a column on 'Waifs and Strays.' 
 Then followed ' The Social Kaleidoscope,' which in book 
 form brings him many guineas to this day. Thirteen 
 years of rejections ! Truly it was enough to have em- 
 bittered and soured most young writers, but and it is 
 characteristic of the man the only effect it seems to have 
 produced on him is that, when shortly every journal was 
 open to him, his heart went out in tender sympathy to 
 those who were still enduring the sufferings he had known 
 so well. From that time on it has been easy sailing. 
 Resigning business, he set earnestly to work to study life 
 and character in all its phases among the poor, visiting 
 workhouses, slums, casual wards, and every place where 
 he could sound to the depths the inner world of sorrowing 
 humanity, and he depicted so forcibly and graphically their 
 woes that he succeeded in stirring the whole of London 
 into making researches as to the housing of the poor. 
 And here, too, he would try, deprecatingly, to make you 
 believe that it was ' all in the way of " copy," and paid for, 
 and that he is no philanthropist, and while studying the 
 wrongs of the people he really thought more about his 
 own.' But the attempt is quite useless. His great work 
 is too well known for that. His name is a household 
 word in the East End of London, as elsewhere, and the 
 doings of his right hand are carefully concealed from his 
 left. The soul-stirring works, ' How the Poor Live/ 
 ' Horrible London,' a series of letters which first ran 
 through the ' Daily News,' ' The Pinch of Poverty,' 
 ' Mary Jane's Memoirs,' and ' Mary Jane Married,' were
 
 GEORGE R. SIMS 95 
 
 the outcome of these visits at dock-gates, penny gaffs, &c., 
 and are all more or less sketches of realistic life. They 
 were followed by ' Memoirs of a Mother-in-law,' ' Me- 
 moirs of a Landlady,' ' Kogues and Vagabonds,' ' My Two 
 Wives,' ' Zeph,' ' Scenes from the Show,' &c. in all some 
 twenty-five to thirty books. The readers of the ' Referee ' 
 would look blank indeed without Dagonet's popular 
 ' Mustard and Cress,' which from the first issue of that 
 paper in 1877, to the present day, Mr. Sims has never 
 failed to produce weekly, though before that date he had 
 contributed for three years to the pages of ' Fun,' after 
 Tom Hood's death. A thorough hard worker for Mr. 
 Sims has ofttimes toiled eighteen hours out of the twenty- 
 four the unusual amount of business, literary and other, 
 that he gets through is extraordinary. His plays are acted, 
 his pieces are recited, his songs are sung wherever the 
 English tongue is spoken. During later years he has 
 turned his attention to melodramatic literature, and here 
 his success has been unprecedented. ' Crutch and Tooth- 
 pick ' ran first for nine months at the Eoyalty, then went 
 on touring in the provinces for years. Next came the 
 famous ' Lights o' London,' at the Princess's under Mr. 
 Wilson Barrett's management, followed by ' Eomany Eye,' 
 ' In the Eanks,' ' London Day by Day,' ' Mother-in-Law,' 
 ' The Silver Falls,' not to mention the ever-popular ' Har- 
 bour Lights ' at the Adelphi. But not only in melodrama is 
 he the leading light ; there were his delightful and witty 
 burlesques ' Faust up to Date,' ' Carmen up to Date,' and 
 the comic opera ' The Merry Duchess,' written in collabora- 
 tion. 
 
 From the drawing-room of Mr. Sims's beautiful house 
 a fine view is obtained of Eegent's Park, with its orna- 
 mental waters whereon swans float up and down and 
 its undulating grounds beyond. Now that the beds are 
 in flower and the trees in full foliage the scene is lovely 
 and peaceful. The study large and lofty contains no 
 less than six well-filled bookcases and two writing-tables.
 
 96 GEORGE R. SIMS 
 
 Behind a glass-door a company of dolls, little and big, 
 seem to be holding a party dolls from Buda Pesth, from 
 Germany, from France, &c., daintily dressed in national 
 costume. These Mr. Sims declares to be his favourite 
 playfellows, together with an army of soldiers cavalry, 
 infantry and artillery all round the room, not to speak 
 of a large box of bricks, a case of battledores and shuttle- 
 cocks and a skipping-rope. Grotesque China figures and 
 monsters are here by the hundred ; multitudes of photo- 
 graphs and many pictures, notably a fine head of Pellegrini 
 and one of Louis Wain's clever ' Cat ' drawings a gift 
 from the artist. Two tall blue pedestals holding bowls 
 filled with palms stand on either side of the window ; the 
 great inkstand mounted in silver is made out of the hoof 
 of a deceased pet horse. But delightful as this room 
 must be for a student with its luxurious rocking-chair and 
 litter of pretty things, Mr. Sims does only certain portions 
 of his writing here journalistic work for which every 
 paper lies ready to hand. He leads the way to the dining- 
 room opposite, where everything is placed for another 
 branch of literature one form of comedy is done here. 
 Then up the broad Japanese staircase, and you suddenly 
 find yourself in an Oriental atmosphere. Yerily it is a 
 scene out of the ' Arabian Nights ! ' You almost expect 
 Aladdin or Scheherazade to rise and greet you ; but no, 
 three gruesome and blood-curdling heads models of 
 murderers and demons of Eastern type glare at you from 
 the right. The walls are lined with gorgeous Oriental 
 lincrusta ; the white recesses, if they can be so called, are 
 built out of fine Corean work over glass, and within are 
 fitted with divans, cushions, and exquisite draperies on 
 which the Turkish crescent figures largely. Every detail 
 is minutely correct. Moorish rugs lie here and there on the 
 matted floor ; a banjo and mandoline of foreign manufac- 
 ture stand on a deep lounge under the great arabesque 
 window that opens out on a spacious, covered-in verandah, 
 where Mr. Sims often sits in summer evenings among his
 
 GEORGE R. SIMS 97 
 
 orange trees. And mention must be made of the interest- 
 ing collection of knives, daggers, and weapons in this 
 wonderful room, from Toledo, Mexico, and all parts of the 
 world. ' Plenty of wholesale murder on the premises,' 
 says Mr. Sims, as he executes a few ferocious-looking 
 manoeuvres with these deadly instruments. This is the 
 place where comic opera is written, and all the materials 
 for that form of work are in their place. Drama is done 
 in the Venetian room, which again is true in all its details, 
 from the magnificent chandelier to the Italian wrought- 
 iron work and delicate furniture of the country. But 
 occasionally, when Mr. Sims is in a restless mood, and finds 
 that even four rooms are not enough in which to work, 
 he will betake himself to a bedroom, kitchen anywhere. 
 It is strange that the author, to whom the best box or 
 stall at a theatre would naturally be open, never accepts 
 either. He prefers to pay for his place, which is generally 
 in the first row of the pit. He has an enormous corre- 
 spondence with lunatics, who write to him on every con- 
 ceivable theme some so lucidly that once even he was 
 taken in. There was a man who wrote every ten days or 
 so a long letter in hot argument over one of his works. 
 Mr. Sims went to call on his correspondent, and was re- 
 ceived with the words, ' Have you an order ? This is a 
 private asylum.' ' I am a prey,' he remarks, ' to chronic 
 melancholia, and sometimes feel as if a neurotic blizzard 
 were passing over me. Then I flatten my nose against 
 the window, and wonder if this be the best or worst of all 
 possible worlds. I am excessively weak morally, but,' 
 he adds, with what he imagines to be a terrifying expres- 
 sion, ' I delight in horrible things ! ' But these words 
 cannot be taken seriously from the great, tender-hearted, 
 sympathetic man, who would not crush a fly, but would 
 rather ' step aside and let the insect live/ whose love for 
 children, animals, and all suffering humanity, is his 
 strongest point, whose romance peeps out in every line of 
 his plays and verses. He may be ' weak ' secretly and 
 
 H
 
 98 GEORGE R. SIMS 
 
 silently in the cause of charity ; but no one detests cant or 
 humbug more, no one is more manly, kind, and straight- 
 forward than the great journalist, novelist, and dramatist, 
 George Robert Sims, the record of whose private and 
 public work will long outlive him. 
 
 KATE TEBEY 
 
 (MRS. ARTHUR LEWIS) 
 
 IN old-fashioned Kensington there stands secluded in 
 about five acres of land, a large and imposing-looking 
 house with a wide verandah covered with creepers, run- 
 ning along the south side. The approach is by a carriage 
 drive which opens out on the right to a row of pictur- 
 esquely built hothouses, and leads round to the great 
 conservatory and billiard-room. The left side is sheltered 
 by a high hedge of yew and holly, through which are 
 obtained peeps of the fine old trees that stud the lawn. 
 The birds are singing, and Nature seems in her most bright 
 and festive mood. All is en fete, for it is the anniversary 
 of a happy marriage that took place rather over a quarter 
 of a century ago. The softly modulated Hungarian band 
 discourses sweet music in the grounds, which are filled 
 with a large assemblage of friends, who overflow from the 
 French windows that open out of the reception-rooms to 
 the sloping gardens. On the high ground of the path 
 above, receiving her guests, stands the whilom bride, Mrs. 
 Arthur Lewis, erstwhile the famous Kate Terry, whose 
 brilliant career will be handed down to many generations 
 of posterity, not only for an unbroken series of triumphs 
 on the stage, where she never made an enemy and left 
 none but friends to deplore her early retirement, but also 
 for the winning grace, the charm of manner, and the 
 tender, womanly heart that has so endeared her to all 
 those with whom she has come in contact. The sweet
 
 KATE TERRY 99 
 
 sympathetic face so thoroughly a ' Terry ' face is too 
 well known to need much description. No touch of time 
 is to be seen in the fair, smooth brow ; the expression is 
 one of serenity and contentment, of inward peace and 
 happiness. 
 
 The little Kate Terry made her ' first appearance ' in 
 life at Falmouth. As both parents went on the stage 
 soon after their marriage, her earliest associations were 
 connected with the theatre. Bountifully provided with 
 genius, it goes without saying that her infant footsteps 
 naturally turned towards a histrionic career. At a very 
 early age she developed a ready talent for mimicry, and 
 when taken to rehearsals she would observe and carefully 
 reproduce afterwards any particular attitude or gesture of 
 the players. Song came to her as to the birds, and almost 
 before she could speak plainly she could warble every air 
 she heard in faultless time and tune. At the age of three 
 she made her debut on the boards of a country theatre, to 
 sing between the farce and the principal piece the popular 
 song of that day : 
 
 ' I'm ninety-five, I'm ninety-five, 
 And to keep single I'll contrive.' 
 
 * I think I see her now,' says one with whom you are in 
 brief colloquy while strolling about the grounds. ' I was 
 an eye-witness of that baby performance. She was 
 dressed in character, in a long brocaded gown looped up 
 over a quilted silk petticoat. She wore a great mob-cap 
 and spectacles, and carried a crutch stick on which she 
 leant. The sweet, childish treble, so pure and true, the 
 modest little air of dignity that sat so quaintly upon her, 
 and the utter absence of self-consciousness, which has in- 
 deed characterised her whole life, appealed powerfully to 
 the greatly amused audience who vehemently applauded 
 the tiny performer.' 
 
 At the age of seven she may be considered to have 
 begun her real training, when she took the part of Eobin 
 
 H 2
 
 ioo KATE TERRY 
 
 in Charles Kean's revival of ' The Merry Wives of Wind- 
 sor ' at the Princess's Theatre, followed in the succeeding 
 year by the role of Prince Arthur in ' King John.' By 
 command of the Queen this play was performed at 
 Windsor Castle, where the little girl acted Arthur for the 
 first time, with Phelps as Hubert. Lord Macaulay, who 
 was one of the audience on that occasion, was especially 
 attracted by the performance, and on its conclusion the 
 veteran historian called the child to him and, laying his 
 hand on the bright, curly head, he warmly congratulated 
 her on the grace with which she had impersonated the 
 young Prince, and prophesied that before many years had 
 passed she would make a great name. This favourable 
 opinion was subsequently rendered historic, as in the ' Life 
 and Letters of Lord Macaulay,' by Sir George Trevelyan, 
 appears the following notice, ' The little girl who acted 
 Arthur did wonders.' Later occurs a note : ' It is almost 
 worth while to have passed middle age in order to have 
 seen Miss Kate Terry as Arthur.' 
 
 While in her earliest teens she played Ariel in Kean's 
 revival of ' The Tempest.' An anecdote connected with 
 this play recalls itself, and speaks well for the presence 
 of mind displayed in an emergency by the child-actress. 
 The thunderbolt which always preceded Ariel's appear- 
 ance used to fall some distance before her and disappear 
 through a trap in the stage. One evening it was not 
 thrown with sufficient force, and landed right in front of 
 the ledge whereon she was poised. The heat was so great 
 as actually to singe her silk drapery and scorch her feet. 
 Although in deadly fear and pain, she gave no sign of 
 fright, and Kean, who was playing Prospero, threw hur- 
 riedly into his part unperceived by the audience the 
 impromptu words, ' Hold on, Katie, dear, hold on ; don't 
 give way,' until the obnoxious missile was removed. 
 
 Joliquet, in ' The Courier of Lyons,' was another of 
 her juvenile parts, and when only fourteen she acted 
 Cordelia to Charles Kean's King Lear ! Kate Terry
 
 KATE TERRY 101 
 
 has the greatest veneration and affection for the memory 
 of Mrs. Charles Kean, and considers her example as wife, 
 manageress, and friend to have been unequalled. Being 
 still too young at the end of Mr. Kean's management to 
 play full-grown women's parts, she and her sister Ellen 
 Terry, accompanied by their parents, went for two years' 
 hard study into the provinces, where they gave entertain- 
 ments on their own account. They often played in two 
 pieces on the same evening, and constantly had a variety 
 of four or five plays during a week. All this meant 
 severe, incessant work, but Kate Terry looks back upon 
 that time as an invaluable epoch in her career, as the 
 seedtime of the rich harvest that was to follow. She 
 had placed a high standard before her, and was determined 
 to reach the goal. The more difficult or tiresome a part 
 seemed to be, the more she resolved to master it, and to 
 create it according to her own reading. Her patience and 
 diligence were soon to be rewarded. 
 
 On returning to London, her next appearance was in 
 Alfred Wigan's company at the St. James's Theatre. 
 Shortly after, the management fell into Miss Herbert's 
 hands, and then came the young actress's opportunity of 
 giving a striking proof of her brilliant powers. One 
 evening Miss Herbert was suddenly taken ill, and at a 
 moment's notice Kate Terry was called upon to take the 
 leading part of Mrs. Union, in the first English version of 
 Sardou's famous play ' Nos Intimes,' called by its adaptor, 
 Horace Wigan, ' Friends or Foes.' According to the 
 principal dramatic critic present, ' she electrified the 
 audience, and from that time her fortune was made.' 
 
 Presently she was invited by Mr. Arthur Stirling to 
 Bristol for three months to play Juliet, Ophelia, and 
 Pauline in ' The Lady of Lyons.' Here she scored enor- 
 mous successes by her entirely original reading of these 
 roles. Her fame spreading rapidly, she was at once 
 offered an engagement to join Charles Fechter's company 
 at the Lyceum, where her creations of Blanche de Nevers 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 102 KATE TERRY 
 
 in ' The Duke's Motto,' her Lena in ' Bel Delmonio,' her 
 Ophelia to Fechter's Hamlet, are impersonations that 
 have an undying record. 
 
 She then left the Lyceum to become ' leading lady ' 
 at the Olympic, where, in Mr. Tom Taylor's popular 
 dramas, she originated role after role ; perhaps the most 
 striking may have been her Lady Pariardon, in ' The 
 Hidden Hand,' or the tender grace of her Countess 
 de Moleon, in ' The Serf.' But where each success was 
 the result of hard, conscientious study and unwearying 
 energy, built upon her glorious, natural gift, it is difficult 
 to determine whether this or that part were better. Her 
 own favourite roles were undoubtedly those of Juliet and 
 Ophelia as affording more scope for varying emotions and 
 original conceptions. 
 
 The young actress's method of study was peculiar. 
 No one ever saw her at work, and this often caused her 
 father considerable uneasiness, until at last he gave ex- 
 pression to the thought. ' The production of such and 
 such a piece is only a week hence, Katie,' he would re- 
 mark in anxious tones, ' and I have not once seen you 
 open your part.' But the girl could always reassure him 
 by answering, gaily, ' I have been letter-perfect for the 
 last week.' She learnt her words in bed at night, and so 
 absorbed was she in her art that no temptations could 
 coax her into society. During rehearsal little bits of 
 natural ' business ' used to occur to 'her mind, and little 
 peculiarities would strike her one at a time here and 
 there ; these she used to reproduce later and invariably 
 found to be true inspirations. She learnt the words of 
 Ophelia almost entirely in a cab going to and from the 
 theatre, and a story is told of her that on one occasion so 
 engrossed was she in the part, forgetting where she was, 
 she sang the whole song aloud, causing the old cabman to 
 pull up to inquire what she wanted. 
 
 Kate Terry's last creation was the role of Dora, in 
 Charles Keade's play on Tennyson's poem of that name ;
 
 KATE TERRY 
 
 103 
 
 and her last appearance in London was in Juliet, when it 
 had become known to the public that their idol, in the 
 zenith of her fame, was about to quit for ever the scene 
 of her triumphs to become the wife of Mr. Arthur Lewis. 
 ' I was present on that occasion even as on the first,' says 
 your informant, ' and I will describe it. The scene was 
 unprecedented, and the expression of public affection and 
 admiration that she received was most touching. Places 
 could not be had for love or money. The Strand was 
 blocked, and from an early hour in the afternoon there 
 were crowds waiting, which was an unusual circumstance 
 in those days. The excitement was tremendous. She 
 was called and re-called, and at last, greatly agitated, and 
 with tears trembling in her blue eyes, she said, in the 
 sweet musical voice that we all know so well, a few simple 
 words of farewell.' 
 
 Her final appearance on any stage took place a few 
 weeks later at the Princes' Theatre, Manchester, where 
 there was much the same sort of reception and farewell 
 to go through again. The curtain had, however, fallen 
 on the young player for the last time, and never since has 
 she been prevailed upon to reappear. 
 
 Temptations of this kind have not been wanting. A 
 few years after her marriage Mr. Tom Taylor implored 
 her to create the part of Lady Clancarty in the play 
 of that name which he had written expressly for her. 
 Quite lately, indeed, she has been pressed to originate an 
 important role, but all to no purpose ; and if, in the earlier 
 years of her happy married life, knowing her own powers 
 to be as great as ever, a poignant desire to exercise them 
 may have come over her, she has long ago suppressed 
 it, and has resolutely turned a deaf ear to all such 
 entreaties. 
 
 When questioned as she often is on this subject, 
 Mrs. Lewis is known to say, with a bright, winning smile, 
 ' I have the strongest opinion on the matter. Art demands 
 the devotion, the sacrifice, of a lifetime, and, once laid
 
 104 KATE TERRY 
 
 aside, it may not be taken up and dropped again capri- 
 ciously.' 
 
 The assemblage of friends to-day is representative. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Lewis's pleasant reunions are well 
 known and always popular, not only for the kindness and 
 hospitality accorded to each guest, but interesting as 
 gatherings of the most distinguished people in the world 
 of literature and of art ; but on this occasion it is peculiarly 
 noticeable. There are those present who have known 
 and loved Kate Terry from her childhood ; those who 
 have grown up side by side with Arthur Lewis, and loved 
 him from boyhood ; and, again, those who have watched, 
 with affection and interest, their children grow up from 
 infancy to girlhood. Many here present were guests at 
 Kate Terry's marriage, and feel the recollection of it as 
 fresh in their minds as if it were but yesterday. There 
 is no wonder, then, that there is an especial warmth and 
 sympathy in the greeting of such old friends. 
 
 A large weeping-ash stands on the lawn, with great 
 branches stretching far over the grass. It has supports 
 all round, and is converted for the nonce into a supple- 
 mentary refreshment tent. Under the venerable boughs 
 are many well-known and distinguished persons. Sweet 
 Ellen Terry stands just outside, surrounded by a group of 
 admiring friends, amongst whom Sir Douglas Straight, 
 the veteran Field-Marshal Sir Frederick Haines, Sir 
 John Tenniel, and Mr. Frank Dicksee are easily recog- 
 nisable. The young daughters of the house flit in and 
 out on hospitable thoughts intent. The graceful form of 
 Marion Terry is discerned here and there, always accom- 
 panied by an adoring tribe of little nephews and nieces. 
 Her sister Flossie (Mrs. Morris) yonder, is the happy 
 young mother of four of these dainty miniature Terrys. 
 There strolls Fred Terry, so marvellously like his sister 
 Kate, with his beautiful wife, Julia Neilson, talking to 
 Mr. Boughton and Mr. and Mrs. Henschel. Henry 
 Neville is sitting near a flower-bed in earnest conversation
 
 KATE TERRY 105 
 
 with Beerbohm Tree. They are probably discussing the 
 bygone days, when Mr. Neville was so long associated 
 with the young Kate Terry in Tom Taylor's plays. Mrs. 
 Arthur Lewis's father holds his youngest grandchild in 
 his arms, whilst two more little ones, with sky-blue eyes 
 and auburn curls, gambol round him. 
 
 Another group consists of Mr. Linley Sambourne, 
 George Grossmith and his charming wife, and Charles 
 Terry with his daughter, ' little Minnie,' who played so 
 cleverly in ' Booties' Baby ' and ' A Man's Shadow,' &c. 
 She is now ' resting ' whilst the process of education is 
 going on, and candidly avows that she prefers the stage 
 to her lesson-books. 
 
 But the afternoon wanes, and soon there is a general 
 exodus of guests, who unite in their affectionate and 
 hearty good wishes for Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Lewis, as 
 they stand side by side under the verandah good wishes 
 that are warmly shared by all who know them. 
 
 JOHNSTON FOEBES-EOBEBTSON 
 
 THERE is a subdued dignity about the solid masonry of 
 the old-world, picturesque square where Johnston Forbes- 
 Eobertson, the actor, has established himself and his 
 household gods. The imposing width and substantial 
 build of the massive structures tell a tale of a long past 
 generation, to whom the building of houses was a serious 
 and lengthy undertaking, and space apparently a matter 
 of no consideration. 
 
 There is scarcely a house throughout the stately 
 square that is not fraught with some historical anecdote, 
 or associated with some well-remembered name, and 
 while gazing at it, the imagination insensibly travels 
 back to the time when sedan-chairs, preceded by flaming 
 torches, traversed its broad pavements, and when powdered
 
 106 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 
 
 and painted dames of high degree, with beaux in velvet 
 coats, full-bottomed wigs and queues, were the order of 
 the day. 
 
 Towards the close of the last century, when Bedford 
 Square was a new and fashionable locality, the centre 
 house on the east side, then the residence of Lord 
 Chancellor Eldon, was the scene of an exciting adventure. 
 During the Corn-law riots an angry mob attacked the 
 house with such ferocity that Lord and Lady Eldon fled 
 secretly in the dead of night, and made good their escape 
 over the back wall into the friendly grounds of the British 
 Museum. The large old mansion on the north-east side, 
 then inhabited by Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, 
 was also the scene of a similar outrage in the ' No Popery ' 
 riots of L786 ; an infuriated crowd broke into the house 
 and ransacked and burned his valuable collections of 
 books and MSS. The great overhanging trees in the 
 Square garden made a convenient shelter in those days 
 for footpads, one of whom was caught, and, according to 
 the custom of the time, was sentenced to be hanged for 
 committing a street robbery outside Lord Eldon' s house. 
 When the Recorder subsequently presented his report to 
 the King all the Ministers, with one exception, agreed 
 that the man should be left for execution. The King, 
 however, observing that Lord Eldon was mute, called 
 upon him for his opinion, which the Lord Chancellor gave 
 in favour of mercy. ' Very well,' said the King, ' since 
 his lordship, who lives in Bedford Square, thinks that 
 there is no great harm in committing robberies there, 
 the poor fellow shall not be hanged.' And he was let off 
 accordingly. 
 
 The garden gate stands temptingly open, and suggests 
 a short cut to the opposite side, where the actor's house 
 stands. The transit is easily effected, and you speedily 
 find yourself in a spacious hall, where the first attraction is 
 a beautiful line engraving about ten feet long, a hemicycle 
 of all the most celebrated painters and sculptors, by Paul
 
 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 107 
 
 Delaroche in the ' Ecole des Beaux Arts.' The staircase 
 is adorned with many valuable proofs from Holbein, 
 Raphael, Reynolds, Vandyck and Domenichino ; but only a 
 cursory glance at these art treasures is possible at the 
 moment, as a door is opened and you are shown into a 
 lofty studio, where Mr. Robertson stands before an easel, 
 palette on thumb, busily engaged in putting the last 
 touches to a speaking portrait of young Mr. Irving, for 
 the young actor is also a painter of no mean merit. He 
 extends a hand of cordial greeting, pushes the easel 
 further aside, wheels a chair to the right position, and 
 bids you 'rest and criticise at your leisure.' 
 
 No more inviting retreat can be imagined than this 
 quiet, peaceful studio, with its lofty ceiling and solid walls 
 that shut out all exasperating indication of one's neigh- 
 bours' amusements, such as a jingling piano or an unruly 
 nursery no small boon this to one whose tastes lie 
 thoroughly in the art world, and whose chief object in life 
 is its cultivation. 
 
 Oriental rugs partially conceal the polished oak 
 floor. The walls are decorated with many portraits 
 painted by himself. The picture of Ellen Terry was 
 exhibited in the Academy of 1876, when the young 
 artist was scarcely twenty-three years of age. She looks 
 down from her frame, wrapped in furs, with a witching 
 smile. Opposite is the Polish artist, Madame Modjeska, 
 grand and stately, in a white robe. His mother's portrait- 
 hangs in a prominent place, and his brother Norman, in 
 fancy dress of the fourteenth century as the ' Young 
 Venetian,' with sword in hand and a loose cloak thrown 
 lightly back. The fidelity of each likeness is striking. 
 Among the other pictures there are two fine works of 
 the late Mr. Val Bromley, brother-in-law of your host, a. 
 clever pen-and-ink drawing by Abbey of the ' She Stoops 
 to Conquer ' series, and a masterly etching after Rembrandt, 
 together with groups of lovely child heads. On the 
 mantelpiece stand some antique bronzes and a few bits
 
 io8 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 
 
 of quaintly carved brass-work. The centre figure is an 
 exquisite statuette by Miss Casella of a praying saint in 
 monk's robes, with hands devoutly crossed ; the rapt 
 expression and delicate tracery of every line is produced 
 with marvellous accuracy. A comfortable specimen of 
 a couch of the first Empire is placed near a large 
 marqueterie bureau of ancient design bound with brass, 
 and covered with art and costume books, biographies, and 
 the principal editions of Shakespeare. Judging by their 
 well-worn and much-scored appearance they are largely 
 studied. 
 
 His personality is so familiar with the public as to 
 need but brief description. As you sit before the picture 
 on the easel and glance up at the painter-actor, it cannot 
 but strike you that the classical features, the tall, graceful 
 build, the serenity yet gravity of the fair, broad brow, and 
 the somewhat dreamy look in the dark-blue eyes, tell 
 their own tale of the art-world in which he is absorbed ; 
 while, with singularly youthful mien, indications are not 
 wanting, in the lower part of the refined and intellectual 
 face, of a quiet but unconquerable determination of mind. 
 
 The eldest son of a good old Scottish family, whose 
 every member displays the artistic temperament, reared 
 in the very atmosphere of art, and in early childhood 
 evincing a strong talent for drawing, Johnston Forbes- 
 Robertson's career was evidently marked out for him as a 
 painter. His school-days were passed at the Charter- 
 house, where he recollects constantly getting into trouble 
 from the persistency with which he used to decorate the 
 leaves of his lesson and copy-books with not too flattering 
 portraits of masters and school-fellows. 
 
 Charterhouse days over, the young scholar was sent to 
 Rouen, where he remained for several years, turning his 
 attention principally to the English classics, yet stealing 
 many an hour to devote to his favourite art. At the age 
 of seventeen he returned to London, entered as a student 
 at the Royal Academy, and for three years gave his whole
 
 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 109 
 
 mind to studying the technicalities of his profession. 
 Among his contemporaries in student-life were the dis- 
 tinguished artists, Mr. Sam Waller, Mr. Waterhouse, E.A., 
 Mr. Frank Dicksee, E.A., and Mr. Gilbert, E.A., the 
 sculptor. 
 
 But ' the best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft 
 agley." Up to that time Forbes-Kobertson had no leaning 
 whatsoever towards a dramatic life. Destiny cannot be 
 credited with other than the most kindly interventions when 
 she elected to interfere through the outward and visible 
 medium of the late Mr. Wills, and to turn him suddenly 
 into an actor ere he had reached man's estate. A chance 
 meeting with the playwright, a few words, and the deed 
 was done thus. 
 
 Mr. Wills (who was then bringing out his new piece, 
 ' Mary Stuart,' at the Princess' Theatre) casually men- 
 tioned that he was hesitating how to cast the role of 
 Chastelard, when suddenly the thought occurred to him, to 
 which he gave immediate utterance, ' Why, Johnston, if 
 you cannot act, you could at least look the part to perfec- 
 tion.' Young Kobertson with much diffidence consented. 
 ' The time was very short,' he says, ' but after a hurried 
 process of drilling and rehearsal, I took my courage in both 
 hands, and with much inward trepidation made my first 
 appearance, and,' he adds after a pause, laughing at the 
 reminiscence, ' no doubt I looked as nervous as I felt ! ' 
 The criticisms, however, on this initiative performance 
 were most favourable, and accorded to the young actor no 
 small encouragement. 
 
 Although encouraged and reassured by this little 
 success, Johnston Forbes-Eobertson was as yet by no 
 means even a little bitten by ' stage fever.' ' No, indeed,' 
 he emphatically asserts ; ' but at that age I naturally did 
 not make much by my paintings, and I therefore hoped 
 that by taking resolutely to the stage I might the sooner 
 be in a position to earn an independence.' Not without a 
 sigh of regret were the brush and palette temporarily re-
 
 no JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 
 
 linquished, for even then his pictures had been favourably 
 noticed ; but from the early struggles of a young painter 
 to ultimate success is a ' far cry,' and independence had 
 to be achieved. Then came into play the sturdy determi- 
 nation of his character. Hard study in the provinces, 
 perseverance, and zeal in his new profession gained the 
 day. He never found himself out of an engagement, and 
 thus it came about that his ' dream of independence ' was 
 early realised. Another dormant talent rapidly developed, 
 and from that day to his Lancelot in ' King Arthur,' young 
 Forbes-Robertson has steadily pushed his way on to the 
 front ranks of histrionic art. 
 
 After that first almost accidental performance, the 
 young actor was immediately engaged by the late Mr. 
 Charles Reade to go on tour in the 'Wandering Heir.' 
 This was succeeded by an invitation to join the stock 
 company at the Princes' Theatre, Manchester, where he 
 was so fortunate as to attract the favourable notice of the 
 late Mr. Phelps, whilst playing under him for four years 
 such parts as Lovewell in ' The Clandestine Marriage,' 
 Falkland in ' The Rivals,' Joseph Surface, Cromwell in 
 ' Henry VIII,' and Baradas in ' Richelieu.' The great 
 tragedian, with that generosity which is so often ob- 
 served among the higher lights of the dramatic pro- 
 fession, prophesied a successful future for his young 
 brother-in-art, took him under his wing, ' and,' says 
 Mr. Forbes-Robertson with much feeling, ' I shall never 
 forget what I owe him for this ; he coached me in all my 
 roles, especially in the Shakespearian characters, and 
 showed me the greatest kindness. To Mr. Hollingshead, 
 too, I am greatly indebted ; he never lost an opportunity 
 of pushing me forward, and was always most friendly.' 
 
 As years rolled by, and the young actor's position be- 
 came more assured, he thoroughly realised the wisdom of 
 his choice ; but during a long run of any piece, when con- 
 stant rehearsals were unnecessary, he gradually drew forth 
 his partially neglected brush and palette, and devoted a 
 few hours every morning to his first love. It was then
 
 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON in 
 
 that he painted the portrait of Mr. Phelps as Wolsey in 
 his Cardinal's robes of scarlet silk and biretta, and Mr. 
 Forbes-Bobertson enthusiastically mentions his happiness 
 when the Garrick Club bought the picture and hung it on 
 its staircase. Later, Mr. Irving commissioned him to paint 
 the famous church scene in ' Much Ado about Nothing,' 
 which contained nearly two dozen portraits, himself the 
 Claudio. But even while thus engaged he would con- 
 scientiously turn the picture to the wall and forsake the 
 easel when the exigencies of a new part called for frequent 
 rehearsals. 
 
 Pursuing the subject further, you express a desire to 
 hear more of his histrionic triumphs ; but as the word 
 escapes he deprecates it, shakes his head, smiles, and sub- 
 stitutes ' experiences,' for one of the pleasantest character- 
 istics of the young painter-actor is his extremely modest 
 and unassuming manner. He fulfilled several engage- 
 ments at the Olympic, Adelphi, Haymarket, and Lyceum 
 theatres, and may probably be considered to have ' won his 
 spurs ' in his creation of Sir Horace Welby in ' Forget-me- 
 not.' 
 
 Perhaps one of the most successful of his earlier efforts 
 was his creation of Geoffrey Wyniard, in ' Dan'l Druce, 
 Blacksmith' (W. S. Gilbert), a play that met with much 
 favour more than a decade of years since. None who 
 witnessed that charming idyll of the seventeenth century 
 will forget its simple pathos : the young lovers, Johnston 
 Forbes-Eobertson and Miss Marion Terry, who played 
 Dorothy, the Puritan maiden, with indescribable grace ; 
 Herman Vezin, in his masterly impersonation of the Black- 
 smith a part in which the veteran actor rose to absolute 
 greatness ; and the concluding words ere the curtain fell on 
 the graceful love story, when all misunderstandings being 
 cleared away and the pair are at last united, Dorothy 
 leans on her lover's breast whilst he whispers softly, 
 
 ' And art thou happy, Dorothy ? ' 
 Aye, and thou, Geoffrey ? ' 
 ' Passing happy ! '
 
 ii2 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 
 
 Delicious tears were shed nightly over this play, report 
 said not unshared by the players ! 
 
 The young actor has had a long and varied repertoire, 
 having acted in one hundred and twenty different parts. 
 In 1878 he joined the Prince of Wales Company, and 
 acted Count Orloff in ' Diplomacy,' and Captain Absolute 
 in ' The Rivals,' for which he designed the costumes. 
 
 He made a provincial tour with Madame Modjeska, 
 during which time he took the leading parts, having pre- 
 viously rendered them in London Borneo to her Juliet, 
 Maurice de Saxe in 'Adrienne Lecouvreur,' Armand 
 Duval in ' Heartsease,' and Leicester in ' Mary Stuart.' 
 His next tour was with Miss Mary Anderson in various 
 Shakespearian and other characters, and at the close of 
 these English wanderings he accompanied the American 
 actress to the States, where he was most kindly received 
 by the New York critics, and played Borneo and Ingomar 
 among many other parts. On his return to London he 
 took the role of Leontes at the Lyceum, a performance 
 that lasted seven months. He was the original Claud 
 Glyne in ' The Parvenu ' at the Court Theatre, and was 
 later specially engaged to play Claudio at the Lyceum 
 when Mr. Irving produced ' Much Ado about Nothing.' 
 
 During an engagement with Mr. Bancroft he played 
 the leading parts in ' Lords and Commons,' and the 
 original roles of Sir George Orrnan in ' Peril ' and of Sir 
 Charles Pomander in ' Masks and Faces.' At the opening 
 of the Garrick by Mr. Hare, Mr. Forbes-Bobertson created 
 the parts of Benshaw in the ' Profligate ' and Scarpia in 
 ' La Tosca.' Bising, he opens a drawer in the bureau and 
 takes out a morocco-case, containing a handsome pair of 
 shoe-buckles presented to him by Mr. Hare at the close 
 of ' La Tosca,' in memory of his Scarpia ; also a silver 
 cigar-box, the farewell gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft ; and 
 from another drawer he draws forth two treasured family 
 relics a dirk picked up on the battle-field of Culloden, 
 exquisitely carved, and in its original leather case, and a
 
 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 113 
 
 plaid of the old 'hard ' tartan, which actually belonged to 
 Prince Charlie, who gave it to Miss Johnston, an ancestor, 
 from whom it has descended to its present owner. 
 
 In 1891 the actor made another visit to America, being 
 lent by Mr. Hare to play the original part of the lover in 
 Sardou's ' Thermidor.' On his return he was again lent 
 to Mr. Irving to play Buckingham in ' Henry VIII.,' and 
 afterwards he rejoined Mr. Hare's company at the Garrick 
 in the revival of ' Diplomacy.' He has yet a later gift to 
 show, and one which he regards with pride a beautiful 
 diamond pin, with Imperial crown and cipher, given him 
 by the Queen when he accompanied Mr. Hare to Balmoral 
 to play Julian Beauclerk in ' Diplomacy,' on which occa- 
 sion he had the honour of being presented to her Majesty, 
 to the Princesses, and to the Empress Eugenie. 
 
 As Lancelot in ' King Arthur ' at the Lyceum the 
 last role he played before going into management 
 Johnston Forbes-Robertson undoubtedly scored his greatest 
 triumph of all. The poet might almost have had a future 
 mental vision of this true artist when he created the cha- 
 racter, so thoroughly is it suited not only to the refined 
 and spirituel countenance, but also to the harmonious 
 and sympathetic voice, which throbs with tenderness and 
 emotion in the beautiful blank verse that the actor loves 
 so well, for to him ' blank verse and romantic drama 
 have more attractions than any other.' 
 
 Now and then some odd little unrehearsed effect will 
 take place while acting, of which, happily, the audience 
 is ignorant. One evening, at the closing scene of ' Eomeo 
 and Juliet,' as Eomeo (Forbes-Robertson) mounted the 
 high steps to weep by the body of Juliet (Madame 
 Modjeska), he accidentally pushed them away, and thus 
 left himself in doubt how to descend creditably. Seeing 
 an expression of dismay come over his face, the dead 
 Juliet murmured from under her shroud, ' What is it ? ' 
 ' The steps have slipped,' whispered Romeo, ' and I can't 
 get down ! ' ' Never mind,' muttered the corpse ; ' jump ! ' 
 
 i
 
 ii 4 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 
 
 And jump he did, making a somewhat undignified descent, 
 which, luckily, was not observed in front. Another time, 
 after bidding Juliet an impassioned farewell on leaving 
 her chamber, he rushed as usual to the balcony, threw his 
 leg over the railing to make his exit, and found that by 
 some mistake the stairs had been forgotten, and he dropped 
 fourteen feet, which discomposed him not a little. 
 
 Shakespeare is Mr. Forbes-Robertson's favourite study 
 and Leontes his favourite role. ' I prefer it infinitely,' he 
 says ; ' not only do I feel more at home in the plays of 
 Shakespeare, but they are much easier to learn.' In 
 1895 he entered into the troubled waters of managership ; 
 and during the absence of Sir Henry Irving he opened 
 the Lyceum with ' Borneo and Juliet,' the success of 
 which venture justified his expectations. His latest pro- 
 duction is entitled ' For the Crown.' 
 
 But as rehearsals are the order of the day, and time 
 is on the wane, Mr. Forbes-Eobertson must start for the 
 theatre. Ere he leaves he bids you look at one more of 
 his portraits in another room, whence many voices issue, 
 and say if you recognise it, as it is of ' one who is very 
 dear to him.' It is a life-sized painting of the artist's 
 father, Mr. John Forbes-Eobertson, who is well known in 
 literary and artistic circles, and was for many years dis- 
 tinguished as an art-critic and historian. He is clad in a 
 full suit of armour of the seventeenth century ; the like- 
 ness is startling, but the ferocity of the accoutrements in 
 no way detracts from the benevolence of the features, 
 which are so well depicted by a faithful and loving hand. 
 The family group here assembled consists of brothers and 
 sisters who are striving not unsuccessfully for inde- 
 pendence. One is a violinist, two are actors, one is an 
 artist, and another an author. 
 
 Later, in the gloaming, you sit tete-a-tete over a 
 friendly cup of tea with his mother, Mrs. Forbes-Eobertson, 
 and hear of many a pleasant incident that he has modestly 
 omitted to relate. Always unassuming, gracious, and
 
 JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON 115 
 
 kindly, alike in the home circle and abroad, it is easy to 
 see that triumphs have in no way turned his head. 
 Small wonder, then, that he possesses innumerable friends, 
 and that all, including his present chronicler who has 
 known Johnston Forbes-Kobertson from his boyhood 
 have rejoiced over his success, and cordially wish him 
 many more to follow as manager of a London theatre. 
 
 MBS. AMYOT 
 
 THE good fairies who presided at the birth of Carolina 
 Catharina Engelhart were in a generous and even lavish 
 mood. Not satisfied with knowing that she would inherit 
 an artistic temperament from both parents better fortune 
 than comes to ordinary mortals they endowed her with 
 a creative talent and power of expression amounting to 
 genius ; then, waxing merry, they added a keen sense 
 of humour to support her in trouble, and what is more to 
 the purpose, a will-power and determination of character 
 which would allow no obstacles or opposition to bar the 
 way of her progress to ultimate success. Thus equipped, 
 it is not difficult to understand how the popular artist 
 has steadily made her way to the front. 
 
 A chance walk along the Strand has led you to the 
 fringe of a crowd gathered before an office in that locality. 
 Gently elbowing a way through, you stand opposite a 
 large and exquisite painting exhibited in the window, called 
 ' The Bridge of Sighs ' (Hood). It is the property of Sir 
 George Newnes, and is signed ' C. Amyot.' The scene is 
 the Thames Embankment at daybreak. Two bargemen 
 carry a drowned girl with lovely fair face up from the 
 
 river. 
 
 ' All that remains of her 
 Now is pure womanly.' 
 
 A gentleman in evening dress and a gaily attired lady 
 have just stepped out of a cab, and, bending over the poor 
 
 i 2
 
 n6 MRS. AMYOT 
 
 dead, the lady recognises with horror her own sister. 
 She has dropped her bouquet on the ground, and seems to 
 realise in a moment the misery of her own brilliant life 
 as she stands with left hand thrown out as if to push the 
 man and her past behind her, while with the right hand 
 pressed to her mouth she tries to suppress the agony to 
 which she would fain give utterance. The man, calmly 
 lighting a cigar, stands cold, indifferent, cynical ; his cruel 
 foot stamped on the flowers he has crushed many fairer ! 
 The faces of the bargemen are most expressive. The elder 
 turns in anger and reproach towards the modern Phryne, 
 as if he resented her presence at the sanctity of death ; 
 the younger looks down with tender sympathy on the 
 beautiful face not long since in the agony of despair 
 now so still and peaceful. The old cabman, who has 
 alighted, stands at a respectful distance, looking on with 
 awe and pity, and forms an excellent and striking contrast 
 to the cynical gentleman. In the background are the 
 arches of the ' Bridge of Sighs ' (Waterloo Bridge) . The 
 gas-lamps are still burning, and the reflection of the 
 dawn on the river is most beautiful. 
 
 The picture is absolutely human and full of interest, 
 but perhaps more French than English in its conception. 
 Various admiring and appreciative criticisms fall from the 
 lips of the persons gazing at it, and inspire you with a 
 desire then and there to drive to the artist's studio, where, 
 happily, more of her works may be inspected. Suiting 
 the action to the thought, in half an hour you find your- 
 self cordially received in a large and handsomely decorated 
 house in Earl's Court Road, where, in imagination at 
 least, you soon travel over various parts of the world. 
 The studies and sketches indicate many foreign tours : 
 Venice, Bride of the Adriatic if the painted reflection 
 of its glory can thus transport its lagunes where the skies 
 seem to lie in the bosom of the seas, there must be a 
 touch of the heavenly fire in the artist who can arouse in 
 murky London such a sense of its loveliness ! Brittany, with
 
 MRS. AMYOT 117 
 
 its busy, crowded motley groups. A sunset over a flat, furze- 
 covered common takes you to Norfolk, thence to far 
 Cornwall, where, from a steep and picturesque street in the 
 little fishing-village of Newlyn (with whose artists Mrs. 
 Arnyot has great friendship), a glimpse is caught of the 
 green, foam-crested waves rolling in over the white sands . 
 Two sketches of sky effects, in purple and orange before 
 sunrise, imply that Mrs. Amyot is an early riser when 
 work is in question. On the opposite walls, the silver 
 waters of Coniston Lake, the delicate, misty Morecambe 
 Bay, the cloud-enveloped Glenfinnan Hills, and the sunny 
 meadows of Denmark are interspersed with compositions 
 and sketches for works yet to come. Cats Mrs. Amyot's 
 favourite animal largely figure in these studies. In the 
 next room hangs the well-known picture, ' Three Guineas 
 from the Queen,' justly described by a famous comic 
 actor of the day as ' a comedy in colours,' also a replica 
 on a smaller scale of Mrs. Amyot's great picture, ' The 
 Return of the Penitent ' (now in the possession of Colonel 
 North), together with a speaking portrait of Dr. Amyot. 
 The boudoir is exclusively devoted to photographs after 
 her pictures : ' Tit-bits,' which has a double interest as 
 being a likeness of her own boy ; ' A Pleasant Task ; ' and 
 a sweet girl's face, painted as a demonstration in two and 
 a half hours. This shows that Mrs. Amyot, although a 
 pupil of the highly finishing school of Bouguereau, can 
 also sketch rapidly. 
 
 Carolina Catharina, afterwards called by the Russian 
 form of her name, Cathinca, wife of Dr. Amyot, was born 
 in Copenhagen, and is by parentage Norwegian. Her 
 father, Christian Engelhart, held the responsible position of 
 Manager of Departments in the Bank of Denmark. Her 
 mother, Nathalia Rome, was a gifted and cultivated 
 woman, who, notwithstanding the frail health which pre- 
 vented her from going into society, devoted herself to the 
 early instruction of the little girl who was for many years 
 her only child. At the early age of four and a half, when
 
 n8 MRS. AMYOT 
 
 she went to school, the little Cathinka could sew and 
 knit, read and write. It was perhaps this somewhat too 
 early stimulating of an imaginative brain and a retentive 
 memory, that caused the child to be more than ordinarily 
 restless and emotional, with pencil ever in hand, recalling 
 in illustration the fairy stories with which her head was 
 full, as well as with the more prosaic events and people 
 around her. Every lesson-book bore marks of the talent, 
 that was within her, every copy book was illustrated with 
 persons and places that she daily saw, and though it was 
 considered necessary to punish her for these transgres- 
 sions, parents and teachers alike exulted over the promise 
 that she displayed. At the age of eight she accompanied 
 her mother to the south of France. Here the latent talent 
 speedily developed itself. Everything was new to an 
 awakening mind, so susceptible of receiving impressions, 
 and the seeds were sown of the harvest which was 
 destined in later years to yield so rich a fruit. When 
 taken to exhibitions, the child would inspect them with 
 a gravity far beyond her years. On her return, when bed- 
 time came, she would surreptitiously select the longest 
 candle and in her room would strive to reproduce the 
 subjects with her pencil, on the next visit carefully veri- 
 fying, to correct, the different effects of light and shade. 
 
 When she went back to Copenhagen the youthful 
 artist found herself a great source of amusement and 
 interest to her friends, for being better able to express 
 her impressions by pen and ink than by word of mouth, 
 she would indicate by rapid sketches scenes that had 
 struck her in the village : here a dance, there the quaint 
 dresses of little French children, or the bright holiday 
 costumes of the peasant women. After this journey she 
 again went to school, and was allowed to take lessons in 
 drawing in a feeble, amateurish sort of way, when she 
 candidly confesses that she never distinguished her- 
 self. All her ideas lying in the way of composition the 
 copying of cubes, triangles, ivy leaves and plaster orna-
 
 MRS. AMYOT n 9 
 
 ments were most repugnant. Her mother, becoming yet 
 more of an invalid, the young Cathinka was entirely 
 thrown on herself for companionship, and the only place 
 where her imagination met with any kind of sympathy 
 was the theatre ; but this was a treat which rarely fell to 
 her lot in those days. She was at a growing age, when 
 the young are most susceptible, and the constant repres- 
 sion in which it was deemed salutary to keep the children 
 of that country caused many different elements to ferment 
 in her nature and to render her restless and unhappy. 
 She would creep off to bed early in order to dream, and in 
 her dreams she realised all that she desired but could not 
 as yet grasp, while from childhood everything presented 
 itself to her imagination in the form of pictures. ' Our 
 house was just opposite the theatre,' remarks Mrs. Amyot, 
 ' and in the winter evenings, weary with a long, dull day 
 of small talk and domestic troubles, I used to slip out of 
 the warm, brightly lighted drawing-room and go into a 
 cold, dark room where, wrapped in a shawl, I could watch 
 the brilliantly illuminated entrance of the theatre, the 
 carriages setting down fashionably dressed people, and 
 the crowd around all seeming to me a paradise from 
 which I was shut out. One evening my father found me 
 there, sad and depressed. He said nothing at the time, 
 it was never his way but the next day at dinner I found 
 two stalls in the folds of my serviette. This was a 
 supreme pleasure, and on my return from the theatre I 
 stole upstairs on tiptoe and drew pictures of the actors 
 and the scenes, which were duly recognised.' 
 
 Once a year an exhibition of paintings was held in 
 Copenhagen. Two visits only were permitted to the girl, 
 and these were events to be looked forward to and made 
 the most of. They afforded the delight of sketching from 
 memory on her return the outlines of a few of the 
 principal pictures in miniature, and afterwards of filling 
 them in. 
 
 Up to the age of fourteen the young girl had never
 
 120 MRS. AMYOT 
 
 seen a painter at work in his studio, though she learned 
 much from watching her father whilst engaged in wood- 
 carving, at which he was an adept. It was about this 
 time that a strong desire entered her mind to go abroad 
 to study painting with a view of becoming a professional 
 artist. ' But when I mooted it to my parents,' says Mrs. 
 Amyot, laughing, ' the proposal was received with horror 
 and dismay. The idea could not be entertained for a 
 moment. A lady artist ! A professional ! Impossible ! 
 Such a thing was unknown in Denmark ! A sort of 
 hybrid creature that was associated in the mind with 
 knickerbockers, a Tarn o' Shanter cap, not improbably a 
 pipe in its mouth ! I should be looked upon as one who 
 sought unbecoming notoriety, I should be socially ostra- 
 cised. So, for some years, as the home opposition was 
 too strong and at the same time too loving to combat, 
 I relinquished the notion and contented myself with 
 amateur work for my own amusement and for that of my 
 family circle.' 
 
 Everything, however, comes to him and presumably, 
 to her also who knows how to wait. As Miss Engelhart 
 approached her coming-of-age year, and had never wavered 
 in her resolution, her parents felt that the time had come 
 when opposition was no longer to be maintained, and, 
 urged by his wife, Mr. Engelhart gave the necessary 
 permission for their daughter to go to Diisseldorf, only 
 stipulating that she should go under the escort of her old 
 governess. She had fixed on Diisseldorf as the great 
 central point of a colony of artists and as the home of 
 two great Norwegian painters of world-wide reputation, 
 Tiedmand and Gude. 
 
 ' It was all settled and we started three days later,' 
 says Mrs. Amyot. ' I was so eager to get away, to go out 
 into the world and to break away from all convention- 
 alities, that I thought the whole universe would come 
 to pieces to frustrate the realisation of my hopes and 
 longings.'
 
 MRS. AMYOT 121 
 
 Once settled at Diisseldorf, and having got over her 
 home sickness, the young artist set to work with a will, 
 and studied under Professor Vautier and Wilhelm Sohn. 
 In the first year of her student life she painted, exhibited, 
 and sold her first picture to the Art Union of Christiania. 
 There were no public studios at that time for women, 
 which made it difficult to study the academic subjects 
 absolutely necessary for figure-painting, so for a while 
 she curbed her ambition and contented herself with paint- 
 ing pictures chiefly of children. In this line her com- 
 positions were particularly happy, and all her work was 
 sold as soon as it was finished. The life was congenial, 
 and she was cheerful and contented in the society of 
 several artists with whom she had gradually become 
 acquainted through the introduction of her masters. A 
 few years later the young artist returned to Copenhagen 
 to paint some portraits, among others that of the cele- 
 brated Professor Madvig, Leader of the Danish House of 
 Commons. 
 
 It was while on this visit that she met with the most 
 awful experience of her life, and one which she never can 
 recall without a shudder an experience which probably 
 never yet occurred to anyone. Hearing, on all sides, 
 rapturous accounts of a young Swedish artist, Sophia 
 Eibbing (a pupil of the great Belgian painter, Louis 
 Gallait) and having seen her pictures in the Copenhagen 
 Exhibitions, Miss Engelhart's mind was suddenly turned 
 into quite a new groove. She was seized with a burning 
 desire to meet the young Swede and to make her acquain- 
 tance, and through her to obtain information as to how 
 she too could become a pupil of Gallait. Miss Kibbing 
 was just then spending the summer at Copenhagen with 
 an inseparable friend and companion. Miss Engelhart 
 procured her address, and, without mentioning to her 
 mother where she was going, started off to the lodgings, 
 found the ladies were out, but learning from the landlady 
 that they were painting in the Palace of Christians-
 
 122 MRS. AMYOT 
 
 borg, and determined to see them, she followed them 
 thither. 
 
 This gigantic building, which was burnt to the ground 
 a few years ago, contained all the State apartments, both 
 Houses of Parliament and the whole of the enormous 
 picture galleries, and was uninhabited. Miss Engelhart 
 went in at the south side and inquired of the porter if he 
 could direct her to the room where the ladies were paint- 
 ing. He made many difficulties, but finally told her that 
 she should have applied at the north entrance, quite at 
 the other extremity of the palace, but if she would follow 
 his directions she could get there without much trouble. 
 ' Alas ! ' says Mrs. Amyot, shaking her head ruefully, 
 ' little did I know what trouble lay in store for me. 
 It was a case of directions being more profuse than 
 explicit ; however, they contained a few leading features, 
 such as corridors after endless walks through certain 
 passages upstairs, turns to right, turns to left, then 
 downstairs through the galleries, and at last, under the 
 portico, a green baize door was to be reached, opening on 
 to another similar door, on which was written " Fire-Plug." 
 This, he said, would admit me to a staircase, which I was 
 to ascend until I reached three doors, the left of which 
 opened out into the room where I should find the ladies. 
 It led from the ground-floor to the top of the building. I 
 started on my lonely wanderings, ascending one flight of 
 stairs to descend another, through long corridors and 
 galleries where my own footsteps, sounding weird and 
 uncanny, re-echoed. My heart beat fearfully, and I looked 
 around on all sides, fancying that I was being followed by 
 ghostly occupants. However, I at last hailed with delight 
 the much-desired baize doors indicated, through which 
 I should reach the one opening into the ladies' apart- 
 ment. I opened one, found myself face to face with the 
 "Fire-Plug," and emerged with much surprise and awe 
 on the well-known " Queens' Staircase," so called from the 
 statues of the queens of Denmark that ornamented it.
 
 MRS. AMYOT 123, 
 
 It was very wide, built of marble and designed with a 
 double flight of steps that opened out en perron, and was 
 only used on State occasions. I mounted what was 
 apparently an endless flight of steps to the top, and there 
 found the door that had been described to me ajar, and I 
 heard muffled sounds of voices which seemingly issued 
 from a back passage behind. I gave a sharp tap, and 
 heard a woman's voice, in a high key in Swedish, say,. 
 " Someone knocked ! " Then a door was opened and 
 quickly closed as a second voice exclaimed, " No one is 
 there ! " I naturally found the situation somewhat awk- 
 ward, being able to hear what was said, yet not able to 
 make myself known. At that instant the great clock struck 
 twelve ! I tried the other door, which was half open, and, 
 finding what I supposed to be a dark corridor before me 
 leading to the room whence the voices came, I took two 
 steps forward and fell down, down, into the depths of 
 darkness ! ' 
 
 It was truly an awful moment, and must have felt 
 like an eternity to the poor girl. All the events of a life- 
 time poured into her mind, her parents' ignorance of her 
 whereabouts, the great uninhabited palace, the possibility 
 of death by starvation, even if she reached the ground 
 without a broken neck ; for who would think of looking for 
 her there ! 
 
 All this and more flashed through her brain. A sudden 
 instinct told her that it was a chimney into which she had 
 fallen ; bricks and mortar were tumbling down as with out- 
 stretched arms she presently found her alarming descent 
 arrested, the right hand grasping the rough stones of a. 
 wall and the left being caught by a huge beam. The 
 while she made no scream, and, as in the most sublime 
 moments the most ridiculous ideas often shoot through 
 the brain, she suddenly laughed aloud to think what an 
 extraordinary introduction it would be to the two unknown 
 ladies a half-stunned, bruised and bleeding object, 
 with torn clothes and dishevelled hair, arriving via the
 
 i2 4 MRS. AMYOT 
 
 chimney ! She had still sufficient sense to distinguish the 
 voices. One said, ' A picture must have fallen.' Then 
 another, apparently fearing something uncanny, exclaimed, 
 ' Is there anything there ? ' A humorous thought 
 occurred to the poor entombed prisoner, even at that 
 terrible juncture, and she answered, quietly, ' A lady, to 
 see Miss Bibbing.' ' But where are you ? ' said the 
 voice. 'In the chimney,' said the girl, faintly; 'send 
 for help.' 
 
 By the time this brief conversation was over, the 
 ladies began to realise that a dreadful accident had 
 occurred, and that a human life was in sore peril. Hastily 
 shouting to her to be of good courage, and promising to 
 bring help, they fled down the marble stairs and made 
 their way to the custodian. 
 
 ' It might have been one hour, or it might have been 
 six,' says Mrs. Amyot. ' My footing was insecure. Hold- 
 ing on to the friendly beam with one hand, I stretched 
 the other cautiously around and felt a piece of coarse 
 sacking, so I concluded that I must have landed in the 
 covered-in, disused fireplace of some room. It was pitch 
 dark, and I didn't dare to move, fearing that I was per- 
 haps only in a recess and might fall further further 
 down ! ' 
 
 At last welcome footsteps were heard, and men with 
 ropes and ladder arrived. No one could, of course, get 
 down to her aid, but the brave girl knotted the rope round 
 her waist, tied it to the ladder, and was hauled up in 
 safety. A bottle of milk, brought by Miss Bibbing, was 
 the only refreshment available, and having partaken of 
 that unstimulating beverage, the question arose, how to 
 get home without alarming her mother. A cab was called, 
 from which she alighted in the street adjoining her home, 
 and stealthily creeping in at a side door she seized a large 
 cloak to hide her torn and tattered garments. Then, going 
 to her mother's room, she was greeted with the words, ' Is 
 that you, dear child ? Don't laugh at me, but at twelve
 
 MRS. AMYOT 125 
 
 o'clock I had the most terrible feeling of fear as if some 
 danger were threatening you.' 
 
 When Mrs. Engelhart heard what had happened, she 
 was greatly upset. The following morning her husband 
 went to the Steward of the Palace, who was an architect. 
 At first he absolutely repudiated the idea of there being 
 any such doors, still more that if there were, they could 
 have been left open. A plan of the Palace was procured, 
 which disclosed iron doors that were opened at times to 
 clean the chimneys. Mr. Engelhart insisted on their 
 both going to the top of the building to investigate the 
 spot, when it was found that the door had been left 
 open, and the Steward, putting down the lantern with a 
 cord, pointed out to his horrified companion that if his 
 daughter had moved but an inch or two to the right when 
 her descent was arrested, she must inevitably have fallen 
 to the ground-floor of the Palace ! 
 
 ' In which case,' says Mrs. Amyot, quaintly, ' I should 
 probably never have been found, and should have been 
 one of the " mysterious disappearances " of which one 
 sometimes hears ! ' 
 
 A short time later she was invited to Stockholm to 
 paint two large historical pictures for King Oscar II. One 
 of these hangs behind the throne in the Palace of Christ- 
 iania, the other is in the Palace of Trondhjem. She spent 
 nearly a year at the Swedish Court, and received much 
 kindness from King Oscar and his mother, Queen Joseph- 
 ine. Although urged in flattering terms to remain and 
 paint the whole series of portraits for the Throne room, a 
 chance had arrived for her to become a private pupil of 
 Bouguereau, and this opportunity could not be lost ; she 
 was, therefore, obliged to decline the Koyal commission, 
 and went instead to Paris for severe study. 
 
 In a few months she was able to send a picture, called 
 ; Le Pauvre Amour,' to the Salon. It was hung on the 
 line, and highly praised by the leading art journals. The 
 following year the young student painted her largest and
 
 126 MRS. AMYOT 
 
 most important work, 'Le Retour de la Fille Eepentante.' 
 This too was exhibited in the Salon, hung on the line, 
 and attracted much notice. It was reproduced by Goupil 
 in ' L'Art pour Tous,' which only contained twenty-four 
 of the principal works of the year. 
 
 Mrs. Amyot's few last Christmas pictures are too well 
 known to need description. ' Tit-bits,' of which over 
 400,000 copies were sold, ' Scattered Tit-bits,' ' An Interval 
 in Business,' and ' The Little Culprits.' A late paint- 
 ing commission, ' From the Sublime to the Ridiculous,' 
 now stands on the easel. It is of the Georgian period. 
 A lady in a pale blue satin gown reclines on a couch of 
 white lacquer and yellow silk damask. By her side on a 
 fauteuil sits her swain, reciting a love poem from a small 
 volume of sonnets in his hand. Filled with enthusiasm 
 and raptures, he does not observe that a little cat on his 
 lady's lap, attracted by the irresistible bobbing up and 
 down of his queue, has seized upon it, and, rolling on its 
 back with outstretched paws, is engaged in the wildest 
 frolics with the dishevelled pigtail. The contrast between 
 the impassioned lover, unconscious of the kitten's gambols 
 behind his back, proves too much for the fair one, who, 
 taking the ' one step,' passes ' from the Sublime to the 
 Ridiculous,' and gives herself up to the merriment of the 
 situation. 
 
 The colouring is very striking, the beautiful old 
 Georgian coat of a glorious red, the pale blue satin, the 
 background of tapestry, and the delicate flowers on the 
 tall stand, make a most effective picture ; the kitten is 
 delightful and humorous. 
 
 Paris and her artistic surroundings were a few years 
 later forsaken, for the young painter there married Dr. 
 Amyot and accompanied him to Norfolk ; but after her 
 marriage she was not idle, and her pictures appeared 
 regularly at the Royal Academy. Amongst the works 
 annually exhibited were ' The World Forgetting, by the
 
 MRS. AMYOT 127 
 
 World Forgot,' ' Soap Bubbles,' and ' In Flagrante 
 Delicto.' 
 
 While recalling with pleasure her happy student days, 
 the brilliant life at the Swedish Court, the fascinations of 
 Paris, Mrs. Amyot has long ago decided that her present 
 life is the happiest of all. She has for many years now 
 made her home in London. Although essentially a 
 domestic woman, she is deservedly a great favourite in 
 Society, and in this home of perfect love and sympathy, 
 with a devoted husband and three charming and intelligent 
 children, she pursues her art diligently, with ever-increas- 
 ing success, while the good fairies show no signs of 
 deserting her. 
 
 F. C. PHILIPS 
 
 THE first scene : outside, a wet, boisterous evening ; 
 
 inside, a charming domestic picture. It is the 'children's 
 
 hour,' and the hard-working barrister, the talented author 
 
 of 'As in a Looking-Glass,' has stolen a short interval 
 
 from his legal and literary labours to devote to his home 
 
 and the little ones, to whom he is a fond and indulgent 
 
 father. A cheerful glow pervades the snug room. The 
 
 firelight throws dancing reflections around ; a tall, 
 
 shaded lamp stands by the open grand piano, and casts 
 
 soft rays on a marqueterie bureau of Dutch make. The 
 
 tapestry curtains are closely drawn, and on the black 
 
 fur hearthrug two thoroughbred pug-dogs romp with a 
 
 lovely little maiden of four years, whose great violet eyes, 
 
 fair curling hair and delicate colouring, give promise of 
 
 considerable beauty in the future. Equally pretty, with 
 
 gentle, thoughtful countenance, is an older girl, who 
 
 attentively hands round the cups, and daintily does the 
 
 honours of the tea-table. In this duty she is assisted by 
 
 a fine, handsome boy of eight, just home from school, 
 
 whose chief attention, however, is very properly paid to
 
 128 F. C. PHILIPS 
 
 the fair young mother, to whom he is passionately 
 attached. The group is completed by the husband and 
 father, who stands leaning against the mantelpiece. He 
 is above the middle height, strongly built, with great 
 black eyes and moustache that must contrast well with 
 his barrister's wig, but which undoubtedly give him a 
 somewhat severe expression when in repose. This, 
 nevertheless, is presently dispelled by some playful remark 
 from his boy, whereat the author betrays that he can 
 laugh as heartily and as genially as anyone. 
 
 Francis Charles Philips, who is but a year or two on 
 the wrong side of forty, was born at Brighton, and is the 
 youngest son of the late Mr. George Washington Philips. 
 A discrepancy of nearly seventy years existed between 
 father and son. ' He would have been about 112,' says 
 the author, in a humorous tone of voice, ' if he were alive 
 now.' (At this remark the intelligent youngsters prick up 
 their ears, keenly expectant of one of their father's 
 juvenile stories, but they are much too well-behaved to 
 interrupt him.) * He was a godson of George Washing- 
 ton, and was called after him on account of the friendship 
 that existed between my grand-parents and the great 
 American President, and because he was born whilst they 
 were on a tour to the United States. We had a large 
 picture of Washington which, after my father's death, 
 was bought by the United States Government for some- 
 where about 3000Z. My father owned large estates at 
 St. Kitts, but when the British Government emancipated 
 their slaves the family was practically ruined. He was an 
 intimate friend of Wilberforce, and as he possessed much 
 practical information concerning the slavery question, he 
 was able to be of considerable service to the statesman 
 when the Emancipation Bill came in, though he was a 
 great sufferer thereby. My father was distinguished as a 
 most humane slave-owner, and was a clever and highly 
 gifted man, but unfortunately or perhaps fortunately 
 he lacked ambition. But for that one failing there is
 
 F. C. PHILIPS 129 
 
 scarcely any position to which he could not have attained. 
 He subsequently came home, went to Oxford, took Holy 
 Orders, and was certainly one of the finest preachers I 
 ever heard in my life. He was offered a bishopric by 
 Lord Derby, but declined it.' 
 
 The young Frank Philips seems to have inherited 
 much of his father's talent, plus the much-needed 
 ambition. At school he worked hard, though nobody 
 exactly knew when. However idle he appeared to be, he 
 was always found up to the mark when examination-time 
 came on, and managed to take several prizes, chiefly for 
 classics and for divinity. On leaving school, he had 
 originally intended to go to Trinity College, Cambridge 
 and had he gone to that University he would certainly 
 have taken a first in classics but he was overruled by 
 circumstances, and accordingly he 'went for a soldier.' 
 For some generations his family had been associated with 
 the Army, and with the Coldstream Guards in particular, 
 two of his uncles having distinguished themselves in the 
 regiment during the Peninsular War. A very short period 
 of cramming sufficed, and he passed high into Sandhurst, 
 and equally well out. He elected to join The Queen's 
 Koyals famous as ' Colonel Kirke's lambs,' as his brother, 
 then Captain Philips, was in the regiment, and being 
 duly gazetted, he served chiefly in Ireland, and a year at 
 Aldershot. 
 
