I said, 'I have not only decided, I have learned the piece.' 'And what may it be ?' 'The dagger-scene in Macbeth.' There was a howl--I can call it by no other name--a howl of indignation.
A man's soliloquy, and, worse still, a murdering man's soliloquy, recited by one of Miss Ladd's young ladies, before an audience of parents and guardians! That was the tone they took with me.

I was as firm as a rock.

The dagger-scene or nothing.

The result is--nothing! An insult to Shakespeare, and an insult to Me.

I felt it--I feel it still.
I was prepared for any sacrifice in the cause of the drama.