C O N TEN TS CHAPTER I — PAGE The Stage and Its In flue n ce s My First Engagement — — The Installment System A Sabbatarian —“ Boarding- House Bread Eaten in Secret ' “ ” M Fi rst . y Heavy Part , and My First Train CHAPTER l l — The Green Street Theatre , Albany The Dignity of — — Leading Woman Dressm aking An Acrid but Kindly Landlady CHAPTER Il l — — Old -Time Stars Julia De an Charlotte Crampton Ada Clare—Bohemia CHAPTER lV Abraham Lincoln—The Prince of Wales—Fernando — — — Wood Thurlow Weed Hugh Hastings D aniel S . Dickinson and Mrs . Dickinson CHAPTER V — Edwin Booth The Crime of j ohn Wilkes Booth an d the Disposition of His Remains V CONTENTS CHAPTER VI PAGE Glimpses of Royalty—The Prince of Wales—Chinese Diplomats The Boston Theatre Old -Tim e Theatrical Salaries CHAPTER VI I —E My First Row with a Manager . L . Davenport W — A . and J . W . allack Realistic De sde mon a CHAPTER VI I I — — Mrs . Davenport Edward House Poetry at Short Notice — “ Enoch Arden The Man in the Iron Mask CHAPTER IX — O B ulfin ch Fanny Davenport The ld House in Place , — Boston An Assemblage of Notables CHAPTER X — — The New England Circuit A Put -Up j o b Misad ventures in New Bedford CHAPTER X I — “ Washington in War-Tim e Contrabands Defined ’ — —Uncle Sam s Soldiers—Patriotic Songs Tom — PlacidHWallack and Davenport Distinguished Guests v i CONTENTS CHAPTER X I I PAGE Abraham Lincoln—William Henry Seward—Pla cide ’ s Humour— “ Still Waters Run Deep Assassination of the President—A Night of Terror CHAPTER X I I I — ’ — — New York Wallack s Theatre Nancy Syke s Lead — in g Woman with Lester Wallack Perfect The — — atri cal Management Mary Gannon Charles — Dickens Love for the Stage . CHAPTER X IV First Sea Voyage— Captain Judkins and the — — — Scotia Sea- Sickness Goodwood Races The — ’ Prince of Wales Again In the Q ueen s B o x — — N Y O . at the pera Smuggling Rochester, A Leading Woman in a Sad Predicament CHAPTER XV Toronto The Heart of Midlothian - A Minister — ' — ing Angel j aam a De an s A Co nverted Presby —“ ” — terian She Stoops to Con quer George Hol land as Ton y Lu mpki n vii CONTENTS CHAPTER XVI PAGE Augustin Daly and the New York Theatre Under the Gaslight ”—Davenport in Mischief Caste” - W — — . J . Florence Mrs . Gilbert Starring N N — ewark, . J . Washington CHAPTER XVI I — — London Paris Longcham ps and the Gr an d P r i nt Napoleon III and the Em press Eugenie— Prin — N — cess Metternich Prince Pierre apoleon Dr . Evans — Nubar Pasha — Auber and Verdi Americans in Paris— Cora Pearl CHAPTER XVI I I Royalty and Rank— Fontainebleau and The Black ” — — — Eagle Across the Alps Italy Alexandria The Am erican Traveller— Ram leh — Cleopatra — The B awau b A Masculine Cham bermaid CHAPTER X I X — n Love , the Great Leveller The Serva t Problem in Egypt—How the Grocer Imported His Bride — — Wom en in the East The Harem s An Oriental ’ — Lady s Call Upon an American Woman The — Man in the Case Human Nature . viii CONTENTS CHAPTER X X American Patriotism—Woman ’ s Status in America — and the East Co ntrasted Eunuchs European Wives of Mohammedan Magnates CHAPTER XX I — ’ Egyptian Dancing- Girls The Viceroy s Mother — ' Oriental Splendour A Noblem an with an Hallu cin ation CHAPTER XX I I — — Tragedies of the Harems Sulym an Pasha From a French Cloister to an Egyptian Prison—Cherif Pasha and His Unhappy Wife CHAPTER XX I I I ’ “ ” — Verdi s Aida in the Cairo Opera House A Bla ze — of Jewels A Cosmopolitan Audience CHAPTER XX IV Egypt ian Antiquities- A Remarkable Co in cide n ck — “ A Greek Dog A Prese nt of Mutton On the Hoof ” —A Berber Prince—The Restoration of a Long- Lost Child ix CONTENTS CHAPTER XXV — PAGE Henry Bulwer American Offi cers in the Khe ’ — — v Thom as W di e s Service Stone Pasha Colonel . Rhett General Sherm an Patriotism Mo llifie d — by Old Associations A Meeting of One -Tim e Enemies CHAPTER XXVI — F e llabe m of Egypt Taxation How the Other ” — Half Li ves in the East A Bedouin Fam ily at — — Ramleh An Arab Mother-in - Law Marriage ala Mode CHAPTER XXVI I — Back to the Stage Shook Palmer and the Union N Y — Square Theatre , ew ork Charles Thorne Dion Boucicault— “ Led Astray Blow for Blow —Marie Wilkins CHAPTER XXVI I I The Two Orphans “ The Lady of Lyons ” — George