ELLEN TERRY.

On tour. Birmingham, 1881.

[To face page 242.

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In the autumn of 1880 the great American tragedian, Edwin Booth, came to England to fulfil an engagement at the Princess's Theatre, and his reception had not been one to make those who take loving interest in the dramatic art of this country proud. How well I remember poor Sothern (he was then in his dying days) waxing wroth over the neglect with which the man whom he declared to be the "finest and most graceful actor in the world" was treated. I think many others felt the same, and Henry Irving, at least, was determined that his great rival should not recross the Atlantic until he had had a fair hearing in London. With characteristic generosity and delightful courage, he invited Booth to appear with him at the Lyceum in Othello, so that the leaders of English and American dramatic art might be seen on the stage together, and in all courtesy cross swords, alternating the finely-balanced yet splendidly contrasted parts of the Moor and Iago. The invitation was cordially accepted, and in both countries the event is regarded as one of the most interesting in modern theatrical history.

The general consensus of opinion was that Booth triumphed as Othello, and that Irving eclipsed him as Iago. No doubt Othello is by far the most difficult part to play, and it was better suited to the classical style of Booth than to the methods of Irving, who, while he has reverence for tradition, delights in taking a path of his own making. In some characters this is a distinct advantage, and his Iago was supreme. It will be remembered that Ellen Terry was already familiar with the character of the gentle Desdemona, and she played it with infinite charm and inexpressible pathos. Hers must have been a difficult task, for both Booth and Irving took different readings of Othello and Iago, and she had to adapt herself to both. Hazlitt said:—"All circumstances considered, and platonics out of the question, if we were to cast the complexion of Desdemona physiognomically, we should say that she had a very fair skin and very light auburn hair, inclining to yellow." In Ellen Terry Hazlitt would have found his ideal, not only in appearance but in art.

For Henry Irving's benefit at the end of the season she played Helen to his Modus in those happily conceived comedy scenes from "The Hunchback" of Sheridan Knowles in which the two figure. She once more proved herself to be the most piquant of comediennes, and the Modus was delightfully sketched.