"Now, if William Shakespeare had had the model before him, he could not have drawn a more perfect picture of Ellen Terry than this. She was indeed 'born to speak all mirth and no matter.' If ever lovely woman was 'born in a merry hour' it was Ellen Terry, for she can scarcely be serious for an hour together, and is never happier than when she is playing some practical joke on her more serious companions. "And who, whilst life lasts, can ever forget how the actress in the character of Beatrice, one of the most enchanting personations of my time, one of the most exquisite realisations of a Shakespearean heroine that any of us have ever seen, spoke those words, 'No sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that I was born.' Why, it was not Beatrice, but Ellen Terry, personated by Ellen Terry. It was a revelation. The other quotation from the same play, 'Much Ado about Nothing,' is Hero's description of her cousin Beatrice, which is simply Ellen Terry in action. 'For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs Close by the ground, to hear our conference.' "Is not this an exact description of the Ellen Terry movement which others so ludicrously attempt to imitate? She does not run off the stage, or skip up the steps of an Italian garden. She simply floats seemingly on the air. A more exquisitely graceful movement has never been seen from any other actress. But Shakespeare has hit it. She like 'a lapwing runs close by the ground.' It is the skimming of a bird in the air. Ellen Terry did that lapwing run to perfection when she was sent to invite Benedick to dinner, and left him with the famous chaffing rejoinder-- 'You have no stomach, signior; fare you well.' "And up the marble steps ran the lapwing." How true this is, all who have been fortunate enough to witness Ellen Terry's bewitching impersonation of Beatrice, will acknowledge. It was a faultless performance, and, as we all know, Henry Irving was equally happy as Benedick. I need not say more. "Much Ado about Nothing" was acted two hundred and twelve times, and might have continued to run, but the day came when the Lyceum company had to think seriously of their departure on their first American tour. With this in view the piece was withdrawn, and all the plays in the now rich repertory were carefully revived. On July 15, 1883, at a benefit performance, Ellen Terry played the small part of Clementine in "Robert Macaire," to the Macaire of Henry Irving, and the Jacques Strop of J. L. Toole. The part was, of course, beneath her notice, but she undertook it in a good cause, and her performance must be recorded in these pages. Irving has always regarded the character of Macaire with affection, and certainly he depicts the devil-may-care and by no means unamusing robber in effectively lurid tints. The piece, however, belongs to a bygone age, and is only interesting to those who, while seeing it, can conjure up the past.