 But the young soldier soon tired of military life. Pos- 
 sessing strong literary and theatrical tastes, and being 
 perhaps somewhat of a Bohemian at heart, the monotonous 
 routine of the profession grew irksome to him in the piping 
 times of peace. Had there been any chance of seeing 
 active service, no doubt Frank Philips would have buckled 
 on his sword and gone off to the war with a light heart. 
 
 After resigning his commission, his next venture was 
 a partnership with the late Mr. Henderson in the manage- 
 ment of a theatre. Here for many years he was singu- 
 larly successful. Under his auspices, ' Blue Beard,' with 
 
 K
 
 i 3 o F. C. PHILIPS 
 
 Lydia Thompson, Willie Edouin, and Lionel Brough in 
 the cast, ran merrily for the best part of a year, and the 
 popular ' Cloches de Corneville ' for over six hundred 
 nights. In 1881 he retired from the management, ' and,' 
 says Mr. Philips, ' I was not sorry to relinquish it. It is 
 very hard work, and work that is never-ending. Trying 
 to please everybody is always a difficulty.' It was then 
 that he first seriously turned his attention to literature, 
 and, as with him whatever has to be done must be done 
 thoroughly, it was not long before he made his mark. 
 Beginning first as a journalist, he contributed several 
 leading articles to two London daily papers, short stories 
 and ' Celebrities at Home ' to the oldest weekly Society 
 journal, and a variety of articles on general subjects to the 
 leading magazines. 
 
 His first novel, ' As in a Looking-Glass,' was prompted 
 by the idea that as it had been some forty years or so since 
 a heroine of its particular type had been presented to the 
 public, it was possible that a writer who created such an 
 one would succeed. The book was immediately trans- 
 lated, and ran as a serial simultaneously through German 
 and Italian papers, and in Paris through Madame Adam's 
 magazine, ' La Nouvelle Revue.' It was immediately 
 dramatised and acted, with Mrs. Bernard-Beere in the 
 leading part of Lena Despard. Her clever and striking 
 impersonation of the heroine made such an impression on 
 M. Pierre Berton, that, thinking it would be a great role 
 for Madame Sarah Bernhardt, he, in collaboration with 
 Madame Vanderveld, rendered the French version. In 
 consequence, to Mr. Philips belongs the distinction of 
 providing the celebrated French actress with the subject- 
 matter for one of her greatest triumphs. The success of 
 this play in both countries is too well known to need 
 further comment, while the novel upon which it is built 
 has passed into some five-and-twenty editions. 
 
 A propos of Sarah Bernhardt, Mr. Philips has an 
 amusing recollection of a visit that he paid her at her
 
 F. C. PHILIPS 131 
 
 hotel, Boulevard Pereire, in Paris. The door was opened 
 by a gigantic man-servant, standing some six feet six, a 
 Patagonian or Brazilian whom the actress had brought 
 back from South America. The salon into which he was 
 shown had no windows, but was lighted from the top as 
 in an artist's studio. The room was thoroughly character- 
 istic, and contained many curious figures and bizarre nick- 
 nacks ; but the comble of eccentricity was found in the 
 further corner, in the shape of a huge cage, rising from floor 
 to ceiling, which contained the great artist's young lions. 
 When Mr. Philips had somewhat recovered from his first 
 feelings of surprise at this singular development of room 
 decoration, he approached the cage, which ' Tigrette,' 
 Madame Bernhardt's tigress, had recently vacated, and 
 which now was tenanted by a leonine brood, and stood 
 watching intensely their gambols, not without some inward 
 terrors and quakings of spirit. The bars of the cage 
 seemed very slight, and the uncomfortable recollection 
 suddenly dawned on his mind that he had been told by 
 Bedel, the famous dompteur, that the large carnivora, when 
 reared in captivity, are far more dangerous than their 
 wild brethren. ' Are they quiet ? ' asked the author. ' Oh 
 yes,' replied the Patagonian Hercules, ' very quiet, espe- 
 cially Scarpia.' Thus emboldened, Mr. Philips stretched 
 out a hand to pat Scarpia's head, and was rewarded for his 
 temerity by a savage snatch, which made him jump back- 
 wards with the agility of a pantomimist. ' I thought you 
 said they were quiet,' he observed to the giant who was 
 smiling, enjoying the scene. ' Oh ! yes, sir, so they are- 
 very quiet that was only play when he grabbed at 
 Monsieur.' Presently the Patagonian left the room, re- 
 turning with a great bowl of milk. To unfasten the cage 
 was the work of an instant, and before Mr. Philips could 
 save himself by precipitate flight, the mad things were 
 galloping all over the room, jumping from chair to divan, 
 and from divan to chair, dancing round him, crouching 
 at his feet, as though meditating a spring at his throat, 
 
 K 2
 
 132 F. C. PHILIPS 
 
 and then, to his inexpressible relief, dashing off again ta 
 the other end of the room where the milk was waiting 
 for them. 
 
 ' Madame not appearing,' says Mr. Philips, ' I took 
 advantage of a favourable moment to place the salon door 
 between myself and these pretty creatures, which I 
 admired in exact proportion to the distance which sepa- 
 rated us. When I called again in the Boulevard Pereire, 
 a few days afterwards, I found that the lions had been 
 removed, and their places taken by between two and three 
 hundred birds, whose warblings and chatterings made it 
 almost impossible to hear oneself speak.' 
 
 In 1884 Mr. Philips was called to the bar, and has 
 ever since combined law with literature. 
 
 The next book was, ' A Lucky Young Woman,' followed 
 by a collection of short stories, entitled ' Social Vicissitudes,' 
 and ' Jack and Three Jills.' The succeeding novel, ' The 
 Dean and his Daughter,' was originally written as a short 
 story, but the characters ran away with the author. ' For 
 instance,' Mr. Philips explains, ' I just get the main idea, 
 and then I let the characters have their own way, and 
 don't in the least know what they are going to do. 
 Perhaps I do occasionally draw from life, but never so as 
 to be recognisable,' and, he adds after a pause, ' I take a 
 bit of one person here and another there, and so on. 
 Many incidents have been suggested by things that I 
 have observed in the courts, or when I was in theatrical 
 management.' 
 
 On the morrow the second scene. The picture here 
 reveals a totally different aspect of affairs : a square, 
 severe room, with the neatest of writing-tables in the 
 centre ; another, on the right, holds a multitude of 
 mysterious-looking packets precisely arranged, tied, and 
 docketed. Not a pen seems to be out of place, not a 
 sound can be heard without. Vast bookshelves line the 
 opposite wall with cavernous cupboards underneath. 
 What may not these cupboards contain ! The windows
 
 F. C. PHILIPS 133 
 
 look out on the back of the Inner Temple Library. The 
 lad in charge is discovered comfortably curled up by the 
 fire, absorbed in one of his master's novels called ' Young 
 Mr. Ainstie's Courtship.' Asking him for another to 
 beguile the brief period of waiting, he affably hunts for 
 and produces a tattered Tauchnitz edition of ' Little Mrs. 
 Murray.' Soon, getting thoroughly interested, you are 
 inclined to wish that the case going on in Court may 
 detain the author for an hour or so ; but just as you have 
 reached an exciting chapter, Mr. Philips enters in wig 
 and gown (you do not fail to notice that the thought of 
 the previous evening re the wig is quite realised). He 
 hands you his special writing-chair perhaps the chair 
 may afford inspiration ! Here he finds the quiet necessary 
 for his double profession. He dictates rapidly to a short- 
 hand secretary, but cannot stand a type-writer in the 
 room, as the clicking sound ' knocks every idea out of his 
 head.' 
 
 Mr. Philips works at his novels very much as he 
 worked at school at odd hours but in the aggregate a 
 good deal of literary and legal business is got through 
 every day. He possesses not only facility in the art of 
 composition and the versatility that enables a writer to 
 vary his style at will, but he has a knack, quite his own, 
 of seizing the salient points of his subjects and of bringing 
 them out with vigour and with truth. He draws charac- 
 ters that are at once true and amusing ; his stories are 
 alike artistic in construction and original in design, while 
 the wit is so keen, and the dialogue so crisp and bright, 
 that he sustains the interest to the final page. 
 
 He has tried his hand, also successfully, with three or 
 four farcical comedies. In joint authorship with Mr. 
 Charles Brookfield, ' Godpapa ' was produced at the 
 Comedy Theatre, and in this remarkably humorous piece 
 Mr. Charles Hawtrey probably scored one of his greatest 
 hits. In conjunction with Mr. Percy Fendall he brought 
 out a most amusing and successful farcical comedy, called
 
 i 3 4 F- C. PHILIPS 
 
 ' Husband and Wife,' at the same theatre, while his 
 latest play, ' A Woman's Eeason,' also written in conjunc- 
 tion with Mr. Brookfield, promises to be the greatest 
 success of all. Two recent works, entitled ' Mrs. 
 Bouverie ' and 'A Question of Colour,' bear no sign of 
 falling off. It may safely be predicted that in his 
 erratic ' odd hours ' the gifted author will continue to find 
 abundant material for his brilliant pen. 
 
 SOPHIE LAEKIN 
 
 To mention the name of Miss Sophie Larkin on your 
 rounds among her brother and sister actors is at once to 
 evoke hearty words of affection, in which a friendship of 
 twenty years with the talented player enables you cor- 
 dially to join. ' Is not she a dear ? ' says one. ' Is not 
 she clever ? ' says another. ' How excellent she is all 
 round ! ' remarks a third ; while the fourth, a charming 
 little member of her profession, naively exclaims, ' I do so 
 want to know Miss Larkin ; do ask me to tea to meet 
 her ! ' No less warm is the appreciation of her by the 
 public, before whom she is always to be seen as she 
 pursues the even tenor of her calling without fear and 
 without reproach. ' My critics are always so kind to me,' 
 she says, quaintly, ' and would you believe it ? I am 
 not personally acquainted with any of them.' 
 
 She lives in a quiet, broad road near Chiswick, in an 
 old-fashioned house whereat the frugal tramcar sets you 
 down. The pretty drawing-room is flooded with sunshine 
 on this bright autumn day, an indication of the actress's 
 own happy, mirthful temperament. Under the mass of 
 white curls and straight, black eyebrows, the dark brown 
 eyes look out with a merry sparkle of fun, for she has 
 a keen sense of the ridiculous, ' rather too much, un-
 
 SOPHIE LARKIN 135 
 
 fortunately,' is her own opinion, yet it has helped her, not 
 inconsiderably, through the battle of life. 
 
 No other member of her family has ever been on the 
 boards, but at a very early age she was often taken to the 
 theatre, of which she became so passionately fond that 
 she soon began to copy and mimic everything that she 
 saw, and in many little amateur plays got up among 
 themselves she displayed so much ability that a friend 
 who saw her act declared that she ' ought to go on the 
 stage.' The late Mr. Benjamin Webster's brother Fred 
 was just then holding a sort of dramatic class (in which 
 Mr. John Maclean was at that time a student) to rehearse 
 plays. The young girl attended it for a few months, and 
 worked so hard that her instructor declared that he would 
 take no more money from her ; he had taught her all he 
 could, and advised her to ' get an engagement.' Mr. 
 Webster's son was getting up a benefit at the Strand 
 Theatre, in which she was invited to play Widow Melnotte 
 to Mr. Fred Belton's Claude. ' I was only too glad to play 
 anything,' relates Miss Larkin, ' for the sake of acting. 
 A short time after I saw an advertisement for a company 
 to go on a Yorkshire circuit, of which Mr. Fred Belton 
 was manager. I answered it, and was offered a " utility " 
 engagement, playing anything and everything for the 
 large sum of eighteen shillings a week. I accepted it, 
 stayed one season, then joined Edward Gomersall's 
 company (son of the celebrated "Napoleon " of Astley's) 
 and remained on for two years as leading lady.' 
 
 In those busy years of unremitting toil, Sophie Larkin 
 laid the foundation of her future success. Grounded so 
 thoroughly in every variety of part and play, she laid in 
 the large stock of knowledge and experience that has been 
 so invaluable in her subsequent bright career. To give 
 some idea of what work meant in those days, her own 
 words shall be quoted. ' Yes,' she says, smiling, ' it was 
 an incessant grind. I often played in two new pieces on 
 the same evening ; often, too, until it was over, I did not
 
 136 SOPHIE LARKIN 
 
 even know what would be played on the morrow. There 
 were only two play-books in MS. between the whole 
 party. How different from these days when everyone has 
 a neatly typed copy for him or her self ! After a perform- 
 ance I used to sit up until 4 A.M. copying out my 
 lines, and got up at 7 o'clock to take the book to some- 
 one else in a similar strait. Rehearsal was called at 
 11 A.M., and was seldom over till three. Then back 
 to the theatre at night. One great advantage of it all 
 was, that one learnt what could be done under the 
 pressure of excitement, but never could in cold blood. 
 One finds out what suits one an opportunity which the 
 students of the present day miss. I remember one even- 
 ing the manager said I must play the two leading parts 
 the following night both new "Jack Sheppard " and 
 " Susan Hopley." This is a specimen of the work night 
 after night sometimes blank verse, too, which, you 
 know, people hear so critically. But for my beloved 
 mother's constant companionship and help,' and here her 
 voice trembles, and she adds, with pathos, ' I could never 
 have got through it all. She arranged our menage, our 
 journeys, even my costumes, so I had nothing to think of 
 except my profession.' 
 
 Miss Larkin has many a good anecdote and amusing 
 incident to relate of her early experiences in these pro- 
 vincial tours. In those times there were none of the 
 gorgeous upholstery and scenic effects of later years, and 
 they had to resort to very simple means. On one 
 occasion, in Yorkshire, ' Hamlet ' was to be produced. 
 The throne was composed of an inverted candle-box, 
 covered with red baize, on which they had to sit in lieu of 
 State chairs. Mr. Tom Glenny was the Player King ; Miss 
 Larkin the Queen of Denmark. The property-master's wife 
 was cast for the role of the Player Queen a most difficult 
 part even for an experienced actress. She had been well 
 coached, and was letter-perfect in the morning rehearsal, 
 but, alas ! when the evening came she was seized with
 
 SOPHIE LARKIN 137 
 
 stage-fright, and could not open her mouth nor gasp forth 
 a word. The first speech should have been hers, but 
 none was forthcoming. The Player King reeled off his 
 sentences, but when it came to ' Madam, how like you 
 the play ? ' Miss Larkin's reply, ' Methinks the lady doth 
 protest too much,' was laughingly inappropriate, as the 
 poor lady had been unable to ' protest ' a single syllable, 
 and the effect on the audience can be imagined. ' The 
 Yorkshire people are great on Shakespeare,' says Miss 
 Larkin, ' and could almost say every line backwards, which 
 was all the worse for the poor Player Queen. The whole 
 house became convulsed with merriment, and shouted 
 so loud that it was some minutes before we could go on. 
 I always laugh now when I think of it.' And she had 
 once, when quite a girl, a terrible contretemps of her own, 
 a portion of which must be suppressed. By an accidental 
 transposition of two words, the perfectly innocent sentence 
 became entirely altered, and turned into a ludicrous 
 double entendre. This was at once grasped by the audi- 
 ence, who collapsed with laughter. It was an awful 
 moment. For a second the poor girl scarcely realised 
 what she had said ; but as the meaning flashed upon her 
 she felt sick with fright. At this moment a man in the 
 pit, seeing her distress, shouted, ' All right, lass ; go on, 
 lass ! ' She pulled herself together ; and, ably supported 
 by Mr. Melville, she went on with the act, and received a 
 storm of applause at its conclusion. ' But I think,' she 
 says, laughing, ' we won't indulge anyone's curiosity by 
 telling what the unlucky words really were. I grew hot 
 and cold every evening after when it came to that bit.' 
 
 On the first occasion of her playing an old woman's 
 part at Leeds a manager saw her, and said if she would 
 engage to play only such roles with him he would ' make 
 her fortune.' Miss Larkin felt it ' a terrible jump from 
 sympathetic and comedy characters to those of disagree- 
 able old women,' but she accepted, on the chance of getting 
 to London. A curious circumstance, showing upon what
 
 138 SOPHIE LARKIN 
 
 slight events fate often hinges, brought about the actual 
 London engagement for which she had been wishing. By 
 the accidental leaving of a letter which would have 
 bound her to the Prince of Wales's Theatre, Liverpool at 
 one door instead of another, it luckily arrived too late, 
 and she was able instead to accept a much more tempting 
 offer from Marie Wilton for the Prince of Wales's, London, 
 where she made the first of her metropolitan successes 
 which have gone on so uninterruptedly since. During 
 the original run of the late Mr. T. W. Robertson's delight- 
 ful plays, Sophie Larkin created the parts of Lady Ptar- 
 migan in ' Society,' of Lady Shendryn in ' Ours,' and the 
 Marquise de Saint Maur in ' Caste.' At the conclusion of 
 that engagement she received an excellent offer from Miss 
 Herbert to go to the St. James's Theatre to play in ' De 
 Boots ' with the late Mr. J. S. Clarke, succeeded by a 
 term of months with Miss Fanny Josephs at the Holborn 
 Theatre in one of Mr. Burnand's extravaganzas. At the 
 Globe, in poor Montague's time, she will be remembered 
 as Priscilla Mervyn in ' Partners for Life,' with Messrs. 
 James and Thome ; as the Widow Warren, her ' pet part 
 of all,' in ' The Eoad to Ruin,' with Mrs. John Wood ; in 
 ' She Stoops to Conquer,' when she played with so much 
 eclat the part of Mrs. Hardcastle ; and in multitudes of 
 others. 
 
 In the immense range of her repertoire there are two 
 plays which are peculiarly identified with Miss Larkin's 
 name. One is the celebrated ' Our Boys,' in which she 
 acted Clarissa Champneys for a run of four years and a 
 quarter consecutively without a break ! She observes, ' It 
 nearly made us all ill, the horrible monotony evening 
 after evening. It seemed to be going on day and night 
 too, like a well-wound clock. It got on my nerves, and 
 at last I could not sleep. I had to send for the doctor, 
 and the first words he said were, " ' Our Boys ' ! that is 
 what is the matter with you." We were all thankful 
 when it came to an end.' The other piece was that most
 
 SOPHIE LARKIN 139 
 
 witty and laughable ' Confusion,' by Derrick ; and what 
 a remarkable cast it was ! Mr. Henry Neville, Mr. Fred 
 Thorne, Miss Sophie Larkin, Miss Winifred Emery, Miss 
 Kate Phillips, &c. If it had been played farcically, it 
 could not have escaped being ' broad ; ' but in such able and 
 perfect hands, the vein of mock tragedy made it all the 
 funnier to the audience, and it was wonderful how the 
 players themselves could have got through it with such 
 becoming gravity. 
 
 Countless are the characters that Sophie Larkin has 
 impersonated. Her refined and vivacious Sophia, then, 
 what she calls ' a lovely part ' in ' Loose Tiles,' in ' Nerves,' 
 and ' The Pharisee,' in effective scenes with Marius ; these 
 are all well remembered. Also her Daphne in ' Pygma- 
 lion and Galatea,' and her Mrs. Hardcastle on the first 
 morning of Mrs. Langtry's debut at the Haymarket : 
 while she was then engaged by Mr. Bancroft for matinees 
 over and above the usual evening performance. Thus it 
 will be seen that the talented artist has not spared herself. 
 She has reached her prominent position entirely by her 
 own merits, and made the good score ' off her own bat ' 
 unaided. That she is still strengthening her powers and 
 increasing her reputation, the public saw for itself nightly 
 in her late clever impersonation of Penelope Austin in the 
 popular Adelphi drama, 'The Fatal Card,' since which 
 time she has been engaged in the pantomime ' Cinderella ' 
 at Drury Lane. 
 
 FEEDEEIC COW EN 
 
 OF all the gifts assuredly good music is the one that pro- 
 duces the most refining and cultivating effects ; therefore 
 to the great composer and musician the public owe a deep 
 debt of gratitude. For if his art can ' soothe the savage 
 breast,' what measure of comfort and enjoyment can it not 
 inspire in the sick, the sound, the sorrowful, the joyous
 
 140 FREDERIC COWEN 
 
 rich and poor alike ! Although his father was more or 
 less of a musician, the talent with which Mr. Frederic 
 Cowen is blessed originates in himself. He was born at 
 Kingston, Jamaica, in January 1852, and at the age of 
 four accompanied his parents to England, where they then 
 settled. The elder Mr. Cowen was at once appointed 
 treasurer to Her Majesty's Theatre, and remained in that 
 post throughout the directorships of Messrs. Lumley, 
 Smith, and Mapleson a period of eleven years. Then, 
 after the great fire of 1867, he moved to Drury Lane, and 
 occupied a similar position under Messrs. Mapleson and 
 Gye. Together with these duties he combined those of 
 secretary to the late Earl Dudley for over twenty years. 
 Thus it will be seen that the young Frederic Cowen, from 
 his earliest years, enjoyed exceptional advantages in being 
 brought in contact with the greatest artists of the day in 
 public as well as in private entertainments, for which 
 Lord Dudley himself a devotee to music and one of the 
 greatest patrons of art was renowned. To the delicate, 
 refined-natured child, no surroundings could have been 
 more appropriate or better adapted to draw out and 
 develop the natural gifts which have made the young 
 composer so distinguished. When yet but a toddling 
 infant he showed himself acutely sensitive to sound, and 
 listened with intelligent delight to any good music, and 
 with frowns to any disorder of time or tune. As long 
 back as he can look he composed, and remembers stand- 
 ing at the piano because he was too small to sit and 
 working out his ideas on the instrument ere he was old 
 enough to write out the notes. He was educated at home, 
 a circumstance he is somewhat inclined to regret, for he 
 is of opinion that ' at a public school he would have lost 
 an inherent shyness, though doubtless it has all been for 
 the best.' Probably very much for the best. Reared in 
 the very atmosphere of oratorio and opera, Frederic Cowen 
 early acquired a thorough orchestral knowledge, which has 
 served him in good stead as a composer. At the age of
 
 six he had produced a waltz, a song, and some quadrilles, 
 which were written down for him by Mr. Henry Russell. 
 Then his parents, fully recognising what was in him, began 
 to cultivate the divine talent, and by the advice of Lord 
 Dudley who from the first had taken the keenest inter- 
 est in the gifted child persuaded Benedict to make an 
 exception in his favour, and take him as a pupil for the 
 piano, while he studied harmony with Sir John Goss. At 
 the age of eight the boy had completed the music of an 
 operetta called ' Garibaldi/ with the same aid to put it 
 into shape. At twelve he was thoroughly at home in 
 Beethoven's sonatas, in which he was just then heard by 
 Thalberg, as also in some of that master's own work. 
 Thalberg, much delighted, was enthusiastic over the boy's 
 talents, and predicted a brilliant future for him. His first 
 appearance in public was made at the age of eleven in the 
 concert-room of Her Majesty's Theatre, where he gave a 
 pianoforte recital that comprised several pieces by Bach, 
 Heller, &c., without notes. The criticisms on this juvenile 
 performance were so unanimously favourable not to say 
 flattering that the following year the young musician 
 gave a concert at Dudley House, at which Trebelli, 
 Joachim, and Santley assisted a trio of which the boy 
 artist may well have been proud. It proved so great a 
 success that he arranged yet another and last matinee 
 some months later with Joachim and Piatti, before leaving 
 for Leipzig to enter the Conservatoire. There Frederic 
 Cowen, in his fourteenth year, studied under Eeinecke for 
 composition, Moscheles for pianoforte, and Moritz Haupt- 
 mann for harmony and counterpoint: Entering heart and 
 soul into his work, he made such progress that he produced 
 his first string quartette, and also an overture for orchestra, 
 which was played with marked success a year later at the 
 Covent Garden concerts. Then he returned to London, 
 gave several matinees at Dudley House, and once more 
 started this time for Berlin to resume study. ' I began 
 my actual musical career,' says Mr. Cowen, ' when I was
 
 142 FREDERIC COWEN 
 
 nearly seventeen, and have been at it ever since. My 
 name came before the public so early that some people 
 think I am an old man the Americans especially. But 
 with regard to my " method," of which you ask, the 
 composition of music is most difficult to describe there 
 is nothing tangible in it. First the bare idea the germ 
 and it gradually develops. I never believed in so- 
 called inspiration. It does occasionally come, I admit, 
 but as a rule I have always found my best ideas if good 
 they can be called have come when I sought the hardest. 
 It is like digging deep down into a mine with a spade.' 
 But the mine yields rich treasures. Among his more 
 popular early works, written while the young composer 
 was yet in his teens, was the cantata ' The Eose Maiden,' 
 produced in 1870 at St. James's Hall, performed by 
 Titiens, Patey, Nordblom, and Stockhausen, and con- 
 ducted by himself, succeeded by some incidental music in 
 and an overture to Schiller's ' Maid of Orleans,' written 
 for the Brighton Festival. In 1880 followed what is one 
 of his most important works, the famous ' Scandinavian 
 Symphony,' which has justly taken its place in Europe 
 as one of the greatest orchestral works of modern days. 
 Up to the time of the late Lord Dudley's serious illness 
 he had continued to watch his young friend's career with 
 deep interest and affection, and unbounded sympathy. 
 One can well imagine the pleasure that such a work 
 would have given so true a lover of art ; but the kind- 
 hearted peer passed away without hearing that or its 
 exquisite successor. This was an orchestral suite called 
 ' The Language of Flowers,' and from that day to the 
 present it can be found and ofttimes heard in every 
 orchestral society in England. Mr. Cowen's later works 
 are too well known to need much mention the delight- 
 ful sacred cantata ' St. Ursula ; ' 'The Welsh Symphony; ' 
 ' The Sleeping Beauty ; ' the oratorio ' Euth,' written for 
 the Worcester Festival ; the masterly opera ' Thorgrim,' 
 for the Carl Eosa company, with its never-to-be-forgotten
 
 FREDERIC COWEN 143 
 
 striking duet in the third act ; ' Signa,' performed first in 
 1893, in Milan, and brought out later by Sir Augustus 
 Harris. This opera, which abroad caused Mr. Cowen 
 annoyances that are still fresh in the minds of the musical 
 world, is dedicated, by permission, to the Queen, and was 
 commanded by her Majesty to Windsor. Another work, 
 a cantata called ' The Water Lily,' was written for the 
 Norwich Festival of 1893. His latest opera, ' Harold,' 
 was performed at Covent Garden, and he has now com- 
 pleted an oratorio for the Gloucester Festival. For six 
 years Mr. Cowen had much practice as an accompanist. 
 
 As the art of accompanying is very much neglected, 
 partly because it is not properly understood or considered 
 of sufficient importance^ his ideas on the subject shall be 
 given in his own words. ' The very fact,' he says, ' of the 
 nature of the art of accompanying ought to make it better 
 understood. It should be entirely unobtrusive. The 
 great requirements are that the accompanist must be a 
 thorough musician in technicality and feeling, an excellent 
 pianist, and a good sight reader. He must have an intense 
 sympathy with all schools of music and a complete under- 
 standing of the nature of the voice that he accompanies. 
 Then he must straightway forget that he possesses all these 
 qualities ! I gave it up some years ago, and though I 
 came out as a pianist I was too nervous and not sufficiently 
 robust physically to do that and to compose as well.' 
 
 Symphonist though he be, innumerable songs tender, 
 refined, and sweet, the outcome of the delicate, artistic 
 soul within flow from his pen. As director of the 
 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition he spent nearly a year 
 in that city, where his reception was most gratifying, and 
 his concerts crowded. A great traveller in foreign lands, 
 and with a love of Nature in all its aspects, Mr. Cowen 
 is a keen mountaineer, and delights in all its dangers and 
 discomforts. He is a slow composer, but a quick worker. 
 The beginning of a big work takes him a long time, 
 but when once he has got ' inside it ' he writes rapidly,
 
 i 4 4 FREDERIC COWEN 
 
 spending practically the whole day over it for months at a 
 stretch . If worried over musical matters, the piano is the 
 last resource to which he would fly, but if about more 
 mundane things he finds its influence soothing. He has 
 just been appointed to succeed the late Sir Charles Halle 
 in the conductorship of Halle's Concerts, Manchester, for 
 the ensuing season. 
 
 But under the quiet, straightforward manner, and the 
 highly strung, warm-hearted nature, there lurks a fund of 
 humour which now and then breaks out into witty, 
 doggerel rhymes. Romantic and ardent in temperament, 
 modest and unassuming after the fashion of genius, the 
 slight look of gravity apparent on his face vanishes in an 
 instant, and the thoughtful dark eyes flash out with 
 merriment when any fun is in question. It has even 
 been whispered that he has occasionally participated in 
 the playing of a few practical but always kindly jokes. 
 
 Mr. Frederic Cowen's study, which is like a museum 
 library, is filled in every available corner with books 
 chiefly humorous first editions of Thackeray, Dickens, 
 Leech, and Cruikshank ; art books and illustrations. On 
 a neat ebonised writing-table, in the post of honour, 
 stands a picture of the sweet and gentle lady who presides 
 over his home. ' My beloved and honoured mother,' says 
 the famous composer, in a low tone ; ' of whom it is 
 impossible to speak too warmly or affectionately.' 
 
 EMILY GEEAED (MADAME DE LAS- 
 ZOWSKA) AND DOEOTHEA GEEAED 
 (MADAME LONGAED DE LONGAEDE}. 
 
 PAET I. 
 
 THE subjects of the following sketch are the talented 
 sisters who, singly and in collaboration, are the popular 
 authors of many delightful novels. Together they wrote
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 145 
 
 ' Eeata,' ' Beggar my Neighbour,' and others, to which 
 allusion will be made later ; singly, ' A Secret Mission,' 
 'The Voice of a Flower,' &c. (E. Gerard) and 'Lady 
 Baby,' 'A Queen of Curds and Cream,' &c. (Dorothea 
 Gerard) . 
 
 It is curious to trace how sometimes certain remark- 
 able events which have convulsed whole nations, continue, 
 long after their apparent influence has subsided, to mould 
 the destinies of unborn generations. This influence will 
 be found at work even in cases where cause and effect are 
 seemingly as wide asunder as the poles, for, impossible 
 as it may appear, it is undeniably true that the marriage 
 of these sisters, who are Scottish by birth, was one of the 
 results of the expulsion from France of King Charles X. 
 
 When his Majesty was dethroned, in consequence of 
 the July Eevolution of 1830, it was in Scotland that he 
 first took refuge. The English Government placed Holy- 
 rood Palace at the King's disposal, and there he resided 
 for nearly two years with his grandchildren, the Due de 
 Bordeaux (subsequently known as the Comte de Chambord) 
 and Princess Louise, son and daughter of the Due de 
 Berri, assassinated in 1820. Sir John Eobison, the 
 Misses Gerard's grandfather, well known in Edinburgh 
 at that time, had two daughters, Euphemia and Anne, 
 who, as their ages corresponded with those of the young 
 French Princes, were frequently invited over to play 
 with them at Holyrood Palace. Between Euphemia (the 
 authors' mother) and Princess Louise, a warm sympathy 
 was soon established which, unlike the majority of 
 such childish intimacies, became a life-long friendship. 
 Although subsequently separated during a space of 
 about thirty years, they always remained in touch and in 
 correspondence. 
 
 Euphemia Eobison married Archibald Gerard, of 
 Eochsoles, in Lanarkshire. They had seven children, of 
 whom three brothers were older and three sisters younger 
 than the novelist, Emily Gerard. 
 
 L
 
 146 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 The greater part of her childhood up to the age of 
 fifteen was spent at Rochsoles, and from the fact of her 
 brothers being mostly away at school, whilst the little 
 Dorothea and two other sisters were still in the nursery, 
 her life at that time was tolerably lonely, and she seldom 
 had a companion of her own age. Long solitary rides on 
 her pony, attended solely by a groom, and equally solitary 
 rambles in the woods were her chief amusements. She 
 was always fond of reading, and her mother often remarked 
 that she was the only one of the children who had never 
 required a reading lesson. Her brother Alexander, her 
 senior by a year, taught her the alphabet, and she found 
 out the rest for herself. Figures, however, seemed to be 
 more of a stumblingblock ; for, at the age of five, when the 
 child could read with tolerable fluency, she was utterly 
 incapable of distinguishing the figures with which the 
 pages were numbered. Alexander was in the same pre- 
 dicament, and in order to supply their common deficiency, 
 the children concocted a whole series of fantastic appella- 
 tions by means of which to define and identify the Arabic 
 designations. ' Some of these ingenious designations,' 
 says Miss Gerard, ' have escaped my memory, but I know 
 that 1 was called "the whipping-post," 3 "old crazy," 6 
 "the saucepan," 7 "the hatchet," and 8 "the lady" 
 (probably because of her elegant little waist). Somehow, 
 the idea of learning the real names of the figures never 
 seemed to have occurred to either of us, and no one thought 
 of investigating the matter until one day my mother's 
 attention was aroused by hearing me reply, in answer to 
 Alexander's question regarding the page of a story that he 
 was seeking in a book, " it begins at the hatchet and the 
 lady." After this we were made to learn the orthodox 
 designations of the numbers, but I, at least, did this 
 regretfully, and found them much less interesting and 
 expressive than those of our own creation.' 
 
 Later, the little girl read pretty much what she could 
 lay hands on, but her real passion for reading dates from
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 147 
 
 a tedious illness when, at the age of nine, she was con- 
 fined to bed for nearly six months. As an inducement to 
 remain quiet she was offered the bribe of sweetmeats in 
 plenty and an unlimited number of story-books wherewith 
 to beguile the enforced captivity. Taking full advantage 
 of both these offers, the rather melancholy result ensued 
 that she gorged herself alike with fairy tales and bonbons, 
 so that in after years the very sight of a box of chocolate 
 or the mention of elves and giants was sufficient to pro- 
 duce nausea. 
 
 The girl's studies, up to the time when she went to 
 school, were conducted by her mother. Mrs. Gerard, who 
 was a singularly intelligent and accomplished woman and 
 a brilliant pianist, gave herself up entirely to the education 
 of her daughters, and during many years withdrew com- 
 pletely from the society of which she was so bright an 
 ornament. 
 
 'I suppose that I must have been about eleven or 
 twelve,' says Miss Gerard, ' when I first began to scribble 
 in secret poetry, of course ; for what youthful writer at 
 that stage of his or her existence would stoop to prose ! 
 Unfortunately I have not preserved any of these early 
 effusions, which were mostly of an elegiac character, and 
 chiefly suggested by the demise of some pet animal or doll. 
 I can but faintly remember one of these poems, composed 
 on the death of a favourite chestnut foal, which seemed to 
 me so touchingly pathetic that it caused my tears to flow 
 in torrents when I recited it to myself in bed, with my 
 face well hidden under the sheets for fear of being caught 
 by the nurse. She, not being of a poetical turn of mind, 
 may possibly have failed to appreciate the beauty of this 
 remarkable production, now, alas ! lost to posterity ! I 
 can recall only the last four lines, which ran thus : 
 
 ' Long years may pass, a thousand years, 
 And yet no sigh or burning tears 
 Can snatch one foal from death, and save 
 It from its lone, untimely grave.' 
 
 L 2
 
 148 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 These lines, together with some others composed about the 
 same time, were shown to no one but one bosom friend, 
 who, with the beautiful enthusiasm of thirteen, promptly 
 declared them to be superior to anything that Burns or 
 Sir Walter Scott had ever penned. I modestly felt 
 inclined to agree with her at the time, but some years 
 later, vague doubts as to her absolute reliability as a 
 critic began to form in my mind, and I consigned these 
 virgin productions of my muse to the flames ! ' 
 
 The lines at least showed that even at that age the 
 little poet had fairly well studied her quantities in rhyming. 
 At the age of fourteen, she wrote a fairy drama in verse, 
 called ' The Magic King,' which was twice performed by 
 her sisters and self before a select audience consisting of 
 their parents and the household servants. 
 
 It was after this that her father and mother decided to 
 send her, with her sister next in age, to some Continental 
 school, in order to have the opportunity of studying foreign 
 languages. The Sacre Coeur, in Paris, was first taken 
 into consideration, but here Mrs. Gerard's old friend, 
 Princess Louise de Bourbon, intervened, which caused a 
 change of plans. Princess Louise, who in 1845, married 
 Charles III., reigning Duke of Parma, had, since her 
 husband's assassination in 1854, been acting as Regent 
 for her son Duke Robert during his minority. Expelled 
 from Italy in 1859, by Victor Emanuel, after the battle of 
 Magenta, she had established herself in Switzerland on 
 the shores of the beautiful Lake Constance, placing her two 
 daughters at the Convent of the Sacre Coeur at Rieden- 
 burg, near Bregenz, on the Tyrolean side of the Lake. 
 H.R.H. therefore suggested to Mrs. Gerard, that the 
 object of obtaining fluency in French and German would 
 equally be fulfilled were the girls to go to Riedenburg, 
 instead of to Paris, while this plan would have the addi- 
 tional advantage of permitting their respective daughters 
 to become acquainted and continue the friendship that had 
 united their mothers for over thirty years. Accordingly,
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 149 
 
 to Kiedenburg they went, where they found a lively and 
 a happy home, as well as two kind and devoted friends 
 in the Princesses Marguerite and Alix, who were about 
 their own ages. After the rather solitary life at Kochsoles, 
 the change to a large boarding school was a delightfully 
 novel sensation. The young Emily threw herself heart 
 and soul into the studies, which possessed quite a new 
 attraction now that the hitherto unknown elements of 
 emulation and of rivalry had been introduced into them. 
 
 Being gifted with an exceptionally good memory and 
 much perseverance, she quickly rose to the head of the 
 class, notwithstanding the difficulty of pursuing studies in 
 a language not yet wholly familiar. At the end of the 
 second school-year, the young student had carried away 
 every prize within reach, with the exception of those for 
 calligraphy and needlework. Her taste for original com- 
 position also found a congenial outlet in writing odes, 
 speeches, dramas and satires to be recited and acted by 
 her companions on holidays. Then, as it became neces- 
 sary to remove her to a warmer climate, the Duchess of 
 Parma again influenced Mrs. Gerard's decision by sug- 
 gesting Venice (her own usual winter residence) as the 
 most natural and fitting place in the circumstances, at the 
 same time proposing that as her own eldest daughter, 
 Euphemia's particular friend, Princess Marguerite, was 
 also to leave school about the same time, they could con- 
 tinue their studies together at Venice. 
 
 This plan was carried out, and from the autumn of 
 1863 until the spring of 1866, Venice became their winter 
 home. Miss Gerard's joint studies with Princess Mar- 
 guerite continued for about eighteen months, and after 
 the Duchess of Parma's death they were carried on to- 
 gether at the house of the Comte de Chambord, uncle of 
 H.E.H. 
 
 ' I have, however, often regretted,' says Miss Gerard, 
 ' that I did not make better use of the advantages thus 
 offered, but being just then at that period of existence
 
 150 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 when balls present more attraction than books, and ques- 
 tions of toilette seem infinitely more important than the 
 most fascinating mathematical problem, my thirst for 
 knowledge cooled sadly down. Then, when, in addition to 
 Latin, French, German, and Italian literature, it was 
 decided that Princess Marguerite was to begin Spanish as 
 well by way of preparation for betrothal to her cousin 
 Don Carlos I fairly struck, expressing my conviction 
 that my education was quite complete. It might be all 
 very well for the Princess to learn Spanish, which indeed 
 her position as the future wife of Don Carlos demanded ; 
 but as I had not the remotest chance of ever becoming 
 Queen of Spain, and as I already could speak and write 
 four languages with tolerable fluency, I did not at all see 
 the fun of embarking in the dreary grammatical labyrinth 
 that was to lead to a fifth. Now that I look back on that 
 time, I keenly anathematise my own folly in having 
 wasted such golden opportunities ; but I suppose that most 
 girls are alike on that point, and that to the end of time 
 it will always remain a case of ' Si jeunesse savait, si 
 vieillesse pouvait.' 
 
 Those years spent at Venice were at once the happiest 
 and the most eventful of the young girl's life. In the 
 joint novel by E. and Dorothea Gerard, entitled 'A Sensi- 
 tive Plant,' she has endeavoured to retrace some of her 
 impressions of that time, likewise in the earlier pages of 
 the same work, Janet's solitary life at Glenmavis was 
 chiefly suggested by her childish experiences. It was also 
 at Venice that she made the acquaintance of her husband, 
 Miecislaus Laszowski de Kraszkowice, who is descended 
 from an old family of Polish nobility, for those were the 
 days when Venice was still under Austrian legislation, and 
 Austrian officers mingled freely in the pleasant little in- 
 ternational circle to which the houses of the dispossessed 
 Duke of Modena, the Infanta of Spain, and of the Comte 
 de Chambord, imparted something of the charm and dis- 
 tinction of Court life.
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 151 
 
 Captain de Laszowski was at that time serving in a 
 Hussar regiment stationed at Mestre, and came frequently 
 to Venice with his comrades to take part in social amuse- 
 ments. It was then that his intimacy with the Gerard 
 family began, although the marriage did not take place 
 until 1869, when they met again at Salzburg. The 
 disastrous campaign of 1866, (in which he so distinguished 
 himself at the battle of Custozza as to be decorated), which 
 for Austria resulted in the loss of Venice, having mean- 
 while intervened to sever the respective paths in life of 
 the young couple, and to make it seem highly improbable 
 that they should ever again converge. 
 
 ' The Land beyond the Forest,' or ' Facts, Figures, and 
 Fancies from Transylvania ' (E. Gerard), was the result of 
 two years' residence in that country, where General de 
 Laszowski occupied the position of cavalry Brigadier. 
 She has likewise been in the habit of contributing critical 
 essays and reviews to various periodicals, and for nearly 
 two years furnished the monthly reviews of German 
 literature to the Times. ' Bis ' is a collection of short 
 stories, some of which had previously appeared in maga- 
 zines. ' A Secret Mission,' a two- volume novel, was 
 founded upon a tragic incident in Russian Poland, and 
 this is the one that the author considers her best work. 
 It is good, very good, but there is one yet more recent, 
 which it is impossible to praise too highly. It is a single 
 volume, entitled ' The Voice of a Flower,' a most sweet 
 and tender story, powerful withal in conception and style. 
 The characters are drawn with an unerring hand, and to 
 sum up the whole in a few words, a more exquisite and 
 artistic story has rarely been penned. 
 
 ' A Secret Mission ' possesses all the conditions for a 
 powerful drama, and E. Gerard has often been advised to 
 utilise it as such. She did actually attempt to dramatise 
 it herself, and was decidedly successful in the effort ; 
 but having no connection with the stage, or with stage-
 
 152 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 managers, she has not yet attempted to get the piece 
 attentively considered. Her latest work is ' A Foreigner.' 
 
 ' I must tell you,' says E. Gerard, ' that I always re- 
 mained in close and intimate contact with the dear and 
 honoured friend of my early youth, Princess Marguerite 
 de Bourbon, Duchess of Madrid, up to the very day of her 
 death, which took place on Jan. 29, 1893, to the unspeak- 
 able grief of all who like myself had the privilege of 
 knowing her intimately. She took a keen interest in all 
 my literary work, and it was to her that I invariably turned 
 to verify some doubtful historical or scientific question, 
 or to trace the origin of a classical quotation. She had 
 begun a French translation of our joint novel, " Beggar my 
 Neighbour," which, however, was never completed, and 
 another of her unrealised projects was that I should go 
 some day on a long visit to her Italian country-place of 
 Viareggio, and there write a novel in collaboration with 
 herself. H.K.H. undoubtedly possessed all the qualifica- 
 tions which go to make up a novelist a vivid and brilliant 
 imagination, a keen sense of humour, a shrewd knowledge 
 of human nature, and a truly marvellous memory, which 
 always placed at her disposal the fruits of an exceptionally 
 careful education, besides an extensive knowledge of the 
 literature of five different countries. There is, therefore, 
 every reason to suppose that our joint labour would have 
 had considerable chance of success, and I shall always 
 cling to the belief that with this unrealised air-castle has 
 likewise perished the best novel to which I might have 
 affixed my name.' 
 
 Madame de Laszowska's (E. Gerard) method of work- 
 ing differs considerably from her sister's. ' I am gifted,' 
 she says, ^ with far less patience than Dora. Some days I 
 find it absolutely impossible to write at all, and have found 
 by experience that it is of no use attempting then, as what 
 I should write in these conditions would be absolutely 
 worthless.' Weather also has an extraordinary influence
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 153 
 
 on her, and when the barometer is falling, or snow which 
 peculiarly affects her is in the air, she is incapable of 
 working. On the other hand, when a writing fit is on, 
 she has difficulty in restraining herself from working all 
 day long, and has always then the feeling as though it 
 were not she, but some invisible person standing at her 
 elbow, dictating so fast that she can hardly keep pace with 
 her pen ; but her work is always done in her own little 
 ' private den,' from which she excludes everyone. 
 
 Since 1885, when her husband retired from active 
 service, with the rank of Lieutenant-General in the 
 Austrian service, Madame de Laszowska's home has been 
 permanently in Vienna ; her trips to England have since 
 her marriage been few and far between, and she has only 
 twice visited her native country. 
 
 The family circle includes two handsome young sons. 
 The elder, Arthur de Laszowski, is studying law at the 
 Vienna University ; the younger, Alfred, is serving as cadet 
 in the same Polish Lancer Begiment which their father 
 formerly commanded. The boys have been brought up 
 to speak Polish with their father, and English with their 
 mother, whilst their education has been chiefly conducted 
 in German. German, too, is the language in which their 
 parents converse, for he has never attained sufficient 
 fluency in English, nor she in Polish, to enable them to 
 employ each other's language for everyday use. 
 
 ' Although for many reasons,' says Madame de 
 Laszowska, ' we found it expedient to settle permanently 
 in Vienna after my husband left the army, I have never 
 been able to take kindly to town life, despite the un- 
 doubted intellectual resources which a capital affords. I 
 have always preferred a country life, mountains in par- 
 ticular being my hobby, and it has become almost an 
 imperative necessity for me to spend a week or so every 
 year in really hard mountain climbing, my greatest delight 
 being to set off alone with my elder son, who shares my 
 passion, each carrying our own knapsack, and, if possible,
 
 154 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 dispensing with a guide unless for the ascension of any 
 particularly high peak. By these means we have made 
 many lonely, delightful walking tours in the Polish and 
 Hungarian Carpathians as well as in the Austrian Alps.' 
 
 This passion for mountain climbing is rather a 
 peculiarity with the Gerard family ; not only her father, 
 but several other members of the present family, are deeply 
 imbued with it, and it is likewise not uninteresting to 
 recall that a peak in the Himalayas, called ' Gerard's 
 Peak,' was so named after Captain Gerard, a brother of 
 the sisters' great-grandfather. 
 
 A year after Miss Gerard's marriage her mother died, 
 and from that time forward, during a space of over ten 
 years, Madame de Laszowska's three young sisters lived 
 chiefly with her. It was at her house at Brzezany in 
 Galicia that two of them became acquainted with their 
 future husbands, thus clearly demonstrating the accuracy 
 of the aforesaid assertion, that the revolution of 1830 was 
 directly instrumental in bringing about their marriages. 
 
 PAET II. 
 
 A BEIEF sketch of Dorothea Gerard's early days will bring 
 the reader to the date when the two sisters just started on 
 what has nroved to be a brilliant literary career. She, too, 
 was born at Rochsoles, and was the youngest but one of 
 the family, and from her early childhood had been 
 accustomed to compose little stories ; and though as yet of 
 too tender an age to write them for herself, she would 
 dictate her compositions to her mother. One of these in 
 that beloved handwriting is still extant, the moral of 
 which shows that the child had a just turn of mind, and 
 had even at that age a pretty way of expressing her 
 thoughts. In those days they had a sort of literary club 
 (of which Dorothea was the youngest member), the 
 arrangement being that each of the young people had to 
 supply a story once a week. A great part of her child-
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 155 
 
 hood was spent in Austria, and she and her little sister 
 were chiefly educated at the convent of the Sacre Coeur, 
 at Gratz in Styria. She was but fifteen years of age when 
 her mother died, and soon after that sad event the girls 
 passed into the charge of their sister, then a young bride, 
 Madame de Laszowska (E. Gerard), whose husband's 
 frequent changes of station gave them all good oppor- 
 tunities of becoming acquainted with various parts of 
 Austria. 
 
 It was comparatively long before the sisters made the 
 discovery that they each possessed a certain amount of 
 literary facility which might be turned to a practical use, 
 and they are both of the opinion that had they not 
 happened to be together during those years, neither would 
 have thought of touching a pen except for the purpose of 
 letter-writing. 
 
 The sisters, however, are not the first of the family 
 whose names have been known in literature. Their great- 
 grandfather Professor Gerard's (of Aberdeen) works, 
 ' Gerard on Taste,' and ' Gerard on Genius,' made con- 
 siderable mark in their day, and are not yet wholly 
 forgotten. Another great-grandfather, the Rev. Archibald 
 Alison (father of the historian, Sir Archibald Alison), wa& 
 likewise a no less celebrated writer. 
 
 It was not until 1877, that, being consigned to the 
 deadly monotony of a little Hungarian country town, 
 where the landscape was a desert and the society nil, the 
 idea of writing a novel as ' something to do ' was suddenly 
 and almost without premeditation born in upon them. 
 
 It is curious to observe how much circumstances have 
 to do with bringing out latent talent. Up to that time 
 there certainly was in neither sister ' a deep poetic voice,' 
 anxious to utter anything in particular. They simply 
 wanted an occupation. The next thing was to find some- 
 thing about which to write. With the beautiful audacity 
 of youthful inexperience, they never even thought of 
 stooping to a simple story or novelette, by way of testing
 
 156 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 their powers, but blindly and recklessly they plunged 
 head foremost into the gigantic task of a three-volume 
 novel, at first merely by way of amusement, without 
 thought of publication. 
 
 ' We discussed and rejected all sorts of possible and 
 impossible plots/ says Dorothea Gerard ; ' and if the tale 
 which goes against me be true, it was in the following 
 manner that the idea of " Eeata " first saw the light. I 
 had knelt down beside my bed one morning to say my 
 usual prayers, perhaps not with my usual attention to the 
 subject. Two of my sisters were in the room. My prayers 
 being finished, I rose to my feet and announced " I have 
 got a plot for a novel." It was only a very rough idea, 
 but it did actually become the basis of "Eeata." 
 
 Who shall say whence the inspiration came ? The 
 girls' hearts were so set on the matter, and with the idea 
 they soon found the power to carry it out. As the book 
 was written at first, it would have filled four stout 
 volumes, for of course the young writers had no idea of 
 proportion. 
 
 ' For some reason or another,' continues Dorothea 
 Gerard, ' we conceived the notion that something horrible 
 and startling ought to happen in our book, and we there- 
 fore managed to drag a peculiarly unpleasant and super- 
 fluous suicide into the story ; but later some right instinct 
 fortunately told us that this was the first thing to remove, 
 by way of curtailing a fourth of the matter, and 
 accordingly we extracted the whole episode with far 
 greater ease than we had inserted it.' 
 
 When completed, the sisters re-perused their com- 
 position, and tried a few chapters as an experiment on 
 one of their brothers. Hitherto it had been kept a close 
 secret. He, secretly delighted, with fraternal frankness 
 pronounced it was ' not so bad after all, and deserved 
 a chance of being printed.' The girls, however, were 
 utterly ignorant of how this was to be achieved. They 
 wrote at random to three firms, whose names they took
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 157 
 
 from an advertisement-sheet of a paper. Two of these at 
 once disappointed them. After some delay, during which 
 the hopes of both sisters had sunk down to zero, they were 
 suddenly electrified by the intelligence that it was accepted, 
 with the only stipulation that it should be shortened by 
 one-fourth, though the publisher declined to give any 
 advice as to how this was to be done, considering it would 
 be ' better that they should follow their own impressions.' 
 Then the above-mentioned episode was cut out, and by- 
 and-by, to their great joy, the young authors found them- 
 selves ' in print ! ' 
 
 ' I should like,' says Miss Gerard, ' to pay a passing 
 tribute to the memory of the late Mr. John Blackwood, 
 for he it was who, by his frank, open-handed, and genial 
 recognition of this first effort by two young and perfectly 
 unknown writers, facilitated their literary career in a most 
 unusual manner. Whatever subsequent success we may 
 have achieved in literature may undoubtedly be traced 
 back to that first stepping-stone.' 
 
 After ' Eeata,' which first appeared as a serial in 
 ' Blackwood's Magazine,' the sisters wrote in conjunction 
 ' A Sensitive Plant,' ' Beggar my Neighbour,' and ' The 
 Waters of Hercules.' This last was the result of two 
 seasons spent at the watering-place of Mehadia, on the 
 Eoumanian frontier. They had likewise sketched out 
 various other plots of stories which were hereafter to be 
 written together, but none of these projects were destined 
 to be carried out. 
 
 In 1887, Dorothea Gerard entered into a partnership 
 of quite another kind, and became the wife of Captain, 
 now Lieutenant-Colonel Longard, of the 7th Austrian 
 Lancers. On her marriage a division of literary stock- 
 in-trade became necessary : the skeleton plot of ' Lady 
 Baby ' fell to her share, whilst her sister received her 
 compensation in the hitherto unpublished MS. of 'A 
 Sensitive Plant,' which, though written long before, had 
 been laid aside for further inspection and amelioration.
 
 158 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 Ten years after it had been written, Emily Gerard drew 
 out the MS. from its dark seclusion, and submitted it to a 
 critical revision 'An ungrateful task,' says her sister, 
 ' for it is as difficult to remodel an old story as an old 
 gown, especially when the writer herself feels conscious 
 of looking at many things with eyes that are ten years 
 older than when the story was first penned.' 
 
 The very title, ' Lady Baby,' almost indicates the 
 story and it is such a fresh, easy story with the 
 lovable little heroine so full of individuality and of charm. 
 Dorothea Gerard's habit of writing so much out of doors 
 imparts a sense of open-air life to her work, and the 
 reader feels himself to be one of the party at the gay 
 country-house so gracefully described. There is the 
 charm, too, of so much variety in the writer's books. If 
 one story be laid in cheerful home-scenes where all goes 
 brightly and merrily, the next is sure to be quite in 
 another part of the world, with a sad ending. ' Orthodox,' 
 a powerfully tragic story, would undoubtedly make an 
 excellent drama. It is strange that this idea has not 
 occurred to a playwright. Floods of delicious tears would 
 be shed nightly over it, if relieved at times by a laugh over 
 the oddities and wit of one Surcher Marmorstein, who 
 figures therein. 
 
 Amongst many others, mention may just be made of 
 three which are special favourites. ' Recha ' is a one- 
 volume tale that has been described as ' the one book in 
 contemporary fiction that Julian Hawthorne might have 
 written.' With singular strength it combines a vivid 
 description and simplicity. 'Etelka's Vow,' a story of 
 revenge, takes one in spirit to the countries the author 
 knows so well Austria and Hungary ; - but a most 
 fascinating book, which, in the opinion of many, is the 
 gem of the collection, is a three-volume novel, bearing the 
 attractive title (taken from ' The Winter's Tale,' act iv. 
 scene iv.) 'A Queen of Curds and Cream,' a story 
 thoroughly original and entirely delightful in its vivacity,
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 159 
 
 its knowledge of human nature, and its delicacy of 
 touch. 
 
 It is manifest that all these interesting and talented 
 works are from the pens of brilliant and highly cultivated 
 writers, who have the advantage of being able to describe 
 accurately the men and women as well as the manners 
 and customs of diverse nations. The plots are uncommon, 
 the tone pure and healthy, and the delineation of character 
 invariably excellent. 
 
 Dorothea Gerard's present home, of which the sur- 
 roundings are highly picturesque, is in Galicia. It is a 
 cottage standing on the bank of a river, or rather at the 
 spot where two rivers join, and is situated almost at the 
 foot of the Carpathians, commanding a near view of the 
 whole chain of mountains. So secluded is it that she has 
 only one neighbour within visiting distance. Sometimes, 
 indeed, she confesses to feeling the danger of forgetting 
 her mother-tongue, and in order to avoid the chance of 
 such a catastrophe she reads as much English literature 
 as opportunity will admit. 
 
 ' It is difficult to convey to you,' says Dorothea Gerard, 
 ' or indeed to any civilised British mind, a correct idea of 
 my present home. With the exception of my husband, I 
 do not talk to a really educated person more than about 
 six times a year. Of course, such things as society or 
 lending libraries are entirely out of my reach, and really I 
 find that I can get on very well without them. My 
 husband has collected a tolerably extensive library, and 
 the scenery is so fine that I can always go to Nature for 
 effects and descriptions.' 
 
 As far as a writing-room is concerned, the author has 
 none in particular. She has paper and pencil she always 
 writes in pencil in a portfolio, and carries the parcel 
 under her arm, and just settles down wherever it happens 
 to be most convenient in summer always in the open air. 
 She is not disturbed by her surroundings, and does not 
 even mind writing in a room with people in it, provided
 
 160 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 
 
 they do not talk too loud. Her literary work is all done 
 in the forenoon, and seldom occupies more than two 
 hours. 
 
 ' If you were to ask me what I most enjoy reading,' 
 remarks the young writer, Dorothea Gerard, ' I should 
 reply, "The New Testament and Shakespeare ; " but of 
 the New Testament I am not at this moment speaking 
 from a religious point of view, merely as of the most 
 impressive and irresistible thing I know. Of the past 
 English authors my favourite is Thackeray, of contempo- 
 raries the late E. L. Stevenson, of foreign authors of the 
 present day Daudet and Tourgenieff.' 
 
 A late novel, called 'Lot 13,' first ran through the 
 ' Monthly Packet ' as a serial. The materials for the 
 story were gathered during a visit that she paid to the 
 West Indies a few years ago. Another work came out 
 first in ' Blackwood's Magazine,' entitled ' The Kich Miss 
 Kiddell.' Her latest novel is ' The Wrong Man.' She 
 owns to no particular method in forming a plot, but 
 declares that if any such exist at all it is ' very untidy 
 and indefinite.' She generally has the outline of a few 
 novels ' lying by ' for future use, but only in her head. 
 Sometimes she will carry about with her the idea of a 
 story for a year or so before starting on it ; while at 
 other times she invents a fiction and begins writing it on 
 the spot ; and she does not consider that the latter plan 
 answers worse than the former. She loves to talk over 
 her ideas with one person, though never with more than 
 one, and since her marriage the ' one ' has always been 
 her husband ; for, although Lieut.-Colonel Longard 
 happens to be a cavalry officer, he certainly possesses a 
 great many of the qualities of a novelist, having a vivid 
 imagination, extensive literary acquirements, and, in 
 particular, a very keen sense of the dramatic. 
 
 ' My present studies of life,' says Madame Longard, 
 ' are necessarily taken from my surroundings ; Jews and 
 Polish peasants, very far back in cultivation, are the
 
 EMILY AND DOROTHEA GERARD 161 
 
 people whom I have the best opportunities of observing. 
 The peasants are desperately poor, but do not seem aware 
 of it, and live contentedly in wretched huts. Their dress 
 consists of the coarsest white linen (not always really 
 white), over which in winter they wear sheepskin coats. 
 Their ideas of civilisation are as yet very hazy. The 
 Jews are all of the strictest " orthodox " class, and mercilessly 
 prey upon the peasants in as far as it is possible to take 
 something from someone who has nothing. Habits and 
 ideas here are still refreshingly primitive. Here is an 
 example which will help you to realise what I mean. 
 Two of my servants, the kitchenmaid and housemaid, 
 aged respectively fifteen and sixteen (at eighteen a girl of 
 that class in this country is considered an old maid), are, 
 not unnaturally, very fond of dancing ! I can give them 
 no greater treat than to play a waltz on the piano. The 
 drawing-room is then left open, and the two big children 
 whirl about in the passage outside, barefooted, and to 
 their heart's content. When the performance is over 
 they come in breathless and kiss my hand as a token of 
 gratitude. Often when they have had a hard day's 
 washing they send in a message to beg for a waltz by 
 way of rest from their labours ! ' 
 
 Madame Longard has one only child, a little maiden 
 of five years, who takes a great interest in her mother's 
 books, inasmuch as when she sees her sitting down to 
 write her first question always is, ' Are you going to 
 write books, mum, or letters ? ' If her mother reply 
 ' books,' the little Dorothea is somewhat depressed, know- 
 ing this to be synonymous with having to keep compara- 
 tively quiet; if, on the contrary, the reply be 'letters,' 
 she generally gives a few cheers in order to give vent to 
 her relief. 
 
 Both Colonel Longard and his gifted wife, Dorothea 
 Gerard, alike enjoy art in every shape, while music is to 
 them one of the chief pleasures of life. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 WILLIAM TERRISS 
 
 WILLIAM TEEEISS 
 
 THE experiences of the popular actor Mr. William 
 Terriss have been more varied than those that have fallen 
 to the lot of most people. He has been by turns soldier, 
 midshipman in the Eoyal Navy, engineer, clerk in a bank, 
 in the wine trade, tea-planter in India, sheep farmer at 
 the Falkland Islands, horse-breeder at Kentucky, before 
 he finally discovered his right vocation in life and settled 
 to it. Since that time his career has been marked by a 
 succession of brilliant triumphs. 
 
 The only member of his family who has ever been 
 on the stage, William Terriss inherits many and versatile 
 talents on both sides, together with a large share of 
 personal attractions. From his father, the late Mr. Lewin, 
 a barrister of good old Kentish stock, he gets strong, 
 practical abilities and a keen aptitude for business ; from 
 his mother a niece of Grote, the celebrated historian of 
 Greece his literary and artistic gifts. He was born in 
 London, and was educated chiefly at the Bluecoat School 
 and Windermere College. Later he matriculated at Jesus 
 College, Oxford, with some idea of following one of the 
 learned professions, but this was speedily abandoned. It 
 was hardly to be expected that a lad possessed of such 
 histrionic powers, with an exuberance of high spirits and 
 an innate love of roving, should care for the dry details 
 and monotony of a student life. For some few years he 
 knocked about the world in different capacities, meeting 
 with many hairbreadth and thrilling adventures, among 
 which may be reckoned two shipwrecks. ' But I am not 
 the first of my race who has met with adventures,' says 
 Mr. Terriss. ' My grandfather, Thomas Lewin, was sec- 
 retary to Warren Hastings in Calcutta, and on his way 
 home he was chased by privateers, with a price on his
 
 WILLIAM TERRISS 163 
 
 head of two thousand pounds, dead or alive. Nevertheless, 
 he bore his despatches to England in triumph. He had 
 been a gallant of the French Court in his youth, and 
 danced with Marie Antoinette, who gave him a ring, which 
 is still in the possession of the family.' 
 
 On returning from one of his trips abroad William 
 Terriss elected to go on the stage, and without any 
 previous training he obtained employment at eighteen 
 shillings a week at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, 
 Birmingham, and played with Madame Celeste. A few 
 months later he came to London, introduced himself to 
 Mr. Bancroft, and asked for an engagement. The kindly 
 manager, probably struck with the lad's handsome face, 
 his grace, and charm of manner, gave him a small part at 
 fifty shillings a week in ' Society.' His delight was so 
 great that he at once had cards printed with the address 
 of the theatre, and wired to his people that his fortune 
 was made. By-and-bye the restless spirit of roving at- 
 tacked him again, and he went off to the Falklands. On 
 coming home he was shipwrecked, and spent some days in 
 an open boat. On his return he went to Drury Lane and 
 played Kobin Hood in 'Kebecca.' Anon a trip to Ken- 
 tucky, which was the last of his wanderings. Having 
 married when he was barely twenty-one, and given hos- 
 tages to fortune, he determined to be a rolling stone no 
 longer, and his first engagement as Doricourt in ' The 
 Belle's Stratagem,' lasting 250 consecutive nights, gave 
 him just the encouragement he needed. In this piece he 
 won his spurs, and there was no longer any question but 
 that he would speedily rise to the top ranks of his pro- 
 fession. Everything was in his favour : a clear, rich voice, 
 with so distinct an utterance that no word was lost, the 
 easy yet spirited delivery, the charm of infinite variety, 
 together with a bold, masterly grasp of subjects and the 
 tender pathos he displayed, all marked him as a born 
 actor, and he soon established a hold on the hearts of the 
 public that time has but strengthened. Mr. Terriss has 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 WILLIAM TERRISS 
 
 acted in comedy, tragedy, melodrama, Shakespearian cha- 
 racters, &c., and has no particularly favourite part beyond 
 that in which he may be engaged at the moment. In 
 earlier days he enacted Sir Kenneth in ' Cceur de Lion/ 
 Komeo to Miss Wallis's Juliet, Molyneux in ' The 
 Shaughraun,' with the Boucicaults, Julian in Mr. Wills's 
 ' Peveril of the Peak,' both at the Princess's and the 
 Adelphi. He also had a season with the lamented 
 Adelaide Neilson at the Haymarket, playing Komeo and 
 Orlando. Then he made a big bound upward in his 
 impersonation of Squire Thornhill in ' Olivia ' at the 
 Court, followed by Sidney Sefton in ' Conscience Money ' 
 and Captain Absolute at the Haymarket. At St. James's 
 he played the Comte de la Koque in ' M. Le Due ' and 
 Jack Gambier in ' The Queen's Shilling ' with the Kendals. 
 In 1881 he joined the Lyceum company and acted 
 Chateau Renard in a revival of ' The Corsican Brothers/ 
 Sinnatus in ' The Cup,' and Cassio in ' Othello ' in that 
 ever-memorable cast consisting of Edwin Booth, Sir 
 Henry Irving, and Ellen Terry. Among other roles were 
 Mercutio in ' Komeo and Juliet,' Don Pedro in ' Much 
 Ado about Nothing,' and, again, Squire Thornhill. At 
 the conclusion of that season he was presented with a 
 silver tankard by the Lyceum company and a gold-headed 
 whip by the employes. He has made sundry tours to 
 America, one of which was specially remarkable as being 
 the means of bringing over the delightful Daly players, 
 whose first appearance in London was suggested and 
 arranged by Mr. Terriss. 
 
 Several seasons at the Adelphi followed, where he 
 played in the long runs of ' Harbour Lights,' ' The Bells 
 of Hazlemere,' ' The Union Jack,' and ' The Silver Falls.' 
 In 1890, he again joined the Lyceum company as Bucklaw 
 in ' Kavenswood,' and, in the ensuing revivals, the King in 
 ' Becket,' the title role of ' Faust,' afterwards Bluff King 
 Hal in ' Henry VIII.' Since 1892, he has been exclusively 
 at the Adelphi in ' The Fatal Card,' ' The Girl I Left
 
 WILLIAM TERRISS 165 
 
 Behind Me,' ' The Swordsman's Daughter,' and ' One of 
 the Best.' 
 
