It should be added that the piece had been somewhat altered from its first shape, and no doubt gained from the manager’s suggestions. One of the most astonishing things connected with it is the admirably firm and coherent construction, it being laid out in the most effective way. Its various characters are introduced with singular skill. The last act seemed, indeed, somewhat superfluous and too much drawn out; but the whole design was really admirable. Yet its adapter was admittedly deficient in the arts of construction, and most of his other pieces display singular and even ludicrous incoherencies. It might be that he had received assistance in this individual case, or had been so inspired by the subject as to triumph over his own defects. Such tales as these—world-wide stories that belong to all countries and to all time—Shakespearian, in short—seem on repetition to have the air of novelty; at least, they always interest. The situations are dramatic, and the characters even more dramatic than the situations. Miss Terry’s Olivia is not only one of her best characters, but is a most touchingly graceful and varied performance. The gifted pair are indeed at their best here. In the excellently-contrived scene at the Dragon, Miss Terry’s transition of horror, astonishment, rage, shame, succeeding each other, were displayed with extraordinary force and variety. Some insisted that the part suffered from her restlessness, but, as it was happily said, “She is for ever flickering about the stage in a series of _poses_, or rather disturbance of _pose_, each in itself so charming that one can hardly account for the distrust she herself shows of it by instantly changing it for another.” The other characters were no less excellent in their way. Terriss, as the Squire, was admirably suited, his very defect—an excessively pronounced brusqueness—adding to the effect. I recollect it was said at the time in the theatre that there was only the one performer for Thornhill, and that one Terriss. He—and he only—must be secured. He never performed so well as in this character.