Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-08-02
An EX-ACTRESs IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS

An EX-ACTRESs IN THE House OF LORDS
While the Duke of Cambridge was speaking 70
the merits OF the gallant old Somerset, ru-
NOR ran about the bar, crowded with members
of the Lower House and other notabilities, that
somebody was cOming-a somebody whom al
most everybody would be startled and delgh-
ted to behold. Presently enters that beau
ideal of q courtier-soldier, Black Rod, Sir Au
gustus Clifford bearing on his arm his old Ban
don friend and neighbor, and idol, and the
idol of hundreds Of thousands before ever he or
she saw BandOn, to wit, Lady WrixOn Becher,
the actual muse of the drama in our time-the
unparagoned Miss O'Neill. At the mention of
her name and the sight Of her person, the Hi
bernian M. P.'s who clustered round the bar,
proved their affinity to the Ghebris, and be-
came fre-wOrshippers, adOrers Of the sun, set
ting sun though it be, and not Eugene herself,
in all her Imperial charms, which indeed
closely resemble what Lady Bechers were at
the same age, could command half the admi-
ration evoked by this apparition on the Peers
boards Of the only outlet ever seen by any
but the minds eye outside the page of Shaks-
peare. What thoughts were not conjured up,
Observation-Disclosures at play houses have gone
out since she was Isabella" and ''Belvidera,"
and - Jane Shore )" and as for laughter in the
like places, nobody knows the meaning of it
since her g Widow CHEEKY" was last seen.
Of course every one who saw her ON Tuesday
had something to say of what they had either
seen or heard of her. and divers were the old
tales revived, including the we'll known one of
Conway, who, playing g Romeo" in Dublin,
and being very tall, and the balcony being SO
very low that he almost looked down upon it,
when he had to exclaim, oh, that were
glove upon that hand that might touch that
cheek, was addressed by an unsophisticated
native of the Green Isle in the gallery thus t:
Get out with yer barney; why the divil
don't you touch her, then, and not be preach
ing Parson Sake all night there ?" This was
many, many years agO-wo for the time. She
is now some six-and sixty, but does not look an
hour more than fifty and still retains much Of
the expression of face which rendered her pre-
viously inimitable in the portrayal Of the af-
fections as distinguished from the mere tragic
passions; for even the Siddons's votaries con-
fessed that in all the softer emotions the essen
tial feminine beauty of Miss O'Neill rendered
her the very impersonation of the sentiment
she expressed
Probably no woman ever trOd the stage in
| modern times who SO entirely escaped the
voice of calumny; and that, no doubt tends to
| enhance the traditional esteem in which the
memory of her professional greatness is held.
She might have been a countess with the de-
vices of princess; but she was content to be
| the wife Of baronet, whose widow she now
| is, and with whom she long lived as happily in
| domestic retirement as she had done brilliant
| ly in the eyes Of the public; for her emoluments
| for some years before she retired (Which she
| did without farewelD were from twelve to
| fifteen thousand per annum and would have
been as much more had there been railways
then as now, which permit the multiplication
of oneself as it were, for managerial pur
poses. "-LtUerpooL Albion.