 No carpet-knight is William Terriss. He rather shuns 
 general society, and is devoted to manly games and 
 country pursuits. A long spin on a bicycle, the arrange- 
 ment of his garden, a yachting trip in the holiday season 
 the rougher the weather the better it pleases him are 
 among his chief delights. A philosopher in the truest 
 sense of the word, he goes through life easily with ' Carpe 
 Diem ' for his motto ; he makes the best of everything, 
 and has never once desired to enter into the troubled 
 waters and responsibilities of managership. He has for 
 many years made his home, which is ideal in all respects, 
 at Bedford Park. The Cottage, as it is called, is a pic- 
 turesque little building with red gabled roof, latticed win- 
 dows, and nestles among chestnut, laburnum, and silver 
 birch trees. The neatly tiled verandah at the back con- 
 tains an aviary full of singing birds, and opens out to a 
 miniature gold and silver fish pond, over which a fountain 
 plays on ferns and flowers. Beyond is the lawn, divided 
 on the right by a low apple-tree stretching across. In the 
 front a glass-covered porch leads into the hall, and thence 
 to the drawing-room, with its pretty red walls and panels 
 let in below, its embossed ceiling and cosy recesses. In a 
 Chinese cabinet, among a litter of art treasures, lies the 
 Royal Humane Society's medals that Mr. Terriss gained 
 for saving the life of a sailor boy at Deal and two lads at 
 Barnes. The room is a museum of pictures of fellow- 
 actors in different characters. A faded portrait of himself 
 in his midshipman's uniform recalls a reminiscence. He 
 was on leave at Weston-super-Mare, and a rumour got 
 about that Prince Alfred was there. A demonstration 
 took place, and, in spite of all protestations to the contrary, 
 a gaily decorated carriage was sent to convey him to the 
 station instead of the modest cab he had ordered. Among 
 the family portraits are those of his two brothers, Colonel 
 and Dr. Lewin, and their talented sisters, respectively the 
 
 *M 3
 
 166 WILLIAM TERRISS 
 
 wives of Captain Banks Tomlin, late of the K.D.G., and 
 of General Stevenson, governor of Guernsey ; and Mrs. 
 Terriss points with pride to the photographs of her three 
 children Ellaline, who has already made such a name for 
 herself on the stage ; Tom, who is also following in his 
 father's footsteps ; and Willie, who is seeking his fortunes 
 in Western Australia. 
 
 MISS MARION TERRY 
 
 THE very name of Terry evokes a long train of delightful 
 remembrances. The mind travels back to many an hour 
 of keenest enjoyment, spent both in the friendly intercourse 
 of social life as well as in intellectual pleasures, as one 
 after another of this gifted family has come before the 
 public. A young actress of lesser capability would have 
 found herself heavily handicapped by the fame of her 
 sister predecessors, but sweet Marion Terry shines with 
 no reflected glory. She has won her high position in the 
 foremost ranks of histrionic art entirely by her own 
 brilliant talents, her own personal grace and charm, her 
 own tender and womanly nature, and, as she would be 
 the first to confess, her own never-ceasing conscientious 
 hard work. 
 
 An indomitable will also has done much for her in 
 her successful career. Here is one page of Marion Terry's 
 life, which will prove that obstacles which almost take 
 one's breath away even to think of only stimulate her to 
 increased efforts : ' Twelfth Night ' was being played at 
 the Lyceum. Ellen Terry was suddenly incapacitated 
 from acting by an agonising operation on her thumb. 
 Mr. Irving, in despair, asked Marion Terry by wire on 
 Saturday if she could play Viola on the following Monday. 
 The young actress was then enjoying a holiday with 
 friends on the Lakes, and received the message on
 
 MARION TERRY 167 
 
 Saturday at 5 P.M. She cabled back 'Yes.' A search 
 was then made in her friends' library for a Shakespeare, 
 but no copy was forthcoming. At last, when one was 
 procured, it was not a theatrical version. She read the 
 part right through before going to bed. On Sunday 
 morning her hostess rowed her out on the lake, where 
 she read and re-read for some hours. Back to luncheon, 
 then out on the lake again for more study. Presently a 
 twelve-mile drive in a dog-cart to catch the Scotch night 
 express at the junction. The light was so bad in the 
 train that she could not see to study, but she went over 
 the lines by memory as far as she was able ; and, tired in 
 mind and body, she arrived in London in the early 
 morning, drove home, and took two hours' rest. At 8.30 
 on Monday morning her brother Fred, who was playing 
 Sebastian, called her, showed her the different ' cuts,' and 
 how the scenes were arranged. Rehearsal was called for 
 11 A.M., and though she actually knew her part well by 
 that time, she stumbled over every line. On that self- 
 same night, however, all difficulties being overcome, she 
 made no single mistake throughout, received rounds of 
 applause, and retired completely dazed with fatigue and 
 excitement. 
 
 Her present biographer (who has known and loved 
 the talented actress from her ' short frock and long hair ' 
 days) has arrived at the pretty little flat near Victoria 
 some ten minutes too early perhaps on purpose, in 
 order to make a few observations. There is a cosy little 
 drawing-room with a sort of extension room beyond, 
 where a grand piano stands. The walls are hung with 
 proof engravings after Alma Tadema, Millet's ' Angelus/ 
 and Dicksee, together with some fine landscapes in 
 mezzotint. Tall palms, ferns, and flowers here and there ; 
 in the deep bay-window shelf are various bits of porcelain 
 and china, and a litter of interesting photographs of her 
 family, including a host of miniature Terrys, nephews 
 and nieces. Near the ' silver ' table, in a prominent place >
 
 1 68 MARION TERRY 
 
 is a portrait of Miss Terry's beloved and lamented mother, 
 whose life was so bound up in her children's careers. 
 The firelight throws dancing shadows over the white-tiled 
 hearth and brasswork, anon glints across a marqueterie 
 bureau and table, on which a dainty little Dresden china 
 tea service is spread ; but at this juncture Marion Terry, 
 with that gracious punctuality and consideration for 
 others that never fail her, comes in, looking so fresh and 
 youthful that no one would guess she had just returned 
 from a long day's rehearsal. 
 
 It was at Manchester that her debut was made, as 
 Ophelia in ' Hamlet ' a daring flight for so young a girl, 
 but the late Mr. Tom Taylor, under whose auspices she 
 came out, knew of what she was capable, and no better 
 part could have been selected to prove it. A few months 
 later she made her first appearance on the London stage 
 in a totally opposite part at the Olympic, in ' A Game of 
 Romps.' This was followed by another Shakespearian 
 play, ' Much Ado about Nothing,' in which she enacted 
 Hero. Then to the Strand to play Clara Mayfield in 
 H. J. Byron's ' Old Sailors,' Lilian Gaythorne in ' Weak 
 Woman,' &c. It was while playing Galatea in a revival 
 of ' Pygmalion and Galatea ' that Mr. Buskin so happily 
 pronounced her performance to be ' a serenity of effortless 
 grace,' albeit so much sympathy and power lay behind it. 
 A year later found her at the Court taking the place of 
 her sister Ellen in the title role of ' Olivia.' 
 
 She speaks enthusiastically of a tour with Sir Henry 
 Irving, during which she played Margaret in ' Faust,' 
 Bosamund in ' Becket,' and, for the first time, ' Portia ' 
 ' and loved it.' ' Not that I have exactly any favourite 
 part,' she goes on to say in the well-known melodious 
 voice. ' They are all favourites, especially the one in 
 which I may be playing at the moment. I am a slow 
 study, and learn my lines with difficulty, reading them 
 over and over again at night often in bed but I have a 
 retentive memory. I always study well the whole play,
 
 MARION TERRY 169 
 
 and so find my own part comes easier when taken in con- 
 junction with the others. I am painfully nervous,' she 
 adds, with a smile, ' and become more and more so with 
 each new play.' This, however, no one would imagine on 
 seeing the grace and self-possession she displays, wherein 
 lies the secret of the true artist. 
 
 Among many original impersonations, perhaps some of 
 the most striking were her Belinda in ' Engaged,' Dorothy 
 in ' Dan'l Druce,' Young Mrs. Winthrop, in the play of 
 that name, &c. She likewise created the leading roles of 
 the heroines in ' Partners,' ' Sunlight and Shadow,' ' For- 
 giveness,' by Comyns Carr, and of Mrs. Erlynnein ' Lady 
 "Windermere's Fan,' and others ; nor will her sympathetic 
 and artistic rendering of Blanche in Mr. E. C. Carton's 
 4 Liberty Hall ' soon be forgotten. In the strongly marked 
 contrasts between many of these characters Miss Marion 
 Terry exhibits the great variety and breadth of her capa- 
 bilities. She is as much at home in playing the simple, 
 natural ingenue high-minded and impassioned as she 
 is in portraying the dignity and polished hauteur of the 
 grande dame of society. 
 
 A laughable incident occurred in earlier days which 
 severely tested the young actress's power of self-control. 
 She was playing the heroine in ' Far from the Madding 
 Crowd ' at Liverpool with Mr. Cartwright and the late 
 Mr. Kelly. It was just before the final drop of the curtain 
 in the most powerful situation. Cartwright, who always 
 makes such an excellent and realistic ' villain,' had loudly 
 demanded the return of his ill-used and long-suffering 
 wife. Marion Terry had made her way to the exit door, 
 and, turning round, face to audience, with upraised hand, 
 was on the point of delivering the last touching and 
 dramatic words of the play when a resonant voice from ' the 
 gods' indignantly exclaimed, 'Why don't someone tweak his 
 nose ? ' The sudden revulsion of feeling from the sublime 
 to the ridiculous was appalling. The two actors luckily 
 had their backs to the footlights, so that no one could see
 
 i7o MARION TERRY 
 
 that they were promptly convulsed with laughter. For 
 one awful second, which, she says, ' felt like an hour,' 
 Miss Terry was paralysed with fear lest she too should 
 laugh ; but with a mighty effort she choked down the 
 impulse, preserved her gravity, and made her usual digni- 
 fied exit, though it must be added that all the actors 
 when out of hearing gave way to unrestrained mirth. 
 
 THE EEV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE, 
 M.A., D.SC., LL.D. 
 
 THERE can be but few of those who were privileged to be 
 present at the Foundling Chapel on the Whit Sunday of 1884 
 who cannot even after this lapse of time recall their feel- 
 ings of delight while listening to the scholarly utterances, 
 the rare oratory, and the eloquent but simple language of 
 the young and gifted preacher who then for the first time 
 filled the pulpit. Combined with natural gifts of intellect 
 there was an unconventionality, always tempered with 
 good taste, and the power to deal with abstruse subjects so 
 as to render them clear and attractive to his audience, 
 that speedily caused his fame to spread far and wide, and 
 brought brilliant and intellectual crowds to the Chapel 
 Sunday after Sunday, content with standing room only if 
 they might hear the powerful though brief discourses so 
 concisely delivered. Statesmen and peers, literary celebri- 
 ties, clergy of all denominations came to listen to him, 
 some half fearing to hear unorthodox doctrines, but all 
 wholly fascinated by his broad and liberal views on theo- 
 logical subjects. 
 
 During the six years that he held the office of morning 
 preacher at The Foundling, the revenues of the charity 
 benefited to the extent of about 1,OOOZ. per. annum. At 
 the end of that time he resigned his post, leaving a bril- 
 liant record that will not soon be effaced. Since 1890, he
 
 EEV. PROFESSOR MOMEBIK, LL.D.
 
 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 171 
 
 has preached but rarely in England, and has sought no 
 preferment, but has devoted his time to literature and study. 
 A rapid journey of about a second's duration in a lift 
 lands you at the comfortable flat in St. Ermin's Mansions 
 where Dr. Momerie has made his home. The long hall 
 through which you pass to reach his study is adorned with 
 the skin of a panther and many proof engravings. On 
 entering the study you at once recognise that he is an 
 intense lover of animals, for almost each picture is a well- 
 known print after Burton Barber, Caldwell, Paton, and 
 Roe's spirited paintings, such as ' The Distinguished 
 Foreigner,' ' The Foreigner Extinguished,' ' For the Safety 
 of the Public,' &c. &c. The large picture that hangs on 
 the north wall is of his old college at Cambridge, with 
 views of the exterior, the interior, and the Chapel, inter- 
 spersed with portraits of the eminent men who have been 
 connected with St. John's, including Wilberforce, Palmer- 
 ston, Ben Jonson, Wordsworth, Herschel, Selwyn, and the 
 present Master in the centre. On each side of the fire- 
 place hang engravings of Stanley Berkeley's clever dog 
 pictures, ' A Disgrace to his Family ' and ' A Credit to his 
 Family,' together with a humorous print of a dog wearing 
 a pair of pince-nez and a favourite photograph called 
 ' Schmerz-vergessen,' a huge monkey curled up asleep 
 after a bad bout of toothache ' A world of sentiment and 
 of pathos in his attitude and expression,' remarks Dr. 
 Momerie, smiling. Close by a photograph of Trippel's 
 bust of Goethe at Weimar hangs a frame, to which he 
 draws your attention, containing the names of the sub- 
 scribers to the private testimonial that was presented to 
 him a token of esteem which gratified him not a little 
 on leaving The Foundling, by his friends and some of 
 the students who attended his classes. It is beautifully 
 illuminated by hand, and is quite a picture in its way 
 There are well-filled bookcases all round the walls. One 
 case is entirely devoted to works on philosophy and science, 
 another to poetry, a third to foreign literature, a fourth to
 
 172 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 
 
 dictionaries and books of reference all tidily arranged and 
 for the most part well worn. The revolving chair and 
 great knee-hole writing table stand in the bow window 
 which commands a view of Christ Church, Westminster, 
 with its trees in front, flanked by the high flats of St. 
 Ermin's, which look something between a monastery and 
 a college quad. ' But it is delightfully quiet,' says the 
 Professor, ' and I sometimes feel like a monk as I sit 
 here and work.' His appearance, however, has nothing 
 ' monkish ' about it. He is rather above the middle height, 
 slight but wiry in build, and the dark eyes twinkle with a 
 sense of humour which betokens that he is quite able to 
 appreciate and to enjoy the ridiculous side of things, 
 while beyond the customary white tie there is nothing in 
 his dress to indicate the profession to which he belongs. 
 
 Dr. Momerie's morning hours are spent in the study 
 of foreign and English literature, and he has, as may be 
 supposed, a large and varied correspondence on all subjects 
 from the works of Herbert Spencer down to the more 
 mundane matters of every-day life. His literary work is 
 done only in the afternoon. ' All my best work,' he re- 
 marks, ' is done from three to six, unlike my friend 
 Adamson, a learned Professor in Edinburgh, who can only 
 write when the gas is lighted. I never think of what I 
 am going to say until, pen in hand, I sit down ; the pen 
 seems to bring inspiration. I am fond of languages, and, 
 being a great traveller, I always contrive to pick up a little 
 of the tongue of a strange country before I visit it.' 
 
 This bachelor establishment is presided over by a 
 soldier servant who is proud of having drawn a Govern- 
 ment pension for twenty-three years. The worthy veteran 
 has done distinguished service for his country, and among 
 other historical events in which he has taken an active 
 part are the Indian Mutiny of 1857, under Havelock and 
 Colin Campbell, and the burning of the Emperor's Palace 
 at Pekin. He wears three medals and good conduct clasps, 
 and, like many others who have come under the fascination
 
 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 173 
 
 of Dr. Momerie's manner, he is a devoted adherent. He 
 informs you quaintly that ' The Professor and I seem to 
 have been made for each other.' 
 
 His Celtic blood alone would keep Dr. Momerie from 
 ever running in a conventional groove, for he is half French 
 and half Welsh, and from his mother, who was a woman 
 of great culture and refinement, a brilliant letter-writer 
 and a deep thinker, he inherits his sensitive, highly strung 
 temperament, his originality of thought, his vivacious and 
 sympathetic charm of manner that acts now as a loadstone 
 in society, where he is so deservedly a favourite, as it did 
 in former years amongst the rough miners when he was 
 a curate in the North. 
 
 Born in the same year that produced several other 
 well-known men who have made their mark on the thought 
 of the age, Alfred Momerie may fairly be said to belong to 
 the glorious intellectual vintage of 1848. That he showed 
 no special ability at school is borne out by the recent re- 
 mark made to him by an old schoolfellow with more 
 candour than politeness, ' I never thought you would come 
 to anything, you were so slow ! ' His father was a Noncon- 
 formist minister whose ardent desire was that his only 
 son should follow in his steps. The lad was accordingly 
 reared in somewhat strict Puritanical discipline until he 
 entered New College, Finchley Koad, to prepare for the 
 ministry ; but it was hardly likely that one who studied 
 German and Hebrew under the broad and liberal teaching 
 of Professor Menner should return to the narrower views 
 impressed on him in boyhood. The history of his gradual 
 development of thought shall be given in his own words. 
 
 ' I was still a boy,' says Dr. Momerie, thoughtfully, 
 ' when I chanced to be present at a discussion between 
 two learned men about Ferrier's lectures on Greek philo- 
 sophy. It turned my mind in that direction, and I slowly 
 but steadily passed out of sectarianism I may say also 
 out of ecclesiasticism and step by step through slow 
 stages of development until I altogether abandoned
 
 174 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 
 
 the orthodox notion of one infallible Church in favour of 
 the scientific idea of universal religion. One prejudice 
 after another almost unconsciously left me, and each change 
 came distinctly in the form of evolution.' 
 
 After four years spent at the Edinburgh University, 
 where he won two scholarships and took a first-class in 
 philosophy, the young student passed on to St. John's 
 College, Cambridge. He had been there but one year 
 when he received the degree of Doctor of Science from his 
 old college in Edinburgh. Three years of steady work at 
 his favourite study resulted in his coming out Senior in 
 the Moral Science Tripos. The next step was his ordina- 
 tion as curate of Leigh by the Bishop of Manchester, the 
 late Dr. Eraser. Here for a year he preached almost ex- 
 clusively to the working classes in the mining districts, 
 but the shrewd sons of the soil appreciated the unusual 
 discourses to which he treated them. They soon flocked to 
 the church in large numbers, and would often discuss with 
 him afterwards the stiff metaphysical questions that he 
 made so clear. Drawn by his sympathy and extraordinary 
 magnetism, these intelligent north-countrymen followed 
 his sermons with the closest attention and the keenest 
 interest. 
 
 At the end of his curate's year Dr. Momerie was or- 
 dained priest, and, as ordinary parish work was by no 
 means in his line, he devoted himself for a while to the 
 more congenial work of University Extension Lecturer on 
 English Literature, in which capacity he travelled for six 
 months in the northern counties. During this period he 
 was elected Fellow of St. John's, and when but thirty 
 years old he was appointed to the Chair of Logic and 
 Metaphysics at King's College, London, and shortly after 
 received the honorary degree of LL.D. 
 
 His classes, both for men and women, were largely at- 
 tended, and the regret amongst the students was universal 
 when, after an abortive attempt to censure him for the 
 volume containing his sermons upon ' Inspiration/ his
 
 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 175 
 
 Chair was removed to the department of Literature and 
 the Divinity students were not allowed to study Logic and 
 Metaphysics with him any more. 
 
 From 1881, to 1884, Dr. Momerie was afternoon 
 lecturer at St. Peter's, Cranley Gardens, when he was 
 appointed morning preacher at ' The Foundling.' 
 
 ' My sole reasons for resigning the post,' he says, 
 ' were want of leisure and the feeling that no man can 
 preach continually and preach well. There were no theo- 
 logical reasons involved. My sermons were not altogether 
 extempore ; indeed, I consider that most extempore speak- 
 ing is a synonym for slovenly thought, unless a man has 
 been at it all his life and has his subject matter at his 
 fingers' ends. I never preach without long preparation, 
 but I have a good verbal memory, and when what I have 
 to say is once written I remember it without difficulty ; then 
 the less one is tied down to paper the better ; besides, 
 when one is well prepared one is more free to catch in- 
 spiration from an opponent.' 
 
 And opposition frequently came to Dr. Momerie in the 
 form of letters. Some of these epistles were anonymous 
 and abusive, while others, signed by their writers, were 
 courteous and suggestive. 
 
 He has added a long list of books to the theological 
 literature of the world. The most conscientious prepara- 
 tion is manifest in each of these profoundly intellectual 
 and instructive volumes. Deep and abstruse as are many 
 of the subjects they treat, the reader becomes ab- 
 sorbed with interest as he very often she follows closely 
 the working out of each problem, the whole being made 
 clear by the author's freedom from subtlety and ambi- 
 guity. 
 
 That these works enjoy a world- wide popularity is 
 evident, as ' The Origin of Evil ' is now in its seventh 
 edition, ' The Defects of Modern Christianity ' in its fourth. 
 These were followed at yearly intervals by ' Agnosticism,' 
 ' Preaching and Hearing,' and ' Inspiration,' all of which
 
 176 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 
 
 have passed through many editions. Other works, also 
 published by Blackwood & Son, are 'Personality,' 'Belief 
 in God,' and ' The Basis of Religion,' while one of Dr. 
 Momerie's later works, ' Church and Creed,' had an un- 
 precedented success, for in little more than a month from 
 the date of publication the first edition of 1,500 copies was 
 exhausted. 
 
 It is only natural that these books, written by such a 
 faithful and fearless exponent of the views of the Broad 
 Church party, should have raised a storm of controversy, 
 not only amongst the reading and thinking public, but 
 also among clergymen of all denominations, as, with irre- 
 sistible logic, clear reasoning, and unflinching vigour, he 
 boldly attacks the old cherished prejudices, hitting hard, 
 it may be, but always hitting fairly, while he insists on 
 ' Righteousness as the sole requisite for membership in 
 the Church of God.' 
 
 In the summer of 1891, Dr. Momerie delivered an 
 oration at Princes' Hall, Piccadilly, on ' The Corruption of 
 the Church,' before a large and representative audience. 
 1 Everything that I have thought and done,' he declares em- 
 phatically, ' is implied in that lecture ; my belief in the 
 evolution, the development, and the final triumph of good ; 
 my detestation of cant, hypocrisy, and bigotry. What a 
 man does the life that he leads is, in my opinion, of far 
 more importance than what he believes.' 
 
 A second oration on ' Church and Science,' was de- 
 livered the following year. Here there was nothing to 
 disturb the most orthodox of Churchmen. With a rare 
 power of condensation, which is one of his great gifts, Dr. 
 Momerie kept a large audience enthralled for two hours 
 whilst he eloquently and with a fine vein of satire ex- 
 plained the history of the attitude of ecclesiastics towards 
 science during the past 2,000 years, proving that a sub- 
 ject dry in itself can be made bright and interesting by 
 brilliant treatment. 
 
 In April 1893, Dr. Momerie received an invitation to
 
 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 177 
 
 go to America to attend the Parliament of Eeligions at 
 Chicago, the most representative gathering of the kind 
 that has ever been brought together by Churchmen of any 
 country. He sailed for the United States the following 
 August, and his reception was very gratifying. He found 
 that, through his books, which circulate largely in the 
 States, he was already well known, and his name was no 
 sooner published in connection with the great Religious 
 Congress at Chicago than more invitations to preach and 
 to lecture reached him than it was possible to accept. 
 He preached before the Universities of Harvard and 
 Cornell, and at several of the principal Episcopal churches 
 of New York, Boston, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, &c., 
 &c. He also lectured twice before one of the principal 
 theological colleges in New York ; the second lecture was 
 given by invitation of the students, and the subject was, 
 ' The Art of Preaching,' by their special request. At the 
 Boston Literary Society he gave, also by request, ' The 
 Past and Future of the Church of England.' At the pre- 
 sent moment he is home from a prolonged tour in Australia 
 and a second visit to America, in both of which places 
 he has been incessantly occupied in preaching and in 
 lecturing. 
 
 It is just possible that Dr. Momerie maybe induced in 
 the future to spend a great portion of his time in America. 
 It must be alike inspiriting and inspiring to find himself 
 surrounded by those who are not afraid of listening to a man 
 even when his views differ somewhat from their own. It is 
 only by the sharp but friendly interchange of opinions that 
 progress is possible, and there are many at the present 
 moment even in this slowly moving England who have 
 reason to bless the day that Alfred Momerie took holy 
 orders in the Anglican Church. 
 
 The appreciation shown by America and Australia of 
 his brilliant intellect and his many lovable qualities affords 
 immense satisfaction to his legion of friends on this side 
 of the Atlantic. In some respects, perhaps, the man is 
 
 N
 
 1 78 REV. PROFESSOR MOMERIE 
 
 before his time, but it is safe to predict that he is one of 
 those enviable mortals of whom it may be truly said that 
 his work will live after him. 
 
 GENEVIEVE WAED 
 
 (MADAME LA COMTESSE DE GUERBEL) 
 
 GBANDE DAME to her fingers' tips, Nature has kindly sup- 
 plied Miss Genevieve Ward with form and countenance 
 to exactly suit the character. Tall and graceful, an oval 
 face surmounted with slightly silvered hair, clear-cut 
 features, large, grey-blue eyes with level brows, and a 
 delicately sweet mouth displaying lovely white teeth 
 complete the outward portrait. It would need far more 
 words rightly to describe the courteous dignity, yet 
 winning sympathy and charm of manner, that charac- 
 terise the distinguished and aristocratic-looking actress. 
 Under all these pleasant qualities lies a strong element of 
 what may be called a practical nature. A first-rate woman 
 of business, and greatly occupied in many matters apart 
 from her stage life, she regulates everything in an orderly 
 and methodical manner, and thus gets through an enor- 
 mous amount of work easily. ' The busiest people have 
 always the most leisure,' she observes with a smile. ' I 
 always answer letters immediately, with a view alike to 
 getting them off my own mind and saving my corre- 
 spondents' time, waiting perhaps temper, too ! ' 
 
 Genevieve Ward was born in New York and baptized 
 in Cuba. Her mother, who had a great love of travelling, 
 was a woman of highly cultivated artistic tastes and of 
 great strength and refinement of character. She had 
 advanced ideas on education, and when her little daughter 
 was but four years of age she began her studies with her 
 brothers' French tutor, and could already speak four 
 languages English, French, Spanish, and Italian. ' And
 
 GENEVIEVE WARD 179 
 
 she made me keep them up, too,' says Miss Ward. ' She 
 used to talk to us alternately in each. We travelled always 
 from one country to another, and saw everything that was 
 worth seeing an education in itself. My mother was a 
 fine amateur, and most of the paintings you see around 
 were done by her.' Some few besides are the work of 
 Miss Ward herself, together with the cleverly executed 
 busts in the corners of the room. Finally the family 
 settled in Paris, where she married a Russian nobleman 
 who is since dead. 
 
 Possessing a fine dramatic voice, Miss Ward had at 
 first intended to adopt the lyric stage as a profession. 
 She made her debut in Italy and Paris, and for a time she 
 sang constantly in England, at the Philharmonic concerts, 
 at H.M. Opera, and Covent Garden, as Mdme. Guerrabella, 
 but from overwork and fatigue she lost her singing voice, 
 and was compelled to give up that branch of her art. 
 Not her speaking voice, happily. This is remarkably 
 clear and attractive, as all the world knows who has seen 
 her in tragedy and observed the power and sweetness of 
 her masterly elocution. 
 
 Coming of old Puritan stock, Miss Ward is of opinion 
 that her forbears of two hundred years ago ' would turn in 
 their graves could they but know their descendant had 
 gone on the stage.' Perhaps they do ' know ' who can 
 tell ? and have watched with joy the beautiful and spot- 
 less career of the accomplished actress ! It has certainly 
 been a peculiar career. After a few months of study at 
 New York she came to England, and made her first 
 appearance at Manchester as Lady Macbeth. Since 
 that promising debut she has settled the question for 
 good and all, and .played the leading parts in ' Medea,' 
 ' Lucrezia Borgia,' Catherine in ' Henry VIII.,' ' Adrienne 
 Lecouvreur,' &c. 
 
 But there is one special part in which she has made 
 the biggest success of all, and one with which her name 
 will ever be brilliantly associated, and that is Stephanie
 
 i8o GENEVIEVE WARD 
 
 de Mohrivart in ' Forget-Me-Not ' a play that she 
 brought out first in 1879 at the Lyceum, when Mr. Irving 
 was away, and in which she has acted, first and last, over 
 two thousand times, in all parts of the world at home and 
 abroad : amongst others, in India, in Australia, in South 
 Africa, and New Zealand. A great event happened to her 
 in New Zealand. She had a proposal from a Maori chief, 
 and it happened in this wise. Miss Ward took a brief 
 holiday, and went up to explore the celebrated silicate 
 terraces now, alas ! no more. ' It was all very funny/ 
 she relates. ' I was lying back in a big canoe on the hot 
 lake Kotomahana, with arms extended on each side and 
 hands alternately feeling the hot and cold water. Sud- 
 denly he burst out, " You marry me ? " I replied immedi- 
 ately, " Yes, but you've got wives already." " Me all go 
 wives away," he exclaimed, with a tragic gesture. Pro- 
 fessor Tucker, who was in the canoe, took the matter up 
 with an eye to business. " But have you any money ? " he 
 asked gravely. " Money ! " shouted the Maori ; " any 
 amount." When he got to " any amount " he began to 
 squabble with the guides, and we slipped off into another 
 boat, and I escaped my fate.' 
 
 Apropos of ' Forget-Me-Not,' it was in that play John- 
 stone Forbes-Robertson, who then looked little more than 
 a boy, ' won his spurs,' and Miss Ward speaks with en- 
 thusiasm of his fine acting. She lately prepared a humor- 
 ous little present for him in remembrance of his Sir Horace 
 Welby, over which the young actor laughed heartily. 
 Stephanie in one most tragic scene had to ' grab at his 
 coat,' and as this was repeated for many nights the gar- 
 ment suffered considerably. One evening he remarked to 
 her, ' A fellow at the club last night asked me what on 
 earth was the matter with my coat. I told him Miss 
 Ward was gradually tearing it to pieces.' ' Never mind,' 
 said the actress, ' I'll give you a new one.' The other day, 
 when the two players were recalling and laughing over 
 the incident, he gravely reminded her : ' But you never
 
 GENEVIEVE WARD 181 
 
 gave me that new coat ! ' ' I'm having it made expressly 
 for you,' she replied : and sure enough it was sent a very 
 tiny model of a perfect little coat in a very large box, with 
 a paper affixed in her writing. ' The coat is too small for 
 the man. The man has outgrown the coat ! ' 
 
 ' I have wonderful health,' says Miss Ward, brightly ; 
 ' wonderful spirits, and I am always up to tricks ! ' But 
 at this startling and unexpected announcement of the 
 grande dame, the temptation to laugh is irresistible, and 
 you suddenly collapse into merriment, in which the 
 dignified-looking lady heartily joins. 'I lead a simple, 
 natural life,' she observes when gravity is restored. ' I 
 have ever been a total abstainer. Nature tells me it is 
 better so, and if we all follow Nature we get on better. 
 " Mens sana in corpore sano " is my motto, and I am 
 always trying to impress it on the girls whom I coach. 
 People often ask me why I play such " wicked parts." I 
 tell them, " Because if I did not I should go to heaven at 
 once, so I take out all my wickedness on the stage." ' 
 
 Stronger than ever was Genevieve Ward in her late 
 difficult part of Morgan Le Fay in ' King Arthur,' and she 
 rises to the occasion in the last act in a most masterly 
 manner. Lucky indeed that the character was in such 
 able and artistic hands. Shortly before the rehearsals of 
 this gorgeous play began she completed a tour with Mr. 
 Irving, together with Marion Terry, who was taking Miss 
 Ellen Terry's parts in divers pieces. Miss Ward puts in 
 a pretty little word about this tour, and says, ' Marion is 
 so sweet and so comfortable to get on with ! ' 
 
 To give some idea of the hard work that Miss 
 Genevieve Ward can get through and the extent of her 
 repertoire, on her last tour through South Africa she 
 gave twenty-five plays of which six were Shakespearian 
 in thirty-three weeks. During a pleasant time at 
 Melbourne she made good use of one of her ' tricks.' She 
 asked Lady Loch what good she could do for those who 
 had been so good to her. The Governor's popular wife
 
 z8 2 GENEVIEVE WARD 
 
 suggested a theatrical performance for the benefit of a 
 terribly needed new lying-in ward at the Women's Hos- 
 pital. Miss Ward bestirred herself, trotted about ener- 
 getically, collected money on all sides, arranged to play 
 ' Antigone,' ' coaxed everybody to give everything/ and 
 was so heartily and generously supported by the Press 
 with free advertisements, by ninety of the chorus, who 
 ga\e their services, by managers, who lent scenery, by all 
 who could contribute anything, that she cleared the 
 magnificent sum of 2,680Z., the whole of the expenses 
 being 10Z. for workmen's services. Armed with the bank- 
 book, she applied to the Government for their usual grant 
 of the like amount earned. At first it was refused, but 
 Miss Ward was not long to be resisted. She carried the 
 day, and was thus the happy means of obtaining 5,360Z., 
 the sum needed to build the wing, which was named after 
 her. 
 
 Just before leaving Melbourne she received a most 
 gratifying token of its appreciation. She shows you with 
 pride a large morocco album, beautifully embossed and 
 illuminated, containing the names of nearly ' one thousand 
 of the women of Australia,' who, not being allowed to 
 contribute 'more than five shillings, but anything under,' 
 subscribed to present it to her, together with a handsome 
 diamond star ; and Genevieve Ward reads aloud melodi- 
 ously the quotation on the final page of the album : 
 
 ' Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well. The elements be kind to 
 thee and make thy spirits all of comfort ! Fare thee well.' 
 
 G. A. STOREY, A.B.A. 
 
 PEOBABLY no well-known artist in London has a simpler 
 studio than Mr. G. A. Storey, A.K.A., or one less dependent 
 on outward effects. Large, lofty, bright and airy, the 
 great double rooms are divided with a white arch, while
 
 G. A. STOREY 183 
 
 the floors are laid down with cool-looking matting and 
 with no vestige of the orthodox Oriental rugs ; but, with 
 all its simplicity, there is an indescribable feeling of cheeri- 
 ness and humour around that indicate the chief character- 
 istics of the painter who made his name so early in life, 
 and who, having had experience of the world in most of its 
 aspects, yet pronounces it to be ' good to live.' There 
 prevails, too, an air of domesticity, which is accentuated by 
 the presence of the artist's gentle young wife and their 
 only child, Gladys, a charming little maiden with heaven- 
 blue eyes and long fair hair, who, hugging a doll nearly 
 as big as herself, sits, good as gold, without disturbing the 
 conversation. Casts and models are piled up here and 
 there ; the principal pictures on the walls are after the 
 old masters, Vandyck, Titian, Sir Joshua Eeynolds, 
 Watteau and the Dutch painters ; for Mr. Storey carefully 
 avoids having any of his own work en evidence while 
 painting, preferring to be surrounded by those he can 
 enjoy and from which he can learn. But in some large 
 closed portfolios standing against the walls he has 
 hundreds of studies of landscapes, made in all sorts of 
 places including Spain that he calls his ' Book of 
 Nature.' 
 
 He was born in London, and originates in himself the 
 gift which manifested itself at a very youthful age. His 
 early scribblings being discovered by a friend of the 
 family led to his being taken, when only nine years old, 
 to the studio of Behnes, the sculptor, where he got his 
 first insight into art, and was allowed to amuse himself by 
 drawing and modelling. He remembers well, while 
 engaged on a colossal foot of a Hercules, Charles Dickens 
 came in one day and patted him on the head and said a 
 kindly word of encouragement to him. That he had 
 formed no idea of a future profession is evident from his 
 answer on one occasion to a man who asked him what he 
 intended to be. The little modeller paused and said 
 gravely, ' An old bachelor for choice,' which reply caused
 
 1 84 G. A. STOREY 
 
 much merriment to the questioner. At the age of four- 
 teen he was sent to Paris to finish his education, where 
 he came in for some of the horrors of the Revolution, and 
 worked hard at the language, also at mathematics and 
 other branches of science, studying painting and copy- 
 ing pictures at the Louvre under M. Dulong, to whom 
 he declares he owes a debt of gratitude for teaching him 
 to take pains with his work. Two years later he returned 
 to London and entered an architect's office, but his real 
 vocation was yet to be discovered. His drawings were 
 shown to an influential friend, who at once pronounced the 
 lad to be ' a painter, not an architect,' and introduced him to 
 the late Mr. Charles Eobert Leslie, R.A., one of the most 
 refined and truly humorous of English painters. ' I felt it 
 to be a great event in my life,' says Mr. Storey, cheerily, 
 ' to be brought in contact with so distinguished an artist. 
 The acquaintance ripened into an intimate friendship with 
 the whole family.' His next step was to attend Mr. J. N. 
 Leigh's art school in Newman Street, where he devoted 
 himself to studying the technicalities of his profession, 
 and was a fellow-pupil with Mr. Calderon and Mr. Stacy 
 Marks. At the age of eighteen G. A. Storey exhibited his 
 first picture at the Academy, and the following year he was 
 admitted a student. About that time what was known 
 as the St. John's Wood School came to be much talked 
 of, and the young painter soon won his way into public 
 favour by the grace and beauty of his compositions, which 
 were fresh, pure, and cheerful. He impressed his own 
 happy, sunny personality on them, and struck a note of 
 humour and of character on every pose and expression of 
 his figures that enabled his pictures to tell their own tale 
 and to suggest their own title. From that time onwards 
 he has exhibited regularly at the Academy ; but, though his 
 work was always well noticed, it was not until 1867 that 
 he became famous. 
 
 An early visit to Spain, where Mr. Storey painted 
 several portraits, was made the opportunity to study in
 
 G. A. STOREY 185 
 
 the Madrid Gallery the works of Veronese, of Velasquez, 
 of Titian, &c., where he got to understand and to delight 
 in the translating of them into water-colour sketches ; it 
 was while thus engaged that he met John Philip, the 
 celebrated Scottish artist. 
 
 The first picture that brought Mr. Storey prominently 
 before the public was ' After You,' which was suggested 
 while on a visit to Hever, a visit that he pronounces to 
 have been ' a turning-point.' Another, called ' Breakfast at 
 the Old Hall at Hever,' was painted at the same time and 
 place ; this work is now at the National Gallery at Ham- 
 burg. The unanimously favourable reception accorded to 
 both these works established the young painter's reputa- 
 tion. Before this, however, he had turned his attention 
 to historical subjects, and painted two large canvases, 
 which attracted much attention, respectively entitled 
 ' The Meeting of William Seymour and Arabella Stuart at 
 the Court of James I.' and ' The Eoyal Challenge ; ' but 
 Mr. Storey soon wearied of this branch of art, and struck 
 out his particular line, which may be called a humorous 
 vein, turning to the living, human subjects, the picturesque 
 children and graceful maidens, the out-door life, the back- 
 grounds and environments, that he is so peculiarly happy 
 in depicting. In the halcyon days that followed, among 
 a large number of works, perhaps some of the most 
 popular were ' The Shy Pupil,' ' The Old Soldier,' ' Going 
 to School ' (portraits of Sir William Agnew's boys), 
 ' Caught,' and ' Grandmama's Christmas Visitors,' which 
 was engraved for the first Christmas number of the 
 ' Graphic.' His celebrated picture ' Scandal ' sold for 
 a large sum, and won his Associateship. ' Mistress 
 Dorothy ' brought him a great many commissions for 
 portraits, and recalls an anecdote. Mr. Storey's sister had 
 gone to her milliner's and there beheld the hat that 
 became so well-renowned as the ' Dorothy hat.' She was 
 told by the modiste that she always went to the Eoyal 
 Academy to study Storey's pictures for the most pictur-
 
 1 86 G. A. STOREY 
 
 esque fashions ! A painting called ' Little Swansdown * 
 brought the artist many orders for portraits. ' The Blue 
 Girls of Canterbury ' and ' Lady Beaumont ' were also 
 celebrated pictures, while his ' Mrs. Finch ' hangs in com- 
 pany with works of Vandyck, Sir Peter Lely, Kneller, &c., 
 at Burley on the Hill, Kutland. 
 
 But Mr. Storey's portraits are not portraits only. 
 They are pleasant pictures with which to live. What he 
 does is to depict flesh and blood and human character 
 with beautiful surroundings. He makes each part of his 
 work help the rest in form and colour, in light and shade, 
 even in atmosphere. He is often dubbed ' the modern de 
 Hooghe,' from his rich colouring, his power of painting 
 veiled sunlight and sunny interiors, which, however, he 
 learned in Spain, and of causing the smallest objects in 
 the background to invest themselves with interest. There 
 is a photograph in one of the rooms of an early work, 
 ' Godiva,' painted in 1865, and sold for 601., but which in 
 later days found a ready purchaser in a connoisseur at 
 Munich for 3001. ' My own taste,' he says, ' leads me to 
 figure painting. " Godiva " was far more to me than my 
 historical " Arabella Stuart." I am almost an Old Master 
 now,' he adds quaintly, 'having exhibited at the R.A. 
 almost every year since 1852, and what makes me say I 
 am almost an Old Master is that lately there was an 
 exhibition of Early British Masters at Messrs Shepherd's 
 in King Street, and two of my very early works were 
 there, " The Burial of Juliet " and " Inspiration," painted 
 in the fifties. "When I called on Mr. Shepherd the other 
 day to ask if he still had them, as a friend wished to see 
 them, his reply was, " Both sold, Sir." " Oh ! " I said, 
 " I have more if you want them ! " ' They must be early 
 works," he remarked. " So what an age I must be ! " 
 The artist modestly omits to add that the Press was 
 unanimously complimentary about them ; one distin- 
 guished critic remarking, ' these pictures of the early Pre- 
 Raphaelite period by Mr. G. A. Storey come as revela-
 
 G. A. STOREY 187 
 
 tions. They are delightful in colour, rich and voluptuous 
 and admirable in sentiment ; works remarkable for beauty, 
 poetic grace of design, and general deftness of execution.' 
 And mention must not be forgotten of a popular picture, 
 ' The Violin Player/ which was bought by the Goldsmiths' 
 Company and presented to the Corporation of the Art 
 Society, Guildhall, and another, comically entitled ' The 
 Hungry Messenger,' sold to the Corporation of Sunderland 
 a few years ago. Mr. Storey's latest works in the Royal 
 Academy of the present year are ' Reflection,' ' Coming 
 Events,' and ' The Rivals.' 
 
 His fondness for his craft has led the painter to write 
 a variety of books on Art, notably ' An Introduction to the 
 Study of Drawing,' 'Living Anatomy,' 'The Mysteries of 
 Colour, and How to Solve Them,' and ' Michael Angelo, a 
 Sketch of his Life,' illustrated with tracings of that 
 Master's works. He has also given many lectures on Art 
 and written much poetry. One of his works, called ' A 
 New Method of Perspective without Vanishing Points,' 
 should prove of great use to students. ' Since a student 
 has to learn perspective,' remarks Mr. Storey, ' he may as 
 well do so intelligently, and without being bewildered by 
 a confusion of vanishing lines, pins, strings, and all the 
 cumbersome arrangements so delighted in by our Art 
 Masters. The science is mathematical and quite simple ; 
 all operations can be done on the canvas itself without 
 going outside the picture.' 
 
 He has of late been gathering materials for a book 
 of ' Recollections,' which, written in his bright, amusing 
 style, and full of anecdote, are delightful reading. For 
 this purpose he is looking up old letters, old friends, old 
 sketches. ' And, talking of old sketches,' observes Mr. 
 Storey, as he turns up one of his MS. books, in which are 
 the dates and particulars of all his pictures, ' I have some- 
 thing for you. Do you know how many years it is since 
 I painted your portrait ? Here it is, not finished yet the 
 hands in pencil only ; still, very like you. Please accept
 
 1 88 G. A. STOREY 
 
 it for old friendship's sake ! My " Eecollections " include 
 the names of many who have long since passed away, but 
 they live over again with me as I write about them ! ' 
 
 DORA RUSSELL. 
 
 A GREAT GALE is blowing. Torrents of rain flood the 
 streets. The wind comes with sudden and mighty gusts, 
 tearing down huge boughs of trees and howling round 
 the corners of the broad, unsheltered roads of Hampstead. 
 No vehicle can be found, and at length, with umbrella 
 turned inside out and in weather-beaten, dishevelled 
 condition, you thankfully arrive at what is verily a haven 
 of peace and rest the hospitable house of the popular 
 author, Miss Dora Kussell. She comes forward with 
 kindly solicitude for your miseries, and in a few minutes, 
 having recovered breath and become disencumbered from 
 dripping wraps, you are snugly ensconced in her favourite 
 <;hair by a bright fire, and the fury of the raging elements 
 is temporarily forgotten. 
 
 ' It is truly a most terrible storm,' says Miss Eussell, 
 in a soft, musical voice, with a touch of the North Country 
 in its tones, ' but only think what it must be for the ships 
 at sea. The lifeboats will be out, and we shall hear of 
 many distressing wrecks to-morrow. It has disquieted 
 me all day.' And in these words she has indicated the 
 keynote of her character, which those who know her 
 will not fail to recognise. She is blessed with an un- 
 selfish, sympathetic nature. She has in addition a fund 
 of quiet humour, and a cheerful, happy temperament that 
 invariably sees the best side of persons and of things. 
 
 And after all it is undoubtedly the best sort of dis- 
 position with which to go through this troublesome world. 
 Here there is no fretting nor struggling nor pushing to 
 be first and foremost. She has won her own position of
 
 DORA RUSSELL 189 
 
 independence, and has scored entirely off her own bat ; 
 and if in earlier years she has experienced not a few 
 sharp buffetings from fate, she has bravely battled against 
 them, and remarks cheerily, ' No one is exempt. Every- 
 thing was for the best, and I have met with much and 
 unexpected kindness on all sides.' 
 
 The room is bright and lofty. Tall bunches of double 
 chrysanthemums, of every shade and hue, are artistically 
 grouped here and there. A few handsome bits of ancient 
 Crown Derby from the old home stand on the marqueterie 
 cabinet and high mantelshelf, together with two or three 
 old blue china jars. A Japanese table is loaded with 
 magazines and newspapers of all sorts, for Miss Eussell 
 is an ardent politician, and reads all the speeches with 
 much interest. The great French window opens on to a 
 flight of stone stairs that leads down to a large old- 
 fashioned garden, at the far end of which are discerned 
 sundry apple and pear trees. The house was chosen 
 chiefly for the sake of this garden, in which Miss Kussell 
 works and takes a keen delight. 
 
 Born of a good family and connections in the county 
 of Northumberland, Dora Kussell was reared in comfort- 
 able and happy circumstances. There were large grounds 
 in which to roam, ponies to ride, and every amusement 
 and enjoyment that indulgent parents could provide. She 
 was carefully educated by good governesses, and for a year 
 or so was sent to school. Like many other so-called 
 naughty little girls, she entirely declined to avail herself 
 of these advantages. Agreeably with the orthodox custom 
 of that day, all originality of thought and of character 
 must be suppressed, and that which every other girl was 
 taught she too must acquire. Accordingly, tasks such as 
 music, drawing, and languages, to all of which she had no 
 particular leaning, were pressed upon her, but composi- 
 tion and over-much reading were denied. Now it just 
 happened that these were the studies to which her mind 
 had a natural bent. Beading was a passion ; she devoured
 
 1 9 o DORA RUSSELL 
 
 eagerly every book within reach, no matter whether it 
 were poetry, fiction, history, or some musty old tome of 
 ancient geography. It was all the same ; but when sent 
 to the piano, and supposed to be taking out the regulation 
 hour in steady practising, someone was always sure to 
 catch her with a book concealed in her lap, when the 
 usual punishment followed. 
 
 It is possible that the young girl derived far more 
 benefit from this desultory reading than if she had con- 
 tinued the usual routine of learning. After a time, seeing 
 that the studies that she principally disliked would pro- 
 bably be productive of no very brilliant results, they were 
 gradually discarded, and her reading was no longer re- 
 stricted, but only judiciously guided by carefully selected 
 books. 
 
 Although she inherited no literary tastes from either 
 parents, Dora Eussell from childhood amused herself by 
 composing short tales that were never written. Her elder 
 sister tells the story that the little Dora used to run up 
 and down a long gravel path in the garden at the old 
 home repeating aloud the most romantic histories and 
 pieces of poetry, always in good metre and rhyme, woven 
 out of her childish imagination, and she would keep a 
 room full of children entertained by the adventures of 
 her heroes and heroines. She met with a very real and 
 serious adventure on her own account when she was but 
 thirteen, and which for a few weeks banished all fictitious 
 woes and joys from her head. Whilst walking with her 
 sister in a shady lane, an infuriated bull, which had escaped 
 from its attendants, came tearing along behind them, and 
 lifting the young Dora, who was but a feather-weight, on 
 his horns, tossed her high into the air. The child fell 
 head foremost at his feet. The savage beast lowered his 
 head to attack her again, when her sister bravely flung 
 herself between them, brandishing her parasol in his face, 
 which so startled the bull that he stepped back a few 
 paces. The men arrived just in time to save any further
 
 DORA RUSSELL 191 
 
 catastrophe, and struck him hard with a heavy bludgeon. 
 The animal leapt over the side fence into a field, where he 
 was presently shot. ' Dora behaved like one of her own 
 heroines,' says the elder sister, with emotion. ' She neither 
 cried nor screamed, but showed much presence of mind. 
 I shudder even now at the recollection.' 
 
 Mercifully no very serious or lasting consequences 
 ensued, but the bull figured largely in subsequent stories. 
 
 ' I can understand,' says Dora Russell, thoughtfully, 
 ' what it is said that the drowning feel. In a moment 
 every event of my short life flashed before me.' 
 
 It was not until many years later, during a time of 
 great family distress and trouble, that she took seriously 
 to what has since become the work of her life. Return- 
 ing one day to a sadly overshadowed home, she saw an 
 advertisement in the well-known ' Newcastle Chronicle ' 
 offering prizes for fiction and poetry. A small parcel of 
 manuscript was packed up and sent in with much trepida- 
 tion, and with a firm conviction that no more would be 
 heard of it. But the young amateur need not have been 
 so over-diffident of her own powers, though this modesty 
 has accompanied her through all her literary career. In 
 the competition, which was a very large one, she was 
 fortunate enough to receive two prizes, one for a story, 
 the other for a short poem. This was the first money 
 that she had ever earned, and she can recall now the 
 great pleasure and encouragement it gave her. 
 
 And still better was the news that this was not to be 
 the end of it. Shortly after the editor of the ' Newcastle 
 Weekly Chronicle ' applied to her for a brief story for that 
 journal, and in accordance she wrote ' The Miner's Oath,' 
 which was so favourably received that it is read still in 
 the mining villages round Newcastle-on-Tyne, and is 
 become a household word among their families. It was 
 afterwards published in book form and illustrated by 
 Messrs. George Routledge & Sons. 
 
 This little book was the happy means of introducing
 
 192 DORA RUSSELL 
 
 Dora Kussell to the late Mr. George Koutledge, of whom 
 she speaks with deepest gratitude and regard. ' I can 
 never forget,' she observes, ' the kindness and encourage- 
 ment he gave me. He took me himself to the publisher 
 of my first novel, " The Vicar's Governess," and used his 
 influence in smoothing all difficulties from my path. Ten 
 years later, shortly before his lamented death, he wrote 
 and asked me to go and see him at his house in Kussell 
 Square. His letter I preserve it still begins with the 
 kindly expression, " As I stood godfather to your earlier 
 books," &c. I feel that Mr. Koutledge's help in the 
 beginning of my literary career was of very material 
 benefit.' 
 
 This first novel proved very successful, and quite 
 lately the fourth cheap edition has been issued. Her sub- 
 sequent works have all been similarly successful. 
 
 About a year later, through the kindly editor of 
 the ' Newcastle Weekly Chronicle,' Miss Eussell ob- 
 tained an introduction to Messrs. Tillotson & Son, of 
 Bolton, Lancashire, whose well-known syndicate for 
 supplying literature to newspapers has a world-wide 
 reputation. The first novel that she wrote for the firm 
 was ' Footprints in the Snow.' The book was not only 
 very popular in England, but has been translated into 
 many languages, and was a special favourite with Miss 
 Kussell' s much-regretted and valued friend, the late Mr. 
 Tillotson. From the date of this work until the present 
 time Dora Kussell's connection with the firm has been 
 close and constant, and again she always speaks in the 
 highest terms of their probity and kindness. 
 
 The scenes of her birthplace, with its rock-bound 
 North-E astern coast and the stormy wave- wash of its 
 Northern Sea, have given a certain local colouring to 
 many of the author's works. Indeed, during one terrible 
 storm she was an eye-witness of the total wreck of an ill- 
 fated vessel as it struggled to enter the Tyne, and from 
 the shore she saw the heavy seas overlap and engulf the
 
 DORA RUSSELL 193 
 
 ship while every soul on board perished. This terrible 
 incident she depicted with strong sensational interest in her 
 story, ' Beneath the Wave.' 
 
 ' Annabel's Rival ' has a very good bit of character- 
 drawing in the clever, worldly governess. ' Lady Sefton's 
 Pride ' was humorously described by a critic as a good 
 cure for toothache, as the reader would inevitably forget 
 all about it in his interest in the story. 
 
 ' The Broken Seal ' and ' A Bitter Birthright ' are 
 particularly noticeable for the ingenuity of their construc- 
 tion and the skill with which their plots are concealed. 
 Other works of the author are entitled ' Quite True,' 
 ' Croesus' Widow,' ' Hidden in My Heart,' ' Jezebel's 
 Friends,' and ' The Last Signal.' There is many a good 
 sensational situation and much originality of character- 
 sketching in these interesting works of fiction. The dia- 
 logue is bright, and she has the gift of writing in an easy 
 and natural strain. Later works are ' An Evil Reputa- 
 tion,' 'A Hidden Chain,' 'A Country Sweetheart,' 'A 
 Great Temptation,' ' A Man's Privilege,' &c., &c. 
 
 Dora Russell's method of composing is somewhat 
 peculiar. She always fixes on the titles of her novels 
 first, and the following morning, in the early dawn, a plot 
 to suit her chosen title invariably rises before her mind, 
 and goes on growing and growing until her story is 
 written, without any notes whatsoever being required. 
 She works about six hours a day with great facility and 
 ease, scarcely ever changing a word or line in her MS. 
 
 Her study is a large, rather bare-looking room at the 
 top of the house. The sole furniture consists of a huge 
 writing-table and chair and a square of carpet, while 
 reams of proofs and MSS. are methodically arranged 
 against the walls. The only other chair an easy one 
 is occupied by a little black-and-tan terrier, which never 
 leaves her mistress day or night. Dora Russell has in 
 truth a devoted love for all dumb creatures, and among 
 her numerous pets she has a little colony of birds of much 
 

 
 194 DORA RUSSELL 
 
 variety, who come for breakfast daily. Her pursuits are 
 all thoroughly feminine and healthy. 
 
 She is a notable housekeeper, and has a very pretty 
 taste in arranging flowers and decorating a supper table 
 (whereof you presently have an experience), which is spread 
 after the hospitable custom of the North-country. ' But 
 my work,' says the author, ' is my greatest enjoyment. I 
 am never so happy as when I am writing. I live in it.' 
 
 An hour later you take leave of the amiable and 
 intellectual Dora Eussell. She opens the hall door, and 
 lo ! a transformation scene has taken place. The gale is 
 over. The wind has died out. The moon and stars are 
 shining brightly, and all is as serene and peaceful without 
 as it has been within. 
 
 GEOEGE GEOSSMITH 
 
 IF there be one thing more than another for which people 
 as they go through this ' vale of tears ' have to thank a 
 comic actor, it is his power to make them forget their 
 temporary worries and troubles in a good hearty laugh ; 
 and when this is accompanied not only with the true 
 artistic finish and refinement, but also with touches of 
 infinite pathos such as Mr. George Grossmith knows so 
 well how to impart, it is all the more attractive. Who 
 will ever forget him as the Merryman in that exquisite 
 duet, ' I have a song to sing, oh,' in Gilbert and Sullivan's 
 delightful opera, ' The Yeoman of the Guard,' which 
 almost brought tears to the eyes, to be dispelled by 
 laughter over his subsequent amusing speeches in that 
 piece ? 
 
 Now it is a fact that people like to know something of 
 the inner life and surroundings of their favourites ; and, as 
 Mr. Grossmith is one of these favourites, their curiosity 
 shall be gratified to some small extent.
 
 GEORGE GROSSMITH 195 
 
 There is a little domestic group at luncheon in a certain 
 old house in an old-fashioned square situated somewhere 
 .about the north-west district of London. It overlooks a 
 big garden in front, thus securing plenty of fresh air and 
 no immediately opposite neighbours, and the birds will 
 soon begin to twitter and to build their nests when the 
 fine old trees awake from the long night of winter and 
 unfold their fresh leaves. At the head of the table sits 
 the popular entertainer, and at the side the sweet lady 
 who, ' besides being his wife, is also his truest friend and 
 his best adviser.' The prematurely silvered curls impart 
 a picturesque beauty to the fair, youthful face, with its 
 broad, smooth brow and large violet eyes. At the foot 
 of the table is George Grossmith, junior. Then there are 
 two young daughters present ; the elder, who, though 
 only just ' standing with reluctant feet where the brook 
 and river meet,' inherits the family gifts, and is always to 
 be trusted to read any new play or sketch or song and 
 * see if it will do.' A younger son, studying engineering, 
 completes the happy family picture. Everything is very 
 snug and comfortable, though quiet and unpretending, in 
 this house of love and harmony. To those who like to 
 learn such details, it will be interesting to know that 
 George Grossmith and his charming wife may almost be 
 said to have arranged this step in life when quite little 
 children, when at juvenile parties they used to meet and 
 nearly always danced together, ' because their steps 
 suited ' ; and that the boy-and-girl friendship led on to a 
 boy-and-girl marriage, which, ' Thank God, neither has 
 ever had reason to regret for a single second.' 
 
 After luncheon you adjourn with your hosts to the 
 actor's study behind, where you urge him to calm his 
 nerves with a soothing cigarette ; for, truth to tell, he 
 4 positively hates talking about himself,' and only yields 
 to the importunity of such an old friend as yourself. 
 A propos of this old friendship, it is so sympathetic and 
 harmonious that it justifies you in making a remark that 
 
 o 2
 
 196 GEORGE GROSSMITH 
 
 in other circumstances would be an impertinence. You 
 had lately had occasion firmly but, it is to be hoped, 
 politely, to contradict a statement that ' actors earned 
 their money so easily when at the top of the tree, and 
 this one in particular drew a weekly salary that ran into 
 three figures.' ' Ah ! ' replies Mr. Grossmith, with that 
 grave air of fun that sits so quaintly on him ; ' I'm very 
 glad you told me. Now that accounts for the extraordi- 
 narily over-rated assessment of the income-tax collectors. 
 I remember when I was playing at the Opera Comique, 
 during the run of " H.M.S. Pinafore," at a salary of 
 eighteen guineas per week, to the end of " The Pirates of 
 Penzance," by .which time it was increased to twenty and 
 twenty-two (a period of ten years), I was accused by these 
 gentlemen of not sending in " fair returns." I left their 
 office, jumped into a cab, drove home, and returned with 
 my agreement, of which I had luckily thought, and that 
 settled the matter. They think I am a Rothschild, and 
 won't allow me to know my own income ! ' 
 
 An American organ and neat little piano stand against 
 the wall but in this matter the house is well provided, 
 for there are no less than six pianos in different rooms, 
 besides the organ. The study walls are lined with many 
 interesting photographs and pictures, among which are 
 two characteristic and much-prized etchings, by Rajon, of 
 Sarasate and Whistler. Almost every ' celebrity ' is pre- 
 sent. Here are some of the actor himself, representing 
 his different parts, notably the Major-General in ' The 
 Pirates,' with all the medals and bars placed in cor- 
 rect order the V.C., the Crimean, Indian Mutiny, the 
 Legion of Honour, and many others. These were lent 
 by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. Herbert F. Eaton. ' I used to 
 see military men,' says Mr. Grossmith, ' gazing through 
 opera-glasses, not at my face, but at my medals, to see if 
 all were accurately placed. As Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., 
 I had the greatest difficulty in getting the counterfeit collar 
 and star made, as the originals were not to be procured,
 
 GEORGE GROSSMITH 197 
 
 and I am most particular in having correct details.' The 
 large writing-table is heaped up with letters, papers, 
 proofs, scores, &c. It is not exactly an untidy table, 
 though, but perhaps someone else may be responsible for 
 that, as his wife laughingly observes that, ' except in 
 appearance, he is by no means a " tidy man," and it 
 would be no good giving him pigeon-holes in his desk, for 
 he would never use them.' 
 
 As may be supposed, George Grossmith manifested 
 his musical propensities at a very early age. When only 
 eight years old he could play the piano, learning the 
 technical details ; while his correct ear, strong sense of 
 humour, and power of facial expression made him a wel- 
 come and entertaining guest, not only at children's but 
 at grown-up parties, where he would sing every variety 
 of comic song, with great aplomb, to his own setting. 
 He began life as a reporter at Bow Street, where his 
 talent for observation received many an inspiration from 
 the sometimes grave, sometimes ludicrous, scenes that 
 came before his notice, and various causes celebres were 
 duly reported by him in the ' Times.' The next idea was 
 the Bar, but his artistic proclivities very soon brought 
 him favourably before the public. And in public estima- 
 tion George Grossmith has deservedly and steadily, year 
 after year, increased and strengthened his hold this 
 probably as much by his unceasing efforts and his well- 
 known desire to give ' the very best that is in him to its 
 service ' as by his brilliant abilities. 
 
 Now, be it known, the actor is extremely nervous on 
 ' first nights,' wherein his own opinion is that ' his per- 
 formance is then worst of all ; and, as a rule, he feels 
 very grave, and unable to realise that there is any joke in 
 the whole thing indeed, it is as solemn as going to a 
 funeral, though, to be sure, one is not nervous at that.' 
 It is so difficult to judge at rehearsals what people will 
 enjoy and laugh at when it is placed before them. Now 
 and then, for his entertainments, he has taken two months
 
 198 GEORGE GROSSMITH 
 
 over one musical item, and if it does not seem to make a- 
 hit at once, he will ' lay it aside with an aching heart ; ' 
 while at other times he has knocked off a little sketch or 
 song in a morning, which will ' catch on ' at once such 
 as ' Baby on the Shore,' ' See Me Dance the Polka,' and 
 the like trivialities. ' But it is the first duty of every 
 actor to please his public,' says Mr. Grossmith, seriously. 
 ' There is no nonsense about art ; and, though I would 
 not degrade my profession, of which I am so proud, by 
 any buffoonery, nor, like a good bootmaker, " sell bluchers," 
 I must give my customers what they like. It sometimes 
 grieves me to find good work unappreciated, but anyhow 
 I'll keep my score for people to see when I am forgotten.' 
 But George Grossmith will not soon be ' forgotten,' so he 
 need not trouble himself to think about it, and may the 
 ' score ' long remain in his own possession ! 
 
 His first trip to America in the character of an enter- 
 tainer was a big artistic success, though the expenses 
 were necessarily so enormous that he did not realise 
 enough to clear them. Neither husband nor wife can 
 say enough of the great appreciation and hospitality shown 
 them by their transatlantic brethren. Soon after his. 
 return from a second trip ' His Excellency ' was produced 
 at the Savoy. This ' first night ' was even a more terrible 
 ordeal than the preceding ones. Not only had Mr. 
 Grossmith been suffering from depression of spirits, but 
 fatigue and excitement had produced the demon insomnia. 
 And, in this last annoyance, he humorously relates that, 
 during the period of rehearsals, whenever he even dozed 
 at night four dreams perpetually persecuted him like 
 nightmares. First, that he had missed his train, and 
 could not get to the theatre in time ; next, that the Queen 
 had arrived, and there were no chairs placed for her or 
 any of the Royal Family ; then that there was no audience 
 nor orchestra ; and last, and most agonising of all, that 
 the most important garment of his stage apparel had been 
 left behind ; and these four dreams never ceased for a.
 
 GEORGE GROSSMITH 199 
 
 week nightly to assail him, after which all was again 
 smooth sailing. 
 
 Mr. Grossmith is also acutely sensitive to criticism. 
 A great ' believer in women ' (a not infrequent experience 
 with a husband who is possessed of ' the Angel in the 
 House ') , though not exactly of the ' New ' species, he 
 thinks it would be a capital idea to have women as well 
 as men critics. ' There are women picture critics,' he 
 says ; ' why not women play critics ? ' On this idea you 
 promptly seize, and generously make a present of it to all 
 whom it may concern. 
 
 Of all his many successful roles there is no need to 
 speak, as they are fresh in the memory of every playgoer, 
 from John Wellington Wells in ' The Sorcerer,' through 
 the long runs of the 'Pinafore,' 'Patience,' 'lolanthe,' 
 ' The Mikado,' &c., down to ' His Excellency ' ; while his 
 entertainments are always in request, and are an unfailing 
 source of delight to his audience. His two latest and 
 best Sketches are ' Wooings and Weddings,' and 'How I 
 discovered America.' His bright, happy nature ever leads 
 the popular actor to look on the sunny side of life, which 
 he 'enjoys so thoroughly that its shadows sink into 
 insignificance.' And with this genial disposition, his 
 brilliant gifts, and his earnest striving to please, George 
 Grossmith will long retain his proud position of a faithful 
 and conscientious servant of the public. 
 
 KATE PHILLIPS 
 
 (MRS. H. B. CONWAT) 
 
 BORN of a good old county family of great wealth the 
 Goldneys of Wiltshire nothing seemed more unlikely 
 than that Kate Phillips should at any time be required to 
 earn her own living ; but, alas ! her father was possessed 
 of extravagant tastes, ran through three fine fortunes, and 
 died leaving his wife and young family unprovided for.
 
 200 KATE PHILLIPS 
 
 Then did the brave-hearted girl buckle to with a will. As 
 soon as she could in any way struggle for herself she began 
 at the foot of the ladder, and, alone and unaided, got her- 
 self, at a very early age, an engagement to ' walk on ' as 
 an ' extra ' for nine shillings a week at the Lyceum 
 Theatre, then under the management of the Brothers 
 Mansell. Gradually ascending step by step to her present 
 good position among the leading comedians of the day, 
 she has supported not only herself, in her simple, modest 
 establishment, but her mother ; ' for,' as she remarks ten- 
 derly, ' whosoever else had to " go without," that beloved 
 mother never had.' Over and above this Kate Phillips 
 has entirely educated her brother's child, Maude Goldney 
 to such good purpose that the young girl is now a 
 danseuse, and has lately been on tour with Miss Cissy 
 Grahame, and she will shortly make her debut in London. 
 
 ' No member of my family,' says the charming little 
 actress cheerfully, as she recalls the reminiscences of 
 early struggles, ' had ever been on the stage. Indeed, 
 they were one and all horrified at my thinking of it. One 
 of the collateral branches married John Bannister, the 
 great comedian, but I had no interest, no influence, knew 
 no managers, and never had a creature to help me.' 
 
