68 LITERATURE AND DRAMA 



a villain, Glenalvon, so to poison the mind of Lord Randolph 

 with jealousy as to cause him to attempt the youth's life. 

 Young Norval or Douglas, while defending himself against 

 Lord Randolph, is wounded to death by the villain, and dies in 

 his mother's presence. She in despair commits suicide. In ac- 

 cordance with the taste of the day, neither combat nor suicide 

 takes place before the audience. 



Although much of the sentiment in this play is expressed in 

 language which nowadays provokes a smile, an actress may find 

 great scope for her art in presenting the feelings of the mother, 

 who gradually acquires the certainty that her child still lives, and 

 is the gallant youth who has already shown himself worthy of her 

 love. 



Professor Bell's notes, while sufficient to convince us that 

 Mrs. Siddons could express great tenderness and strong affec- 

 tion, no less than the sterner emotions with which her name is 

 more commonly connected, lack the precision by which, in 

 writing of Shakespeare's plays, he enables us in some measure 

 to understand the means she employed. Referring to the wish 

 expressed by the lady that every soldier of the two opposing 

 armies might return in ' peace and safety to his pleasant home,' 

 he writes : 



The most musical sound I ever heard, and on the conclusion a 

 melancholy recollection seemed to fill her whole soul of the strength 

 of that wish in former times, and of its first disappointment. 



Again, where Lady Randolph addresses Sincerity as the first 

 of virtues, the note says : 



Fine apostrophe. Her fine eyes raised in tears to heaven, her 

 hands stretched out and elevated. 



At the close of the well-known speech beginning, c My name 

 is Norval,' the following remark is appended : 



The idea of her own child seems to have been growing, and at 

 this point overwhelms her and fills her eyes with tears. Beautiful 

 acting of this sweet feeling throughout these speeches. The interest 

 she takes in the youth her manifest retrospection. 



The by-play of Lady Randolph throughout the long speeches 

 of her husband and son was obviously the centre of interest to 

 the spectator, and ended in what is called 



