which he hoped that their opinions would not be at variance. I quote the concluding portion of the letter in which this was enclosed:

66

Many, many thanks for the friendly sentiments towards me contained in your letter. A member of my family snatched Evelyn from me to peruse; and owing to that cause, and for want of time, I have not yet read it. I shall go into it with such partiality for its authoress as to disqualify me as a critic, if otherwise I was, what I happen not to be, a competent judge.

"May honor, fame, pleasure, and riches be your reward in England, with a safe and happy return to our own dear country."

Just before we sailed I received another letter from Mr. Clay, in which these words occur:

"I have read, with much delight, the quotations from Armand. Don't let the duties of the actress engross all your time, but leave a fair portion of it for those of the authoress.

May God protect, preserve, and prosper you while absent, and bring you back, with increased fame and renown, in safety to our dear country."

CHAPTER XV.

Arrival in Liverpool.

The Rev. Mr. S————n and Mrs. S-
-n and Mrs. Sn.-Man.

chester Critics. - First Rehearsal at Theatre Royal, Manchester. – First Night in England. Manchester Guardian. - Engage

ment at Princesses' Theatre, London. — Distressing Rehearsals. The two Helens. - Miss Susan Cushman. — Visitation from the Mistress of the Wardrobe. - Petty Miseries. The Trials of a first Night.- First Attack of "Stage Fright.”— A near Approach to Failure. Sudden Transition. - Success at the Eleventh Hour.

A SUCCESSION of violent gales rendered our voyage more than ordinarily perilous. The sight of land gladdened our eyes on the fifteenth day. On arriving in Liverpool, we found that the Cambria was reported to have been wrecked off Cape Race. The ship lost was the packet Stephen Philip, with ninety-one passengers.

A portion of our engine was broken during the passage, and we lay still seven hours while it was repairing. We met no other accident. The stormy voyage brought vividly to mind the terrible recollections of my childhood the shipwreck and the loss of my young brother. But I was too thoroughly a victim to mal de mer to be susceptible even of fear.

We remained a week in Liverpool, that I might recover from the effects of this oppressive sea malady, and then left for Manchester.

First and firmest amongst the friends we made in a foreign land were the Rev. Mr. S―n and his wife. Mr. S——————n had, for many years, been pastor of a New

Church society in Manchester. I pause when I would write of these revered friends, and my mind fills with affectionate and grateful remembrances. I need not here record all the evidences we received of a valuable and energetic friendship. They are registered in a more lasting chronicle, to the pages of which I often

turn.

Previous to our début, Mrs. S—————n entertained undisguised fears that we would receive harsh treatment at the hands of the proverbially caustic Manchester critics. She called upon the most ascetic of the cynical brotherhood, to "smooth the raven down" by interesting him in my history. The experiment was only calcu lated to render him more uncompromising. In another field she was more successful. Her womanly efforts raised me up an army of defenders amongst the members of her husband's congregation. They were prepared to support me if I betrayed the faintest glimmering of genius.

The

Another anxious friend called upon the theatrical critic of the Manchester Guardian, the leading oracle of the press, and offered to present him to me. cautious and conscientious critic declined the introduction until after my début, remarking that a personal acquaintance might prepossess him in my favor, and interfere with the justice of his criticism. And of such judges was the tribunal composed before which we were to be sifted, scanned, and tested. In such hands was placed Distinction's

that,

"Broad and powerful fan,"

"Puffing at all, winnows the light away."

If our talents fell short in their "fair proportions" of

FIRST REHEARSAL IN ENGLAND.

269

some fabulous or imaginary standard, we were to be annihilated by a paragraph stabbed by thrusts of steel in the form of pens - exterminated by the simoom. of a critic's breath. Pleasant auguries, these, to usher in our career in a land of strangers.

The

The theatre was a remarkably beautiful one. play selected for our début was, as usual, the Lady of Lyons. Our only rehearsal took place on the day of performance. We could not but notice the half sneer that flitted across the faces of the English actors during that rehearsal. They were incredulous as to our abilities, and, perhaps, not without some cause. Now and then there was a contemptuous intonation in their voices that seemed to rebuke us for presumption. Their shafts "hit, but hurt not." Our American independence was an ægis, from which the arrows fell without producing any effect but merriment. No hand of welcome was extended no word of encouragement was spoken to the intruding "Yankees." We were surrounded by an atmosphere of impenetrable frigidity. And yet there were, no doubt, kind hearts among the doubters. But the "stars" were transatlantic, and their light was unacknowledged in that hemisphere. Even the subordinates of the theatre gave it as their private opinion that these new luminaries would be extinguished without trouble.

At night, when the curtain rose upon Pauline, the greeting of the audience said plainly, "Let us see what you can do!" and it said nothing more. Claude received the same gracious though promiseless permission. But even that greeting assured us of that downright generous trait in John Bull which makes him the fairest of umpires, even where he is a party to the con

test. Once make it plain that he is beaten, as in the case of the trial with the New York yacht, and he will huzza for the victor as vociferously as he would have done for himself had he been on the winning side.

Before the fall of the curtain on the fourth act, it was decided that the "stars" were not to be “put out.” At the fall on the fifth, they had taken an honorable place in the theatrical firmament, and were allowed to shine with undisputed light.

The heartiness of the call before the curtain, at the conclusion of the play, atoned for the shyness of our reception. Mr. Davenport thanked the audience in a speech eloquent with genuine feeling.

And now a marvellous change suddenly took place in the deportment of the actors towards us. There was a "making way" for the successful candidates to public favor a looking up to instead of the looking down on them. Sneers and innuendoes were magically converted into smiles and congratulations. There were even speculations afloat concerning the "hit" that we would make upon a London stage.

The débutants had been as cheerful as could be expected over the distrust and disdain with which they had been treated in the morning; and they were now able to be unaffectedly merry at the equally unlookedfor courtesies lavished upon them at night.

The next morning the critics were unanimous in commendation with the exception of the Examiner, whom Mrs. S―――n had attempted to disarm of his ferocity. But he was harmlessly savage, and reluctantly admitted that the American candidates had gained a foothold in the affections of the English public.

The Guardian reputed to be the critic of first