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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
MRS. F. W. LANDER,
FORMERLY
MISS JEAN M. DAVENPORT,
TZRTLG-ZEZDIZEZTZLTIE,
WITH CRITICISMS OF THE PRESS ON HER RENDITION OF
ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
Mrs. Lander will commence a brief engagement at the French Theatre, (Fourteen th St.
and Sixth Avenue, New York,) on the 19th of August, with a Company of
Ladies and Gentlemen of her own selection.
THE LANDER HISTRIONIC COMPANY,
T.
E.
EULG-II,
M-ALLA-G-EK,.
PHILADELPHIA:
1S67.
�Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867,
By T. B. PUGH,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
�BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
MRS. F. W. LANDER,
(formerly
miss jean m. davenport,)
TRAGEDIENNE.
The profound impresssion which the genius of this great artist has created in the mind
of the intelligent and cultured public of America since her return to the stage in 1865,
and particularly by her impersonation of the character of Elizabeth, has had no counter
part since Rachel gave her last performance in this country. Public feeling has been so
greatly aroused regarding her, that the antecedents and facts of her life have been eagerly
sought for, and whatever is known of them have been the most engaging themes of refined
society. We purpose, herewith, to present such authenticated facts of her remarkable
career as an artiste as have come within our knowledge, and which go to show her excel
lence not only as an actress, but as a pure, elevated, and gentle woman.
Her father, an English gentleman, received a liberal education and practiced law in
Edinburg, in which pursuit he was eminently successful, when his attention was first
attracted to the stage by witnessing the acting of the elder Kean.
Mr. Davenport succeeded Mr. Kean in the management of the Richmond Theatre, and
it was here that the marvellous talents of his young daughter were discovered. Mr.
Davenport not being disposed to permit his child to adopt the stage as a profession, dis
couraged her youthful attempts, but at even so early an age, she discovered such ample
fitness for it, and her predilections were so strongly bent in that way, that her family did
not consider it advisable to further oppose her inclination or to debar the public from the
pleasure her rising genius would undoubtedly bestow. She accordingly made her first
appearance on the stage, at the age of seven years, at the Richmond Theatre, in the
character of Little Pickle in the “ Spoiled Child.” Her debut was artistically and pecu
niarily a success, and directed by the judicious advice of friends she immediately essayed
othei and more pretentious parts, in which the same triumphant success crowned her
efforts.
After playing protracted engagements in all the principal cities of England and Scotland
to large and enthusiastic audiences, she crossed over into Ireland, and in the city of Dub
lin each night of her performance was an ovation to her genius such as only the impulsive,
sympathetic Irish Nation could bestow. From Dublin without previous preparation or
long fore-heralding she sailed for America, where her eminent services were immediately
secured by that grand old artist Mr. James Wallack, who was at the time manager of the
�4
old National Theatre in New York. The fair young face he looked into glowed with beauty,
genius and strength, and in the rare sweetness of her voice, her natural grace of form and
manner, he, the great artist, recognized the woman who ere long would adequately repre
sent the heroines of the Drama; heroines which for so long had had no representative.
Mr. Wallack was not disappointed in his predictions, her career of twelve nights at his
theatre was one continued triumph, and this grand old veteran of the stage lived long
enough to see his protege, the foremost actress of them all.
Wherever she appeared the same admiring multitudes crowded the theatre, the same
cordial greetings met her, the same hearty, earnest welcomes were accorded her, and
which so impressed her mind that she resolved to make America her home.
From that day of her infantile successes until the present, as an actress of certain
great parts Mrs. Lander has stood alone upon our stage, without a single rival to dispute
her right. She is indeed, (although still (young and in the very zenith of her superb
powers) the founder of the American School of Acting. Not of that new sensational,
tawdry, tinselled school, which substitutes liberal display of person, stilted declamation
and startling pose in the absence of genius to conceive and mind to execute, but of that
older method which is distinguished by its superlative finish, a high and conscientious
regard for the dignity and honor of the drama, by simple grace and generous culture, by
profound feeling, judgment and emotion. Mrs. Lander’s genius cannot stoop to tawdry
trickery to catch the momentary applause, it is pure, noble as her woman’s nature is, as
her beautiful life has ever been, and only in pure conceptions and in noble actions can it
find expression. It is broad and generous as the air, not hampered by any musty tradi
tions of the theatre, but fresh, strong, original; it is always correct, repressed, classical,
yet it ever glows with a tropical warmth; it is not confined within any narrow limits, but
it embraces all the great parts of the Masters of Comedy and Tragedy alike. There are
upon the American stage but few capable representatives of those profoundly charming
creations, the women of Shakspere ; there is not one who approaches Mrs. Lander in por
traying the graceful, elevated natures of these characters. From her genius they have
caught a suppler grace and a more tender beauty of person and mind. Her own subtle
spirit, dainty, pure and simple as Ariel’s, infuses itself into them and they become to her
audience real and true as any living creature among them all, gliding before them in a
halo of impassioned splendor. Mrs. Lander’s exquisite taste, her great culture and her
delicately refined instinct, all contribute to render her performances rarely beautiful and
satisfying.
But'however ample her reputation had grown through her artistic elimination of the
more ordinary characters of the drama, it was not until the last year that the full breadth
and extent of her genius were developed. As the impassioned Adrienne Le Couvreur, Mrs.
Lander was only distanced by the sublime genius of Rachel, whose fiery spirit seemed to
enter into and inspire it, and Mrs. Lander’s delineation was so little behind that of her
imperial French rival, that although Ristori essayed the part, it was confessed by her
friends that the American artiste still held the second place. But the very height and cul
mination of her talents, were only reached when she within the last few months produced
her great part of Elizabeth. Ristori, the wonderfully gifted Italian artiste had excited the
furor of eager audiences to witness her impersonation of this character. On one occasion
Mrs. Lander was among the audience, and she then and there resolved to play the part.
She felt that to do it properly, required a nature that could, through its sympathies and
traditions, come closer to that great Elizabeth of Shakspere’s age and country than any
foreigner, however richly endowed, could do. These two great artistes are of different
methods, widely dissimilar in many things, yet it is not unfair to either to place their
works side by side and say which is best done. They each gave to the elimination of the
character of Elizabeth their best of genius, talents and study, and when the pictures were
satisfactorily completed to their own senses, they invited the public to see, to criticise.
�5
Where Ristori, girded about and held down by the old palsied traditions of the Italian
stage was icily cold, unimpassioned, yet sublimely classical, Mrs. Lander was profoundly
emotional, equally classical, but portraying every phase of feeling, suffering and hatred with
a sun-like warmth and glow. Just here the Italian might by a rare flash of her native
spirit, or just there by some powerfully conceived device strongly impress the minds of
her auditors, but the charm of Mrs. Lander’s portrayal of the part is, that it appeals no
less to the heart than to the mind; that it is of an even excellence, a beautiful whole,
composed of a succession and combination of beauties following each other in perfect
harmony. The tender womanly feeling, the hatred, engendered by jealousy, the cruel
hypocrisy, the pathos and pain of the character, were all rendered with such exquisite
judgment, repressed power and profound art, that those who had seen Ristori in the part,
felt that here was her master in their own fair countrywoman.
