talent. In a word, Miss Anderson is beautiful, winsome, gifted, and
accomplished. To say this is to say much, and it fills to the brim the
measure of legitimate praise. She is an eminently good, but not a great
artist."


_Daily Telegraph_, 3rd September, 1883.

"There was a natural desire to see, nay, rather let us say to welcome Miss
Mary Anderson, who made her _debut_ as Parthenia in 'Ingomar' on Saturday
evening last. The fame of this actress had already preceded her. An
enthusiastic climber up the rugged mountain paths of the art she had
elected to serve ... an earnest volunteer in the almost forlorn cause of
the poetical drama: a believer in the past, not merely because it is past,
but because in it was embodied much of the beautiful and the hopeful that
has been lost to us, Miss Mary Anderson was assured an honest greeting at
a theater of cherished memories.... It has been said that the friends of
Miss Anderson were very ill-advised to allow her to appear as Parthenia in
the now almost-forgotten play of 'Ingomar.' We venture to differ entirely
with this opinion. That the American actress interested, moved, and at
times delighted her audience in a play supposed to be unfashionable and
out of date, is, in truth, the best feather that can be placed in her
cap.... There must clearly be something in an actress who cannot only hold
her own as Parthenia, but in addition dissipate the dullness of
'Ingomar.'... And now comes the question, how far Miss Mary Anderson
succeeded in a task that requires both artistic instinct and personal
charm to carry it to a successful issue. The lady has been called
classical, Greek, and so on, but is, in truth, a very modern reproduction
of a classical type--a Venus by Mr. Gibson, rather than a Venus by Milo; a
classic draped figure of a Wedgwood plaque more than an echo from the