BARRY, ELIZABETH (1658-1713). A famous English actress, whose dramatic powers seem to have been latent until awakened by her lover, the Earl of Rochester. Though she was more than once dismissed as unfit for the stage, he wagered, so the story goes, that in six months he would make her a first-rate actress. When, after his tuition, she at. length appeared at Dorset Garden as the Queen of Hungary in Mustupha (1673?), her success justified his prediction. She came to be considered the greatest actress of her time, and created, it is said, 112 different roles. As Monimia, which she played to Better ton's Castalio in The Orphan, and as Belvidera in Venice Preserved, she was perhaps most cele brated, and delighted the heart of their author, Otway, who was devoted to her. Among her other tragic parts were Isabella, in Southerne's Fatal Marriage; Zara, in Congreve's Mourning Bride; Cassandra, in Dryden's Cleomenes; and Ca lista, in The Fair Penitent. She succeeded also in com
edy, and created the character of Lady Brute, in the Provoked Wife of Vanbrugh. Her power of exhibiting every emotion was extraordina rv. The utterance of her phrase. "Ah, poor Castalio!" in The Orphan, was particularly famous for being always accompanied by her own tears, as well as those of the audience. She is stated, on the au thority of Cibber (apology, ch. v.), to have been the first actress to receive a 'benefit,' which in her case was by royal command. She became wealthy, and retired from the stage to the vil lage of Acton some three years before she died. Consult: Genest, History of the English Stage (Bath, 1832) ; Cibber, Apology, ed. Belleham hers (London, 1822) ; Doran. Annals of the Stage, ed Lowe (London, 1888) ; Baker, Eng lish Actors from Shakespeare to Haeready (New York, 1879) ; and Galt, Lit-es of the Players (London, 1831).