 But she had, at any rate, been blessed with original 
 histrionic talents ; with sturdy perseverance and strength 
 of will ; likewise with a determination to get on the 
 which good gifts have carried the day ; and as you gaze at 
 the small, fair, curly head, with its broad brow and far- 
 apart blue eyes, the slightly retrousse nose, the pretty 
 little short upper lip, and the firmly moulded chin, it is 
 easy enough to read these characteristics therein. And 
 there is probably another reason why she has made such 
 a good position for herself. From the first she worked 
 desperately hard in provincial stock companies, laying in 
 a store of experience, and as her success became assured, 
 and she was engaged in legitimate business, she never 
 hesitated, when her services were requisitioned, to take
 
 KATE PHILLIPS 201 
 
 any part, good or bad, with the same unfailing alacrity. 
 Her aptitude for playing ' bad ' parts well has served her 
 in right good stead, ' For,' as a dramatic critic remarked 
 lately in a private chat, ' whatsoever be the character en- 
 trusted to Kate Phillips, one feels it will be always safe 
 in her hands. She will cheerfully take one that many 
 another actress will refuse, and which may really not be 
 suited to her ; but she invariably makes herself suit it, 
 and works it up so thoroughly that it ends in being one 
 of the hits of the play.' And this is an invaluable repu- 
 tation to earn. Her debut in London was made at the 
 Globe Theatre in opera bouffe ' Les Brigands,' an adap- 
 tation by Offenbach. Oddly enough, though she was only 
 engaged as understudy, in a short time she found her 
 name on the bill. It happened one day that someone was 
 suddenly taken ill. The manager, in despair, asked, ' Who 
 can go on instead? ' ' I can,' said the young girl. She 
 had understudied not only one part, but each, and knew 
 the whole piece by heart, and had stood nightly at the 
 wings to watch. Thus it came about that she stepped in 
 and made a complete success. Essentially a comedienne, 
 the lines of Kate Phillips' career have been based on high 
 comedy, with Mr. Irving, the Bancrofts, Mr. Hare, and 
 the Kendals ; but in her ardent, excitable temperament 
 systematic and thoroughly practical withal there is a 
 deep underlying pathos. With a clear, true mezzo- 
 soprano voice, she can speak blank verse with fine, tender 
 intonation and correctness, as all who heard her in ' The 
 White Pilgrim ' (in which she created the part of Gerda) 
 will remember. ' It was brought out at the Court,' says 
 Miss Phillips. ' Herman Merivale must have been 
 inspired when he wrote it.' At your request she gives 
 you the beautiful and touching recitation piece, ' Miscall 
 me not,' in such pathetic and melodious tones, and with 
 so much feeling, that for a few minutes after both reciter 
 and listener feel a lump in their throats ! After a pause 
 she adds, in a voice of emotion : ' It is death personified !
 
 202 KATE PHILLIPS 
 
 Some time after I played it I had a long and dangerous 
 illness, but those words were always in my mind, and for 
 ever took all fear of death away from me.' Her voice, it 
 may be mentioned, has been well cultivated under good 
 masters, and is as good in singing as in speaking. On her 
 recovery from this illness a grand matinee was organised 
 for her benefit, of which Kate Phillips cherishes the most 
 grateful recollections. ' I cannot speak warmly enough,' 
 she says, ' of the kindness of Mr. Beerbohm Tree on that 
 occasion. He lent me the theatre and himself paid all 
 expenses ; and oh ! what a cast it was ! So many of the 
 great actors offered their services Mrs. Kendal, Marion 
 Terry, Carlotta Addison, Fanny Brough, Kate Rorke, 
 Mary Anderson, Mrs. Bernard Beere, Mr. and Mrs. Tree, 
 Mr. Toole, Edward Terry, Lionel Brough, James, Thorne, 
 &c., &c. I was proud of that bill. " Nabbs," too a fox 
 terrier who has been for many years my faithful and 
 devoted companion took a part.' Among her big roles 
 may be reckoned the Boy in ' Henry V.,' Phoebe to Mr. 
 Toole's ' Paul Pry,' with John S. Clarke who would have 
 no one else Lady Franklin in ' Money,' which fitted her 
 to perfection, and Maria in ' Twelfth Night,' a role of 
 which The Times critic wrote, ' she showed herself 
 worthy to walk in the steps of Compton.' She was spe- 
 cially invited by Mr. Hare to play Audrey in ' As You 
 Like It,' and indeed had three similar invitations from 
 him, but was unluckily prevented by previous engage- 
 ments. After a spell at the Gaiety Miss Phillips went to 
 the Bancrofts at the old Prince of Wales', and, in common 
 with many another young player, declares ' it was one of 
 the happiest times of her life,' and her best engagement 
 to have been Bessie Kebblethwaite in ' An Unequal 
 Match,' with Mr. Bancroft as the sweetheart a play in 
 which there was so much natural merriment that Mrs. 
 Bancroft used laughingly to declare she ' would have to 
 give them the hot poker at Christmas if they " clowned 
 so." ' It was a delight to work with them,' says Miss
 
 KATE PHILLIPS 203. 
 
 Phillips. She played for two hundred nights in 'The 
 Rivals,' and for fifteen months consecutively in 'Confu- 
 sion.' Anent this play in which she created the part of 
 the soubrette to perfection it was at first only put on as 
 a stop-gap for a few weeks while preparing for Byron's 
 ' Open House/ but it deservedly proved so popular that it 
 had an enormous run. At its conclusion the delayed play 
 was somewhat hesitatingly produced. ' I went on rather 
 in a rebellious spirit,' she says ; ' but, to our surprise, it 
 was a great success.' Naturally enough ! To see those 
 two perfect comedians Mr. Farren and Kate Phillips 
 as Timpson was a never-to-be-forgotten treat ; to watch 
 their faces, their thorough sympathy, their every telling 
 word and gesture all so spontaneous and vivacious was 
 to learn how, in such skilful hands, comedy could be raised 
 to the highest artistic pitch. Loud and universal were 
 the commendations from the press and the public. 
 Among many cherished private letters the actress 
 shows two with pride one from Dubourg saying her 
 Maria was 'worthy to be ranked with those glorious 
 chambermaids of Moliere's/ But before this she had 
 created the part of Jenny in ' The Queen's Shilling ' at 
 the St. James's by special request of Messrs. Hare and 
 Kendal. Later came Dorinda Croodle in ' The Money 
 Spinner/ Dot in ' The Cricket on the Hearth ' at Toole's 
 Theatre ; also Mrs. Coventry Sparkle in Mr. and Mrs. 
 Herman Merivale's play ' The Don/ and a part in their 
 amusing piece ' The Butler.' Presently followed a long 
 engagement with Mr. Irving at the Lyceum to play 
 Cerisette in ' The Dead Heart/ Nerissain ' The Merchant 
 of Venice/ Martha in ' Louis XI.,' Susan in ' Nance 
 Oldfield/ Marjorie in ' Becket ' a most difficult but 
 creditable performance and so on throughout the whole 
 of the delightful Lyceum repertoire. And then came the 
 recent trip to America with Mr. Irving's company. The 
 Americans heartily appreciated her talent and the good 
 style of the young actress's performance, and awarded her
 
 204 KATE PHILLIPS 
 
 no small meed of approbation. During her absence a 
 faithful and devoted maid carefully collected a bundle of 
 press notices of her later parts in London, and put them 
 aside. On her return Miss Phillips, who had a girl friend 
 on a visit, had occasion late one night to fetch some trifle 
 from below, and went down to the kitchen and opened a 
 drawer. The first thing she saw was this little packet. 
 The contents were all favourable, but one in particular, 
 from a distinguished dramatic critic, was couched in such 
 delightfully eulogistic terms that on reading it by the light 
 of a ' farthing dip ' the two friends looked at each other 
 for a minute solemnly, and exclaimed simultaneously in 
 tragic tones, ' And to think of this being found in a kitchen 
 drawer ! ' 'I always study the first thing in the morning,' 
 says Kate Phillips. ' I am very slow, and it is a great 
 labour, but when I have got it by heart I've got it for good 
 and all. It grows at rehearsal, but I play it quite differ- 
 ently after a week from the first night. I always wish the 
 first night were on the seventh night so to speak which 
 sounds rather like an Irishism ! ' Her latest performance 
 was Honor Bliss in ' The Chili Widow,' justly pronounced 
 by a great dramatic critic ' a gem of pure comedy.' 
 
 She was, on one occasion, on a tour with Mrs. John 
 Wood, Mr. Conway, and others, when ' London Assurance ' 
 was to be played at Halifax, Yorkshire. A ridiculous 
 incident occurred. In the last scene, when the duel is 
 supposed to take place in the library behind, between Sir 
 Harcourt and Dolly Spanker, it was suddenly discovered, 
 to their dismay, that the pistols had been forgotten. What 
 expedient could be resorted to ? The moment was near 
 at hand ! It would be the play of ' Hamlet ' with Hamlet 
 left out ! In a moment of inspiration someone called out : 
 * Paper bags ! ' An actor in stage costume ran round the 
 corner to a neighbouring baker's shop, seized two of the 
 articles in question from the much-astonished baker, and 
 nearly expended his last wind in blowing them out as he 
 breathlessly arrived, just in the nick of time. ' Two loud
 
 KATE PHILLIPS 205 
 
 reports were heard,' said Miss Phillips, laughing, 'which 
 really sounded more like cannon-shots, but they did their 
 duty at the right moment, and the audience were com- 
 pletely taken in.' 
 
 Kate Phillips is not one of the lucky people who have 
 had a ' part written expressly ' for them, but has been a 
 receptacle for the ideas of others, and has often had the 
 difficult task of making ' dry bones live.' All honour, then, 
 to the hard-working and gifted actress who has accom- 
 plished not only this somewhat unthankful work with 
 ever-ready cheerfulness, but has shown herself to be so 
 true an artist all round, without being indebted to anyone 
 for help or favour throughout her successful career. 
 
 THE VEEY REV. B. HERBERT STORY, D.D. 
 
 LATE MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 THEKE is no pleasanter tour on a warm, sunshiny day 
 than a sail up the Clyde to the bustling, industrious city 
 of Glasgow. ' The glory and the freshness of a dream ' 
 lie over the dark blue of the water, flecked with foam, and 
 on the fair mountains that fade far away into space, as 
 the steamer churns her way merrily along. Having elected 
 this means of transit in place of the more prosaic railway 
 to visit the Eev. Dr. Story at the University, it seems not 
 amiss to tarry for a brief space at the little village of 
 Eoseneath, just opposite the Gareloch, in order to make 
 acquaintance with the place associated with him and his 
 late father for over half a century. 
 
 During the voyage a chance incident brings you into 
 conversation with a fellow-passenger. On mentioning the 
 name of ' Story ' he imparts much interesting information 
 concerning the family and the quiet, peaceful-looking 
 village, which little looks as if it had been in bygone days 
 the scene of much ecclesiastical notoriety, yet here many
 
 206 R. HERBERT STORY 
 
 of the Scottish divines fled during the times of persecu- 
 tion and of strife in the old Covenanting days. 
 
 On a sheltered stretch of shingle by Camsail Bay 
 stands the pier, and your companion volunteers his escort 
 to point out the church wherein the late Rev. Robert 
 Story ministered for forty-one years, and the manse where 
 he passed away to his rest, beloved and lamented. It 
 overlooks the Gareloch, and stands in a prettily wooded 
 lawn and garden just by the gate of the church, which 
 was twice enlarged and beautified during the twenty-seven 
 following years of the incumbency of the present Dr. 
 Story. In 1887, he too found a different sphere of useful- 
 ness, and leaving the home of his birth and the pulpit 
 which almost seemed his by inheritance, he was appointed 
 Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of 
 Glasgow by Mr. A. J. Balfour, then the Scottish Secretary. 
 
 ' When a parish minister,' says your informant, ' his 
 church was always full, and his preaching was thought 
 much of by those who do not care for noise and clap-trap. 
 His delivery was fine, but very quiet, and he had no tricks 
 of oratory or of gesture. An attached parishioner once 
 remarked, ' If he wad but pit a leetle mair annemosity in 
 til his mainner ! ' If he occasionally preached rather over 
 the heads of his ordinary congregation, it was because he 
 is a highly educated and scholarly man, and he could not 
 always adapt himself easily to the intellectual standard of 
 -at least some of those who heard him ; he is of a reserved 
 and, as some think, austere disposition, and has a grave 
 manner. In public debate he is inclined to be too 
 sarcastic so, at least, some say but,' concludes the 
 speaker, as he bids you good-bye with a kindly smile, ' at 
 any rate, he contrives to make many friends ! ' 
 
 During the former words an inward sinking of spirit 
 had seriously caused you to think of turning back and 
 leaving the late Moderator and the great seat of learning 
 unvisited, feeling that it would be impossible indeed to 
 venture on such intellectual ground, but the last clause of
 
 R. HERBERT STORY 207 
 
 the sentence saves you. Taking heart of grace, the jour- 
 ney is continued, and an hour or so later the University 
 buildings are in sight. 
 
 Situated on the summit of Gilmore Hill, on the north 
 bank of the Kelvin, overlooking the West End Park, they 
 consist of three fine courts, crowned with a lofty, massive 
 tower, chiefly of the Early English style, built by Sir 
 Gilbert Scott. The grounds are extensive and largely 
 cultivated, and the inner courts, divided from each other 
 by deep cloisters, present a gay aspect by reason of the 
 throng of students who, as the hour-bell rings, hurry out 
 of the class rooms, the juniors in the scarlet gowns which 
 give a bright bit of colour among the arches. The outer 
 court contains the houses of the Principal and twelve 
 Professors on the old foundation, amongst whom are 
 Veitch, the poet and historian of the ' Border,' Lord 
 Kelvin, Dr. Gairdner, Dr. Dickson, the learned translator 
 of Mommsen, and Edward Caird, now Master of Baliol. 
 Turning in at No. 8, you find yourself in a high, roomy 
 hall, where an old grandfather clock ticks away the 
 minutes tranquilly ; a few large photographs hang on the 
 walls, notably the Jove of the Vatican, the Apollo Belve- 
 dere, the Discobolus, and the Laocoon. 
 
 A door on the right leads into the library overlooking 
 the college ground. Over the mantelpiece hangs a water- 
 colour sketch of the Gareloch, executed by Lady Mary 
 Glyn, and etchings of St. Margaret's College at St. 
 Andrews. There is a small bust of Edward Irving a 
 gift from Mrs. Oliphant a crucifix in a little shrine, and 
 many odds and ends of all sorts. It is not altogether 
 what might be called a tidy room, with its newspapers ? 
 examination papers, pamphlets, and a stray proof here and 
 there lying about, but it has a look of comfort and of use. 
 The walls on two sides are lined with books which over- 
 flow on to chairs, tables, everywhere. It is rather a 
 mixed collection, but among them may be seen some 
 that are valuable, such as black-letter editions of ' Peter
 
 208 R. HERBERT STORY 
 
 Martyr,' and of the Homilies, a large quarto of Basker- 
 ville's ' Catullus,' and several standard works of history 
 and biography. On the top of one bookcase stand busts 
 of Socrates, Dante, and Dr. Story, and various pictures 
 and medallions are on the opposite walls. A large 
 bundle of golf sticks in the corner indicates his favourite 
 recreation. But here your inspection ceases, for the door 
 opens and the Professor enters, fresh from a theological 
 lecture, in his black Doctor's gown, with purple silk- 
 lined hood and black velvet cap, such as is worn at 
 Bologna, which Glasgow copies. 
 
 The cap removed discloses a broad, intellectual brow, 
 crowned with prematurely silvered hair ; large, thought- 
 ful, dark eyes, straight features, and a silver-white beard 
 complete the portrait. There lurks a suspicion of a 
 twinkle in those brown eyes, which seem to say that the 
 learned and so-called ' austere ' Doctor of Divinity can 
 temper his severity with mirth when occasion demands, 
 and although his commanding presence and his well- 
 known strictness in examination and discipline may be 
 likely to inspire awe among those who come under him, 
 his lectures have the reputation of being highly interesting, 
 while the Professor himself is by no -means unpopular 
 with his students. 
 
 If the art of making others at ease consist in being at 
 ease oneself, then does Dr. Story possess it to perfection. 
 In five minutes the conversation has taken a lively, not 
 to say frivolous, turn, and he laughs heartily while you 
 confess to having felt a momentary feeling of trepidation 
 at invading his retreat. 
 
 Amongst the more advanced of the Scottish divines, 
 the Rev. R. Herbert Story, D.D., occupies a prominent 
 position. A strong, broad Churchman of a type now 
 getting old-fashioned in Scotland, he has no relish for co- 
 operation with the dissent popular in some quarters, or the 
 gushing evangelicalism occasionally to be met with in the 
 older and stricter school.
 
 R. HERBERT STORY 209 
 
 ' My theological bent,' he says impressively, ' was 
 always away from Puritanism and Calvinism. My 
 father's influence and that of the clerical friends he had 
 about him was all in that direction, and I suppose that I 
 imbibed it unconsciously. When I grew old enough to 
 think for myself I could never have relapsed into 
 traditional ' orthodoxy.' Dr. Kobert Lee, whose life I 
 wrote, Principal Tulloch, Norman McLeod, Dr. McLeod 
 Campbell, and Dean Stanley all helped to influence my 
 mind in the direction of freedom of thought, dislike of 
 formulae, and of all sorts of sacerdotal pretensions.' 
 
 An only son, he was educated entirely at home during 
 the early days of boyhood under his father's careful 
 supervision. On entering his teens he was sent to the 
 Edinburgh University for some years, where he dis- 
 tinguished himself in classics, and for the ease and grace 
 of his English compositions. He took sundry prizes for 
 translations in verse from the Greek of ^schylus and 
 Homer, also in Moral Philosophy, and wrote the prize 
 poem in English literature. Then the young student, 
 who from the first had determined to follow in his 
 father's footsteps, passed on for his final session at St. 
 Andrews. He had, however, wisely decided not to settle 
 down into a groove until he had considerably enlarged his 
 mind with foreign travelling. He spent the summer 
 ' Semester ' of 1853, at Heidelberg, and subsequently made 
 a long winter tour in southern France and Italy, residing 
 for some time at Nice, Home, and Naples ; after his 
 return he received licence as a probationer, equivalent to 
 the deacon's orders of the Anglican Church, and went for 
 a year as assistant minister to St. Andrew's Church, 
 Montreal. At the end of that time he returned to 
 Scotland, being appointed by the Duke of Argyll to 
 succeed his father in the incumbency of Eoseneath, and 
 there passed twenty-seven years. 
 
 ' Not wholly uneventful years,' remarks Dr. Story. 
 ' I liked my work as parish priest, and was interested in 
 
 p
 
 210 R. HERBERT STORY 
 
 the great varieties of character often very fine in type, 
 and oftener quaint, shrewd, and humorous among my 
 rural parishioners, but my work here, I think, suits me 
 better. I ever lament my country sun and sky, and my 
 garden and trees, in the smoke and gloom of Glasgow, and 
 I always regret the impossibility of keeping a dog here- - 
 with any pleasure to the dog or myself. I have never 
 been without a terrier of the finest Skye species foi 
 thirty years. " Dizzy," " Pam," and " Toby " were their 
 patronymics. I brought the last " Toby " with me to the 
 college a very dear friend the most thoroughly gentle- 
 manlike dog I ever knew, a manner of the old Court, a 
 charming character, but,' and Dr. Story sighs as he adds, 
 ' he drooped here without his usual rabbit-hunting and 
 other exercise. I had him taken down and buried at 
 Roseneath.' 
 
 For many years Dr. Story has been a regular member 
 of the General Assembly, being returned whilst at 
 Roseneath by his presbytery out of the usual rotation, and 
 since his residence in Glasgow by the University as its 
 representative. In 1886, he was appointed Junior Clerk 
 of the Assembly, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in 
 the University, and Chaplain to the Queen. He is 
 Chaplain to the Clyde Naval Brigade of Volunteers, and 
 has twice been Grand Chaplain to the Grand Lodge of 
 Scotland. The last well-merited honour that was con- 
 ferred on Dr. Story and an honour that gave satisfaction 
 in all quarters was the Moderatorship of the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to which he was 
 appointed in May, 1894. 
 
 All this time his pen has not been idle. He has 
 contributed not a little to the theological, or perhaps one 
 should rather say the ecclesiastical, literature of the day 
 in the principal magazines and journals, such as ' The 
 Saturday Eeview ' and ' The National Review ' ; to 
 'Blackwood's,' 'Good Words 'and' The National Observer,' 
 and is understood to be the writer for many years of most
 
 R. HERBERT STORY 211 
 
 of the leading articles on Church questions in a leading 
 Scotch daily paper. For three years he edited the 
 magazine called ' The Scottish Church,' afterwards ' The 
 Scots' Magazine.' Among his principal books are his 
 biographies of his father and of Dr. Robert Lee, ' Christ 
 the Consoler,' ' Creed and Conduct,' ' Health Haunts of 
 the Riviera,' ' William Carstares ' a character and career 
 of the Revolutionary epoch &c. &c. ; while among his 
 pamphlets are ' Fast Days ' an almost extinct Scotch 
 institution ' Continuity of the Kirk,' ' The Reformed 
 Ritual,' &c., and he was the author of two of the 
 ' Scotch Sermons ' which, in 1880, created a stir among 
 the orthodox. As one of the Scottish ' Church Service 
 Society,' and convener of its Editorial Committee, he has 
 had charge of its publication of ' Euchologion : A Book of 
 Common Order,' now in its sixth edition. His last work 
 of editing, ' The Church of Scotland, Past and Present,' 
 now standard volumes, was planned by Dr. Story, and 
 executed by carefully selected writers in the various 
 departments of history. 
 
 The luncheon gong here creates a diversion, and is 
 succeeded by Mrs. Story's entrance on hospitable thoughts 
 intent. She, too, has been an author, but of lighter 
 literature than her husband's, and one of her novels, 
 entitled ' Charley Nugent,' a well-known story of military 
 life, is still to be found in a cheap edition at railway book- 
 stalls and in barrack-room libraries, where it never loses 
 its popularity. She is also an accomplished musician, 
 and has not given up the singing in which she is so 
 proficient. The dining-room is bright and cheerful. The 
 windows look out on the shrubbery and lawn between 
 the houses, the cricket, football grounds and tennis- 
 courts. On one side of this space lies the gymnasium, on 
 the other the Western Infirmary, the scene of clinical 
 instruction. Beyond the houses rising in the distance are 
 the beautiful hills of Campsee and Kilpatrick. Over the 
 fireplace hangs a fine portrait of Dr. Story's grandfather, 
 
 p 2
 
 212 R. HERBERT STORY 
 
 of the Eaeburn school, opposite a striking likeness of him- 
 self by Philip Burne- Jones. 
 
 The pleasant, sociable meal over, Dr. Story's two 
 daughters propose a stroll round the College grounds, but 
 first you desire to take a peep into the great drawing- 
 room, which will presently be crowded with guests, as it 
 is an ' At Home ' day. This fine room, over forty feet 
 long, has a fireplace at each end, and has a thoroughly 
 home-like appearance, with its well-filled dwarf book- 
 cases, valuable bits of china, old oak bureaus, ferns, 
 palms, and bright water-colour sketches, among them a> 
 painting of ' Toby,' the beloved Skye terrier now no 
 more. The grand piano, vast heap of music, and open 
 guitar case imply that a musical afternoon is in prospect. 
 The photograph case, containing groups of the Queen and 
 some of her family, together with two of her books, are 
 Royal gifts, and bear inscriptions in Her Majesty's hand- 
 writing. These were presented to Dr. Story during his 
 annual autumnal visits at Balmoral. The collections of 
 portraits on easels and in portfolios include those of the 
 Duchess of Argyll, the Duchess of Montrose, and of him- 
 self, done by Lady Emily Peel at her villa in Genoa, and 
 many others, each signed by the donor ; but the visitors' 
 book is a curiosity, and would tempt the collector of 
 autographs to commit a theft, with its numerous names 
 of note, some few, alas ! now gone over to the silent 
 majority. 
 
 Some hours later, after dinner, in the sociable home 
 circle of four, Dr. Story is prevailed upon to give some 
 details of his whilom appointment of Moderator of the 
 General Assembly. He speaks with much interest and elo- 
 quence of the various duties of the office, ecclesiastical and 
 social, and was greatly pleased with the many proofs that 
 he received of the satisfaction that his nomination gave to 
 the Church generally. The question seems to sum itself 
 up in a few words. Advancement and progress are the 
 order of the day. Not only is a thorough knowledge of
 
 R. HERBERT STORY 213 
 
 theology, ecclesiastical history and politics required for 
 such an important post, but the task of maintaining 
 principle without provoking unnecessary opposition and 
 of justifying the Church's claims to the confidence of the 
 nation, had to be achieved. Combined with these require- 
 ments, the tact, the cool head, the sound judgment, and 
 above all the knowledge of human nature that this 
 intellectual man undoubtedly possesses, carried him 
 triumphantly through the ordeal of acting as Primate of 
 the year for the Church of Scotland. 
 
 MBS. PATEICK CAMPBELL 
 
 IN the strange evolution of outward phenomena which is 
 called ' life ' it will now and then happen that a talent 
 which has hitherto lain partially dormant is by some 
 force of circumstances suddenly brought to the front, and 
 lands its fortunate possessor almost instantaneously into 
 name and fame. Perhaps no better instance could be 
 found to illustrate this theory than the young actress, 
 Mrs. Patrick Campbell, who bears her quickly won 
 honours with so much grace and modesty. One year, 
 seemingly but recent, finds her playing in amateur the- 
 atricals for amusement or in the sacred cause of charity ; 
 two seasons later and the discerning eye of the London 
 managers not to speak of universal public opinion has 
 rightly placed her in the topmost ranks of her profession 
 .as the ' leading lady ' in one of the principal theatres in 
 the metropolis. 
 
 A rapid transit of about two seconds in a lift and 
 you arrive at a bright and airy flat in Ashley Gardens, 
 facing the site of the new Catholic cathedral. A glance 
 around the pretty square drawing-room is enough to 
 satisfy you that art and comfort have been made to go 
 hand in hand in its arrangement. The carved white wood
 
 214 MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL 
 
 shelves and mantelpiece show off to advantage many 
 treasures in the way of bronzes and china ; the quaint 
 little marqueterie bureau overflows with papers and book- 
 lets ; the piano is covered with every variety of photographs, 
 and in one corner a venerable grandfather clock ticks the 
 minutes tranquilly away. As your young hostess glides 
 in, with swift and graceful movement, the thought 
 promptly arises that she is in thorough harmony with 
 her surroundings. 
 
 It is well known that Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Campbell 
 took upon themselves the graver responsibilities of life 
 at a ridiculously early age, for the child-wife was barely 
 seventeen and the boy-husband but two years her senior. 
 A picture that she hands to you represents her, a couple 
 of years later, the proud young mother of a lovely, curly- 
 headed, twelve-months '-old boy nestling on her knee. 
 Her hitherto brief stage experiences have already been 
 so ably chronicled that there would seem to be little to 
 add. Suffice it to say that in herself she originates her 
 talent for acting, no relations on either side having ever 
 been before the footlights ; but from her mother, an 
 Italian of great beauty and of pure, ancient lineage, Mrs. 
 Patrick Campbell inherits a passion for music, a love of 
 art, and a warm appreciation of everything dramatic. 
 Judging from a portrait of this lady, the young artist has 
 also inherited something more a tall, svelte, girlish 
 figure ; a pair of soft, dark-brown eyes, with a depth of 
 thought in them ; a clear, creamy complexion, and a 
 wealth of dark, curly hair. 
 
 ' My mother looks so young,' says the daughter 
 fondly ; ' we might pass for sisters.' 
 
 It was not until after the birth of her second child 
 that Mrs. Patrick Campbell's dramatic power was de- 
 veloped. Once discovered and, oddly enough, it was while 
 playing in a piece appropriately called ' Buried Talent ' 
 the rest soon followed. Her triumphs in ' The Second 
 Mrs. Tanqueray,' 'The Masqueraders,' and 'John-a-
 
 MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL 215 
 
 Dreams,' need but little comment ; while the pictur- 
 esqueness, the sympathetic charm of her acting, the 
 depth of pathos in her full, musical voice, and her entire 
 absence of self-consciousness are universally recognised. 
 
 Her method of study is as follows. Although she has 
 no difficulty in actually committing the lines to memory, 
 she generally begins by writing out her part. Then she 
 will begin early in the morning, and go on uninterruptedly 
 for five hours at a stretch ; but so great is her ambition 
 that she can scarcely refrain from working the whole day 
 long. With regard to the actual study of the character, 
 that never ceases from the day she receives her part to 
 its last performance ; indeed, it may be truly said that 
 nature is the keynote of her method. 
 
 As may be supposed, Mrs. Patrick Campbell's next 
 great ambition was to play some of the leading Shake- 
 spearian characters ; to which end she applied herself, 
 during a brief period of ' resting,' to ardent study of these 
 parts. Shortly her desire was realised, and when Mr. 
 Forbes-Bobertson assumed the onerous duties of mana- 
 gership, and opened the Lyceum (during Sir Henry 
 Irving' s absence) with ' Komeo and Juliet,' he engaged 
 her for the role of Juliet, in which she gained fresh 
 laurels. Her latest role is Melitza in ' For the Crown.' 
 
 It is pleasant to hear her speak so enthusiastically 
 of Mr. Kobertson's management, also of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Beerbohm Tree, and of all their kindness to her. These 
 are themes on which she dwells, and here she calls your 
 attention to an exquisite little silver chariot with prancing 
 steeds that Mr. Tree presented to her, smothered in 
 orchids, on the first night of ' John-a-Dreams.' She also 
 confesses to a very soft spot in her heart for Mr. Pinero, 
 to whom she is ' ever grateful.' 
 
 A most embarrassing little ' unrehearsed effect,' which 
 would have tried the strongest nerves, took place just as 
 she went on in the part of Andrea in ' The Trumpet Call ' 
 at the Adelphi her first evening performance on any
 
 216 MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL 
 
 London stage. Her skirt, which had been insecurely 
 fastened, suddenly fell to the ground ! The young actress, 
 however, was equal to the occasion. With a deft back- 
 ward movement of her arm she swept its folds around 
 her, secured them with a pin, and went on with her part, 
 receiving a perfect ovation at its conclusion. 
 
 Success has in no way turned the young player's head. 
 She dislikes crowds, shuns notoriety, and has a horror of 
 advertisement. Indeed, in the matter of the oft-recurring 
 petitions for an ' interview,' she does violence to her 
 feelings, and consents out of sheer kindness of heart, 
 rather than hurt anyone by refusing. She cannot be 
 coaxed to say much about herself, but dwells with plea- 
 sure and pride on her husband's shooting excursions in 
 South Africa, declaring that he is more interesting to 
 discuss than she. 
 
 But your host, too, who is as charming and gracious 
 in manner as his wife, is modest, and declines to be 
 ' drawn ' on his deeds of prowess, though here and there 
 Mrs. Patrick Campbell slips in a word prettily, with an 
 arch smile, and says, ' He is a keen sportsman, not popping 
 over rabbits two miles from London, bien entendu, but 
 big game, lions, &c.' And a sly thought involuntarily 
 crosses your mind that, if he left dead lions out at 
 Mashonaland, he certainly came home to find a living one 
 in his gifted wife ! 
 
 To sum up pithily the capability and originality of 
 this delightful young actress, the words of a great player 
 may be quoted : ' The quality of her acting is entirely 
 her own something which she can neither borrow nor 
 lend.' 
 
 HENRY BLACKBUEN 
 
 IT is curious to notice the instinctive connection of ideas 
 in the minds of people between a man's name and his 
 work. For instance, to casually mention Mr. Henry
 
 HENRY BLACKBURN 217 
 
 Blackburn is to immediately evoke the involuntary re- 
 joinder from someone, ' Academy Notes,' and this gave 
 rise to a little plot lately at a small and friendly gathering. 
 On your alluding to this connection of ideas to a knot of 
 acquaintances standing around it was agreed that as each 
 new guest came in someone should bring in Mr. Henry 
 Blackburn's name unintentionally, as it were. Every 
 visitor was caught in the trap, and immediately uttered 
 the words 'Academy Notes,' and when this occurred for 
 the eleventh time consecutively there was an irresistible 
 laugh, and the joke was explained. The ' little grey book ' 
 which ' caught on ' from its first introduction, and year 
 after year has found so much favour with the public, at 
 once became the subject of conversation, and high were 
 the encomiums passed on its merits, several persons men- 
 tioning that they had preserved each year's copy from the 
 date of its publication in 1875, to the present time, and 
 that one of its greatest charms was in the reminiscences 
 and associations that it recalled. A brief history of the 
 talented author of this famous ' little grey book ' shall be 
 told, and a few words given that will convey some idea of 
 the time and labour required to produce it on the opening 
 morning of the Royal Academy. 
 
 Inheriting from his father and grandfather the talent 
 for drawing, Henry Blackburn cannot remember the time 
 when he was not more or less an artist. Yet not only an 
 artist ; he is, besides, author of more than a dozen books ; 
 foreign correspondent and art critic for many London 
 reviews and journals ; lecturer on art at home and abroad ; 
 sometime editor of a magazine, and the originator of the 
 system of illustrated catalogues of exhibitions. He was 
 born at Portsea, where his father, the late Mr. Charles 
 Blackburn, Professor of Mathematics, Cambridge, held an 
 appointment in the Naval College. It is probable that he 
 inherited something more than the artistic temperament 
 from the scholarly parent, who also wrote books, albeit his 
 son declares they were ' fearful and abstruse, as mathe-
 
 2i8 HENRY BLACKBURN 
 
 matical works are wont to be.' The combination of this 
 practical element and the vein of romance in his own 
 nature have resulted in what has been the watchword of 
 Mr. Henry Blackburn's success, ' the value of a line,' than 
 which no artist has done more to substantiate. He was 
 educated at the Grammar School, Kensington, where he 
 maintains that he was by no means ' a deep student,' nor 
 did he in any way distinguish himself except in drawing. 
 His work, however, was to be done later in life. School- 
 days over, after studying for a time the mysteries of print- 
 ing and other kindred subjects, he obtained an appointment 
 in the Civil Service Commission, and subsequently became 
 private secretary to the Eight Honourable E. Horsman, 
 M.P. But the claims of art soon asserted themselves too 
 strongly to be resisted ; an opportunity arising to go to 
 Africa, in company with a party of French artists, Gerome, 
 Constant, Regnault, &c., he started forth on his travels and 
 caught a glimpse of Horace Vernet painting his last pic- 
 ture, and witnessed the great gathering at Algeria when 
 all the tribes from the interior came in to pay tribute to 
 the conqueror, Napoleon III., bringing wonderful presents 
 of gold embroideries and ivories. ' It was a time of very 
 hard work,' says Mr. Blackburn, ' but I gained a great 
 deal of useful experience, and it taught one so much about 
 atmospheric effects and shadow. I brought away about a 
 hundred sketches ; one or two of these you see on yonder 
 wall were done on horseback, and untouched afterwards.' 
 The series comprises several masterly water-colour draw- 
 ings, each done in a day, of Algeria and Morocco, an Arab 
 cemetery, some landscapes and mosques, on one of which 
 the shadow of an aloe tree is projected with striking effect. 
 But his work is not confined to Africa only ; he has made 
 many sketches in Normandy, Brittany, Switzerland, the 
 Pyrenees, &c., illustrations of which are to be found in an 
 interesting work of his entitled ' Artistic Travel.' The 
 outcome of this early visit to North Africa was a book 
 called ' Artists and Arabs/ which he pronounces to have
 
 HENRY BLACKBURN 219 
 
 ' set him going in literature.' Among other of his works 
 are ' Life in Algeria,' ' Travelling in Spain/ ' The Pyrenees,' 
 illustrated by Gustave Dore ; ' Normandy Picturesque/ 
 ' Art in the Mountains ' (the story of the Passion Play at 
 Oberammergau) ,' Hartz Mountains/ and ' Breton Folk.' 
 His latest volume is ' The Art of Illustration/ and there is 
 one of which special mention must be made, for it is 
 fraught with tenderest memories : ' Randolph Caldecott : 
 A Personal Memoir.' Mr. Blackburn was one of the first 
 to recognise the merits of this gifted illustrator and to 
 introduce him to the art world of London. A young clerk 
 in a Manchester bank at 701. a year, Mr. Caldecott had 
 sent up his drawings to various journals that had rejected 
 them. Presently some of them fell into Mr. Blackburn's 
 hands, and he, at once perceiving their merit, published 
 them, and joined with other of his friends in persuading 
 him to resign his desk and come to London, with the 
 result that in the first year of his work Mr. Caldecott made 
 1000Z. From that time a firm friendship was established 
 that only ended with the artist's untimely death in Florida, 
 and the history is touchingly told by Mr. Blackburn in 
 the ' Memoir/ His book ' Breton Folk ' is illustrated by 
 his dead friend's hand. 
 
 The scheme of ' Academy Notes ' was in the author's 
 mind a year or two before he carried it out. It sprang 
 from an idea that if one could not express in words the 
 story of a painting to those who had no opportunity of 
 seeing it, it could be done pictorially. This led him to 
 cast about to inquire into the different methods of re- 
 production. From the first the book was welcomed by 
 the public ; the second year there was a rush on it ; but 
 Mr. Blackburn found considerable difficulties at the 
 beginning. He had to draw the pictures as best he could, 
 and the artists did not like it, as they said it did not give 
 a fair idea of their work. Mr. Blackburn, however, with 
 the peculiar tact and courtesy that characterise him, soon 
 overcame their prejudices, and in the second year the
 
 220 HENRY BLACKBURN 
 
 artists volunteered to send in their own sketches, with the 
 result that everyone was satisfied. These sketches con- 
 sist simply of lines indicating the pictures, a kind of ' key- 
 block,' and this year alone the author has received several 
 hundreds. A few weeks before the Academy opens the 
 rush begins, and Mr. Blackburn and his staff have a busy 
 time of it. Everything has to be got ready beforehand, as 
 he, of course, cannot know which pictures will be accepted. 
 Then, when this is known, it leaves but little time to re- 
 produce nearly two hundred blocks, and still less to print 
 them. The compiling of ' Academy Notes,' which cannot 
 be completed until the pictures are hung, is done in one 
 day, and the letterpress written the same night. A vast 
 army of operatives is then put on, and on the opening 
 morning of the exhibition the ' little grey book,' with its 
 summary in the beginning, its classification in different 
 galleries in order all through, is not only in the hands of 
 the London public, but on every railway bookstall through- 
 out the kingdom within a few hours of its publication. 
 One of the principal results of Mr. Blackburn's labours 
 has been the founding of his studio in Victoria Street to 
 follow up the instruction received at art schools and to 
 enable the students to utilise the knowledge there ac- 
 quired. He has created an art of his own, and, having 
 studied well the various mechanical processes, he impresses 
 on his pupils ' the value of a line,' and, in short, what not 
 to do, as well as what to do, to obtain the greatest effect 
 with the fewest lines, or it may also be called ' the art of 
 leaving out.' Hundreds of pen-and-ink studies the work 
 of a variety of artists in black and white, line the walls 
 of the studios, so that the students may learn to avoid 
 mannerism and to seek for originality. Another speciality 
 of his is the starting of the system of ' Instruction by 
 Correspondence ' in drawing for the Press. He has pupils 
 in China, in India, at the Cape, in Italy, in Germany, &c., 
 who send their work and have it corrected, explained by 
 examples, and returned. Mr. Blackburn is an excellent
 
 HENRY BLACKBURN 221 
 
 speaker, and has made five trips to America to deliver 
 lectures, and freely admits that there is much to be learned 
 there as regards illustration. He remembers an amusing 
 experience on one of his travels, though the name of the 
 place shall on no account be given. An exhibition of the 
 works of English artists was to be held. On going to see 
 it Mr. Blackburn observed that one picture had been hung 
 upside down ; nevertheless, in that position it had found 
 a market. He pointed out the error, which was rectified, 
 but the buyer then repudiated his purchase, so it was 
 returned to England. At a lecture he subsequently gave 
 at the Society of Arts he mentioned the circumstance, 
 which led to the sale of the work in question. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn's flat is at the top of one of 
 the largest and highest houses in Victoria Street. The 
 walls are laden with treasures from the pen and brush 
 of many well-known artists ; among the most valued 
 mementoes are some cleverly modelled clay figures of 
 Breton peasants, which, together with a bronze bas-relief 
 of a Brittany horse fair, are the work of Eandolph Calde- 
 cott. A large oil-painting hangs in Mr. Blackburn's 
 study a life-size portrait by James Archer of Miss Black- 
 burn clad in her grandmother's white gown with a coral 
 necklace round her throat and a rose in her hand. The 
 only child of the house, she inherits gifts on each side, and 
 there are many decorative panels in natural tints and 
 of her original designs that indicate her talent for art. 
 Among many souvenirs is a quaint chess-board, painted 
 by a friend, in patterns got by snow crystals ; but perhaps 
 the most cherished relic of all is a portrait of Longfellow, 
 presented by himself to Mrs. Blackburn. ' These orange 
 leaves,' she says, ' pasted at the back, he sent me in a 
 letter from his study.'
 
 222 MRS. L. T. MEADE 
 
 MRS. L. T. MEADE 
 
 To beguile a weary wait for a train at Victoria you saunter 
 to the bookstall, where your eye lights on a small volume, 
 entitled ' Scamp and I,' by a well-known author, whom 
 you are about to visit at West Dulwich. Promptly invest- 
 ing the modest sum of sixpence in its purchase, you pre- 
 sently become so much interested in the perusal that the 
 flight of time is forgotten, and the half-hour journey seems 
 condensed into about five minutes. But for the interven- 
 tion of a friendly passenger, you might indeed have been 
 carried on to some remote station on the London, Chatham, 
 and Dover line without being aware of it, so great is the 
 fascination of the simple, pathetic tale. On alighting a 
 stiff hill has to be climbed, and on the top, just where 
 three roads meet, stands a large corner house with garden 
 back and front, and long flat bay windows on each side 
 which command an extensive view all around. This is 
 the home of Mrs. L. T. Meade, whose mission in life 
 seemed to have been accomplished in her numerous and 
 charming stories for the young, such as ' A World of 
 Girls,' ' Polly, a New-fashioned Girl,' ' Beyond the Blue 
 Mountains,' and many others which have found so much 
 favour with the public. Lately, however, she has broken 
 fresh ground, and in five novels, entitled ' The Medicine 
 Lady,' ' This Troublesome World,' ' A Soldier of Fortune,' 
 4 In an Iron Grip,' and ' The Voice of the Charmer,' she has 
 proved that she can write equally well for children of larger 
 growth. 
 
 The hall door opens on the left into a good-sized double 
 drawing-room with a white arch division. Both Mrs. 
 Meade and her husband have cultivated artistic tastes, and, 
 given these, with Morris hangings and decorations, a few 
 valuable and ancient family possessions and some remark- 
 ably fine photogravures after Burne- Jones's ' Briar Eose ' 
 series, the effect of the whole is just what might be 
 expected. A few choice water-colour sketches are inter-
 
 MRS. L. T. MEADE 223 
 
 spersed, notably one of the bold cliffs of New Quay an 
 hour before sunset. The set of Wedgwood china on the 
 mantelshelf dates over a hundred years back ; a dainty 
 miniature on ivory is evidently the author's grandmother, 
 judging by the likeness ; but two simple pictures, of a 
 beautiful boy in one of the unconsciously graceful attitudes 
 of childhood and of a couple of little fair girls called for 
 good reasons 'Hope' and 'Joy,' with great wondering 
 eyes, are more prized by their parents than any work of 
 art that they may possess. A thoroughbred, but morose- 
 dispositioned Persian cat, called ' Fluff,' curled up on the 
 rug, and a handsome fox terrier, ' Jack,' completed the 
 picture. (The two animals hate each other like poison, 
 but this must be Fluff's fault, for Jack's manners are 
 particularly cordial and sociable.) However, be their 
 characters what they may, the twain are the beloved and 
 inseparable companions of the little ones of the house. 
 
 ' I always maintain,' says Mrs. Meade, by-and-bye, in 
 the course of conversation, ' that our children have fully 
 paid their own expenses for education in the many oppor- 
 tunities they have given me for the delineation of juvenile 
 character and nature. I have received many an inspira- 
 tion while observing their sayings and doings. I am 
 naturally extremely fond of children, and several of my 
 young girl friends have, unknowingly, sat to me for verbal 
 portraits.' A peculiarly sweet and pathetic story, ' Daddy's 
 Boy,' perhaps one of the most widely read of Mrs. Meade's 
 large contribution to children's libraries, was suggested by 
 her own boy when he was of very tender age. 
 
 Mrs. Meade is by birth Irish. She comes from Bandon, 
 Co. Cork, and is one of a family of six. Her father was a 
 clergyman, and her early years were passed at a pretty 
 little vicarage in the heart of the country. Later the 
 family moved to a larger rectory in another part of Ireland, 
 where they soon found plenty to excite the imagination. 
 It was a great, old-fashioned, rambling house with secret 
 passages and mysterious staircases, whence uncanny
 
 224 MRS. L. T. MEADE 
 
 sounds issued at night. ' It was said to be haunted/ says 
 Mrs. Meade. ' Our parents concealed the fact from us, but 
 I distinctly remember the noises we heard. One night in 
 particular we were all awakened by what we supposed to 
 be burglars. Everyone rushed out into the landing ; the 
 great mastiff growled, and then we heard with terror a 
 sound as of a coach and horses being driven over the 
 paving-stones of the large courtyard. The matter was 
 thoroughly investigated, but nothing could ever be found 
 to account for it, and I shall never forget it.' 
 
 From her childhood the young girl composed stories. 
 The discipline of children was stricter in those days than 
 in these. Her parents were afraid to encourage her in the 
 habit, being unconscious of the latent talent that she 
 possessed. All means, therefore, of writing her thoughts 
 and ideas were carefully withheld, but she collected all the 
 newspapers available, and on their margins were inscribed 
 the little tales. One day the child went to her father and 
 remarked gravely, ' I have not enough money ; I should 
 like to earn some. I think of writing a book. Some day 
 I shall' Her father was much shocked, and pointed out 
 that it was a most improper proceeding for a girl to earn 
 money. Her youthful prediction was in later years 
 largely verified, for she has written not ' a ' book, but 
 about seventy. 
 
 Educated entirely at home, she was required to 
 practise the piano five hours every day. Her mother was 
 devoted to music, and hoped thus to inspire her daughter 
 with a like fondness for it, but the habit had a distinctly 
 opposite effect. Drawing, for which she had a passion, 
 and also a strongly inherited talent, was not taught. She 
 had intended to be an artist in after years as well as a 
 writer, but, finding that to follow both pursuits would be 
 an impossibility, she resigned the pencil and gave herself 
 up, unreservedly, to the pen. 
 
 The young aspirant to literature was seventeen when 
 her first work of fiction was written. It was called
 
 MRS. L. T. MEADE 225 
 
 ' Ashton Morton,' and the characters were all more or less 
 drawn from people whom she knew. Quite ignorant how 
 to set about getting it printed, she sent it through a friend 
 to the late Mr. Newby, who accepted it, and great was the 
 delight of the young people at the rectory when a modest 
 little cheque arrived, which was shared alike with each. 
 Notwithstanding this first little success, some years 
 elapsed before a second attempt was made. Finally the 
 old home was broken up, and the young writer was able 
 to gratify her strong desire to exchange a country for 
 a town life. ' I came up to London,' says Mrs. Meade 
 cheerfully, ' determined to fight my own battle and to 
 abide by the result. It was at first a great struggle. 
 Having hitherto always lived in Ireland, of course I knew 
 but few people in London. Some friends had asked me 
 to make my home with them. I crossed the Channel for 
 the first time alone, and, after a terribly rough passage 
 and a fatiguing journey, arrived at Paddington a poor, 
 dazed weary traveller, and was met by these good people 
 with the words, " Our house was burnt down last night, 
 and we are staying with friends ! " A temporary shelter 
 was hastily procured, and directly arrangements could be 
 made we joined forces and went to live in Sun Street, 
 Bishopsgate, a most inappropriate name for the street, 
 as the sun never shone there. I kept up my spirits and 
 worked hard, going every day to the British Museum to 
 study. Dr. Garnett, the superintendent, was most kind 
 in directing my attention to the right sort of literature, 
 and helped me to choose the name of my first book. It 
 wascalled " Great St. Benedict's." Its motif was suggested 
 by a doctor, and the subject was to be the way that out- 
 patients were treated at the large hospitals. When it was 
 finished I took it to a publisher, feeling that if he should 
 say " No," then indeed I should consider myself to be a 
 failure. A few days later I called again at seven in the 
 evening, with palpitating heart, though outwardly com- 
 posed. His first words were, " We will take your book ! "
 
 22 6 MRS. L. T. MEADE 
 
 I could have jumped for joy, and,' she presently adds, ' I 
 can recall it even now with pleasure.' 
 
 The ' joy ' of success proved a great incentive to work. 
 The same year the author thought of a title, and, without 
 having written a word of the story, took the name and 
 idea to the same firm. It was immediately arranged for 
 to her entire satisfaction. The work was so congenial, 
 the subject so thoroughly after her own heart ! The girl 
 went home and scarcely rested day or night till her task 
 was accomplished. The words seemed to run down her 
 pen. This book, ' Scamp and I,' was very soon brought 
 out, and was so much in demand that it ran into many 
 editions before it was eventually published in its present 
 sixpenny form, and the author's difficulties and anxiety 
 as to her future were at an end. 
 
 She has gone on year after year adding largely to the 
 literature of the day for young people. Among many 
 others, 'A Sweet Girl Graduate,' 'A World of Girls,' and 
 4 Bashful Fifteen ' are probably the most attractive. Mrs. 
 Meade has by no means confined her attention to writing 
 books. Some few years after her marriage she started 
 * Atalanta,' a magazine for girls, and this she considers 
 to have been the greatest idea and achievement of her 
 life. She edited the paper successfully for six years, and 
 thoroughly enjoyed the hard work that it gave her ; it has 
 been a great grief lately to be obliged to resign, but as the 
 pressure of other writing became heavier and the children 
 grew out of babyhood she found it impossible to be so 
 much away from home, and was unwillingly compelled to 
 give it up. 
 
 'It was harder work altogether than you can imagine,' 
 says Mrs. Meade, ' much as I liked it. I had to breakfast 
 at half-past seven to be ready for my shorthand writer at 
 eight ; from eight to nine I would dictate some three 
 thousand words. Then I attended to household duties 
 until my second secretary came, and worked till half-past 
 eleven, when I always went to town for my editorial
 
 MRS. L. T. MEADE 227 
 
 -duties, which occupied me until seven. Then home to 
 dinner, and I spent every evening correcting proofs, &c 
 This lasted many months, and I had no holidays. An 
 " eight- hours' day " would have seemed very little work to 
 me ! ' 
 
 She likewise contributed largely to many other journals, 
 to Messrs. Tillotson & Son's syndicate, and to the 
 ' Sunday Magazine,' and Mrs. Meade speaks enthusi- 
 astically of Mr. Benjamin Waugh as one of her best and 
 kindest friends. 
 
 ' At the time of the passing of the International Copy- 
 right between England and America,' says the author, ' I 
 was asked to contribute a three-volume novel to their 
 International series by Messrs. Cassell & Co. I wanted 
 my story to be exceptionally strong, and asked a friend a 
 very clever doctor to help me. I had an idea of making 
 a woman use an imperfectly discovered remedy indis- 
 creetly. This was the origin of " The Medicine Lady." 
 I was determined to punish her sufficiently for her pre- 
 sumption, but I could not have written it without the 
 medical aid which was so generously rendered. I leave 
 you to judge whether I carried out my intention,' says 
 Mrs. Meade, laughing. 
 
 The novel is certainly a thoroughly original idea, 
 cleverly worked out. It is extremely interesting through- 
 out. The denouement is strikingly artistic, whilst the 
 4 punishment ' is as severe and terrible as the whole 
 faculty could desire. 
 
 ' This Troublesome "World ' may perhaps to the general 
 novel-reader have more of actual interest. It is well con- 
 structed and strong in plot, and is full of dramatic incident. 
 The short scene between the Dean of St. Joseph's and 
 Brian is exquisite in its touch. Again the ' family friend ' 
 partly collaborated, in as far as the whole idea was dis- 
 cussed with him, and he rendered extensive help in the 
 passage exclusively connected with his own profession. 
 But a barrister might have been consulted too, judging by 
 
 vl 2
 
 228 MRS. L. T. MEADE 
 
 the masterly way in which the trial scenes are handled. 
 So anxious was the author to be absolutely accurate in all 
 technicality and detail that she spent two whole days in 
 court during a similar trial. 
 
 The same physician has helped her with a series of 
 complete stories, entitled ' Extracts from the Diary of a 
 Doctor,' which first ran through the ' Strand Magazine ' 
 and excited considerable attention. 
 
 Mrs. Meade's room where all these literary labours 
 are carried on is small, but so well arranged that every- 
 thing is at hand. The pictures are all good, from the 
 photogravure of Mr. Watts down to the eight, in one frame, 
 original drawings by G. M. E. Edwards of the author's 
 successful book, ' A World of Girls.' A portrait that she 
 greatly treasures is of Mrs. Meade's most valued friend, 
 the late Mrs. Kingsley, and is inscribed in the deceased 
 lady's own hand, ' On my 71st birthday.' She gave her 
 also the portrait and volumes of her husband's works. 
 These and Euskin's are her favourite reading. Pinned 
 against the wall are studies in water-colours of flowers and 
 of landscapes done by little Hope Meade, who has not yet 
 attained to the dignity of double figures in age. Here the 
 inheritance of talent is strongly visible in the child's clever 
 indication of tints and correct perspective. ' She is to be 
 trained as an artist,' says her mother; 'she has the real 
 gift, handed down from my great-uncle who served through 
 the Peninsular War, and who was a genius with his 
 brush.' 
 
 Mrs. Meade is frank and genial in manner. She pos- 
 sesses an indescribable magnetism that seems to inspire 
 confidence. Presently she goes up to bid good-night to 
 the little ones, and you hear something more of the gifted 
 and sympathetic woman from a young and valued friend 
 of the household. 
 
 ' Mrs. Meade,' says the girl, with much feeling, ' is so 
 full of tenderness. She cannot hear of any trouble or 
 sorrow without not only wishing but doing her utmost to
 
 MRS. L. T. MEADE 
 
 229 
 
 "be of practical help and comfort. The religion that she 
 lives and so instinctively teaches is essentially a religion 
 of brightness and of love.' 
 
 ME. AND MBS. FRED TERRY 
 
 (JULIA NEIL SON) 
 
 COMPARATIVELY brief as has yet been the career of these 
 popular young players, it has hitherto been so brilliant, 
 and promises such possibilities for the future, that a slight 
 sketch of their home life and work will interest many who, 
 only seeing them before the footlights, nevertheless love 
 to hear something of the inner surroundings and doings of 
 their favourites. Dame Nature, it must be admitted, has 
 been bountiful to them at the outset in bestowing on both 
 talent, personal attractions, and what may perhaps be 
 considered quite as useful a passionate love of their art 
 and a steady determination to work hard and to leave no 
 stone unturned to rise in their mutual profession. Dame 
 Fortune then stepped in and wisely brought them to- 
 gether, with the happy result that each stimulates and 
 encourages the other to increased exertions. 
 
 In the old-fashioned neighbourhood of Gower Street 
 there has lately been erected a handsome block of red- 
 brick flats which give a bright bit of colour to the some- 
 what sombre character of its environs. It is in these 
 buildings that Mr. and Mrs. Fred Terry have located 
 themselves, in a bright and airy suite of chambers which, 
 as may be expected, their artistic tastes have led them to 
 make at once restful to the eye and home-like. 
 
 ' I must tell you,' says the young actor, as you pause 
 to examine a quaint old brass lamp of antique design, 
 ' that we have both what may be called a positive mania 
 for attending art sales, and we found this lamp in an out- 
 of-the-way place ; and, indeed, picked up most of our
 
 230 FRED TERRY AND JULIA NEILSON 
 
 possessions in the same way.' A most noticeable ' posses- 
 sion,' however, became theirs in quite a different manner,, 
 and was a wedding gift from the Hon. John Collier of his. 
 own painting. It is a life-size and beautifully executed 
 portrait of Julia Neilson as Drusilla Ives, in long vieille 
 rose robe, which presents a fine effect of colour standing 
 out against the background of crimson curtains in bold 
 relief. 
 
 Those who remember sweet Kate Terry (Mrs. Arthur 
 Lewis), erstwhile idol of the public, in the zenith of her 
 brilliant but brief stage career, cannot fail to be struck 
 with the strong likeness this youngest brother, Fred, bears 
 to her. Indeed, the ' Terry ' face, the ' Terry ' charm and 
 grace of manner, even the ' Terry ' voice, so rich and 
 musical, are strongly recognisable in each member of this 
 gifted family. But the door opens, and the little group 
 entering completes a living picture of happy domestic life. 
 The beautiful, joyous girl, in all the pride of early mother- 
 hood, is Julia Neilson, ' Mrs. Fred,' and the fair, smiling 
 babe in her arms is her son, while a lovely little maiden 
 of about three summers clings to her dress, now hiding 
 in pretended shyness, anon peeping out playfully to 
 attract her attention. 
 
 Among many pieces in which Fred Terry and Julia 
 Neilson have acted together there is one, called ' Tragedy 
 and Comedy,' which will ever have a peculiarly tender 
 association in both their minds, for it was then that they 
 first met, he playing D'Aulnay to her Clarice. It seems, 
 on looking back, but a slight stretch of years since you 
 remember Fred Terry, when yet in his teens, scoring a. 
 success in the role of Bertie Fitzurse, with his sister, Ellen 
 Terry, in ' New Men and Old Acres,' and later in Sebastian 
 to her Viola ; yet from that time to his late part of 
 Robert Llewellyn, M.P., in Mr. Comyns Carr's play, ' A 
 Leader of Men,' at the Comedy Theatre, he has played 
 nearly a couple of score of original characters, such as 
 Gerald Arbuthnot in ' A Woman of No Importance,'
 
 FRED TERRY AND JULIA NEILSON 231 
 
 Prince Leon d'Auvergne in ' The Tempter,' Christian 
 in ' The Dancing Girl,' Philammon in ' Hypatia,' Gerald 
 Cazenove in ' The New Woman,' &c., while at revivals 
 he has had a large and varied repertoire, and has imper- 
 sonated the leading parts of Prince Alexis in ' The Eed 
 Lamp,' the Dauphin in ' King John,' the twin brothers 
 (George and Gerald Anstruther) in ' Marina,' and Eugene 
 Lambert in ' The Pompadour,' &c. Nor must his Charles 
 Surface be omitted, for his masterly and artistic rendering 
 of that character won him special commendation. 
 
 ' It really was quite by an accident,' remarks Fred 
 Terry, ' that I went on the stage at all, and the whole 
 thing seemed to be settled in about five minutes. I had 
 come over for a holiday from Genoa, where I was being 
 educated for business, and one morning I went with my 
 sister Marion to her rehearsal. " Money " was then to be 
 brought out at the old Prince of Wales 's Theatre. Mr. 
 Bancroft asked me if I intended " to cast in my lot with 
 the players? " I replied "No, I'm far too nervous." Pre- 
 sently he invited me to "walk on," at a small weekly 
 salary, by way of overcoming my " stage fright." ' ' And,' 
 he adds, after a pause, with a laugh, ' that was how I be- 
 came an actor.' 
 
 Fred Terry's modesty, however, has prevented him 
 from stating what his present biographer who has known 
 him from childhood and watched his each upward step 
 with interest is able to record viz., that from his first 
 speaking part he displayed such a strong talent for his- 
 trionic art, and so much ease of manner on the stage, 
 together with plenty of shrewd, practical common sense 
 and good judgment, that it was at once decided commerce 
 should go by the board, and the study of art should take 
 its place. A severe course of training in the provinces 
 followed, and he served his apprenticeship in several 
 tours with the late Mr. Charles Kelly, Mrs. Chippendale, 
 and other good stock companies ; later he made a trip to 
 America with Miss Fortescue before beginning in good
 
 232 FRED TERRY AND JULIA NEILSON 
 
 earnest his London career, which has been so distin- 
 guished. 
 
 Julia Neilson-Terry, too, in these few years has made 
 her name in many original parts, such as the aforesaid 
 Drusilla Ives in the ' Dancing Girl,' Hester Worsley in 
 ' A Woman of No Importance/ Lady Isobel in ' The 
 Tempter,' &c., &c. Having a strong gift for music, she 
 had at first intended to adopt the operatic stage as a 
 profession, and for that purpose she entered the Royal 
 Academy of Music as a pianiste. Presently she found 
 herself the happy possessor of a fine voice too, and, 
 changing her subject, she directed her attention to its culti- 
 vation, becoming a pupil of Signer Eandegger. Diligent 
 study, combined with her own natural gifts, soon won 
 for her the Westmoreland scholarship, the Sainton-Dolby 
 prize, and, later, the much-coveted Llewellyn Thomas 
 gold medal for declamatory singing. 
 
 ' Here is the medal,' says the young actress, ' in our 
 " silver " table, where we keep our most cherished 
 souveniis. The picture,' she adds softly and with pathos, 
 
 * you will recognise, as you knew her so well,' and she 
 places in your hands a miniature of the late Mrs. Terry, 
 so tenderly beloved, who passed into the ' great beyond 'a 
 few years ago. 
 
 Presently, over a friendly cup of tea, the subject of 
 ' first appearances ' is discussed, and Julia Neilson remarks, 
 
 * I owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Joseph Barnby. He was 
 always most kind to me, and introduced me to Mr. W. S. 
 Gilbert, who interested himself keenly on my behalf, and 
 suggested a stage career.' After a few preliminary efforts, 
 to test her powers, in amateur performances for some 
 charity, Mr. Gilbert ever so ready to advance and en- 
 courage a talented and promising debutante took up the 
 matter, and she made her ' first appearance ' as a profes- 
 sional in his play, ' Pygmalion and Galatea,' as Cynisca, 
 followed by Lady Hilda in ' Broken Hearts ' and Silene in 
 
 * The Wicked World ' at matinees. The next step was a
 
 FRED TERRY AND JULIA NEILSON 233 
 
 provincial tour with Mr. Beerbohm Tree's company in 
 ' Captain Swift/ which considerably increased her prac- 
 tical experience. On her return to London she first ful- 
 filled a long engagement at the Haymarket in ' A Man's 
 Shadow,' and this brought her to the time of the to both 
 young players ever-to-be-remembered ' Tragedy and 
 Comedy.' Now, although Julia Neilson laughingly con- 
 fesses to being ' terribly nervous, yet always trying to hide 
 it,' it must be specially recorded that there is an entire 
 absence of self-consciousness about her which is, perhaps, 
 one of the young actress's greatest charms no ' posing,' 
 or striving after effect. With all her personal attractions 
 she is just as natural and unaffected as her little daughter 
 yonder. The child is gazing up at a stuffed white pheasant 
 on the top of the mantelshelf, and asking for it. There 
 is a little story attached to this bird. One day Mr. Fred 
 Terry was invited to a shooting party. As he gets no 
 practice, and is, moreover, short-sighted, he had not ex- 
 pected to do much execution, but he was too good a shot 
 on that day. He was told that a rare white pheasant often 
 made its appearance, and its life must be tenderly respected. 
 Up rose a covey ; he fired away, and just that one pro- 
 hibited bird fell to his unlucky gun, and there it stands 
 looking plaintively at him a mute reproach ! 
 
 As Lady Chiltern in ' An Ideal Husband,' and in the 
 pieces that followed, it was universally recognised that 
 Julia Neilson made a considerable rise upward in her pro- 
 fession and exhibited a wonderful increase of dramatic 
 power and pathos. London, however, will see no more of 
 the young players for several months, as they are engaged 
 to make a long tour in America with Mr. Hare's 
 company.
 
 234 KATE RORKE 
 
 KATE EOEKE 
 
 (MBS. GARDINER) 
 
 IN a long, broad road, situated among the heights of 
 north-western London, there stands in its own gardens a 
 picturesque and unpretentious little house, built something 
 after the bungalow type, with a gravel sweep in front and 
 narrow flower-beds and trees around. The hall door 
 opens and discloses the most bewitching little fair, curly- 
 headed boy of some three years, with bright blue eyes, 
 who hospitably bids you come in, holds up a little rosebud 
 mouth for a kiss, and lisps, ' Auntie is coming.' In less 
 than a minute his words are verified, and ' Auntie,' in the 
 person of the popular actress, Miss Kate Rorke, appears. 
 
 Now it must be candidly confessed that if there be 
 one thing in creation nay, two things before which you 
 absolutely ' go down,' they are personal beauty and a rich, 
 sweet voice. Nature has been very bountiful in these 
 respects to Miss Eorke, and has likewise been lavish with 
 many another gift, irrespective of her special and delightful 
 histrionic powers. The voice may be described as a 
 contralto with some melodious high notes in it while 
 speaking. The slight, girlish figure, clear, creamy com- 
 plexion, and deep grey eyes, with a laughing light in them, 
 have an attraction all their own ; and these outward 
 charms are increased by the natural grace and sweetness 
 of manner and the pure, true heart that beats within, 
 which all conspire to make the talented young actress so 
 winning and lovable. 
 
 Two long French windows open on to the lawn, where 
 just in front stands a weeping ash, with boughs bending 
 over to the ground ; but though just now bereft of its 
 greenery, in summer it is generally converted into a 
 charming little al-fresco dining-room. Here Mr. and 
 Mrs. Gardiner are wont to eat an early breakfast, ofttimes
 
 KATE RORKE 23$ 
 
 luncheon and dinner too, surrounded by an old mulberry 
 tree and apple and pear trees which yield abundant fruit ; 
 but Miss Rorke sighs as she says that it is rumoured the 
 railway company has cast a covetous eye on the place 
 indeed, further, that it has an evil and sinister design on 
 it, in which case away will go the dear little house, trees, 
 garden, and all ; and the thought is already like a night- 
 mare to both husband and wife. 
 
 There are many interesting and treasured reminiscences 
 of her theatrical career to be seen. The great silver 
 George III. bowl on the grand piano was a wedding gift 
 from Mr. Hare, who also presented the silver-framed 
 photograph of himself as Mr. Goldfinch on the one hun- 
 dredth night of ' A Pair of Spectacles,' which, oddly 
 enough, was his own silver wedding day. The exquisite 
 gondola, lightly poised, as if in the act of moving, on a. 
 bronze and silver mount, was Sir Augustus Harris's 
 marriage gift to Mr. Gardiner ; and there is one much- 
 prized relic to which Miss Eorke calls attention a pair 
 of old paste shoe-buckles. ' They belonged,' she says,. 
 ' to Edmund Kean ; next they came into the possession 
 of Mrs. Charles Kean, who gave them to the late Mr. 
 David James, whose widow gave them to me.' The art- 
 blue paper of the drawing-room walls makes a fine back- 
 ground for many good paintings and large Japanese plates ; 
 the Indian matting border brings into relief the subdued 
 tints of a warm Persian carpet ; and the high white 
 mantel-shelf is adorned with many effective bits of oriental 
 ware ; two or three old marqueterie cabinets and bureaus, 
 some comfortable lounges, and the fair child playing on a. 
 gigantic tiger-skin complete the domestic picture. 
 