With Mrs. Lander the production of Elizabeth was not a sudden impulse, prematurely
developed. For many months she gave to the character the closest thought, the sincerest
study, and it was not until she felt that she had mastered it in all its subtle details of
thought, feeling and passion, that she ventured to produce it. The superb dresses which
she wears, were made in Paris from historical studies made in London and at Windsor, and
not only their correctness of detail but their great elegance excited the admiration of all
who have been so happy as to see them worn by this great artiste.
Thus far Mrs. Lander has had but limited opportunities of presenting Elizabeth to the
public. In the city of Washington, during a prolonged engagement, she performed the
part every night to increasing audiences, composed of the best minds of the nation, gathered
together at the Capital during a late session of Congress. In the city of Philadelphia, after
performing the part for eight nights at the Walnut Street Theatre, that spacious house was
found inadequate to accommodate the immense crowds which, each night of the perfor
mance, clamored for admittance; and in consequence the play was transferred to the stage
of the Academy of Music, the largest building in America devoted to theatrical represen
tations. The wonderful beauty of the delineation, and the marvellous powers of the act
ress, here attracted for six nights the largest audiences ever assembled in the Academy;
and if Mrs. Lander had not been compelled, by previous engagements, to discontinue the
production of Elizabeth in Philadelphia, her success would have continued to an indefinite
period. Wherever, in fact, Elizabeth has been performed by her, the public, press, and her
vast audiences, have vied with each other in attempts to properly characterize their appre
ciation of the grandeur of this latest and maturest effort of her genius. In it she has
created a greater and more enduring impression than any similar theatrical triumph than
the public has been called upon to assist at for many years.
Not only as the inspired and impassioned artiste does Mrs. Lander challenge our admi
ration and regard. Her wonderful genius is but one of the great charms of her mind and
person. She possesses all the elements of character which fit her for the adornment of
society or the delight of home. In personating the cultured, graceful and beautiful hero
ines of the Drama, she acts no alien part; she has simply to be herself; her pure, natural
self, in whom beauty of form, feature and mind are exquisitely blended and combined.
To express the emotion, humor or pathos of the characters she represents, she simply occu
pies their positions, and thereby excites our admiration, laughter or pity. All the grace
and charm of perfect womanhood, enhanced by cultivation, profound study and art, are
her’s; and these she uses right royally as a beautiful, refined and noble lady should do, for
the benefit of her elevating Art and the pleasure of an intelligent public.
Whatever her hands have been put to do they have done well. As an actress she has
no peer, as a woman her life has been characterized by purity, gentleness and humanity.
Previous to the war of the rebellion, she retired from the stage with the determination, as
she believed, never again to return to it, to become the wife of Colonel (afterwards General)
Lander, who early in the struggle lost his life, leaving his young wife alone with her loss
�6
and pain. Her noble nature scorned to sit down in idle grief, and almost at once she
began her humane services as Chief Matron in the hospitals, organizing corps of nurses,
going day by day, night after night, to the couches of the wounded, sick and dying,
bestowing cheering words to some, here binding up a wound, there holding up
feeble hands in their last prayer, or decently composing the limbs of a dead hero
ere the earth closed over him. Heroes from a hundred battle-fields were waited upon
by her, no services rendered to them were too menial for her to do, no danger too
great for her to dare in the cause of humanity, for not alone to the hospital and camp
were her graceful, womanly labors confined, but amid the din and carnage of battle,
her tenderness was felt and her work performed. And when at last the work of death
was done, and dying men had said to her their last “ God bless you,” she returned again
to her eastern home a widow, lonely, bereft and sorrowful. To one of her great energy
action was necessary to prevent her sinking under great grief, and once again by the
advice of friends, she returned to that stage which she had never trod but to elevate and
adorn.
In this brief sketch we have but too feebly portrayed the character of Mrs. Lander
either as an artiste or woman. But in the hope that an abler pen will hereafter do her
great services to the drama and to humanity ampler justice, we can only commend this
painstaking actress and good woman to the affectionate regard and consideration of all
those who honor charity, and who would wish to see upon the American stage an elevated
drama unmarred by grossness and without a tinge of impurity, a drama which with its
sister arts of Painting, Music and Poetry, should strengthen and develop true and
beautiful thought in the world.
�OHITTIOTTS OP THE IFEEZESS.
[Washington Chronicle, April, 1867.]
Mrs. Lander as Elizabeth.—The National
Theatre was the scene of an artistic triumph on
Saturday night, when the character of Eliza
beth, the most fortunate and illustrious of mod
ern sovereigns, was given by Mrs. Lander with
wonderful beauty and power. One of the most
select audiences that we have ever seen in a
Washington Theatre witnessed the representa
tion, and to say that they were spell-bound by
the genius of the great actress is but a moderate
expression of the emotion everywhere evinced.
It were a waste of words to compare the
Elizabeth of Mrs. Lander and that of Ristori.—
Both are grand, but they are utterly unlike.
The former is Protestant the latter Catholic;
the one is from an English stand-point, the
other from an Italian. Both are artistic con
ceptions, but, in our opinion, Mrs. Lander ex
cels the Italian artiste in representing the stout
heart and haughty temper, the strong self-will
and energy, the love of courtly pomp and mag
nificence which characterized the great English
Queen. Most beautifully, too, were the oppo
site traits of character portrayed by Mrs. Lan
der—the kingly, fierce and masculine traits and
the tender, womanly and sometimes tearful emo
tions. In her love passage with Essex Mrs. Lan
der was imcomparablc. There her noble, gentle
and sweet character, fully expressed itself, and
in exhibiting the womanly traits of the Queen,
she showed her own pure and loving soul. More
than once did we catch glimpses of that noble
devotion with which she loved her lamented
husband, and of the lofty nature which gained
for her the adoration of that nohle and chivalric man. Want of space forbids us to enlarge.
We could say much in praise, both of the artiste
and the performance, which by the way was
well sustained in most of the subordinate parts.
But to those who like ourselves have the pleas
ure of knowing Mrs. Lander personally, noth
ing we could say would increase their admira
tion, both for her abitity as an artiste and her
pure and winning character as a woman ; and
to those who have never seen her we only say,
seize the earliest opportunity you have to wit
ness her Elizabeth.
[Philadelphia Press, May 4th, 1867.]
