ft of impulsive enthusiasm:

"The Grange, West Kensington, W.

"Sunday.

"Most dear Lady:

"I thought all went wonderfully last night--and no sign could I
see of hitch or difficulty--and as for your boy, he looked a
lovely little gentleman--and in his cups was perfect, not
overdoing by the least touch a part always perilously easy to
overdo. I too had the impertinence to be a bit nervous for you
about him--but not when he appeared--so altogether I was quite
happy.

"... Irving was very noble--I thought I had never seen his face
so beatified before--no, that isn't the word, and to hunt for
the right one would be so like judicious criticism that I
won't--exalted and splendid it was--and you were you--YOU--and so
all was well. I rather wanted more shouting and distant roar in
the Bastille scene--since the walls fell, like Jericho, by noise,
a good, dreadful growl always going on would have helped, I
thought--and that was the only point where I missed anything.

"And I was very glad you got your boy back again and that Mr.
Irving was ready to have his head cut off for you, so it had what
I call a good ending, and I am in bright spirits to-day, and
ever,

"Your real friend,

"E. B. J.

"I would come and growl gladly."

There were terrible strikes all over England when we were playing "The
Dead Heart." I could not help sympathising with the strikers; yet
reading all about the French Revolution as I did then, I can't
understand how the French nation can be proud of it when one
remembers how they butchered their own great men, the leaders of
the movement--Camille Desmoulins, Danton, Robespierre, and the
others. My man is Camille Desmoulins. I just love him.

"_Ravenswood_"

Plays adapted from novels are always unsatisfactory. A whole story
cannot be conveyed in three hours, and every reader of the story looks
for something not in the play. Wills took from "The Vicar of
Wakefield" an episode and did it right well, but there was no
_episode_ in "The Bride of Lammermoor" for Merivale to take. He tried
to traverse the whole ground and failed. But he gave me some lovely
things to do in Lucy Ashton. I had to lose my poor wits, as in
Ophelia, in the last act, and with hardly a word to say I was able to
make an effect. The love scene at the well I did nicely, too.

Seymour Lucas designed splendid dresses for this play. My "Ravenswood"
riding dress set a fashion in