 In herself Kate Rorke originates her artistic gifts. 
 The only former members of the family who had been 
 before the footlights were her mother's cousins, Nelly 
 and Louie Moore, and her maternal grandfather, Mr. 
 Thomas Whittall, a great Shakespearian student, known 
 now only to playgoers of a past generation. Her husband
 
 236 KATE RORKE 
 
 is, of course, well known on the stage, and now her young 
 brother, aged nineteen, Edwin Eorke, is going to follow 
 suit. Her own first performance, when yet a child, was 
 as one of a group of pretty little girls who ' walked on ' in 
 ' Olivia ' with bouquets, which one or other offered to the 
 leading lady ; and she speaks of her delight when Miss 
 Ellen Terry singled her out for notice, and asked, ' Won't 
 you give me your bouquet to-night ? ' ' She was so kind 
 to me,' says the young actress with enthusiasm. ' She 
 used to take me to her dressing-room, and when she once 
 put on a little coral necklet I had, I felt more proud than 
 if the Queen had sent me a diamond collar ! ' Her next 
 performance was at the Haymarket as one of the girls in 
 ' School.' Miss Eorke's first big part came off in Albery's 
 adaptation of ' Little Miss Muffet ' at the Criterion. 
 This was the crucial test when the young girl showed of 
 what mettle she was made. ' Mr. Wyndham,' she remarks, 
 ' who is such a manager for giving a debutante a chance, 
 and such an able master, told me I looked the part, but 
 if at rehearsal I could not manage it I must not mind 
 being taken out.' Needless to say, she was not ' taken 
 out,' and there scored her first success. Since that day each 
 step has been upward. Triumph after triumph followed, 
 and she has never been out of an engagement. ' In a 
 good day and hour, be it spoken,' she quotes, laughing. 
 At a matinee of Sydney Grundy's ' Silver Shield ' it will 
 be remembered how she electrified the audience by the 
 extraordinary power that she displayed in the strongly 
 emotional part of the heroine. Dora, in 'Diplomacy,' 
 was another of her happiest creations. She accompanied 
 Mr. Hare to Balmoral when this piece was played before 
 the Queen, and confesses to have been much delighted 
 when the Empress Eugenie remarked to her : ' You have 
 a beautiful contralto voice.' 
 
 It was after the conclusion of ' The Profligate ' (at the 
 Garrick), in which she impersonated with such infinite 
 pathos and strength the leading role, that Mr. Hare asked
 
 KATE RORKE 237 
 
 her to take the original part of Mrs. Goldfinch in ' A 
 Pair of Spectacles,' but to refuse if she did not think it 
 suited her. Kate Rorke, however, had no such feeling. 
 She took it heartily and made it all her own. ' The pretty 
 comedy with a funny little exit,' she calls it. The play 
 ran for eighteen months. 
 
 An awkward little incident happened in the very early 
 days of her career, when she was but a child. She had 
 to open the play as a servant girl, and come on to make 
 some slight remark and look for something ; but the next 
 to follow made a mistake about the cue, and did not appear 
 in time. Then came a most embarrassing ' wait.' Her 
 presence of mind was equal to the moment. She impro- 
 vised suitable words, moved about, looked up the chimney 
 everywhere, ' though the minutes felt like hours,' she 
 says, laughing and carried it off, luckily, unperceived in 
 front. 
 
 Kate Eorke describes her histrionic career to have 
 been 'more than commonly happy, and the season of 
 " Diplomacy " perhaps the happiest year of all. A stage 
 life,' she explains, ' is in many respects an extraordinary 
 life. There must be hard work there may be some dis- 
 appointments, some worries, but these are to be found in 
 all lives ; but I can honestly say that in my experience I 
 have never heard a word to blush for in the green-room 
 or seen anything that I should be ashamed for a daughter 
 if I had one to see. Certainly most of the people 
 with whom I have been brought in contact have been 
 charming. Indeed, now I come to think of it,' she adds, 
 reflectively, ' I believe they have been all charming ! ' 
 
 And the beautiful young wife's words bear their own 
 significance.
 
 238 EDWARD TERRY 
 
 EDWARD TERRY 
 
 IF a man's surroundings in any way indicate his tempera- 
 ment, it needs but a glance at Mr. Edward Terry's house 
 and well-appointed grounds at Barnes to be assured of his 
 artistic tastes and of his happy, optimistic disposition. 
 Within all is bright and beautiful ; but, as the day is far too 
 fine to spend indoors, the popular and kindly comedian sug- 
 gests a stroll round the gardens, which are his special 
 delight. The long French windows open on a wide ver- 
 andah, whence, apparently, a human voice utters a cheerful 
 ' Good morning,' but it proceeds from a grey parrot a first- 
 rate mimic and a great pet with the family. Steps lead 
 down, terrace fashion, to the lawn, which is dotted with fine 
 old trees deodars, araucarias, chestnuts, and almonds in 
 blossom, and one of the largest maples in England. 
 Flowers are everywhere, and on the right is the tennis 
 ground ; extending further is a large kitchen garden and 
 various glass-houses for peaches, vines, orchids, palms, and 
 ferns. Winding paths lead to a rosery on the left, and 
 secluded, shady walks branch into the orchard, which 
 contains, among a variety of fruit trees, mulberry, quince, 
 and walnut. Quite in the foreground stands a picturesque 
 ivy-covered ruin, which looks as if it might have been 
 there for centuries, but Mr. Terry laughingly pronounces 
 it to be only a ' dummy,' and its age about fifty years. 
 The elms are of the time of Cromwell, and there is one 
 particular old tree where the doves pair every season. 
 There is a thorough absence of formality and an old- 
 world air of quiet and restfulness throughout this charm- 
 ing place that banish the very thought of the great metro- 
 polis, which lies so near. ' I love every sign and sound of 
 country life,' says the famous comedian, as he leads the 
 way to the well-kept poultry yards and stables. ' I love 
 to be awoke by the songs of birds, and never allow any to 
 be destroyed. I would rather lose my fruit and save my
 
 EDWARD TERRY 239 
 
 feathered friends. Up yonder I am laying out new fern 
 banks, and the ground will be carpeted with my favourite 
 flowers violets and primroses. No ribbon borders for 
 me ! I planted that sweetbriar hedge near to waft its 
 fragrance into the sitting rooms.' The little study is 
 reached through the long window at the back, and here 
 Mr. Terry stores his curios from many foreign countries, 
 for he has been a great traveller. The old alpenstock is 
 a reminiscence of his ascent of Mont Blanc ; the quaint 
 sundial of the Himalayas ; another, carrying out the same 
 idea, he found in North Norway ; the old carved brass 
 ball-lamp at Jeypore. 'Yes,' he says, 'I have been to 
 many parts of the world India, Australia, Ceylon, Russia, 
 Spain, Lapland, Poland almost everywhere except to 
 Monte Carlo ! ' 
 
 Edward Terry inherits his histrionic gifts from his 
 father, who, however, had left the stage before his son 
 was born. He supposes the talent ' broke out somewhere,' 
 for he had had other views of a career, and after school- 
 days soon began to act in private theatricals. His first 
 public appearance, while yet in his teens, was at Christ- 
 church, Hants, followed by tours through Guernsey, Isle 
 of Man, Belfast, Newcastle, &c. He made his debut in 
 London at the Surrey Theatre as Finnikin Fusselton in ' A 
 Cure for the Fidgets,' and the following year he appeared 
 at the Lyceum as the First Grave Digger in a revival of 
 ' Hamlet.' Then, joining the Strand company, he made 
 his first big hit as the King of Toledo in H. J. Byron's 
 burlesque, ' The Pilgrim of Love,' where his comic sing- 
 ing, dancing, mock-melancholy, and extraordinary powers 
 of facial expression kept the house in roars of laughter. 
 Among a host of early original parts he played Kalyba in 
 Burnand's burlesque of ' Sir George and a Dragon,' Poly- 
 phloisboie in ' Orion,' Lieutenant Lamb in Byron's 
 comedy of ' Old Sailors,' and Cassidy in his ' Old Soldiers.' 
 Then, in Mr. Farnie's burlesques, ' Nemesis ' and ' Jack 
 Sheppard,' Mr. Terry played respectively Calino and the
 
 240 EDWARD TERRY 
 
 Widow Sheppard, succeeded by the role of Captain Ginger 
 in Byron's popular comedy, ' Weak Woman,' which, after 
 twenty years, is still so great a favourite that, when on 
 tour, especially at Dublin, if the play be not produced, the 
 people ' write to the papers ' to complain. He next joined 
 Mr. Hollingshead's company at the Gaiety, and among a 
 variety of parts played the original roles of the King of 
 Spain in ' Little Don Caesar de Bazan,' Devilshoof in 
 ' The Bohemian Gyurl,' Mephistopheles in ' Little Doctor 
 Faust' (burlesques), and the title role of Burnand's 
 comedy ' Jeames.' In later years, and before he went 
 into management, some of his parts were Beppo in ' Fra 
 Diavolo,' Ali Baba in the ' Forty Thieves ' (where he 
 originated the saying, ' We are a merry family, we are,' 
 and imitated Chaumont so well), 'Bobbing Koy ' a real 
 travesty indeed Camaralzaman and Petit Pois in ' Blue 
 Beard,' in which he sang the famous song, ' Off to the 
 Bodega,' and executed the well-remembered dance. Mr. 
 Terry was the first to introduce the Polyglot song in 
 French, German, English, and Welsh languages, for he is 
 a great linguist. Indeed, on one occasion, when he had 
 given a performance in Wales, it was remarked in a local 
 journal that his fluency in Welsh was marvellous. Some 
 Englishman, however, contradicted this, and said there 
 was nothing ' marvellous ' in it, as it was not Welsh at 
 all, but just gibberish ; whereupon he was severely cen- 
 sured by the same journal for ' fooling ' the people, until 
 it was discovered that it was real and very good Welsh 
 after all. There was a song, too, in ' Camaralzaman ' that 
 he used to give in five different tongues, including Eus- 
 sian, and, though all the words were nonsense, he sang 
 them in the correct language of each, and in very good 
 Russian and rhyme. While waiting for the completion of 
 his own theatre Mr. Terry took the Olympic and brought 
 out the amusing play, ' The Churchwarden,' carrying it on 
 later to Terry's Theatre, where it had a good run, and was 
 followed by one hundred and twelve nights of ' The Woman-
 
 EDWARD TERRY 241 
 
 Hater.' Mr. Pinero wrote for him the comedies of ' The 
 Eocket ' and ' In Chancery,' in both of which he played 
 between five and six hundred times. Of only eight plays 
 that Mr. Terry has found it necessary to produce daring his 
 eight years of management, that most touching and ex- 
 quisite piece of Pinero 's, ' Sweet Lavender,' ranks high. 
 No less than six hundred and seventy times did he im- 
 personate, with so much power and tender pathos, the 
 hero, Dick Fennell, in London alone, besides over three 
 hundred times in the country. ' But what a Euth Eolt 
 Carlotta Addison made ! ' he remarks, adding presently, 
 in a meditative voice, ' Charming actress charming 
 woman ! The sorrows of those two characters were very 
 real to us both ! I had a letter from a clergyman during 
 the run of " Sweet Lavender," asking if I thought it right 
 to make such a hero for people to laugh at -he had not 
 seen it then but later, when he had found it to be one 
 who made people weep instead, he wrote me I was quite 
 right.' It was while this play was going on that Mr. 
 Terry was asked to read a paper at the Church Congress 
 on ' Amusements in Eelation to Christianity ' a non- 
 combative and highly successful address, which he had 
 to give again at an overflow meeting. Mr. Pinero's play, 
 ' The Times,' held the theatre for four months. There 
 was one terribly tragic situation with which Mr. Terry so 
 completely identified himself that night after night his 
 imagination ran riot in it, and he suffered the actual pangs 
 of the hero so severely that it had what he describes as 
 ' an awful effect ' on him. A late play that was brought 
 out was ' An Innocent Abroad,' which was written in 
 England but never produced ; then, taken to America, re- 
 written, and brought to him, again made ready for playing, 
 and proved a great success. Its run had to be cut short 
 to make way for ' The Blue Boar ' his latest of all in 
 London which, in its turn, came to a too early end, as 
 he had let his theatre for the season. 
 
 As may be supposed of an actor so full of quiet, refined 
 
 B
 
 242 EDWARD TERRY 
 
 mirth, he has a fund of humorous stories, and enjoys a 
 joke. It struck him as ' funny ' when one day the oldest 
 inhabitant then unknown to him stopped and said, 
 sadly, ' You are Terry, the comic actor ? ' ' Yes,' replied 
 the comedian ; ' but why ? ' ' Ah ! ' remarked the old 
 gentleman, more cheerfully, ' I buried Drinkwater 
 Meadows, and I remember him and Charlie Mathews 
 when they used to play about on the village green like a 
 couple of boys.' 
 
 An expert at the fire appliances of a theatre, Mr. Terry 
 was invited to be the judge by the Society of Arts 
 when a prize was offered for the best method of putting 
 out fires. In his own building he has inaugurated a system 
 of which when a question was asked in the House of 
 Commons the answer was in its favour. His check- 
 takers are all trained firemen eleven in number an 
 organised body gathered from the Metropolitan Fire 
 Brigade Association. Behind the scenes he has ' sprink- 
 lers ' enough to drown a stage, and a fire drill is held once 
 a fortnight. So experienced has this well-disciplined staff 
 proved that four times they have been called out to 
 extinguish fires in the neighbourhood. For fifteen years 
 Mr. Terry served on the Board of Guardians for the parish, 
 and, with the relief of the needy members of his own 
 profession ever at his heart, he founded the Strand 
 Theatrical Provident and the Actors' Benevolent Funds, 
 for both of which the Covent Garden Fund also founded 
 by a comedian gave him the idea. He is also trustee for 
 the Dramatic Sick Fund, and did his best to save the 
 Dramatic College, but found it a forlorn hope. Though 
 36,0002. were earned for it by the profession, the eleven 
 inmates only got 300Z., while it took 1,300Z. a year to 
 keep it up, and it was, through his influence, accordingly 
 closed. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Terry have an only son, who has joined 
 the stage hitherto chiefly with country companies and 
 shows fair promise of following in his distinguished
 
 EDWARD TERRY 
 
 243 
 
 father's footsteps. One daughter has lately married, and 
 one fair young maiden is at home, but the mention of the 
 family would be incomplete without the introduction of 
 ' Sentry,' a fine dog of the St. Bernard species. 
 
 A courteous gentleman, a good friend, the polished 
 and delightful actor is naturally extremely popular. His 
 managerial duties seem to sit somewhat lightly on 
 his shoulders. ' The public and the Press,' says Edward 
 Terry, ' have always treated me very kindly, and taken me 
 as a friend. I have never been concerned in a fiasco as 
 yet ; but though I love my profession well,' he adds, with 
 a smile, while a mischievous twinkle lurks in the merry 
 blue eyes, ' I think some of my happiest hours are spent 
 in pottering about among my ferns, animals, birds, and 
 flowers.' 
 
 MAEY MOORE 
 
 (MRS. JAMES ALBERT) 
 
 IN one of the broad terraces commanding a fine view of 
 Regent's Park there stands a certain white house where 
 the popular actress, Miss Mary Moore, has lately established 
 herself. The interior has a distinctive character of its 
 own ; evidences of refined and artistic tastes are at once 
 noticeable, and, without any particular display, there is a 
 sense of fitness and restfulness all round. The subdued 
 tones of a thick Persian carpet throw up the prevailing 
 scheme of pale pink and white, and set off to advantage the 
 white furniture of the Empire period and the pure white 
 Tvoodwork and delicate Goupil pictures on the walls. 
 Close by the arch (draped with tapestry hangings) that 
 divides the two rooms stands a low table on which is 
 placed a quaint old jar filled with sprays of the graceful 
 white lilac blossoms drooping over its edges ; the fragrant 
 yellow mimosa grouped here and there mingles its sweet 
 perfume, and a few choice specimens of Sevres china add 
 
 R 2
 
 244 MARY MOORE 
 
 their old-world tints to produce a harmonious whole. ' I 
 chose the house,' says Mary Moore, ' principally for the 
 sake of the fine air and the beautiful view. I dislike being 
 shut in, and it is so delightful to see the trees and grass 
 in front. It is almost like being in the country.' And, 
 indeed, it is difficult to realise that this terrace is actually 
 not a mile from the heart of busy, bustling London, 
 for as far as eye can travel, right and left, and opposite, 
 there is an expanse of fresh, green grass ; multitudes of 
 birds are singing merrily in the grand old trees of the 
 picturesque park, now breaking out into young spring 
 foliage, and all Nature seems awake and rejoicing in 
 the bright sunshine of a cloudless morning. 
 
 Altogether unlike the career of most of her sister artists 
 in the theatrical profession has been that of Mary Moore. 
 She had no histrionic inheritances, no opportunity of long 
 study on provincial tours, no moving about from one 
 theatre to another, but the whole of her art life has been 
 confined to one theatre, and under its able manager, Mr. 
 Charles Wyndham, she has so developed her natural talents 
 that she has during the last few years won for herself the 
 position of leading lady at the Criterion. Neither did she 
 come before the public in children's parts, nor even begin 
 to act at all until after her marriage ; though, as that 
 event took place at the early age of sixteen, she may fairly 
 be said to have made her start as a young girl. She had, 
 however, always been devoted to the theatre, and had 
 a great wish to go on the boards, and on marrying Mr. 
 Albery, the well-known author of ' The Two Hoses,' she 
 naturally began to take a still keener interest in all things 
 connected with the profession. She used to attend 
 regularly all the rehearsals of her husband's pieces, and 
 make herself acquainted with the ' business,' and thus the 
 longing increased to cast in her lot with the players. Mr. 
 Albery was at first opposed, and would often jokingly 
 tease her by saying he had got a part which would exactly 
 suit her, but when it came to the point he would hesitate 
 and refuse. However, a day arrived when circumstances
 
 MARY MOORE 
 
 245 
 
 further stimulated her desire ; but then came the question 
 how to get a start. Mary Moore took her courage in both 
 hands and went round to many friends Sir Augustus 
 Harris, Messrs. James and Thorne, and others who 
 were all very kind, but said they could do nothing until 
 she had had some experience. But it needs help to gain 
 experience, and this help was kindly given to her by a 
 great friend, Mrs. Bronson Howard, who coaxed her 
 brother, Mr. Wyndham, to take the would-be debutante 
 in hand. He gave her an engagement as understudy in 
 his country company, then starting on tour with ' The 
 Candidate,' with a promise of a small part within a few 
 weeks. ' But it was only his kind way,' says Mary Moore, 
 * of putting money into my pocket, for I found out that he 
 had never really meant me to play at all. He told his 
 sister I looked far too sad for the stage.' And the large, 
 melting brown eyes have, perhaps, in repose, a somewhat 
 saddened expression for she has had her share in the 
 sorrows of life but the least change of thought alters 
 this, and they flash out into a bright beam of mirth, 
 and a happy smile lights up the pale, sweet face when she 
 speaks of having ' fought with these troubles and sur- 
 mounted them, and looking forward to a cheerful old age, 
 when, having worked to educate her children, they will be 
 a help and comfort to her.' All this seems to be ridi- 
 culous just now, and to be ' looking forward ' a long way ; for 
 with slight, lithe figure, youthful face and calm, unruffled 
 brow, Mary Moore looks like a girl just out of her teens. 
 After a hearty laugh together over the cheerfully drawn 
 /picture of the future, you settle down to hear of the past 
 and the present. ' As you will imagine,' she says, ' I could 
 not entertain any such idea, kind as it was. A few weeks 
 later I duly reported myself at Liverpool, where the com- 
 pany was playing, then hastened back to town, and 
 arrived just before the performance was over at the Cri- 
 terion. Mr. Wyndham was surprised to see me, and 
 asked what I was doing there, as I ought to be in Liver-
 
 246 MARY MOORE 
 
 pool. I told him I realised his kind intention towards. 
 me, but that I was too independent to avail myself of it,, 
 even if it could have benefited me, which was impossible, 
 as a salary then would not keep me in the future, and I 
 wanted practice in the profession I had chosen. I said 
 that it depended entirely on him if I went back to Liver- 
 pool, as it was useless to do so unless he promised me 
 a part.' Seeing her determination, the kindly manager 
 consented. She returned, played Lady Oldacre in ' The 
 Candidate,' for the remainder of the run, and then came 
 back to London and renewed the role with him at the 
 Criterion Theatre. Having got her footing, Mary Moore 
 took good care not to lose it, and there she has remained 
 ever since, working hard, so that each step might lead her 
 upward. Her next part was in a farcical comedy called 
 ' The Man with Three Wives.' Quite different was the 
 succeeding role of Lady Amaranth on the revival of 
 ' Wild Oats.' Mary Moore's quiet, innocent young face 
 and manner were exactly suited to the demure, modest, 
 little Quakeress, and it was her first chance of making a, 
 big success. She won universal commendation by the 
 simplicity and good style of her acting, and this led on to 
 the part of Ada Ingot in ' David Garrick,' a character that 
 she has impersonated many hundred times both in Eng- 
 lish and in German, and one in which she never fails to 
 please. She has two valued souvenirs of her Ada Ingot ; 
 a beautiful diamond and ruby brooch, presented to her by 
 the Czar when she played it before him at St. Petersburg, 
 and a handsome album given to her by her Teutonic 
 colleagues after her performance at Berlin. Later, Mary 
 Moore acted Mrs. Mildmay in ' Still Waters Run Deep/ 
 Grace Harkaway in ' London Assurance,' Miss Hardcastle 
 in ' She Stoops to Conquer,' Jessie Keber in Henry Arthur 
 Jones's ' The Bauble Shop,' &c. &c. These good comedy 
 characters, always well thought out and well studied, 
 were excellent parts in which to gain experience for an 
 actress who combines, with so much delicacy and refine-
 
 MARY MOORE 247 
 
 ment, a bright, vivacious sparkle of humour. They 
 brought out all the force of character that lies under the 
 calm exterior, and when the time came for the production 
 of ' An Aristocratic Alliance ' her friends all agreed that 
 never had she played more charmingly nor more sympa- 
 thetically than as Lady Forres, the shy, devoted, but 
 jealous wife. The above are but a few of the roles she has 
 enacted ; probably her best of all is her creation of Lady 
 Susan Harabin in Mr. Henry Arthur Jones's delightful 
 piece ' The Case of Kebellious Susan,' in which she dis- 
 played an earnestness and devotion that raised it to the 
 dignity of fine art. Her latest performance is Adeline 
 Dennant in ' The Squire of Dames ' at the Criterion. 
 
 Among many reminiscences of her stage life, scattered 
 about here and there, are two dainty feather screens. 
 These are souvenirs of a visit paid to Sandringham, when 
 she accompanied Mr. Wyndham's company to play in 
 ' David Garrick.' Shortly after the Prince of Wales sent 
 her a hamper of game, and, selecting the finest pheasants' 
 feathers, she designed and carried out the screens as a 
 memento of the occasion. The photograph, standing on 
 a cabinet, signed ' May of Teck ' is a Eoyal gift. During 
 several visits to the Engadine Miss Moore had the honour 
 of meeting the Duchess of Teck and her daughter, then 
 unmarried, and describes them as ' always very gracious ' 
 to her. She sent a photograph in her possession to 
 Princess May, and asked her to sign it, which H.E.H. 
 not only did, but explained that she was also sending 
 another that she liked much better for Miss Moore's 
 acceptance, and this is justly a valued treasure. Another 
 is a picture by Mr. Whistler on a white wood easel, a gift 
 from the artist, accompanied by a letter saying that he 
 ' sent it as a compensation for having been so dull the 
 evening before when he met her out at dinner.' ' To 
 this,' says Miss Moore, laughing, ' there could obviously 
 be but one reply that, though I had not perceived the 
 dulness, I should be glad if he were equally so on the next
 
 248 MARY MOORE 
 
 occasion if it always produced such happy results.' There 
 is one feature of her own design in the room that is par- 
 ticularly attractive, and this is a white wood arrangement 
 for holding photographs. It extends nearly all round, and 
 here, side by side, are portraits of many friends in and 
 outside the profession. 
 
 The two chief characteristics of the charming player 
 are her ardent desire to please and her extreme modesty 
 regarding her own performances. Never resenting criti- 
 cism, when she observes in Press notices any suggestions 
 which strike her as being desirable to adopt, she will 
 frankly think them well out and act accordingly. Hence 
 her clever impersonation of Lady Susan artistic and 
 striking as it was at first gained considerable power 
 and charm. ' But I am a wretched " first-nighter," ' says 
 Mary Moore, shaking her head ruefully, ' and I owe any 
 success that I may have made to Mr. Wyndham's careful 
 and excellent system of coaching.' 
 
 CLIFFORD HARBISON 
 
 IT speaks volumes for Mr. Clifford Harrison's powers of 
 entertaining that, on a succession of Saturday afternoons 
 in midsummer, with the rival attractions of Sarasate 
 at St. James's Hall, sundry matinees at theatres, polo at 
 Hurlingham, not to speak of river parties and other 
 country amusements, he can, single-handed, keep a 
 crowded audience enthralled and spell-bound for two 
 hours. Now he brings his hearers to the verge of tears by 
 his exquisite and tender pathos ; anon peals of subdued 
 laughter ripple through Steinway Hall as, with an incom- 
 parable sense of humour and with the utmost delicacy and 
 refinement, he indicates the comic side of a situation. 
 
 Mr. Clifford Harrison's home is situated at the corner 
 of a great square, just where the garden terminates in a
 
 Mlt. CLIFFORD IIAKIUSON
 
 CLIFFORD HARRISON 249 
 
 point opposite St. Saviour's Church which makes a 
 picturesque object in the foreground with its creepers and 
 line of trees running down one side ; from the left can be 
 seen the barges floating up and down the river. Within 
 the house a recess, half-way up the stairs, forms a perfect 
 bower of palms, ferns, and flowering plants ; the long 
 French windows of the double drawing-rooms open out on 
 a broad verandah, with wicker chairs and little tables 
 under the awning, which makes a pleasant retreat on a 
 sultry evening. The polished floors are partially covered 
 with thick Persian carpets of subdued tints ; the carved 
 white woodwork overmantels hold specimens of china 
 collected from many lands ; while a big jar of deep crim- 
 son Oriental pottery, high up on a bracket, throws down 
 a bright bit of colour on the collection. The great mar- 
 queterie and several other bookcases, in every available 
 space, are loaded with books, for Mr. Harrison is a student 
 of Nature, and declares that ' if a reciter is to hold his own 
 at all he must dig deep in the field of literature, and to 
 study Browning alone requires a mining process, though 
 whenever he opens a volume of that poet he finds a fresh 
 gem.' A little glass-covered table is filled with odds and 
 ends, souvenirs from friends, and on it stands a quaint 
 model of a sedan chair of the past century beautifully 
 painted by hand. In the inner room is a Steinway 
 grand pianoforte, a treasured gift, flanked by more book- 
 cases, on one of which is a formidable line of books of 
 recitation, those of each author in a separate compart- 
 ment. Comfortable lounges, saddle-bag chairs, Eastern 
 screens, inlaid tables, and Egyptian curios complete a 
 picture of the quiet home life of one who, so thoroughly 
 imbued with artistic tastes, is under the necessity of lead- 
 ing a comparatively placid existence outside his profes- 
 sional career. A long and serious illness, which left a 
 delicacy of the chest, obliged Mr. Clifford Harrison to 
 eschew society and festive gatherings, where he was so 
 bright an ornament, and to betake himself for six months
 
 250 CLIFFORD HARRISON 
 
 of every year to the more genial climate of the South of 
 France. 
 
 The paintings on the walls are chiefly by old masters 
 Berghem, Domenichino, Zaccarelli, Canaletto, Salvator 
 Eosa, &c. but among them is an effective little water- 
 colour sketch of the impressionist school which he 
 regards with peculiar affection. It is a view of Montreux, 
 a place endeared to him by many recollections. Going 
 there when utterly broken down in health, he declares 
 that in his time of desperate illness he received such 
 devoted kindness from his friends as he can never forget, 
 while in his opinion ' there is something in the splendid 
 air of the place that is peculiarly nourishing to all forms 
 of kindness.' Altogether he will remember, with life-long 
 love and gratitude, a spot that had such beneficence of 
 healing in it, and the skill and care which brought that 
 healing home to him. 
 
 From his childhood Clifford Harrison was trained in 
 the atmosphere of art. He was born at Henley, and is 
 the third son of the late Mr. William Harrison, so renowned 
 as the manager of the English Opera Company that was 
 called by his name. It will be remembered by playgoers 
 of a quarter of a century back that he created the tenor 
 part of Wallace's ' Maritana ' and that of Thaddeus in 
 Balfe's ' Bohemian Girl.' He possessed many physical 
 advantages ; he was strikingly handsome, of dignified 
 bearing and of noble presence. He was likewise gifted 
 with strong histrionic powers, a thorough love of music, 
 and a beautiful tenor voice ; indeed, his rendering of the 
 famous song, 'When other lips,' can never be forgotten by 
 those who were privileged to hear him. On the maternal 
 side Mr. Clifford Harrison also inherits dramatic talents. 
 His grandmother, Mrs. W. Clifford, daughter of a leading 
 physician at Bath, acted with Macready and the Kembles, 
 with Edmund Kean, and with Mrs. Siddons. She was in 
 the original cast of the ' Lady of Lyons,' and distinguished 
 herself as Lady Macbeth, Meg Merrilies, &c., and was a
 
 CLIFFORD HARRISON 251 
 
 friend and contemporary of Helen Faucit (Lady Martin).. 
 His mother, too, Ellen Clifford, was on the stage a short, 
 time before she married ; and from her Mr. Harrison 
 inherits the wonderful memory and quick study that 
 enabled her when quite a girl to learn in one day the 
 whole part of Goneril in ' King Lear ' and to play it letter- 
 perfect the same night. It had happened that Mrs. Clifford, 
 whose role it was, found herself one morning taken ill 
 with acute headache, and the young Ellen went to Mac- 
 ready to explain that her mother could not possibly appear 
 that night. Macready insisted that the girl should take 
 her place, which she protested she could not do, not know- 
 ing a word of the lines. The great actor, however, coaxed 
 and entreated her, with the result that, beginning at 
 two o'clock, she learned the whole in a few hours and 
 acquitted herself to perfection. 
 
 What more natural than that Clifford Harrison should 
 have determined early in life to go on the stage ? During 
 schooldays he had visions of being a poet, an actor, a 
 dramatist, a painter, and an author ! In a measure all 
 these ideas have been more or less realised ; for he wrote 
 a play and introduced two songs, which Balfe set to music ; 
 he has written books, one a volume of poems, which i& 
 still paying ; another in prose called ' Stray Records,' 
 bright, interesting, and full of literary merit ; while a third 
 work, entitled ' Lines in Pleasant Places,' is now in the 
 press, and will shortly be issued by Kegan Paul, Trench, 
 & Co. ; and it consists of thirty-six rondeaux, each accom- 
 panied by a full-page illustration, reproduced from pen- 
 and-ink sketches by himself. Thus it will be seen that 
 his early ambition has been gratified. Shortly after the 
 death of the Prince Consort the decline of the once popular 
 English Opera Company set in. This effected the ruin of 
 its manager who, from being a very rich man, suddenly 
 became poor and on his death young Clifford Harrison 
 began his short career as an actor. 
 
 He made his first appearance at the age of seventeen
 
 252 CLIFFORD HARRISON 
 
 on the boards, at the Theatre Eoyal, Manchester, and 
 followed it up by a six months' engagement at Sheffield, 
 studying and playing no less than ten or twelve parts 
 every week in comedy, tragedy, melodrama, and farce. 
 He was in the very last of the old stock companies that 
 are now things of the past ; he relates an amusing incident 
 of his enthusiasm as Catesby in ' Guy Fawkes,' when he 
 was so anxious to be shot that he fell down headlong just 
 half a second before the volley was fired, which caused 
 roars of merriment among the audience. It was while at 
 Sheffield that he gave his first public recitation, at the 
 benefit of the leading lady, and chose ' Locksley Hall,' 
 in which he laughingly declares that his youthful audacity 
 and inexperience in selecting such a poem ' between the 
 excitement of melodrama and the laughter of a farce were 
 rewarded, to his surprise, by a recall.' Then for a short 
 time Mr. Clifford Harrison left the stage and went to 
 Cambridge, but the claims of art asserted themselves too 
 strongly to be resisted, and he relinquished college life and 
 returned to the theatre. For a season he played in Byron's 
 comedies with the author, and his last engagement was 
 with Mrs. John Wood at the St. James's Theatre. A 
 chance incident discovered his real vocation. In 1877, 
 Mr. Clifford Harrison gave a recital at St. George's Hall, 
 and at once ' struck oil.' No such scholarly, artistic, and, 
 it may be said, original recitation had yet been given. In 
 a few weeks he had more engagements offered than he 
 could accept, and in a short time he rose to the post which 
 he has long held as the foremost of English reciters. 
 During his first year as a popular entertainer he gave four 
 recitals, the following year twenty-four, and so on, con- 
 tinuously, until 1888, when he was compelled by illness 
 to go abroad. Of late years he has appeared only in 
 summer months at the Steinway Hall, and is forbidden 
 by his medical advisers to accept many private and nearly 
 .all public engagements, including flattering offers from 
 America and Australia. In fact, he says his ' private life
 
 CLIFFORD HARRISON 
 
 2 53 
 
 is now that of a hermit, and he has been obliged to cut 
 the Gordian knot by going nowhere.' 
 
 It was soon after his father's death that Mr. Clifford 
 Harrison was brought in contact with the late Rev. Charles 
 Kingsley, rector of Eversley, with whom his brother, 
 the Eev. William Harrison, was then curate. The young 
 actor was in the habit of spending all his spare hours with 
 his brother and their widowed mother at that pleasant 
 country retreat, and became a frequent guest at the rectory. 
 The atmosphere that surrounded Kingsley, at once so 
 intellectual and inspiriting, exercised a powerful influence 
 over the young receptive mind, attuned to noble and ele- 
 vated desires, and that influence has been ever-abiding. 
 Under Mrs. Kingsley's hospitable roof he enjoyed the ad- 
 vantage of meeting many distinguished visitors, among 
 whom were Froude, Wilberforce, Professor Seeley, and 
 Dr. Benson. In subsequent years the tie between the 
 families was cemented by the marriage of Miss Kingsley 
 the talented Lucas Malet to the Eev. William Harrison, 
 now rector of Clovelly. One of Clifford Harrison's best 
 and most popular recitations is 'A Eeminiscence of 
 Charles Kingsley,' while in later days his friendship with 
 Browning, Euskin, George Eliot, Adelaide Anne Procter, 
 &c., further enriched the gifted reciter's large and varied 
 repertory. When the pleasant home at Eversley was 
 broken up he came to London, where his mother shared 
 his home until her lamented death some years after an 
 event that left a blank in the life of her devoted son over 
 which a veil must be drawn. 
 
 Though Mr. Clifford Harrison's art is so true as to 
 seem spontaneous, and thrown off at a minute's notice, 
 as it were, it involves long and continued practice. He 
 spends half the day in rehearsals at his piano, and studies 
 a new piece for months ; his musical compositions are all 
 his own, but none are written down. One of the most 
 appreciative of his admirers is H.E.H. the Princess of 
 Wales. He has had the honour of reciting on many occa-
 
 .254 CLIFFORD HARRISON 
 
 ..sions at Sandringham, where he was received with much 
 kindness and cordiality, though in his modesty he never 
 advertises the names of his illustrious patrons on the 
 playbills. To see the long, slender fingers glide over the 
 piano and to hear the delicious and soul-thrilling chords 
 which fit in with his story is an intellectual treat. Among 
 many pieces, which to hear once is to remember for ever, 
 the delightful and pathetic compositions, ' The Bel's of 
 Is' (by himself), Ruskin's 'In the Clouds,' Marie 
 Corelli's ' Story of the Priest of Philomen ' a powerful 
 bit of writing magnificently interpreted by Clifford 
 Harrison Browning's ' Saul,' Edwin Arnold's ' Great 
 Renunciation,' A Tocata of Galluppi's, Rossetti's ' King's 
 Tragedy,' Walt Whitman's ' Passage to India,' enter the 
 mind at random as displaying the poetic and devotional 
 element in his character. But there is one peculiar effect 
 alike instructive and ennobling produced by this true 
 artist, an effect which is universally acknowledged ; and 
 this is that he introduces his hearers, so to speak, to 
 literature in such a way that when they go home each is 
 fired with a desire to turn up the passages and to search 
 deeper, for him or herself, in perhaps hitherto imperfectly 
 explored books. And after every visit to Steinway Hall 
 one has the sensation of being led upward and onward. 
 
 MISS LE THIEEE. 
 
 WHILE climbing up to the second floor of a little house 
 not far from Brook Street a fearful sound of hammer- 
 ing is heard. Can it be possible that you have mistaken 
 the number, and are unwittingly on the way to an under- 
 taker's ? But no ; the door opens, and, with one last hard 
 hit on the parcel before her, Miss Le Thiere rises and 
 greets you smilingly. She has been preparing some wood 
 for carving, whereat she is an adept, and sundry specimens
 
 MISS LE THIERE 255 
 
 adorn the walls of her modest little rooms, notably a broad 
 frame made out of a single block of wood with grapes and 
 vine leaves beautifully chiselled. Tiny growing plants 
 are hanging here and there ; at the south side several 
 little paroquets are chirping in a small aviary, and two 
 pugs, ' Cadawallah ' and ' Baby,' nestle close to her, and 
 are her cherished companions. ' My poor friends, wood- 
 carving and lacework, make up my life,' says the actress 
 in the clear, resonant tones so well known to the public ; 
 * but I have a big scheme in the future of which more 
 anon.' But a question naturally arises about the his- 
 trionic art life in which she is so distinguished, and to 
 answer it she goes back for a while into an interesting past. 
 Eoma Guillon Le Thiere is the daughter of the late 
 Guyon Le Thiere, formerly in the Imperial Guard at 
 Waterloo, afterwards a civil engineer. Her grandfather, 
 Captain Augustus Bizet who was shot in the retreat 
 from Moscow was Member of the Paris Institute and 
 Director of the French Academy at Eome, in which 
 glorious city she was born. His widow one of the Harve 
 D'Egvilles re-married, and was the celebrated Madame 
 Michau of Brighton, ballet ' master,' teacher of dancing, 
 and mistress of the ceremonies to Kings George IV. and 
 William. Eoma Le Thiere was brought up by her 
 mother from whom she inherits her artistic talents in 
 strict Evangelican doctrines. On the death of her father, 
 pecuniary circumstances made it necessary that the 
 young girl should do something to provide for herself and 
 her beloved mother. Her first step was to write to a 
 valued friend, Mr. George Augustus Sala, and ask his 
 advice. He replied, 'Go on the stage,' to which she 
 answered, ' Have you lost your wits ? I know nothing 
 about it.' The journalist knew better. ' Go on the stage,' 
 he reiterated ; ' if I know you aright, you will make your 
 way.' Accordingly Miss Le Thiere determined to try. ' It 
 was the funniest thing,' she remarks brightly, ' and quite 
 like a little poem. I was a perfect "novice, had no idea
 
 256 MISS LE THIERE 
 
 how to set about it, and, being extremely ignorant, I 
 flew at high game. Off I went to Drury Lane, sent in 
 my card, and requested to see the manager, Mr. F. B. 
 Chatterton. He was engaged, and I made that little 
 pilgrimage ten or eleven times. At last I was told to 
 walk into the greenroom and he would see me. After 
 keeping me waiting for a long time he bustled in, stared 
 hard at me, and asked what I had done. I said it wasn't 
 much. Evidently in despair at the calm young woman 
 who would not be"ruffled, he asked testily, " To whom on 
 earth do you belong ? " It quickly flashed through my 
 mind that he was not likely to know a single creature 
 belonging to me. After a pause I said, "I am a grand- 
 daughter of old Madame Michau of Brighton ! " The 
 stern look melted, the little man beamed ; he came up 
 and wrung my hands warmly. I was amazed, and could 
 not imagine what had caused the change, but I was still 
 more bewildered when he said, " from this day you belong 
 to my company ! " I gasped out " But why? " " Why, 
 indeed ! " he remarked with emotion ; " for a very good 
 reason. When my father and uncle were struggling 
 young artists they managed to go down to Brighton, and 
 were introduced to your grandmother, and she contrived 
 that they should play before the King, and they subse- 
 quently became his harpists ! " So you see,' adds Miss 
 Le Thiere reverently, 'the bread cast upon the waters came 
 back after many days. He was from that time the best 
 friend I ever had, and to him I owe the inestimable 
 advantage of having been the pupil of Samuel Phelps. 
 In justice to a man against whom much was said let 
 this fact be recorded.' Among many parts, the actress will 
 be well remembered in earlier days as Emilia in ' Othello,' in 
 ' Hunted Down ' at the St. James's, in ' Life for Life ' at 
 the Lyceum, in ' Ours ' at the Prince of Wales's, Helen 
 McGregor in ' Bob Boy,' &c. In later days she created the 
 role of the tender but stately Marquise de Bio Zarer to 
 perfection. She was engaged by Wilkie Collins to play
 
 MISS LE THIERE 257 
 
 Janet Koy in ' The New Magdalen,' at the Standard, 
 with Miss Ada Cavendish in the title role, and remem- 
 bers a funny anecdote connected with that piece. Miss 
 Le Thiere remarked to her, ' They won't understand 
 Janet Eoy down there,' to which Miss Cavendish replied, 
 ' You are mistaken,' and so it proved. At its conclusion 
 on the first night ' Magdalen ' was called and came off 
 laughing. ' What do you think I have just heard ? ' she 
 said to ' Janet.' ' One gentleman in the gallery shouted to 
 another on the opposite side, " Let's have the h'old woman 
 out ! " to which the other indignantly retorted, " She 
 h'aint a h'old 'ooman, you pig, she's a lady ! " Amidst 
 roars of laughter ' Janet ' took her call, was applauded to 
 the echo, and speedily became a great favourite. On the 
 last night of the piece Sothern was to take a part in the 
 second play, and while talking to him at the wings Miss 
 Le Thiere took off her cap and wig, quite forgetting the 
 ' h'old woman ' would be called. When the call came there 
 was no time to readjust them, so she simply walked on 
 with them in her hand ; for a moment the audience hardly 
 recognised her, but presently ringing cheers broke out. 
 ' I thought they would never let me go,' she adds merrily. 
 In ' The Cabinet Minister,' under Mrs. John Wood's 
 management, she played the tyrannical old lady so realisti- 
 cally as to cause two people, who were discussing her, to> 
 suggest that she must be ' the most horrible and wicked 
 old woman ever seen,' but this was too much for a girl 
 friend of Miss Le Thiere 's who sat near and interrupted 
 the speakers with a piteous, ' Oh ! no, please don't think 
 Grannie ' (as her intimates fondly call her) ' is a bit what 
 you say dear old thing ! ' Lady Ashton in ' Ravenswood ' 
 at the Lyceum was another of her characters. ' Bat the 
 hardest and queerest little bit with which I ever had to 
 deal,' she remarks, ' was the Queen in " Henry VIII." 
 There is nothing I have not played, from the Queen in 
 " Hamlet " down to a rollicking Irishwoman at the Adelphi. 
 I have never hesitated to take anything offered to me ; 
 
 s
 
 258 MISS LE THIERE 
 
 one of the roles I enjoyed most was a dual part with 
 Rose Leclercq in " A Woman of No Importance." It was 
 delightful to play with her.' The last pieces in which 
 the actress has been seen are ' A Leader of Men,' and 
 ' John a-Dreams,' with Mr. Beerbohm Tree, at the 
 Haymarket. 
 
 The lacework of which Miss Le Thiere speaks as 
 being a favourite pastime is truly a wonderful production. 
 Judging by the enormous bundles lying here and there, 
 there must be some miles of this fabric, made after old 
 designs in early English, French, and Italian. But there 
 are other bundles also of her own work knitted woollen 
 garments of every sort, which chiefly find their way to 
 her ' poor friends,' for the actress has a large district in 
 the City, and delights in carrying help and comfort 
 thither to the sick and the afflicted. Although a strict 
 Churchwoman, she makes no distinctions, and the warm, 
 tender heart is open to all alike ; but her aid is given in a 
 methodical and practical manner. She wins the confidence 
 and affection of these humble friends, and speaks with 
 joy of their many proofs of appreciation, such as in the 
 case of habitual drunkards, when several took the pledge 
 on her birthday ' because it was the only present we 
 could give you, miss.' 'And they kept it, too,' says Miss 
 Le Thiere impressively, while the good, earnest face 
 beams with interest. ' My visits to my district have 
 often comforted me in my own troubles, but I never let 
 my skeletons dance in public. I keep them to perform 
 their little fandangos in strict privacy at home,' she adds, 
 laughing. 
 
 Though only in the prime of life, Miss Le Thiere 
 meditates retiring from the stage in a year or two in 
 order to devote herself to the great scheme she has in 
 contemplation, which will, however, only bind her more 
 closely to its interests. With a strong talent for organisa- 
 tion and a keen eye for practical business details, she is 
 about to start a new school for the training of debutantes.
 
 MISS LE THIERE 259 
 
 She has been occupied for two years in the search for 
 suitable premises, but has at last succeeded in her quest. 
 The schoolroom is being built in the form of a large 
 stage. There are no less than six baths in the house, and 
 the whole place is so planned that there shall be plenty of 
 fresh air and light, while the sanitary arrangements are 
 of the most perfect modern type. She intends to have 
 French attendants, for the sake of the language, and the 
 pupils will have the advantage of not one master, but 
 several. For instance, one week old comedies will go on 
 under distinguished teaching ; another week Shakespearian 
 plays ; and so on. Each department will be provided 
 with the best instructors ; dancing, drilling, prosody will 
 be taught, and all the different versifications and rhythms. 
 In short, it is to be in London what the Conservatoire for 
 girls is in Paris, and what they teach there will be taught 
 here. Herself brought up after the sensible manner of 
 French families, where the girls are educated in thrifty 
 habits, and are early made conversant with every domestic 
 occupation, each detail of this admirable establishment 
 will be Miss Le Thiere's special care, and will doubtless 
 prove to be of incalculable benefit to the rising generation 
 of young players. Their moral and intellectual training 
 certainly could not be in better hands than those of the 
 noble-hearted and accomplished actress, who, alike in her 
 public and private life, has manifested by her work and 
 her example what a woman with a pure, womanly nature 
 can do for the good of her fellow-creatures. ' All I desire/ 
 she says, in a low voice of pathos, as she bids you good- 
 bye, ' is that when I am gone people will remember me 
 with a kindly " God bless her ! She has done what she 
 could." ' 
 
 s 2
 
 260 W. H. PREECE 
 
 W. H. PREECE, C.B., F.E.8. 
 
 ALTHOUGH only seven miles away from the busy hum 
 of the Great Metropolis, the high ground on which stands 
 the house of the eminent electrician, Mr. W. H. Preece, 
 might be in the heart of the country from its quietness 
 and picturesque surroundings. Situated on the very 
 corner of the great common at Wimbledon, it commands 
 an extensive view of the neighbouring country, with the 
 woods of Coombe Park in the extreme distance. 
 
 The fresh, pure air comes unsullied over the vast open 
 ground ; the trees are in full foliage, and the whole place 
 is bathed in the bright sunshine of a clear summer after- 
 noon. Glints of light fall on an old-fashioned, pointed- 
 roofed house, of Gothic build, which, covered with creepers 
 and facing west, stands back in its own grounds from the 
 road. 
 
 Originally constructed in the last century, it has been 
 constantly added to and improved by its present owner, 
 who holds the opinion that ' the more beautiful you make 
 the home the more you keep the family together.' In 
 the present instance nothing could have been worked out 
 more satisfactorily. The lines of beauty have been well 
 preserved, while every detail of modern comfort, combined 
 with thorough appreciation of art, are to be observed on 
 all sides. A range of buildings without, on the right, com- 
 prise the neatly tiled sloping roof and teak sheds where 
 the electric light is manufactured. This is done by gas 
 instead of steam, and Mr. Preece rightly maintains that 
 he ' is the best friend of the gas companies.' The engine, 
 which is in the first room with the dynamo, works two or 
 three times a week to charge the accumulators, -which 
 stored all round an inner room are ready to be drawn 
 upon as required. 
 
 Beyond the stables and cowhouse, where a lovely soft- 
 eyed Alderney cow a great pet with the family chews
 
 W. H. PREECE 261 
 
 the cud of contentment, is a long hot-house filled with 
 ferns and palms ; a path leads round to a spacious lawn of 
 undulating ground shaded by great overhanging trees of 
 ancient growth, old medlars, pink and white thorn, apple 
 trees, and well-grown araucarias ; but the great feature of 
 this delightfully old-world spot is the Deciduous Cypress, 
 known to be the tallest in England. The garden was 
 formerly the orchard and musk-garden of Queen Henrietta 
 Maria. It was chiefly the picturesque undulation of 
 ground that decided Mr. Preece to take the house some 
 twenty years ago, the winding paths, rockery, and shady 
 nooks adapting it alike for a merry afternoon party as for 
 luxuriously idling away a hot summer afternoon in 
 solitude. 
 
 The back of the house is somewhat of a surprise, and 
 gives an idea of extensive space, with its photographic 
 studio stretching away on one side and the many sexagonal 
 flat bow windows, lattice-paned, above the arched, 
 covered-in verandah a favourite place for afternoon tea. 
 But if the back of this charming retreat be a surprise, the 
 interior is at once a surprise and a delight. The inner 
 hall, decorated with curios from Australia and South 
 Africa, and one long hanging Persian tile dating from the 
 thirteenth century, opens into all the living rooms, which 
 branch out right and left, the further being a little ante- 
 room with Persian tiles, carpet and hangings and a cosy 
 corner. A few words must be said of the drawing-room, 
 for it is perfectly unique, and has the additional merit of 
 being entirely original in design. An oblong room of pale 
 tint, which displays to the best advantage the collection 
 of blue Persian china on the walls ; two white arches, one 
 leading into the broad flat bay window (looking sideways 
 into the greenhouse), with comfortable lounge below, the 
 other, at right angles, indicate an extension or sort of 
 inner room. In the recesses are imitation doors, made of 
 teak wood, in geometrical designs, with stars and borders 
 of fretwork backed in mirror. Ispahan embroidery, por-
 
 262 W. H. PREECE 
 
 fibres of gold embroidery on velvet, prayer carpets, choice 
 cabinets, carved Persian chairs and a profusion of flowers ; 
 but, with all this wealth of artistic beauty, the room has 
 a thoroughly home-like and domestic appearance. The 
 sunshine throws dancing beams around, lighting up the 
 great arm-chair, where, with her knitting, sits a sweet- 
 faced elderly lady Mr. Preece's sister whilst his three 
 young daughters flit about with tea and muffins, and are 
 eagerly watched by a handsome Dachshund (Max) and an 
 odd nondescript sort of dog, who looks as if he had been 
 meant for a poodle but has somehow developed into a 
 miniature Newfoundland. In spite, however, of his ob- 
 scure and doubtful origin, he has his good points of 
 character at least and these are displayed in his amiable 
 nature and fidelity. 
 
 The group here assembled is completed by the third 
 son of the house and the distinguished electrician himself, 
 just returned from a committee meeting from some remote 
 part of town. Here for a brief space he throws off the 
 cares of business, and a lively chat follows. Presently, 
 leaving the bright, happy, young people deep inthe dis- 
 cussion of some projected amateur theatricals, Mr. Preece 
 takes you to his study, where, notwithstanding the piles 
 of papers, reports, plans, manuscripts, &c. it is true that 
 some are placed on the floor, but all are neatly heaped up, 
 and it may be called a tidy litter it is easy to see that he 
 is. a man of extreme method. An enormous bureau stands 
 before the octagonal flat bay-window which has recently 
 been thrown out with multitudes of drawers, and his 
 writing chair of Savonarola work brought from Florence. 
 Bookcases, of course, on all sides, well crammed ; the 
 lowest shelf of one looks as if it contains gigantic volumes, 
 but each is in reality a box, alphabetically labelled, con- 
 taining notes, memoranda, and slips concerning various 
 scientific matters, upon which he can at once lay his hand 
 if required. The arrangement for electric light is, as may 
 be expected, perfect. Softly shaded, the large centre lamp
 
 W. H. PREECE 263 
 
 diffuses its light over the room upwards, and, being re- 
 flected from the ceiling, there is none of the glare which 
 is sometimes experienced. 
 
 Carnarvon claims the honour of being his birthplace, 
 and King's College, London, may be proud of turning out 
 the brilliant scientist. At school he made his mark as 
 much in athletic sports as in an aptitude for study. He 
 was captain of the eleven and foremost in all games. He 
 had originally intended to enter the army, but his father's 
 death caused a change of plans ; other fields of work 
 opened out, and he entered Mr. Edwin Clark's office as a 
 civil engineer. 
 
 The young student soon began to show of what mettle 
 he was made. His original scientific bent was fostered 
 and largely developed by his attendance, early in life, at 
 the Royal Institute Lectures, those of Professor Faraday 
 especially interesting him. Possessing unusual ability, 
 indomitable industry, a thirst for knowledge, and a clear, 
 logical mind, he took the keenest delight in the stiff 
 scientific subjects that he heard discussed. Before he 
 became of age he was appointed to the charge of the 
 Electric and International Telegraph Company, and 
 shortly afterwards became superintendent of the Southern 
 District, and of the London and South-Western Eailway 
 Company, also engineer of the Channel Islands Telegraph 
 Company. The electric telegraph companies were then 
 private property, but in 1870, when they were transferred 
 to the State, Mr. Preece's services were taken over by 
 Government. Steadily working his way upward, he was 
 appointed Engineer-in-Chief and Electrician to the 
 General Post Office in 1892. 
 
 He was made a Fellow of the Eoyal Society in 1881. 
 His latest and well-merited honour was the dignity of 
 Companion of the Bath conferred upon him by the Queen 
 in an autograph letter from Mr. Gladstone, written on 
 the venerable statesman's eighty-fourth birthday. It is 
 interesting to note that on the day after the notice
 
 264 w - H - 
 
 appeared in the Gazette Mr. Preece received telegrams 
 of congratulation from New York, Adelaide, Sydney, Cal- 
 cutta, and Ispahan, among many hundreds of letters and 
 wires from Great Britain and the Continent, a testimony 
 to his popularity which has gratified him not a little. 
 From between this large collection a curious post-card drops 
 out bearing the superscription, ' To the clearest-headed 
 Electrician in the General Post Office Buildings.' Post 
 mark, ' New York.' 
 
 His remarkable gifts as a lecturer on science have 
 brought him prominently before the public, and it is safe 
 to predict a big crowd in the halls of the Society of Arts 
 or of the Koyal Institution when it is known that he is 
 to discourse on some of the marvellous inventions of the 
 electric world of the day. Gifted with a profound sense 
 of humour, he has always some appropriate anecdote or 
 amusing incident to relate ; but while it detracts in no 
 way from the dignity of the abstruse subjects on which 
 he speaks, it adds an interest and brightness to his words ; 
 indeed, it is on record that on one occasion, when he was 
 asked to deliver a lecture at some learned Society, there 
 were one or two who objected on the ground that 'he 
 was so frivolous ! ' Besides being a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, he is a member of more intellectual bodies than 
 one could count such as the Physical, the Meteorological, 
 the Royal Institution, the British Association, and the 
 Society of Arts. He is likewise a Fellow and a Member 
 of the Council of King's College. 
 
 But it is perhaps at the General Post Office, where 
 he is chief over about four thousand persons, that the 
 lovableness and geniality of his nature stand out pre- 
 eminently. Blest with a great talent for organisation 
 and a thorough worker himself, he has the gift of getting 
 the best work out of his subordinates, and, with the remark- 
 able influence held by a master-mind over his fellow-men, 
 while his discipline is strict he never requires to be severe, 
 and it is well known that his employes would do any
 
 W. H. PREECE 265 
 
 mortal thing for him, so strong is their belief in his 
 absolute justice and capability. With the simplicity and 
 modesty that are almost invariably allied to genius, he 
 decided, since his employment in Government service, 
 never to take out patents for his inventions, and he would 
 always rather give the credit of these to his assistants 
 than keep it himself. 
 
 Mr. Preece is indeed a hard worker ; he certainly may 
 be said to 'burn the candle at both ends,' and, if report 
 be true, he not unfrequently breaks the pieces in order to 
 have more ends to burn ; for instance, after a long day at 
 the office or a journey of several hundred miles, he arrives 
 home late, and his scientific work of notes and writing will 
 be done principally at night ; then he will ' turn in ' and 
 get a brief period of repose ; anon he awakes and does three 
 hours' work in bed. This he declares gives him ' a fine pull 
 over his neighbours, and he can always drop off to sleep 
 again.' Doubtless his extremely methodical habits enable 
 him to get through so much work. It is a difficult thing 
 to catch him at home, and an appointment on aught but 
 serious business generally necessitates a three months' 
 notice, during which period a series of forty or fifty letters 
 will generally ensue ; for, just as you think that you 
 have fixed him to a date, you find that he has been 
 summoned off in hot haste to Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, 
 on some important committee. Anon, within twenty-four 
 hours of a hoped-for appointment, he has fled to Man- 
 chester, Birmingham where not? As for the list of 
 papers that he has written, they are calculated to make 
 the non-professional head spin. Among several hundreds 
 of these may just be mentioned one, ' On the Co-Efficient 
 of Self-Induction in Telegraph Wires ; ' another, ' On the 
 Form of Submarine Cables for Long-distance Telephony ; ' 
 a third, which sounds as if it might have a vein of fun 
 running through it, is called ' A Peculiar Behaviour of 
 Glow-lamps ; ' whilst a fourth interprets ' Delany's System 
 of Synchronous Multiplex Telegraphy.' His inventions
 
 266 W. H. PREECE 
 
 have been not a few. For instance, his new method of 
 duplex telegraphy, of working miniature signals by 
 electricity to assimilate electric signals with out-door 
 signals on railways ; locking signals on railways by 
 means of electricity; his new telephone, &c., &c. His 
 latest lecture at the Society of Arts was on the trans- 
 mission of electric messages without the medium of 
 wires, and for over ten years he has been engrossed by 
 the, to him, fascinating study of signalling through space. 
 Not only has this marvel been actually accomplished, but 
 he has now obtained certain effects which have convinced 
 him, as he in that lecture conveyed, 'that the radiant 
 waves of electricity sent off from a wire running along 
 the cliffs are reflected back as soon as they strike the 
 surface of the water, just as in the case of light falling 
 within the angle of total reflection.' Such signals were 
 sent over five miles, his experiments in Scotland enabling 
 speech to be maintained across an air space of a mile and 
 a quarter. ' So that there is now,' he says, ' no difficulty 
 in communicating with outlying islands without the ex- 
 pense of laying a cable.' 
 
 After this miracle of science, who shall say that the 
 great electrician may not shortly project some ingenious 
 contrivance which shall enable him to communicate with 
 the moon and stars ? for to one who so faithfully and 
 conscientiously searches into the deep well of science she 
 will yield her richest treasures. 
 
 A propos of telephony, Mr. Preece had an amusing 
 reminiscence. Some years ago, when it was getting into 
 work, the Queen was anxious to test its powers, and 
 accordingly arrangements were made to put Osborne, 
 Portsmouth, and London in telephonic communication 
 with each other. With this view Mr. Preece went to 
 Southampton, and it was agreed that a band should play 
 in London at nine o'clock, so that Her Majesty might 
 hear the music. Some slight mishap occurred to the 
 Osborne section of the wire, and the Queen's coming was.
 
 W. H. PREECE 267 
 
 delayed. The musicians, after playing some time, were 
 dismissed. Shortly after, to his consternation, Mr. Preece 
 received a wire from Osborne stating that the Queen had 
 arrived and was ready to hear the music. What was to 
 be done? The band had departed, and there were no 
 means of providing another ! On the impulse of the 
 moment he decided to perform himself, and hummed 
 ' God Save the Queen ' through the telephone. He then 
 enquired whether Her Majesty had been able to recognise 
 the tune. ' Yes ' was the reply ; ' it was the National 
 Anthem, but very badly played ! ' 
 
 A little later the family group is assembled round the 
 dining table ; the scene is bright and cheerful ; over the 
 great carved sideboard and mantel are displayed Persian 
 weapons and chain armour, together with sundry Cin- 
 galese daggers. The two bold, spirited paintings by the 
 American artist Gilbert Munger represent scenes in the 
 Rocky Mountains. During the sociable meal Mr. Preece 
 is the life and soul of the party; jest, anecdote, and 
 repartee fall from his lips. Your young hostess who 
 presides over the large establishment does the honours 
 with infinite grace. Inheriting much of her distinguished 
 father's cleverness and his genial, kindly disposition, she 
 and her sisters are alike thoroughly domestic in their 
 tastes and habits. 
 
 Two elder sons are already out in the world carving 
 their fortunes in their father's profession, the third has 
 elected to ' go in for law,' and the fourth is in France 
 studying the language. 
 
 After dinner there is just time for a peep through the 
 little picture gallery of Fellows of the Koyal Society living 
 and gone before, among whom hangs an excellent por- 
 trait of the late William Spottiswoode, President. This 
 passage leads into the lately erected billiard-room, which is 
 decorated with armour, breastplates, swords, and skins of 
 beasts. The over-mantel is crowded with prizes, tankards, 
 cups, &c., trophies won by ' the boys.' A door on the
 
 268 W. H. PREECE 
 
 east leads into the conservatory, electrically lighted, where 
 orchids, camellias, and a variety of other flowers are in 
 full bloom. 
 
 But at the hall door Mr. Preece stands, with true 
 hospitality, to ' speed the parting guest,' as the last train 
 to town must be caught. Escorted by the young embryo 
 lawyer, you take leave of your intellectual and scholarly 
 host, while he laughingly remarks, ' When the moon and 
 planetary system are in thorough telegraphic communica- 
 tion with the earth, you shall be the first to be told ! ' 
 
 OLGrA NETHEESOLE 
 
 WITHOUT any actual fostering of an innate gift for no 
 member of her family had at any time been on the stage 
 the ardent, artistic temperament of Miss Olga Nether- 
 sole seemed to grow spontaneously. The union of strong 
 dramatic instincts and a love of the fine arts on her 
 mother's side, and on her father's an extraordinary facility 
 for acquiring languages for he could speak in seven 
 different tongues, and was self-taught would seem to 
 have produced in the young player a solidity of thought 
 together with an intense earnestness of purpose ; and 
 these, with a large share of natural talent and a highly 
 strung nervous organisation, have combined to bring her 
 so rapidly to the front ranks of English actresses. 
 
 ' A lavish planet reigned when she was born,' which 
 happened to be at Kensington. As a child she was some- 
 what sad and morbid never, as it were, flirting with life, 
 but inclined to look upon everything too seriously, which, 
 perhaps, may have taken away, not the brightness, but 
 the trivialities of childhood's days. At the age of seven 
 she became, as she laughingly explains, ' the victim of 
 circumstances, and got taken to school accidentally.' The 
 whole family escorted her two elder sisters to Holland,
 
 OLGA NETHERSOLE 269 
 
 where they were being educated, and though there had 
 been no previous intention of leaving her with them, the 
 governess prevailed upon her mother to allow her to 
 remain and to become a pupil. Two years later, how- 
 ever, she returned to London, and attended the High 
 School, Chelsea. A quick student, the little Olga absorbed 
 knowledge, and, without exactly learning her lessons, con- 
 trived to get outside them, as it were, without difficulty. 
 Even in those early days of development her vivid imagi- 
 nation and strongly sympathetic nature called forth the 
 love and companionship of those around her. In that 
 way she gained the confidence of people much older 
 than herself, and drew out their experiences. In her 
 strong desire to know people and life she became a great 
 reader, and soon realised that what lay within her was a 
 longing desire to interpret the ideas of others and to 
 clothe their thoughts with words. In this gradual awaken- 
 ing of her soul her mother's training and guidance were 
 of the greatest help. Together they read and discussed 
 poetry, plays, and metaphysics, and the young receptive 
 mind threw itself heart and soul into these studies, and 
 eagerly imbibed the feeling and the spirit of the writers. 
 Little as anyone foresaw it at the time, this mode of 
 education was all leading up to what was to follow. It 
 happened that when Olga Nethersole was nearly fourteen 
 her sisters and brother got up a little amateur performance 
 during the holidays and omitted her in the cast. She 
 the spoilt baby of the family wept bitterly at being left 
 out, whereupon they introduced a servant into the piece 
 and gave her the part, which she played with so much 
 aplomb that a doctor friend who was present begged that 
 she might be allowed to act in a farce to be given at 
 the Colney Hatch Asylum. Consent was given, but when 
 the day came the little girl experienced a momentary 
 shock, which almost overcame her. A lunatic fixed his 
 eyes on her, which so alarmed her that no words would 
 come. Bravely conquering the feeling of stage fright,
 
 270 OLGA NETHERSOLE 
 
 with the consciousness that if she did not then she never 
 would, she continued her part, and won her first public 
 applause. Soon after, while on a visit to Torquay, Miss 
 Nethersole made the acquaintance of Mr. Nutcornbe 
 Gould ; he was then an ardent amateur, and was arrang- 
 ing a performance for the benefit of the hospital. One of 
 the company was taken ill ; and he, seeing how enthu- 
 siastic the young girl was about the stage, offered her the 
 part, which she played so cleverly that later, when Mr. 
 Gould determined to adopt the profession, and was 
 organising a provincial tour, he invited her to join. ' At 
 first my mother was strongly opposed to the idea,' says 
 the young actress, ' and for many days would not speak 
 about it. It was the only disagreement we ever had, but 
 she was the wisest and noblest of women, and when she 
 saw how much it affected me, and that I was not " stage- 
 struck," but felt it must be my vocation, she yielded, and 
 to the day of her death helped me. Accordingly I started 
 on my career without any training. Indeed, when girls 
 come to me and ask me how to begin to learn, I always 
 tell them to learn on the stage from experience only. It 
 is the only way to do it. I was offered three pounds a 
 week, to my amazement, for I could not believe I was 
 worth that to anyone.' 
 
 Her first appearance was made at Brighton, in her 
 early teens, as Vera in ' Moths,' followed by Clara Douglas 
 in ' Money ; ' then she was engaged by Mr. Charles 
 Hawtrey to play Lettice Vane in that beautiful piece, 
 ' Harvest.' She went next with Miss Amy Koselle and 
 Mr. Dacre on tour for four months in Mr. Meri vale's 
 ' Our Joan,' succeeded by a part in ' 'Twixt Kith and Kin.' 
 In ' The Double Marriage ' she played Miss Ellen Terry's 
 part Claire de Beaurepaire and in the same year she 
 acted with Mr. Lionel Brought in a farcical comedy 
 entitled ' Modern Wives.' Then, returning to town, she 
 fulfilled an engagement at the Adelphi as Ruth Medway 
 in the ' Union Jack.' ' It was my first meeting with Mr.
 