The Walnut.—Mrs. F. W. Lander as
Elizabeth.—We were safe in saying that the
Elizabeth of Mrs. F. W. Lander would bo mag
nificent. The role has been so thorough a study
with Mrs. Lander as to demand that it should
be thoroughly studied by the critic, before he
shall presume to call liis impressions rife. And
for this reason, if for no other, we have com
paratively little to say this morning of a per
formance whose power and beauty have rarely
been equalled upon the modern stage. In the
series of pictures with which the five acts of the
historical drama abound, two stand prominently
forth. These are the simultaneous dictation of
the two letters in act first, and the marvellously
conducted whole of act fourth, dedicated to the
signature of Essex’s death-warrant. There is no
other portion of the play, indeed, to which re
collections will not cling, and tenaciously at
that; but memory grapples on to these two
more especially, and with all her vitality re
fuses to let them go. The dictation of the let
ters, one to Leicester and the other to Popham,
was a wonderfully beautiful piece in declama
tion, which we do not remember to have ever
heard equalled in. the English tongue; the
modulations of voice in the repetition of the
signature, “ Elizabeth," being the complete key
and exposition of all that had gone before. The
entire audience recognized the grand beauty
of this passage, and applauded with lightninglike intelligence. . The second of these two
pictures, the entire fourth act, was. a more
thoroughly soul-subduing piece of acting than
our knowledge of even Mrs. Lander’s genius
had prepared us to anticipate. We feel con
vinced that the more sympathetic among the
audience felt the real power of this actress for
the first time, at the moment when the death
warrant being signed, the great Queen’s face got
old in a moment, with that indelible aspect
which such instantaneous age brings with it.
Her endeavor to conceal the signature at the
approach of Davison, the clutching expression
of eye and limbs and lineaments, when the
warrant is finally delivered into Davison’s
hands, and her final dismissal of her attendants,
that she may be left alone with, her remorse
and with her God, were all conceived with the
exquisite and subtle power of true genius, full
of beauty of the most tender and agonizing
type. But the entire role demands of the
observer more elaborate thought than can be
contained in those few generalizations, and we
propose to return to the subject again and again.
[The Philadelphia Press, May 5th, 1867.]
The Walnut.—Having witnessed Mrs. Lan
ders Elizabeth but once, we can only repeat to
day the substance of what we yesterday said,
viz: that before arriving at the ultimatum of
opinion, it is necessary that the observer should
bestow upon Mrs. Lander’s portrait of the char
acter a degree of study bearing some rela
tion, at least, to that which Mrs. Lander has
herself bestowed upon the subject of the por
trait. For, throughout , every scene of the
drama, which, commencing in 1585, with the
Queen's quarrel with Leicester, on account of
his presumptuous conduct in the Low Countries,
ends only with her death at the age of seventy,
it is eVident that Mrs. Lander has not only
studied what the character innately was in it
self, but that she has estimated the stages of
development which the progress of years would
effect. Of the series of pictures which so elabo
rate a study enables her to present, two, in our
opinion, appeal most strongly to the memory.
These arc the Dictation of the Letters, in act
first, and the Signing of the Death Warrant, in
act fourth. In the first instance, the Queen is
represented as dictating two letters at once.
�8
One is to the Earl of Leicester, with whom she
is offended for his having aspired to the Crown
of Belgium; and the other is to Chief Justice
Popham, directing him to pay Shakspere’s debt,
and to set the poet at liberty, so that “Henry
the Eighth ” may be produced at the Court
Theatre, at Windsor, within fifteen days. The
entire scene is an exquisite piece of declama
tion, and its beauty consists in the perfect sym
metry with which the modulations of the
Queen's voice correspond to her antithetic
moods, as she moves her head first to one secre
tary, then to the other, until the final name,
Elizabeth, is pronounced, but with such vast
space between the intonations, that in those two
tones the spirit of the entire dictation lies. The
Iliad of the scene is in that nutshell of a word.
But, perhaps, a better idea can be given of the
degree of art necessary to the just rendition of
such a scene, by placing before the reader the
two letters, each complete in itself. That to
Leicester reads thus:
Most Arrogant Earl: Crowns are not made for
heads like yours, far less that of Belgium, which
has already been refused by your sovereign. Re
sign forthwith the command of the troops in favor
of Sir Walter Raleigh. Otherwise we shall order
a despatch of cavalry to arrest you; and Chief
Justice Popham, to whom at this moment we are
inditing a most gracious epistle, will place on your
head a crown of thorns.
Yours, according to your deserts,
Elizabeth.
And the letter to Chief Justice Popham runs
in this wise:
Dear Popham : I have permitted the performance
of Henry the Eighth. But as Shakspere is now in
prison for debt, you will therefore have the honor
of paying those debts for him, in virt ue of the order
which Sir Francis Bacon will present to you. I
hope that another time you will put on your spec
tacles, in order the better to distinguish white from
black.
Your most gracious sovereign,
Elizabeth.
Let the reader imagine these two very differ
ent letters dictated at onoe, the alternate sen
tences of each dovetailing with those of the
other, and he will comprehend the quality and
degree of art which may be evinced tn the Dic
tation Scene.
The second phase to which we have referred
as demanding especial admiration, is the sign
ing of tiie Death Warrant, which, with its
accompanying incidents, occupies the whole of
the fourth act. And throughout the agonizing
situations with which that act abounds, Mrs.
Lander was great; great, not in the paltry sense
in which that word has come to be used, as
signifying something merely above the ordinary
level, but great as towering a head and shoul
ders above the efforts of almost every other
actress in the English tongue whom we have
ever seen. True poets are said to paint by
words, and their language is sometimes called
word-painting. Mrs. Lander, when she does
not paint by words, gives us act-paintings;
and when she does not paint by acts, gives us
the subtler, grander thought-painting, upon
the glowing canvas of mute expression. All
the tortures that a mighty Queen like AZZZzo&etA
could feel, at the moment which, cutting off the
ripe, golden life of one she loved, gave the
death-blow to her own old age, became photo
graphed upon the face of the actress, through
out that superb fourth act. Her disgust and
abhorrence of Sir Francis Drake; her dreadful
anxiety after intelligence from the tower; her
reception, perforce, of the death-sentence of
Essex, handed to her by Burleigh: the tierce,
brief, solitary conflict between love and pride,
to which she puts a desperate end by the attach
ment of the fatal signature ; the instantaneous
deepening of the look of age into the aspect of
horrible decrepitude, when once the deed is
done; her frantic,involuntary effort to conceal
the fact from the jealous eyes of Davison, sent
by the Lord Chancellor to receive the warrant,
signed: the final delivery of it up into the hands
of the Keeper of the Seal; the moral agony, in
look and attitude, which thirst and hunger to
have it back again, as it is borne away; the
dreadful speed she urges upon Hudson when
she learns, too late, that Essex <lid send the
ring; the look of death settling upon the face,
never to leave it again, when the boom of the
cannon is heard, and word is brought her that
her favorite is no more; her frenzied dismissal
of her attendants, and final falling forward
upon her features, arms outstretched and body
writhing, alone with her remorse and God—
these are the prominent figures in a tissue of
acting almost, we believe, unparalleled for truth
and beauty.
The Elizabeth of Mrs. Lander, then, is the
dramatic event of the day. We shall have
more to say of other portions of her acting on
a subsequent occasion, when we shall expect to
apply subtler and acuter tests. At present we
can only add that the Walnut Street Theatre
will, without a doubt, be crowded with intel
lectual audiences so long as Mrs. Lander chooses
to retain this part upon the stage of that estab
lishment.
