given at Bumstead Hall, Boston, March, 1890,
and was a great artistic success. In the diffi-
cult nMe of Creon, Mrs. Robertson showed the
possibilities that were later to win her fame in
the "Winter's Tale," which was given in Feb-
ruary, 1895. The extraordinary interest awakened by this performance will not soon be for-
gotten. Historically it was absolutely correct,
dramatically it was a revelation. Boston was
familiar with the play only through Mary
Anderson's production of it during her last visit
here. Her Leontes was a man of no great
dramatic power, whose work was mediocre and
colorless. Mrs. Robertson had fairly to create
the part. The Boston Transcript referred as
follows to hei' undertaking: "To conciuer Le-
ontes with tone and dress and stride and man-
ner is, to begin with, an apparently impossible
task, but it was accomplished.
" ' The king himself has followed her
WHen she has walked before.'
Then to win sympathy to the mea.sure of the dramatist's desire for the tyrant who doomed fair Hermione to death is a trial for kn actor. Mrs. Robertson has added to the capabilities revealed in Creon, and shows a depth of pas- sion and power of uncjualified merit. Criti- cism of her work must mean chiefly an attempt at appreciation."
Henry A. Cla))p, dramatic critic of the Bos- ton Daily Advertiser, in the issue of January 21, IS97, says- "Mrs. Robertson has a fine stage presence, an earnest, dignifietl, antl un- affected manner, and a noble voice, the reach and symi)athetic adaptai)ility of which are re- markable, the range being from a great depth of note, with the quality of a profound mascu- line bass, up to a fair me?zo-sopraio altitude. Her enunciation is excellent, and her pronun- ciati(m very near perfection, both having the constant mark of cultivation. Thus richly furnished with the tools of her art, Mrs. Robert- son's performance demonstrated (what her friends have claimed for her) that her powerful and clear intelligence, pure taste, soimd judg- ment, and dramatic sensibility would bring her great natural gifts to noble results. Her read- ing of the balcony scene from ' Romeo and Juliet' put it once niore where it belongs — in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Mrs. Robertson's interpretation of Arlo Bates's 'The Sorrow of Rohab' is to be singled out for ex- ceptional praise. Its heroic aspects were shown ith full fire and potency, and its love lyrics were so given that their excjuisite nmsic seemed to proceed from an accomplished singer, ac- companied by an orchestra, rather than from a mere reader using the reatler's tones. Many of the audience will find the repetitions of 'Sweetheart, sweetheart,' as strains of pas- sionate music which shall long haunt the mem- ory and surge up from it to stir the heart. The best word yet remains to be said: Mrs. Robert- son practises none of the teasing and trivial trick(>ries of vocal gymnastics which are the ojjprobria of vulgar elocutionism ; she eschews superelaboration and over-accent, which clog the wheels of the great authors. In short, her reading is a triumph of intelligence and sym- pathy skilfully applied to great natural gifts.
"To fully appreciate the depth arul power of Mrs. Robertson's work it nmst be borne in mind that she has never receiAcd any instruc- tion in .so-called elocution. To be sure, in the Saturday Morning Club performances she, with the others, was coached by Mr. Franklin Haven Saigent, of New Yoik, and she grate- fullj' acknowledges deep indebtedness to the late William H. Ladd, of Chauncy Hall School, for criticism of .some of her Shakespeare read- ings: but. in the large, it may truthfully be said that she is self-taught. This very lack of conventional training it is which gives to her work the delightful freshness and originality for which it is remarkalile. Moreover, Mrs. Robertson has not only the voice and personal- ity to help her in her work, but also the sym- pathy and the intellectual (jnalities which worthy inter|)retation of great poets like Brown- ing, Tennyson, and Shakespeare demands. Her fervor has been compared to Fanny Kemble's, and her power of carrying her audience with her is certainly masterful. Though it is per- haps as a reader of Browning that sIk; has ap- peared most often in drawing-rf)oms, Mrs. Robert-son finds her fullest o])])ortunities in Shakespeare."
Her repertory of readings al.so includes Hauptmann's "The Sunken Bell," Stephen Phillips's
