later by Isabella Glyn, Ellen Tree, Charlotte Cushman, Emma Waller, Genevieve Ward, and Fanny Janauschek. The part of Queen Katharine was not assumed by either Mrs. Crawford or Mrs. Yates, those prominent rivals of Mrs. Siddons.

On the American stage the play of "King Henry VIII" has not been especially popular. The first performance of it in America occurred at the Park Theater, New York, May 13, 1799, on which occasion it was acted for the benefit of Mrs. Barrett, who played Queen Katharine. That actress had come from England about two years earlier, and her acting in tragic parts had gained esteem.

was acted by her husband, Giles Leonard Barrett, while the part of Cromwell was assumed by Cooper.

Later presentments of "King Henry VIII" in the early American theater were few, but they are associated with distinguished names. On October 2, 1811, the play was acted at the old Park Theater with George Frederick Cooke as King Henry, Mrs. Stanley (Mrs. Twistleton, Stanley being an assumed name) as Queen Katharine, Cooper as Wolsey, and Edmund Simpson as Cromwell. On April 29, 1834, at the same theater, when Fanny Kemble and her father, Charles Kemble, were fulfilling an engagement there, it

was represented for Fanny Kemble's benefit, that beautiful and brilliant woman, then only twenty-three years of age, acting Queen Katharine, and Charles Kemble acting Wolsey. On that occasion the effect of the appearance of celestial phantoms, in the vision scene, was heightened by the vocalism of Emma Wheatley, who sang the solemn song by Handel, "Angels Ever Bright and Fair," then for the first time thus introduced. Four years later, at the National Theater, in Church Street, Emma Wheatley (1822-1854) herself appeared as Queen Katharine, John Vandenhoff being the Wolsey, and Henry Wallack the King. Miss Wheatley, only sixteen years old when thus she ventured to assume one of the most majestic characters in Shakspere, -a character that no girl ever did or ever could really impersonate,

-in her day was regarded as a prodigy of genius and beauty. In 1837 she became the wife of Mr. James Mason, and soon afterward retired from the stage. In 1847, "King Henry VIII" was produced at the old Bowery Theater, New York, with Eliza Marian Trewar (Mrs. Shaw), a remarkably beautiful woman and a fine actress, as the Queen. Among American actors the most notable representative of Wolsey was that superb comedian John Gilbert. A good performance of King Henry was given by John Jack.

The loveliest embodiments of Queen Katharine that have been presented on our stage within a remembrance ranging over a period of more than fifty years were those of Helena Modjeska, 1892, and Ellen Terry, 1892-93. Madame Modjeska's delicate features, dark, sad, dreamy eyes,

off the scene, and it served to deepen the pathos of a deeply affecting situation. The actress highly valued this accessory, and Lawrence Barrett, who, as Wolsey, had acted with her, told me that when he was leaving her company at the end of his engagement she earnestly besought him, if at any time he should ever present the play of "King Henry VIII," not to introduce that song, as she was desirous that the public recollection of it, and of the impressive effect it produced, should remain. undisturbed in association with her embodiment of the suffering Queen. Charlotte Cushman's greatest performances were those of Queen Katharine, Lady Macbeth, and Meg Merrilies, but of the three she valued chiefly the first. Lady Macbeth she did not like, although her embodiment of it was supremely fine.

Edwin Booth acted Wolsey for the first time on December 13, 1876, at the Arch Street Theater, Philadelphia, and on Jan

uary 28, 1878, he played the part for the first time in New York at Booth's Theater. His stage version of the play compressed it into four acts, the third of which contained only 126 lines. Later, when editing his prompt-book, I induced him to add an abridged fifth act, which appears in the printed copy. Scrupulous attention was given to the dressing of the play, a garniture too elaborate to admit of description here. Booth's embodiment of Wolsey was interesting and impressive, but the part did not deeply stir his feelings, and he did not greatly care for it. He was essentially a tragedian, and his genius required tragedy as a vehicle. The pervasive quality of his performance of Wolsey was poetic state. He presented a noble image of authority, tempered by exquisite grace. He denoted austere intellect and the capability of subtle craft. No actor has appeared in our time who could better present the aspect of ecclesiastical