*
*
*
*
*.
*
It would be extremely unjust to close without
asking attention to the unusually spirited act
ing of Mr. J. II. Taylor in the part of Essex.
It is a role which suits that fine actor to perfec
tion, and his performance throughout the third
act elicited peal after peal of wholly irrestrainable applause.
[Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. May 6th, 1867.]
The Walnut.—Mrs. F. W. Lander gave a per
formance of Elizabeth last evening at the Wal
nut to a large audience. If Mrs. Lander had no
other claim to the title of a great and true ac
tress, this alone would suffice. Not only is her
conception of the character true to history, but
her bearing, her noble and dignified action, and
her impressive and forcible, but yet subdued
delivery, were true in the minutest particular
to the queenly character which she assumed.
The great monarch, the vain, weak woman, and
the fender lover were depicted by turns in her
performance with surprising grace and skill.—
The fiery impetuosity of the Eighth Henry and
the gentleness and sweetness of Anne Boleyn
were mingled in the character which was so
graphically drawn by Mrs. Lander last evening.
Those who were familiar with the personal his
tory of England's greatest Queen saw before
them a true representation of those traits ot
character and peculiarities of temperament and
disposition which combined to make her at once
a true woman and a mighty sovereign; while
those who knew her history but imperfectly,
learned more of it, and learned it more truly
and fully than they could have done from the
pages of history.
*
*
*
*
Taking the representation as a whole, it has
rarely been equaled upon the modern stage.—
There was no rant, no violence, nor untruth to
nature; even in the moments of deepest and
fiercest passion, the actress was quiet, and elo
quent from the very fact that her emotion was
repressed and subdued. In the scene in. the
first act, where she dictates a fierce and bitter
letter to Leicester in Holland, and at the same
time a tender epistle in behalf of the imprisoned
Shaksperc, the change of tone and the play of
countenance were very fine, and called forth
well-deserved applause. The love passage with
Essex in the second act was also excellent, lhe
�9
artist depicted most eloquently the struggle be
tween queenly pride and womanly affection, as
in the scene where she signs the death-warrant
of Mary, Queen of Scots, she expressed her
jealousy of her rival and her pain at doing what
she felt to be a necessary, but a cruel and dread
ful deed. Herinterview with James VI., in the
same act, was also very fine, and was worthy of
her great reputation. The scene in the third
act, where Essex returns from Spain and is re
buked for his disobedience, was admirably per
formed. Throughout the episode Mrs. Lander,
although wrought to a frenzy of rage and striv
ing to find suitable expression for her insulted
dignity, was subdued and womanly. There was
none of that boisterousness, that “tearing of
passion to tatters” which we are accustomed to
near from actors and actresses upon like occa
sions, and in just the same proportion as her
anger found a natural expression, was her im
pressiveness strengthened.
*
*
*
For the two last acts, however, were reserved
the finest and most effective scenes in the play.
In the fourth act, where the Queen looks anx
iously for the ring from Essex so that she may
have some excuse for pardoning him, Mrs. Lan
der was truly great. The death-warrant lay
upon the table awaiting her signature, and the
struggle between duty and love, between pride
and tender affection, and the eagerness of hope,
that gives way at last to anger that her love has
been slighted, were drawn with intense and
vivid power. When the booming cannon echoes
forth the tidings of the Earl’s death Elizabeth
is overcome, and she falls fainting and gasping
for breath upon the chair. This was given with
surpassing grace and fervor and has rarely been
excelled by any popular actress. The reproaches
heaped upon the head of Bacon were also given
with powerful emphasis.
In the last act Jthe Queen has grown old and
infirm; the forehead is wrinkled and her cheeks
are pale and sunken; but she wears her crown
with all her old queenly grace and dignity,
mingled with a sweet pathos as her memory re
verts to the fate of the loved Essex, and as she
totters to the couch and falls upon it, his face
and that of Mary Stuart’s rise up before her
failing vision and, seeming to upbraid her, fill
her with horror and remorse for her part in their
deaths. This was the finest passage in the play.
The agony of fear which Mrs. Lander displayed
as she drew her robes about her and shrank
back cowering upon the bed, was inexpressibly
grand and affecting. It could only have been
given by an artist who forgot self entirely and
felt herself to he the character that she perso
nated. And this is true, also, of the closing
scene, where she snatches the crown from James
and, placing it upon her own head, proclaims
herself still the Queen.
*
*
*
[Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, May 12/A, 1867.]
At the Walnut, Mrs. Lander has appeared
every evening during the past week as Queen
Elizabeth, in an excellent translation of the
play by Signor Giacometti, which Riston has
been acting with so much success in all parts of
the country. It was certainly a bold undertak
ing for an American actress, no matter how
great her talents might be, to attempt what has
universally been considered one of Ristori’s
finest characters, before the great Italian has
left the country, and before the recollections of
her performances have had time to grow dim
in the minds of her auditors. The result, how
ever, proves that Mrs. Lander did wisely; and,
making due allowance for the fact that she has
the advantage of addressing her audiences in
a language which they can understand, the
unanimous opinion of all who have seen her
Elizabeth is, that it will in every way compare
most favorably with the carefully studied effort
of the Italian actress. Unfortunately we failed
to witness Ristori’s performance of this role,
consequently we are unable to speak in regard
to the relative merits of the rival artistes; but
persons who have seen both, and in whose judg
ment we have entire confidence, assure us that
Mrs. Lander’s personation is in no respect infe
rior. At the same time she is not by any means
a copyist; her conception of Elizabeth’s charac
ter is her own, and it differs materially from
Ristori’s in many respects. For our own part,
we can say without any hesitation that it is un
doubtedly one of the finest and most thoroughly
artistic efforts that has been given on any stage
in this city for a longer time than we care to
remember.
In view of the success which has attended
both Mrs. Lander's and Madame Ristori’s rep
resentations of Elizabeth, it seems somewhat
singular that a character so essentially drama
tic, and which presents so many striking points
for an actress of first-class talent should not
have been made the subject of a drama before
this. Signor Giacometti’s play is a tolerably
good piece of work, although strictly speaking
it has no plot, and merely presents a number of
striking scenes with very little connection be
tween them, in which the great English Queen
is the prominent figure. The other characters
are merely accessories brought in to fill up the
picture, and in his delineation of them the au
thor has not apparently thought it necessary in
all cases to adhere strictly to historical truth.
Being essentially a “one-part” play, the entire
interest of course centres on Elizabeth, and the
actress has a. fine opportunity for the display of
her best abilities. Mrs. Lander’s performance
certainly gives a vivid and lifelike portrait of
the Queen as common tradition represents her.
The lights and shades of her many-sided char
acter, her masculine spirit and love of power,
her feminine weaknesses and ridiculous vanity,
are all portrayed with a power and effect that
we have rarely seen equaled : and this perfor
mance alone would be sufficient to establish
Mrs. Lander’s fame as an artist of extraordi
nary merit, even if she had no other claims to
notice in that respect.
