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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
by a little even Miss Terry's fine perform-
ance; and the achievement was especially
remarkable because the Italian artist could
not sing, and was obliged to interpret
Ophelia's ballads in a kind of dry chant, or
monotone, with occasional cadences. Bet-
ter than any one of all the other players I
have seen, many of whom well expressed
the Dramatist's idea, Signora Piamonti
made Ophelia's insanity lovely as well as
pathetic, turning "thought and affliction,
passion, hell itself, to favor and to pret-
tiness," according to the word of the Poet.
Her Desdemona was charming in its
unaffected sweetness, and in its final pas-
sages indicated, with true tragic stress, the
heroic loyalty of the wife, while preserving
the feminine softness of the gentle Vene-
tian. A striking contrast, whereby the
breadth of her art appeared, was afforded
by her impersonations of Delilah in Sam-
son and Zelia in Sullivan. The latter was
shown as a young girl of modern type,
[ ^56 ]