 OLGA NETHERSOLE 271 
 
 Grundy,' she remarks. ' The acquaintance deepened into 
 a firm friendship, and I have the greatest admiration for 
 him and his work. That was my first pathetic part, and 
 it was very real to me.' During the run of the piece Miss 
 Nethersole was obliged to leave, being under agreement 
 to originate the role of Miriam St. Aubyn in Mr. F. C. 
 Philips' play ' The Dean and his Daughter,' and here she 
 tasted largely of the sweets of success. She identified 
 herself so thoroughly with the heroine, and in a subtle 
 manner and with true art so developed the character, 
 that she seemed to be growing older in each act. She 
 made a big bound into public favour, and it was remarked 
 that her receptions were such whereof Bernhardt, 
 Siddons, or Rachel might have been proud. Two seasons 
 with Mr. Hare followed ; but until the Garrick was ready 
 to be opened he lent the young player to create the part of 
 Lola in ' The Silver Falls ' at the Adelphi a role in which 
 her inheritance of Spanish blood from her mother served 
 her in good stead. At the Garrick she took Janet Preece 
 in ' The Profligate,' and then came the grandest oppor- 
 tunity she could have had. During the run of ' La Tosca ' 
 Mrs. Bernard Beere was taken ill, and Olga Nethersole 
 came to the rescue ; without a single rehearsal she played 
 the title role with, so much fire and pathos that she 
 received a perfect ovation at its conclusion. Then came 
 a ten months' tour in Australia with Mr. Charles Cart- 
 wright. During this visit she added so largely to her 
 repertory and her experience that, on her return to 
 London and to the Garrick, where she created the role 
 of Beatrice Selwyn in 'A Fool's Paradise,' one of the 
 most eminent critics remarked : ' She had gone away a 
 student and come back a master.' While acting every 
 night at the Garrick Mr. Hare allowed her to perform in 
 matinees at the Criterion, with a whole company of stars, 
 in ' The Silent Battle,' where a very great personage told 
 her that her Agatha had made him weep, and he was not 
 ashamed !
 
 272 OLGA NETHERSOLE 
 
 A long run of ' Diplomacy ' followed ; this was the 
 first time the young player had seen Mrs. Bancroft act, 
 and she expresses herself as having been ' so proud to 
 act with her.' In the revival of the piece it will be 
 remembered that Miss Nethersole took the part of the 
 Countess Zicka, and played it with true artistic finish and 
 an earnestness that was absolutely thrilling. Her next 
 venture was to take the Court Theatre and, under her 
 brother Mr. Louis Nethersole's able management, to pro- 
 duce 'The Transgressor ' (by Mr. A. W. Gattie), herself 
 the Sylvia. ' It was a great responsibility,' she observes, 
 ' but my brother has a peculiar gift for organisation, and 
 is so experienced a manager.' ' Need I say,' she adds 
 presently, with a smile, ' he is also the most delightful 
 companion in the world ? ' ' The Transgressor ' made an 
 enormous success, and it is scarcely surprising that Miss 
 Nethersole's rendering of Sylvia brought her fame to the 
 ears of many American managers. Among four offers 
 that she received she chose Mr. Daly's, and after making 
 a provincial tour with her own company the brother and 
 sister sailed for the States. Here she had a right royal 
 time, as is well known, and, from the President down- 
 wards, met with so much kindness, favour, and encourage- 
 ment, that she declares ' it developed her to what she 
 may be more than aught else.' She played Juliet for the 
 first time, never having even seen it, and knowing nothing 
 of its traditions. Camille in ' La Dame aux Camelias ' 
 was an absolute triumph, also ' Frou Frou.' Before its 
 production her appearance as Camille was called 'an 
 unwise move, as it almost invited comparison with Sarah 
 Bernhardt, Duse, and Jane Hading ; ' but she carried it 
 all through brilliantly, and won golden opinions on all 
 sides. The last two performances of Camille at Boston 
 brought in the sum of 1801. ; on her return from America 
 Miss Nethersole had contemplated taking a theatre in 
 London and appearing in the same characters she had 
 impersonated there with such marked success ; but, instead
 
 OLGA NETHERSOLE 273 
 
 of doing so, she was induced by Mr. Hare to take up the 
 part of Agnes in ' The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith.' ' I 
 was deeply interested,' she explains, ' in the psychology of 
 the character, which is one of the most complex I have 
 ever played. It is terribly realistic, and I had the idea 
 of Louise Michel ever in my mind.' 
 
 Since that performance Olga Nethersole has again 
 enjoyed a series of triumphs. Two American managers, 
 Messrs. Daniel and Charles Frohman, joined forces in 
 order to star her on a tour of twenty-four weeks in the 
 United States ; and, under the contract, Paris, Berlin, 
 St. Petersburg, and many other capitals were visited, 
 while she is under agreement shortly to appear in a mag- 
 nificent Shakespearean production. 
 
 The gifted actress has made her name early in life. 
 As she modestly puts it, she ' has been lucky enough to 
 be successful right away from the beginning.' Strongly 
 emotional and realising vividly the salient points in every 
 part she represents, she studies the flesh, blood, and 
 brains so to speak of each with earnestness and enthu- 
 siasm ; while each suggests delicacy of treatment and the 
 refinement of her own nature. ' But I did not under- 
 stand what real feeling was,' she says, ' before I went to 
 America. The audiences are so encouraging and sym- 
 pathetic ; they seem to hold out a hand and draw one 
 along with them ! ' 
 
 JOSEPH H ATT ON 
 
 ON the high ground of St. John's Wood, about a stone's 
 throw from Lord's, there stands a long, old-fashioned, 
 detached house, with garden back and front, and a high 
 wall which ensures absolute privacy. The charming 
 interior is in thorough keeping, and betrays an originality 
 in design and arrangement that indicates artistic tastes 
 
 T
 
 274 JOSEPH HATTON 
 
 and culture. In conversation with the eminent novelist, 
 Mr. Joseph Hatton, it transpires that Mrs. Hatton has 
 a genius for art decorations, and naturally the first step 
 taken on obtaining possession of the premises, some years 
 ago, was to entirely remodel the inside, and to recon- 
 struct it according to her own ideas. The effect is par- 
 ticularly happy, and, although it has the appearance of 
 being entirely unstudied, every detail has evidently been 
 thought out carefully, from the snug ' cosy ' corner to the 
 comfortable drawing-room recess yonder and the antique 
 candelabra in the ceiling. 
 
 The first door in the little entrance-hall opens into 
 the drawing-room, which has a deep bow window with 
 lattice panes on the immediate left ; on the further 
 end, on the right, high French windows lead on to the 
 tennis-ground at the back, a judicious arrangement of 
 light that sets off the large collection of engravings and 
 studies in black and white to the best advantage. 
 Another latticed window, facing due west, has a shelf 
 below filled with choice specimens of Venetian glass, on 
 which a brilliant sunset sheds every sort of colour. The 
 great oak mantelpiece was modelled after one in Haddon 
 Hall, and the quaint fireplace within is an old-fashioned 
 revival of Coalbrookdale. The highly polished floor is 
 partially concealed by Indian matting and a few Persian 
 rugs of subdued tints, which throw into relief an old oak 
 settle, a Chippendale bureau, and a marqueterie cabinet, 
 standing beside a great copper vessel filled with long-leaved 
 plants, and a large Nuremberg jug, of the same metal, a 
 gift from Mr. Willard. 
 
 Among the principal pictures that adorn the walls 
 are a proof -bef ore-letters engraving of Orchardson's well- 
 known painting, ' Hard Hit,' and two masterly engravings 
 after Margetson (son-in-law of Mr. Hatton), one of which 
 represents the boat scene in ' Charles I.,' with autographs 
 of Sir Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, and Mr. Terriss below. 
 Mr. Hatton specially directs your attention to three
 
 JOSEPH HATTON 275 
 
 charcoal drawings which he values highly bold, spirited 
 sketches by Volkmark, Vance, and Burns (celebrated for 
 his marine pictures) as they are cherished reminiscences 
 of a certain evening at New York, when a reception was 
 given to him by the Salmagundi Club. ' The artists 
 worked while I chatted,' he remarks ; ' and the result 
 was these black and white sketches, which were made on 
 that evening and finished the folio wing morning.' Amidst 
 a group of interesting portraits are two that are particu- 
 larly attractive respectively, Miss Bessie Hatton as the 
 Prince of Wales in ' Eichard III.,' and a picture of Sir 
 Henry Irving at his desk, that is certainly one of the 
 finest portraits of the great actor that exist. 
 
 Not only as a novelist has the brilliant author of ' By 
 Order of the Czar,' and some thirty other books, made his 
 mark in literature. A long apprenticeship to journalism, 
 a vivid imagination, and a deep poetic strain, combined 
 with much foreign travelling and close observation of 
 human nature, have given his versatile pen the ease and 
 fluency, the profound interest and instructiveness, that 
 distinguish his works. 
 
 He first saw the light at Andover, Hants, but has 
 no recollection of his birthplace, as his parents shortly 
 after moved, and made their home at Chesterfield the 
 town of the crooked steeple where his father founded 
 one of the first of the penny papers, the 'Derbyshire 
 Times,' which afterwards became so successful. At 
 school he declares that he in no way distinguished him- 
 self, except in English composition, music, and calligraphy, 
 and, being passionately fond of the Derbyshire dales, 
 fishing, and every sort of country sport, he confesses to 
 having frequently played truant. ' My school has been a 
 newspaper office,' he remarks pithily. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that he came of an artistic 
 and journalistic family, and on his father's side of a race 
 of musicians, the young lad was designed for the legal 
 profession, and was placed in the town clerk's office to 
 
 T 2
 
 276 JOSEPH HATTON 
 
 learn the rudiments of law, but his natural proclivities 
 soon asserted themselves, and, disliking intensely the 
 preliminary dry studies, he speedily abandoned the idea. 
 Many of his leisure hours even then were spent in study. 
 He learned shorthand, had a private tutor for French and 
 a coach for Latin, his chief recreation being music, in 
 which, when yet quite a boy, he acquired sufficient skill 
 to enable him to take solos on the piano at local concerts. 
 At the age of seventeen he went on his father's paper as 
 ' reporter, free lance, compositor anything ! ' ' The Editor,' 
 continues Mr. Hatton, ' was a man of considerable 
 intellectual acquirements, and was somewhat severe in 
 regard to journalists' work, and he looked upon me as too 
 young, and perhaps scarcely appreciated my efforts, 
 whereupon I took the matter into my own hands, left 
 home, and determined to seek my fortune, in the direction 
 of journalism, with such knowledge as I had obtained in 
 my father's and the town clerk's offices.' 
 
 His perseverance and steady determination met with 
 their due reward. Almost immediately the young writer 
 obtained the appointment of reporter on the ' Lincoln 
 Gazette,' which was followed after a time by the post of 
 sub-editor of the ' Bristol Mirror,' now better known as 
 the ' Bristol Daily Times and Mirror,' and before he was 
 quite of age he became the editor of that oldest and most 
 important journal in the West of England. 
 
 ' Those were delightful days at Bristol,' observes Mr. 
 Hatton. ' We were young, bright, happy, newly married, 
 and prosperous ! ' 
 
 Young indeed, considering that the boy-bridegroom 
 had barely reached the age of man's estate, whilst the 
 girl-bride whom he had wedded had as yet not attained 
 her seventeenth summer ! 
 
 Tn those light-hearted, youthful days the young 
 journalist, like his intimate friend Mr. Toole, was some- 
 what inclined to practical jokes. On one occasion, when 
 he was a reporter on a provincial paper, a crowd had
 
 JOSEPH HATTON 277 
 
 assembled to witness the arrival of a criminal connected 
 with a sensational murder case. The man, with some 
 difficulty, was placed in a cab, while a second cab, con- 
 taining representatives of the press, followed. The joke 
 was extemporised by these lively spirits, who indicated 
 to some of the people that Mr. Hatton was the per- 
 petrator of the deed. The young reporter acted the part 
 to perfection. Crouching back on the seat of the cab, he 
 put on a cowed, terrified air, and preserved his assumed 
 character so well that, thoroughly taken in, a mob 
 gathered round, and, the situation and demonstrations 
 becoming too warm to be pleasant, his identity had to be 
 revealed. An eye-witness of the incident remarked that 
 nothing could exceed the serio-comic drollery exhibited by 
 the youth on that occasion. 
 
 If the talent for journalism be Mr. Hatton 's by in- 
 heritance, the gift of novel-writing is entirely originated by 
 himself. He had been accustomed from his earliest years 
 to write in secret accounts of views that he had seen, of 
 people whom he had met, and of every particular incident 
 that he had heard, weaving them more or less into 
 romances. His first novel, ' In the Lap of Fortune,' 
 written when he was quite young, largely exploited the 
 journalism of that period, and was suggested by his 
 experiences at Chesterfield. The next was ' Clytie,' where 
 the scene was laid in his own house in the cathedral 
 precincts at Durham, described as the residence of the old 
 organist and his daughter. This work had at once a 
 success ; it was translated into German, and is, after this 
 lapse of years, being now rendered in Swedish. 
 
 But romances were for a time only interludes in his 
 newspaper work, and Mr. Hatton continued to contribute 
 articles to a variety of journals, notably to the well-known 
 'Newcastle Chronicle,' where so many distinguished writers 
 have found a field for their labours. London was natu- 
 rally the goal of his ambition, and, after some years 
 of interesting and instructive provincial experience, he
 
 278 JOSEPH HATTON 
 
 accepted a small engagement and made his way to the 
 great capital, where, however, he was destined, on that 
 occasion, to make but a brief stay. ' I came up almost 
 unknown,' says Mr. Hatton cheerfully, ' and went to the 
 Hummums in Covent Garden. London had never seemed 
 so big and so serious to me. That same evening I picked 
 up a number of the " Athenaeum," and saw an advertisement 
 in which an editor was wanted for an important county 
 paper with prospect of partnership. Under the depression 
 of a solitary walk down Fleet Street and a certain sense 
 of responsibility that belongs to the happiness of having a 
 wife and two children, I answered it, and received in reply 
 an invitation to dine at the Queen's Hotel, Norwood, 
 where I found a very pleasant county gentleman of means 
 and position, Mr. E. W. Johnson, who was also proprietor 
 of the paper in question, " Burrows' Worcester Journal." 
 His proposals were so tempting that I at once accepted 
 them, and wired to my wife to join me at Worcester 
 instead of London to her great disappointment.' 
 
 In the historical old city Mr. Hatton soon took a 
 prominent place. He became town councillor, hospital 
 visitor, captain of volunteers, and was drifting in the direc- 
 tion of the mayoralty when he became wearied of local 
 politics, and projected, with his friend Mr. Johnson, high 
 sheriff of the county, the first illustrated paper for the 
 provinces, ' The Illustrated Midland News,' with its head- 
 quarters at Birmingham. Those were the days before 
 the invention of process-blocks, and wood engraving was 
 a costly necessity. Great things, however, were accom- 
 plished with the help of Mr. Swain, the famous ' Punch ' 
 engraver. The small school for this art, founded in 
 Birmingham by Mr. Hatton, still exists. 
 
 The much-desired London as a permanent abode 
 followed, where the industrious writer was already editing 
 the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' Having entered upon those 
 duties during his residence in Worcester, under Bradley 
 and Evans' management, he had an exceptional staff, con-
 
 JOSEPH HATTON 279 
 
 sisting of Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Mark Lemon (the 
 Druid), Luke Limmer, Blanchard Jerrold, and other well- 
 known writers. For seven or eight years he was the 
 special correspondent in Europe of the ' New York Times,' 
 and filled a similar post on the ' Sydney Morning Herald.' 
 He was also one of the specials of the 'Kreuz-Zeitung,' 
 of Berlin. He has edited the ' Sunday Times,' and has 
 founded one or two successful journals, besides contribu- 
 ting special articles to ' Harper's,' ' Scribner's,' the ' English 
 Illustrated,' and other leading magazines. 
 
 The author's study upstairs is as bright and cheerful 
 as Morris' decoration and a brilliant sunset can make it. 
 Stray beams, indeed, seem to be flitting all over the room. 
 It has a sort of attic roof and verandah overlooking the 
 tennis-ground. At every odd corner well-filled white 
 bookshelves are fitted over the Indian-matted dado. The 
 old Dutch tiles were brought from Holland ; on the mantel- 
 shelf stands an ecclesiastical candlestick in deep crimson 
 pottery of two ' jolly monks,' presented by Mr. Toole 
 with the remark that it was ' a comedian's idea of Becket 
 and his friend going home together.' There is but little 
 room for pictures, though you find autograph portraits 
 from Bret Harte, Sir Arthur Sullivan, William Black, 
 Miss Braddon, and other old friends, besides a notable pic- 
 ture from Victor Hugo and a portrait of Mr. Hatton's 
 ideal monarch, the little Queen of Holland in her Fries- 
 land dress. 
 
 Curios from Borneo and Upper Congo are scattered 
 here and there, and two fetish idols, from Doongoo Villase, 
 with looking-glass eyes, that present a quaint but fierce 
 appearance. These were gifts from young Mr. Ward, of 
 Stanley's party, who was the last white man to greet Mr. 
 Hatton's only son on his last expedition in the vast island 
 of Borneo. (This beloved and lamented son has since 
 passed into that ' great beyond ' of dreamless sleep and 
 silence unbroken.) A modest-looking automatic desk- 
 table stands in the corner, and on Mr. Hatton's pressing a
 
 280 JOSEPH HATTON 
 
 spring a complete Remington typewriter rises from 
 within. This ingenious contrivance is one of the first 
 that were made, and the first sent from America to London, 
 where he saw it and promptly made it his own. 
 
 Two large photographs by the window represent Mr. 
 Willard in the dual role of John Needham and Joseph 
 Norbury in the author's book ' John Needham's Double,' 
 which later, as a play, gave Mr. Willard two of his 
 finest parts. The novel first ran through Tillotson's Syn- 
 dicate, and was afterwards dramatised by Mr. Hatton. 
 
 Among his many works, too numerous to mention, 
 perhaps the most popular are ' Three Recruits,' ' Chris- 
 topher Kenrick,' ' The Queen of Bohemia,' ' A Modern 
 Ulysses,' ' The Princess Mazaroff,' ' Cruel London,' 
 ' Under the Great Seal,' and 'When Greek meets Greek.' 
 A work entitled ' By Order of the Czar ' achieved the 
 distinction of being prohibited in Russia. It is now in 
 the fourteenth edition, and is being translated into Swedish. 
 This intensely interesting work is powerful in description 
 and picturesque in detail, while every incident is admi- 
 rably worked out. It is by no means a soporific, for it has 
 the effect of getting the reader into such a state of thrilling 
 excitement that he is apt to lie awake half the night after 
 reading it, and, when he drops off to sleep, to dream of it 
 the other half, and he will probably lay aside his usual 
 morning duties in order to finish it ! 
 
 There is, moreover, a delightful vivacity and originality 
 in all Mr. Hatton's situations ; in fact, as Charles Reade 
 once remarked to him, ' You write a new story every time, 
 and your people live,' a compliment that pleased him 
 very much, though of course the bigger compliments he 
 receives come largely to him in the public endorsements 
 and in the recognition of America and foreign countries. 
 
 Mr. Hatton always has plots in his head that may go 
 on for years. He conceives an idea, and, if it particularly 
 impress him, his brain takes care of it, and it then goes on 
 growing and developing on its own account.
 
 JOSEPH HATTON 281 
 
 Touching the question of ' pointing a moral ' as well as 
 ' adorning a tale,' Mr. Hatton says ' there is always a lesson 
 in a good story, always a moral in the conclusion of the 
 adventures of a man or woman, either in fact or in fiction. 
 In my novel of " Clytie " my leading idea was to expose the 
 abuse of the statutory declaration, but the adventures and 
 perils of a country girl in London were sufficiently strong to 
 keep the motive of the story in proper subjection. I think 
 as much may be said for " Under the Great Seal," the 
 pivot of which was the unrighteous treatment of the first 
 settlers in Newfoundland ; and in " By Order of the Czar " 
 I have not allowed the business of exhibiting the condition 
 of the Jews in Eussia to do more than colour the dramatic 
 and tragic action. You are right in thinking that Hannah 
 Klostock must be one of my favourite creations, and I take 
 delight in her champion, Andrea Ferrari, whose fight with 
 the mob at Czaronva almost put me into a fever when I 
 wrote it. I had to take my coat off in the middle of the 
 fray, and I did it at one sitting. One of my earliest and 
 one of my latest novels are two of my most successful 
 works, and I hope I have given them a companion in one 
 of my latest.' 
 
 This Mr. Hatton has undoubtedly done in ' The 
 Banishment of Jessop Blythe.' It is an English story, its 
 people and scenery English, and of the present day. It 
 begins with a dramatic incident which is entirely new, and 
 there is an element of surprise in the story that never 
 flags. The opening scene describes one of the most im- 
 pressive of Nature's handiworks, musical with the labour 
 of God's creatures, the song of birds, and the continual 
 plash of a subterranean river. 
 
 His working hours are from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M., then a 
 walk and talk, and not unfrequently a night of labour to 
 follow. He is a rapid writer, but, as he remarks signifi- 
 cantly, ' When I have thought slowly I write fast.' 
 Though not always in a writing mood, he makes a point 
 of ' coming to work ' at his desk, for, as he observes, ' If
 
 282 JOSEPH HATTON 
 
 one can't write one can at any rate read and think,' and 
 when thus disinclined for actual work he has a peculiar 
 recreation. He has half a dozen gigantic folio books of 
 personal memoranda, in which he pastes letters, notes, 
 photographs, and incidents associated with people whom 
 he knows or has met. These volumes cover many years, 
 and should be valuable even as souvenirs of distinguished 
 people. 
 
 Mr. Hatton is a great reader, and particularly fond of 
 books of travel, biographies, essays, and fiction. There is 
 one little peculiarity noticeable in his library ; many of the 
 books have printed notices pasted into them, and not a 
 few are annotated by his own hand. He laughs at your 
 discovery, and remarks, ' I fear I don't treat books very 
 well, but, at any rate, I treat them better than Wordsworth 
 did, for I don't tear or destroy them ; but I cannot help 
 marking them, and often paste in printed or manuscript 
 notes connected with the subject of the work. I am not 
 much of a classic, but I read Plutarch in my youth, and 
 even to-day I find Tacitus not more instructive than 
 entertaining, the style as interesting as Macaulay and as 
 picturesque as Froude.' 
 
 The talented author has had an interesting career, that 
 is, if being behind the scenes of many exciting events, 
 knowing many important people, having crossed the 
 Atlantic many times, and for many years living in the 
 heart of London life and work make an interesting career. 
 He has done most things in journalism and literature, and 
 been most things reporter, editor, proprietor, foreign corre- 
 spondent, literary adviser, novelist, biographer, and play- 
 wright. Among his most pleasant work for some years 
 back and at present is a newspaper feature entitled 
 ' Cigarette Papers,' which he contributes to a limited 
 syndicate of journals, through whose columns, every week 
 of his life, he addresses at least eight or nine millions of 
 people in all parts of the world. 
 
 ' It is better to wear out than to rust out,' he remarks
 
 JOSEPH HATTON 283 
 
 with a genial smile ; ' besides, one has to be busy the ten- 
 dency of household expenses in these days is always 
 upward.' 
 
 PHYLLIS BROUGHTON 
 
 THERE is a subdued dignity about the large and solidly 
 built houses in a broad, quiet ' Place ' which might justly 
 have been called ' Square ' not far from Oxford Street. 
 The hand of time has mellowed the work of man, and there 
 is none of the garish appearance of modern days in the 
 massive structures. No outward or neighbours' sounds 
 can be detected, which is wonderful, considering the near 
 proximity of one of the noisiest and most bustling streets 
 in the great metropolis, and this is a blessing which the 
 fortunate inhabitants duly recognise. Most especially is 
 it appreciated by Miss Phyllis Broughton, whose home lies 
 within the old ' Place ' with a kind, indulgent step-father, 
 a fond mother (General and Mrs. Hutchinson), and a 
 happy family circle comprising likewise two brothers and 
 a little sister. 
 
 Although the exterior is somewhat sombre, the interior 
 is bright enough, and her own private ' den ' makes a 
 suitable background for the chestnut-coloured hair, soft 
 brown eyes, and straight, delicate features which give the 
 popular young actress such winning yet piquante beauty. 
 But besides her outward personal attractions she has 
 what is most pleasing, and tha't is a perfectly simple, 
 natural disposition and pretty cordiality of manner. Her 
 first thought is of your creature comforts as you arrive 
 somewhat weather-beaten in the teeth of a raging gale, 
 and she comes forward eagerly to divest you of sundry 
 storm-garments, looking so bright and happy that it is easy 
 to see that her late well-earned holiday has braced her up 
 afresh to carry on the battle of life. The room carries
 
 284 PHYLLIS BROUGHTON 
 
 you back in imagination to a long past visit to Japan, but 
 there are no ' three-three-farthing ' imitation fans or the 
 like shams. The whole, with one exception, is carried out 
 in severely orthodox fashion, with its finely matted floor, 
 great bamboo chandelier, and bamboo-work ceiling corners 
 from which depend four quaint Japanese dolls. Even the 
 little piano is cased in bamboo, which Miss Broughton 
 says 'makes it look rather like a tea caddy.' The wall 
 hangings and portieres are all of Japanese silk and gold 
 embroideries, and two great blue bowls of the same 
 country's ware give a fine bit of colour to the room. 
 ' The whole idea,' she remarks, ' grew out of them. I had 
 to live up to those blue bowls ! When " Cootie " ' (as she 
 affectionately calls her stepfather) ' and my mother gave 
 me the room for my own I worked it all out gradually. 
 The very chairs I would have covered with matting and 
 braid, but then I found nobody would come in, so I had 
 to get that " one exception," ' which is a luxurious and 
 altogether desirable Chesterfield couch with big down 
 cushions. But ' Cootie ' had to interfere in one small 
 particular. The hanging lanterns threatened to exter- 
 minate the house, so he bought her those grotesque dolls, 
 which she promptly executed and hung up instead. 
 
 The love of dancing was born in her. As soon as she 
 could run alone she would dance in perfect time to any 
 piano or barrel-organ she heard from her nursery window. 
 It was when ' only a tiny mite ' that the young player 
 made her first bow to the public in a ballet, ' The Forty 
 Thieves,' attired as a snowball in little white, swansdowny 
 skirts. From that day to this she has been constantly on 
 the boards, principally in long engagements at the Gaiety, 
 Avenue, and Prince of Wales's theatres. She studied 
 elocution in Macbeth, Juliet, and other Shakespearean 
 characters under Mr. Villiers, of whom she speaks with 
 gratitude and affection. Later the two families became 
 connected by the marriage of his son to her sister, Emma 
 Broughton. By and by Mr. Villiers suggested that his
 
 PHYLLIS BROUGHTON 285 
 
 pupil ' wanted deportment,' and this led to her going to a 
 dancing master, M. Dervinne, under whose tuition she 
 improved so rapidly that she was soon engaged at the 
 Gaiety, where she had only four lines to speak and a solo 
 dance. ' And, oh ! how terrified I was,' she says, with a 
 little shiver at the remembrance ; ' my knees knocked to- 
 gether ; but I got more and more nervous with each new 
 part.' At the Gaiety she remained for five years, 
 taking Miss Kate Vaughan's roles, and there she made her 
 name and established her reputation firmly in the eyes of 
 the public. ' It was real hard work, though delightful,' 
 says the young girl reflectively. ' Two hours with a 
 governess in the morning, for my mother would not allow 
 any neglect of my education, three hours practising dancing 
 in the afternoon, and the theatre at night ! ' But Phyllis 
 Broughton reaps her reward in the long engagements she 
 gets and in the warmth of her receptions. When the 
 Avenue Theatre opened with ' Kenilworth ' she played 
 Lydia Thompson's part, and in a subsequent three years' 
 engagement she acted with Mr. Arthur Roberts in 
 Planquette's musical pieces, such as ' The Old Guard,' 
 'Indiana.' At the close of the season she received a 
 pleasant testimony to her merits in the form of a hand- 
 some diamond and enamel brooch from the management, 
 together with a letter containing a few neat and appro- 
 priate words of praise and thanks. She is a rapid study, 
 but thinks out her lines and ' points ' with much precision, 
 and while at private rehearsal in her own room little bits 
 of ' business ' suggest themselves which at real rehearsal 
 invariably come off all right. Next came a grand oppor- 
 tunity, of which the young player made the most. When 
 the Carl Rosa Company opened at the Prince of Wales's 
 Theatre, Phyllis Broughton was offered a three years' 
 engagement in ' Paul Jones,' ' Marjorie,' and ' Captain 
 Therese,' in ingenue parts with ' a little singing, more 
 acting, and most dancing.' ' I haven't much of a voice,' she 
 remarks frankly, 'but I am content and thankful if it
 
 286 PHYLLIS BROUGHTON 
 
 carries me through.' The voice, however, ' carried her 
 through ' successfully enough as Cicely in ' Marjorie,' for 
 it will be well remembered that the duet in which she and 
 Mr. Hayden Coffin sang used to be encored five times 
 nightly ! Then, as she comically expresses it, she was 
 ' sublet ' by the Carl Rosa Company to Mr. George 
 Edwards at the Opera Comique to play in ' Joan of Arc,' 
 ' Blue-eyed Susan,' &c. Thence to the Prince of Wales's 
 for ' In Town,' which was subsequently transferred to the 
 Gaiety, and ran over a year. Three different companies 
 were at one time or another in that play, but at its con- 
 clusion Miss Broughton was the only one of the original 
 members left. Yonder portrait represents her in 'La 
 Mascotte,' together with the cat that appeared nightly in 
 the play. ' But the cat,' she observes quaintly, 'got sick 
 of being so much photographed, and expired soon after ! ' 
 A later performance, and one which she thoroughly enjoyed, 
 was Lady Virginia (Miss Lottie Venne's original role) in 
 the famous ' Gaiety Girl ' a play that ran merrily several 
 hundred nights after which a severe illness obliged the 
 young actress to rest for a season to recruit her health. 
 Never had she a more gratifying reception than when she 
 again appeared at her old place in the Prince of Wales's 
 Theatre, where, as Mrs. Balli Carr in ' Gentleman Joe ' 
 with Mr. Arthur Roberts, she was once more seen at her 
 best in the new songs and dances introduced for her. 
 When two comedians, who have been accustomed to act 
 with each other, meet after long separation the effect 
 is noticeable ; they play into each other's hands with 
 additional brightness and with a mutual sympathy that 
 cause the piece to run with extra zest. 
 
 In common with all young players, Phyllis Broughton 
 has her experiences in the form of curious letters and 
 little unrehearsed effects. Of the former her mother takes 
 possession, as she says ' Phyllis is so careless, and always 
 tears up everything, but I keep them as curiosities.' They 
 are indeed ' curiosities.' Here is one from a stranger in
 
 PHYLLIS BROUGHTON 287 
 
 New Zealand, beginning 'Respected Miss,' and asking her 
 in all good faith to go out and marry him, but begs her, if 
 she has other views, to suggest a friend or relation instead.' 
 He explains his own qualifications and those required in a 
 wife ' they ' must be this, ' they ' must have that, and so 
 on. He encloses his photograph, but acknowledges it 
 was taken ' before he had time to wash or do his hair.' 
 She is to send ' them ' out, or indeed gallantly offers ' to 
 go home and fetch ' them ' ! (Can the man want two 
 wives ?) Another is one of a series of registered letters 
 from a religious maniac who went nightly to the pit to 
 see her and each encloses drawings of coffins, cross-bones 
 and skulls, warns her repeatedly of the ' sin of the stage,' 
 and names a certain Thursday which is to be her last on 
 earth. But this was too much, and Miss Broughton was 
 so terrified that General Hutchinson had to interfere 
 through the police, and the nuisance was stopped. She 
 had a terrible experience once in ' The Old Guard,' in 
 which she had to dance in sabots. It had been well 
 rehearsed, but on the first night a carpet was unfortunately 
 laid down. The effect was disastrous. Down she came, 
 but in an instant she was up and flew to the wings, threw 
 away the sabots, returned and went through the dance to 
 the end in her ' stocking feet.' The young player has 
 contrived to put a good deal of successful work into com- 
 paratively a short career. In the home circle her bright 
 and happy nature causes her to be the ' life and soul of 
 the house.' ' She is a good daughter,' says her mother 
 fondly, ' and a good sister, and has never given me an 
 hour's anxiety.' 
 
 FITZGEBALD MOLLOY 
 
 NOT unfrequently does it happen that the boy who at 
 school is pronounced dull and dreamy, inapt at learning, 
 and with no particular bent, blossoms out, in after years
 
 288 FITZGERALD MOLLOY 
 
 and makes his mark on the literature of the world. 
 Many such instances might be quoted. The intellectual 
 faculties have lain dormant, latent talents have remained 
 undiscovered, or have been deprived of the stimulus 
 necessary to their development by want of perception and 
 of sympathy on the part of the instructor. 
 
 Just such a lad was Fitzgerald Molloy, who has now 
 for years been climbing the ' thorny path,' with ever-in- 
 creasing success, achieving distinction by means of his 
 social histories of the Georgian and Eestoration periods, 
 his biographies of theatrical celebrities, and his novels. 
 Now, having reached his fortieth year, and published 
 upwards of thirty-two works, his popularity may be said 
 to be firmly established. 
 
 His house, situated in a secluded quarter of St. John's 
 Wood, is an ideal home for a writer. Lying far from the 
 road, the French windows of the dining and sitting-rooms 
 open on a delicious little garden, shaded by poplar, beech, 
 and pear trees, crowded with old-fashioned flowers and 
 screened by dull red-brick walls, half covered with fig 
 trees and clematis. It might be removed a hundred miles 
 from town, so peaceful is it, so refreshing in the green- 
 ness of its surroundings. 
 
 This colour would seem to the author the most har- 
 monious and restful, for not only is the house painted 
 green, but the hall, the stairs, and every room it contains 
 are in apple and olive green, while the Morris papers are 
 in kindred shades of the same colour. His work-room, 
 with its Turkish rugs and Eastern potteries, is full of 
 interesting memorials of the countries he has visited. 
 That richly wrought dagger he bought at Toledo ; the 
 painting of Fra Angelico's ' Angelo ' hails from Florence ; 
 the curious old brass box is from Amsterdam ; the quaint 
 instrument hanging on the wall he picked up in an 
 Algerian cafe ; the old censer was given him by a Capu- 
 chin monk in Home ; and the string of praying beads by 
 an Arab pilgrim. The beautiful book-case and desk, with
 
 FITZGERALD MOLLOY 289 
 
 their elaborate brass-work, belong to the Louis Seize period, 
 but the carved oak chest, which contains manuscripts and 
 proofs, is English, and dates from the reign of William 
 and Mary. 
 
 In one corner is a planisphere, or map of the heavens, 
 by which the motion of the heavenly bodies can be traced, 
 for Mr. Molloy studies astronomy and astrology, in which 
 latter he has implicit belief ; in another corner stands a 
 piano, for he is passionately fond of music, and turns to it 
 as a restful resource when mentally wearied. On the walls 
 are some old engravings after Morland and Cosway, while 
 the book-cases contain many presentation volumes from 
 fellow- workers. 
 
 The descendant of a good old Irish family, Fitzgerald 
 Molloy was educated by a private tutor, and afterwards 
 spent some years in St. Kyran's College, Kilkenny. Soon 
 after leaving school he, having always had the idea of 
 becoming an author, came to London with an introduction 
 to Mrs. S. C. Hall from a relative of that distinguished 
 writer. Mr. Molloy cherishes the most affectionate 
 remembrance for this charming old lady, who at first 
 would dissuade him from being a writer, but who eventually 
 abetted him in joining the ranks of literary workers, from 
 which she had long retired. Their friendship was formed 
 from the first. Not only was she a native of his country, 
 but she had passed the earlier years of her life at Bannow, 
 the scene of more than one of her delightful Irish novels. 
 Coming from her own people, and from her beloved 
 Ireland, of which she used to say, ' Every blade of grass 
 that grows upon its soil is dear to me,' both she and Mr. 
 S. C. Hall received the lad with open arms, gave him 
 words of advice and encouragement, employment as 
 amanuensis, and made him a son of the house. Mr. and 
 Mrs. S. C. Hall, who had been friends and associates of 
 Lady Blessington, Count D'Orsay, Lady Morgan, 
 Lytton, Disraeli, Moore, and indeed of all the distinguished 
 men and women of an earlier day, preserved all the grace, 
 
 U
 
 2 9 o FITZGERALD MOLLOY 
 
 courtesy, and charm of manner belonging to the old school 
 that is so sadly missing from modern life. 
 
 Encouraged and stimulated by the intellectual society 
 of these excellent people, to whom many now successful 
 authors owe a deep debt of gratitude, Fitzgerald Molloy 
 soon began to write short stories and poems, which his 
 friends read, corrected, and criticised with a kind spirit. 
 Mr. Hall subsequently obtained for him a clerkship in the 
 ' Art Journal ' office, where, during the illness of the sub- 
 editor, he was appointed for a brief period to the post. 
 His next promotion was under the late Mr. John Cashel 
 Hoey, then secretary of the New Zealand Government 
 Office, and when that office was dissolved he became 
 private secretary to Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, a friend of 
 his parents. In that capacity Fitzgerald Molloy acknow- 
 ledges that he received his first real insight and training 
 into literary work, of which he has since made good use. 
 Evidently Sir Charles saw that his young secretary gave 
 promise, for on one occasion he remarked to him, ' I know 
 you have a career before you, though in which direction it 
 lies I cannot say.' 
 
 The practical advice that he received from so able and 
 experienced a writer, together with his association with 
 so clever and distinguished a man, left their impression on 
 a young and receptive mind. On the departure of Sir 
 Charles to Southern Europe, Fitzgerald Molloy, loving 
 art and liberty more than all else, determined that he 
 would seek no other appointment, but would strike out for 
 himself, to sink or swim upon the uncertain waters of 
 literary life. Since that decision he has supported himself 
 entirely by his pen. 
 
 His first real success was ' Court Life Below Stairs, or 
 London under the First Georges,' from 1714 to 1760, a 
 work that entailed a vast amount of literary research a 
 training in itself. These volumes may be said to have 
 taken the reading public by storm. In three weeks a 
 second edition was announced, which in three months
 
 FITZGERALD MOLLOY 291 
 
 was out of print. Much new and hitherto unpublished 
 matter was collected from the pamphlets, manuscript 
 letters, diaries, and correspondence that he found in the 
 British Museum. These he ingeniously wove into a lively 
 and stirring picture of the times, touching but slightly 
 and with delicate and refined pen on the risque but sadly 
 veracious points of that era. 
 
 The rapid sale of the book caused the publishers to 
 suggest a sequel in continuation of the epoch. This 
 work, ' Court Life Below Stairs, or London under the Last 
 George,' contained some remarkable extracts from the 
 famous Molesworth correspondence regarding the Court, 
 which had never before been printed, and now caused a 
 lively sensation. It speedily passed into several editions 
 before being issued in one-volume form. Some discussion 
 arose in certain high quarters as to the advisability of 
 suppressing the work, on account of the scandals therein 
 relative to the ancestors of various distinguished families, 
 but the idea was finally abandoned. 
 
 By this time the young author considered that he 
 had fairly earned a partial holiday, so on the proceeds of 
 his last book he went to Borne, where he spent four 
 months in sightseeing and recreation, writing home a 
 weekly letter on social subjects for a society journal of 
 good standing. Keturning to London invigorated and 
 refreshed, he wrote ' The Life and Letters of Peg Woffing- 
 ton/ which was ready for publication the same autumn. 
 This book was dedicated to Miss Ellen Terry in a letter 
 in which he told her, ' You have idealised your impersona- 
 tions. You have realised the highest poetical conceptions. 
 You have delighted the most cultured intelligences of two 
 worlds.' 
 
 He works from ten to three continually, but he always 
 thinks out his plots after dinner, in the dark, when 
 knotty points disentangle themselves, incidents suggest 
 themselves, and what seemed barren soil in the morning 
 produces rich harvests. The germ of a story has fre- 
 er 2
 
 292 FITZGERALD MOLLOY 
 
 quently been in his mind for two years before he puts it 
 on paper. ' Stories often turn out differently from what 
 I originally intended,' he says. ' Quite recently I began 
 a novel for the sake of its denouement which I saw must 
 be abandoned as unsuitable when I got half way through. 
 Again, a story which I intended to write in five thousand 
 words ran to about eighty thousand to a serial or two- 
 volume book. All my novels are written for serial publi- 
 cation and to order. The length of instalments and of 
 the story itself are always arranged for beforehand by 
 the editor or manager of the syndicate who gives the 
 commission. This is almost invariably the case with 
 authors nowadays.' 
 
 Among other works by Fitzgerald Molloy is ' Koyalty 
 Kestored, or London under Charles II.' This is the 
 author's own favourite. It contains a graphic account of 
 the ever-thrilling and interesting history of the Plague, of 
 the Fire, and of the conspiracies of Titus Gates. In this 
 book the true history of the Plague was written for the first 
 time, the pamphlet on which Defoe founded his description 
 of the scourge that devastated London several years 
 before he was born having been found by Mr. Molloy 
 and largely utilised in his pages. ' Eoyalty Restored ' 
 also gives vivid if somewhat scandalous pictures of the 
 manners and literature of the times, together with the 
 social and domestic life of the ' Merrie Monarch,' and his 
 Court, with its array of frail beauties and witty courtesans. 
 
 Early in the autumn of 1886, Mr. Molloy started for 
 a tour through Spain and Algeria, and it was while in 
 the north of Africa that he met an Arab adept whose 
 strange personality, sanctity of life, and remarkable 
 powers impressed him and influenced his mind in a 
 direction towards which it has since steadily turned. 
 One of the most remarkable gifts of this venerable 
 Mahommedan was his wonderful power of healing. His 
 fame was so great that people flocked to him from France, 
 Spain, and Italy, not as to a magician, but as a healer of
 
 FITZGERALD MOLLOY 293 
 
 disease. From this individual, the author who some- 
 what reluctantly speaks of the subject states that he 
 first learned from personal experience of the latent possi- 
 bilities and inherent powers which lie in all men, of their 
 capability of development, and of the uses to which they 
 can be applied. The following year he published ' A 
 Modern Magician/ which now, in its two-shilling form, 
 continues to have a large sale. ' The Life and Adventures 
 of Edmund Kean,' which contained much that was new 
 concerning the great English actor, came next. A visit 
 to Italy in 1890, was made the occasion to produce a 
 series of articles in the ' Illustrated London News ' de- 
 scriptive of Italian cities and sites of interest. 
 
 Quite a new departure is the late work, ' The Faiths 
 of the Peoples,' which first ran through the columns of a 
 London Sunday paper. This most interesting and in- 
 structive book, which involved much study and research, 
 deals with the religious beliefs of all denominations. It 
 contains no theological discussions, but throws a bright 
 light upon many persuasions, and is written throughout 
 in a simple and eloquent style with a strict justice and 
 impartiality which most of the Church papers recognised 
 and praised. 
 
 The author's latest book is a biography of his brilliant 
 and beautiful countrywoman, published in two volumes, 
 and called ' The Most Gorgeous Lady Blessington.' The 
 work gives a wonderfully vivid insight into the literary 
 circle which surrounded the Countess in the middle of the 
 century, and contains many interesting letters from those 
 who were at the time most prominent in art, in fashion, 
 and in literature. If the ' prime of life ' be the ' prime of 
 work,' the public may in the future confidently expect 
 much more bright and entertaining literature from Fitz- 
 gerald Molloy's graceful and versatile pen.
 
 2 9 4 GERTRUDE KINGSTON 
 
 GEBTEUDE KINGSTON 
 
 (MRS. SILVER) 
 
 PASSIONATELY attached to the theatre and to all things 
 dramatic, Miss Gertrude Kingston received her first strong 
 ideas and longings to adopt the stage as a profession from 
 watching Mr. Irving when as yet but a child, and declares 
 that, in common with most enthusiastic young creatures, 
 she madly adored him. Never a first night did she miss, 
 and every friend was coaxed to give her the greatest 
 possible treat and take her to the play. Then for a few 
 years she actually refrained from going at all, fearing the 
 desire to join the ranks might become too ardent. This 
 abstention showed a distinctly well-regulated mind at an 
 early period ; the combination of highly artistic tastes on 
 the side of her mother, and solid practical qualities on 
 that of her father, resulted in the cultivation of many 
 accomplishments and languages, and a somewhat ex- 
 haustive system of education, fundamentally. It like- 
 wise fostered a habit of thinking and judging for herself 
 so impartially that, if at any time she were a creature of 
 impulse, her cool judgment and level head invariably 
 prevent that impulse from running away with her. ' I 
 was born in London,' says Miss Kingston in soft, tuneful 
 accents, as she nestles back in an easy chair. ' I have no 
 drop of English blood in me ; my father was German, my 
 mother Italian and wonderfully handsome. They had 
 what may be called instructive talents, and we were kept 
 at studies all day long. I was a most melancholy infant,' 
 she adds with a laugh, ' always writing diaries, poems, 
 and stories of early deaths. Ours was a cosmopolitan 
 education ; we had Italian and German governesses one 
 remains in the family to this day French maids and 
 teachers of every sort and kind a good many more than 
 I cared for then, for I did not see the necessity for so
 
 GERTRUDE KINGSTON 295 
 
 much learning for girls.' It has, however, all proved very 
 useful. Miss Kingston can take a part in French as 
 easily as in English, and in other languages, too, with 
 equal fluency and accent acquired in the countries which 
 she constantly visited. The youngest of four sisters 
 all of whom, as she says, ' have married and lived happily 
 ever after ' she had at one time thought of painting as a 
 career, and schooldays over before she came out in 
 society she went abroad to study under Gussow, where 
 she made the acquaintance of Miss Koderstein, the 
 favourite pupil of Carolus Duran. This lady befriended 
 the young girl the only student from England and 
 Miss Kingston speaks with enthusiasm of the kindness 
 she received from her. When continuing her studies 
 in Carolus Duran's studio a couple of years later, the first 
 person she met was Miss Roderstein, who said she should 
 not go away this time without being painted, and the 
 result is a fine life-size portrait of the young actress, which 
 hangs in a good light on the wall, and is a gift from the 
 artist. Keproductions of Miss Kingston's own works 
 many done for a German firm are on the other walls. 
 These are mostly humorous, and their originals long since 
 published in her clever picture-books for children. But 
 the day was hastening on when Gertrude Kingston's early 
 longing for a histrionic life was to be gratified. Her 
 father died, and she desired to earn money ; she wrote to 
 Mr. George Alexander and asked for his advice. ' Go to 
 Miss Sarah Thome,' he replied. However, before she 
 took this step she played with Mr. W. S. Gilbert in his 
 ' Broken Hearts ' at Mr. Boughton's private theatricals, 
 and also in ' The Tale of Troy ' at Lady Freke's enter- 
 tainment at Cromwell House, where both Mr. Beerbohm 
 Tree and Mr. Alexander observed that she gave con- 
 siderable promise. Eventually she acted on the advice 
 given, and went down to Margate. ' Dear Miss Thorne,' 
 says the young player heartily, ' I should like to record 
 my gratitude to her. Nearly all the present generation of
 
 296 GERTRUDE KINGSTON 
 
 professionals have passed through her hands. She was 
 such a good friend to me ! I never enjoyed any time 
 so much as with her. Those might be called impres- 
 sionist performances : a few rehearsals and " on," and 
 such a variety of parts. She is an excellent teacher, and 
 brought me good luck. I was playing Zoe one night in 
 Boucicault's " Quadroon Girl," and Mr. Tree was present, 
 though I did not know it. He had come to recruit, and, 
 by way of a change, dropped in at the Theatre Eoyal, 
 Margate. He wrote me a charming letter, and, what was 
 more practical, wired to me a month later offering me a 
 big role in " Partners " Mrs. Harkaway, a wicked, fashion- 
 able woman. I came up to town at once, but such apart 
 has its disadvantages, and had one evil result. I found 
 myself compelled for the next five years to play ad- 
 venturesses, which I cordially hated.' Now this is a very 
 modest way of putting it. Miss Kingston's performance 
 of Mrs. Harkaway was so powerful and realistic, and 
 combined with so much individual refinement and pathos, 
 that it was no wonder she was called upon to impersonate 
 characters of the sort. Another of the same kind was 
 Kachel Denison in ' Tares ' at the Opera Comique, and in 
 this she particularly distinguished herself, though she felt 
 it to be a great ordeal to come after Miss Eyre, who had 
 created the part so magnificently. Among many early roles 
 she played Mrs. Fizzleton in that humorous farce ' Nita's 
 First,' Enid in ' Mr. Barnes of New York,' Clara Dexter 
 in ' Woodbarrow Farm,' Mrs. Selwyn in ' A Fool's 
 Paradise,' Lena in a revival of ' The Harbour Lights,' and 
 Octavia in ' New Lamps for Old.' During the last three 
 years her chief performances were the original parts of 
 Mrs. Glyn Stanmore in ' The Idler ' at the St. James's 
 with Mr. Alexander and Madame de Sivori in ' Lord Aner- 
 ley,' followed by a season at the Court to play the Honour- 
 able Mrs. Chombleigh in ' Marriage,' a part in which she 
 delighted. Gradually the ' adventuresses ' were shaken 
 off, and she found mitigation in Inez Quesnel in ' The
 
 GERTRUDE KINGSTON 297 
 
 Case of Kebellious Susan,' a play that she declares to have 
 been ' murdered by the influenza,' and her part one that 
 she found it 'great fun to act sympathetic and pleasant,' 
 adding that she was ' greatly surprised ' by the good 
 notices she received. A late part that attracted much 
 attention was in ' The Passport ' at Terry's Theatre, under 
 Mr. Dana's management, as Mrs. D'Arcy the lady with 
 the inconvenient memory, who complicated matters by 
 forgetting who was her real husband. 
 
 Under a calm exterior and a peculiarly quiet manner, 
 Gertrude Kingston possesses much strength of character 
 and a great sense of justice. She had once an occasion 
 to exercise it, and her method of so doing shall be given 
 in her own words. 'I was engaged,' she says, 'in the 
 autumn of 1893, to play Mabel Wentworth in Pettitt's 
 melodrama, "A Woman's Kevenge," at the Adelphi. 
 During its run I was seized with a severe throat attack, 
 and asked for a three weeks' holiday to go to La Bourboule, 
 Auvergne- a place celebrated for throat treatment. 
 Another actress was chosen to fill my place temporarily ; 
 on my return I was told that my locum tenens had made 
 a success of the part, and I had better look out for 
 another engagement. Now, I am not pugilistic, but I do 
 like fair play, and this was an opportunity to help my 
 brother and sister artists in the profession and to establish 
 a precedent in a law which enables a manager to restrain a 
 player from performing elsewhere than in his own theatre, 
 but renders an actor powerless to prevent a manager from 
 engaging another in his or her place. My answer was to 
 take out an injunction to stop anyone else taking my 
 part. Unfortunately the case came before a holiday 
 judge, who could not create a precedent in another court. 
 He took twenty-four hours to consider the question, but, 
 though he admitted that I had been badly treated, he was 
 sorry to be unable to grant an injunction ; but he added 
 that it was clearly a case for damages. I could not, how- 
 ever, conscientiously say that not being allowed to act at
 
 298 GERTRUDE KINGSTON 
 
 the Adelphi would damage me in any way. Moreover, 
 since then I have more than trebled my salary ; so I 
 dropped the matter, and have often laughed heartily over 
 it.' 
 
 But it was before she went on the stage at all that 
 Miss Kingston had quietly arranged another portion of her 
 life for the future. While on a visit to friends at a large 
 country house in the North there arrived a good-looking, 
 sunburnt young officer, Captain Silver, fresh from the 
 Soudan with all his medals who took her heart by 
 storm. The young couple became engaged, and a few 
 years later the marriage took place. Yonder hangs his por- 
 trait in the uniform of the gallant 42nd Highlanders the 
 Black Watch close to a photograph of her brother, who 
 inherits the family abilities, and, though only twenty-five 
 years of age, holds a high position in the Bengal Civil 
 Service. ' My husband,' she remarks, ' is devoted to the 
 stage, and if he had 10,OOOZ. a year he would love to give 
 me a theatre of my own ! ' Essentially feminine and 
 gentle in all her ways, Miss Kingston delights in a country 
 life and in all out-door amusements. Yachting is a passion, 
 together with a morning dive overboard for a swim. She is 
 a great horse-woman, but on one occasion met with a sad 
 misadventure in the Row, and was thrown on her head,, 
 and picked up as dead. By an odd coincidence, the young 
 gentleman, Mr. John Mackey then a medical student at 
 St. George's who flew to her assistance, conveyed her to 
 his hospital, and dressed her wounds acted with her in 
 ' The Passport.' At rehearsal she pronounces herself to 
 be ' the despair of the author and a most lamentable 
 study ; ' up to the opening night she never lays down her 
 book, and gets the sense of the play long before the words. 
 However, when the evening comes she is ' as firm as a 
 rock.' In appearance she is tall with slender figure, ex- 
 pressive grey-blue eyes that sparkle with mirth under the 
 level brows ; straight features and a wealth of chestnut-
 
 GERTRUDE KINGSTON 299 
 
 coloured hair coiled carelessly round a classically shaped 
 head. 
 
 Miss Kingston's pretty little red and white house stands 
 in a road near Belgravia, and gives a bright bit of colour 
 to the somewhat dull-looking terrace. Two rooms open 
 into each other, the great bay windows of the further one 
 looking out on to a gay little garden. The walls are hung 
 with a beautiful and unique paper of softly tinted pea- 
 cocks on branches of trees ; the deep crimson tiles of the 
 fireplace give a warmth to the pale green of the hearth 
 and harmonise well with the carved overmantel after 
 Adams of the last century. A grand pianoforte, Hampton 
 Court chairs, Chippendale bureau, and tiny Davonport, to- 
 gether with a revolving bookcase and many ferns and 
 plants in full bloom, complete a picture of domestic 
 comfort. Success achieved early in her career has in no 
 way relaxed Miss Kingston's efforts. She takes it very 
 quietly, and is always working for something higher ; and 
 ' Onward, ever onward,' is her motto. 
 
 EEV. PBOFESSOE SHUTTLEWORTH 
 
 JUST on the bend of Lambeth-hill, nestled amid ungainly 
 warehouses, and in the very heart of the busy, bustling 
 City, stands a pretty red-brick Queen Anne house, which 
 forms a strange contrast and gives a bright bit of colour to 
 its unlovely surroundings. In 1883, when the Eev. Pro- 
 fessor Shuttleworth was appointed Kector of St. Nicholas 
 Cole Abbey, he asked his friend Mr. George Birch, architect 
 of ' Ye Olde London Streete ' at the Health Exhibition, to 
 build him a residence in what he calls this Tower of Babel, 
 and the result is the artistic house of which the exterior 
 and the interior are alike picturesque. A square oak 
 staircase leads up to the rector's study at the back, where
 
 300 REV. PROFESSOR SHUTTLEWORTH 
 
 a broad window stretches across one side, terminating in a 
 little balcony on the left. The look-out is on a quad, with 
 garden in front, containing a solitary tree and bounded on 
 each side by warehouses, while at the further end can be 
 seen the red roof and lattice windows of the new club, in 
 which its founder, the rector, is so keenly interested, and 
 of which more anon. An aviary with singing birds adds 
 its brightness to the scene two tame canaries fly about 
 the room, and frequently alight on his shoulder, for he 
 'loves to have living things around him.' Over the 
 mantelshelf hang two fine etchings portraits of Frederic 
 Denison Maurice, the prophet, and of Kuskin with a 
 Bartolozzi picture in the centre of the famous Dean Colet, 
 of St. Paul's, this last a gift from Mr. Aldam Heaton. A 
 valued possession, presented to him by his people, is a 
 broad, roomy writing-table of light oak, with innumerable 
 cupboards and drawers reaching halfway up to the ceil- 
 ing one of the chief merits of which, in its owner's eyes, 
 is that he ' can be as untidy as he pleases, and the revolving 
 lid shuts it all in.' On its corner stands a charming 
 portrait of a young and graceful woman, with dark eyes 
 and hair, and serene, thoughtful expression. ' My wife,' 
 he says with a smile as he hands it to you, ' and the best 
 helper I have.' His secretary's desk, before the window, 
 presents a different aspect, and is as neat as can be 
 desired. Bookcases, tall, dwarf, and revolving, in every 
 available space, are crammed with books, while from a 
 cavernous-looking, half-open cupboard below a vast heap 
 of MSS., proofs, and music may be dimly discerned. 
 
 The genial, boyish-faced professor was born in Corn- 
 wall, where his father held a living, and is descended from 
 a good old Lancashire Jacobite family, many of whom 
 sacrificed their lives for the cause outside the walls of 
 Preston. He was educated entirely at Walthamstowe, 
 where he became a distinguished athlete, and carried off 
 every attainable prize. Thence, in 1869, to Oxford, where 
 he first entered St. Mary Hall and took a scholarship,
 
 REV. PROFESSOR SHUTTLEWORTH 301 
 
 migrating later to Christ Church, where among his friends 
 who afterwards achieved fame were Sir Ellis Ashmead- 
 Bartlett ; James Hannington, the martyr bishop ; George 
 Russell, the present Under-Secretary for the Home 
 Department ; Ingham, Bishop of Sierra Leone ; and 
 Wilson, the first white man found at Uganda. In 1873, 
 the young student took his B.A. degree with high honours, 
 and, as from boyhood he had always determined to be a 
 parson, was duly ordained, got his first title to Holy 
 Orders at St. Barnabas, Oxford, and soon became absorbed 
 in the work. With the curacy he held the chaplaincy of 
 Christ Church a somewhat unusual circumstance and 
 remained for three years. In 1876, he was appointed a 
 minor canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, with which election 
 his strong musical gifts and the possession of a fine bari- 
 tone voice had probably something to do ; but it happened 
 that a special kind of man was wanted who could influence 
 and manage youths. As the young minor canon had 
 always at heart a longing desire to do something for young 
 men and lads, no more fitting appointment could have 
 been made. Here was a grand opportunity, of which he 
 availed himself to the uttermost. He continued for seven 
 years at the post, and got to know a great deal about the 
 deep, throbbing heart of the City and its inner life and 
 conditions an experience which has proved very valuable 
 since. While yet at St. Paul's he was appointed, in 1883, 
 one of the lecturers in the Faculty of Theology, at King's 
 College, London, and, in 1890, he succeeded Dr. Swete 
 who became Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge 
 as Professor of ' Pastoral Theology.' At the age of thirty- 
 four he was offered by the Dean and Chapter the Rectory 
 of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey. 
 
 ' The church is of Wren's architecture,' remarks Pro- 
 fessor Shuttleworth, with something between a smile and 
 a sigh ; ' and very ugly. It is like a great hall, though we 
 have made it as beautiful as possible with interior decora- 
 tion. But my choir 'and he brightens up visibly 'I
 
 302 REV. PROFESSOR S HUTTLEWORTH 
 
 am proud of my choir ; it is quite unique. At first, as 
 there were no boys to be found, I got ladies to sing pro 
 tern., and they proved so satisfactory that I have never 
 wished to make an exchange. They are so efficient, 
 earnest, and tractable ; the men are surpliced.' Together 
 with the musical rector and the able choir-master, Mr. 
 Henry Cooper, and the organist, Mr. Ealph Norris (whom 
 the rector brought from Oxford), this well trained band of 
 men and women produce most effectively on one Sunday 
 afternoon in winter months and on one evening in each 
 month, portions of such oratorios and sacred music as 
 Gounod's ' Gallia ' and 'De Profundis,' Mozart's ' Eequiem,' 
 Handel's 'Passion Music,' Sullivan's ' Light of the World,' 
 &c. The whole idea bears on and grew out of Professor 
 Shuttleworth's work at St. Paul's Cathedral. In the 
 summer months there is no afternoon service, as he says 
 that people are much better out in the open air. His 
 preaching is too well known to need much mention. 
 Entirely extempore, but carefully prepared, he possesses 
 great fluency, and never hesitates for words. He seldom 
 exceeds half an hour, feeling that if a man has something 
 to say people will not grudge him time to say it ; but it is 
 when he has nothing, and takes three-quarters of an hour 
 to give it words, that they do not like it. One character- 
 istic of his work is that he endeavours to cater for different 
 classes of people : for instance, on Sunday mornings the 
 services are remarkable for their rather elaborate music, 
 simple but dignified ritual, with no fuss, which appeal to 
 the more refined type of devout mind. On alternate 
 Sunday mornings there is no sermon ; but a Bible exposi- 
 tion, with the latest criticism, is given. In the evening 
 it is a plain parochial service with simple chants. The 
 wisdom of this plan is evident, for whereas when Professor 
 Shuttleworth first came as rector the congregation con- 
 sisted of four or five old people (who were paid to come), 
 now, though the church is in the City, and so far out of 
 the way, there is scarcely standing room for the crowds
 
 REV. PROFESSOR SHUTTLEWORTH 303 
 
 that flock in, of which a noticeable feature is that they are 
 largely composed of men. Another successful work was 
 the institution of a series of lectures, apart from the 
 services, dealing with social or general questions of 
 course, from the Christian point of view delivered some- 
 times by himself, sometimes by other clergy, and these 
 attract large audiences, especially when the subject be of 
 more than ordinary interest. Among such lectures have 
 been : ' Some Churchmen and their Influence on English 
 Life and Thought,' ' The Church and the Public Health/ 
 ' John Keble the Poet,' and ' John Colet the Eeformer.' 
 
 St. Nicholas is open every day for six hours for people 
 who seek a quiet half-hour's rest from their labours, and 
 that this privilege is appreciated is manifest by the many 
 who go in and out. ' I am dead against the pulling down 
 of the City churches,' says the rector earnestly. ' It is a 
 scandal and a shame not to say a penny- wise pound- 
 foolish proceeding. I am of the opinion that the day will 
 come when people will return to the City to live. If it 
 were not for the Inhabited House duty, not the heads of 
 firms, but the foremen would be able to occupy the empty 
 top floors of all these warehouses and what an advantage 
 to them it would be ! ' 
 
 At this juncture the door opens and the children enter 
 to exhibit a bowl of gold fish just presented as a birthday 
 gift to the youngest girl. These bright, healthy-looking 
 little ones show no trace of a city life, but the Embank- 
 ment is close at hand, and there they get plenty of fresh 
 air and exercise. It is for their sakes that the rector has 
 striven to make the interior of his home so attractive, for 
 he holds the theory that beautiful environments are essen- 
 tial to the dawning intelligence and to the development 
 of artistic tastes of the young. Wherefore the high lat- 
 ticed windows shut out all that is unlovely without, and 
 are gaily decorated with boxes of plants in flower, while 
 the thickness of the well-built walls deadens the sound of 
 the teeming out-door traffic.
 
 3 o 4 REV. PROFESSOR SHUTTLEWORTH 
 
 From the time he entered on his duties at St. Nicholas' 
 Professor Shuttleworth had formed a scheme which soon 
 grew very near his heart. This was the inauguration of 
 a club on a social basis with one original feature that 
 it should include women as well as men members. ' I 
 desired,' he says, ' to provide a comfortable place of social 
 intercourse, culture, and recreation for young men and 
 women, chiefly, though not exclusively, those employed in 
 the City.' A thorough organiser, and gifted with remark- 
 able energy and tact, Professor Shuttleworth was not long 
 before he elaborated his scheme. At first he hired and 
 furnished two floors of a warehouse in Queen Victoria 
 Street, which soon extended to three. The club opened 
 in September 1889. Then, as the members outgrew the 
 premises, he took the freehold site opposite his study 
 windows and built the new club, which he is striving to 
 place upon a permanent and self-supporting basis. During 
 the past five years he has collected 5,OOOZ. for this purpose, 
 and now only needs 2,OOOZ. more to start it free of debt. 
 The new premises which were opened by the Lord 
 Mayor consist of a large drawing-room where reviews, 
 magazines, and newspapers are provided, and contain a 
 permanent stage for entertainments, lectures, &c. At the 
 back is a ladies' toilet room ; there is a spacious library for 
 reading, conversation, and work ; a reference and also a 
 circulating library, besides a large games room with two 
 full-sized billiard-tables ; a refreshment room and bar, 
 with the usual club meals and smoking room. This 
 admirable institution, for admittance to which there is no 
 religious test of any kind, is under the patronage of the 
 Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress, and is managed by a 
 committee, of which the rector is president, and among 
 the nineteen or twenty distinguished names of vice- 
 presidents are those of Mrs. Shuttleworth and Miss Ellen 
 Terry. It is an indescribable boon to many hard workers, 
 who here find a resting-place such as they cannot get else- 
 where, while the joint admission of the sexes is attended
 
 REV. PROFESSOR SHUTTLEWORTH 305 
 
 with the best results. A close and careful observer of 
 men and manners, Professor Shuttleworth has noted with 
 joy the good effects upon different phases of character 
 which this judicious system has brought about how the 
 shy, awkward young fellows have become more refined and 
 polished and less selfish ; and many weary, depressed girls 
 have grown brighter and happier in the healthy, social 
 atmosphere of a mutual meeting-place whose privileges 
 have never yet been abused. For amusements they have 
 in winter, monthly Cinderella dances, smoking concerts, 
 and tournaments of billiards, whist, and chess ; while in 
 summer there are cricket, tennis, and croquet clubs in 
 connection with the club at Bowes Park. 
 
 All of which speaks volumes for the sound, practical 
 judgment and the robust common-sense of the young 
 rector of St. Nicholas'. Brought up a High Churchman, 
 he has had much experience of the world, and has emerged 
 from any narrow grooves, though what his views are is 
 best indicated by what he has done. He is an ex-president 
 of the National Sunday League and a member of the 
 committee of the Christian Social Union, and may be con- 
 sidered of the same type of man as his friends the Rev. 
 Canons Scott Holland of St. Paul's, and Gore and Eyton 
 of Westminster. He is, besides, lecturer on literary and 
 historical subjects at the ladies' department at King's Col- 
 lege, Kensington, and does a good deal of drawing-room 
 lecturing with the object of raising money for his club. 
 
 Before you leave, Professor Shuttleworth shows you 
 other rooms in his charming house, and points out a fine 
 oil painting of his grandfather, Post-Captain Gary, E.N., 
 who was a midshipman in the ' Victory ' at Trafalgar. 
 When he bids you adieu at the hall door he says, with a 
 merry laugh, ' I call myself professor of sanctified common- 
 sense, since Pastoral Theology defines the practical and 
 parochial side of clerical work.'
 
 306 MISS FORTESCUE 
 
 MISS FOETESCUE 
 
 THEEE is a sense of reposeful dignity in the stately 
 buildings known by the name of St. Ermin's Mansions, 
 near Westminster. The great courtyard looks not unlike 
 a college quad, and certainly no inhabitant requires to 
 keep a clock, or has the smallest excuse for unpunctuality, 
 for the sonorous tones of Big Ben roll out the quarters over 
 the peaceful precincts with unfailing regularity. Their 
 quiet, too, is undisturbed by the excruciating itinerant 
 brass band or the ubiquitous organ-grinder, while the solid 
 structure of the interior is so well arranged with regard 
 to acoustic properties that even a neighbour's piano is not 
 distinctly enough heard to be an annoyance. So well is 
 this fact recognised that the great mansions are con- 
 tinually filled with members of Parliament, reading and 
 thinking people, and students of art, literature, and 
 science. It takes but a moment to glide up by the lift and 
 to land at the picturesquely appointed flat where Miss 
 Fortescue is located with her mother and sister, and it 
 needs but a glance at the sweet lady who rises from a 
 comfortable Chesterfield sofa and greets you with a clear, 
 silvery voice to see from whom the young actress gets 
 her inheritance of personal attractions the straight Greek 
 nose, the short upper lip, the classical contour of face, 
 and the abundant masses of fair hair, which in the elder 
 lady's case the hand of time has mellowed into pure 
 white. 
 