*
*
*
*
[Philadelphia Sunday Times, May 12th, 1867.]
Mrs. General Lander.—It is not often an
actress succeeds in impressing the public by the
performance of a single part so deeply as Mrs.
Lander has done by her impersonation of
Queen Elizabeth. It seemed a hazardous step
for any lady, however highly gifted, to essay a
character identified with the name of Ristori,
but it proved a triumph. Avoiding any servile
imitation of the great Italian, the points of
similarity were merely such as must result from
the play itself. Certain stage business is de
manded by the author, whose conception of
the character of Elizabeth penetrates its perfor
mance by both the ladies; but Mrs. Lander
studied from the English standpoint of history,
Ristori from the Italian. The latter, while ex
citing a certain degree of sympathy for Eliza
beth never suffered the audience to lose sight of
the imperious, arrogant nature of the Virgin
Queen, by which she appeared to draw her suf
ferings upon herself; but Mrs. Lander shows the
woman’s heart beneath the mask of pride, and
makes her audience sensible of the fact that
the daughter of Henry VIII. was not devoid
�10
of human tenderness, and that she was driven
by circumstances to many acts she disapproved
in her inner self. At the same time our actress
does not pretend to make Elisabeth a saint or a
martyr, she does not disguise her inordinate
vanity, her foible, nor her dissimulation: she
merely endeavors to atone for them by display
ing the sincerity of her love for Essex, her
struggle against its sway, her endeavors to be
blind to the faults, treacheries and schemes of
the ambitious Earl, and her endless remorse
for his execution, well merited, as it was, by
his plots and machinations.
*
*
* .*
Mrs. Lander has evinced marvellous power in
the arduous character of Elizabeth, and has
commanded the attention of the public to an
unwonted degree. So highly has her acting of
the part been.appreciated, that a letter has been
sent to her, signed by very many of the stock
holders of the Academy, by the Mayor, General
Meade, and a large number of our most promi
nent citizens, whose names rarely appear in
such cas es, earnestly inviting her to return to
Philadelphia, at the earliest possible day, and
to perform Elizabeth on the stage where Ristori
presente it first to our public. So high a com
pliment has never—in our recollection—been
paid to an actress; it is most fully merited, and
the invitation has been accepted in the spirit
in which it was sent.
*
*
*
*
Mrs. Lander will now become known to a new
circle, and one better able to appreciate and
reward her surpassing genius. Her acting ap
peals to the same audience as does Ristori’s,
and it is most fitting and just that she should
play Elizabeth on the same stage, for not only is
she the compeer of the great tragedienne in
public, but possesses the same estimable quali
ties and elevated position in private life.
[Philadelphia Sunday Times, May 19th, 1S67.J
Mrs. F. W. Lander.—There is a genuine and
wholesome excitement in regard to the ap
proaching representations of Elizabeth at the
Academy by Mrs. Lander. The high encomi
ums passed upon the performance by those who
were so fortunate as to witness it at the Walnut
last week, have been spread throughout the
city, and the name of the actress is on every
lip. There has already been a great demand
for seats, and the prospect is that she will act
before larger audiences than Ristori commanded
in the same part. All who saw the great Italian
are anxious to see Mrs. Lander, and those who
saw Elizabeth at the Walnut, are eager to see it
again with the powerful cast secured for the
Academy. The play is one of absorbing inter
est; it is an accurate historical representation;
the leading celebrities of Elizabeth’s reign
move before us, and we seem to be transported
to her court, and to behold the secret springs of
action which worked such influences in Europe.
The illustrations of character are admirable;
and although the Queen naturally demands the
chief attention of the audience, the minor parts
are all marked by faithful adherence to history.
Mrs. Lander’s impersonation of Elizabeth is her
very greatest effort, and her genius will be re
cognized immediately by those who see her for
the first time in this play.
*
*
*
[Philadelphia Press, May 20th, 1867.]
CONTRIBUTED BY A DISTINGUISHED
YOUNG LADY.
Mrs. Jean Davenport Lander.—No more
delightful task can be found than that of writ
ing the truth about a public character and his
or her work, when truth is sweeter than any
praise and higher than any eulogy. To say,
then, that it is a peculiarly pleasant labor to
utter a few words in regard to Mrs. Lander and
her rendering of Queen Elizabeth is to be most
readily believed by all who have had the rare
and fine pleasure of witnessing this impersona
tion of the great actress.
In this country, with our passions for every
thing strange or foreign just roused to the
greatest enthusiasm over the first artiste of Eu
rope, with every one’s eye and ear full of the
sight and sound of Ristori, and of Ristori in
her grandest personation, it required matchless
effrontery, or the quiet self-assurance of pre
eminent power, in any one who would dare to
court comparison with the great Italian by
essaying the role in which she had achieved
her largest triumph, and which was so pecu
liarly identified with her as to seem almost a
part of herself. Effrontery would have had a
brief career of shame and a death of oblivion—
fate well merited. Power, nobly and beauti
fully enshrined in the majestic presence of
Jean Davenport Lander, has everywhere re
ceived the admiring recognition of the critical;
Bas made for itself a career of pre-eminent
brilliancy, which will shine in memory long
after the queenly face and form have passed
from sound and sight.
So much has been written, and so much more
will be said in critical review of Mrs. Lander’s
rendering of Elizabeth, by pens better fitted
to the work than that of the writer, that no
minute observance of its “points” and “situa
tions” will here be attempted. Suffice it to say,
if you would read history by a dazzling illu
mination—would behold the Good Queen Bess,
with all her foibles, her passion, her glitter, her
power, “ wittf all her imperfections (aye, and
all her majesty) on her head”—if you would for
a little while look upon the most marvellous
woman of the sixteenth century—go to-morrow
night—any night, all the nights of this week—
to see Mrs. Lander, for to witness the one is
but to behold the other.
So much has been said by refined people, es
pecially in this fastidious city of Philadelphia,
about supporting the drama when worthy such
support—about gathering with admiring recog
nition around any actor who could indeed
“ bold the mirror up to nature.” that the honor
of such talkers is at stake in the matter of full
or empty houses to greet this gifted woman.
Some “ robustious fellow,” who will “ tear a
passion to tatters to split the ears of the ground
lings,” can "strut and bellow” on our stage to
multitudes of his own ilk, who will respond to
his rant with “thunders of applause;.” some
vulgar, handsome piece of humanity—in masculino dress or scarcely dressed at all—with just
brains enough to repeat the words set down for
her, parrot-wise, whose successes is commen
surate with her loss of self-respect such an
one can have spectators, we will not say hearers,
by the thousand. Let the polished and culti
vated now see that this woman, who honors
her womanhood by her womanly and delicate
dress—this scholar and student, whose elocution
and accent betray severest training and thought
—this lady whose every gesture and movement
carry the nameless something that marks re
finement and social position—this actor, whose
power, and sweetness, fineness and majesty
are without rival on the American stage m the
person of man or woman—let all who are capa
ble of appreciating these “ gifts of wit and
ornaments of nature” show this appreciation
by seeing that genius is as well sustained in our
theatres as vulgarity and muscle.
