ne or two of the high notes were
beyond his reach. I used to take these notes for him, and the audience
never guessed the truth."

"And have you not played _Desdemona_?" I asked.

"Oh! yes--and to a real black man, and so he did not have to put his
head up the chimney to make himself up for the part! His name was Ira
Aldridge, and scandal said he was the dresser of some great actor whom
he used to imitate. But he had very ingenious ideas as to the character
of _Othello_. He thought him a brute, and played him as such. His great
notion was to get the fairest woman possible for _Desdemona_--and I was
selected, for at that time my hair was quite golden.

"In one part of the play he would cry out, 'Give me thy hand,
Desdemona!' and certainly the effect of my hand in his huge grasp was
impressive. Then in the last act he would pull me from the couch by the
hair of my head. Oh! there was something in his realism, I can tell
you!"

Miss Robertson made a great sensation when she appeared as _Blanche
Dumont_, in Dr. Westland Marston's "Hero of Romance," when it was
performed for the first time at the Haymarket Theatre, on March 14th,
1868. Seventeen months after this, on August 7th, 1869, she was Madge
Robertson no longer. On that day she was married to Mr. William Hunter
Grimston, whose stage name is Kendal. It is a charming little story.

It occurred at Manchester. Mr. Kendal and Miss Robertson were on tour
with the elder Compton, and they were--sweethearts. A convenient time
seemed to have arrived for their wedding day, for on the Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday nights pieces were to be played in which neither of
them would be required. This would mean a nice little honeymoon--and the
two lovers would reappear on the Monday night. So the day was
fixed--Thursday; the church chosen--St. Saviour's, Plymouth Grove; and
the best man booked--Walter Gowing, who used to play under the name of
Walter Gordon.

Then bad news came. Compton's brother was taken ill, and he had to hurry
away from Cottonopolis. Another play had to be put in the bill, both Mr.
Kendal and Miss Robertson would be needed--for it was "As You Like It,"
and the one would be wanted for _Orlando_ and the other for _Rosalind_.
Still, the wedding was proceeded with on Thursday morning, quietly and
happily, and in the evening husband and wife met on the stage in the
Forest of Arden. There, with _Celia_ as the priest, amidst the leafy
trees and grassy pathways, _Or