 The artistic decorations of the delightful drawing- 
 room merit a special word of comment. Art has not been 
 allowed to interfere with comfort. The polished floor is 
 liberally strewn with great Oriental rugs, in the broad 
 window recess stands a carved blackwood couch, thrown 
 into relief against the richly embroidered curtains. The 
 actress's own ebonised writing-table is severely neat, and
 
 MISS FORTESCUE 307 
 
 on a shelf above stand a few treasured photographs 
 notably one of her only sister, known on the stage as 
 Miss Helen Ferrers. Bookcases in every direction 
 revolving, dwarf, &c., and all well filled. A principal 
 feature above the iris-papered walls is a narrow Japanese 
 frieze bound in bamboo of which there is only one 
 other in England. Flowers and palms in abundance ; 
 valuable old Indian and blue china here and there among 
 the latter two beautiful Spode plates ; and Miss Fortescue 
 is justly proud of her fine collection of proof etchings, 
 among which can be seen Mason's ' The Gleaner ' and 
 ' The Ksturn from Harvest,' Fred Walker's ' Bray and 
 Cookham.' 
 
 Miss Fortescue was born in London in the lap of 
 luxury, and was educated at home with extreme care 
 under the most cultivated teachers of English, French, 
 German, and Italian. She laughingly pronounces herself 
 to have been a ' real naughty child,' but here the mother, 
 with a tender smile, murmurs a deprecating word, and 
 says, ' It was all high spirits, for she loved riding, boating, 
 and all country and out-door life.' These tastes, together 
 with a love of travelling, have strengthened in her, but 
 the excellent training of her childhood soon bore fruits. 
 Being blessed with great determination and force of 
 character, she applied herself diligently to her books and 
 studies, and, without relinquishing the healthy amuse- 
 ments that she so loved, laid in a store of knowledge, and 
 cultivated a love of literature and a natural gift for 
 music and languages. ' These two last talents,' says Miss 
 Fortescue, ' I inherit from my mother and her family ; 
 they are all good linguists and excellent musicians, but 
 not one of my people has painted a picture, written a 
 book, or previously faced the footlights.' And nothing 
 was further from her own intention until the day came 
 when her father unfortunately embarked in some specu- 
 lations which turned out to be unlucky ; then the young girl 
 cast about in her mind for some way to earn money, and 
 
 x 2
 
 3 o8 MISS FORTESCUE 
 
 soon discovered that the openings were few for people 
 who had no technical knowledge and no technical training 
 on definite subjects. Nature, however, had been kind to 
 her in the r fmatter of outward appearance of face and 
 form, and no less generous in endowing her with a sweet 
 disposition and a happy, sanguine temperament that 
 would only view circumstances through rose-coloured 
 glasses. But Miss Fortescue lays most stress on her 
 educational advantages. 'From the first,' she explains, 
 ' we were taught to speak well and easily, and to pro- 
 nounce with clear enunciation, in which our mother 
 excelled ; and, still further, we were encouraged to think 
 for but not of ourselves, and to avoid all nervousness 
 and self-consciousness.' All wise and judicious training, 
 which was shortly to produce good results ! Certainly 
 no girl could have found the entree into theatrical life 
 more easy than Miss Fortescue, though she acknowledges 
 that in the present day the difficulties of such a step have 
 increased a hundredfold. A friend gave her an intro- 
 duction to Mr. D'Oyly Carte, who was then going to 
 mount ' Patience ' a play which contained three minor 
 parts in addition to the two chief roles. At the suggestion 
 of Mr. W. S. Gilbert, to whom so many debutantes owe their 
 subsequent success, and whose discerning eye saw that here 
 was promising material, Mr. Carte offered her the part of 
 Lady Ella, and she was bidden to rehearsal. Never in 
 any circumstances at an amateur performance not even 
 in a charade had she previously tested her powers. The 
 self-dependence to which she had been reared came into 
 use, and if, as she naively remarks, she felt that ' fools 
 rush in where angels fear to tread,' her utter absence 
 of self-consciousness and of nervousness stood her in 
 good stead. The part of Lady Ella was singularly well 
 adapted to the young player's fine personality, while 
 her musical gifts singing studied under Eandegger and 
 music under the late Sir George Elvey, organist of the 
 Chapel Koyal, Windsor proved to be valuable adjuncts.
 
 MISS FORTESCUE 309 
 
 During the two and a half years that Miss Fortescue 
 remained in Mr. D'Oyly Carte's company she followed 
 the excellent advice given to her, and, besides playing in 
 the evening at the Savoy, she acted in as many matinees 
 as possible, thereby largely increasing her experience. 
 At the conclusion of that time she fulfilled an engage- 
 ment with Mr. Cecil and the late Mr. Clayton at the 
 Court in a revival of Mr. Gilbert's play ' Dan'l Druce,' 
 with Hermann Vezin in his original role of the village 
 blacksmith, and, later, went on to the Strand and played 
 in the revival of ' Our Boys.' Her next step was to take a 
 long tour on her own account and with her own company. 
 She opened with ' Pygmalion and Galatea,' and took this 
 role for the first time. ' I never think of Galatea,' remarks 
 Miss Fortescue brightly, ' without recalling a most 
 humorous incident connected with it. My two pet dogs 
 a collie and a particularly intelligent black poodle, 
 Buddha are in the habit of accompanying me to the 
 theatre, and, except on that occasion, have always behaved 
 with great discretion. One evening, just in the scene 
 where Galatea, awakened into life, descends slowly 
 from her pedestal, to my horror Buddha gravely walked 
 in, marched up to the empty pedestal, sniffed for a 
 moment, then sat on it, calmly surveying the audience 
 with a self-satisfied expression. The humours of " Black 
 and White " were well illustrated, but the contrast be- 
 tween the jet black poodle perched where the marble- 
 white Galatea had just descended was too much for the 
 audience, who simply fell into paroxysms of laughter. I 
 turned round and gave the dog one look, from which I 
 do not think she has yet recovered ; but she took the hint 
 and retired in the same dignified manner in which she 
 entered, and she has never since transgressed but it was 
 an awful moment ! ' The provincial tour was followed 
 by a prolonged visit with her company to America a 
 visit that Miss Fortescue greatly enjoyed, and to which 
 she looks back with pleasure where she 'made many
 
 3 io MISS FORTESCUE 
 
 friends and received much kindness.' She played for 
 nine weeks in New York, and at all the principal States 
 and in Canada. Since that time she has alternated 
 between the provinces with her own company and 
 in London, under other managements, and she has lately 
 made a successful tour in South Africa and Australia. Her 
 repertory comprises nearly two hundred characters. 
 
 ' I like the hard-working battle of life,' says the 
 actress with enthusiasm. ' I love my profession, but a 
 dramatic career becomes more and more of an exotic and 
 less of a garden flower more, so to speak, of the hot- 
 house atmosphere. I find prose more difficult to learn 
 than poetry, and blank verse easier than either. I am 
 rather a slow study, and like long preparation.' Miss 
 Fortescue has the keenest sense of humour. She is very 
 short-sighted, which she declares ' to have its advantages, 
 as, seeing nothing in front, she is never disturbed by 
 people moving or any eccentricities.' But if she cannot 
 see, she is particularly sensitive in feeling the spirit of an 
 audience, and if they are going along with her or not ; 
 she pronounces the difference of the sensation of the 
 mental atmosphere of audiences in different places per- 
 haps only fifty miles apart to be perfectly extraordinary. 
 She is as fond of country life at its best as in the days of 
 her childhood, and delights in riding, rowing, and all out- 
 door exercises. She has ' read hard ' all her life, and is 
 now more than ever an omnivorous reader memoirs and 
 history of every sort and kind being a passion while 
 historical research into unpublished papers from the 
 muniment rooms of great houses the Paston Letters, 
 Maxwell Lyte's Cecil papers from Hatfield are perfectly 
 fascinating to her. But she frankly avows that she 
 ' hates science,' and attributes it to ' a kink in her brain, 
 an absence of a faculty call it what you like.' She is 
 extremely adaptable, and in her foreign trips is wont to 
 enjoy mixing with and talking to the peasants in Germany, 
 Italy, and France in their own language. She confesses
 
 MISS FORTESCUE 3 n 
 
 to a ' great capacity for hero-worship, and that no one was 
 more bitten than herself by the Napoleonic craze,' adding 
 quaintly, ' If I had been Napoleon's door mat I should 
 have looked down or up with disdain on the hatstand 
 of lesser lights.' 
 
 TIVADAE NACHEZ 
 
 IT is with almost a feeling of awe that you gaze at the 
 violin, reposing in its case, at the pretty little flat in the 
 West End of London, where the world-renowned violinist, 
 Mr. Tivadar Nachez, has made his home. The instru- 
 ment 
 
 ' That small, sweet thing, 
 Devised in love and fashioned cunningly 
 Of wood and strings ' 
 
 on which he evokes the exquisite melodies that have 
 caused his fame to spread throughout the kingdom, is a 
 genuine Stradivarius of the grand pattern which cost one 
 thousand guineas, but it has probably repaid its price 
 many thousand times over in the skilful hands of its gifted 
 owner, as, with his extraordinary executive power, his clear 
 phrasing, and perfect technique, he pours out his whole 
 poetic soul with the bow on its strings. 
 
 It is a strange fact that Mr. Tivadar Nachez has in no 
 way inherited the divine gift of music, nor can he trace 
 back any such inheritance in his remote ancestry. He 
 was born at Buda-Pesth in May 1859, and is one of five 
 children of Major Nachez, an officer in the Austrian army, 
 who distinguished himself in the Eevolution of 1849. 
 Ere yet he could speak plainly he would sit on the floor 
 listening with delight to his mother while she played on 
 the piano, and, with one bit of stick under his chin and 
 another in his hand, he would pretend to accompany her 
 on the fiddle. Before he was five years of age the talent 
 manifested itself so strongly that his grandfather bought
 
 312 TIVADAR NACHEZ 
 
 him a little violin and paid for his lessons from Sabathiel, 
 leader of the orchestra of the Royal opera in his native 
 town. The great Liszt, who was then president of the 
 State Academy of Music, was a frequent guest to play 
 whist at the house of Major Nachez, and took the keenest 
 interest in the musical education of the gifted child, and at 
 a charity concert given by Liszt in aid of the sufferers by 
 an inundation he insisted that the young Tivadar should 
 play. At this entertainment, at the age of seven, he per- 
 formed in public for the first time, and gave the violin 
 concerto by Lipinski. During the next three years he 
 played at a series of matinees given by Liszt for the bene- 
 fit of the students in company with the illustrious master 
 in such pieces as Schumann's sonatas, and in many of 
 Beethoven's works, and it was this period that influenced 
 his whole subsequent life. But on reaching his eleventh 
 year it became necessary that his general education should 
 be considered, for which purpose he was sent to the 
 Catholic States Gymnasium, the preparatory school 
 for the university. Now, it is the law in Austria that 
 every man shall serve his country, and at the end of his 
 school career the young student would have had to take 
 active service for three years, but, having applied himself 
 with such hearty goodwill to his tasks, he passed the 
 Matura examination, which confers the right to reduce the 
 usual period under arms to one year. On leaving the 
 Gymnasium he entered into competition for the three years' 
 Government scholarship for music, and won it out of 346 
 candidates. This scholarship was one of four that were 
 founded to commemorate the crowning of the Emperor of 
 Austria King of Hungary, and enabled him to proceed to 
 Berlin to be trained under Joachim, with whom Tivadar 
 Nachez studied for three years, while at the same time he 
 took lessons from Professor Kiel in harmony. Later he 
 went on to Paris, worked under Leonard, and devoted 
 himself to the technicalities of his art. 
 
 Mr. Nachez has a peculiarly touching remembrance of a
 
 T1VADAR NACHEZ 313 
 
 concert at which he played when only sixteen years of 
 age, at the Cirque d'Hiver, under the conductorship of 
 Pasdeloup. He had performed the very difficult Concerto 
 in F sharp minor by Ernst, and the widowed Madame 
 Ernst was among the audience. ' She came into the 
 artists' room,' he says, ' at the conclusion, and said many 
 kind, complimentary words on my rendering of her hus- 
 band's music, declaring that it had brought tears to her 
 eyes. She then invited me to her house, and gave me this 
 bow that you see, which the famous composer had used. 
 His spirit seems to have been with me ever since. It was 
 while I was still at college that I met Eichter, who had 
 just come to Buda-Pesth fresh from the influence of 
 Wagner. He woke us all up with his Philharmonic 
 concerts, to which my teacher took me to play at the first 
 desk, and my soul awakened to the beauties of Mozart, 
 Beethoven, and Schumann's symphonies. 
 
 At the age of twenty-two Tivadar Nachez decided to 
 spread his wings and come to London. His first step was 
 to apply to Mr. Manns at the Crystal Palace to give him 
 a hearing. That gentleman at first demurred, saying he 
 had no free day, and he had Joachim, Neruda, Sarasate, 
 &c. Not to be daunted, however, the young musician 
 coaxed the impresario to hear him, with the immediate 
 result that he was offered five guineas to play at the 
 Saturday concert. ' Guineas were scarce with me then,' 
 he remarks pithily, ' and I jumped at it ! ' The impression 
 he made was so favourable that he was at once engaged 
 for the next concert, and the basis of his success was 
 established. From that time his reputation was assured ; 
 he was invited to play in all the principal towns through- 
 out Great Britain, and has never since lacked engagements 
 or admirers. He has the proud satisfaction of feeling that 
 he has conquered the public entirely by his own merits 
 and made the score off his own bat. During many tours 
 through Germany, Switzerland, Kussia, Austria, &c., he 
 has performed before nearly every crowned head in Europe.
 
 314 TIVADAR NACHEZ 
 
 After the first of these Continental wanderings Mr. Nachez 
 returned to England and played at the Philharmonic 
 Concerts, at Princes' Hall, at the London Musical 
 Society's Concerts, and at one of the Eoyal Amateur 
 Orchestral Society's Concerts at which his old friend Liszt 
 was present. And then came a terrible catastrophe that 
 threatened to extinguish an exceptionally brilliant career. 
 While tricycling he fell and broke his bow arm, which 
 kept him a cripple for nearly a year ; during this time he 
 travelled in Germany and Vienna, where the skill of the 
 renowned Professor Billroth restored to him the full use 
 of the arm. Mr. Nachez has a pleasant recollection of 
 two concerts at the Guildhall, Plymouth, in 1891, when 
 the Duke of Edinburgh was first violin. At the conclusion 
 of the second concert the Duke addressed the members of 
 the orchestra in the artists' room, and, after speaking in 
 the warmest words of appreciation of Mr. Nachez' solo, 
 proposed that he should at once be elected an hon. 
 member of the Koyal Amateur Orchestral Society. The 
 proposal was unanimously carried, and His Eoyal Highness 
 took off his own badge of membership and fastened it on 
 the young violinist's breast. His artistic achievements 
 soon brought him before the notice of the Queen and 
 the Eoyal Family, and he has repeatedly been commanded 
 to Balmoral and Windsor by Her Majesty, who signified 
 her approval in the most gratifying terms. It will be 
 remembered that he was also specially summoned, together 
 with Madame Albani, by H.E.H. the Duke of Saxe- 
 Coburg Gotha, to perform again before Her Majesty and 
 other Imperial and Eoyal guests at the wedding festivities 
 of April 21, 1894, on which occasion he was presented 
 with the first class of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Family 
 Order and with other valuable souvenirs. 
 
 Year after year Tivadar Nachez has performed at all 
 great musical meetings, at the Patti and Albeniz concerts, 
 at Sir Augustus Harris's operatic concerts, together with 
 private entertainments at the most fashionable houses in
 
 TIVADAR NACHEZ 315 
 
 London. Among some of his chief triumphs were three 
 violin recitals that he held in St. James's Hall during the 
 season of 1894, where, in spite of the hot weather and the 
 classical nature of the music, the great hall was filled to 
 overflowing with critical and enthusiastic audiences. He 
 was then engaged for a tour in company with Mr. Ben 
 Davies, and played at Leipsic, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, 
 Prague, Vienna, &c., not omitting his native town, Buda- 
 Pesth. At these Continental concerts he put before the 
 public programmes classical to the highest degree, including 
 Bach, Schumann, Corelli, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, but 
 always introduced one or more pieces by English com- 
 posers. Among some thirty to forty of his own composi- 
 tions the most important are a concerto for violin and 
 orchestra (dedicated to his old master Dr. Joachim) and 
 his world-famed Hungarian Dances, which are in their 
 seventeenth edition, and have been reprinted in six different 
 countries. Nor must a Swedish Rhapsody be omitted, for 
 thereby hangs a tale. A few years ago, when at Stockholm, 
 he was invited to play at Stockholm, where the Queen of 
 Sweden, though lying ill, was desirous of hearing, even if 
 she could not see, him. The Crown Prince asked whether 
 he could play a Swedish air, and he tried to play a soft, 
 pathetic, Swedish national melody, improvising on it. 
 This was attended with happy results, and moved the King 
 so deeply that he gave the young artist a command to 
 write a work for the violin on this melody. His engage- 
 ments of late have included many at private houses 
 notably at one very distinguished reception where, with 
 no other vocal or instrumental help, he kept the attention 
 of fashionable but critical audiences riveted for three hours 
 with selections from Handel, Wagner, Bazzini, &c., and 
 some of his own compositions. 
 
 Never was a favourite of the public so completely un- 
 spoiled by success. Simple and genial by nature, perfectly 
 unaffected and full of bright conversation, Tivadar Nachez 
 has won the hearts of all those in the country that he loves
 
 3 i6 TIVADAR NACHEZ 
 
 to call ' the land of his adoption,' though, he adds with a 
 smile, ' of course my own Hungary must come first. But 
 when I have been abroad, and return to see the white cliffs 
 of Dover, I know that I shall find a place for my weary 
 head to rest, and I forget my present shortcomings in the 
 country and among the people that I regard with so much 
 estimation and affection.' 
 
 BEATRICE WHITBY 
 
 (MRS. PHILIP HICKS) 
 
 THE bright sunshine and soft, balmy breeze make the 
 morning stroll very pleasant as you wend your way through 
 the handsome, scrupulously clean streets of Leamington 
 towards the house which has lately become the home of 
 the well-known author, Beatrice Whitby. Strictly a 
 modern town for sixty years ago it was only a tiny 
 village, without even a butcher's shop it covers a good 
 deal of ground considering the number of the inhabitants. 
 Of late years it has become so popular as a hunting centre 
 and ' pleasure place ' that it has actually joined on to 
 Warwick, and is even reaching out arms to Kenilworth. 
 The broad streets are airy and well lined with trees, 
 which seem to have made rapid growth ; the buildings 
 are handsome and well constructed, and there is a general 
 well-to-do appearance all round. 
 
 In the main road that runs from end to end of 
 Leamington stands the big house to which Dr. Hicks 
 brought his bride. She is, however, by no means a 
 stranger in the town, and by an odd coincidence her 
 present residence happens to be the very same house that 
 her father formerly occupied for many years. Her recent 
 marriage has taken Beatrice Whitby away from her late 
 home in Devon, but here she has no intention of giving 
 up her work ; and in this new step in life Mrs. Hicks has
 
 BEATRICE WHITBY 317 
 
 won the good wishes and congratulations not only of her 
 many personal friends, but also of a large section of the 
 novel-reading public. The house within is charming. 
 The drawing-room is gay with flowers and luxuriant 
 maidenhair ferns ; a handsome black retriever, ' Sweep,' 
 is stretched on the hearth-rug, and inspects you critically, 
 but, apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, comes forward 
 and presents a huge paw by way of greeting. ' He knows 
 everything,' says the young author, smiling, ' and is a 
 valued friend. He has been at my heels indoors and out 
 for eight years. I am delighted with everything,' she 
 continues presently, as you take furtive glances around. 
 ' My husband has picked up all sorts of antique furniture, 
 Chippendale and Sheraton there are few legs in the 
 house that are not " ball and claw " ; the old prints and 
 engravings are also a hobby of his. He has arranged a 
 delightful room for my study at the back.' To this study, 
 in which there are many reminiscences of her late home 
 in Devon, you both adjourn. Among various pictures on 
 the walls there is one which Beatrice Whitby regards 
 with peculiar affection. It represents a long, two-storied, 
 old-fashioned house, with sloping roof and wide verandah- 
 top overhanging the great windows below, which command 
 a lovely view of the valley, framed in hills, and of a 
 widely-spreading lawn opening out into four acres of 
 gardens and orchards. It is Ridgway House, Ottery St. 
 Mary's, her birthplace and home for twenty-three years. 
 Close by this picture hangs one of ' Larkbeare,' where 
 Thackeray lived for many years, and where, in the sur- 
 rounding neighbourhood, he laid the scenes of ' Pendennis.' 
 Here, too, is a photograph of Ottery and the house where the 
 poet Coleridge was born, and another of a favourite church 
 ' very beautiful, very old, very interesting,' she says. 
 ' Charles Lamb, in his play " John Woodville," alludes 
 to the bells. The chimes in monotone are the sweetest I 
 ever heard.' The cleverly executed pastel portrait on an 
 easel, of Miss Whitby herself, is the work of the promising
 
 3i8 BEATRICE WHITBY 
 
 young artist Miss Maud Coleridge, who has caught the 
 likeness admirably. The talented young author of ' The 
 Awakening of Mary Fenwick ' and other novels is one of 
 a family of eight, and is a daughter of Dr. Whitby. Her 
 mother was a Welsh woman, Miss Philipps of Llwyncrum 
 in Carmarthenshire, and niece of the celebrated beauty > 
 Lady Owen of Orielton, Pembrokeshire, who, judging by 
 the many photographs that are to be seen representing 
 handsome brothers and sisters, has handed down her good 
 looks to the younger generation. Yonder noble-looking 
 youth was a lieutenant in H.M. 17th Regiment, and met 
 with a soldier's death in the Afghanistan war. Young as 
 he was he had made his mark in journalism, and was editor 
 of ' The Khandahar News ' when he was killed in battle. 
 Another, in a cricketing suit, was a renowned bowler at 
 Oxford during his four years' residence at that University. 
 ' The celebrated swift bowler's sister,' wrote a kindly 
 sporting editor to her, some time later, as he warmly con- 
 gratulated her on the success of her first (published) book. 
 All these young people had healthy, athletic tastes as 
 well as considerable literary ability. ' With the exception 
 of a year at Hamburg,' says Beatrice Whitby, as she leads 
 the way into the dining-room, where luncheon is spread, 
 ' I was educated entirely at home. We were all quick at 
 writing and fond of reading, and our studies were made 
 agreeable by patient and cultivated teachers. We used to 
 tell each other tales, as I suppose most children do ; the 
 woes that came my way I lamented in poems, and as soon 
 as I left the school-room I set to work to write a story.' 
 Of the practical making of printed books the young girl 
 was naturally profoundly ignorant. In those days there 
 was no ' Society of Authors ' to enlighten her (or, at least, 
 if there were, she knew nothing of it). For the forming 
 of such a society experienced and inexperienced authors 
 can never be sufficiently grateful to Mr. Walter Besant. 
 The fate of her first story was unfortunate. Miss Whitby 
 sent it in answer to an advertisement for MSS. to London,
 
 BEATRICE WHITBY 319 
 
 where neither MS. nor advertiser could subsequently be 
 heard of. With ' Mary Fenwick ' she deemed it safest to 
 go to a firm whose name she copied from a book in the 
 library. ' But I fell into good hands,' observes the novelist. 
 ' Messrs. Chatto and Windus at once accepted it. I had 
 judged it to be the length of a shilling book, but heard, to 
 my surprise, it would form a three-volume novel. I am a 
 particularly slow writer, and my people used to get im- 
 patient over the time that I spent in seclusion. I re- 
 member that we had Anthony Trollope's " Life and 
 Keminiscences " in the house, and from it they gathered 
 that Mrs. Trollope his mother has written her best 
 novel in three weeks, during the intervals of nursing a 
 sick child, and it had taken me an unjustifiable nine 
 months of hard work to write my story ! No,' she con- 
 tinues in answer to a question, ' I was not at all elated at 
 the prospect of authorship as the time of publication came 
 on, though one of the three people who had read my MS. 
 assured me that she " had often read more stupid things 
 in print ; " a second wrote me to " be sure and prepare my- 
 self for the very worst," while the third remarked pithily, 
 " reviewers don't take off their hats to ladies only to good 
 writers ! " Even the man at the bookstall volunteered 
 that " a nasty, slashing review, Miss, will often do a book 
 more good than harm ! " 
 
 All well meant, but very discouraging to a girl-writer 
 whose own opinion of her merits was particularly modest. 
 However, the book came out, and so did the reviews, and 
 
 here was nothing ' nasty ' or ' slashing ' in any of them. 
 On the contrary, they were all so kind and encouraging 
 that Beatrice Whitby, after a short period of rest, was 
 emboldened to begin again, slowly and deliberately, as is 
 her wont, and during a residence at Leamington re-wrote 
 the story that had been originally lost, called ' Part of the 
 Property.' This was by and by followed by others, 
 entitled ' One Keason Why,' ' In the Suntime of Her Youth,' 
 
 A Question of Skill,' &c.
 
 320 BEATRICE WHITBY 
 
 Her first work went into a second edition in a couple 
 of weeks, and has since passed into many more. It 
 brought, as her later books have done, many letters of 
 commendation from unknown correspondents in Tasmania, 
 America, and other countries. A sequel is entitled ' Mary 
 Fenwick's Daughter' (now in its third edition), wherein 
 the reader meets again with renewed interest the old 
 friends who proved so fascinating in the former story. 
 
 The peculiar sensation of quiet and peace in the views 
 around her beloved and native county Devon, where most 
 of her work was done, has largely influenced the life and 
 work of Beatrice Whitby. With a keen sense of humour 
 and an intuitive perception of peculiarities, alike in persons 
 and in things, she has a strong appreciation of the beauties 
 in nature, which she has cultivated to the uttermost. No 
 effect or scene escapes her notice. Her characters are at 
 once natural and easy, while the purity and innocence of 
 the tone in no way detracts from their vigour and interest. 
 
 Beatrice Whitby is, like her novel, 'in the suntime 
 of her youth.' Much of her life is in front of her. If, 
 while yet in her teens, she could write such a story as 
 ' Part of the Property,' and follow it some few years later 
 by ' The Awakening of Mary Fenwick,' what possibilities 
 may not be in store for her in the future ? 
 
 AETHUE A BECKETT 
 
 THEEE is scarcely a corner in Mr. a Beckett's bright and 
 artistic house, standing in the west side of Eccleston 
 Square, that is not fraught with relics and memories of a 
 peculiarly interesting and eventful career. The hall and 
 staircase are lined with framed collections of valuable 
 letters, pictures, autographs, and etchings reminiscences 
 from most of the well-known people of the day as well as 
 of those who have gone before.
 
 MR. AUTJIU'E VV. A BKCKETT
 
 ARTHUR A BECKETT 321 
 
 Beyond the great double drawing-rooms, divided by 
 a white arch, there can be seen an extension recess ; the 
 pale-tinted yellow walls are hung with original drawings 
 by Sir John Tenniel, Sambourne, and Du Maurier ; the 
 art-blue felt is strewn with Persian rugs of subdued tints, 
 and on the carved white overmantels and genuine old 
 Chippendale bureaus and cabinets stand many choice 
 specimens of old blue and Oriental china ; but there is one 
 special corner which takes you back in imagination to the 
 last century every detail is correct, from the old-fashioned 
 and quaint mirror and ancient grandfather clock to the 
 framed ' Mask of Flowers ' programme of the entertain- 
 ment given at Gray's Inn which Arthur a Beckett 
 arranged, edited, and produced, and in which he was chosen 
 by H.Bi.H. the Duke of Connaught and the other 
 benchers to act as Master of the Kevels. The original 
 drawing is in the possession of the Hon. Society of Gray's 
 Inn, with which seat of learning the names of three 
 generations of a Becketts are associated. 
 
 Arthur a Beckett is the third son of the late Gilbert 
 Abbott a Beckett Metropolitan Police Magistrate who 
 was on the original staff of ' Punch ' with Thackeray, 
 Dickens, Douglas Jerrold, and other literary giants. He was 
 born at Portland House, close to the Addison Road Railway 
 Station ' Punch's Railway ' it was called, because the 
 elder Mr. a Beckett used to chaff it in that humorous 
 journal when the line at first an utter failure, now valu- 
 able property cut through and spoilt his garden. The 
 young Arthur was first sent to a private tutor, Mr. 
 ' Dominie ' Birch, who had been an officer in the army ; 
 the result was that, hearing so much about facings, drills, 
 and other military matters, nearly every boy under his 
 care obtained a commission in the army as he would 
 have done himself had he been allowed. Later, when the 
 family moved to Hyde Park Gate, he attended the 
 Kensington Grammar School, where the late Dr. Payne 
 Smith, subsequently Dean of Canterbury, was head
 
 322 ARTHUR A BECKETT 
 
 master. Thirty years after, when Mr. a Beckett went down 
 to Canterbury to inquire into the disturbing of the bones 
 said to be those of St. Thomas a Becket, he strolled into 
 the minster to hear the service, and from behind a pillar, 
 where he could not see, he at once recognised, in the 
 reader of the lesson, the voice of his old master. After 
 the service the Dean, too, recognised the face of his 
 whilom pupil before he mentioned his name ! Among the 
 boys at the same school was Mr. B. A. Bayford, a great 
 athlete, and in the eleven at Cambridge now Q.C. in 
 whose chambers Arthur a Beckett subsequently read after 
 he was called to the Bar. 
 
 Accustomed from childhood to be much in the society 
 of the most distinguished wits, men of letters, and celebri- 
 ties of all sorts, and inheriting from his father a strong 
 literary bias, it was only to be expected that the young 
 student should make his mark at his next schools, first 
 Honiton and later Felsted the while athletic and field 
 sports were by no means neglected. At both he organised 
 debating societies and started magazines ; at the age of 
 twelve he carried off the divinity and history prizes the 
 latter rather for excellent composition than for correct 
 detail, as he had got up the whole from his father's work, 
 the ' Comic History of England.' The late Dr. Mackarness, 
 afterwards Bishop of Oxford, was then head-master at 
 Honiton, and it is worthy of note that Mr. a Beckett has 
 recently taken the chair at the respective dinners given by 
 the ' old boys ' of both schools. 
 
 Of his father Mr. a Beckett speaks with peculiar 
 affection. ' I have the greatest reverence for his memory,' 
 he remarks ; ' he treated me more as a grown-up friend 
 than as a child, and frequently took me to his court. 
 Only the other day Mr. Toole told me that my father took 
 the chair at the first reading of " Trying a Magistrate." 
 At the end some man got up and angrily protested that 
 it was meant for himself oddly enough the name was 
 the same and Toole said my father had to interfere as
 
 ARTHUR A BECKETT 323 
 
 chairman, and put everyone into good humour by his 
 dignified geniality.' 
 
 Up to the time of his lamented father's death Arthur 
 a Beckett had been destined for a university career 
 with a view to Holy Orders. Circumstances, however, 
 altered this intention, and at the age of eighteen he 
 entered (thanks to a nomination from Lord Palmerston) 
 the War Office, where in the same rooms were John 
 Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. (the great astronomer), Tom 
 Hood, Clement Scott, and other distinguished men. When 
 landed at the War Office it was but natural that a youth 
 possessed of such strong journalistic propensities and 
 surrounded by so many literary spirits should find the 
 routine of a government bureau somewhat monotonous 
 and uncongenial. Out of office hours, however, he found 
 plenty of amusement assisting at Mrs. Milner Gibson's 
 private theatricals with Mr. Merivale, the late Sir Charles 
 Young, Mr. B. C. Stevenson, Quentin Twiss, &c. Here, 
 too, he met Mrs. Gibson's son-in-law, Mr. Robertson 
 Registrar of Designs at the Board of Trade who was 
 just then intent on starting a new evening paper in con- 
 junction with the members of the Old Arlington Club. 
 He invited the young member of the Civil Service to act 
 as his private secretary, and to help in organising ' The 
 Glow Worm,' which opened with a distinguished staff 
 consisting of Mr. F. C. Burnand (editor), Mr. a Beckett 
 (sub-editor), Messrs. Archer, Tom Eobertson, Halliday, 
 Mortimer Collins, Walter Austin, Arthur Sullivan, Douglas 
 Straight, Dion Boucicault, T. H. Escott, and F. C. Clay. 
 After three weeks Mr. Burnand found the duties too irk- 
 some, and resigned his post in favour of his young ' sub,' 
 who, before he was twenty-one, found himself in charge, 
 and was known as the Boy Editor. ' I kept the staff 
 together,' says Mr. a Beckett, ' for three years, and then I 
 too resigned. I remember it was suggested that we 
 should put the whole proceeds of the paper on a horse 
 we will call him "Snuffbox" that was to run for the 
 
 v -2
 
 324 ARTHUR A BECKETT 
 
 Derby. The secretary tried to prevent it, and the directors 
 passed a resolution of want of confidence in the young 
 secretary, but Snuffbox won ! ' The next ten years were 
 passed in editing successfully many magazines and comic 
 periodicals. Then came a long rest from such duties, and 
 the young journalist went to France and Germany as 
 special war correspondent for the ' Globe ' and ' Standard.' 
 Travelling up the Rhine, he visited the prisons in which 
 the French were confined, and found the poor prisoners, 
 in that most severely cold weather, starving, and much 
 illness and death ; through his exertions the ' Standard ' 
 called attention to their sufferings, and on the strength 
 of his letters a fund of some five or six thousand pounds 
 was collected for their relief. 
 
 On his return to England Mr. a Beckett was immediately 
 appointed private secretary to the Duke of Norfolk, and 
 while in that capacity he practically acted as whip of 
 the Catholic party in the Lords and Commons, which led 
 to his becoming intimate with an early friend of his, 
 Cardinal Manning. In 1873, he began his connection 
 with ' Punch,' on the invitation of Mr. Tom Taylor, and 
 it is a notable fact that for thirteen consecutive weeks his 
 contributions were quoted in the ' Times.' Shortly after 
 this he was asked to join the ' Punch Table,' and he has 
 ever since written almost without a break for ' Punch,' 
 thus carrying on the traditions of his father, who always 
 made it a point that some of his own work should appear 
 weekly in that periodical. Since Mr. Taylor's death 
 when Mr. Burnand became editor Mr. a Beckett has 
 acted as chief of the staff and locum tenens when the 
 editor is away. Among his contributions have been a 
 series entitled 'Papers from Pump-handle Court, by A 
 Briefless Junior.' All these years he has been engaged 
 in general literature, and has besides written several 
 novels and two three-act plays, called ' About Town ' 
 and 'L. S. D.,' also some short pieces, principally 'Long 
 Ago,' ' On Strike,' and ' Faded Flowers.' He edited the
 
 ARTHUR A BECKETT 325 
 
 ' Sunday Times ' successfully for four years, and was 
 elected President of the Newspaper Society for 1893-94, 
 in which post his immediate predecessors had been Sir 
 Algernon Borthwick, Sir Charles Cameron, and Sir 
 Edward Lawson. Notwithstanding these multifarious 
 occupations, Mr. a Beckett carried out the intention he 
 had always had in mind of reading for and being called to 
 the Bar, feeling that a knowledge of the law of libel was 
 very important to anyone connected with literature. For 
 a few years he practised with a fair amount of success in 
 the Probate division, his most notable brief being in the 
 Hollo way Will case with Sir Edward Clarke who won 
 the verdict as opponent. Mr. a Beckett held a brief for 
 one of the sisters, and on his own responsibility, and 
 without instruction from his client, suddenly rose in 
 court and proposed that an annuity should be given to 
 the lady, which was at once granted. It was while in 
 chambers that the young barrister undertook the heavy 
 task of editing and revising his father's well-known work, 
 'The Comic Blackstone.' 'The book,' he relates, 'was 
 written before I was born, but when I was reading for the 
 Bar my coach strongly urged me to get it up to help me 
 to pass my examinations. It was not of much use, as 
 the law had changed considerably during the thirty years 
 since it was written, so with a view to help students in 
 the future, and also to carry out my father's intention of 
 doing some good by combining amusement with instruc- 
 tion, I revised and brought it up to date, with all the law 
 correct. It is illustrated by Harry Furniss.' Among 
 other of Arthur a Beckett's works are ' Hard Luck ; or 
 A Murder at Monte Carlo,' ' Tracked out ; A Secret of 
 the Guillotine,' while his latest is 'Green-Koom Recollec- 
 tions ' (Arrowsmith), which, to quote his own words, had 
 ' a trial canter through the pages of the periodical press.' 
 It is delightful reading, and full of bright and amusing 
 anecdote. 
 
 A picture of Mr. a Beckett stands near in the uniform
 
 326 ARTHUR A BECKETT 
 
 of a captain in the Fourth Battalion (Militia) of the 
 Cheshire Eegiment, for his early training in the art of self- 
 defence and his soldierly proclivities have never deserted 
 him, and he is as keenly interested as ever in all things 
 military. The opposite table holds a treasured portrait of 
 a beautiful and talented boy whose promising young life 
 was cut short at the age of fifteen ; but there are yet 
 two fine, intelligent lads left, who gladden their parents' 
 hearts and inherit their brilliant abilities for Mrs. a 
 Beckett Susannah Frances, a daughter of the late Dr. 
 Forbes- Winslow, and granddaughter of the late Captain 
 Thomas Forbes- Winslow, 47th Regiment also possesses 
 considerable literary talents, and acted as reviewer of books 
 for several years on the ' Sunday Times.' These charming 
 boys, dubbed by a friend ' The Heavenly Twins,' though 
 there is a difference of a year between them, are as bright 
 and clever as their namesakes, though by no means as full 
 of tricks and mischief. Gifted and thoroughly original, 
 they can sing, act, and dance, and withal are so entirely 
 well-behaved and tractable as to prove delightful com- 
 panions, and are deservedly great favourites with Mr. and 
 Mrs. a Beckett's large circle of friends. 
 
 As may be supposed, both husband and wife are ex- 
 tremely popular in society ; their ' afternoons ' are pecu- 
 liarly attractive, and there are few literary, artistic, and 
 social gatherings where they are not to be found. Arthur 
 a Beckett's kindness of disposition, his ever-ready advice 
 and encouragement to fellow-workers in journalism, how- 
 ever low in the scale they may stand, are well known. A 
 charming conversationalist, full of sparkling wit and fun, 
 and an excellent listener, the benevolent, genial nature 
 may be at once detected in his fine, beaming countenance 
 and sunny smile.
 
 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 327 
 
 LOUISE JOPLING-EOWE 
 
 THOSE who can remember a certain old, dilapidated 
 house in Kensington, ugly within and fallen by long neg- 
 lect and disuse into partial decay, will in no way recognise 
 it in its present condition. Whilst searching for an abode 
 with sufficient ground to allow of the building of a studio 
 for herself and an atelier for her pupils, the experienced 
 eye of Mrs. Jopling-Rowe lighted approvingly on the pre- 
 mises, and, at once foreseeing great possibilities of their 
 being transformed into all that there is of the most com- 
 fortable and artistic, she set to work to demolish the 
 greater part of the house, and to reconstruct it, with the 
 happiest results, on her own lines. 
 
 The front door opens into an anteroom whence the 
 reception rooms branch out, each with its great French 
 windows leading on to the lawn dotted about with standard 
 rose trees and a good-sized garden with serpentine paths. 
 A rockery and fernery lie on one side, and beds of purple 
 iris, daffodils, wallflowers, and other sweet-smelling old- 
 fashioned blossoms on the other, shaded by apple, pear, and 
 lilac trees ; here a great bush of holly, there a weeping 
 willow. The atelier stands at the further end, partially 
 concealed beyond a raised bank of shrubs, and is to be 
 inspected later. The lawn is bright and gay with groups 
 of well-known and distinguished people, for it is Mrs. 
 Jopling-Eowe's ' At Home ' day. Ellen Terry is a centre 
 of attraction, and flashes a winning smile of recognition as 
 she strolls past discoursing on her latest American expe- 
 riences to Mrs. Hungerford, the popular author of ' Molly 
 Bawn,'&c. Mrs. Stannard's (John Strange Winter) merry* 
 rippling laugh is heard as she rests on a rustic garden 
 seat, surrounded by friends, under the shadow of the great 
 lilac tree, with a huge tortoise reposing near her feet. The 
 gallant soldierly man yonder is General Stevenson, the
 
 328 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 
 
 popular Governor of Guernsey, accompanied by his talented 
 wife and her accomplished sister, Mrs. Bankes Tomlin, the 
 latter a handsome, picturesque woman with prematurely 
 white hair, who is unmistakably the original of a charming 
 painting by your hostess entitled ' Summer Snow.' These 
 ladies are the sisters of the favourite actor Mr. Terriss, and 
 bear a strong resemblance to him. 
 
 A passing shower presently causes a general movement 
 into the house through the dining-room, where tea is laid 
 out. The walls and decorations of this artistic room are 
 all in white and yellow, and here, over the mantelpiece, 
 hangs Millais' famous life-size painting of Mrs. Jopling- 
 Rowe, which was exhibited at the Grosvenor, the Grafton, 
 and the Paris galleries. Here, too, are some of her own 
 pastel portraits of Lady Colin Campbell, of Rose Norreys, 
 and Mr. Rowe. Proof engravings after Millais are dis- 
 persed in a sort of inner or extension room, which is fitted 
 up with old oak and a quaint little Sheraton corner cup- 
 board, which displays behind its glass doors an array of 
 silver cups and goblets, prizes won by Mr. Rowe and his 
 brothers in athletic sports. Many surprises in the shape 
 of electric light are to be found in these rooms ; lamps 
 on every convenient table or stand, each with its own 
 separate little wire of communication. 
 
 The studio lies on the right out of the drawing-room, 
 whereof the principal features are the ancient tapestry and 
 a large carved Cairo screen of Mushabeer work, from 
 ceiling to floor, which encloses a Persian divan in a cosy 
 corner. A descent of two steps on one side and you find 
 yourself in a broad and lofty studio with pretty arched 
 ceiling, quaint south gallery, and parquet floor strewn with 
 Oriental rugs. The red-tiled hearth of early English 
 design gives a bright bit of colour to the whitewood fire- 
 place, niches, nooks and corners which were designed to 
 be in character with the room, and contain choice bits of 
 pottery and bric-a-brac. An exquisite little Sheraton 
 writing-table of satin-wood is pushed on one side opposite
 
 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 329 
 
 an old oak dower-chest and Japanese cabinet. Near the 
 grand piano stands a striking picture, which is presently to 
 be despatched to a foreign gallery. It represents a priest's 
 funeral winding its way along the narrow footpath by the 
 side of a canal leading to one of the open spaces surround- 
 ing the old Palazzo and Church in Venice. The procession 
 of lay brothers, carrying banners and candles, vanishes 
 away into the distance ; the foremost figures are priests in 
 gorgeous vestments, while two graceful Italian girls on the 
 right gaze with awe-struck expression. The reflection of 
 the pellucid sky on the water is exquisitely rendered. 
 Speaking portraits stand on easels here and there of 
 Marion Terry, of Piatti the popular violoncellist, of Bernard 
 Shaw, and of the veteran Dr. Smiles, on its way to 
 Paris. 
 
 Louise Jopling-Eowe is one of a family of nine, and 
 lost her mother at an early age. Her father, the late 
 Mr. Goode, was a civil engineer of great repute, but from 
 neither parent did she inherit the gift which has made her 
 famous. It dates back to a great-uncle, Colonel Phelps, 
 a self-taught artist, who, after the Peninsular War, was 
 appointed to the command of a small garrison to guard 
 Napoleon at Elba. Two interesting pictures of his are 
 treasured by the family, the one representing a long, low 
 bungalow where the mighty conqueror of the world lived 
 in exile ; the other a portrait of. himself, which bears a 
 strong likeness to his descendants. Mrs. Jopling-Eowe's 
 talent for drawing, which showed itself from childhood, 
 was rather checked than encouraged by her father, on the 
 ground that ' it was a selfish amusement, and led people 
 to shut themselves up too much.' The artistic nature, 
 however, could not be wholly repressed, and found vent in 
 writing, music, and sketching portraits. At the age of 
 fifteen she wrote a thrilling love story, which found its way 
 into the ' Family Herald ; ' nor were domestic accomplish- 
 ments neglected. An expert with her needle, as she has 
 so long been with her brush, sundry pieces of exquisite
 
 330 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 
 
 darning and of elaborate embroidery are still cherished 
 possessions of her sisters. 
 
 It was not until after her marriage and subsequent 
 departure for Paris that her training in art began, and 
 then it may be said to have been an accident that caused 
 it. She had always been in the habit of making sketches 
 of her friends and catching a likeness faithfully, and when 
 one of these drawings fell into the hands of Baroness 
 Nathaniel de Eothschild, that lady, recognising the talent 
 it displayed, persuaded her to take up art in real earnest. 
 Selecting the studio of Mr. Chaplin, she devoted herself 
 to studying the technicalities of her profession with such 
 resolute will that during the second year of her student 
 life she was able to exhibit at the Salon two chalk draw- 
 ings, which were at once sold. On returning to London 
 she drew for ' Punch,' and, taking a studio, began to paint 
 portraits and figure pieces. This work she infinitely pre- 
 fers, and uses landscapes only as a setting. 
 
 ' I remember,' says the artist, meditatively, as you pause 
 to contemplate her latest painting, ' reading long ago a 
 novel called "Hirell," the Welsh for light, the heroine of 
 which so deeply interested me that I drew a fancy portrait 
 of what I imagined her to be like. I called the picture 
 by the same name, and while it was being exhibited I 
 received a letter from the author asking if it were accidental, 
 as it was the exact image of what he wished his heroine 
 to be.' 
 
 But the accomplished artist has many and versatile 
 gifts. She is a sweet singer, and is an adept at private 
 theatricals. Indeed, it is on record that on one occasion, 
 at a party at Mr. Joachim's, a practical joke was arranged 
 in which she took part. It was given out amongst the 
 guests that Sarasate was expected that evening. It so 
 happens that Mrs. Jopling-Rowe and the great violinist 
 have much the same cast of features. After dinner she 
 slipped upstairs, and presently reappeared enveloped in a 
 long travelling cloak, and was announced as Sefior Sarasate,
 
 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 331 
 
 and so well did she impersonate him that several well- 
 known musicians who were present were entirely taken 
 in. She also acted in a Greek play, Dr. Todhunter's 
 version of ' Helen of Troy,' adapted by Godwin, when 
 Hengler's Circus was temporarily converted into the exact 
 model of a Greek theatre. 
 
 Year after year finds Mrs. Jopling-Eowe well repre- 
 sented at Burlington House, at the Grosvenor, and at other 
 exhibitions at home and abroad. Among innumerable 
 works, her ' Five o'ClockTea,' her portrait of Ellen Terry, 
 which adorns the supper-room at the Lyceum, and her 
 ' Auld Eobin Gray ' are perhaps most familiar. 
 
 Her working hours are long indeed ; as she remarks, 
 she works ' like a man in the City, and seldom goes out of 
 doors whilst daylight lasts.' At her School of Art at the 
 end of the garden she finds rest from her own labours, 
 and, as the sun shines out brilliantly again, you seize the 
 opportunity to pay it a visit. A winding path leads into 
 the large and lofty building with arched roof and parquet 
 floor. At one end is a high gallery, which is reserved solely 
 for the use of the class, each member having her own 
 locker. At the other end a door leads into a room entirely 
 devoted to studies of the antique, of still life, and of anato- 
 mical subjects. Opposite the north-light window hangs a 
 gigantic tapestry of great antiquity after Kaphael. On 
 the walls are fastened various studies and sketches by the 
 pupils. The origin of this school, which is so popular and 
 successful, sprang entirely from an accidental circumstance. 
 It happened that Mrs. Jopling-Kowe was visiting at a 
 country house, and while indicating by a drawing some- 
 thing she wished to explain, her host, struck by the rapidity 
 and accuracy of her design, said, ' Why don't you teach 
 others how to draw ? ' ' That,' replied the artist, laughing, 
 ' is just the one thing that I could never do ! ' The idea, 
 however, took root, and the result is the now famous atelier, 
 which is conducted on exactly the same principles as 
 are those in Paris. Here some twenty-five or thirty pupils
 
 332 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 
 
 are found busily engaged in study ; but, as the hour for 
 closing is at hand, a bright, clever-looking girl, whom her 
 companions call ' Biddy ' (Miss Macdonald) , descends from 
 her high stool before an easel and volunteers an explana- 
 tion of the method of instruction, which shall be given in 
 the young embryo artist's own words : 
 
 ' We work,' she says, ' from 9.30 until 4 o'clock ; three 
 days a week we study figures, the other three head models. 
 Once in a week we work at black and white sketches for 
 illustration purposes. These ' taking you to one side, 
 where a number of little studies are grouped together ' are 
 they, and the two that you indicate as especially clever are 
 done by Edith Morris, one of the class. An especial feature 
 in the school is our drawing from memory of any sketch 
 done in the studio, and another interesting lesson comes 
 once a week, when we have a subject given us, and we 
 interpret it according to our ideas and make compositions 
 out of our own heads ; every day we do a time study, and 
 are given one hour to work it out.' Many of these draw- 
 ings are pinned on a screen, and are amusing as indicating 
 the various ' interpretations ' of a given subject, such as 
 ' Spring-Time,' ' A Scare,' ' An Old Curiosity Shop,' &c., 
 &c. ' Yes,' continues the young student, smiling, 'naturally 
 we all adore Mrs. Jopling-Rowe, and look forward to her 
 many daily visits, when she goes round suggesting, exhort- 
 ing, and encouraging.' 
 
 The pupils are all attired in long, picturesque blouses 
 of varied make and materials. These artistic garments 
 are composed by Miss Florence Goode, whose School of 
 Art Needlework is close by in Earl's Court Eoad, and 
 grouped here and there are some exquisite embroideries 
 and tea-cloths designed and executed by her skilful fingers. 
 Many distinguished artists visit from time to time this 
 interesting atelier, amongst whom are recorded the names 
 of Sir John Millais, Mr. Corbould, Mr. Luke Fildes, Mr. 
 Calderon, &c. 
 
 Mrs. Jopling-Rowe' s salon has long been renowned as
 
 LOUISE JOPLING-ROWE 333 
 
 a happy meeting-place for all who are most distinguished 
 in literature and in art, while in society, where she 
 deservedly holds a prominent position, she is esteemed as 
 much for her lovable and kindly disposition as for her 
 great talent. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Miss Cicely Richards began her career on the 
 stage ' very low down indeed/ and merely ' walked on ' as 
 a slight slip of a child at the Vaudeville, she had the 
 unusual experience, very soon after, of getting an engage- 
 ment that lasted nearly 1,400 nights consecutively and 
 without a break, and to make a phenomenal success, clad 
 in a tattered print frock with a big smut on her face and 
 a housemaid's stair-broom in her hand. Without interest 
 or influence, with no one belonging to her on the stage 
 and her parents rather opposed to the idea, on account of 
 the uncertainty of any prospects, she begged to be allowed 
 to try her chance, and consent was at last reluctantly 
 given. She went to the theatre, and by good luck caught 
 Mr. Tom Thorne in his office, and diffidently stated her 
 wishes. The kindly manager listened attentively, bade 
 her come as understudy and to ' walk on,' and promised 
 that if she showed any talent he would give her the first 
 opening a promise he faithfully kept. ' The School for 
 Scandal ' was then having a long run, and the young girl, 
 looking out for opportunities, wisely made herself at home 
 in all the business of the piece and quietly understudied 
 every one. Soon the chance came. The actress who was 
 playing Lady Teazle was delayed by some accident on her 
 way to the theatre, and the one who acted Maria was put 
 in her place. The prompter flew behind, and hurrying to 
 Miss Richards, asked her, if she knew Maria's words, to 
 say them then and there, which she did. 'You will do,' 
 he remarked pithily. ' I ran up hastily and changed my
 
 334 CICELY RICHARDS 
 
 dress,' she says, with a laugh, ' and went on in an agony 
 of fear. While waiting for the cue I almost regretted that 
 I had said I knew the lines, and at first I did not recognise 
 my own voice ! ' The stage fright, however, was soon 
 overcome, and then followed the unprecedented run of 
 ' Our Boys,' when Cicely Richards was allotted the part of 
 the ever-memorable Belinda, the lodging-house slavey. 
 By her careful and intelligent study of the part and her 
 clever interpretation of it she made a bound into public 
 favour, and, to use the words of a distinguished dramatic 
 critic who was present, ' She got the chance we predicted 
 for her ; she availed herself of it just as we expected she 
 would, and brought down the house. The chief honours 
 of the evening were carried off by her and Mr. James ; 
 the acting of these two should certainly be added to the 
 art gallery of the year.' And never did honest, hard work 
 vindicate itself more fully ! It was only to be expected 
 that during such a tremendous run a few little unrehearsed 
 effects should occasionally take place. The monotony of 
 it was a severe trial to one and all of the players. ' It got 
 upon my nerves/ says Miss Richards, ' to such an extent 
 that it made me quite ill. Over and over again, when I 
 had my hand on the door to go on, the words would 
 temporarily escape me, though, once on, they luckily always 
 came back.' There was an evening when Belinda's faith- 
 ful chronicler was present that a most terrible ' stage 
 wait ' occurred the longest on record. Just in the middle 
 of a speech Mr. James suddenly experienced a total loss 
 of memory. He appealed to Mr. Farren and Miss Richards 
 to prompt him, but neither could at the moment in fact, 
 no one could do anything. To give an idea of the dread- 
 ful length of the pause which, however, must have 
 seemed far longer to the poor players than to those in front, 
 it must be stated that the employes, after setting the scene, 
 had to go out, and were not allowed in again until after 
 the act for fear of noise. Someone near saw there was a 
 wait, and he had to go first to the hall-keeper to explain
 
 CICELY RICHARDS 335 
 
 why he wanted to get out, then to find the prompter, who 
 returned to his desk, got out his book, and asked, ' Where 
 are they ? ' No one could tell. The audience were in fits 
 of laughter. Mr. James tried two or three times, but the 
 people shouted ' Oh no, we've had that ! ' Suddenly the 
 words came back, and the act continued, and at its con- 
 clusion the popular actor was called again and again and 
 loudly encouraged and comforted. One great benefit 
 resulted from Cicely Eichards' performance of Belinda. 
 After a short time it was the means of her being introduced 
 to Mr. Horace Wigan, who was present. He was most 
 kind and encouraging, bade the girl go on and persevere, 
 and from that time forward did her more good than any- 
 one in the profession by the advice he gave and the interest 
 he took in her. ' And I must not forget,' she adds prettily, 
 ' to record how much gratitude I owe to Mr. Thorne and 
 to the late Mr. James in the beginning of my stage life.' 
 Her next part was in ' Our Girls,' which fell somewhat 
 flat after its brilliant predecessor, and then came a long 
 provincial tour, under the management of Messrs. Bruce 
 and Tom Robertson, as Meg in ' Retiring,' a tour she 
 thoroughly enjoyed, while every spare moment was spent 
 in studying fresh parts. On her return to town she was 
 engaged at the Princess's to play Biddy Roonan in 
 Jeaffreson's melodrama ' The Shadows of a Great City,' 
 which had a long run. Vera, the Russian flower-girl in 
 ' Siberia,' was a favourite role that she describes as ' a 
 bright little part of a good girl.' The next engagement 
 was at the Princess's to play Mrs. Rolleston in ' The 
 Mystery of a Hansom Cab,' and while acting every night 
 in that piece she took part in five matinees a week besides, 
 among which were Mary O'Brien in ' Little Lord 
 Fauntleroy ' and Miss Potts in ' Dorothy Grey.' There 
 was considerable variety in these performances Mrs. 
 Rolleston being a little comedy part, Miss Potts an 
 American girl, and Mary O'Brien Irish and, but for the 
 fact that she is able to imitate these last two accents
 
 336 CICELY RICHARDS 
 
 capitally, Miss Eichards might have got a little mixed. 
 As it was, however, she laughingly declares that she was 
 always in fear of getting her Irish tongue Americanised, 
 and vice versa. After fulfilling a special engagement at 
 the Vaudeville in a comedietta, the hard-working young 
 actress passed on to Toole's Theatre to play in Mr. Fred 
 Horner's amusing piece, ' The Bungalow,' which ran over 
 nine months. Then back to the Princess's for a summer 
 season in ' Fate and Fortune,' followed by an invitation 
 to the Strand to take up Miss Fanny Brough's part of 
 Mrs. Stewart Cross in 'The Late Lamented.' Some 
 seven or eight years ago ' Our Boys ' was revived at the 
 same theatre, and ran nearly a year, and Cicely Kichards 
 resumed her original role of Belinda ; but she and Mr. 
 James were the only two members of the old and brilliant 
 cast, that had consisted, besides, of Mr. Farren, Mr. Thorne, 
 and Mr. Warner, Sophie Larkin, Kate Bishop, Amy 
 Eoselle, &c., and, now that these are all scattered and Mr. 
 James is no more, Miss Eichards devoutly hopes the play 
 may never again be revived. She has a comic incident to 
 relate a propos of ' The Bungalow.' In one scene Miss 
 Larkin had to open the door after leaving, put in her head, 
 and utter a shriek and disappear. Miss Larkin had a 
 severe cold for some days, and, though she was able to get 
 through her words, she had no voice left for the shriek, and 
 asked Cicely Eichards to stand behind, and when she 
 opened her mouth to give it for her. ' It came off correctly 
 for some nights,' she observes demurely, ' but the last 
 night there was a contretemps. I had not got near enough 
 to Miss Larkin in time. She opened the door and her 
 mouth ; just as she had closed the latter I uttered what 
 must have sounded like a yell ! The audience gave a 
 tremendous shout of laughter, and the manager came 
 bustling round to see what was the matter but he had 
 not the heart to scold us, for it was so funny ! ' Miss 
 Eichards remained at Toole's through the run of ' Mrs. 
 Othello,' which went on in what she calls ' a business-like
 
 CICELY RICHARDS 337 
 
 manner, and then set out on tour with the piece, taking 
 the title role. In 1894-95, she played for the first time in 
 pantomime (Mr. Barrett's, at the Grand Theatre, Birming- 
 ham) as the fairy godmother which she pronounces to be 
 ' a delightful part to act.' Her fine mezzo-soprano voice 
 and knowledge of music assisted her materially, and her 
 reception and notices were most gratifying. And mention 
 must not be forgotten of a recent performance at the 
 Trafalgar in a merry little farce called ' The Chinaman/ 
 for on her shoulders fell the chief burden of the play. 
 Seizing the full grip of the situation from first to last, she 
 acted with so much artistic verve, vigour, and esprit as to 
 win universal commendation. Her latest character was 
 Markham in ' The Passport ' at Terry's Theatre a part 
 she sustained with her usual cleverness. 
 
 A quaint little spiral staircase leads up to the top flat 
 of an ancient house in one of the busiest thoroughfares of 
 London, where Miss Eichards has established herself and 
 her household gods. Small but very bright and cheerful 
 are her rooms an index of her own happy, sunny tempera- 
 ment. Extremely quiet alike in manner and in tastes, 
 there is a sense of refinement and of culture around. The 
 terra-cotta tinted walls are hung with several paintings 
 from nature the works of her own brush together with 
 fine photogravures after the well-known foreign artists Hald 
 and Constant, and a picture of Garrick as Kichard III. ; 
 the quaint bronze temple was picked up at Antwerp, and 
 the dainty bits of Sevres and Dresden are an inheritance. 
 A novel arrangement of photographs stands over the low 
 mirror ; the Benares brass-work and Kuska screens the 
 fragrant perfume of these last waft one back in imagina- 
 tion to India are gifts from a brother who holds a position 
 of trust at Calcutta ; a tambourine is a special treasure, and 
 is adorned with autographs of many familiar names. The 
 open piano and heap of music indicate a favourite resource, 
 and her well-filled bookshelves yet another. She is a great 
 reader, but not much of fiction, and prefers Shakespeare,
 
 338 CICELY RICHARDS 
 
 Byron, histories, travels, &c. Yonder on a tiny Davenport 
 stands an excellent portrait of the youthful Belinda. ' I 
 remember,' she remarks, ' that I had some trouble to get 
 the frock ; I borrowed an old one from the cleaner, had it 
 washed, and then to get it properly soiled to suit the 
 maid-of-all-work I rolled in the dust and cobwebs below 
 the stage.' The actress is much taller now than in those 
 juvenile days, but there is the same smooth, soft com- 
 plexion, the same thick, curly hair, and the same mirthful 
 yet determined expression in the earnest grey eyes. And 
 it is this steady determination that has enabled Cicely 
 Richards, alone and unaided, to win her way to a modest 
 independence. Miss Richards can recollect the turning 
 point in her early childhood. She had been an idle little 
 girl at school at Wellingborough, and one day her mother 
 sorrowfully remarked that it was waste of money and time 
 to send her at all. Stung by the mild reproach, she shut 
 herself up, did her own little studies, and from that time 
 on was one of the hardest workers. ' I love my profession 
 dearly,' she says very gently. ' Everyone must love it. I 
 have had my ups and downs my little hardships and dis- 
 appointments like others but it is a happy life, and I am 
 content, and have much for which to be thankful.' 
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN 
 
 (MRS. BURNETT SMITH) 
 
 LET Kensington sneer as it will and Belgravia ' turn up 
 its noble nose in scorn,' but there is a fascination in the 
 absolute peace and quiet of the old-fashioned, old-world 
 Camden Square of which the gay West End knows com- 
 paratively little. It is not without its beauties either to 
 those who love plenty of room in which to breathe. There 
 is a broad space in front with a large garden and fine old 
 trees that in early spring are the homes of thousands of
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN 339 
 
 birds, while the garden is then gay with lilacs and pink 
 and white may-blossoms which impregnate the air with 
 delicious fragrance. Built according to the good solid 
 custom of nearly a century ago, when there was none of 
 the rush of these later days, when the word ' scamping ' 
 was unknown, and when a row or terrace was not intended 
 to be ' run up ' in three months, the time-honoured houses 
 of Camden Square have weathered many a gale and storm 
 and will probably outlast many a new structure in more 
 fashionable quarters. To a hard-working student the 
 quiet ensured by thick walls, large rooms and plenty of 
 them a garden back and front, and neighbours within 
 reach but out of sound, is an indescribable boon. 
 
 The corner house on the south side is inhabited by the 
 well-known young author of some twenty-five or thirty 
 books, Annie Swan, and her husband, Dr. Burnett Smith. 
 
 ' Hear, Land o' Cakes and brither Scots, 
 Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groat's ; 
 If there's a hole in a' your coats, 
 
 I rede ye tent it ; 
 A chiel's amang you takin' notes, 
 
 An' faith he'll prent it ! ' 
 
 And as your hosts come forward with hospitable greeting, 
 the first words they utter proclaim them as fellow-country- 
 men, and a cordial comradeship is at once established. 
 
 'Yes,' says Annie Swan, laughing merrily, 'we are 
 very, very Scotch, I know ; we have spent nearly all our 
 lives north of the Tweed. It is only within the last few 
 years that we have deserted the old country and come to 
 settle permanently in London.' 
 
 She was born at Leith, and was one of a family of 
 seven, ' the middle or " odd " one,' as she describes it, ' of a 
 particularly merry, united, and happy family.' There were 
 apparently no hereditary tendencies to literature on either 
 side, and it was a mystery to the whole ' connection ' when 
 the girl at the age of fifteen began to write short stories. 
 At school she co nfesses to having been no ' model ' girl or 
 
 z 2
 
 340 
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN 
 
 having in any way distinguished herself ; but she was a 
 quick learner, and generally left her lessons to the last 
 moment, and in play hours would gather a little knot of 
 girls around her and keep them amused with thrilling tales. 
 Her home up-bringing was singularly fortunate. Mr. 
 Swan was a great agriculturist, a man of tender heart and 
 refined mind ; his sense of justice was so strong that it 
 was proverbially said of him that he would ' divide a 
 farthing between two people rather than that either should 
 be wronged.' At first he was inclined to look on the story- 
 writing somewhat as waste of time, but he soon recognised 
 his daughter's natural bent, and thoroughly encouraged it. 
 On looking back, Annie Swan acknowledges that she got 
 her ideas 'very strong ideas ' of right and wrong from 
 this beloved father's life and example perhaps even more 
 than from his precepts. To the happy, healthy out-of-door 
 life in all weathers she owes a strong physique, for boys 
 and girls alike indulged in all the country sports and 
 amusements as the season might permit. ' Now I come 
 to think of it, indeed,' says the young writer demurely, ' I 
 believe that I was rather a harum-scarum, torn-boy sort of 
 girl ! ' 
 
 Her mother combined with a refined and beautiful sim- 
 plicity of character great wisdom and practical common 
 sense, and, while always proud of her child's writings, she 
 held the sensible doctrine prevalent in many of the old- 
 fashioned Scottish families that, whatever lot in life her 
 daughters should subsequently be called upon to fill, they 
 w r ould fill it none the less well for being thoroughly well 
 trained in domestic duties. Accordingly a rule was made 
 that in turn each girl should take a separate department 
 in household work, one week at cooking, another at the 
 dairy, a third- at the napery press, and so on, until they all 
 became adepts in every department and well qualified to 
 carry on the entire management of a house, great or small, 
 the while the intellectual bent, or musical bias, or a skilful 
 pencil was by no means ignored or thrust out of sight.
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN 341 
 
 To such a character as Annie Swan's in which, under the 
 youthful exuberance of high spirits and love of fun, there 
 lay a touch of her country's reticence and reserve no 
 training could have been more judicious. Without crush- 
 ing the bright, happy nature, the deeper responsibilities of 
 life were gradually inculcated, and when the girl left home 
 and kindred to become a wife, the knowledge that she had 
 gained stood her in good stead ; for, without drawing away 
 the veil of sweet romance that hangs over those early days 
 of married life, she makes no secret that in bygone years 
 they ' began on small means and saved on them.' The 
 systematic and thorough insight into domestic matters 
 that she had gained, enabled her to order her little menage 
 with the maximum of comfort and the minimum of 
 economy, as, hand in hand and in perfect sympathy, the 
 young pair laughed over and surmounted little difficulties 
 together until the victory won they sailed in smooth 
 waters. 
 
 Bit by bit they collected each article of furniture with 
 taste and judgment. Behind the glass doors of the old 
 Chippendale bureau are many treasured pieces of Worcester, 
 Crown Derby, and of Wedgwood. On the walls hang 
 water-colour sketches and views of old Edinburgh. ' These 
 are the Doctor's hobby,' says his wife. The author's 
 literary work is carried on in an upstair room that is a 
 veritable snuggery with its warm-tinted Turkey carpet, 
 tapestry hangings, Louis Quinze clock, and other artistic 
 surroundings, which indicate that, although Annie Swan 
 cultivates her intellectual faculties to the uttermost, she 
 has not omitted the study of art combined with comfort. 
 The large Chippendale writing-table so neatly arranged 
 with MSS. and proofs shows signs of a busy but 
 methodical writer. Here her favourite photographs, books . 
 and reminiscences of girlhood are gathered together, while 
 the great arm-chair opposite makes a luxurious lounge 
 for the tired physician after a heavy day's work. In this 
 pleasant room she works during the morning hours, ' nof,
 
 342 ANNIE S. SWAN 
 
 always wholly uninterrupted,' she remarks with a smile ; 
 ' but I am not easily disturbed, and I can go on again and 
 take up the thread of thought without difficulty. I attri- 
 bute this to being one of a large family where it was im- 
 possible to have a room entirely to oneself in which to 
 write. My usual method is to have one central idea fixed 
 on one central character ; then the others seem to group 
 themselves around it. Sometimes I have the whole plan 
 worked out in my mind, and the people change places, as 
 it were. After getting to a certain length the story seems 
 to shape itself.' 
 
