“A diamond in the rough, but yet a diamond, was the mental verdict of the jury who sat in the Opera House last night to see Miss Mary Anderson on her first appearance here in the character of Juliet.  It was in reality her debut upon the stage.  She played, a short time since, for one week in her native city, Louisville, but this is her first effort upon a stage away from the associations which surround an appearance among friends, and which must, to a great extent, influence the general judgment of the debutante’s merit....  We believe her to be the most promising young actress who has stepped upon the boards for many a day, and before whom there is, undoubtedly, a brilliant and successful career.”

The St. Louis Republican has the following very interesting notice:—­

“A fresh and beautiful young girl of Juliet’s age embodied and presented Juliet.  Beauty often mirrors its type in this beautiful character, but very rarely does Juliet’s youth meet its youthful counterpart on the stage....  A great Juliet is not the question here, but the possibility of a Juliet near the age at which the dramatist presented his heroine.  Mary Anderson is untampered by any stage traditions, and she rendered Shakespeare’s youngest heroine as she felt her pulsing in his lines....  She leads a return to the source of poetic inspiration, and exemplifies what true artistic instincts and feeling can do on the stage, without either the traditions and experience of acting.  She colors her own conceptions and figure of Juliet, and by her work vindicates the master, and proves that Juliet can be presented by a girl of her own age....  The fourth act exhibited great tragic power, and no want was felt in the celebrated chamber scene, which is the test passage of this role....  It stamped the performance as a success, and the actress as a phenomenon....  The thought must have gone round the house among those who knew the facts—­Can this be only the seventh performance on the stage of this young girl?”

Here is another notice a few months later on in Mary Anderson’s dramatic career from the Baltimore Gazette:—­

“Miss Anderson’s Juliet has the charm which belongs to youth, beauty, and natural genius.  Her fair face, her flexible youth—­for she is still in her teens—­and her great natural dramatic genius, make her personation of that sweet creation of Shakespeare successful, in spite of her immaturity as an artist.  We have so often seen aged Juliets; stiff, stagey Juliets; fat, roomy Juliets; and ill-featured Juliets, that the sight of a young, lady-like girl with natural dramatic genius, a bright face, an unworn voice, is truly refreshing.  In the scene where the nurse brings her the bad news of Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment, she acted charmingly.  In gesture, attitude, and facial expression she gave evidence of emotion so true and strong, as showed she was capable of losing her own identity in the role.”