Representative American Plays/Leonora

by Julia Ward Howe

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LEONORA
OR
THE WORLD'S OWN
BY
Julia Ward Howe

 

LEONORA OR THE WORLD'S OWN

Leonora or The World's Own represents the movement in the late fifties which, under the encouragement of managers like the elder Wallack and Laura Keene, brought into the theatre pieces of significant dramatic literature. Unfortunately, this movement was checked by the Civil War, and by the system of travelling companies for which Boucicault was responsible. The play represents also the work of that group of writers, centered in Boston and distinguished in other fields, of which Mrs. Howe was a part, even although she was not of New England origin.

Julia Ward Howe was born in New York City, May 27, 1819, the daughter of Samuel Ward, a leading New York banker. Her family on both sides went back to Revolutionary stock. She was interested in plays from early childhood, writing a drama at the age of nine. Her education, nominally completed at sixteen, but really only then beginning, was wide and thorough, especially in languages. Her social life in New York was a broad one, and early in her career she was brought into relations with the New England group. In 1843 she married Samuel Gridley Howe, Director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind, the first to teach a blind deaf mute, Laura Bridgman, and a leader in the cause of Grecian independence. After a European trip, they settled in Boston, with which her future life is definitely associated. Her first volume of poems, Passion Flowers, was published in 1853, and in 1857 a second, Words for the Hour, followed. A Trip to Guha (1859) reflected her experiences there. Her greatest contribution was of course The Battle Hymn of the Republic, which appeared on the front page of the Atlantic Monthly for February, 1862. The inspiration came to her at night and, rising, she traced the lines roughly for fear they would escape. In the morning, before looking at her notes she found that every line had left her memory. Later Lyrics, her third volume of poems, appeared in 1865, and in 1867 she went to Greece to help the Cretans, studying Greek at the same time. In 1868 she helped to found the first Woman's Club in New England. In 1876 her husband died and the remainder of her long life was devoted to woman's interests and to social betterment. In 1898, her last volume of poems, From Sunset Ridge, appeared and in 1899 her Reminiscences. She died October 17, 1910.

She was dramatic by nature and her whole existence was a struggle against the oppression of others and for what she considered to be right. Her interest in the stage was constant from childhood, but her first serious dramatic work was Leonora or The World's Own, produced first at Wallack's Theatre, New York, March 16, 1857, with Matilda Heron and the elder Sothern in the leading parts. It ran for over a week, and was considered to be a success. It was later repeated in Boston. Her brother, Samuel, wrote her from New York:

"Leonora still draws the best houses; there was hardly standing room on Friday night"; and again: "Mr. Russell went last night, a second time, bought the libretto, which I send you by this mail—declares there is not a grander play in our language. He says that it is full of dramatic vigor, that the interest never flags—but that unhappily—Miss H—with the soul and self abandonment of a great actress, lacks that grace of elocution, which should set forth the beauties of your verses."

In 1864 she was asked to write a play for Edwin Booth, and the theme of Hippolytus was chosen. The play was written through the summer of that year, but owing to other engagements, Booth had to postpone consideration of it. Finally E. L. Davenport agreed to produce it, Charlotte Cushman being selected to play "Phædra" to Booth's "Hippolytus." Rehearsals were progressing when a difficulty arose and reasons were given for not performing the play that did not seem satisfactory to Mrs. Howe or to the principal actors. The real difficulty was that there was no sufficiently good part for the manager's wife. This failure caused her to give up play writing, though not her interest in the theatre. In 1878 she impersonated "Queen Elizabeth" in a public reading for charity, in which Madame Ristori acted "Maria Stuart." Hippolytus was produced, after Mrs. Howe's death, by Miss Margaret Anglin, in Boston.

For the life of Mrs. Howe, see her Reminiscences, 1899, and Julia Ward Howe, by Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, 2 vols., Boston, 1915, to which the editor acknowledges his indebtedness. For references to the plays, see Brown, T. A., A History of the New York Stage, vol. 1, p. 492, and Ireland, J. N., Records of the New York Stage, vol. 2, p. 659. A cast has been reconstructed from these sources which is in all essentials correct.

The present text is based on the original edition of the play, published as The World's Own, Boston, 1857.