Morning journal and courier., 1880-11-10
Bernhardf.

ltrom the New Hork EVen1ng Post.
 It would be unjust to judge Bernhardt per emptorily after single performance. There is no doubt that she is a most accomplished performer, of strong individuality and much originality. Whether she is justly entitled to the appellation of great is doubtful This re- mains to be proved. Of her versatility, of course, nothing at present be said, and in this, as her admirers assert, lie her chiefest claims to consideration. In Adi4enne she is remarkably effective but she did not touch greatness last night. She was at no time so transformed by the fire of passion or kthe power of genius as to defy critical judgment She awakened the livehest admiration by the perfection of her method, her complete mastery of her art, and her brilliant intel ligence, but she did not send the blood whirling tumultuously through the veins, until reason is the slave of emotion. It was always possible to trace the means by which the end was reached, and this is equivalent to saying that her efforts were the result of the perfection of mechanism rather than of inspiration. She never, for instance reached the heights of passion to which Clara Morris is wont to attain but she gave that famous actress invaluable lesson, if she would profit by it, touching the true sig nifcance and use of dramatic style and finish. If her performance exhibited occasional signs of labor it was never careless never abrupt, never inharmonious, never coarse. It was, moreover notably free from all exaggera- tion, all undue striving after self-asser- tion and from all effort to improperly subordinate minor parts. The elocution of Mile. Bernhardt is of the highest order, and her voice is rich in tone and wide in range. In every variety of modulation it is completely under control and the crispness and fuency of it's utterance are delightful The artist is, in a word, perfect in all that part of her art which can be acquired by study. There is no doubt that her perform ance last night fell short of what had been expected. She was very heavily handicapped by the reckless laudation of which she has been the object. Her worshipers have scarcely deigned to allow that she is mortal and she has before her the difficult task of making their boasts good. There is very lit tie chance of her failure in America. Sue cess is indeed practically assured already, and discussion of her merits will only tend to increase the public interest already mani fested in her work, but she will not occupy here so lofty an artistic pinnacle as that to which she has been raised in her native country
 Her personal appearance has been described so frequently that it is almost work of supererogation to allude to it.. Her head is small and well formed, her forehead low, her hair light and her eyes comparatively dark. Her nose is aquiline and delicately chiselled, her mouth large and mobile and her teeth white and regular. Her teeth are hberally displayed when she speaks, and their gleam sometimes gives a rather hard, not to say cruel, expression to the face, which is always strong and resolute. Her figure is spare, but not phenomenaIly attenuated. as the para graphers would have it, and her statue is slightly above the average height of women. She moves well upon the stage, and manages a train with, what is to the vulgar male mind, almost miraculous dexterity. Her toilets are superb, perfect symphonies in silks and satins. The description is, it must be ad- mitted somewhat vague, but has the double imagination and of rescuing the male writer from demoralizing confession of ignorance. The connection between feminine fnery and dramatic criticism, or dramatic anything, is of the slightest.