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ACTORS
AND
Works by
the
same Author.
LIFE
The The
and WORKS of GOETHE. New Edition. STORY of GOETHE'S LIFE. HISTORY of PHILOSOPHY from THALES
to
COMTE.
2 vols.
a
Fourth Edition.
of
ARISTOTLE
The
Science
STUDIES
LIFE.
2 vols.
Recently published.
PROBLEMS of LIFE and MIND. First Series. The FOUNDATION of a CREED. 2 vols.
'
ON
ACTORS
AND
BY
/
LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, &
CO., 15
1875
WATERLOO PLACE
[All rights
reserved]
s~>
~v w
/'
EPISTLE TO
ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
My dear
Trollope,
reason for inscribing this
trifle
One
you
is
to
some dramatic
criticisms
pages of a periodical.
always
deterred
The
me
from republishing
and
if I
because a tempo-
may
again be served
now
a change
of the
actor.
To
effect
this
revival
artists
there
and an
vi
eager public
public.
The
who
fine
acting
In
place
there
what
constitutes
good
art.
The performances
reawakening
my
slumbering interest
bygone
years,
have
by the
made me
many minds
for
of rare
opi-
whose
is
nions in
utter
other directions
my
respect
great
judgments on
this subject
Acting really
the
is.
or
for
praised,
grounds which
praise
Every
vii
or dislike of
any
picture, so long as
he confines
But
for
common)
to formu-
judgment, and
is
say,
'
This
is
a fine picture
this painter
quite
second-rate.'
Equally preposterous
may
be the
who
noticeable that
fine
rate
actor's
genius,
and
underrate
his
trained
skill.
They
him with a
power of
tion to
intellectual conception
claim,
his
and
fail
which
artistic training
The
viii
EPISTLE TO
ANTHONY
is
TROLLOPE.
ordinary spectator
moved, but
is
incapable of
:
he iden-
Nor
is
when, on some
him
quite
unmoved by a
in
other
characters
has
The
fail in
fact that
Hamlet,
nume-
very instructive.
I
'
at
the
St.
illness
of the tra-
gedian
who was
to
member
of the troupe
who knew
the part
yet
interest excited
by the
ix
and the
were delighted.
suf-
by the
author.
He
and
is
is
is
that there
is
make an
actor.
he
tried.
There
if
a story of
he
don't
know
never
tried.'
This
is
No,
cannot play
never
tried.'
Nor
is
it
any argument
ment
amount of
who have
place, the
amateur
In
same
drawing-room
often
listen
singing bears
to
the
a
opera.
We
with pleasure to
singer in
private
whom we
The
Art
arises
produces his
effects.
We
limitations
we can
decide whether
shown
skill.
Ignorance of these
deficiencies to the
mind,
when
in
reality
no pathos
actor's soul
may
The
unmoved.
poet,
who
felt
that pathos
when
xi
in
the feeling.
But
I
dissertation.
reprinting remarks,
made
is
at various times
and
in
various periodicals,
to call
upon the
reflective
at disI
want
Acting
an Art, but
it
is
You
will
understand
necessarily
be repetitions,
ject
at
in articles written
widely different
periods
Let me,
in con-
of dramatic degradation.
The
poetic
drama had
xii
its
recur.
With
Hamlet
and
'
Othello
'
drawing
and with
a play
by Tennyson promised
more dawned
Ever yours
affectionately,
G.
H.
LEWES.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
PAGE
Edmund Kean
Charles Kean
II.
12
III.
Rachel
.23
.
IV.
Macready
Farren
32
V.
.51
.
VI.
Charles Mathews
59
VII.
Frederic Lemaitre
-73
.
.
VIII.
80
IX.
88
CONTENTS.
X.
On Natural Acting
109
Stage
.126
.
The Drama
in Paris.
1865
178
XIII.
in Germany.
1867
.213
.
XIV.
in Spain.
1867
235
XV.
1875
264
ON ACTORS
AND
THE ART OF
CHAPTER
ACTING.
I.
EDMUND
The
greatest artist
is
KEAN.
is
he who
reaches of his
to
art,
even although
for the
he
may
lack
the
qualities necessary
minor
details.
It is
not by his
lences, that
we measure a
its
great man.
The
strength of a
beam
is
measured by
weakest part, of a
man by
his
strongest.
Thus
estimated,
incom-
although even
serious
warm
many and
defects.
flexible genius.
He
was a very
imperfect
mime
or more correctly
speaking, his
miming
sin-
ACTING.
gularly limited in
style.
range.
He
But
ments
in our
no one
it
be
Rachel,
who was
as a
as a
man.
The
felicitously cha'
seeing
Kean
act was
reading
so
brilliant
and so
nations,
dull intervals.
'who
had formed
shocked
cution,
at
ideal
elo-
sometimes
at other
times
careless
in
c
their
angry protests
they went so
far as to declare
3
Not
so
not so thought
biassed
critics.
He
such a rush of
and
gesture, that
it
it
was as vain
to protest against
defects as
was
for
French
critics to insist
upon
Could
at or hissed
EDMUND KEAN.
some grave
audience
offences against taste
and
sense.
But no
over-
could be
unmoved
all
defects were
looked
or disregarded,
because
it
was impossible to
Sir Giles
terror,
spirit
and the
pathos,
His imita-
tors
a fact
little
on the sun
in nowise
warm
the world,
and
that a defi-
Although I was a
1825,
little
boy when
I first
saw Kean,
in
in 1832,
he quitted the
more
at ease in
I
speaking
should feel in
many
be understood that
was
in
no condition
then, to
qualities,
and
is
memory.
Yet
my memory
of
him
ACTING.
his looks
which
now
recognise would be
more
is
were I
now
There
may
degree of excellence.
gree
;
and
I think that
little
my
is
on the whole
any
At
down
fairly
what a retrospect
discloses.
him
and
for these
he
he could
at times
remember, the
last
how
when roused by
Iago's taunts
and
insinuations,
he moved
well-known explosion,
'
Villain
be sure
which
small.
On
that very
evening,
'
'
EDMUND KEAN.
when gout made
tomed
grace,
it difficult
for
him
the
pathos
which
men
leaned
It
sobbed.
was,
some
parts
were miserably
tricky,
others
points
but
it
flashes that I
would again
risk
for the
chance of a good
it.
Even
in
his
in
earlier
and
better
much
slovenly, false.
The
He
had
little
manage
at
all.
He
'
gabbled over
it,
And
the
have used.
Here comes
this
its
'
it.'
His delivery of
point
incisive
Shakspearian character.
of witchcraft, or rebut
it
calmly, but
not
make
the
it
the
climax
*
of a
'
withering
sarcasm
attacking
word
and
witchcraft
with
high
and
sudden
emphasis,
Indeed,
throughout the
first
and
second
acts,
mona on
irritating
and disappointing
it.
arresting
third
the
satisfying
From
the
act
onwards
was
wrought out with a mastery over the resources of expression such as has been seldom approached.
sive unfolding of these great scenes
In the succes-
he represented with
incomparable
resolution
of passionate expres-
EDMUND KEAN.
'
impulsive actor.'
But
if
by
this
who
abandoned himself
forethought
of
moment without
pre-arranged
nothing could be
artist,
He
The
was an
original
and
in Art all
suggestion
may
be,
and generally
is,
sudden and
unprepared 'inspired,' as
its truth,
we
on
say
it,
seizes
regulates
of
fitful
Kean
vigilantly
and
patiently rehearsed
until his
until his
and gestures
The
conse-
quence was
that,
when he was
sufficiently
sober to stand
who
One who
him informed me
that
rehearsing on a
new
word ; these
steps
were
by him
as part of the
mechanism which
an
Hence
it
was
that he
same
it
The
voice on
'
some
oh
nights
!
would be more
it,
irresistibly
'
touching in
But,
the pity of
'
Iago
or
gone
more
'
musically forlorn in
'
Othello's occupation's
! '
or
but always
as a Tamberiil:
may
deliver the
Kean was
it is
one
Although fond,
far
too
passing
from vehemence to
lights
actors
itself in
EDMUND KEAN.
The waves
away.
deeps.
are not stilled
when
Kean's quivering
muscles
and
altered tones
you
felt
The
the
One
tricks
sometimes
one of his
For
instance,
Edward Mortimer
!
Wilford,
remember
'
Kean used
pause after
'
underwent a rapid
of expressions fluently
remember
'
came
muttered thunder.
Those
spectators
mere
trick
tricks,
to the stage
He
the tradition
of the
io
stage.
Richard, Shylock,
Lear,
Sir
Giles
Overreach, or Sir
illuminated by
him
in a
way
commonly
1
suspect.
It is his
points,'
that
we
applaud.
He
was a
few.
real innovator.
He
had no
Of
this
Richard
III.
Who
Anne was
*
railing at him,
!
his
It
Poor
fool
damn
herself
'
was thoroughly
He
at
command.
nor
He
was nothing
if
not passionate.
He
must
no
character.
Yet Hamlet
is
the easiest
EDMUND KEAN.
of
all
ability.
all
Shaks-
peare's parts,
freer
from
fault,
ance.
leant
From
upon
the
moment
that
he appeared and
moneys are
like a
chapter of Genesis.'
The
overpowering
remonstrant
anguish
for the
and rage
and
gloating anticipations
of
revenge
on the
Christians.
and wild
?
'
justice of
argument
in his
'
eyes
12
CHAPTER
II.
CHARLES KEAN.
To
speak of the son immediately
after the father is
not
some
characteristics
of both.
It
may
press a
little
first
over-
shadowing comparison.
plished swordsman,
he
is
an accomall
and
;
thorough
master of
the
he
is
endowed with
and
expression of
father,
without peril of a
breakdown.
Unlike his
he
is
never careless
he
anxiously elaborates
never
failing
He
is
member
art,
the real
artist's
love of his
and pride
in
it,
and he
CHARLES KEAN.
always does his best.
13
Laughed
at,
ridiculed,
and
hissed,
and
for
many
by
critics,
both in
improvingly,
till
con-
He
have
least
admit that in
This
Slowly
certain parts
he
is
is
in him, concentrated
of his
life,
has
made an
materials.
His career
is
a lesson.
It
art.
The
in his
y
who
sallet
days
excited so
much
mirth and so
much blame
He
is still
emotion
but rant
is
all
and
it is
only on occasions of
mistake.
excitement that he
occasions he
is
falls
into this
forcible.
On
other
calm and
14
it
treat to
me
to see Charles
Kean
liave surpassed
him
in certain
melodramatic
parts.
am
by many considered
it
but
his
was as superior
it
on which
was modelled, as
first
acts of
Corsican Brothers
;
Fechter
all
is
unsuited.
The deadly
quiet of a
the sombre,
been more
;
pitiless
expression
could
not have
by Charles Kean
in this act
and
in
fascination to the
In
'
Pauline/ also,
Charles
Kean showed
and
similar
power
quiet
and
terrible.
Both
his qualities
defects conspired to
make
these
CHARLES KEAN.
performances singularly
effective,
15
and revealed a
first-rate
To some
how an
in
of
my
readers
it
may
not be at
first
evident
tragedy.
Yet they
will
have no
under-
standing that a
man may
write admirable
melodrames
The
The
tragic
'
poet
'
in-
Hamlet
and
Mac-
beth
fine
'
melodramatic residuum.
as
'
are
sensational
'
as Fitzball
and Dumas
but the
situations,
which
the rest
is
subordinated, in the
the
is
former
are
the
mere
starting-points,
nodes
of
dramatic action.
melodramatic actor
required, to
be impressive,
relief to
an exaggerated situation
he
is
not required to
for the scene
be
human emotion ;
i.e.
a sphere which
is
not that
16
of Shakinflexible
speare's flexible
him
in conspicuous inferiority
all
fine
actors.
The
inter-
Shakspeare's movements,
the
subtle
web of
presence of constant
verisimilitude
all
under exceptional
great flexibility
demand
and variety of
is
mimetic power.
cient.
In these Charles
Kean
He
pressive representation
is
when
a simple one
no
is
nicety of observation,
peculiarly rigid
no
variety of expression.
He
: '
and
all.'
his
weakness
is
he
moveth altogether
he move
at
;
His face
stolid
utterly
one
is
expression,
immovable
as
an ancient mask,
worn throughout a
He
has none
father
looks which
made
his
no
less
than to spectators.
There
CHARLES KEAN.
an
actress into
fits,
as
Edmund Kean
is
said to have
a story
I suspect to
be some-
power of Kean's
rage.
It is
glare
his
because there
is
no presence of poetry
in his
acting that
we
all feel
Charles
Kean
to
be
essentially a
melodramatic
actor.
The
unreality
and unideality of a
If
;
melodrama are
means.
he attempt
he attempt
if
we
is
He
has no
heroic.
for
He
what
is real.
actor's most-
It is
upper range
(though less
but in
its
lower range
it
was marvel-
lously musical,
heard
since.
in-
flexible,
ON ACTORS AND THE ART OF ACTING.
deliver a passage
18
The stubborn
harshness of the
The
in
who
\
when spoken by
because the
ravishing dividelivers
When
Charles
Kean
as
Richard
the
speech
Now
no one
notices
?
it
is
but
who can
Who
of
buried
,'
when with
the
the graceful
how
clouds which
ocean buried ?
Voice,
look,
actor's
symbols,
emotions of the
of sensibility
personating.
it
No amount
itself
can express
adequately by these
feel,
symbols.
represe?it.
