BERtfHARDT, SARAH. 



57 



LL. D. from Rutgers College in 1865. In his 

 legislative career he was chairman of the Sen- 

 ate Committee on Literature. He induced the 

 passage of an act for the revision and consoli- 

 dation of the acts relating to public instruc- 

 tion. Tn 1872 and '73, while in the Senate, he 

 was appointed a member of the Court of Im- 

 peachment, in which the corrupt judges were 

 tried. After a long life of eminent services as 

 lawyer, legislator, and instructor, he died sud- 

 denly, in New York City, on the 22d of October. 

 BERNHARDT, SARAH, a French actress, was 

 born in Amsterdam, about 1847. Her father 

 was a Frenchman, and her mother was Dutch, 

 both parents belonging to the Hebrew race. 

 While a young girl her father placed her in 

 the convent-school at Grand Champ, near Ver- 

 sailles. When she had completed the course of 

 studies taught in the seminary, on expressing a 

 choice for the dramatic profession, she under- 

 went a brief preparation for the entrance ex- 

 amination of the Conservatoire. She owed her 

 acceptance as a pupil of the Conservatoire, it 

 is said, to the expressive and attractive manner 

 in which she recited the tale of "Les deux 

 Pigeons," by La Fontaine, not being provided 

 with a tirade from the dramatists such as it is 

 usual for the candidates to declaim, drawing 

 upon herself the attention of Auber, who was 

 one of tb.3 examiners, by her graceful render- 

 ing of that simple poem. She entered the Con- 

 servatoire in 1861, becoming the pupil of Beau- 

 vallet, the famous actor. She was so success- 

 ful in her studies that she gained a prize for 

 tragedy, winning the right to a debut at the 

 Theatre Francais. Her appearance in "Iphi- 

 g6nie " with the company of the Comedie Fran- 

 caise was praised by some critics and con- 

 sidered full of artistic promise, but was not a 

 professional success. She also played in Scribe's 

 u Valerie," but did no better. Bernhardt next 

 essayed less ambitious r61es upon humbler 

 stages, serving the dramatic apprenticeship 

 which the most gifted actor seldom escapes, 

 and acquiring theatrical experience and routine 

 by performing comedy and burlesque parts in 

 the theatre of the Porfce St. Martin, after under- 

 taking and then breaking off an engagement at 

 the Gymnase; and afterward at the Odeon, 

 where she advanced into the front rank of 

 dramatic artists. Her engagement at the Gym- 

 nase was to perform in one of Labiche's come- 

 dies. She disappeared after the second night's 

 representation, writing a characteristic note to 

 the author, the import of which was that the 

 part assigned her was not satisfactory. At the 

 Porte St. Martin she appeared in a fairy piece 

 under an assumed name. " I have been turned 

 away everywhere ; but try me, for I assure you 

 there is something there," is said to have been 

 the phrase which she used in applying to M. 

 Duquesnel, who was associated with M. Chilly 

 in the management of the Odeon; pointing, as 

 she said it, to her heart instead of to her head. 

 Chilly declared that she was only fit for trage- 

 dy ; but Duquesnel engaged her in opposition 



to his partner's judgment. At first she made 

 no distinct impression ; but when given the 

 leading part in Alexandre Dumas's u Kean," 

 though the play was coldly received, she her- 

 self was enthusiastically applauded. 



During the siege of Paris Mile. Bernhardt 

 left the mimic stage to take a leading part in 

 the patriotic work of nursing the *ick and the 

 wounded, tending the ambulances until the end 

 of the war laboriously and devotedly. On the 

 2d of February, 1872, she reappeared on the 

 boards as Marie de Neuborg in "Ruy Bias," 

 achieving a complete artistic triumph, and 

 gratifying the author not less than the public. 

 This success induced the Comedie Francaise to 

 not merely receive Bernhardt as an associate, 

 but to press her to become a member of that 

 famous and unique society of dramatic artists 

 by whom the rich traditions of the French 

 stage are sacredly conserved, and invigorated by 

 the constant assimilation of the genuine artis- 

 tic developments of the modern French theatre. 

 In the Comedie Francaise Bernhardt could not 

 take the preeminent position which an artist 

 of her powers usually assumes in ordinary com- 

 panies. Associated with a group of players, 

 all of them of the highest rank, she did not ob- 

 tain an opportunity to display her talents at 

 first, being unfortunate in the roles assigned to 

 her. She earliest showed her higher powers 

 in the characters of Andromaque and Junie; 

 but it was not until March, 1874, when the 

 "Sphinx," was brought out, with Bernhardt 

 as Barthe de Savigny, that she became the 

 great favorite of Paris audiences, and began to 

 be spoken of as the foremost tragedienne of the 

 age, and the successor to the laurels of Adri- 

 enne Lecouvreur, Dumesnil, Clairon, and Ra- 

 chel Felix. Bernhardt has had few opportuni- 

 ties to create new characters. Other parts in 

 which she is most admired are Phedre and 

 Zai're of the classic French drama, and Adri- 

 enne Lecouvreur and Marguerite Gautier, the 

 heroine of the younger Dumas's " La Dame aux 

 Camillas," of the modern realistic drama. 



Bernhardt, though of feeble frame and far 

 from physically vigorous, possesses a fund of 

 nervous energy which she is able to call forth in 

 the passionate moments of a play with thrilling 

 effect. She is an assiduous and tireless student 

 in her profession, searching types and sugges- 

 tions often in the scenes of real life. She 

 shows a wonderful power of dramatic imper- 

 sonation and imagination in the lifelike man- 

 ner in which she projects herself into the 

 character assumed in each play. The remark- 

 able delicacy of her perception of character is 

 the result of indefatigable studies. At the pro- 

 duction of u Hernani," in 1870, Bernhardt took 

 the part of Donna Sol, a character which had 

 been identified with Mile. Mars, who made it 

 famous. The novel and sympathetic reading 

 of Bernhardt was declared by Victor Hugo to 

 correspond completely to his poetic ideal. Her 

 praise in this role was repeated by the critic 

 Sarcey and echoed by all Paris. 



