Ellen Terry and Her Sisters

"It leaves an impression like that of a piece in which the Kendals have played, an impression of pleasure, refinement, refreshment, and of the value of cherishing sweet and kindly feelings in art as in life. Few books can do that, and so this work has every prospect of being widely read."--Scotsman.

LONDON: C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED

April 11, 1901.

MY DEAR FRIEND,--

You tell me that if I give you leave you can weave a story about me that will interest your readers. If that be so, you have my full permission to tell it, and it will please me to do anything in my power to assist you in your work. Whilst writing about me you will, I am sure, speak of those with whom I have been closely associated in my acting life, and make mention of the affectionate regard in which I hold them.

Your intimate knowledge of all that concerns the stage will at least keep you right as to the facts of your pages.

I suppose I must leave the fancy of them in your hands.

Yours cordially,

ELLEN TERRY.

To T. EDGAR PEMBERTON.

[Illustration: Label designed for his sister by Gordon Craig]

[Illustration: Ellen Terry's book-label designed by Gordon Craig]

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. BEGINNINGS 1

II. FIRST APPEARANCES 29

III. THE BRISTOL STOCK COMPANY 57

IV. AT THE HAYMARKET THEATRE 74

V. KATE TERRY 91

VI. CHIEFLY AT THE QUEEN'S THEATRE 132

VII. IN TOTTENHAM STREET 142

VIII. IN SLOANE SQUARE 156

IX. SOME SPLENDID STROLLING 171

X. MARION AND FLORENCE TERRY 192

XI. HENRY IRVING 208

XII. AT THE LYCEUM THEATRE, 1878-1883 219

XIII. AT THE LYCEUM THEATRE, 1884-1901 252

XIV. ENDINGS 296

INDEX 311

VINE COTTAGE, KINGSTON VALE.

[Illustration: Ellen Terry's "Kingston Vale" letter-card heading designed by Gordon Craig]

[Illustration: Ellen Terry's Monogram. Ellen Terry fecit]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ELLEN TERRY AS "PORTIA" Frontispiece

ELLEN TERRY WHEN EIGHT YEARS OF AGE To face page 24

TOWER COTTAGE, WINCHELSEA 48

SMALLHYTHE FARM 80

BUST OF ELLEN TERRY BY W. BRODIE, R.S.A. 88

KATE TERRY 102

ELLEN TERRY'S COUNTRY HOME IN KINGSTON VALE 112

KATE TERRY AS "ARIEL" 120

HENRY IRVING IN 1868 136

ELLEN TERRY AS LORD TENNYSON'S "DORA" 174

MARION TERRY 194

ELLEN TERRY IN TRAGEDY AND COMEDY circa 1878 222

ELLEN TERRY AS "OPHELIA" 224

ELLEN TERRY, 1881 242

ELLEN TERRY AS "BEATRICE" 250

ELLEN TERRY AS "VIOLA" 254

ELLEN TERRY AS "ELLALINE" 262

SIR HENRY IRVING AS "CARDINAL WOLSEY" 272

ELLEN TERRY AS "QUEEN GUINEVERE" 282

ELLEN TERRY AS "VOLUMNIA" 292

[Illustration: Ellen Terry's "Winchelsea" book-plate designed by Gordon Craig]

ELLEN TERRY

AND HER SISTERS

CHAPTER I

BEGINNINGS

I know that to the majority of people who merely regard the theatre as a place for occasional recreation, it is a subject for amazement that others can exist who, not belonging to the theatrical profession, take an absorbing and lasting interest in the stage, and in those actors and actresses who have made its past history glorious, as well as in the artists who adorn and make it a delight in the present. I wonder how many of us truly realise the weight of Charles Dickens's words: "If any man were to tell me that he denied his acknowledgments to the stage, I would simply put to him one question--whether he remembered his first play?"

Not only freely, but with gratitude, I acknowledge my indebtedness to the theatre, and it is certain that from that magic night when for the first time I saw the glitter of the footlights and watched the rise of the curtain, I entered upon a new and most fascinating life. Of course I was called "stage struck," and those who controlled me shook their heads, thought it a great pity, and did their best to thwart my inclinations. Concerning the stage and its attractions the parents of the "fifties" were less liberal-minded than those of to-day, and they had an unhappy knack of talking over the tendencies of their children with uncles and aunts who, without meaning to do the least kindly thing for them, seemed to regard their nephews and nieces as so many ready-made reprobates open to their interfering condemnation. Oh! those terrible uncles and aunts! In his pages the grand old novelist, Richardson, reflecting the manners of his time, made (apparently well meaning) ogres of them; the good and ever interesting Jane Austen only contrived to soften them down; and I hope my "fifties" saw the fag-end of them, for to-day they prove themselves to be reasonable and generous beings.