It is
he must
symbols
He
must
CHARLES KEAN.
universally intelligible
voice, a rigid or
19
and
face,
affecting.
A harsh,
inflexible
heavy
whereas
a man, with
little
sensibility,
but
endowed
flexible
voice,
and a
pit to transports.
Kean
has an organisation
of
artistic expression
it
com-
And
was to
this I
alluded
perseverance had
made an
actor out
There are no
tears in his
is
pathos; there
is
no
He
violent
where
he
should be
for
He
more than
thirty years;
should
be very much
tear
;
the
pathos of a situation
not to be
set
down
to
the actor.
The
tears
lie
felt their
sources stirred
by any
In
Edmund Kean
I
the ground-swell
of
subsiding
emotion was, as
In
2o
Charles
no
to
trace of
it.
He
passes from
excessive
vehemence
perfect
calmness,
without
any
The
fact is that
he never imaginatively
otherwise, even
himself with
a passion;
his
it,
stubborn
physique
would
express
something
of
though inadequately.
Edmund
But
his musical
ear
and musical voice saved him from the monotony so and saved him
from that
tion
still
more unpardonable
rhythm
and pause
them
to
be very
much determined by
as if the sense
his breath.
or by the duration of
difficul-
of elocution.
They
are rarely
managed by those
verse,
is
greatly
no
CHARLES KEAN.
one can pretend
to
21
like
many
who
an-
my
gaiety,
no humour.
is
His son,
very
of both,
nevertheless
The
him
real
comic
force.
any fluctuations of
they are admirably suited to express the puzzled, wondering stolidity of the jealous, bamboozled husband.
is this inflexibility,
It
combined with a
which makes
his
melodramatic personations so
did
Edmund Kean
much
for Shakspeare.
The
act-
may now
almost be
be based upon
He
invented much.
effects
sympathy saw
22
thing.
actor's feeling
and cared
Charles
Kean
more
literary ambition.
He
no
fresh light
money
on the
He
has
by appealing
that applause.
to
the public
Those who,
and very
little
to
do
in the
way of
scenic
successfully.
RACHEL.
CHAPTER
RACHEL.
Rachel was
terrible
III.
with a panther's
moved and
stood, glared
and sprang.
thing
not
human about
She seemed
made
of
different clay
beautiful
if
able.
as a
man.
was a
lion,
Her
Scorn, triumph,
in
symbols of
no womanly caressing
no
gaiety,
no
heartiness.
air
of
felt
was incomparable
but
24
in
presence
wickedness.
By
woman
it
artistically
Her
thrilling
penetrating,
and
Her
face,
thin,
nervous
Her
which would
it
Her
gestures were
and
would have
of Racine,
been a rare
The
ideal
call
'
tragedies
cold,' were,
by her
in-
shown
But
to
be instinct with
passion
and
dramatic
effect.
this
now and
she could do
in the sacrifice of
had
RACHEL.
been incomparable, so
delicately
its
25
shaded were
music,
till
its
various
came
at last to
and
to
After the
upon
it all
In what I
its
that
The
Nothing
torn
finest
of
her
performances
was
of
Phedre.
of a soul
this picture
by the
;
and
struggling
conscience
the unutterable
and tone
felt
herself so possessed
by them
that escape
sible, are
What
You
felt
that she
was wasting
fire
frame an
je te viens voir
pour
la derniere fois
26
produced a
which vibrates
still
in
memory.
The
and intensely
it
true.
As an
ideal
art
The
remorseful lines
ciel,
-Graces au
mes mains ne
mon
comme
elles
And how
it
finely expressed
with, as
each phrase, transient yet vividly indicated, when she confessed her guilt
;
Tu
J'aime
.
a ce
nom
fatal, je
tremble, je frissonne
Qui?
fils
Tu connais ce
Ce prince
si
!
de
1'
Amazone,
.
The one
tion was the
mode
'
Cest
nomme.'
She uttered
in a tone of sorrow-
RACHEL.
ing reproach which, as I conceive,
is
27
psychologically at
For Phedre
;
it Is
a horrible crime
she
of passion, she
guilt of
tries
indignantly to throw on
(Enone the
naming
that
In the second
to Hippolyte,
act,
and
irresistible,
and
to
to him.
this
She
was marvellous
in
;
abandonment
onward-
sweeping madness
if
and
to that
act
of
'
Othello.'
it
was
lit
up by
28
exclamation
Miserable
!
et je vis
he doubt whether he
Hermione, in
Pyrrhus.
In the
first,
her withering
calm,
in
polished, implacable,
the
and
defiance.
the
made
us shudder,
the demoniac
forlorn
:
element was
felt.
grace
me
donne,
;
Tant
que je ne
lui
pardonne
:
In describing
how
que
je n'ai
pu toucher
RACHEL.
29
and
diffi-
was
to prevent
an anticlimax
after
such an
jealous
tress
:
to his
mis-
Va, cours
The
close
strain.
The
fine
passionate
speech
liver
Very noticeable
prose with
it
is
deprived
of the
ictus,
The
subtle influence of
rhythm seemed
to peneto
trate her,
her
delivery which
in her declamation
failure
of prose.
of
ON ACTORS AND THE ART OF ACTING.
great in Shakspeare
3o
truly
In the
'
Polyeucte
tes
bourreaux viennent de
me
couvrir
M'a
Je
me
!
The
were
fitly
glowed
As an example
of
'
face-acting
'
'
remarkable scene in
Les Horaces,'
Rachel
tried
once or twice
to play Moliere.
pitilessly
I did not
criticized
by
am
were comedy
that
of
Madame
Girardin's
Lady
RACHEL.
Tartufe,
in
31
which
thought her
graceful,
ladylike,
and
diabolical
odious-
all
the
woman were
so
The manner
in
on the
fender, as she
itself a study.
The
sleek hypocrisy
of the part was not exaggerated, nor was the cruel irony
colder or crueller than seemed natural to such a
it
woman
was
gleam of it
in
'
Bajazet,' espestill,
cially
where Roxane
is
and she
replies, smiling
II
y va de sa
vie,
It
would form an
interesting question
why
actors so
transcendent as
in a
few
many
parts
talent.
less
difficult
But as
this
a question I
am
not prepared to
it.
32
CHAPTER
IV.
MACREADY.
In Edmund Kean and Rachel we recognise types of
genius
;
in
Macready
I see only a
man
it
of talent, but of
talent so
marked and
;
individual that
approaches very
near to genius
admirers
and,
who would
title,
may
will
me
that
Macor
Kean
John Kemble
in the early
Of John Kemble
And
with respect to Kean, while claiming for him the indisputable superiority in the highest reaches of his
art, I
of intel-
MACREAD
of
Y.
33
many and
various parts.
In
this sense
it
Macready was
another
And he showed
Kean
created
also in
scarcely any
new
parts
Edward Mortimer
were more or
less failures.
He
own
great
power
reach,
and Richard
or Tell,
into suc-
Virginius
Ruy
Gomez,
created.
and
It is
the
fifty
other
parts
which
Macready
and seemed
to require the
;
wide
whereas
Macready was
Iago, or Virginius,
and always
fell
short
when
represent-
in
compass,
His
made him
34
ACTING.
you
to feel, as
you
feel in
The
trick of a
hazard.
His
We
talent
shall
personated.
various,
implying
grandeur, physical
ideal,
moral.
They were
slight appeals
He
was
irritable
In Macbeth,
for
aid,' superstitious,
superstition;
He
was
fretful
and impatient
;
his wife
he was
MACREAD
ignoble under the terrors
Y.
35
of remorse
he
man
going to purloin
irritability,
and
his
His Hamlet
for
I thought
it
bad,
dis-
the intelligence
fretful
:
He
too fond of a
;
nor,
seemed
to
racter
performance
it
was
'
not a whole.
Cassius,
all his
Iago,
and
In Werner,
prostrate, with
heroic agony of
The
forlorn look
his
when
upon him
own
Who taught
?
'
me
made
venial
by the occasion
are
not to be forgotten.
Nor was
it
was
kind of passion
he could best
express.
rivals.
He
could
of a father in Virginius,
36
the young
men whom
had the
youthfulness of
Macready
in that part;
you
and
resilient
buoyancy of
his
down
Pauline with
whom
his
Melnotte
is
memorably associated
his voice,
It
effect.
was
The
fretful
he almost succeeded
credible
terrific
by
Kean
with incomparably
He
much
of his
was a thorough
in earnest,
art.
and very
picturesque in his
'
costume.
get
up
to
was such
that, to
use a
common
seemed
MACREAD
stage,
Y.
37
since
upon our
that there
were
still
upon
the stage,
called a
I
'
mere melodramatic
phrase
it is
can
affix to this
absurd.
;
He was by nature
but by his
intelli-
gence he was
fitted to conceive,
and by
his organisation
like
a melodra-
matic actor
limited
II.,
:
to situations.
Surely Lear,
are tragic parts
King
?
John, Richard
Cassius,
and Iago
In
aspects of
characters
He
of Kemble, but in
much
familiarity of detail as
tion.
His touches of
nature
'
were sometimes a
little
out of keeping with the general elevation of the performance, and he was fond of making a
transition
'
point
'
by an abrupt
38
by which
mean
he
felt
he did not
emotions
its
by other
actors.
There
is.
now under
notice, that
it
may be
c
repeated
come on
in a state of intense
flight
of his daughter.
'
Now
it
is
trial for
the actor
to strike twelve at
He
is
scene
at.
Accordingly,
we
see
actors in general
gesticulating, but
leaving us
selves.
are not
moved them-
Macready,
said,
MACREAD
rage by cursing
sotto voce,
Y.
and shaking
violently a ladder
To
He
had worked
have heard
Madame
#
Vestris
tell
a similar story of
Liston,
whom
himself, as
he stood
scene waiting to go on in
Let
me add
to
this estimate
of Macready's powers,
of his farewell per-
formance.
On Wednesday
the French phrase
walls of
'
solemnity,' as
it,
many
a long year.
Fortunately,
the
chaotic.
and
slips
had been
40
ACTING.
had to
and
galleries
outside.
Vinegar-yard
and
men
slight
crowd
As an immense
the
'
favour, I
it),
basket
'
most boxes
my
a dog of any
gentility.
But
this re-
poetry,
by the bene-
capacious
as
his
generosity
so
that,
instead
of an
scene, I
commanded
!
the whole
And what
affecting,
how
glorious, trium-
to
friendship
great actor,
ap-
There was a
crescendo of excitement
enough
self-pos-
MACREADY.
sessed
;
41
and when
after
an
energetic
fight
which
up
to
showed
the last
him
gallantly
he
fell
typical of the actor's death, this last look, this last act of
bosom with a
made
applause an ovation.
little
Some
we
re-
in his plain
came forward
greatness/
till
his
As he stood
waiting
thing which
my
hatband and
me more
touching than
all this
vast display of
tinsel,
sympathy
it
made
an
me
and
the artifice
and
glare of
actor's
to
that actor
was a
man one
all
we
all
have known or
must know
and then
:
in a quiet, sad
Macready delivered
this
address
42
My last
Even
theatrical part
is
for
the dis-
is
one which
my own
as I look
would
irresistibly
urge upon
me
for,
back on
my
I see in it
but one
me, cheering
me
in
my
onward
progress,
I
and upholding
me
in
my
my humble
life
efforts
have
made
happier by
your favour.
not
The
dimmed my
recollection of the
encouragement which
my
and stimulated me
to perseverance
when
struggling
That encouragement
my
distinguished competitors.
With
seemed
to
grow
and undisturbed
my
MACREAD
ing round me.
I
Y.
43.
to year I found friends more closely and thickly clusterAll I can advance to testify
how
justly
liberally
awarded
me
my
best
energies
your service.
My
ambition to establish a
taste,
theatre, in regard to
decorum and
it
worthy of our
speare
fitly
illustrated,
duty
it
and
in the zeal
and creditable
we have
assurance that the corrupt editions and unseemly presentations of past days will never be restored, but that
be
it
ever should
the
command.
relation of
have
little
more
to say.
is
By some
an actor
I
to his audience
feel
it
considered slight
and
transient.
do not
so.
The repeated
affecting
will live
among my most
grateful
44
retire
linger
on the scene,
my
better years.
ineffectual
Words
to
at least
such as
can
command
are
convey
my
thanks.
will believe
I feel far
more than
With
senti-
take
my
leave, bidding
my
professional capacity,
Perhaps
less deliberate
occasion;
a few words
of the
eloquence of the
man
may
of the moment.
am
glad that he
did not
act.
There
emotion.
and
dignified.
Macready
A reactor's
on the perishableness of an
MACREAD
fame.
Y.
45
He
leaves
is
his
name.
This
I believe that
this subject.
mind on
no monument more
solid than
name.
his
The
;
him
pictures to attest
power
him books
curtain
falls
the
actor leaves
only a tradition.
The
the
told
artist is annihilated.
Succeeding generations
test
it.
may be
of his genius
none can
With
intellec-
tual greatness
while, at the
same
time, I
am
forced to
far
remember
that,
with inferior
abilities,
he
secures
It is
and
praise.
not
to
assign
the
causes
of an actor's
superior
He
amuses.
He
author.
And
necessities.
Edmund Kean
46
appeals
forcibly
to a
larger
them more
than either
art,
will
great painter
Place
Kean
beside
Titian),
their
intellectual
Or
take
in the
scale with
Bulwer or
The
truth
is,
we exaggerate
the painter has nothing but his canvas and the author
has nothing but white paper and printer's ink with which
to produce his effects, the actor has all other arts as
part,
him
his
eloquence,
his
music,
;
his
imagery, his
the scene-painter
all
aids him
the
MACREAD
fascination of the stage
Y.