A. J-j. JL/.
�11
[Phila. Evening Bulletin, Lender, May 21,1867.]
The Drama in America.—Ristori sailed away
last week, filled with gold and praises, She is
the climax of a long series of illustrious foreign
artistes that have come hither, as to Australia
or some other rich and half-barbarous country,
caring less for our endorsement than our money.
'A nation that has never sent an actor or actress
to continental Europe, if we except Aldrich the
negro, and Menken the speechless, receives
from the favorite of Florence, Naples, Vienna
and Paris, the farewell encomium that here her
genius attained its greatest triumph. Our large
opera houses, closed three-fourths of the year,
are crowded only when these foreigners come,
preceded by their fame. And it is remarkable
that at the poriod of Ristori’s advent, the drama
as a literature was almost defunct among us.—
The fertile but sensational art of Mr. Boucic-ault and his imitators, has brought an inevi
table thirst for even more exciting and volup
tuous spectacles, and while Ristori revived the
classical drama for a hundred and seventy
nights, a single ballet in New York alone has
attained its two hundred and fiftieth perform
ance. Excepting the episodes of Mr, Forrest
and Edwin Booth, the stage of the United
States, for these ten years past, has steadily de
generated—no more a theatre of intellect, seek
ing to penetrate and embody the refined con
ceptions of literature, but an arena of merely
physical competition, where male and female
athletes aspire to no element of art but its nude
ness; and carpentry puzzles its brain to con
trive an avalanche or compress a horse-race
into the superficies of a stage. A few months
ago a play was produced in New York, the en
tire success of which was ascribed to a pig
made to run behind the footlights. It is an old
question as to whether this frivolous, feverish,
and perhaps licentious drama, does wrong to our
youth, our standard of beauty, and the repose
of society; but it is a newer question as to
whether our welcome of foreign actors is based
upon appreciation or fashion, ecstacy or snob
bery.
It is alleged of Adelina Patti that when Auber asked her some time ago, in Paris, whether
the Americans were not passionately fond of
music, she replied: “ It is In mode there, not
Vamour.” That this was unjust, in a great de
gree, we can conscientiously admit; for music
is a universal language, and there is no country
where the science of music is so well cultivated
as in ours; but the Italian and the French
drama can have such attractions to but few of
us. Ristori’s pieces were, in the main, new to
the American public. Splendid as was her
presence—and her cadences were as beautiful—
in the midst of her most thrilling passages, you
could see mouths here and there wide open, not
in transport, but to yawn; and all her classical
magnetisms were fluttered by the turning of
librettos. Fame blew her trumpet. Half her
audiences went to see a notoriety; these must
needs admit that she was wonderful, and were
ashamed to admit that they had been wearied.
So the rarest actress out of our language went
triumphally across the republic, and left to the
thinking few who really loved her, and to our
little scholastic patriotism, the problem as to
why we can patronize legitimate art in a lan
guage we do not understand, and neglect it in
our native tongue.
There were, happily for our hope of the
American theatre, a few thinking artistes in
quisitive upon the same problem. Among these
was Mrs. Lander, formerly Miss J. M. Daven
port, a lady of long and pure attachment to
only the noblest compositions in our literature,
and one of the few who had disdained to de
scend with the descending taste of these late
years, and become the embodier of ephemeral
personages, born of a novel, living of a fever,
and dying of inanition. She examined the
plays of Madame Ristori, and found them to
have inherent and fresh merits, apart from the
magnificent talent of their interpreter. The
most effective of these was the Elizabeth, and
this Mrs. Lander had rendered into stronger
and simpler English than the mere literal ren
dering of Ristori’s libretto. After a careful
study of the piece, she enacted it at the Walnut
Street Theatre of this city, and with few of the
adventitious opportunities of Ristori, gave so
original and powerful character to the part,
that it came upon us like a new and brilliant
dispensation. Free from all imitation of her
illustrious predecessor, Mrs. Lancler, in a week,
has nationalized the fine composition of Signor
Giacometti, a play almost exhaustive of the
great acts of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and mak
ing plainer than Sir Walter Scott’s portraiture
of this eminent monarch, the anomaly of her
cunning, courage, jealousy and energy.
A week at tho Walnut Street Theatre set the
town to comparing Lander and Ristori, and
this is still the great social debate of the day.
Strong in her devotion to legitimate art,—
Mrs. Lander, night after night, added new en
thusiasm to her performance, and at last the
Academy of Music, for the first time in its his
tory, opensits doors to accommodate an Ameri
can actress in a purely classical drama. Ahead
of its commencement, the essay is a triumph;
hut this is a business consideration merely, and
of little aesthetical note beyond the hope it gives
of acclimatizing Ristori and Rachel among us,
and leading us out of the fleshy infatuations of
a merely sensual drama The chance seems cer
tainty that Mrs. Lander is to inaugurate the re
action., If Philadelphians, who have unjustly,
we believe, the name of failin^in encourage
ment to genius of their own neighborhood, can
infuse into this engagement the enthusiasm of
its undertaker, we shall put Mrs. Lander into
the galaxy of great actresses, of which Ristori
is one, and send abroad, in classical competi
tion, our mother tongue and our brilliant coun
try-woman.
[Philadelphia Age, May22d, 1867.]
Mrs. Lander at the Academy.—The ele
ments last night were unpropitious for pleas
ure-seekers, yet a large and brilliant audience
was present at the Academy, and the wellselected toilets of the ladies added beauty, ele
gance and variety to the scene. Among the
persons attracted by the reputation of the rul
ing star of the evening, were representative
men of all the liberal professions, and ladies
celebrated in the world, of fashion and the
realm of letters. Poets, painters, lawyers, judges,
professors of music, prominent members of
the theatrical profession and devotees of science,
all weje carefully noting the acting of Mrs. Lan
der, and their hearty approval was proof of the
excellence of the effort, when viewed from dif
ferent points of view, and tested cither by the
strict rule of historical accuracy or the more
liberal interpretation of poetical feeling and
sympathy.
As to the conception and presentation of this
character by Mrs. Lander, we have before spok
en in terms of unqualified praise, and her effort
last night strengthened our first impression.
She follows the line of history with unerring
accuracy. It is Elizabeth, ruler of England,
that is before the audience, not the Elizabeth
of fancy, of romance, or of dreams. This fidel
ity is carried into all the accessories of the
piece, and the consequence is a work of art, full
of truth and calculated to illustrate the spirit
�12
and manners of the age in which the events
took place, as well as the inner life and actual
being of the daughter of royal Henry. Eliza
beth was a mixed character. She was at once a
great and a weak woman. She could command
others, and yet at times was played upon by
persons of much less pretentions to firmness and
maturity of will and purpose, She could be
generous, but in most cases was jealous, exact
ing and tyrannical, and so she was personated.
