[George Henry Lewes, in his book on "Actors and the Art of Acting,"
published by Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1878, says:
"I must repeat the expression of my admiration for Ristori as a
distinguished actress; if not of the highest rank, she is very high,
in virtue of her personal gifts, and the trained skill with which
these gifts are applied. The question naturally arises, why is her
success so great in certain plays and so dubious in others? It is of
little use to say that Lady Macbeth and Adrienne Lecouvreur are beyond
her powers; that is only restating the fact. Can we not trace both
success and failure to one source? In what is called the ideal
drama, constructed after the Greek type, she would be generally
successful, because the simplicity of its motives and the
artificiality of its structure, removing it from beyond the region of
ordinary experience, demand from the actor a corresponding
artificiality. Attitudes, draperies, gestures, tones, and elocution
which would be incongruous in a drama approaching more closely to the
evolutions of ordinary experience, become, in the ideal drama,
artistic modes of expression; and it is in these that Ristori displays
a fine selective instinct, and a rare felicity of organisation."
"Memoirs and Artistic Studies of Adelaide Ristori," rendered into
English by G. Mantellini, with a biographical appendix by L. D.
Ventura, was published and copyrighted by Doubleday, Page & Co., New
York, 1907. The chapters of that volume afford the pages which
follow. The Artistic Studies comprise detailed histrionic
interpretations of the chief roles of Ristori: Mary Stuart, Queen
Elizabeth, Lady Macbeth, Medea, Myrrha and Phedra.--ED.]