47
all
these raise
is
he
He who
He who
when robed
in the
what can
he do
off
in coat
and
trousers
on the world's
stage ?
Rub
the paint,
brilliant
Reduce the
him with
the rivals
whom
he surpasses
in reputation
and
in fortune.
If
my
is
lower
dis-
is
from no desire to
;
what seems
to
to
me
on the matter,
is
and
show
that the
demand
for
posthumous fame
misplaced.
deserves,
and we are
his
upon
to
weep
that
he gets no
more
During
reign
the applause
which follows
him exceeds
public approbation
so long as he lives he
;
is
an object
dies
and when he
he
48
leaves behind
upon
!
genius
to
may have
the
effected (true
fame
and a monument
Is
kindle
emulation of
successors.
not that
enough ?
his acting?
that
energy,
labour, genius,
you
will, is
no more than a
tradition ?
Folly
l
!
In
this
how
rare those
who
?
leave more.
The
Oh
is
yes,
he
?
can be read
but
he read
Who
disturbs
them from
their repose
What
men
of
rare,
very
rare, exceptions,
but names
will tell
me
and
he represents,
The
illustrious
future
He
Yes
! '
mouth and
said, despairingly,
'
my
predecessors
knew nothing
of
my work
MACREAD
and
Y.
49
he
almost
all
other men.
Byron
Lawrence and
fill
or
Macready ?
If
ample
and
if
he
him
Shakspeare
the stream
is
a good
;
raft
whereon to
float
securely
down
of time
safe.
Now
Shakspeare
Let
fruits
be given.
of Shakspeare, bringing
practical experience as an
first of
dramatists.
We want no
more black
miration.
illustrated
letter.
We
We
and
It
a task?
would be a
occupy
his
5o
leisure
and
it
would
settle the
question as to his
own
intellectual claims.
The
the
'
my
estimate,
which
which
this
man
stowed on every
also
we
see
for
how he endeavoured by
make up
natural deficiencies,
deficiencies.
We
see
him over-sensitive
is
to the imaginary
held,
and throughout
But although
from
his
many
own
life,
He
was undeniably a
cultivated,
made an
;
exis
member
of Parliament
but there
made such a
made upon
the stage.
FARREN.
sr
CHAPTER
FARREN.
V.
That no one
memory
of living
men no
the
slightest pretension to
rank with
and accom-
plished comedian.
If
we
no
were no
Farren,
who began
playing the
rival
old
for
men
at nineteen,
'
fish
And
was the
brilliant
and many
called the
excellent representatives of
'
what used to be
Farren
parts.'
been
filled as
well as others
52
been without a
rival.
Blanlinger
names which
memories of playgoers
all
good
actors in their
Sir Peter
Teazle
Bertrand
(in
'
Bertrand
et
Raton
(I
'),
Grandfather
purposely
'
name
and
as to the
old
men
since
about
made people
constantly compare
him with
He
the
little
details
face
articulation,
and these
qualities,
coupled
made him
a finished actor
When
I say that
mean
talent,
there was
none of
felt for
public favourites.
body admitted
his excellences
FARREN.
find his
S3
name on
the
bill,
see him.
In theatrical phrase
'
He
would always
many a
and
I believe it
was on
this
ground
that
he so rarely
the
visited the
provinces, where
in
harvests
sown
metropolitan
Why
was
this ?
Why
was he
less
of a personal
many an
inferior actor ?
It
was owing,
manner of
playing them.
The
which appeal to
general sympathy
they
Crusty
fathers,
old husbands,
stormy
manner which
.geniality;
He
had no
he had no
54
fervid
spectator.
ful as
He
no
ring of mirth in
high comedy
it
but
also
wanted
spirits
and
geniality
which overflow
and
his
want of
loveable
his
performance of
French piece
in
as to
priest.
The
him
for
some employment
his niece.
that he
may
cease to be a
burden on
By
is
a mistake in interpreting
set to
manner (supposed
be
art)
admirably
assists
him.
is
The
a
revulsion of feeling
when he
FARREN.
55
by the
latter
sensitive.
Up
one of adorable
this
was person-
each so individual, the one as English as the other was French puzzled criticism to
ated by the two great actors
But, nevertheless,
we
all left
the theatre
institute
a similar comparison
most
successful
that
but I
suspect
a similar
would
have
been
noticeable.
Like
all
comic
actors,
Nor
is this
wonder or
It
similar craving
is felt
by comic
writers.
an insurgence of
respect of laughter.
buffoons, although he
No man
may be
likes
to
be classed with
willing
ridiculous.
to
me
56
sensibilities,
and
to
whom
him
feeling
within
tragic capacity,
and knowing
was a grotesque
I
mask and
think
it
but
this is
only saying
another actor.
I imagine,
still
more
hopeless.
The
He
could touch
a chord of pathos gently, but he was quite incapable of expressing any powerful emotion.
I
Hunchback
by Knowles
Once
suffi-
encouraged to
try
it
in
London.
men.
His
air
Lord
FARREN.
57
j
Country Squire, and many other
the seal of distinction.
parts, but
it
had always
fine-
He
was
also
an actor whose
even to
his fools.
do not mean
;
that
he represented
Yet
contrary impression.
for a
He
had
certainly a very
keen eye
wide range of
characteristics,
and
presented
a
his
greater variety of
time
and
if it is
many
an
art
very
on general
man may be
a magnificent singer
deeply
afflict
Mrs. Marcet, or of
which
are
would
We
a
we
call
man
58
and because he
is
a good
mime he
must be an acute
thinker.
intelli-
gence necessary
tions
qualifica-
which the
in private,
demanded
whatever he
may have
been
he was eminently an
intellectual actor,
meaning by
that phrase
his effects
i.e.
sensibilities,
CHARLES MATHEWS.
59
CHAPTER
VI.
CHARLES MATHEWS.
It has long been the opinion of playgoers and
Charles Mathews might
fairly
critics that
French actors
in his
own
line
Although he
first
is
only of late
comedian.
his ease
He
was admired
and
elegance,,
and pleasant
;
vivacity,
and
for
a certain versatile
power of mimicry
but
critics
were unjust, so
'
character
his
powers in
'
character parts.*
'
The
difference
'
He
would
be an Actor or
ON ACTORS AND THE ART OF ACTING.
'
60
of Speculation
difference
or
'
The Day
of Reckoning/
fine
is all
the
comedian
between a
I
and a
skilful portrait-painter.
this actor
with delight.
His
first
Stagers,'
forms
a pleasant landing-place in
wards.
my memory as
wander back-
The incomparable
debfits
more
curiously
It
expected
'
and
more
'
cordially
welcomed.
was known to
the boxes
in
that Charles
aristocratic
many
in
private
circles at
Rome,
It
was
known
to
'
the pit
'
(in
no
stalls)
an
had resolved
to quit
Pugin
for
Thespis
and
as the
Vestris,
Madame
was
in itself
an event.
But expecas
weak pretensions
if
talent;
and
Charles
Mathews
CHARLES MATHEWS.
triumphed
it
6r
was
qualities..
young man-
stage.
In general, theatres
jeune premier
in fiction
;
is
their
weak
point.
He
see
is
bad enough
him,
is.
'bend
in the
placable fatuity.
It is
be
lively without
like a gentleman, to
and yet
And
the
individuality, that
is,
the
re-
the danger of
becoming offensive
by exaggeration and
coarseness.
:
a nimble-
every gesture.
ever
He
was
in incessant
fidgety.
movement without
becoming obtrusive or
ceitain grace
62
of elegance
spirits.
He
said of
him
became
delightful airiness.
Whether
Fitzpatrick,
like
him now
Vestris,
in
"'One
Hour
to
seated
opposite
Madame
and
made
subdue
he held
of
to
her skeins of
silk
very
drawing-room
version
picture
and
We
We
and
and
pattern to live
and
to die.'
We
could see no
him
all
As a proof of my enthusiasm
a one-act comedy
for him, at
may mention
that I wrote
less
CHARLES MATHEWS.
than
five
63
acts
do him the
justice
But
if
no
faults
it
see, in
retrospect, that
man
rather than
any peculiar
Olympic pieces
and
when he began
to try his
parts
still
such as
there
was
Practice
and
by
his singular
No good
manifestation of
pathos,
dignity,
all
all
rage, scorn,
vindictiveness,
his
tenderness,
and wild
mirth are
beyond
means.
He
He
Yet
his
keen observation,
his
certain artistic
racter in all
its details,
shown
in such parts
Hawk,
and
the villain in
64
much even on
the
the Boulevards,
and
still
less
adapted to
Lyceum
I think
audiences, afforded
is
him
an opportunity
which
and he showed
it.
way he portrayed
and
make men
admired
in society,
and
by the
serious trials of
life
by Charles Mathews.
he looked
like the
Instead of
to
man
whom
all
drawing-rooms would
be flung open.
Hue and
Cry,'
he allured them
rest,
and
pit
Whether the
felt
it
really
presentation,
and
as a rare
specimen
art, I
cannot
say; but
am
sure that
no
critic
conventional
CHARLES MATHEWS.
65
It is needless to
of Speculation/ the
that
it
and making
Enough
who had
the opportunity
of comparing
this
of Charles
Mathews was
incalculable.
(I
The
types,
name a
They had
;
one inestimable
is
that he
is
an universal
favourite.
something extra-
when we consider
that
it is
And
it is
interesting to
its
66
stage,
for
no
rival at
all.
successful.
much
him
as a
man
inaptly expressed
by an
the
'
Lyceum on
the
fall
The Game
of Speculation
difficulties
!
And
to think of such to
man
being in
There ought
his debts.'
be a public
subscription got
up
to
pay
The reappearance
favourite parts, in
'
of Charles
Mathews
in
one of his
Used Up,'
after
him
for
many
years
it
drew
me there, that
might enjoy
really fine
balked, as far as
had
there been a
little
more
of the piece.
or rather pretends
CHARLES MATHEWS.
to be, our leading theatre for
stage, or
67
comedy.
And on
such a
all artistic
ance as that of
and which
a state of
facile
As long
are
silent
Mathews?
My
enjoy-
ment of the
that there
acthtg
this conviction is
second
act,
where
is
the fun
'
grows
and
furious,'
first
indifferent,
than in the
act,
per-
fect
As
the languorous
man
of fashion
Charles
Mathews
is
faultless.
There
is
an exquisite
68
ception
The
coolness
is
never
overdone.
is
is
The
languor
never obtruded.
is
When
the blacksmith
assuming an attitude of
From
first
to last
we have a
character,
is
never
But
in
where the
man
of fashion
is
appears as a ploughboy,
wanting.
matic conception of
one
;
acting the
ploughboy, and
every
now and
then
overacting or
forgetting the
part,
and
manner.
Now
He
is
not at
all like
So
little
hand
is
Nor when
the
and bearing.
The
situa-
CHARLES MATHEWS.
tions of this act are funny,
69
an accomplished comedian
to
like Charles
Mathews ought
man under
the
The
to
an
artist
powers.
It
is,
who
is
suffi-
Mathews has no
character at
tion in his
mind of any
all
placed in this
difficult situation,
situation,
to
:
do
his work.
In
first
other words,
act
is
is
farce,
not comedy
whereas the
As
critics
wrote about
this act
what
effect
had
on them.
And, indeed,
as,
according to
my
experience,
they
may have
70
varied
I
who
Yet
am much
mistaken
if
glaring discrepancy
between the
and second
acts
I feel
persuaded that
could have
its
made
Used Up came
'
the burlesque of
delightfully
'
The Golden
as
as
Fleece/ with
Compton
humorous
the
the
King,
Chorus.
me
in the very
finest spirit
and
is
as unlike
what
is
comedy
unlike efforts to be
funny.
to
be extravagant to be burlesque
as
to
bad comedians
be comic.
make grimaces
But
charac-
truth,
itself
may be
similar
preposterously drawn.
He
is
assuredly not
CHARLES MATHEWS.
71
usually
demanded by burlesque
he
is
and
yet,
because he
is
fine actor,
a truthful
to
an absurd conception.
'
Another
'
gagged
or
made
Charles Mathews
is
humorous
as
if
the
part
he
played
belonged to high
comedy ; he
and
the language to
work
their
own
who
believed them.
situation
is
For
Mathews
bending
has
over
the
footlights with
that
hitherto
marked
what
is
is
going
There
not one
actor in a score
spoiled the
humour
72
of this
to say,
much
as
Now
The imgive
Mathews
is
fol
de riddle
lol
'
which
indescribable.
Probably few
who saw
they
may
not
be easy, but
to
line
will
would open
FREDERIC LEMAITRE.
CHAPTER
VII.
FREDERIC LEMAITRE.
Among
who by
provoke
the mOst
contradictory
judgments, must be
who
later years
his-
prime
it,
perhaps,
if
they re-
flect that
reckless habits
to
good
taste
to his daring animal spirits, but mainly owing, I suspect,, to an innate vulgarity of nature.
74
ACTING,
he was great
but
lie
an
In
entire scene,
his
were scarcely
conception carried you at once into the region of hyperbole and Aristophanic fun which soared beyond the
range of criticism.
