XII. AT THE LYCEUM THEATRE, 1878-1883 219 XIII. AT THE LYCEUM THEATRE, 1884-1901 252 XIV. ENDINGS 296 INDEX 311 VINE COTTAGE, KINGSTON VALE. [Illustration: _Ellen Terry's "Kingston Vale" letter-card heading designed by Gordon Craig_] [Illustration: _Ellen Terry's Monogram. Ellen Terry fecit_] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ELLEN TERRY AS "PORTIA" _Frontispiece_ ELLEN TERRY WHEN EIGHT YEARS OF AGE _To face page_ 24 TOWER COTTAGE, WINCHELSEA 48 SMALLHYTHE FARM 80 BUST OF ELLEN TERRY BY W. BRODIE, R.S.A. 88 KATE TERRY 102 ELLEN TERRY'S COUNTRY HOME IN KINGSTON VALE 112 KATE TERRY AS "ARIEL" 120 HENRY IRVING IN 1868 136 ELLEN TERRY AS LORD TENNYSON'S "DORA" 174 MARION TERRY 194 ELLEN TERRY IN TRAGEDY AND COMEDY _circa_ 1878 222 ELLEN TERRY AS "OPHELIA" 224 ELLEN TERRY, 1881 242 ELLEN TERRY AS "BEATRICE" 250 ELLEN TERRY AS "VIOLA" 254 ELLEN TERRY AS "ELLALINE" 262 SIR HENRY IRVING AS "CARDINAL WOLSEY" 272 ELLEN TERRY AS "QUEEN GUINEVERE" 282 ELLEN TERRY AS "VOLUMNIA" 292 [Illustration: _Ellen Terry's "Winchelsea" book-plate designed by Gordon Craig_] ELLEN TERRY AND HER SISTERS CHAPTER I BEGINNINGS I know that to the majority of people who merely regard the theatre as a place for occasional recreation, it is a subject for amazement that others can exist who, not belonging to the theatrical profession, take an absorbing and lasting interest in the stage, and in those actors and actresses who have made its past history glorious, as well as in the artists who adorn and make it a delight in the present. I wonder how many of us truly realise the weight of Charles Dickens's words: "If any man were to tell me that he denied his acknowledgments to the stage, I would simply put to him one question--whether he remembered his first play?"