New-York tribune., 1910-11-04
THE DRAMA
Miss Ellen Terry's Discourse on
ShakesDeare's Heroines

/ to lecture on shakespeare Harotn.e~
an audience which filled and Overlooked m.
/ Hudson Theatre. No one else in N. ,,;de
world could have lifted a quarter of = cen
/ fury from the lives of all the lool.e-z and
! bearers in that intent throng and have
brought back the precious golden davs
| when first these shores greeted the Rea-
/ trice. Portia and Ophelia that Shakesneare
/ dreamed and drew. Yesterday Ellen Terry
/ reappeared before the American nub1ic hut
/ III a new capacity She discoursed of.
rather than imper1onated Shakespeare's
Ladies of Victory. his "Heroines Triurnnh-
ant" and as she had enchanted her hear
Iers when she acted Shakespeares women.
/ 50 did she again enchant when she talked
Of them.
The audience rose 10 greet her when she
! entered The applause was long and
| strong. Miss Terri ended II by beginning
! Eer delightful duty Perhaps she found
! her new role of Lecturer a little difficult at
first, little strange. But any nervous
/ ness that may have come upou her. and it
/ always did come upon her in the first per-
/ formance OF a new part was met with the
sympathy, the understanding. even the great
/ love Of her American audience What she
said, what she did, mattered little 10 that
J
moved and spoke. Graceful buoyant. mag
ically voiced as ever she told what she
( thought of some Of Shakespeare's women.
and often illustrated her thought by quot
! ing them and suiting her action to their
word. She began by speaking for some mo-
/ ments of the women of the Renaissance,
/ Of their breeding AMI their brilliance. their
education. their high and resolute spirits.
their independence, their outlook; Of the
| woman $ movement in the Fifteenth Cen
tury. and what she said was true and in
/ teresting But her closely packed admir-
! ers (who were yesterday the epitome Of
the world since the " hole world is devoted
TO herr were eager for her snatches from
the plays and her revelations of herself.
Presently she spoke of Beatrice and gave
snatches from Much Ado" from the
church scene. If ever a delighted throng
felt its joy increase that throng was yes
/ terday's and hers. The beholders were re-
| ceiving once more the gifts Of the goddess.
/ A thousand memories few back as Ellen
/ Terry revealed glimpses first of Beatrice,
/ then of RosaIind. of Volumnia and Nirgilia.
of Viola and Portia; and if there were any
persons in that house who had never seen
/ her act they then, at any rate, received
1 their first clear impressions of what these
| characters might be. Shakespeare in
/ flashes. And the flashes were the light Of
Ellen Terry's spirit. Kate Douglas Wiggin.
I in phrase which glistened in the brief
| ceremonial exercises yesterday spoke Of
that incarnation of poetic harmony we
call Ellen Terry There is nothing left to
be said That incarnation Of poetic har-
mony."
It was when Miss Terry came yesterday
! I'll he
| ity of mercy" speech, that the listeners
and watchers realized what that incarna-
ton Of poetic harmony meant to the stage,
! and what a loss the stage to-day sustains
The gestures which are Ellen Terry's alone,
the Hitting voice. the movement swift as
| thought and graceful as the flow Of a
sparkling stream. the nobility and radiant
| wit. the play Of face and tone, the elO-
| ouence even of a little finger-ah, well!
| what is there but to thank all the gods
there be that Ellen Terry still brightens the
| glinpses Of the sun, And why is she not
/ acting now? every one asked yesterday.
! What are dates save instruments Of con-
| fusion TO dull souls? This marvellous
| woman. with the gift OF youth, made all
| her hearers young again. While she was
| once more revealing POrtia some of US
| thought Of that night thirty-one years ago
| " hen. at the Lyceum Theatre, in London
/ she first played Portia TO Henry Irving s
| ShyIock. Yesterday she made that far
away night Of hallowed memory seem as
near as night before last. Yesterday she
! looked. spoke moved as she did then; the
/ rhythm Of her, the music Of her, the IN
matched charm OF her swept away the
/ decades. She said she had played Portia
/ half q dozen ways. There was sigh when
she said she had never played Rosalind
But if missing Rosalind was loss TO her
how much greater a loss has # been to the
world,
| Yesterday her theme was "Shakespeare's
/ Observation-Disclosures Next Thursday
afternoon II will be ''Shakespeare's Her
| oines-Pathetic" On the afternoon of the
18th instant it Will be The Letters in
Shakespeare's PLAYS" But the theme that
! the audiences viii celebrate is-Ellen Terry.
/ At the conclusion of her discourse yester
day Miss Terry was called repeatedly to the
/ footlights. for she had stirred the public
/ admiration as it is seldom stirred. The old
/ affection and the new greeting combined in
a long ovation. When this was over the
Rev. Percy Stickney Grant, in behalf Of an
/ honorary reception committee presented
Miss Terry with a Book of Welcome, con
!
! grished and dear friends. In doing this
Nr. Grant delivered this brief address,
which had been written by Kate Douglas
/ Wiggin;
| The names in this book interlined
throughout with radiant memories and
happv anticipations tho they will be visible
10 no one but yourself. as they are in sym
pathetic ink Of a peculiarly confidential
tint.
This little volume is 2 Book 81 Welcome
from certain loyal admirers to that tncar-
nation of poetic harmony We call Ellen
Terry; the enchanting the unapproachaole,
| the irnperishable Beloved Of the English
/ speaking stage.
Since that star danced under which you
were born UP to this present moment. dear
/ Ellen Terry. each Of US could have said, as
Portia 10 Bassanio
| q. 'One-half Of me is yours, the other half
YOURS and all yours
After the presentation Percy Mackaye
read these verses. which he had written
for the occasion:
ELLEN TERRY.
on her return to America.
How shall We welcome back her image