It disgusted or
it
subdued you
creation.
at once.
was a
A common
in his
or point
;
became
hands
became a
in our
type, just as
own
day.
was
note
It struck the
key-
and
was
felt
to
be in
harmony with
For
the
union of a
ruffianism
and hardness,
nobleman preserving
some
instincts
galleys
If he danced,
was not
until
he had
pulled
;
on
and
pair
of
hyperbolically
tattered
kid
gloves
while waltzing
with
incomparable
elegance he
could
FREDERIC LEMAITRE.
not
resist
7$
fair
partner.
He
air
of
native superiority,
he was a
You
killed
cruel.
him
like
rat.
He
was
jovial,
and
In
Don
picturesque blackguard.
tatters,
Here
also
of elegance
stained his
and low
habits.
lost himself,
and
It
was
difficult to
Don
Cesar when he
fact that
first
on the
he had
'
like gentlemen.'
it
Very
shortly
of the
by reckless dissipation
and
76
nature
respect.
themselves,
and
Don
Cesar
claimed
this part
was
many
respects
incomparable,
'
'
it
had many
serious
defects.
his subordination
of
the scene to
some
particular
effect
were unpleasantly
King, when his
shown
Majesty
ment.
retort
discovered by
quite spoiled
Don
by
He
when
out as
Don
!
Vous
etes
Don
Ce'sar
de Bazan
?
it.
Eh
bien
alors je suis le
it
He made
;
was
farcical
inartistic
and the
hat was suited to a pantomime or burlesque, but very unsuited to the serious situation of the drama.
Very
different
was
and
especially noticeable
jovial
on him.
He
and
FREDERIC LEMAITRE.
listened with grave calmness to the sentence
;
77
at
its
con-
mood, exclaiming,
song
;
Troisieme couplet
'
as he
resumed
felt
his
and you
felt
his nature.
affecting.
la
When
he
played in
Paillasse,'
'
Trente Ans de
little
of his
Ruy
doubted whether
He
seemed
to feel him-
at ease,
walking upon
stilts.
His expressions
his gestures
common.
and lover
As
his
as the minister
declamation was, to
its
my
thinking, cold
and
unimpassioned in
the opinion of
violence.
This, however,
as a
was not
Frenchman
to
may be supposed
be a
and
what
a.
he says
Frederic
in the
'
Quant
M.
Lemaitre,
Les
acclamations
78
le suivent jus-
Reveur
et
profond au premier
sublime au troisieme,
s'eleve
au cinquieme a Tun de
l'acteur
du haut desquels
de son
art.
les souvenirs
Pour
Lekain
et
homme
pour nous
c'est Taction
l'emotion de Talma.
eclairs eblouissants
Et
puis,
de son
jeu,
M.
autres,
de ces
est
si vis meflere
dolendum
primum
ipsi
'
tibi.'
this
can only
seen
who have
Ruy
Bias.
For myself
I confess to
have
when he
profond
et
reveur
;
'
[and that not only did I detectBias, but his sublime tragic
'
no
tears in Frederic's
Ruy
effects
left
what the
Kean
French
critics call
ses explosions
'
me
wholly unmoved.
as a rival of
or Rachel seems to
me
like
comparing
FREDERIC LEMAITRE.
Eugene Sue with Victor Hugo
79
that separates
the gulf
He
and
had a wonderful
mouth, a
sensitive
He
great
animal passion.
say,
He
that
;
is
to
and
a
hundred novel
decayed
details.
But as
less
it
his
physical powers
;
his acting
became
and
less effective
for in
had no stage
traditions to
back upon.
And
must be fourteen or
degenerating ; every
fifteen years
he was rapidly
fire
now and
would be
visible,
but the
effects
defects increasing.
An
interesting letter
'
which recently
of his ruin.
should
audiences
power reduced
which
this
correspondent describes.
So
CHAPTER
VIII.
Keeley and
his wife,
each standing
illus-
little
a representative
art,
may be
for the
means
feels
of representation.
It matters little
and above
his intelligence.
His handbeetling
and
his
He
drollery with-
had an
ness or extravagance.
To
define
him by a comparison^
he was a duodecimo
Mrs. Keeley had
Falstaff.
little
fluent.
intel-
She concentrated
lectual vis
an amount of
and
'
devil
own
You could
it
rather as
an
intellectual
case) from
an
like
itself.
Keeley was
life
happy,
self-satisfied
puppy, taking
easily,
ready to get
Mrs.
sniffing
everything.
Keeley was
a sprightly kitten,
thing.
;
eager to
Keeley
in his wife
mood was
self-assertion: so
that the
82
soubrette.
glutton, a
he was a
bemoaned
He
he threw
to
all
his
if
blame had
be pronounced
;
it.
He
even in
moments
comic
somehow
or other he
contrived to
make you
for
feel that
expected of him,
trembling of that
human
He
which made
truth.
it
a sort of truth
He
in-
He
was, in
fact,
a great idealist.
When
viduality
and
in the
second place,
that, in spite
of the
necessarily reap-
peared under
all
power of
83
variously.
No
his Sir
detect in
traces of
;
Waddilove
To
Parents and
Guardians ')
recognise
it
at his
Acres could
;
'
Two
o'Clock in
'
the
Morning
no
his terror in
A Thumping
'
Legacy'
In
I
Box and
Cox.'
and
fail
do not remember
to
Hugh
and
physically
excluded
the
irritable,
irascible,
last
lean,
pedantic
kind
of
'
always
but she
laid
ing,
and rendered
it
such force of
effect that
her
own
individuality
was
lost
also
more
i
flexible
'
make up
better.
Her
perception of characteristics
84
ACTING.
and sometimes
felicity.
with
extraordinary
maid of
all
Furnished Apartments
He
'
will
not easily
London
slavey/ a stupid,
by incessant
bells,
He
will
thing at
picture.
once inexpressibly
It
droll
and pathetic
real,
that laughter
ended
in a sigh.
style
In quite a different
Nettles (in
'
To
by a woman
satisfaction.
member
to
She was
an
idealist,
in
was eminently a
realist,
dis-
To
85
which has
rarely
In the
it
place,
it
was unpoetic
in the
second place,
was
the
mask of a
wench.
sharp,
keen
face,
country
When Keeley
played
Sir
Andrew
clear intel-
behind that
fatuity
you
felt
harm
the wit,
and
that
What
is
poetry ?
in
a true thing ?
'
you heard
in her accent,
and saw
the
matter than
Touchstone
himself.
*
hall.
on the other
In Jerrold's capital
little
piece,
The
Prisoners
of
As
86
men and
comedy of
One
but one
To
wave aside
England
'Taxes
We
haven't the
word
in our language.
'
(this
quence)
'
but
'
superiority once
more reappeared
in his accent)
'
with us
(And then
'
following
up with a
hyperbole of assurance)
As
make an
Englishman
less
stare only to
his
mention such
things.'
Not
amusing was
defence
when reproached
for this
bragging
Pall Mall.
country
?
As
sailor,
isn't
it
Firebrace.
Pall Mall.
Most As a
certainly.
civiliati it is
mine
Courage
isn't
confined to fighting.
No, no
me
down
lie,
for the
honour of England
trump
it.
The convincing
roar.
logic of this
his
used to
set the
house in a
its
But
it
was
87
superiority of the
air of
'
it
goes twice as
it's
with delight.
all,
by the
inimitable
manner
letter interrupted
by
an inestimable
by the
at
home
in
broad
farce,
always an
idealist,
Mrs.
and they
memory
88
CHAPTER
IX.
CRITIC.
indifferent
is
actor. re-
none
He may
brilliant executant
reflective connoisseur.
Modern
idolaters,
who cannot
still
see faults in
Shak-
speare's plays
which are
may
perhaps consider
it
an impertinence to
is
infer
any
much spoken
it
of.
Why not
fine ?
with a generous
was
Why
not suppose
many
living,
breathing characters
?
also
a noble personator
There
is
CRITIC.
89
if
he finds comfort in
its
it.
merely remark
has no evidence in
it.
many
points against
his qualities as
The mere
fact that
we hear nothing of
above the
line,
We
of
man
word of his
qualities as
an
actor.
Of
we
but
is,
all
that
'
Every
Man
in his
demand
Like
many
Munas a
and
,
it
is
probable
that, like
times, he
his
own
performances.
to see through
the tricks
captivated
the
'
the groundlings,'
'
judicious
whom
90
bility
to conceive great
varieties of character,
The
poet
is
rarely a
good reader of
his
own
his.
verse,
own
knew
staff
Shakspeare
doubtless
knewnone
so well
how
should be personated
to personate
in voice, face,
The
delicate sensitive-
him
demanding
is
It
a vain
The
effects
Thus even on
good
actor.
And we
inferring that he
CRITIC.
91
finely, as
far as
rhythmic
his
But
non-
range.
tion can
be
The
tones which
stir
us need not
Had
Shakspeare
Without
it all
were as nothing
011
the stage.
Had
own he might
doubtless have
their conception,,
on.
and
the
same
and
presentation.
One
lurid look,
one pathetic
swaying the
intonation,
would
have more
power
all
in
found passion which agitated the soul of the poet, but did
not manifestly express
itself:
the look
irresistibly
moved by
these intelligible,
symbols.
92
critic,
is
had
mastered
the
Hamlet.'
He
He
on the necessity of a
flexible elocution.
gives
no
common
error of
'
on the tongue/
'
it is
means.
The word
trippingly,' to
modern
ears, is
not
opposed to
artificial
mouthing.
gesture
:
'
Do
too
much
but use
all gently.'
After the
management of the
:
voice, actors
most
err in
the
and emphasise
and
in
be
effective,
which
depend.
Id
effort
to
want of
truth.
the Artificial.
The
be appropriate
CRITIC.
93
and impassioned
lies
situations
and the
of
of the art
be
in
gesticulation;
and therefore he
suit the
action to the
word with
this
nature
for
anything so overdone
at first
playing,
to
hold, as
It
borrow a hint
side.
She began
last,
her recitation in
carried
this
she flung
In tremor she
to the poet
he smilingly reassured
it
was
irrepressible.
models they
signifi-
be
effective,
must be
94
cant,
still
be
significant they
must be
rare.
is
To
stand
one of the
is
rarely
mastered.
Having indicated
his views
on declamation, Shak-
He
specially
mence and
aftist,
coldness.
insists
all
Remembering
is
an
he
on the observance of
cardinal
principle in
art,
the regulation of
all effects
'
In
may
say,
whirlwind
may
give
it
smoothness.
it
offends
me
to the
soul to
passion to
groundlings.'
What
this
mastery of
art,
by which the
ruling
and creating
intellect
were really in a
and disorderly
he would present a
painful, select
not an
aesthetic spectacle.
He
must therefore
from out
CRITIC.
95
He
must be
trembling
mind
in vigilant
supremacy
and
gesture.
The
is
rarity of fine
acting depends
on the
difficulty
there
in being at
spontaneously
symbols universally
intelligible,
effects,
and yet
capable of
'To
preserve this
little,'
meaning too
attention
to
keep the
spirit
more
pleasingly
awake by a tempered
is
of
all
the master
Some
annoyed by
rant,
too
fiery.'
As Lessing
but he
says,
much
fire,
may
real
easily
sense.
Vehemence without
emotion
rant
vehemence
art, is
turbulence.
To be
,
is
who
95
have no faculty
to
is
to
yet mastered
Be not
but let
tutor.'
Yes
hit
must
tell
upon
first
be suggested
him by
his
own
feelings.
In endeavouring to express
various gestures,
and
rest.
good acting
are
so rare
reflective,
reflection.
to imita-
own
means; and
this is fatal to
excellence.
'
'
Nous devons
Talma once
l'emotion
l'imiter,
l'e'tude et la ^flexion.'
Liston given on
CRITIC.
97
In
how
far
feel the
emotion
he expresses
When we
come on
ence
is
popu-
lar notion
feels
what
he expresses. But
perience.
and
that
if
to withstand the
wear and
;
emotion repeated
but
it is
indisputable, to those
who know
Talma
told
truth
M.
Barriere that he
him
till
she re-
him by a whisper
!
'
Take
'
care,
moved
'
on which he remarked,
le
de
demotion nait
trouble
la
voix
l'effet
la
memoire
;
'
manque,
there
is
les
est
detruit
and
:
effect
'
Je
ne
je
me
98
je
pas reste
la
mon
j
maitre
j'etais
j'etais
ment dans
situation
le
personnage meme, je
J'ai ete vrai
comme
je
chez moi
pour Foptique du
theatre il
faut Vetre
autrement?
Everyone
will seize at
this
luminous phrase
will
roptique du theatre;
understand
and
all
would be
its
the
representation
of
:
symbolical expression
grief,
the harsh
and screaming
the paralysis of
agitation
flurry
and
belong to
may be
us what
is
signified
by the withdrawal of
and
face
internal
us what the
sufferer undergoes,
and
tell it
through the
the
internal workings
CRITIC.
99
symbols
ternal symbols
symbolical.
it
If
it
presented emotion in
to
all,
its
real expression
would cease
at
move
or
us
as
art
move
us only to
There
is
all
the stage-
accessories.
all are at
The
the language,
Emotion does
;
not utter
and
serious fault.
There
is
who
are
would do well
to
ponder
on.
'
scarce credible
article
The
voice of a singer
that of
is
not more
strictly ty'd to
Time
an actor
in theatrical elocution.
The
upon
in
a period, depreciates
if
to nothing
which very
syllable,
of
ioo
light
and
spirit to
the
whole.'
bility of
superfluous to insist
on the
utter impossiif
the speaker
be
really agitated
by emotion.
similar
remark applies
and
fail
master of himself.
