"Some surprise may, perhaps, be felt at the circumstance that it is in contemplation to assign the character of Volumnia to Ellen Terry; but the part is by tradition, and by reason of its intrinsic importance, the lawful inheritance of the leading tragic actress of the company. It was one of Mrs. Siddons' famous impersonations, though it was complained she had not the good sense to follow Mrs. Woffington's example as to her face, and consequently was on the stage as off, Kemble's sister, not his mother. No doubt a resolute conscientious employment of the arts which suggest the autumn of life will be needed to enable Ellen Terry to enact Henry Irving's mother, but the part is a very fine one, and there can be no question that in the hands of this actress the great scene of the fifth act, in which the Roman mother's eloquent and impassioned pleading finally moves the proud heart of her son, would, in her hands, produce a powerful impression." Now time has dealt so tenderly with our charming actress that there was as much need of this suggested "making up" in 1901 as there had been in 1879; but she had the good sense not to overdo it. There was no more reason why the mother of Coriolanus should be a very old woman than there was for Mr. Vincent Crummles to convert himself into a decrepit octogenarian when he was called upon _in loco parentis_ to bestow the fair hand of Miss Henrietta Petowker in marriage to Mr. Lillyvick. The consequence was that, acting the part with impressive composure, save where intense vigour was demanded, she made such a stately figure as the handsome Roman matron that she became a treat to the eye as well as to the ear. For the rest she completely fulfilled the predictions of the writer of 1879, being admirable throughout, and especially so in that grand scene to which he alluded. She played in a more womanly and gentle vein than was the custom with her distinguished predecessors in the part, but the performance was none the less welcome or telling on that account. What a wonderful list of impersonations--from the prattling Mamillius to the dignified Volumnia! Has any other actress achieved so much? CHAPTER XIV ENDINGS