 Her first book took a long time to write, and was cut 
 down over and over again. It was published by a company 
 on the ' half profits ' system, but came to an untimely end. 
 ' There were no profits,' she says, laughing, ' but a consi- 
 derable expenditure instead. I was one of the victims of 
 the company's unfortunate speculation.' Her troubles in 
 publishing may be said to have come to an end with this 
 misadventure, as the long row of neatly bound volumes in 
 the bookcase testify. Among them may be observed the 
 titles of ' The Gates of Eden,' ' A Divided House,' ' Mait- 
 land of Laurieston,' ' Carlowrie,' ' Sheila,' ' A Bitter Debt,' 
 'Aldersyde,' and her latest work, 'A Victory Won.' 
 
 Bound just inside the cover of this work is a valued 
 letter from Mr. Gladstone, written in the venerable states- 
 man's own hand, in which he remarks, ' I think it is 
 beautiful as a work of art, and it must be the fault of 
 the reader if he does not profit by the perusal. Miss 
 Nesbit and Marget will, I hope, long hold their places 
 among the truly living sketches of Scottish character.' 
 Another testimony to the merits of this charming story 
 is a much-prized autograph letter from the late Lord 
 Tennyson. 
 
 A propos of ' Sheila,' which is the author's own 
 favourite, there is a pretty incident connected with the 
 book. It first ran as a serial through the ' Glasgow 
 Weekly Mail,' and whilst in course of publication a
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN 343 
 
 travelling basket woman wandered up on foot from Crieff 
 to Amulree, where the scene of the story was laid, and 
 called at a house to sell her wares. After a little talk with 
 the woman of the house she drew a paper out of her 
 basket, and asked to be directed to Dalmore (the abode of 
 the heroine, Sheila McDonald), as she was quite sure that 
 lady would buy up her whole stock-in-trade. She was 
 very indignant when assured that Dalmore was a purely 
 imaginary place, and again pointed to the copy of the 
 ' Mail,' which contained a description of the house. ' When 
 I heard the incident/ says Annie Swan, laughing, ' I felt 
 that I had fallen in the estimation of my humble but 
 sincere reader, and I wished I could have explained to her 
 the mysteries and little necessary fictions of my craft.' 
 
 Her bright, sympathetic nature leads her in general to 
 bring her stories to a happy conclusion. On one occasion, 
 however, she deviated from this rule. ' St. Vera's ' has a 
 sad ending, and while it was running serially the young 
 writer had so many letters imploring her to avert the 
 heroine's impending fate, that she resolved never again to 
 wind up in a minor key. Among these communications 
 the most amusing and touching was expressed with more 
 vigour than politeness on a post card, which ran as follows : 
 ' Don't let Annie Erskine die ! If you do, hanged if I read 
 any more of your old stories ! ' 
 
 There is a purity and simplicity of style, withal a 
 depth of thought and experience, that characterise all the 
 writings of this talented and earnest young worker. They 
 are homely and wholesome in tone, the thread of the story 
 is always interesting, and compels the reader to follow 
 the heroine to the end. With a keen insight into human 
 nature, there is a strength and tenderness in her stories 
 that appeal to all hearts. The brightness and utter 
 absence of affectation in her own character are revealed 
 in her works, as are also the strong religious principles 
 that guide her life. These have, however, led her into no 
 narrow groove, but have rather opened out and widened
 
 344 ANNIE S. SWAN 
 
 her sympathies, so that, like the branches of a great tree, 
 they spread out far and wide. 
 
 In common with most well-known authors, Mrs. 
 Burnett Smith has a large correspondence, and receives 
 daily budgets from young aspirants after literary fame 
 chiefly women and ofttimes she is sore oppressed thinking 
 of the vast army of women who are seeking something to 
 do. ' Many of them, alas ! are so incompetent,' she re- 
 marks sadly, ' and show so little qualification for, or true 
 appreciation of, the high calling they seek to pursue, that 
 I sometimes feel it a hopeless task trying to convince them 
 that there is no royal road to success in literature, but that 
 it is synonymous with incessant anxiety and effort, which 
 an increasing reputation only makes harder instead of 
 easier.' It was owing to these innumerable letters from 
 unknown writers, upon every conceivable subject, that her 
 magazine was instituted. They poured in largely from 
 housekeeping women of the middle class, and, as it became 
 too much of a tax to answer them individually, it occurred 
 to Mrs. Burnett Smith that it would be a good plan to 
 start a journal, which would be a kind of medium between 
 her and her readers. The idea has been fully carried out ; 
 many readers of the ' Woman at Home ' regard ' Over the 
 Teacups ' as the tit-bit of the magazine, and she has 
 received hundreds of letters of sympathy and congratula- 
 tion on its success. Much the same reasons inspired Mrs. 
 Burnett Smith to write a late book, called ' Courtship and 
 Marriage ' (Hutchinson & Co.) , for so many young people 
 wrote to her asking her for advice in these matters. This 
 charming little book is written with mingled gravity and 
 sweetness, and the most valuable ' advice ' is tendered in 
 simple, eloquent words. Published at the small price of 
 one shilling, this modest little volume should be distributed 
 in, not thousands, but tens of thousands among the 
 young; indeed, there can be but few who would not feel 
 the better for its perusal, and be inclined to follow the wise 
 counsel so delicately suggested. ' It contains my views of
 
 ANNIE S. SWAN 345 
 
 life,' says the young author, ' and,' she adds reverently, in 
 a soft tone, ' I try to live up to them.' 
 
 But Mrs. Burnett Smith has had wider experiences of 
 life than Great Britain only can afford. From the early 
 years of their married life she and her husband began to 
 ' save up ' to enjoy the luxury of a little annual holiday 
 abroad, an experience which she considers to have been 
 invaluable in her profession. In this way they have visited 
 nearly every capital in Europe, and on one occasion made 
 a trip to America, where she found herself already known 
 through her books. It is possible that the latest and most 
 welcome treasure in this home of love and sympathy may 
 in the future somewhat interfere with these brief Con- 
 tinental wanderings. A most fascinating and dimpled 
 infant lies contentedly smiling and cooing in her mother's 
 arms, guarded by two handsome terriers, Jack and Paddy, 
 who, having been first favourites for some time, are in- 
 clined to be extremely jealous of the baby, though they fix 
 their great pathetic brown eyes upon her as if to promise 
 their affection and fidelity in the future. ' Yes,' says the 
 young mother in a tone of much pathos as she lays the 
 bright, intelligent little one in your arms, ' she is indeed a 
 treasure, and has filled our cup of happiness to the brim.' 
 
 TEI8TEAM ELLIS 
 
 IF a man's work be any index to his character, the col- 
 lections of his paintings exhibited from time to time in 
 the Bond Street galleries indicate that Mr. Tristram Ellis 
 possesses a happy, sunny disposition, and an optimistic 
 nature. While gazing at upwards of a hundred brilliant 
 sea and land scapes here present, the outside world is 
 temporarily forgotten, and the spectator is transported in 
 a moment to the varied and smiling shores of the 
 Mediterranean. The effects portrayed in these pictures
 
 346 TRISTRAM ELLIS 
 
 are so varied that it is obvious it would have been impos- 
 sible to have painted them otherwise than direct from 
 Nature that is, ever varying even if the dexterous and 
 rapid handling had not already shown it. This, then, is 
 the key-note of the exhibition. It represents the Medi- 
 terranean as Mr. Ellis saw it, and the result is an absence 
 of exaggeration and a freshness and vigour that should 
 commend itself to all. The most important work in this 
 delightful collection is ' The Courtyard of the Holy 
 Sepulchre,' showing the forecourt of this celebrated church 
 by early morning light. The dealers in rosaries, cruci- 
 fixes, and other religious emblems have begun to assemble, 
 and business is proceeding. The woman of Bethlehem, 
 in handsome dress and peculiar headgear, is chaffering in 
 the foreground with an old Bedouin, whose persuasive 
 character one can read even in the pose of his back. The 
 sunlight is unusually bright and glowing. Another, ' The 
 Calvary at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,' is a picture 
 with admirable light and shade ; the dark figures mount- 
 ing the steps to the Calvary in the deep shade that is 
 softly illuminated by the candles they carry, are well 
 placed to give a feeling of religious mysticism to the scene. 
 It is a remarkable fact that, though Mr. Tristram Ellis 
 was born a landscape painter, he was trained as an 
 engineer. His father, the late Mr. Alexander J. Ellis, 
 Lit.D., was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, chiefly in 
 connection with his studies in the science of musical 
 vibrations ; but was better known through his standard 
 works on the pronunciation of Shakespeare and Chaucer, 
 which led to his being twice elected President of the 
 Philological Society, though the Mathematical Society also 
 claimed him, and in some circles he is best remembered 
 in connection with stigmatics and baromic hypsometry. 
 To his personal care Tristram Ellis owes his scientific 
 education, for of art his father knew nothing. The painter 
 was born at Great Malvern, and spent his early years 
 at Bath, Clifton, and Edinburgh, whence he was sent to
 
 TRISTRAM ELLIS 347 
 
 school in Hampshire. Here he studied chemistry under 
 Professor Tyndall. Being a delicate lad, he was compelled 
 to forego many of the athletic games so dear to boyhood, 
 and devoted much time to mathematics, in which study 
 he soon took a front place. Drawing was learned in a 
 very perfunctory sort of manner. ' I hated it,' says Mr. 
 Ellis, ' because I was made to copy things ; often I would 
 break out into originality and alter these copies, and it 
 made the master mad and brought down his wrath on 
 my head.' 
 
 At the age of eighteen he left school and went to 
 King's College, where he made his mark by taking the 
 highest distinction during his second year, in the Applied 
 Sciences department, gained since the college opened. He 
 was the first student who took all the scholarships con- 
 secutively, and in recognition of this unprecedented event 
 he was admitted to the Associateship contrary to the 
 rules of the college after only two years' attendance at 
 lectures. He went through his pupilage as an engineer, 
 under Sir John Fowler, at the time the District Railway 
 was made. On the expiration of his articles Mr. Tristram 
 Ellis joined a firm of engineers as partner, and worked 
 steadily for some years at the business. Then, being in a 
 position more or less of independence, and the claims 
 of art asserting themselves too strongly to be resisted, 
 he threw up the profession and took to painting in oils. 
 Many of these pictures were exhibited in the Eoyal 
 Academy, but after a time, feeling that it was impossible 
 to obtain sufficient knowledge of technique in England, 
 he went to Paris, and the art-student life, after which he 
 had so long hankered, began. Resolutely eschewing all 
 amusements and dissipations, he entered the atelier of M. 
 Bonnat, and settled down to work for twelve hours a day. 
 
 ' In right good earnest,' says the artist, thoughtfully, 
 'I was the only one of the one hundred and seventy 
 students attending that studio who persevered in the 
 practice ; but my desire was to emulate my great master,
 
 348 TRISTRAM ELLIS 
 
 of whom it was reported that he had worked twelve hours 
 a day for two consecutive winters.' The hard-working 
 young artist soon became a great favourite with M. Bonnat, 
 who, admiring his steady resolution and recognising his 
 genius, urged him to turn his attention entirely to historical 
 paintings ; but he was too fond of scenery and out-door 
 life for this branch of art, and he determined to devote 
 himself to his first love. ' A propos of this portion of my 
 student life,' remarks Mr. Ellis, smiling, ' I remember a 
 curious incident that happened on the fete of the Kepublic. 
 We decided to decorate the outside of our atelier with 
 flags of all the nations represented by ourselves. We 
 exhibited no less than forty-three flags in front, but, not 
 satisfied with this, we desired that the studio should make 
 a special one of its own. We utilised a large yellow sheet 
 that was draped as a background for Negro, Arab, and 
 other coloured models, and the design, a death's head and 
 cross-bones, was boldly painted thereon by one of our 
 number. While at work as usual sounds and steps were 
 heard murmuring outside, which gradually became louder 
 and louder until they developed into an angry roar. Half 
 a dozen gendarmes rushed in and urged us to fly at once, 
 as they were no longer able to keep back the mob, who had 
 taken this flag as an insult to the Eepublic. Luckily all 
 those who were present were got out through the rear of 
 the building just before the crowd poured in and com- 
 pletely wrecked it.' 
 
 In 1878, Mr. Tristram Ellis went to Cyprus for six 
 months to paint a series of sketches at the time of its 
 occupation by the English. Notwithstanding repeated 
 attacks of fever, he contrived to bring home some fifty or 
 sixty water-colour drawings of land and sea. These were 
 exhibited in Bond Street during the following April, and 
 were all immediately taken off his hands by a dealer, an 
 arrangement of transfer that proved perfectly satisfactory. 
 His success with these pictures had brought him into 
 public notice, and accordingly the next year he went to
 
 TRISTRAM ELLIS 349 
 
 Syria, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. On arrival at 
 Diarbekr, the capital of Khurdistan, he found the country 
 entirely disorganised by the terrible famine, and consider- 
 able caution had to be exercised in travelling, owing to the 
 large bands of marauders that infested the banks of the 
 river. The military English consul expressed much sur- 
 prise at seeing him, and told him that all means of com- 
 munication were cut off, and he had received no intimation 
 of his coming from the consul at Aleppo ; moreover, that 
 Mr. Ellis was the only traveller who had arrived without 
 being robbed. It was his intention to float down the 
 Tigris to Bagdad on a raft of inflated goat skins, but it 
 was seventeen days before the consul permitted him to 
 start, owing to the dangerous state of the river. Not one 
 of the many grain rafts that had been sent down to 
 Mossul had arrived for a month past. All were robbed 
 and sunk, and the navigators murdered. ' It was an excit- 
 ing time,' says Mr. Ellis. ' My own raft only escaped by 
 being blown by a violent wind into a side bank, by which 
 I missed the largest band of these river thieves. Soldiers 
 were sent to clear the way to allow the starving popula- 
 tion to receive the stores in the depots. I passed through 
 Hassen Kaiffe, one of the largest of the many troglodyte 
 towns of the upper Tigris. When it was cut, or by whom, 
 no one knows ; but some suppose that it belongs to the 
 time of the Hittites, who, without doubt, inhabited that 
 portion of Asia. At Mossul I found the bazaars full of 
 people dying like flies and professional beggars exposing 
 starving children to excite charity. There was no bread, 
 and the natives were literally living, like Nebuchadnezzar, 
 on the herbage which a chance rain had brought out 
 abundantly. I went on to Bagdad and Beyrout, returning 
 home through the desert vid the Euphrates to Dan, then 
 by Palmyra to Damascus and Beyrout.' 
 
 This trip was productive of much good work, and the 
 artist brought home and exhibited in Bond Street about 
 ninety sketches, which were all immediately sold. The
 
 350 TRISTRAM ELLIS 
 
 year after the Euphrates and Tigris trip Mr. Tristram 
 Ellis went to Egypt and stayed as late as May, just before 
 the massacre at Alexandria that led to the war. He 
 spent three weeks at the Pyramids, living in tombs with 
 the well-known Egyptologist Professor Flinders Petrie. 
 While there he was engaged in helping to survey the 
 inner passages in the Great Pyramid, and spent two nights 
 in its interior, the coolest place at that time, as the Kha- 
 maseen was blowing, and the thermometer standing over 
 a hundred degrees after sundown. 
 
 Then came a gap of a few years before his next Conti- 
 nental wanderings took him to Athens. The King of 
 Greece, hearing that there was a well-known English 
 painter there, desired to see his portfolio of sketches. 
 After inspecting them the King sent for Mr. Ellis, and, 
 expressing his satisfaction, picked out three that he wished 
 to keep. In the last two years he has thrice varied his 
 Oriental experiences by visiting the land of the midnight 
 sun and eternal snow, and pronounces it by no means an 
 unpleasant part of the world in summer, and the climate 
 soft and balmy ; but his last trip to the Mediterranean 
 was perhaps the most successful of all. 
 
 Many years of travelling in Eastern climes have given 
 Mr. Tristram Ellis his strong love for bright effects and 
 his profound insight into the powers of lights and shades. 
 He maintains that he ' did not understand what brightness 
 was until he went abroad.' You question him about the 
 astonishing accuracy which underlies all his most rapid 
 and most facile studies and pictures. To him it is the 
 most simple thing in the world. The fact is that he has 
 never thought it necessary to forget what he learnt as a 
 man of science because he is now an artist. ' You see,' he 
 says, without any assumption of giving forth a canon of 
 art, ' I do these things knowing about them ; how these 
 rocks you notice came here and what made the troubled 
 surface of the water there. I look on water as a reflecting 
 surface, and compare carefully the reflections with the
 
 TRISTRAM ELLIS 351 
 
 objects reflected, even when the water is ruffled and the 
 comparison becomes difficult, for I have studied well the 
 laws of reflection in all states of troubled surfaces. In 
 fact, water is extremely fascinating in all its moods, and 
 in pure landscape without figures its presence is almost 
 necessary for producing an interesting picture. With 
 the extraordinary variety of effect upon its surface, ever 
 changing with the state of the air, the wind, and the 
 weather, it is like a living thing.' 
 
 When out sketching, or at work in his own studio, Mr. 
 Tristram Ellis likes to have a congenial friend with whom 
 to converse. When quite alone he finds that he is some- 
 times liable to work too quickly while grasping floating 
 effects, and the presence of some person is a check. His 
 conversation is full of interest and of sparkling anecdote. 
 Although entering occasionally with zest into amusements, 
 now that he is married and has given hostages to fortune 
 he confesses that, when in London, he chiefly prefers his 
 own fireside, and is inclined to be somewhat lazy in respect 
 to society. He is, however, happiest when in the open air 
 and amidst lovely scenery, for to him the face of Nature is 
 the face whose portrait he seeks and finds. 
 
 MRS. KENT 8PENDEE 1 
 
 NOT only does a sense of reposeful dignity impress the 
 visitor to the ancient and historic city of Bath, but also 
 its air of smug respectability and well-to-do aspect. The 
 streets are broad and scrupulously clean, the shop fronts 
 might compare well with those in Kegent Street, and the 
 buildings are handsome and effective. Situated in a deep 
 and picturesque valley with encircling hills and the river 
 Avon winding through on two sides, the views around are 
 
 1 Since the original production of this sketch, the death of the lamented 
 writer has taken place.
 
 352 MRS. KENT SPENDER 
 
 of exceeding beauty, while the mineral baths, of great 
 antiquity, draw thousands of visitors annually to their 
 healing waters. The noble old Abbey erstwhile a cathe- 
 dral stands on the spot once occupied by a Roman temple 
 of Minerva, and the grand cruciform edifice casts a 
 solemnity around with its great central tower and time- 
 blackened walls, its flying buttresses and many beautiful 
 windows. It is to one of the houses in the Circus, one of 
 the finest specimens of Wood's architecture in the palmy 
 days of the old stone-built city, that you bend your steps 
 with a feeling of exhilaration in the pure air and exquisite 
 surroundings, together with the assurance that a cordial 
 reception awaits you. Broad, well-carpeted stairs, into 
 which the foot sinks, lead to the great double drawing- 
 rooms with parquet floors liberally strewn with skins of 
 bear, leopard, and panther. The back room opens upon a 
 large conservatory filled with fan palms and flowers, while 
 from the front there is a view of the giant trees on the 
 Circus lawn. The marqueterie cabinets are filled with valu- 
 able pieces of Royal Dresden, and candelabra of the same 
 china are used to light the room. The ' Leda and the 
 Swan ' clock is a treasured relic, as are the specimens of 
 jewelled Sevres, with one large beautifully painted dish 
 with Quentin's mark on it, said to have been in the 
 Tuileries in the days of the Empire. A more modern 
 article is the Yost typewriter, whereat the author transmits, 
 with much rapidity, her thoughts to paper. ' You must 
 not think,' she says apologetically, ' that it always stands 
 here. It is exiled when I am expecting visitors. But 
 from long habit, formed during the years when writing was 
 only an interlude in an active life, I feel that I can gene- 
 rally write better with brightness and even music in the 
 room. The violin or the piano does not disturb me, while 
 the gloom of a library rather depresses than helps me. 
 When I was younger I used to write with my little children 
 playing around me.' 
 
 Mrs. Kent Spender is the wife of Dr. John Kent
 
 MRS. KENT SPENDER 353 
 
 Spender, M.D., of Bath, and daughter of the late Dr. Head- 
 land, of Portland Place, London, a well-known medical 
 man of his day, whom Thackeray, Dickens, Tennyson, 
 &c. were wont to consult. If to do good in one generation 
 be the primary object in life, she may be said to have 
 fulfilled her mission excellently well. Enjoying from 
 childhood the privilege of being much in the society of 
 literary giants, she had also the advantage of the special 
 form of training afforded by the classes held at Queen's 
 and Bedford Colleges, the two schools which have been 
 largely instrumental in the great movement of the age that 
 has resulted in the working together of classes and sexes. 
 It was the social atmosphere, so to speak, of these colleges 
 that fired the young student with a desire to help in the 
 world's work. Plumptre, Kingsley, and Frederick Denison 
 Maurice, two of whom were her life-long friends, were 
 among the masters. The higher education of her own 
 sex was the subject near her heart, and with these views 
 in her mind she was happy indeed when, in spite of her 
 youth, she was selected to assist with a class at Mr. 
 Maurice's working women's college. As may be supposed 
 from her subsequent successful literary career, she began 
 to write at a very early age ; but it was after her marriage 
 that she made her first mark in the world of letters as an 
 essayist with a paper, written at the age of twenty, on 
 ' Verbal Landscape Painting, Ancient and Modern.' This 
 was at once accepted and handsomely paid for in a letter 
 addressed to the Rev. L. Spender. ' I think,' says the 
 writer, laughing, ' the mistake arose from two or three 
 causes. I had learnt some Latin and Greek with the help 
 of my brothers, and was rather fond of making classical 
 allusions which I should certainly not do now, and my 
 handwriting was said to be rather masculine. The delusion 
 was the easier to keep up because my father-in-law was a 
 metaphysician, and I read a good deal with him.' Various 
 essays followed on ' Employments for Women,' ' The Non- 
 Imprisonment of Children,' both subjects in which she was 
 
 A A
 
 354 MRS. KENT SPENDER 
 
 keenly interested ; then, extending her themes, she became 
 a contributor to several quarterlies, besides a reviewer of 
 foreign literature French, German, and Italian. During 
 this time she held classes for mothers among the poor, 
 and was shortly appointed to the post of local examiner 
 and secretary to the Oxford Examinations, then for the 
 first time introduced for girls at Bath, an important work 
 that Mrs. Spender and her committee carried on for ten 
 years. Always with the idea of promoting the higher 
 training of women in her mind, her next desire was to co- 
 operate in the establishment of a High School for Girls. 
 At first the exclusiveness of the old city somewhat hin- 
 dered the scheme, but gradually all prejudices were 
 dispelled, and the High School was duly set on foot. She 
 then took the secretaryship of a society for shop women, 
 which entailed two more classes in addition to that which 
 she had held for so many years, followed by the starting 
 of Oxford Extension Lectures. In the midst of such a busy 
 life it will be wondered when Mrs. Spender found time 
 to write some twenty three-volume novels, of which the 
 greater number passed previously through magazines and 
 journals, and have constantly been republished. A few of 
 their titles suggest themselves ; as, ' Godwyn's Ordeal,' 
 ' Brothers-in-Law,' ' Mark Eylmer's Eevenge,' ' Jocelyn's 
 Mistake,' ' Parted Lives,' ' Her Own Fault,' and ' Recol- 
 lections of a Country Doctor.' Then came three called 
 ' Mr. Nobody,' ' Kept Secret,' and ' Lady Hazelton's Con- 
 fession,' that must not be omitted, and, later, ' A Waking,' 
 'A Strange Temptation,' ' A Modern Quixote,' and a new 
 work entitled ' Thirteen Doctors,' a collection of clever 
 and interesting tales. Most of her books were written 
 during the children's holidays on the seashore, or at the 
 Swiss mountains. It will be scarcely credited that nearly 
 every picture in Dr. Spender's big house is his wife's work, 
 chiefly of foreign landscape and lovely scenery. She com- 
 pares her mode of writing with that of her painting, and 
 observes, ' To paint pictures you must first make many
 
 MRS. KENT SPENDER 355 
 
 sketches. The same rule applies to books, and in that 
 sense I am always writing. I have note-books in which 
 I jot down nearly all that I observe and think.' But once 
 having thought out her subject thoroughly, Mrs. Spender 
 is a rapid writer, and loves her work more and more as 
 time goes on. She alters it but little, and, again choosing 
 her simile from painting, she says that if she correct over- 
 much both outline and colour get blurred, and she loses her 
 grip of the subject if she make any delay. She is all in 
 favour of the one- or two- volume book, and declares that in 
 this respect she has ' burnt her boats ' and announced her 
 intention of never again writing a three-volume novel. 
 And although Mrs. Spender has been and still is of so 
 much use in her day, husband, home, and children have 
 ever been first in her mind, and nothing has been allowed 
 to come in the way of domestic duties and pleasures. Two 
 of her four sons young University men are well known in 
 the social and journalistic world of London. Two daughters 
 are at home, and combine philanthropic work with study, 
 while a third has found her vocation in an early marriage. 
 In the course of a pleasant two days' visit you are 
 taken all over the beautiful city, and your hostess does the 
 honours and points out everything that is of note ; the 
 Guildhall, the Literary Institution, the Assembly Eooms, 
 and the Great Pump Eoom, wherein stands a statue of 
 Beau Nash, which at once conjures up a vision of pow- 
 dered dames, sedan chairs, gallants with queues, running 
 footmen, and all that there was of the most modish of 
 those times. Returning past the Abbey, you step in and 
 make an exhaustive inspection of the interesting interior 
 with its wonderful fan roof, screen, oratory, and many fine 
 monuments, the history of which is at the finger-tips of 
 the author and her young daughter. Presently the bells 
 announce that the service of evensong is about to begin. 
 The great organ one of the four largest in England- 
 peals out in sonorous tones the voluntary, which resounds 
 under the vaulted arches. Later, when the final bene- 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 MRS. KENT SPENDER 
 
 diction has been pronounced, you and the talented author 
 part and go your respective ways. During the journey 
 back to town you ponder at leisure over the immense 
 amount of work so modestly and unassumingly carried on 
 by the clever and highly cultivated woman whose early 
 desire to be of use in her generation must indeed have 
 been realised. 
 
 VIOLET VANBEUGH 
 
 (MRS. ARTHUR BOURCHIER) 
 
 A LARGE, cheerful house in a broad road, with a peep at 
 some big gardens towards the left ; opposite, tall, massive 
 buildings the whole constructed within the last few years 
 over the site once occupied by a dingy lunatic asylum in 
 old historic Kensington. Bright sunshine, just enough 
 subdued by the art-blue curtains, floods the room and 
 casts a radiant beam of light on a beautiful pastel portrait 
 of the intellectual-looking young actress, Miss Violet 
 Vanbrugh, a marriage gift from the painter, Mr. Charles 
 Newton. The great, soft dark eyes are crowned with 
 abundant masses of wavy brown hair, parted and sweep- 
 ing low back from the brow. The pose is simple and 
 graceful, yet not more graceful than the tall aristocratic- 
 looking girl who glides in and welcomes you with such 
 winning cordiality. 
 
 Brief as has yet been her stage career, she has had 
 plenty of experience and very few occasions for 'resting.' 
 A short account of her early struggles will be found of help 
 and encouragement to those who are too soon cast down 
 by non-success. Violet Vanbrugh is one of a family of 
 six, and is the daughter of the late Rev. Reginald Barnes, 
 of Heavitree rectory, and Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral. 
 A much-beloved and respected parish priest, and a man of 
 broad, liberal views, with a wonderful knowledge of life
 
 VIOLET VANBRUGH 357 
 
 and of strong common sense, he wisely decided that the 
 best of educations would enable each child to make his or 
 her own way in the world. Accordingly no expense was 
 spared in that direction, with the result that all four 
 daughters are highly cultivated. One has found her voca- 
 tion in a happy marriage, and has made her home in 
 Kashmir with her husband, the Eesident. Two younger 
 sisters are respectively an actress and a violinist, while 
 Violet Vanbrugh has already made her name before the 
 footlights, and has united her fortunes with those of the 
 well-known young actor Mr. Arthur Bourchier. Educated 
 by Mrs. Henry Hawtrey, a woman of high culture and 
 refinement, the girl soon became a hard-working student, 
 and carried off prizes in history and literature ; but at the 
 age of sixteen she desired to strike out for herself with a 
 view to early independence. Fixing on the stage as a 
 career, she asked her father's sanction. As may be sup- 
 posed, he, being altogether outside that profession, at first 
 demurred, and could not see how he could grant it ; but 
 he wisely bade her judge for herself. ' I came up to 
 London,' says Miss Vanbrugh, smiling, ' with my old nurse, 
 took lodgings, and actually knew only one family in town, 
 to whom I used to go on Sundays. My first step was to 
 go to Mrs. Stirling and ask her advice. I begged for her 
 candid opinion, and meant to abide by it. If she said I 
 could do no good, I intended to go home. She gave me a 
 part to read, and on hearing it she said I ought to have 
 every chance, so I took some lessons in elocution from 
 her. My next step was to write to Miss Ellen Terry, but 
 it unluckily happened to be just at the time when ' Faust ' 
 was to be produced at the Lyceum ; and, as everyone 
 knows, during rehearsals a leading player has barely time 
 to eat and sleep, still less to answer letters from stranger 
 girls. Weeks went on, and I got absolutely hopeless. My 
 slender stock of money was nearly at an end, and I could 
 not bear to go home having done nothing. One day, when 
 things had come to their worst, a visitor was announced.
 
 358 VIOLET VANBRUGH 
 
 It was Ellen Terry herself ! She seemed to me like an 
 angel from Heaven ! The queen of the stage to come to 
 me in my little rooms ! She took me to her rehearsal that 
 day, and asked me to stay with her for a week. I went, 
 and the week stretched out to a whole year ! ' To that 
 year's visit Violet Vanbrugh owes much ; for though the 
 great artist, with wise and sound judgment, insisted that 
 the girl, if she were to do well, must do it for herself, the 
 life in that atmosphere of highest art and the opportunities 
 she had of watching and learning from such a past master 
 of her profession were invaluable. Meanwhile she was 
 always studying and trying to get something to do. One 
 day she wrote to Mr. Toole, which resulted in an invitation 
 to walk on in Burnand's burlesque ' Faust and Loose,' to 
 sing in the chorus, and to dance. In this art she was, 
 fortunately, a proficient, having studied under Madame 
 Rinaldi at Exeter. ' But the end of the season came,' says 
 the young actress, ' and I was out, and had to begin all 
 over again. I kept on writing to people, and was refused 
 because I had no experience, and I was once more in despair. 
 One broiling hot morning I took up the "Era," noticed 
 that Miss Sarah Thome's provincial tours were advertised, 
 never waited to write, but then and there rushed down to 
 Margate, and turned up at her luncheon hour. She was 
 charming delightful ; but when the words came, " Have 
 you any experience?" and I said "No," she shook her 
 head. I was crestfallen miserable, and wept. Then her 
 kind heart spoke. " There is a vacancy," she said. " You 
 look the part. Carry it home ; and if you like to risk 
 coming down next Saturday, and rehearse to my satisfac- 
 tion, you shall go on tour with it." I returned to town 
 and studied it till I knew every scratch on the paper. It 
 was Hose Deane in "The Wages of Sin." I dodged up 
 some old dresses of my mother's and went back to Margate. 
 Miss Thorne met me at the station, and almost took my 
 breath away by bidding me say my lines on the parade 
 while walking home. It was a great ordeal. " I shall
 
 VIOLET VANBRUGH 359 
 
 know," she remarked quietly. I said them, and she 
 offered me a three years' engagement in her touring 
 company.' But this was not to last long. In a few 
 months a letter was forwarded to her by Miss Terry from 
 Mr. George Loveday, asking : ' Where is that little girl 
 who played at Toole's? There is a part in Merivale's 
 " The Butler" if she will come and rehearse on approval.' 
 But the girl was happy with Miss Thorne, and did not at 
 first wish to leave. Urged by Miss Terry, who knew well 
 the good, unselfish heart of the kindly manageress, Violet 
 Vanbrugh laid the letter before her. Miss Thorne reflected 
 that the girl was now getting useful to her, but at once 
 decided that she would not stand in her way, and cancelled 
 the agreement. A passing tribute must be made to this 
 excellent, large-hearted woman, to whom so many young 
 players owe their present success under her able coaching 
 and all-round goodness. ' She was kindness itself to me,' 
 says the actress, ' and just to the core ! Well, I left, and 
 joined Mr. Toole's company first at Maidstone. I got 
 into strange lodgings. I was sorrowful at parting from 
 dear Miss Thorne, and felt sad and nervous.' At the first 
 rehearsal a strange thing happened. Two gentlemen were 
 standing on the stage. One of them looked hard at her, 
 and when the morning's work was half over he addressed 
 her. ' Who are you ? Where do you live ? I know your 
 face well.' The girl replied that she "had never seen him, 
 and had lived in Devonshire. ' But what is your real 
 name ? ' he questioned. ' And what was your mother's 
 maiden name ? ' Miss Vanbrugh informed him on both 
 points. ' Ah ! ' remarked Mr. Herman Merivale, for it was 
 he, ' then that accounts for it. I was a great admirer of 
 hers and used to dance with her eighteen years ago, and 
 you are the living image of her.' Rehearsals being satis- 
 factory, Mr. Toole offered her an engagement for a year 
 to play Lady Anne in ' The Butler,' a lucky part, for it 
 required just the personality and the distinction that the 
 young actress happily possesses. Again she has pleasant
 
 360 VIOLET VANBRUGH 
 
 words to say, and pronounces the much-beloved comedian 
 to be ' one of the dearest and best of men, and his personal 
 kindness to have been great.' Her next move was to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Kendal, when Mr. Pinero asked her to play Lady 
 Gillingham in ' The Weaker Sex.' This piece ran through 
 the season, and at its conclusion she accompanied them 
 twice to America on tours, remaining with them in the 
 interim. ' The line of business,' remarks Violet Vanbrugh, 
 ' was really over my head, but Mrs. Kendal was indefati- 
 gable in coaching me. She is a wonderful actress to be 
 under. She has so perfect a knowledge of her art, founded 
 on the French school.' With such able teaching and 
 example before her, the young girl was soon able to play 
 successfully the part of the Baroness in ' The Iron Master,' 
 Mrs. Macdonald in ' Impulse,' and a variety of other difficult 
 roles. All these experiences led her on to play, when 
 invited by Mr. Irving, Anne Boleyn in ' Henry VIII.,' 
 besides for two years understudying Miss Ellen Terry's 
 Cordelia in ' King Lear,' and Fair Rosamund in ' Becket.' 
 These were followed by a year's engagement at Daly's 
 Theatre to take, among many impersonations, Countess 
 Olivia in ' Twelfth Night ' and Lady Sneerwell in ' The 
 School for Scandal.' It will be remembered that this lady 
 has to pretend that Charles Surface is in love with her, to 
 effect his ruin ; but it was no such thing in reality, for it 
 so happened that Mr. Arthur Bourchier acted the character 
 and a very excellent Charles Surface he was and there 
 was no pretence needed. The two young actors played 
 together in the piece for the first time, and very soon 
 settled their own little private matters pleasantly and 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 Their latest venture was to go into management, and 
 at the Royalty Theatre they brought out a piece called 
 ' The Chili Widow,' the success of which, it may con- 
 fidently be predicted, will encourage them to introduce 
 many more bright and original plays. 
 
 All around the study, which is the joint working room
 
 VIOLET VANBRUGH 361 
 
 of wife and husband, are evidences of their recent marriage, 
 for pretty wedding gifts are artistically arranged here and 
 there, while a great Chinese dog, Sphinx, a faithful friend, 
 nestles on his mistress's gown. ' I am trying,' says the 
 young wife prettily, 'to make him transfer half of his 
 allegiance to my husband.' 
 
 EVELYN MILLAED 
 
 AMONG the debutantes of the last three or four years not 
 one has come to the front more rapidly than Miss Evelyn 
 Millard. Together with a most attractive presence, a tall, 
 svelte figure, and a beautiful voice, she is gifted with a 
 strongly emotional and sympathetic nature, which enables 
 her to sink her own personality and so thoroughly to be 
 the character that she is impersonating that she carries 
 away the audience with her. She holds so to speak 
 the electric chain in her hand which communicates itself 
 to her hearers, and thus sways them at will, to enter heart 
 and soul into her mind, and to weep with genuine feeling 
 over her woes and these are gifts that go far to make a 
 great actress. It might well be supposed that a career of 
 only five years would yield but little to record, and in 
 ordinary circumstances so it would be ; but Evelyn Millard 
 is no ordinary girl, and from the date of her first per- 
 formance in public she attracted considerable notice ; while 
 great things in the future were freely predicted of her. 
 The prophecies are rapidly being fulfilled, as all who have 
 seen her charming Kosamund in Mr. Grundy's sweet and 
 pathetic play ' Sowing the Wind ' will agree. 
 
 Evelyn Millard has been exceptionally happy in the 
 advantages of her surroundings. She was born in London, 
 and is one of three children of the late Mr. John Millard, 
 Professor of Elocution at the Eoyal Academy and the 
 Royal College of Music. Inheriting from both parents
 
 362 EVELYN MILLARD 
 
 cultivated artistic tastes, from her father comes her love 
 of literature ; but it was the system of education that was 
 so judicious. That beloved and wise parent held the 
 theory that all the gifts should not be sunk in one profes- 
 sion, and directed her reading into deeper channels than is 
 usual. It was strange that, although most of the principal 
 vocalists were under him, not only for singing, but for dra- 
 matic study, his three girls never attended his classes ; 
 nor did he give the young player regular lessons in her art, 
 nor exactly teach her a part. ' But oh ! ' she says, in a 
 low voice, the while the expressive grey-blue eyes kindle 
 with emotion, ' how much I owe my father ! There was 
 the greatest sympathy between us. His idea was always 
 to bring out the individuality of a person ; he never be- 
 lieved in " parroting " a part, and I used from childhood to 
 study Shakespeare and to talk over the poet with him. 
 He would point out this and that, and explain it so 
 clearly, and try to lead me, as it were, into the great heart 
 of Shakespeare. He taught me to speak blank verse, and 
 in all things was the most perfect instructor. His loss is 
 irreparable.' 
 
 Thus it will be seen that Evelyn Millard has indeed 
 been singularly fortunate in her home training. The 
 studies in blank verse will bear rich fruit later, when, with 
 an already intimate acquaintance with the immortal bard's 
 works, she shall be called upon to play Juliet, Ophelia, 
 and other Shakespearian characters. But to go back to 
 her childhood and her first amateur performance at the 
 age of twelve. With the delightful audacity of youth she 
 had aspired to play Portia, with her younger sister, aged 
 ten, as Bassanio, and had likewise undertaken the whole 
 stage management, directing and coaching the others in 
 their respective parts. Previous to its production her 
 father had taken her to the Lyceum to see Madame 
 Modjeska in ' Marie Stuart,' and at the conclusion of the 
 play introduced her behind the scenes to Mr. Forbes- 
 Bobertson, to whom the child anxiously confided her in-
 
 EVELYN MILLARD 363 
 
 ability to procure Bassanio's moustache. Mr. Kobertson, 
 who was playing the Earl of Essex, was much amused, 
 took off his own, and presented it to her, the which hirsute 
 adornment, after it had done duty for Bassanio, was for 
 long preserved and cherished by the youthful Portia. 
 Her next and only other effort as an amateur was in an 
 open air performance first at Fulham, and, later, at Copt 
 Hall, Totteridge in connection with the Shakespearian 
 Heading Society, where she played Helena in ' The Mid- 
 summer Night's Dream.' Then she applied to Miss Sarah 
 Thorne, who bade her do the balcony scene in her own 
 room. This, Miss Millard played with one of her father's 
 pupils so much to Miss Thome's satisfaction that she at 
 once engaged the young girl as leading lady in her stock 
 company at Margate. ' I owe a deep debt of gratitude,' 
 she says, ' to Miss Thorne. She was so kind and en- 
 couraging. Gordon Craig was there. Miss Ellen Terry 
 came down, and was charming to me ; she lent me the 
 dagger that she herself had used in the part, which was 
 very sweet of her.' After three months under Miss Thorne, 
 where she gained much experience, Miss Millard passed 
 on to Mr. Tom Thome's company and played Miss Kate 
 Eorke's part of Fanny in ' Joseph's Sweetheart,' and the 
 title roles of ' Miss Tomboy ' and ' Sophia,' and Clara 
 Douglas in ' Money.' A funny incident occurred when she 
 was acting Fanny. In the scene where the girl is locked 
 in the room in the villain's power she had to shake the 
 door which should have been invulnerable and batter 
 her hands against it, screaming, ' Let me out, let me out ! ' 
 Unfortunately the door yielded only too readily, which was 
 very disconcerting, and caused a laugh in front, but she 
 went on with the act, and at its conclusion the audience 
 always kind when any little contretemps occurs and is 
 successfully mastered applauded her heartily. At the 
 end of the tour Miss Millard went to the Grand Theatre, 
 where she was seen by the Messrs. Gatti, and just nine 
 months after her first start she found herself leading lady
 
 364 EVELYN MILLAR!) 
 
 at the Adelphi, where she played Constance in ' The 
 Trumpet Call,' and created the role of the heroine in ' The 
 White Rose,' which she pronounces to be ' a very pretty 
 part,' and the chief characters respectively in ' The 
 Lights of Home ' and ' The Black Domino.' These pieces 
 ran for eighteen months, during which time she received 
 eight offers of other engagements, including four from 
 America and one from Australia. Feeling, however, that 
 she had had enough of melodrama, she desired to break 
 fresh ground. ' I longed for a part such as I had never 
 yet had,' says Miss Millard earnestly, ' into which I could 
 throw my whole soul.' The opportunity soon came. Mr. 
 Comyns Carr was arranging, early in 1894, a tour with 
 ' Sowing the Wind,' and Evelyn Millard was selected for 
 Rosamund. Here her ambition and talent found full sway 
 ' a beautiful part in a beautiful play,' she calls it. The 
 play made an extraordinary success in Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 and Cambridge ; and the undergraduates packed the house 
 nightly. ' I persuaded the late Professor Blackie to go to 
 see the piece,' she remarks. ' He was charmed with it, 
 and wrote a long letter to the " Scotsman," saying he con- 
 sidered that it contained a moral lesson.' On her return 
 to London she was engaged by Mr. George Alexander for 
 a year first to go on tour to play Dulcie in ' The Masque- 
 raders ' and the title role in 'The Second Mrs. Tanqueray,' 
 and then to take up the part at the St. James's. A later 
 part was the heroine in ' The Divided Way,' and in ' The 
 Prisoner of Zenda ' she plays the Princess Flavia. 
 
 The pretty house in which Miss Millard and her mother 
 live stands in a broad and busy road, but, lying far back 
 behind a long garden, nothing can be heard of the outside 
 traffic. There is a quaint old-world look within that 
 makes a suitable background for the graceful and pic- 
 turesque beauty of the young Rosamund. The prevailing 
 tints are sage-green ; two deep recesses are cunningly 
 arranged with white enamelled shelves for pictures. A com- 
 fortable saddle-back chair stands conveniently near a great
 
 EVELYN MILLARD 365 
 
 bookcase filled with instructive literature and a little square 
 table on which are scattered the current magazines and 
 journals notably the ' Saturday Keview,' uppermost. 
 Art-coloured bowls containing palms and ferns are ar- 
 ranged on a low shelf under the great mirror ; the draped 
 mantelpiece opposite holds many specimens of foreign 
 bronzes, while pots of variegated poppies and yellow 
 flowers dispersed here and there add brightness to the room. 
 Three large photographs occupy a prominent position : 
 one of Professor Blackie, a second of Mr. Comyns Carr 
 ' He is so kind and so charming to work for,' said Miss 
 Millard. The third is of the veteran musician Mr. Charles 
 Salaman, who quite lately went behind the scenes, and, 
 with tears in his eyes, congratulated the young actress on 
 her Rosamund, saying : ' I cannot tell you what I feel 
 about it ; I will write.' Among the books there is a little 
 volume that she deeply values. It is a posthumous work 
 of her father's ' Shakespeare for Kecitation,' with an intro- 
 duction by the Rev. E. A. Abbott, D.D., and edited by her- 
 self. It contains all the most dramatically effective scenes 
 that could by judicious arrangement and cutting be made 
 suitable for practice, together with the principal soliloquies 
 a work that is no less prized by his former pupils than 
 valued by all dramatic students. Miss Millard recently 
 had a very flattering offer from Mr. Irving to go to America, 
 which she was unable to accept, as she has been re-engaged 
 by Mr. George Alexander for another year. Modest and 
 frank, she is very ambitious, and is ' never satisfied with 
 herself, but always working for something higher.' She 
 is a very quick study, especially under strong pressure, 
 though she never exactly sits down to learn her lines 
 separately. She thinks out the whole play first, and gets 
 sure of its general meaning, walking up and down the 
 room for hours together, and the words come at rehearsal 
 and gradually soak in. ' The dearest wish of my heart,' 
 she acknowledges, ' is to play Shakespeare and in poetical 
 drama. There is a great field for women in that.'
 
 366 FANNY BROUGH 
 
 FANNY BEOUGH 
 
 THERE are few more desirable inheritances than a keen 
 sense of humour and an appreciation of fun. Add to this 
 powerful talents, a bright, happy nature, and a sweet dis- 
 position, which enables its fortunate possessor to see only 
 the best side of people and of things. With these charac- 
 teristics it will be at once seen why Miss Fanny Brough 
 is so deservedly a favourite with the public, with all the 
 members of her own profession, and with her innumerable 
 friends. 
 
 At first sight there is a momentary gravity on the 
 actress's face, but in an instant the soft dark grey eyes 
 light up with an irresistible twinkle, and a merry smile 
 beams over her whole countenance as she greets you with 
 frank cordiality. The happy mixture so to speak of her 
 inherited talents has resulted in a vivacious and sparkling 
 originality of her own. From the one side of the house a 
 gift for music and singing; from the other literary ten- 
 dencies. Her father, Mr. Eobert Brough, a well-known 
 and brilliant litterateur of his day poet, dramatic author, 
 and novelist died so early that his daughter was too young 
 to remember him. Who does not know her uncle, Mr. 
 Lionel Brough so clever, versatile, and witty ? He was 
 the first of the talented family to come before the footlights. 
 Of the young generation Fanny Brough was the first who 
 elected to adopt a histrionic career at a very early age. 
 Her cousin Sydney followed in her and in his father's steps, 
 while her brother Robert is the popular manager of a 
 theatre at Melbourne, and has their mother and a young 
 sister in his company. 
 
 ' On the whole,' says Fanny Brough demurely, ' I fancy 
 I got more of my dramatic instincts from my mother's 
 side than any musical lore. She is a most delightful singer, 
 and a great favourite at Melbourne. She was the niece of 
 the celebrated vocalist Miss Romer, of " Maritana," " The
 
 FANNY BROUGH 3 6 7 
 
 Bohemian Girl," and "The Mountain Sylph" fame.' 
 But although Miss Brough speaks modestly of 'any 
 musical lore,' it is a fact very well known that she is a 
 brilliant pianist and a sweet singer. When you charge 
 her with this she laughs and says, ' There is so little time 
 to practise, and the singing has to slide somewhat, but the 
 playing never will ; and one's voice suffers from non-practice 
 sooner than the fingers.' 
 
 The young player's first appearance was at the Prince's 
 Theatre at Manchester, when quite a child, as a fairy in 
 pantomime. She was terribly nervous, and the style of 
 dress rather troubled her ; so that when some cousins in the 
 stalls afterwards informed her that they ' could not hear a 
 word she said,' she was inclined promptly to look on herself 
 as 'a failure.' 'It was Mr. Calvert's play,' she remarks. 
 ' My kind, good friend ; how much I owe him ! ' and she 
 sighs as she adds softly, after a pause, ' He died just as I 
 was beginning to feel my feet ; but I have never forgotten the 
 good things he taught me, young as I was.' That these 
 ' good things ' bore good fruit was soon abundantly proved, 
 for only two years after this childish performance she found 
 herself at the same theatre playing Ophelia to Barry 
 Sullivan's Hamlet. Shortly after she made her debut in 
 London at St. James's Theatre, under the management of 
 Mrs. John Wood, as Fernande in the play of that name. 
 Here a fierce difficulty had to be grappled with. It is pro- 
 bable that the very difficulty was of considerable service to 
 the young actress. The role was that of an ingenue, but 
 to such a very youthful debutante it appeared at first as if 
 she were heavily overweighted. However, here her ambi- 
 tion stepped in, and, concentrating all her powers and 
 energies, she soon vanquished the obstacles. 
 
 A little later, at the same theatre, she created the 
 heroine in 'War,' Mr. T. W. Eobertson's last comedy. 
 The lamented author passed away while the piece was still 
 running. Her earlier parts are almost too numerous to 
 mention. For nearly a year she played a series of ingenue
 
 368 FANNY BROUGH 
 
 roles at the Gaiety with Mr. Toole and the late Mr. Charles 
 Mathews. Then a provincial tour followed in the leading 
 part of ' The Crisis,' with Mr. Wyndham's company, and 
 a big success was scored in the original Ted Owen in ' The 
 World.' Among many creations a special favourite was 
 the Irish heroine Nora Fitzgerald in 'Harvest,' which, 
 indeed, brought her prominently forward. She describes 
 it as having been ' a delightful study.' None the less her 
 masterly piece of character-sketching is Fuchsia Leech, 
 the American heiress in ' Moths,' in which she ' revelled/ 
 ' And you will remember how splendid Carlotta Addison 
 was as Lady Dolly,' says the actress, eagerly, with that 
 warm appreciation of a sister artist which is so attractive 
 in her. 
 
 A succession of triumphs followed. In melodrama at 
 Drury Lane she may be best remembered as Dorcas Gentle 
 in Pettitt's 'Prodigal Daughter.' She declares at that 
 time her ambition never vaulted higher than to play senti- 
 mental and weeping heroines, but the underlying spirit of 
 mirth and humour could not long be suppressed, and, with 
 considerable pathos likewise at her command, she has 
 mounted to the foremost rank as a comedienne wild 
 farcical comedy occasionally, as in ' Mrs. Othello.' She 
 has twice had tempting offers to go to America, but was 
 unable at the time to accept them, as other engagements 
 kept her in London, but she looks forward eagerly to ' a 
 trip across some day,' and says it is only ' a pleasure 
 deferred.' 
 
 A most finished and artistic performance of Fanny 
 Brough's was Mrs. Egerton Bompas in Mr. Pinero's play 
 of ' The Times ' at Terry's Theatre. Her bright, sparkling 
 nature found full vent in the impersonation of that charac- 
 ter, which night after night evoked universal applause. 
 Nor must another very big success be omitted. When Mr. 
 George Alexander made his first start in management at 
 the Avenue Theatre with the production of ' Dr. Bill ' a 
 play which ran merrily through the whole season it will
 
 FANNY B ROUGH 369 
 
 long be remembered how delightfully she created the lead- 
 ing part of Mrs. Horton. At the end of that time she had 
 to leave to join the Drury Lane company, being under a 
 three years' engagement to Sir Augustus Harris, who used 
 to ' lend ' her to other managers while Drury Lane was 
 closed. That enterprising manager and impresario has, 
 however, lately recalled the loan, so to speak, and, as the 
 heroine in the splendid spectacular melodrama ' Cheer, 
 Boys, Cheer ' the finest, perhaps, that has ever been seen 
 on the boards of Drury Lane Fanny Brough won fresh 
 laurels. 
 
 If, as will now and then happen, she gets a part where 
 there is little comparatively to do, it is needless to say 
 she does that little well. She is always contented, and 
 when she has a role which at first sight looks as if it 
 might not suit her, she studies to make herself suit the 
 role, and this may be the secret of her unfailing success 
 and popularity. In the matter of ' study ' she is very quick, 
 but she has no particular time for learning, and, indeed, 
 not infrequently causes her people a little uneasiness on 
 that score, for she is never seen to study ; but presently 
 some member of the family is asked to hear her go through 
 her lines, as ' it is a help,' and then she is always found to 
 be letter-perfect. ' As to being nervous,' she says, laughing, 
 ' of course I am, but it is the nervousness that stimulates 
 and exhilarates, and not the sort that paralyses.' 
 
 Now this charming actress has, among many versatile 
 gifts, one that is all 'pure womanly.' She is nothing less 
 than a genius with her needle ; so is her mother, and 
 so is her grandmother. For years she cut out and 
 made every article that she wore on and off the stage. 
 Nothing comes amiss to those nimble fingers. Of late, 
 want of time prevents so much devotion to her needle and 
 thimble. She is as fond of pretty clothes as anyone, but 
 in that respect contents herself with her stage apparel, as 
 she considers it ' a duty to the author, manager, and 
 audience to be perfectly dressed there.' 
 
 K H
 
 370 FANNY BROUGH 
 
 Fond of the country and country pursuits, especially of 
 driving, of which she ' can never have too much,' Fanny 
 Brough finds her pretty home conveniently near London, 
 while possessing many rural aspects. It is a large, old- 
 fashioned house, within high walls, with some old trees 
 in the still more old-fashioned garden. There is a great 
 double hall opening out into several rooms. Her own 
 special ' den ' is simply but artistically furnished, and con- 
 tains many little treasures. There is a picture standing 
 on an easel, by which she sets great store. It was sent 
 to her by the Spanish author of the play ' The Woman 
 and the Law,' together with a letter of hearty congratu- 
 lations and thanks on her brilliant creation of Petrella 
 in that piece. 
 
 But, with all her excessive love of mirth, Fanny 
 Brough can look as severe as a judge when occasion 
 demands. In early days some juvenile actor would now 
 and then mischievously declare, ' I'm going to make you 
 laugh to-night,' but it was no use. The merriment springs 
 from within, and her face would be set as immovably as 
 the Sphinx ; but she remarks, ' My sense of humour has 
 served me in glorious stead throughout my whole life, and 
 I should die if I could not laugh.' 
 
 PRIXTKD BY 
 
 8POTT1SWOODE AJiD CO., NKW-STREBT 8QUJLRK 
 LO.XDOK
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
 ON 
 
 "NOTABLE WOMEN AUTHORS OF THE DAY." 
 
 The Literary World. " Readers of the Lady's Pictorial are already 
 familiar with its bright and picturesque sketches of some of our well- 
 known novelists, now republished under the title of ' Notable Women 
 Authors of the Day.' The work is admirably done. . . . We feel that 
 Mrs. Black's visits were somewhat different from those of the ordinary 
 interviewer and that she possessed the tact and sympathy necessary to 
 place herself thoroughly en rapport with the eminent women whojn she 
 visited. . . . Short as they are, they not only give a vivid impression of 
 each author, but each is interspersed or introduced by some dainty bit of 
 description or some historical reminiscence ; while sketches of the home 
 life, always characteristic but never impertinent, fill in the picture." 
 
 Saturday Review. " The work is decidedly good work of the kind." 
 
 Court Journal. " In her interesting and valuable volume, ' Notable 
 Women Authors of the Day,' Mrs. Black has reprinted a number of 
 interesting biographical and personal sketches of living authors. . . . 
 Brightly and kindly written. ..." 
 
 World. " Mrs. Black writes with good feeling and good taste . . . 
 the book will prove of very general interest. ..." 
 
 Sunday Times. '" Notable Women Authors of the Day.' The 
 reminiscences of well-known authors have been undertaken by Mrs. 
 Helen C. Black. This lady has treated her task as a labour of love. . . . 
 Mrs. Black has not given us a word too few or a word too many. ... A 
 biographical sketch of Jean Ingelow concludes Mrs. Black's delightful 
 book." 
 
 Queen. " It is as good as a novel with twenty-six heroines . . . the 
 book is a lively and readable one, for Mrs. Black has collected her 
 biographical and personal details with care and has handled them with 
 literary skill." 
 
 Lady's Pictorial. " The biographical sketches of ' Notable Women 
 Authors of the Day,' which Mrs. Black was well advised to collect in this 
 daintily got-up volume, originally appeared in the Lady's Pictorial. 
 ... A more acceptable gift-book for the gift season could not be found. 
 . . . Mrs. Black's sketches are very bright and interesting, and there is 
 in them just enough of those little personal details that readers love, but 
 of vulgar and intrusive personalities, not a trace. . . . Mrs. Black has 
 the happy knack of seizing upon the interesting episodes in the lives of 
 the celebrities of whom she writes, and she sets them before us in 
 simple and natural language." 
 
 Globe. In "Notable Women Authors of the Day," Mrs. Helen C. 
 Black supplies us with a series of biographical sketches and descriptive 
 
 monographs These monographs are likely to have many well-pleased 
 
 readers. The literary ladies dealt with are pictured in their habit as they 
 live, while at the same time a succinct account of their career is given. . . . 
 The public likes to read about the people who give it pleasure, and Mrs. 
 Black's pleasant chit-chat will, we may expect, give great satisfaction to 
 a large circle of readers."
 
 Opinions of the Press continued. 
 
 Overland Mail. " Very few ladies resident abroad could fail to find 
 an interest in Mrs. Black's ' Notable Women Authors of the Day," a series 
 of lively sketches of clever women who have by their writings impressed 
 themselves on the age. Mrs. Black must be singularly sympathetic, for 
 she has managed in these sketches to convey a really striking idea of each 
 of the authors, and she is besides an intelligent critic of their work. . . . 
 Mrs. Lynn Linton, Mrs. Biddell, Bhoda Broughton, John Strange 
 Winter, Florence Marryat, Edna Lyall, Jessie Fothergill, with many 
 others find a place in this gallery. Mrs. Black introduces them all round 
 with grace and geniality." 
 
 Pioneer. " Mrs. Black gives a cheerful, breezy, sympathetic portrait of 
 her ' Notable Women Authors.' . . . The cleverness of Mrs. Black's style 
 is brought out and illustrated by the effective touches and point she gives 
 to the conversations, which place vividly before us their atmosphere and 
 individuality. . . . There is a geniality and warmth about the description 
 that is convincing and picturesque. Indeed, to read this bright, interest- 
 ing and well-written book is to feel that whatever we may think of some 
 of the novels, the writers thereof must, one and all, be charming." 
 
 Christian Leader. " This fine volume is one which will be read by 
 all with profit and interest. . . . Mrs. Black has much that is interesting 
 to say, and she has said it gracefully and well. In her pen portraits she 
 is especially happy, so much so that one feels as if one had been present 
 at the visits and talked oneself with the various ladies in their homes. . . . 
 As Mrs. Black has meted out impartial justice to all, no one will be 
 disappointed on reading her most excellent volume." 
 
 Guardian. " A book to reward patient reading . . . facts of real 
 interest. . . . They are absolutely discreet." 
 
 Daily Chronicle. " ' Notable Women Authors of the Day.' Their 
 portraits are here, in Mrs. Black's entertaining pages . . . this lively and 
 well-written book." 
 
 Spectator. " It could hardly have been more naturally or in better 
 taste than in this volume by Mrs. Black ... is thoroughly good 
 natured. . . . She has got up her subjects with absolute conscientious- 
 ness. . . . She has a real command, also, of the style known as ' graphic,' 
 and uses it to good purpose. . . . She supplies us with so much interest- 
 ing information. . . . This book is almost all sunshine." 
 
 Manchester Examiner. " ' Notable Women Authors of the Day ' is 
 a book of permanent value and possesses great interest because of the 
 insight it gives into the home-life of several of the female novelists. . . . 
 Considerable tact is possessed by the author of these sketches. She has 
 also a pleasant chatty style, and although we have here twenty-six lady 
 novelists portrayed, there is no tedious uniformity of treatment. We see 
 them as it .were face to face." 
 
 Northern Weekly Whig. " A delightful book for one's own perusal, 
 and a most acceptable book to give as a present to some other woman, is 
 Mrs. Black's ' Notable Women Authors of the Day,' a collection of 
 articles written in a pleasant, chatty manner, and giving full and interest- 
 ing details of all the authors dealt with. . . . The book is a capital one 
 for reference, as well as entertainment." 
 
 Liverpool Mercury. '" Notable Women Authors of the Day.' Mrs. 
 Black's book is one of the most interesting volumes of literary history
 
 Opinions of the Press continued. 
 
 we have. It comes as womanly gossip, and this it is in the best sense, 
 for it is sparkling and full of surprises. There is a dash of adventure, 
 too, in connection with almost every paper, and the happy way in which 
 the writer reaches her facts makes the story one of unmitigated enjoy- 
 ment." 
 
 Nottingham Daily Guardian. " Mrs. Black has made a charming 
 addition to biographical literature in her ' Notable Women Authors of the 
 Day.' . . . Most pleasantly described, and giving excellent pictures of the 
 work, personality and surroundings of the subjects. . . . Full of interest. . . . 
 The book is first rate as a work of reference, and Mrs. Black has a bright 
 and graceful literary style." 
 
 Manchester Courier. " In this volume we have presented in a per- 
 manent form a series of biographical and descriptive sketches of notable 
 women authors. . . . The work is written in a genial, chatty, and 
 entertaining form. . . . There is something entertaining on every page." 
 
 Eastbourne Chronicle. " ' Notable Women Authors.' A rapid sale 
 of this readable work, which is from the facile pen of Mrs. Helen C. 
 Black, has brought about another edition, which we are glad to welcome 
 among the other cheery things of the season. The book contains a series 
 of crisp biographical sketches of famous women authors of the day. . . . 
 The papers contain in interesting and succinct form an abundance of 
 biographical and literary details. . . . Mrs. Black is an ideal interviewer, 
 a charming writer, and the perusal of her clever sketches cannot but 
 afford sincere pleasure." 
 
 Oban Times. " Carefully written biographical sketches of the more 
 famous women authors of the day." 
 
 Scotsman. " Brightly written and informative as it is, the volume 
 answers well to the demand that always exists for a more intimate 
 knowledge of an author's personal surroundings and history than her 
 work gives." 
 
 Brechin Advertiser. "All readers of the popular literature of the 
 day will welcome this beautiful volume as giving, in a bright, lively, and 
 gossipy way, an insight into the life of many authors whose writings 
 afford them delight and instruction. . . . The author is well known as 
 a graceful and effective writer, and she has evidently a wide knowledge 
 and experience of life, literature, and character ; and while depicting the 
 talents and habits of her subjects, there is often a strong sense of the 
 writer present. The volume is an important contribution to literary 
 biography ... it is sure to receive a warm welcome." 
 
 Bristol Mercury. " Mrs. Black's articles give a pleasant account of 
 the homes, tastes, and conversation of some of the principal novelists of 
 the day . . . the volume makes an acceptable addition to the record of 
 women's work." 
 
 Dumfries and Galloway Standard." This is a very handsom* 
 volume a picture gallery of notable women authors, and much that is 
 worth knowing of them communicated to the reader by a sympathetic 
 biographer, who writes easily and never fails to interest. . . . The onl.y 
 regret one is apt to feel is that the number of the sketches is not greater."
 
 Opinions of the Press continued. 
 
 Newcastle Daily Chronicle. " Mrs. Black has a bright and 
 sumptuous style. . . . Her agreeable book is embellished with re- 
 productions of photographs." 
 
 Belfast News Letter." The volume deserves a good word to be said 
 of it. . . . Many of Mrs. Black's sketches abound in interest. She is 
 guilty of no error of taste. . . . Certainly many readers will welcome 
 the little biographies of these writers." 
 
 Sheffield Independent. " Those who wish to know something about 
 the lives of the literary women of the day, cannot do better than purchase 
 this chatty volume." 
 
 Southampton Times. " ' Notable Women Authors of the Day,' by 
 Mrs. Helen C. Black, is one of the most interesting and attractive gift 
 books of the season. The talented author is well known to many of our 
 readers, not only through her success in the world of literature, but also 
 from the work of benevolence and mercy which for a long series of years 
 she has carried on in our midst for the benefit of suffering humanity. . . . 
 Her biographical sketches are replete with varied incident and personal 
 reminiscence, which render them peculiarly interesting. Every one of 
 us has his or her favourite authors, and it enhances our interest in their 
 works to know something of them personally. Mrs. Black has afforded 
 us an admirable opportunity of doing this. She brings us into pleasant 
 and familiar acquaintance with the notable women sketched in this 
 volume by her facile and discriminating pen, and wide circles of readers 
 will be charmed and delighted with her life-like pictures." 
 
 Hampshire Independent. " Mrs. Black is already well known far and 
 wide beyond Southampton in connection with her Cottage Hospital, 
 founded, established, and constantly visited by her. That she is a writer 
 of no mean merit is probably not so well known. But the handsome 
 volume before us reveals the fact. It seems that Mrs. Black was for 
 some time a contributor of biographical and descriptive sketches to the 
 Lady's Pictorial, and these have now been revised, enlarged, and 
 brought up to date and reprinted in book form. . . . The style adopted by 
 the writer is chatty and pleasant. . . . We cannot but enter into full 
 sympathy with her mood. . . . Truly it requires a woman to properly 
 describe a woman. Mrs. Black has performed her task in this respect 
 with conspicuous success. . . . The subjects of the sketches stand before 
 us distinctly, while the sketches themselves are altogether of exceeding 
 interest, and form a most attractive volume of contemporary biography." 
 
 KilmarnocTc Standard. " ' Notable Women Authors of the Day.' 
 This beautiful volume contains twenty-six sketches which originally 
 appeared in the Lady's Pictorial. They are well worthy of permanent 
 preservation in this handsome form. Exceedingly bright and readable hi 
 style, they are also full of valuable information with regard to the popular 
 literature of the day. . . . Altogether the work is one of exceptional 
 interest." 
 
 Glasgow Herald. " ' Notable Women Authors of the Day,' by Helen 
 C. Black. These sketches, which originally appeared as a series in the 
 Lady's Pictorial, are no doubt already familiar to many readers. They 
 are charmingly written, and as bright and attractive in point of style as 
 they are interesting for the information which they convey, and few 
 contributions to any of our periodicals are more deserving of republication. 
 The volume which now contains them cannot fail to meet with a warm 
 welcome from all who are not indifferent to contemporary literature."
 
 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY AND RECHERCHE COOKERY. 
 
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 Education iu Ireland. Keble's Chiistian Year. 
 
 Bishop Heber. 
 
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 Being a carefully revised precis of information rewarding, all classes of British, Colonial, 
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 THE NAUTICAL MAGAZINE. 
 
 Published Monthlv. Price 1*. 
 Contents of APRIL Number, 1896 
 
 COWES AS A YACHTING CENTRE. By U. T. PKITCHETT. (Illustrated.) 
 THE NEW RULES FOR EXAMINATION OF MASTERS AND MATES. By Mr. J. BOI.AM, 
 
 of Leith 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NAVAL PROGRAMME. 
 THE 8BA TRIALS OF THE BELVILLE BOILERS (Illustrated.) 
 THE DISPOSITION OF WEIGHTS AND THE TURNING POWER OF SHIPS. 
 AN ALTITUDE AZIMUTH DIAGRAM. 
 lOrES ON CURRENT EVENTS. 
 
 A 
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 Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom for 1896. 
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 this material to the library 
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