The
would
agitate
is
him
in reality
;
he
is
feigning,
and
we know
which
is
that he
to
feigning
he
is
representing a fiction
move
sympathies as they
wquM
The
we shed
;
are
tears
welling from a
sympathetic
source
but their
pleasurable.
salt bitterness is
pain
is
But now
arises the
call
it
If the actor
power over
his art
power over
If he really
feel.
he
cannot act
All the
CRITIC.
101
duce an
effect, all
representation
mimicry
to his
without
life
we
know
to
be
owing
I
to the
Observe,
is
do not say
quite
possible for a
man
how
to
modu-
so as to give
it
due
effect.
The
other day in
Lucca
I
in depicting the
emotions
of Margaret in
'
Faust,'
had occasion
to,
and
modulate
and having
which
before
it
that
had
doubtless
alarmed
But although
is
have
sensibility without
the
talent of expression,
and
therefore
to
man,
it
is
102
has never
nature.
to
And
here
is
The
he
is
condition being
to express
it,
man must
feel
it
emotion
will
if
for
it,
he does not
this
feel
he
not
know how
to express
how can
disturbed by emotion ?
really feel the passion
In other words
he expresses
a question of degree.
foliage
As
in all art,
flowers,
feeling lies at
and
though deriving
their
form
write
and
are
trembling from
the
hurrying
felt,
mere echo.
beautiful
us.
He
is
tremuit
remembered
agitation, but
is
way
He
is
a spectator of his
own tumult
it
and
though moved by
it,
as to select
CRITIC.
103
We
all
but
it is
the peculiarity of
the
to<
for art.
and many of
my
truth of
'
have suffered
cruel losses,
sorrows
moment when
itself in cries
and
tears, I
turning
my
un
retour sur
mes
souffrances
and found
was unconsciously
act.'
It is
is
not enough.
in
own
con-
sciousness.
intellectual appretheir
and
modes of
produce
telligible.
effectively,
and such as
will
be universally in:
To
'
Oui, nous
io4
devons
1'
emotion
l'imiter,
art
en exige de
la
profonds.
scene
sous peine d'echec. Tout est calcule, tout doit etre prevu, et
All this I
dissent,
may assume
some
perplexity in
this digres-
reconciling
sion.
Surely,
he may
say, neither
mani-
their efforts
to express these.
Why
then
it
this preparation
behind the
scenes?
Simply because
they were
with truthfulness
mere imagination of
Actors like
Edmund Kean,
no
difficulty in the
most rapid
they could
The
CRITIC.
105
all
the
discharge.
The answer
feel ?
is,
to the question,
How far
:
therefore,
something
like this
He
in a state
only
imagining
tone
to his voice
and aspect
enough
the
His
He
he
is
may
hate with a
rival's
whom
whom
he
is
expressing vindictiveness
feel love
but for
Desdemona he must
and wrath.
for
One
his
coldness
La Sonnambula,'
asked him
if
The stupid
tenor, entirely
106
ACTING.
him that
at rehearsal,
it
playfully recalled to
to imagine her to
be Mrs. Templeton
at rehearsal,
Mdme.
critics
Malibran.
object to fine
We
actors that they are every night the same, never varying
their
'
gestures
;
or
their tones.
critics
This
is
stigmatised as
it
mechanical
'
and the
innocently oppose to
some
ideal of their
own which
they
call
'
inspiration.'
is
What
called
the
;
incompetence
the actor
What
would be thought of a
every night?
singer
who sang
distribution of light
and shade, in
The
;
timbre of his
may
vary
are invariable.
their songs.
Every
detail
is
deliberative, or has
been
deliberated.
The very
The sudden
flash of suggestion
which
is
called inspiration
:
may be
valuable,
it
may be
and
worthless
adopts or rejects
accordingly.
'
CRITIC.
107
moment
is
like
lesson in swimming..
A greater master of
as actor
the
art,
practical
and
theoretical,
and
Un
assidu travail
donne
la confiance.
:
L'aisance est
du
Un jeu
And
elsewhere
1' artiste
s'observe
:
De
Ce
pas produit,
Quand
Shakspeare,
il
livre
tete.
experience as
re-
actors distressed
'
him.
He
that they
nature's journeymen.
He saw
I.
'
ACTING.
up
another which
is
it
points at
real evil.
Avoid
he
says.
it
It will
make some
ambition.
shows a
pitiful
please.
be
indifferent to the
means
employed.
will
Gagging, therefore,
I
is,
be popular.
is
merely allude to
to
plete
how
seriously he
ON NATURAL
ACTING.
109
CHAPTER
ON NATURAL
X.
ACTING.
:f
It has commonly been held to be a dexterous and delicate
J
C/}
the actor
praise.
'
who played
deserving of great
He
speaks
all his
words
distinctly, half as
loud
Anybody may
see he
is
an
actor.'
his
language
is
to
be
inter-
ment
sneer,
is
a sarcasm.
'
He
Why,
as.
he myself.
am
sure
if I
had seen a
ghost, I should
as-
he
did.'
Now
assuming
this to
truth, it
called ''natural;'
of a
Hamlet.
The
father's
not have
felt
'
yet Partfright-
ridge says,
man upon
the stage
is
not
life.'
man
frightened in
my
The
manner of a
all like
the
manner of Hamlet.
if
'
we would
see
how
a great
You have
seen a Hamlet,
father's spirit
perhaps,
who on
the
first
appearance of his
all
the
straining
vociferation
and
fury,
w as
r
all
am
the
more bold
you
because
this
made
the
some
surprise, if I
might have
ON NATURAL
beyond an almost
patience limited by
breathless
filial
ACTING.
astonishment, or an
nr
im-
may have
him from
spirit
his
know what a
so
light into
this
scene
made
the
spectator
as
to
himself.
And
which
was
;
still
"braving
to
to
a tempered
-all
is
of
reach.'
It
is
obvious
is
that
the naturalness
required from
of
Hamlet
Partridge
in assimi-
ii2
lating
serving man.
We
this
are not
necessarily to believe
that
Garrick
made
mistake
eulogist he
fell
into
who played
the king,
and whose
at least a sense of
demanded a more
elevated
course.
king,
He knew
he was there to
act,
to represent
to impress
own manner.
That he
failed in his
artist
;
he was an imperfect
attempt at
art.
Garrick
(assuming
accuracy of
no
less egregiously,
though
a different way.
He
was
and
he relapsed
into vulgarity.
He
be
natural, with-
The supreme
difficulty of
an actor
is
to
it
down
ideal character to
His
art is
ON NATURAL
illusion.
ACTING.
113
He
sublimate them
the symbols
be the expressions of
language
is
real
human
feeling
hesitancies, incoherences,
and imperfections of
careless
daily speech, so
must
his utterance
be measured, musical,
typical
and
pictorial.
If the
we
call it
bombast ;
if
we
call it
and
if
the language
flat
;
below the
the actor
we
call it prosaic
and
as
we
call
tame
us.
is
if
The most
turgidity
The
striving
to
be
But
by no means
follows, as
to imply,
fault,
it
tameness
is
a merit.
Exaggeration
art
it is
is
a fault because
is
an untruth
but in
rising
as easy to
be untrue by
falling
below as by
above naturalness.
The
acting
of
pious
H4 ON ACTORS
is
quite as
much below
would
have been above the truth had he represented the conventional stage hypocrite.
He
;
shock our
our
artistic
common
sense
sense by his
it
art.
performance was
without offence,
Some
of the
and
critics
and
at the
demanded.
Is
he not
like
some
novelists,
who can be
tolerably natural
and
talk,
but
who become
rise
to the
either in character or
passion?
marvels of
interesting
art,
and
in
Miss
quiet
Austen's
imitators
fondly imagine
that to be
and prosaic
in
ON NATURAL
.as
ACTING,
well
have
of
been
art
left
unwritten
is
all
that
the
simplicity
demands.
:
But
it
in
art,
simplicity is
is
it
arises
from
an ideal generalisation of
and
essential qualities,
we once understand
that naturalness in
acting
means
by
on the
artist's
FalstarT,
Kean
in Shylock
was natural
Farren in Grandfather
;
Charles
Guerin<
that
Mathews
in Affable
in Maitre
is
Naturalness
being
obvious
coat-and-waistcoat realism
demands a manner,
delivery,
and
and comedy
and
it
them
into
u6 ON ACTORS
the
drama of ordinary
to in the
customed
drama of
and
and
at greater
this is
quietness
and
'
naturalness.'
At the
But even
Olympic
French
far
j
actors,
when not
and
in the attempt to
theatre,
They
will sit
upon
side
sofas,
their faces
and they
will
a manner which
art of acting is
is
The
and a drawing-room
demanded
ofitique
du
theatre,
and on the
it
was
little
favour in certain
quarters ;
and a
writer in the
me
in in
He
says,
ON NATURAL
reference to
ACTING.
117
my
article, that
man may
sympathy,
no
real
to
my
readers
to
appreciate
;
my
imperfect
as to the
non-
may have
set
written, everyone
knows how
it
easily a
man may
The
.that
believe
to
be sense.
is,
upon me
a writer
who
my critic may
be supposed
on which
It is to
me
man
carefully
is
and
paid
this
closely
and
in
to idealised
writer's
'
impressions.'
'
cannot explain
left
how
serious thought
should have
him
still
in
is
and
; '
n8 ON ACTORS
naturalness
criticism
from
its
ambiguities,
referred
to
the
of
Garrick's
verdict
of Partridge,
my
and
be understood as
manner must
art.
have been
false to nature
:
and
therefore
bad
On this-
my
critic
'
observes
The
shortly given.
The melancholy
a tremulous
felt
The manner
of a frightened Partridge
manner of Hamlet.
mistake
to
in
assimilating
of
Garrick
the
nature
of
serving-man.
difficulty
which
"L" has
as to
on
this
sub-
know
a prince;
;
fewer
it
ON NATURAL
is
ACTING.
119
most of us
to realise so definitely
may be
assumed
to
be
Probably,
if
The answer
to this
is
very simple.
The manner
of
House
or elsewhere.
Had
eyed,
and
sensual, the
upon
of these.
man to
re-
him
as frightened
at
the
as a serving-man
which
is
This leads
me
to the
main point
at issue.
have
'
120
although the technical conditions of the art forbid the expressions being exactly those of real
life
;
but
my
critic,
not understanding
1
this,
says
it
Being a writer
who
dramatic art
An
actor should
;
impress an idealised
may mean
and
his utterance
;
incisive
It is
his
manner
and
pictorial."
from
this passage,
examples afterwards
perfection of art to
cited, that
my
critic
lie in
day experience.
that
he should
critic,
'
sub-
limate
'
them
is
so
little
understood by
my
'
that
he
I
professes not to
will
know what
sublimating
may
it
mean.'
the
is
word
which
Dryden's verses
ON NATURAL
As
In words whose weight best
ACTING.
still
their vein,
a sublimated strain.
But
he supposes that an
actor,
having
by
servilely
The poet
is
is
is
so
am presumed
cadence and
to
incisive
effect.
'
cannot
or
be supposed
to
;
approve of measured
mouthing,'
wish
for
would the
it
prose (naturally, as
little
is falsely
reference
to cadence
and emphasis,
ordinary talk ?
typical,
When he
it
objects to the
manner being
would he have
not to be recognisable?
When
being
pictorial,
would he have
it
122
slouching
into
club-rooms
and London
?
streets
carried
Romeo
or
be
unnatural in
Charles Surface or
Lady
Teazle.
little
But so
does
this
writer
:
discriminate between
to his standard,
but
it is
aim
is
in the right
direction.
No
one
will ever
These
artists certainly
style.
Their
utterance
incisive
may
is
measured and
with a vengeance.
Many
On
The
silly
people
who
and
think that
French acting
is
is
sometimes admirable,
for the
art.
views of their
"
children,
much
in error.
He
'
ON NATURAL ACTING.
warm-hearted
123.
suddenly receiving
and
this
has been
But
it is
quite
wrong
his
language
is
musical,
and
incisive," his
and
Fils
pictorial."
bonhomie in "
Le
was so precisely
like
regime.
His business, he
" of
a marquis upon
The
terrible reality of
Delaunay's
"On
F Amour
it is
"
has
made many
spectators shudder
but then
" sublimated."
If
think,
stage,
he would,
He
.
in virtue of those
he would
the.
know
that
Mdme.
Plessy
is
the
most musical,
incisive
speaker (whether of
i2\
ACTING.
Terse or prose)
When we
warm-hearted
the
just as a
suddenly receiving
news
hearted
man ?
hundred
different
and
gestures.
The
actor has
to
select.
He
must be
typical.
our
common
anyone who
reticent
reflects for
often so
in their
that men
little
faces
and
of what
is
tearing
exIt is
their hearts
to feel,
of sympathy.
ON NATURAL
ACTING.
125:
to touch us
fidelity in
copying the
brokenexpe-
actual
manner of murderers,
misers, avengers,
hearted fathers,
&c, we
really
have had so
little
we cannot
estimate the
is
poet
is.
The
the-
be the
actor's
imitation of every-day
idealise,
i.e.
manner
but even
it
then he must
select
and heighten
and
is
how much.
126
ACTING.
CHAPTER
XI.
extinct as literature,
is
no one ventures
may be
approached.
facts
:
which
may
and
their
of provincial
theatres,
;
rearing of actors
on
In the face
of these undeniable
facts,
advance
facts of
Never
127
multitudes
to
welcome
good
Only
let
the
but
all
Europe,
will
Dramatic
literature
may
be
extinct,
is
ineradicable.
