" The decency of this arrangement is easily
apparent; it obviated the necessity for wanton allurements on the
part of _Judith_ and amorous advances on the side of the
Commander-in-Chief. Incidentally it is more reasonable to assume that
so virile a warrior would yield to nothing short of intoxication than
that he would be persuaded, while still remaining sober, to take a
brief rest (on the ground of temporary indisposition) and so go like a
lamb to the slaughter, as he does in the play.
To do Miss LILLAH MCCARTHY justice, she went through a scene
embarrassing alike to actors and audience with as much dignity and
aloofness as the situation admitted. In a previous scene there had
been one rather gratuitous posture which we might perhaps have been
spared; but, for the rest, from the moment when she first entered, a
noble figure in her robes of widowhood, veiling all but the oval of
her face, pale and passionless, she played with a fine restraint,
giving us confidence in her reserve of strength and never once
allowing her high purpose to be forgotten.
It was not her fault if, in the night scene, amid a generous exposure
of physical facts, we missed the less palpable atmosphere of impending
doom.
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