It was in a play called "The Pharisee," at the I Grand Theatre, Islington, that this popular actress made her debut, in 1891. Her part was not a very "fat" one, being that of a servant with precisely four words to say - namely, "Did you ring, sir?" Prior to this debut, Miss Ashwell had tramped from stage-door to stage-door for a whole year before she discovered a manager who was willing to give her a chance. Most of Miss Ashwell's girlhood was spent in a little wooden house on the St. Lawrence, overlooking the Thousand Isles, her father, Captain Pocock, R.N., abandoning the Service, to become a clergyman of the Church of England in Canada. The foundation of Miss Ashwell's career was laid in Bishop Strachan school in Toronto. She next went to Switzerland, Paris, and finally finished her education at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It was on the advice of Miss Ellen Terry, who examined her in elocution, that she abandoned music for the stage, and after appearing at the Grand, Islington, gained much experience by touring with Sir George Alex-ander in "Lady Windermere's Fan." Since then, of course, Miss Ashwell has achieved many triumphs, but she herself thinks that Irene Wycherley, in the play of that name, is one of her finest parts. It was with this play that she successfully re-opened, in 1907, the Kingsway Theatre, London, of which she is proprietor, and the following year she married Dr. Henry J. F. Simson, a well-known medical practitioner.

Miss Lena Ashwell I. B.