Mrs. Lander was a Queen terribly in earnest
when the royal prerogative was assailed, and
filled with all the pride, ambition and memo
ries of the proud and haughty race from whence
she drew her blood and being. At other mo
ments the woman predominated, and the voice,
looks, and actions of the artiste, all betokened
the change. The signature of the death-war
rant of Essex was preceded by passages of great
power and beauty, and the consummation of
the. act thrilled the audience from the reality
which Mrs. Lander imparted to the event. The
interview with Lady Burleigh may also be se
lected as affording a fine example of the pecu
liar ability of the artiste. The dictation of the
letters to Popham and Leicester was an effort
of elocutionary skill not often matched. The
delicate shading of each expression, and the
nice judgment displayed in suiting the voice to
tbe feeling uppermost in the mind of the Queen
and the woman, proved how thorough and crit
ical had been the preparation of the artiste for
the task in which she was engaged. The clos
ing scene is terrible in its naked simplicity. All
felt they were in the presence of death, so well
had they been prepared for the catastrophe hy
the actions, looks and words of the artiste. In
a word, as Elizabeth, Mrs. Lander was heroic,
but she was tender: she was grand, but at the
same time human; all the passions were aroused
and exhibitedgbut they were all womanly, and
hence her effort appealed to the heart, and was
instructive as well as imposing and artistic.
During the progress of the performance, each
forcible presentation of a point by Mrs. Lan
der was appreciated and acknowledged by the
audience, and at the close the applause was of
the most flattering and complimentary charac
ter. ******
*
[ The Philadelphia Press, May 22d, 1867.
Mrs. Lander at the Academy.—The public
has at last the opportunity, which it has long
been needing, of ratifying a legitimate dramatic
triumph, in the English tongue, at the Academy
of Music. With the appearance of Mrs. F. W.
Lander, last night, in her already renowned
role of Elizabeth, commenced a dramatic season
which, however short, will, we feel sure, be me
morable in the history of the Philadelphia
stage; for it is a triumph founded upon the cor
respondence between the unquestionable great
ness of the principal character represented, and
the genius, education, and research of the prin
cipal performer. The badness of the wteather
seemed to have very little changed the charac
ter of the attendance, every seat in the parquet,
parquet circle and balcony, as well as in the
boxes, having been secured. Nor did the.gloom
and depression of the weather influence in any
perceptible degree the transport of the plaudits
which resounded throughout the house. The
performance of Mrs. Lander was witnessed with
the most profound attention, every salient
point—and it is bristling with salient points—
being instantaneously seized upon, and an ap
preciation of it evinced cither by breathless
silence or tempestuous applause. The dictation
of the letters, the signing of Mary's death-war
rant, the scene with Essex in act third, the sign
ing of his death-warrant in act fourth, and the
final scenes in the dreary splendor of the last
act, were all applauded by an audience combin
ing both intellectuality and demonstrative en
thusiasm.
*
*
*
* ’ *
[Phil-a. Evening Telegraph, May 22d, 1867.] ,
Mrs. Lander as Elizabeth.—The short en
gagement commenced at the Academy of Music
last night by Mrs. General Lander, in which she
personates the character of the Virgin Qveen,
promises, by its auspicious commencement,
to be as brilliant as the warmest admirers of the
lady could desire. A crowded house and excel
lent support lent their aid to call forth the high
est genius of the talented artiste, and in the
rendition she surpassed herself.
*
*
*
It is the possession of talent of the most ele
vated kind which draws to see her the thou
sands who nightly listen to her voice. No one
denies to her great ability as an actress. We
take it that it is universally conceded that her
Elizabeth is one of the finest, if not the finest,
pieces of female acting that the American pub
lic has had an opportunity to witness. The
character is one most difficult to accurately por
tray. Abounding as it does in the exhibition of
opposite passions, the performer runs the dan
ger of exceeding the limits of nature, and mak
ing what was a real character appear a mon
strous combination of contradictions. It re
quires one who can fully enter into the spirit of
the part, and catch the inspiration of the pride,
arrogance and hauteur of the Queen, as well as
the tender sensibilities of the woman. This
Mrs. Lander has successfully attempted. In
her the love for Essex, and the pride which let
him die when she could save him by a word, do
not appear impossible actions or even unna
tural. Mrs. Lander has supplied us with the
best commentary and key to history within our
reach; and after witnessing her performance,
we can understand more of the spirit of the
Elizabethan era than by consulting Hume,
wading through Lingard, or studying Froude.
She is an actress in the highest of the word, and
when we say that she has carefully studied all
the surroundings of the age to which she carries
us back, and conformed in all parts to its cos
tumes, we complete our just eulogy of her play
of Elizabeth.
*
*
*
*
*
[Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23d, 1867.]
Mrs. Lander at the Academy.—Notwith
standing the unpropitious state of the weather,
the attendance at the Academy thus far, to wit
ness Mrs. Lander’s splendid impersonation of
Elizabeth, has been very large, and the success
she has achieved in the trying role, has surpas
sed even the most sanguine expectations of her
warmest admirers.
In Mrs. Lander’s able hands the character
assumes a magnitude which has seldom invested
it, and even Ristori, great and grand as she is
in the part, fails at times in comparison with
Mrs. Lander in giving it those nice touches of
nature without which no true picture can be
properly portrayed upon the stage. In the
“tempest and torrent" of her passion, perhaps
Ristori in a measure excels our favorite trage
dienne, but this drawback, if drawback it can
be called, is more than compensated for by the
finish, fervor and sustained effect characterizing
every scene in the play in which Mrs. Lander
appears.
Never overstepping the bounds of nature, and
in every look, gesture and intonation being true
to the instincts of art, her impersonation as a
whole is a creation that stands out in bold relief,
�13
and gives one a better idea of the innermost
soul and the peculiar idiosyncracies of the
Virgin Queen than a whole history could. Her
love for Essex, which, although “a consuming
fire” within her breast: her pride, that would
brook no rival near the throne, would strive to
quench, was magnificently exemplified by Mrs.
Lander. The same tender feeling for her favo
rite at the signing of his death-warrant, mingled
with the arrogance of the imperious Queen, and
the conflicting emotions of love and hate that,
at that fatal hour, strove for mastery in her
breast, were also vividly, even painfully por
trayed, and furnished a specimen of genuine
acting. The death-scene of Mrs. Lander is also
one of terrible, truthful interest, and its absorb
ing power over the minds of the spectator ex
emplifies what genius can accomplish in the
mimic world.”
*****
Her scene with Essex at the end of the third
act, was incomparably fine, and last evening
created an immense enthusiasm among the au
dience. Her anxiety for the fate of Essex, in
the fourth act, where she awaits with “dread
suspense” the arrival of the ring, was also a
splendid touch of genuine acting, and the cli
max reached at the termination of the act was
a fitting finale to the beauty that characterized
that portion of the interesting play.
Altogether Mrs. Lander’s Elizabeth is an im
personation of which she may be justly proud,
and one that will add materially to the abun
dant fame she already enjoys as one of the lead
ing histrions of the present day.