The
stage
may be
primal and
all
Thus
'
it
is
that, in spite of
people on
who
is
at all
above the
that has
any special
as
it
the
palmy days
'
of
the
drama.
consecutive
which
to
Garrick,
like
Kemble,
the
or
have sounded
greatest
wildest
and
seems
the
success
of
the
Liston
success
and
of
Mathews
insignificant
besides
Lord Dundreary.
facts
There
is
conveyed
in
and the
assertion that
all
'sensation pieces.'
It
is
a cheap
128
sneer.
is
no audience
number of pleasure-seekers
all
so
much
increased
and
at
times the bulk of the public has cared less for art than
1
amusement.
If intelligent people
it is
now go
to witness
inferior pieces,
and sensation
faculties,
do appeal
them
effectively.
If there are
kind
the kind
may be
a low kind
say that the legitimate drama has of late years been re-
Who
'
'
for
some strong
were to be given in
tragedy,
British
years to the
Et pour
Dieu crea
le
Sanson
I? Art The&traL
129
'
higher efforts
'
had so
dreary an
intelligent
public sought
amusement
amuse ?
ment
at the theatre,
ness t$ Dundreariness.
faint
Edmund Kean
or any
approach to an
will
Edmund Kean
rush to see
appear to-morrow,
as-
him
they rushed to
the
mob, because
whom
the world
talking
The proof
is
exceptional talent
Ristori;
and,
in
another direction,
is
mechanism of their
is
sweetly
pretty,
3o
untrained energy,
The
disadvantages of
a language unfamiliar as a
who
are scarcely
on a
level
with the
nor
have the
terrible disadvantages of
nunciation which
There
is
something of fashion in
to
all
of course
something
fact that
be attributed
is
to the
Shakspeare
but we must
to the
not exaggerate
It
will
your emotion
when
in the theatre
it
will
not bring
down tumultuous
No
And
the
is
proof that
it
really is
what
is
excellent,
adventitious,
Hamlet,
Othello.
is
In
'
Ruy
Bias
'
and the
'
Corsican Brothers
'
not
by any
131
who
in
of the
stage
was considered a
decided
acquisition.
He
then
played Hamlet,
and
fail
actor.
But when
he came to a part
rarest capabilities of
upon the
an
remembered
that he
was a
foreigner,
tragedian.
best,
and
his Othello
On
leaving the
Hamlet,'
was, with
ous.
On
Othello/ I
felt
as if
my
art
all
the
faults of
the
all
its
beauties
were so
dimmed and
cerned.
It
distorted
was necessary
formances,
it
seemed
to
me
that a
32
by
it.
First,
art
actor's sphere, as
Both
in
'
Hamlet
'
and
Othello,'
Fechter attempts to be
as possible from the conis
natural,
and keeps
as far
away
by many mistaken
His
idealism
only because
it
is
unlike reality.
and
his naturalism,
his
is
as ques-
is
feeble
part,
far
less intelligence,
effective
representative
qualities,
whose performances
133
whereas
I can-
personality to
make
'
natural
its
but
this
the simple
less
fact
of
being more
and
stilted
than usual.
If Shakspeare's grandest
lips,
strike
you
as out of place,
stage,
which
the
it
so
reason
of
was that
he
conception
Hamlet's nature,
It
and could
was
his personality
this conception.
Many
a con-
This
is
self-evident.
not vulgarity.
forms
truth of passion,
:
and
truth of manners.
As Sanson
finely says
The
nature of a
Macbeth
is
134
Othello; the
Thersites.
is
The
Madonna
San
Sisto
'
is
Girl.'
But
artists
and
critics
often
overlook
it,
this.
prone to overlook
they sink
natural as
into
if
and,
in
to
be natural,
is
the familiar ;
though that
as un-
error into
which Fechter
Othello
natural.
it
grave,
impassioned
and physically
his
'
Hamlet
so satisfies
!
How
natural
;
'
Hamis
but he
also
Fechter
is
and sympathetic
prince.
the graceful
135
on him with
delight.
secured.
demand
the qualities
perfection.
of an accomplished
comedian he plays to
scenes with
the
Seldom
have
the
players,
with
quieter monologues,
delightful.
We
not only
The
His
delightful
and sympathetic
his
and
the
unforced
fervour
of
expression,
This
is
really
a considerable
triumph
for although
due
effect
of the speeches.
But the
foreign accent
is
as nothing
;
error of emphasis
diligent
and
this surely
study,
if
he would consent
submit to the
rigorous
criticism of
some English
friend,
who would
136
correct
The
sense
fault.
is
often
Yet so
is for-
and
slave
'
am
'
Physically
we may
;
Hamlet
open
is
perfectly satisfactory
nor
is
intellectually
to
more
criticism than
must always
many
readings.
It is cer-
the text
of Shakspeare
I
the
nearest
approach
expounded
that there
Wilhelm Meister,
for his
is
a burden laid on
soul to bear.
vacillation of
is
The
Hamlet
and
it
we
feel
any short
coming.
personality,
ality I
me
qualities of voice
and
137
demanded by
by a
tragedy,
represented except
There
is
one
me
manifestly incorrect.
The
error,
error
all
it
be,
is
by
know how
And
as there
is
nothing
the error
is
one of interpretation.
Much
let's
Hamis
madness, whether
be
real or
assumed.
It
not
on both
sides.
He may
be
really
mad, and
yet,
with
visits
which often
the insane, he
may
'
any extravagance
his
father's
demeanour
into
making
point clear
a modern
138
writer
pardon.
by no means
upon
to settle
such points.
do,
One
is,
thing, however,
he
is
called
upon
text,
to
and
that
not
this
to misrepresent
written.
Yet
the actors
do
in
They may
to
speare never
meant Hamlet
be
really
mad
but they
guage
of
to
the
meant
Hamlet
seeming
be in a
like
madness.
its
suddenly ploughed to
to
make him
recoil
every
if it
moment from
the belief in
its
reality.
The
shock,
Every
line speaks
it.
We
see
it
in the
rambling
to
his
incoherence of his
'wild
but as this
may be
for
such
an assumption
off/
'
put them
to his
father
language
139
insignificant,
is
omit.
Here
the scene
ghost
Mar.
Hor.
How
is't,
my
noble lord
What
wonderful
news,
my
lord
V a
Ham. O,
Hor.
Good,
my
lord, tell
it.
Ham.
You'll reveal
it.
No
I,
Hor. Not
my
lord,
by heaven.
Mar.
Nor
say you then
;
I,
my
lord.
it ?
Ham. How
But
you'll
be
secret,
Hor., Mar.
Ay, by heaven,
my
lord.
all
Ham.
But
he's
Denmark,
an arrant knave.
my
lord,
come from
the grave,
To
tell
us
this.
;
Ham. Why, right you are in the right And so, without more circumstance at all,
I hold
it fit
that
we shake
shall point
desire,
you
and
for
part,
Look
you,
I'll
go pray.
my
lord.
Ham. I'm
Yes,
'faith, heartily.
Hor.
There's no offence,
Yes, by
St. Patrick,
Ham.
but there
is,
my lord. my lord.
Ho ON ACTORS
And much
It is
me
is
tell
you
For your
know what
between
us,
O'ermaster
as
you may.
And
and
now, good
soldiers,
friends,
As
you are
friends, scholars,
Give
me
Hor.
What
is't,
my
lord
We
will.
Ham. Never make known what you have seen to-night. Hor. Mar. My lord, we will not. Ham. Nay/ but swear't.
,
Hor.
In
faith,
My
lord, not I.
lord, in faith.
We have
Indeed, upon
sworn,
my
lord, already.
my
sword, indeed.
[Beneath.] Swear.
ha, boy! say'st thou so ? art thou there, truepenny?
seen.
Consent to swear.
Propose the oath,
to speak of this that
my
lord.
Ham. Never
Swear by
Ghost.
you have
my
sword.
[Beneath.] Swear.
:
Ham. Hie et ubique ? then we'll shift our ground Come hither, gentlemen, And lay your hands again upon my sword
:
Never
Swear by
my
sword.
old mole
canst work
z'
the
ground so fast ?
worthy pioneer
good
friends.
141
Be?
meant them
state
to
be as Hamlet in
and bewildered
significant.
evading the
to
omit them
and
it
is
a departure from
and make
visible the
But
this
scene
is
From
the
moment
man.
a changed
compounded of feverish
doubt as to the
even under
all
it
may
be necessary to put on
are perfectly calm
have seen
142
ACTING.
to deceive
madness
the King.
It is part
and parcel of
this
erroneous conception as
it
mind
(unless
be the mistake of
famous soliloquy
To
'
This
is
declaimed to
a moral thesis
;
yet one or
all actors.
committed by
Because
it is
it
has
been mistaken
an
oratorical
display;
but
think
substitute
an oration for
state of
mind.
The speech
is
and
it
should be so spoken as
the agonies of a soul
evils,
wrung from
yet terrified
dim sense of
Not only
but
it
would be the
scene,
fitting
ness
of the
Ophelia.
much
discussed.
To
143
wont
to
indicate,
by
their looking
some one
its
be watching
and
place
among
travagances of Hamlet.
I cannot find
thus.
any warrant
ing
and
it is
which
no longer
exists
state of
is
feverish excitement.
Hamlet
scene, but
is
earnest.
If his wildness
seem unnatural,
far greater
doubts by the
to
effect of the
is
King ? Here,
assuming an
it is
be observed, there
no pretext
is
for
extravagant demeanour
no one
watching
now
;
he
is
and yet
guilt,
he exclaims
in choice
the story
is
extant,
and writ
you
how
Gonzago' s wife.
Ofih.
The king
!
rises.
!
Ham. What
Queen.
Pol.
144
King. Give
All.
away
{Exeunt
all but
deer go weep,
For some must watch, while some must So runs the world away.
sleep
Would
not
this,
sir,
and a
forest of feathers
(if
the rest of
roses
tunes turn
shoes, get
on
my formy razed
me
sir ?
Ham.
A whole one,
ay.
O Damon
now
dear,
Of Jove
himself; and
reigns here
Hor.
the ghost's
pound.
Hor. Very
my
lord.
Ham. Upon
Hor.
Ha?n. Ha, ha
Come,
he
likes
some music
For
if
Why,
not, perdy.
Of course
but, if
such wild-
145
intervals.
But
is
such a conception
Fechter
is
made Hamlet's
throughout
but although his personality debars him from due representation of the
more
tragic scenes,
it
he conceived
it
On
quality.
False in conception,
it
was feeble
in execution.
He
it
character natural,
character
and made
vulgar.
first
showed
strange misconception.
plain
He
text,
language of the
is
no
tells
us he
declined into
the vale
is
Fechter
Othello
black
the
very tragedy
there
depend on
caste,
this blackness.
half-
no repul-
146
sion in any
dignified, a
sibilities,
Othello
is
grave,
man accustomed
to the
and
command
of armies
Fechter
is
unpleasantly familiar,
like
an over-
demonstrative schoolboy
provocation
;
hero of French
In
siderations.
Shakspeare
to
be acted, not
recited
In both points he
in Othello,
may
surely be exacted,
it
we
believe that
is
we have
seen Othello
and
so acted as there
little
acted
again
that
we look upon
bad
acting.
Then
to give
as to tradition,
all
up
justify itself
but
we
new,
justifiable or acceptable.
In some respects
147
good
in the
there
was a very
striking
;
scenical details
show a decided
But
in
many
others there
only
be accounted
'
for
on the supposition
'
that Fechter
wished to make
Porte
St.
Othello
Martin.
The
as that
made
the success of
'
not con-
of daily
life.
and
lolling
tragedy as
it
would
be to place the
'
Sleeping
Fawn
'
of Phidias on a com-
fortable feather-bed.
When
key to
let
intention is
the
effect is
to
make
148
us
and
to think of a sepoy.
When
great
!),
when he
salutes
the
when he
kisses the
that favourite
certainly natu-
may be
is,
as Fechter certainly
effective
by
means of small
frittered
details
he has entirely
drama.
He
has
the eye
the scene
satisfied the
audience by
being at once naturally conceived and effectively represented, his Othello left the audience perfectly cold, or
interested only as
rally
by a
curiosity,
because
it
Had
been
149
Many
move
his
ranting
Othello
contrives
to
and
to
force,
if
traditional business.
Shakspeare,
we
ality is
such a character as
first.
Othello.
My
little
doubts
to
first act.
In
it
Othello has
do,
much
to be.
In
this
sition the
It
and trusted
warrior, a simple,
a man admirable
and heroic
soul.
not only in
Unless you
at
Desdemona's
choice as Brabantio
But
it
is
none of
He
been gained by
'
purchase.'
This
is
fault.
in his gestures,
;
he
nature
ON ACTORS AND THE ART OF ACTING.
said
ISO
had emphatically
No
to such
an effect
Voice and
An
unintelligent actor
who
is
at the
same time a
if
he
is
for
Still
more
on a comparison of Edmund
undersized
Kean
with Fechter.
Kean was
;
very much
had
my doubts
increased.
The entrance
young wife
to his breast,
his
Kean's tones,
'
O my fair
'
are
still
my
ears,
cannot recall
I only recall
at
kissing her hand, his tone free from all tremulous emotion,
151
come such
till
calms,
!
May
the winds
blow
it
If
were now
'Twere
now
to
be most happy
for I fear
My
fate.
