" "Peg Hughes," as she is called, replies, congratulating
herself upon her generosity, treating the loss of her estate as "the
only piece of carelessness I ever committed worth my boast," and
charging "Madam Gwynne" with vulgar avarice and the love of "lucre of
base coin." We can glean nothing more of the story of Mrs. Hughes.
It is uncertain indeed in what degree the advent of the first actress
affected her audience; whether the novelty of the proceeding gratified
or shocked them the more. It was really a startling innovation--a
wonderful improvement as it seems to us; yet assuredly there were
numerous conservative playgoers who held fast to the old ways of the
theatre, and approved "boy-actresses"--not needing such aids to
illusion as the personation of women by women, but rather objecting
thereto, for the same reason that they deprecated the introduction of
scenery, because of appeal and stimulus to the imagination of the
audience becoming in such wise greatly and perilously reduced. Then of
course there were staid and sober folk who judged the profession of
the stage to be most ill-suited for women.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312