Our limited space precludes the possibility of
speaking of the other characters in the play, but
injustice to Mr. Taylor, we must say that his
Essex was a performance every way worthy of
Mrs. Lander’s Elizabeth. His acting generally,
was in the highest degree effective, and many
of his scenes were managed with consummate
tact and skill.
[Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2fih, 1867.]
Mrs. Lander at the Academy.—The engage
ment of Mrs. F. W. Lander at the Academy of
Music has proved, thus far, a complete and bril
liant success. The vast edifice is nightly crowd
ed with the eLVe of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Lan
der’s matchless rendition of
Elizabeth
electrifies the audience each evening. A bril
liant assemblage was present last night, and the
popular desire to see this gifted lady in this
great character is unabated. Mrs. Lander’s
impersonation of the Virgin Queen is one of
the greatest triumphs of dramatic art on the
modern stage. But few more opportunities will
be presented of witnessing this splendid intel
lectual treat, and those who do not embrace the
present chance will have cause to regret it.
Columns could be filled, containing just eulo
gies of Mrs. Lander’s Elizabeth, and the lady is
fully deserving of all the lengthy encomiums
that she has been the recipient of on the part
of the press of this city. Another full attend
ance will undoubtedly be present this evening,
and it is only unfortunate that Mrs. Lander’s
engagement cannot be of a more protracted
character.
[Philadelphia Age, May 2fill, 1867.]
Benefit of Mrs. Lander.—There is an ad
ditional reason why people should visit the
Academy of Music this evening apart from the
rich treat afforded by the acting of Mrs. Lander
in the. character of Elizabeth. That is to be
found in the fact that the proceeds arc to be
applied to the benefit of Mrs. Lander This
lady deserves a substantial token of public re
spect and approbation. She has labored hard
to sustain the legitimate drama. “ Among the
faithless, faithful she.” The current of false
taste and perverted judgment has not been
strong enough to carry her along with it into
that wild river of sensationalism which threat
ens to undermine the whole fabric of our na
tional love for the true, the beautiful and the
pure in dramatic art. With a stout heart and
resolute trust in the right, Mrs. Lander has
struggled on in the chosen path, and at last the
first beams of the rising sun lighted her path
by the universal commendation bestowed upon
her Elizabeth, Night after night this character
has been repeated, and the people have crowd
ed to pay their tribute of respect to the talents
of the delineator. And now comes the occasion
wh^n the woman is to be aided in a material
sense, and we are sure it will be improved.
Mrs. Lander has brought to the stage talents of
a high order, and a private character rich with
all moral and womanly graces, and these offer
ings on the altar of dramatic art, entitle her
to more than ordinary consideration.
[Phila. Sunday Transcript, May 26th, 1867.]
Mrs. Lander’s “ Elizabeth.”—Mrs. Lan
der’s success at the Academy of Music, last
week, was decidedly great. The house was
crowded every night with a brilliant and fash
ionable audience, which seemed heartily in
sympathy with the performers, and applauded
the fine points with unusual discrimination and
great emphasis. Mrs. Lander has fully estab
lished her claim to the title of a great artiste.
She has treated the public to a performance
that possesses rare excellence, and which, in
this day of sensational drama, will be retained
in the memory of those who witnessed it as mark
ing an era in the history of the American stage.
Mrs. Lander will give her farewell performance
to-morrow evening, and, in retiring temporarily
from the stage in the mjdst of her triumph, she
will leave the public appetite whetted, and keen
for her reappearance.
[Pittsburg Chronicle. June 3d, 1867.]
Academy of Music.—Those who had the good
fortune and the good taste to visit the Academy
of Music on Saturday evening, partook of a new
pleasure in witnessing one of the most perfect
and artistic dramatic representations which has
been offered here in a long time, Mrs. Lan
der, in assuming the role of Elizabeth, has cer
tainly reached the highest point which even her
great genius has yet realized. The character
gives a new scope to her powers, and in enact
ing it she develops capabilities of acting which
have heretofore remained hidden from her most
appreciative friends. The character seems as
one fitted to draw out all her qualities in the
fullest degree. It is one which Ristori was sup
posed to have made entirely her own; and so
perfectly does she present it, that it seemed
none other would have the courage to attempt
it. In the English tongue and by an American
artiste, however, it is given us in a style which
makes cause to regret the departure of the Ital
ian. Mrs. Lander, in some points, as in the
famous scene with Essex, runs fully equal to
Ristori.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Mr. J. H. Taylor sustained the character of
Essex in a most admirable manner, and drew
forth the heartiest plaudits. His quarrel with
the Queen is a splendid piece of acting.
�14
[New York Citizen, June 29th, 1867.]
.Mrs. Lander’s Elizabeth.—Some months
since the people of New York.had the pleasure
of witnessing Ristori’s great impersonation of
Elizabeth. Unquestionably great as it was,
Ristori’s Elizabeth suffered from the fact that
very few of those who heard her were sufficient
ly familiar with the Italian language to under
stand a word that was spoken by the actress or
by those who were with her in the cast. It was
a matter of general regret that the first actress
of the age should be unable to speak in a lan
guage intelligible to her American hearers.—
But this regret would have been spared had
New York at that time been acquainted with
Mrs. Gen. Lander’s magnificent rendering of the
same character—Elizabeth. The name of this
estimable lady is not new to New York theatregoers.
*
*****
Mrs. Lander recently sustained the part of
Elizabeth, in the tragedy of the same name, at
Washington. Her impersonation was charac
terized by perfect finish, and quiet but intense
strength. Those who heard her at once com
pared her with Bistori, and almost without ex
ception gave, the palm of superiority to Mrs.
Lander. It is difficult to compare the two, be
cause of the wide difference between them : but
it is safe to say, that while Mrs. Lander avoided
those errors which marred the performance of
the great Italian, her conception and rendering
of the character possessed merits peculiarly and
wholly her own, and which at once, in the esti
mation of her audience, placed her among the
few really great tragediennes that the stage has
known,
Will not the managers of our New York the
atres give the people an opportunity of witnes
sing the superb acting of this incomparable
artiste. There will then l>e no longer any rea
son to regret that Ristori’s Elizabeth was rend
ered in a foreign language, for the Elizabeth of
Mrs. Lander is not only in several respects a
better conception of the character, but it has
the further recommendation of being rendered
in our own language, and by one of the most
lovely and accomplished ladies of whom Ame
rica can boast.
�)
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Biographical sketch of Mrs F. W. Lander, formerly Miss Jean M. Davenport, tragedienne, with criticisms of the press on her rendition of Elizabeth, Queen of England
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Pugh, T.B.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Collation: 14 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: Printed in double columns. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
Publisher
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The Lander Histrionic Company
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1867
Identifier
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CT49
Subject
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Theatre
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Biographical sketch of Mrs F. W. Lander, formerly Miss Jean M. Davenport, tragedienne, with criticisms of the press on her rendition of Elizabeth, Queen of England), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Acting
Conway Tracts
Jean Margaret Davenport
Theatre