And
home from
a morning
situation.
stroll.
emotion of the
first
indication
when
roused.
Fechter
fierce.
It is characteristic of
parts, that
he
From
her propriety,
irritability,
as
if
he were angry
said.
what was to be
But
little
came
up
to even
1
my
Fuyant
le naturel sans
Sanson
VArt
Thlatrah
ON ACTORS AND THE ART OF ACTING.
it
152
to represent Othello,
finally
was not
pronounced judgment
If
That act
is
the test of a
tragedian.
effect there,
;
he
the
an opportunity
all his
occasion for
effects.
To
in this act
When
shall
we
see again
power and
lion-like
gesture,
which even
in
ample,
when
palms being
to
keep
his
that
exquisitely
touching
and
eye?
When
'
we hear
'Not a
not a jot
it,
of
Iago
the pity of
Certainly no one
and
soft voice,
elder
Kean
was
FOREIGN ACTORS ON OUR STAGE.
that this third act
153
would
fail
In saying that he
am
The
the fact
causes of
is irresis-
may be open
to discussion to
me
clear enough.
He
is
by him
is
we
in-
many
lines,
is
and roaring
surf.
He
loud
escapes
after
and weak
irritable,
not passionate.
The wrath
tide
;
one mighty
and
each
spirt
he
is
by
dence of passion.
mitted by Charles
Kean and
other tragedians
it
arises
from
of the part.
To
me
give what
to
Bacon
calls
an
refer
Othello,
so shaken
154
by wrath and
he
falls
down
in a
fit.
Fechter,
probably because he
passion so as to
felt
make
this natural,
In
is
spite
of the
awkward
attitude
in
which
not
Fechter
audience
who
is
are
sleepi7ig
and when he
he
is
rises
as
if
he
the redundancy
of
and the
desire to
make a number
of points, ineffect.
Thus, when he
is
in-
every
now and
all
then,
and varying
sense of climax.
If
it is
a fact
and
nesses
that we do not
when Fechter
deep pity
for the
noble
Moor
Now
FOREIGN ACTORS ON OUR STAGE.
much
of
this, I repeat, is
155
his personality.
if
He
naturally even
the conception
tion
not
true.
others.
The
be
may
illustrated
by the manner
death.
in
of ordering Cassio's
language
is
peremptory
let
me
That
The
idea in his
mind
is
death.
He
and
general
trial, is
who
orders
not a murit
with
He thus
'He
sets
Cassio
murder the
silly
l
woman,
make no
1
resistance.'
Rymer
its
original excellency
and
corruption.
1693.
156
is
the
art of Shakspeare's
preparation,
posterous.
all
One
is
felt
by
to
critics
made
Now, allowing
is
only on reflection
slight
grounds on
convinced.
make
to
make them go
believifig
all
the plain
meaning of the
and preposterous.
that Othello,
one of
his
new arrangements
when
sinuation, shall
be seated
first I
and signing
business,'
it
papers.
When
heard of
just witnessed
'
157
me
as admirable
and indeed
think
so
it
still
is
one
art is
effect.
That Othello
and
natural ; but
it is
not natural
that tion
is,
for him
artful suggestions.
says,
meaning
to "be heard,
Ha
I like
not that
Othello.
What
Iago. Nothing,
Othello.
my
lord
or
if
Was
Iago.
Cassio,
my
lord
no
That he would
steal
away, so
guilty-like,
do believe 'twas
now,
he.
Desdem.
I
How
my
lord.
Salvini in
Othello
'
business
but
158
ACTING.
Des.
If I have
good
you,
my
lord,
move
him back.
humbled
Des.
Ay
so
That he hath
me
;
To
suffer
with him.
Good
love, call
him back.
some other
time.
Othello.
The
No, not
to night.
home.
mind
free
from
all
misgiving.
He
and
treats
treat
a child
who was
no
it
explicit refusal.
If the
differently
but standfill
Othello's
He
has been
made uneasy by
Iago's remarks
very natur-
ally, his
vague
feeling,
159
at last
by her winning
ways
mind
is
down
from
all
idea
and answering
their
import.
that
So
clearly
it is he,
words
their
meaning.
victim
It is
of Iago to
make
his
I said nothing,
made no
All
he
does
is
the conclusion
desired.
The scene
thus begins
lord
Iago.
My noble
What
Othello.
Iago.
Did Michael
?
lady,
Know
of your love
Now
this,
for
he had heard
Desdemona
Othello.
He
did from
first
to last
Why
Iago.
But
my
thought
No further
har?n.
'
160
falls like
a spark on the
'
who
eagerly asks,
Why
Othello.
Oh
yes
Iago.
Indeed?
Indeed
?
Othello.
Ay, Indeed
Is
he not honest
Iago. Honest,
Othello.
my
lord
Honest ?
ay, honest ?
Iago.
My
lord, for
aught I know.
?
Othello.
What
Iago. Think,
my
lord
It is difficult to
fail
to
in-
word of which
If
is
an
crease
the
set
scene
ended
be a defence
up
for
'
speaks
but no defence
is
moment
Think,
my
By heaven he
dost
echoes
me
;
As
if
Thou
mean something
FOREIGN ACTORS ON OUR STAGE.
I heard thee say but now, thou lik'dst not that
161
When
Cassio
left
my
wife
what
And when
I told thee he
was of my counsel
In my whole course of wooing, thou cry'dst, Indeed ? And didst contract and purse thy brow together,
As
up in thy brain
Some
me
Show me
thy thought.
this
language
is
not to
be understood
seriously,
It is in this
errs,
But
dis-
how
widely he
and how
seriously Othello
:
is
turbed,
I
may be
know
And
them
breath,
me the more ;
that's just
For such
Are
tricks of
custom
but in a
man
rule.
Is this banter ?
Speak
As thou
dost ruminate
ofzuords,
The worst
it is*
162
Here,
Shakspeare
is
not
con-
ducted, because
it
growth of the
feeling,
on
Iago's suggestions
appealed
to.
Now, Fechter
so
understands
this,
marked
indications, but
that
Desdemona deceived
ceive her husband
!
may
moved by
merely
intellectual
considerations)
had
father
already been
:
mind by her
Look
to her,
and may
life
thee.
Whereupon he
replies,
'My
upon her
faith/
And
163
with distrust.
and then at
once credulous
St.
and overMartin, or
come.
This
;
may be
it is
the Varietes
his suc-
with
Hamlet proves
that
there
is
a vast and
be amused by
spectacles
and sensation
arise,
pieces.
Whether
and by
his influence
I shall
a wider question.
it
on the causes of
rather to
My
purpose
is
con-
Some
young
and to
In one
is
an opportunity
for our
art,
many
own conventional
;
errors.
sense this
gifted
is
plausible
for
a young student,
if at
once
in the
study of
64
ACTING.
conventional in
own
conventionalism.
Never;
on the whole,
be small
small
if
sent to
Rome
and
They become
or
in-
imitators
imitate
what
is
conventional,
dividual mannerism.
There
actors,
is
a mistake generally
is
made
respecting foreign
the
critic
and
he
lias
which we are
familiar
on our own
He
The
German, and
just as in our
rattling
youth
we
thought
it
deliciously
young
bit
of
'
business
'
which now
affects
us with the
hilarity of
an old Joe
the
Miller.
When Emil
Devrient played
the
Hamlet with
actor
who took
by our
simply because
165
*
business
'
familiar
with the
German
them
that
this business
was almost
actors.
It is true that
English actors might have gained some hints from studying these representations
those elements which
fitly
;
German
Thus,
do not know
some of
and
their conventionalisms.
could only
have a
genius,
direct
of
conven-
tionalisms,
to rely
on
sincerity of ex-
pression.
,by the
When
now on
our stage,
let
us ask what
there of
66
rival of
many think
to
her superior.
The
difference
me
and
genius,
between a
woman
admirable in her
art,
and a
woman creative
in her art.
more
beautiful
and
voice, has
seldom
appeared
line
but
it is
the
never
passed.
When
saw her
:
in
Lady Macbeth my
disap-
none of the
qualities of a great
me
in
Medea
able, because
it
The
exqui-
and the
to
her,
air
of supreme
gave a charm to
performance which
unforgettable.
No wonder
who could
that
give
them such
refined pleasure
critical
paused to be very
it is
of her deficiencies.
:
the sudden
167
That
it
on
The
dis-
felt at this
performance,
felt
caused
me
to recur to
:
the disappointment
at
her
Lady Macbeth
these performances
artistic
marked a
limit,
and
power.
In Adrienne
distinction
the lovely
;
she
is
there was
thoroughly conventional.
Nor was
this the
worst
fault.
In the
committed that
common
an incongruous mixture of
Let
me
explain
more
particularly
what
is
meant by the
When an
representing,
168
he personates,
and
for the
moment
what he
represents.
He
can do
sympathy,
and
him
is
in the
mind
and
his
one of
sympathy,
and
stage.
This
is
the great
The conventional
artist is
one
who
either,
sympathy,
sufficient
feels,
or has not
energy of self-reliance to
sions,
own
and
expresis
cannot be the
part,
but
tries
to act
it,
thus
means of
itself through
signs,
169
no strong
enough
feeling
it
moving
genuine
him, or because he
expression
;
is
not
artist
to give
brow
be thrown up,
rant,
his forehead
and
'
become
traditional,
any
real expressions,
similar contrast
is
observed in
literature.
As
there
who personate
so
not merely
litterateurs,
who
is
The
writer
and
feelings
not what
is
really in his
own mind.
With a
certain
;
skill,
the litterateur
but we
170
ACTING.
soul speak to
man
us.
make
his
own
The
may be more
by
a writer of talent
those
mean
move
us,
be-
and
voice,
and she
is
in physique
and Rachel
made
common
force of expression.
Medea
Ristori
was conventional
and admirable.
inartistic
;
simulated,
drawn
the
from a
totally
wrong
;
source.
comedy of a
soubrette
the playfulness
'
171
common
mistake of conventional
'
serious actors in
business
style.
The
actor of serious
is
by his
lighter scenes of
Adrienne could be
'
business
'
of the
night), will
remember how
perfectly that
animal
spirits,
The
excitement must,
it
from
a certain ground-
emotion should be
light,
felt
beneath.
The manner
:
may be
is
but
it
it
comedy of Shakspeare
or
Moliere, even
when most
;
extravagant,
Congreve or Scribe
there
may be
At any
of
which
is
demanded
in all representation
greatly
172
damaged when,
Ristori,
Adrienne represented by
of an impassioned
effects
instead of the
playfulness
a
part.
bit
of a
on
Ristori
was not
one
woman
in
several
moods, but
several
Nevertheless,
while
insisting
on her
deficiencies, I
my
if
and the
trained
failures
artists
gifts
are applied.
And
her
are
The
failures
of distinguished
The
question
naturally arises,
plays,
is
why
is
and so dubious
in Shakspeare or the
drama
It
of
little
-are
that
one source
Greek
type, she
would be generally
its
successful, because
artificiality
the simplicity of
.structure,
of
its
removing
from
beyond
the
region
of
173
demand from
and
drama ap-
proaching more nearly to the evolutions of ordinary experience, become, in the ideal drama, artistic
modes of
expression
and
it is
selective instinct,
is
artificial,
and a
All
but then
is
all is
congruous.
noble unity
of impression
dividual
truth
produced.
character
We
and
of
the
ideal
sketch
suffices.
It is
seen upon the Greek stage, where the immensity of thetheatre absolutely interdicted
tators
all
individualising
spec-
physiognomy
When, however,
from the ideal to the
at
a disadvantage.
this descent,,
as all will
Adrienne or Lady
Tartufe
174
her
for the
such
feelings.
there were
summate
If
skill.
what
have said
is
true,
it is
Her
imitable
to rely
on natural expression.
Fechter, an artist
more
is this
many
accomplished actor in
own
as
sphere.
With regard
to
As
she
is
very pretty,
Juliet,
is
to delight so
distinction.
many honest
During the
first
spectators,
two
is
acts
one
very good,
The balcony
all
represent-
175
me
led
that she
but
it
did
my
opinion of
No
nor
inartistic
redundance of
to
make
Partly this
may be due
;
to the difficulty of
but
not wholly
.and
e
so, as is
shown
in the
redundancy of gesture
very defective in
business.'
her
is the
With
she
'
all
her
the
vehemence, she
destitute of passion
splits
moves no human
soul.
Her
all
matic unreality
and if a
it
76
say that
also
With regard
I
to the
young
whom
am
much
material
early
for
future
that
almost regret
this
success.
so
much
;
may even
ranks
would be astonished
which English
;
and
do not
its
for
only point to
moral.
The
stage
is
upon
in a
charming the
for so
ear.
that they
may be
excused
if,
misled by the
to the
public
press,
and the
prestige attached
is
young
really a
remark-
The applauders
find their
more
177
is
at present anything
woman, and
difficult
peevishly exclaim,
please.'
Hang
it
you are so
to
But
I believe that
in a
more
of
vigorous
condition,
there
would be no difference
kingdom
king.
173
CHAPTER
THE DRAMA IN
As
the
critic's
XII.
PARIS.
1865.
office is
somewhat of a sinecure
just
now
mind of one
desirous of writing
The
all
present condition
lovers of the art.
is
deplored by
more
irritating,
flourishing.
which need
its
condition.
We
uncritical public,
and no
one theatre
which a
critical
a tolerable performance.
that the performances are
good enough
But he
is
cynical.
justice of
a restriction to be made.
The
for
THE DRAMA IN
nothing better than what
smaller public
is
PARIS.