Rign o ld Rose Michel Steele Mack — — aye j ohn Parse lle and Charles Thorn e To m Taylor CHAPTER XX I X — — — Starring Buying Experience The West Ben De s— — Bar Bob Mile Mrs . John Drew The Lith — o graph Q uestion A Sandwich Man CONTENTS CHAPTER XXX PAGE a — The California Theatre, San Fr ncisco John Mc ' ' Cullo ugh j u lza L ady M d e bai b Camzlle Mary Anderson East Lynne ” CHAPTER XXX I — — Virginia City Ah Audience of Miners A Midnight — Ride with a Guard of Honour Down in a Silver Mine CHAPTER X XX I I Reno—A Western Hotel—The Reno Theatre—Puri fication CHAPTER XXX I I I ’ Seeking Rest and Finding None Why Don t Yo u ” — go into Some Decent Business! New-Mown — Hay The Properties of the Reno Theatre . CHAPTER XXX IV Salt Lake City—The Guest of Brigham Young — The King of Utah Polygamy CHAPTER X XXV ’ Playing a Boy s Part for the Only Time - Cle opatr a Henry Bergh ’ s Eulogy xi CONTENTS CHAPTER XXXVI — — PAGE Lo ndon and Its Notables Tom Taylor The Olym — — pic Theatre Beerbohm Tree The Effect of Too Realistic Acting—A Noble Lord ’ s Criticism “ Annie Thom as ” CHAPTER XXXVI I Wilkie Collins—Charles Reade—The Influence of — Charles Dickens Nan cy Syke s Converts a Bap tist CHAPTER XXXVI I I Y — — Edmund ates Robert Buchanan Mrs . W . E . Gladstone—Professor Blackie—Palgrave Simp SOD CHAPTER XXX I X Changes in the Profession— Lucille Western—Louis — — m . 0 Aldrich James A . He e Adah Isaacs Menken . 3 7 THE M EM O R I ES O F R O SE EV T IN G E CHAPTER I — THE STAGE AND ITS IN F L U ENC Es M Y FIRST ENGAGE — — MENT THE INSTALLMENT SYSTEM A SABBATARIAN “ ” BOARDING- HOUSE BREAD EATEN IN SECRET “ MY FIRST HEAVY PART, AND MY FIRST TRAIN WOND ER Wh - I y it is that stage folk , both men and women , always think it a fine thing to decry stage - life to the young man o r woman who of thinks entering that life . They must know that their attempt at depreciation is not just ; n that the life which they decry is a good o e . The stage brings pleasure and brightness to many Whose lives would be Without any in flu e n ce s more elevating than workaday inter ests . It brings quick returns in recognition of talent , and , in a thousand ways makes apparent as kin dli its superiority a vocation . And for ROSE EY TINGE o - ness , g od fellowship , a willing heart , and a he l ready hand to p each other , where will these virtues be found developed as they are among the players ! When I was a slip of a girl I went upon the stage . At that time !a happy time !) there was in New York and , I believe , in the whole United on e States but dramatic agent . This was Charle s Parsloe !father of the late Charle s Pars The He athe n Chi m e loe , better known as ), f who had an o fice in Chambers Street . To m him I went and asked for an engage ent . Evidently I impressed him favourably , for with ou t any difficulty and with very little delay he Y . found me a chance to go to Syracuse , N . , the re to join a dramatic stock company under f M r H . the management o . Geary ough On my arrival the question o f wardrobe promptly presented itself, and at first it seemed a very serious and troublesome problem ; but M r H of diffi e . ough spe dily found a solution the f . H e o culty was a widower recent date , and his late wife h ad been his leading woman . As THE INSTALLM ENT SYSTEM as he still had her stage wardrobe intact , and tailor- made gowns and wrinkleless robes were f not then the vogue , I had very little di ficulty Ac in adapting this wardrobe to my needs . cordin gly I bought the garments and paid for “ ” r H on ll M . them the insta ment plan , ough m deductin g from my salary a small weekly su . M r H n d a I have often wondered Since if . ough f I were the pioneers o the installment system . so ! If , may we be forgiven In this , my first engagement , I was drawing l a salary of seven do lars a week , and it might be considered that my life was on e o f har dshi p and M Not . privation . at all oney was worth much more then than it is now , and on this apparently small salary I could live in mod est comfort . I - lived in a boarding house , in which also dwelt M r M r . H s . and Frank umphreys , the leading a d o f man n leading woman the company , to gether with several others of its members .