, 1885-01-22
sAaAA egaNnA Rpr,s PASSION.
VIVA, sarlou Has 70 Say Of the sotsd
Actresa-Hsr NioIent Rage.

what AArdou Has 70 Say OF the Notea
Actress-Hsr Violent Rage
paris Cor, Npw York Tribunel
When Sardou was nskei whether Sarnn'
Bernhardt was playing tricks, he said; Il
tLiak not have had great experience with
women Of her class, and think l know when
they are not counterfeiting. and when they
ars acting a part She was nearer 10 a
demon than any woman l ever SEW when !
went to call on her yesterday. She Is not,
observe, young; she knows that her power
as a woman-I do not speak OF her prestige
as an nctress-is on tho wane, and she finds
herself deserted by a man who had acquired
over her the most absolute a~scezz4ency that
love can secure. He might insult her.
trampls upon her feelings, give the rein h
any apiount OF ill-humor, take any liberty
before strangers in talking at her, ~criticise
her sharply. and yet not cool, In any vie,
her passion She was magnetizsd by his
powerful masculinity. He was disappointed
thai she didn't carry all before her ix
England rs Lady Macbeth in his
translation Of Shakespeare's tragedy. Sc
was she. Indeed. she was annihilated by the
GOODNESS with which she was received. She
Is a creature entirely without ballast and
exaggerates everything. She Is like one
possessed of an evil spirit when she gives
herself up 10 hatred, which she often does.
TIL spirit lodged in her rends her and can
not be exercised Although she does not
shrink from doing under all circumstances
just a. she likes, she can not half express
those violent emotions even when she gets
into fits Of choking rage"
Sardou says that Sarah has the temporal
ment Of the Jews Of Jerusalem between the
nativity and the taking Of that city by
Titus She has a notion that she should be
a law unto herself. or indeed that she should
lie subject to no law except that OF her own
whimsical will. She is, though convent bred,
utterly without religious feeling or belief
and yet very superstitious. Her supersti-
tions are the reverse of consoling. She
will begin no task, enter into no engage
ment, attend no rehearsal, set out on no
journey on a Friday or on the 10Th Of any
month. With that, she is an avowed atheist
and ready TO give the fullest possible value
to Richepin's "Blasphemies" by r~eciting
them in her richest and sweetest tones. Sar-
dou claims tender pity for Sarah No doubt
he is right. Those effects she produces on
the stage exhaust vitality with terrible
speed. All artists, literary or other, charm
through cerebral congestion. When they
most delight they are most consumed by the
inner fame to which they owe communi-
cative warmth
Sarah's affairs are in utter disorder. When
she earns a lot Of money she filings it away.
She overrates her strength TO make engage
ments which she is unable to keep, and gets
herself e~ntangled in ruinous lawsuits. Sar-
dou visited her just after Richepin had let
her know that a deep gulf was ~irrevocably
opened between them, and that he was GO
ing to Newfoundland. She was rolling on
the floor, gnashing her teeth, breaking and
biting everything that came in her way,
screaming, ~sobbing, imprecating, and wish
ing her elf annihilated. When her nervous
power was spent she was @like a rag and
implored her visitor to have compassion on
her and not press her TO rehearse the charac
ter of Theodora-the Brizantine empress.
who had been a circus-rider and profession
ally gallant before the Emperor J~ustinian
was bewitched by her and married her.