1865.
179
given them
yet there
is
support
its tastes,
and
large
enough to
fine
not
Commerce,
supply.
is
mand and
There
to
be seen
in Paris,
ss elsewhere
and bad
acting, like
bad
writing, has
on the French,
seems modelled
German,
after
Italian, or
English stage
it all
good
The
the
bad
imitation of a
of a bad model.
The
style
of expression
is
not simply
absurdly removed
The
:
much
less to act
they
mouth and
gabble, look at
for
their feelings
by signs as conven-
and
as
dancer.
is
Good
on the contrary,
individuality.
like
It
good
writing,
its
remarkable for
charms by
180
truth
and
truth
is
always original.
It
are
common
such
felt
as distinctness
in
and
ruling calmness,
artist
which
is
never
as coldness,
;
master of his
effects
seem to belong
only to him.
in
it
the Theatre
Francais.
Indeed, were
was
dying out.
parting.
Even
seem de-
indispensable elements.
Of
somewhat pedantic
but
At present the
absence of formality
is
is
not grace.
especially
when
had
to be spoken.
and elaborate
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
181
The modern
becoming
actors
have
become
less
artificial
without
more
natural.
still
Comedy has
Plessy,
Madame
but
who
I
'
to replace
them
Tartufe,'
and
'
Le Mariage
'
of L' Amphitryon
Provost,
that
and Madame
either
saw
in
them
nothing
was not
bad or mediocre.
Georges Dandin
I
year in
'
L'Avare,'
me
to
see
him
no more.
to such a pass as to
for this
im-
Tartufe
line,
we had
own
for
Iago.
was Bressant's
idea of this
first
and
the
handsome
182
curiosity.
riosity failure
justice to say
the
cu-
was the
I
emotion excited.
more complete
but
it
was a
vain
parts
qualifications.
has the personal qualifications requisite for the representation of the character,
no amount of
ability in conceiving
The
Parisian critics
who wrote
in
have understood
this.
The
free to
fill
up these
outlines in
several
ways,
Tartufe
may be one
whose
fat
hands,
flabby cheeks,
air
of
very odious,,
or he
may be
and
harsh.
He may
THE DRAMA IN
like motions, or severe with
PARIS.
1865.
a suppressed consciousness
He may
have thin
hard unfeelingness.
But Bressant
is
He
the character at
it.
incompetent to present
were those of a handsome young curate who has committed a forgery and cannot conceal his anxiety at the
coming exposure.
if
love-making of a Tartufe.
When he
says, in extenuation
Ah
Un
Je
suis
pas moins
homme
celestes
appas
sais
qu'un
tel
discours de
moi
paroit etrange,
Mais,
madame, apres
un ange,
his
voice
and
of
persona
and assumed
Then,
again,,
gens
comme nous
Avec
qui,
pour toujours, on
du
secret,
84
there was
demand.
He
promised her
De
When
he
is
and
tion
vice, there
was no twang
in his tone,
:
no
artful asser-
the
comedy
of the
situation
The
are
and
Webster was
true.
catlike
and sensual
both were
forcible,
both were
Were
it
actors
have
actor like
Bressant
moment have
The performance
no means admirable.
very humorous as
geois,
of
'
Tartufe,'
Madame
Plessy,
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
185
and
grace.
Hers
is
by
critics,
who
can
in
also
see
its
ease.
which
she
lures
Tartufe to
I
she
But
Francais,
classic
reputation
for
producing the
it
to the ensemble,
seemed
me
as
if
The
formed
the
lively little
per-
in a
somewhat
Pancrace.
on the scholastic
was
He
true.
The
shown
in their
The
expression of
86
ACTING.
his face,
to his antagonist,
flash of
was a
the
when
There may be two opinions respecting the performance of the classic drama at the Theatre Frangais, there
comedy.
if
the rising
endowed by
To
last
comedy,
'
Maitre
one's
faith
in
French
acting.
is
The
comedy
like
:
serious
spirits,
bubbles up at
ludicrous
images.
contains
some
The
The
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
187
our stage.
In the
brilliant
first
act
we
are introduced to a
Lecoutellier,
rich
young and
played
coquette,
Plessy,
Madame
by
Madame
who has a
old husband
likes
and a
man's
spendthrift
young nephew.
She
the
old
his
galling
to
yoke of
name
;.
as she delights
is
woman
veloped,
of fashion with
is
mundane
instincts
is
highly de-
not pleasant.
Her hope
to
be able to
her family,
and which
is
now
the last
remnant of
the property of
M.
Desroncerets, a philanthropist,
who
who has
affairs,
may be
name and
is
enriching his
1
The
an excellent one
we have
man
con-
severity of his
daughter,
and
restrictive
88
seem hard
for
But
out.
the
It
situation
has
been
too
imperfectly
wrought
piece.
of a
a mere episode.
itself
than he borrows
country lawyer,
money on
is
the
sly.
man
of straw) at
raises a
much
less
than
value
and Desroncerets
hundred thousand
francs in this
way by
He
unable to repurchase
future
?
it
doubts the
is
confident
of earning a million.
in
the
by Got
I first
When
was unable
:
to detect in Maitre
all
is
Guerin
so faintly indicated,
and
No
sooner
was
clear
we were
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
His
make-up,
gait,
look,
of that
spectable bourgeois
so prosaic,
to
;
able
the
man
certain to get
who
not under-
scheme.
money
is
now
entangled
Madame
Lecoutellier.
is
He
comes
on
him,
though
coquette-likeshe
to
he joins his
He
iqo
ACTING.
which forbids
campaign.
enough
husband
to get
!
him promoted.
you,
to
He
replies coldly,
'
Your
Thank
madame, but
do not choose to
least of all to
owe
my
promotion
your husband.'
asks him,
'
With an
'Why?'
;
That's true
and
fidelity
with
'
my
own.
You
told
me one
as
day that
woman was
'Perhaps
to
exaggerated a
little 1"
It is
im-
possible
Madame
ance
during
this
scene was
was the
bouderie,
The
pretty
the
head of a
;
stronger man.
carried
He
that
leaves
having:
horrified at the
idea.
She
is
afraid
THE DRAMA IN
quitted the
PARIS.
'
1865.
191
army
il
which
is
precisely
not permit.
At
news
husband.
She writes
'lama widow
respect
my
year of mourning
depart,
and do not
write to me.'
an, tout
year's delay;
and 'dans un
A year has
In that year
act.
Desroncerets has
lost
all
his
money;
to
Madame
Lecoutellier
law
and Louis
in the
campaign, return-
who
finds himself
tells
on the eve of
Madame
Lecoutellier.
To
render
this possible
How ?
First,
by persuading her
to
very
tries to
192
ACTING.
Even
this obstacle
may be
set aside,
Arthur says,
by
their
The
disgust of Guerin
was
excessively comic
and wonderfully
he resolves to
true.
it
As he cannot
by stratagem.
a
openly oppose
it,
frustrate
When
letter.
This
letter is the
one written
to her
It
by Louis a
Arthur's
rouses
The
third act
is
others.
The upshot
Lecoutellier
of
it
is
proposes to
Louis,
is
Madame
and thus
about to
that
she should
marry
become
possess.
mistress of Valtaneuse,
which he
She consents.
funds.
She
refuses.
powerful
in
scene
(very
in-
differently
acted)
occurs
here,
which
the loving
daughter
is
his
have
been
on her dowry.
once disclosed, Louis, who turned from
The
secret
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
193
now
turns
back
by which her
the chateau
father will
of Valtaneuse.
is
an
act,
and he
it
feels called
upon
to
prevent
;
it.
He
does prevent
pays
final
back the
money
marries
quarrel
maddens
his father,
who
disinherits
him
and
of
Francine Desroncerets,
is
The
is
scene
very dramatic.
is
Guerin
utterly baffled,
and
his rage
tragi-comical.
Even
his wife
deserts
him
now
prepared
this
indeed,
is
in contradiction
with the
spirit
earlier
scenes in
which
Madame
nevertheless,
it
is
is
left
of selfishness
vividly indicated
by
his being
man
From
first
to last
it
was
194
a study
and
how
they
to Paris
and
of
carefully
watch Got.
Such acting
his
is
every
artist,
no matter what
line,
is
which
produced by
Every
seems
the
actor,
instinct
The way he
way he
sits
down,
nature
of
the
man
represented.
Then,
again,
Madame
Plessy, though, as
artist
is
charm, as an
on account of the
The
to
to be slow,
and not
dis-
seem slow.
To
tinctness,
shall
tell,
that each
Hurry
destroys
the effect
and
actors
hurry,
because they
The
art is so to
that
art
it
shall
not appear
and
this is
an
THE DRAMA IN
stood by actors.
PARIS.
1865.
195
No
a measured rhythm,
is
and
as
strict
Resistent
Comedy nobly
justifies its
existence
when
it
dignifies
amusement with a
lesson in
the
its
laugh, a warning in
pictures.
Too
often
itself
in the fantastic
combination
tells
us
how
terrible,
ou tendre
;
On
double
la valeur
en
le faisant attendre
Sanson adds
;
Tantot Tantot
1'
il
Sa rapide parole
etourdit l'auditoire
unprix de memoir e.
O 2
'
196
reference
the
'
on-goings
that
is
of
society.
Hence
the
:
common
thus the
fantastic
;
phrase,
satire
all
to
be
the moral
because inapplicable.
it
In the comedy
'
or
at
tragedy ?
'Vaudeville' recently,
and
may be
of the
should be.
bare one
No
is
all classes
contented
be a poet
j
Jedermann einDichter
is
We
all
belong to the
aristo-
cracy.
If
we cannot
ride in our
own
carriages,
we can
THE DRAMA IN
wear
If
PARIS.
1865.
197
dresses
only meant to
be worn in a
carriage.
we
the
are rich,
street.
do our best
to delude strangers
in
We may
as our
we
will dress as
like
them
means and
corrupts
is
The
crinoline
disease
salary
classes.
The
wife of a
dirt
clerk
whose
four
neither disextrava-
mayed by
gance
:
ashamed of the
this
!
if
wicked
'
They
are
worn so
Such
by a pinching economy
at
home.
The
necessaries are
The husband
and children
figure'
suffer, that
may make
'
which
it
she doesn't.
hears
ettes with
In England.
repelled.
such
an
accusation
in
would
be
indignantly
Meanwhile even
'
as the
for a
198
ACTING.
penny
for
Then comes
loaf.
the time
a twopenny
by enriching the
house.'
The husband
amazement
is
hoodwinked.
He
is
in a state of chronic
at the progress of
manufactures,
'
the
cheapness of
silks,
the
marvels of
will
bargains
'
that are to be
spend
He
never suspects
where
all this
'
this
danger and
Unhappily, the
are
as
would scarcely be
tolerated
on our
is
the
comedy
badly
who
His
art of
moment committing
the mis-
not be surpassed.
reflection.
The
laughter
left
behind
it
a serious
Take
ance
is
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
199
French stage
perfection of
is
its
me
to require revision.
only, but of the
ville
theatres in
There are
stage
;
good
on the French
but
the
of
Martin
where
the
Dumas was
to,
and
of
It will,
St.
There are
in
Theatre
Francais
factory.
and
Maitre
Guenn
'
in
all
respects, higher
and
in the
performance of the
classic
drama drama
it is
Altogether,
my
visit to
this
200
gain
would be
art.
study the
They would
see that
was by no means
;
and
much might be
were
far
more
than
the growls of the voix de ventre, or the surprising mouthings which with us are mistaken for effective elocution.
They would
also
Not
able.
alities
By no means.
and
their shortcomings.
But
if
they
fall
short of
we
are
accustomed to see
cellent.
in
One
of them I
am
tempted to
made a
reputation, his
no exaggeration
young man,
THE DRAMA IN
is
PARIS.
1865.
201
is
bent on
his very
On
there was
no mistaking
that rare
before us.
He
had the
power of being
silently
eloquent
of standing quite
I
still
and yet
riveting attention
on him.
was, and
on the
stairs at
boding and
fateful.
Much
\
of
this,
who had no
and
it
As
became evident
higher forms
but
terror, sarcasm,
So
effective
and manners,
that
on quitting the
theatre,
and
for
haunted by the
The
ing to
Du verger,
interest-
me
as the actress
whom
it
was understood we
'
202
accordance
The
Is
fashion
it
is
taste.
that
we
little
fastidiousness as to
how
our
we
and rhythm?
Madame
Berlioz) because of
and
In a
while
we may
rival
They
declaiming
racters
Othello
'
spoke German.
'
And
critics
!
the Germans,
we
constantly
hear, are
a nation of
to
As we were
One
If
ex-
undoubtedly has
fine eyes.
?
you
is,
ask me,
What
my
answer
She has
fine eyes.
THE DRAMA IN
demand
to
fill
PARIS.
1865.
203
little
more.
How
much
Mdlle. Duverger
may manage
to see
but of this
am
an
formance
I witnessed, that, as
as presented
on the French
stage.
Not even
could keep
me
from
Paradise Lost
at the Gaite
Adam and
which a
;
melodramatic spectacle on
this
but there were points in the performance which you could not have imagined
at
my
least,
which
could not
and that
You may
you
Adam
in
skins
and
204
fleshings
hair
in the
latest style
such
compound
of
and a
First
Murderer dreaming of
to say that I
leading business
'
It is
no exaggeration
all
man
in scaly
of bearing which
'
we some-
What
mouth was
sufficiently
makes love
to
'
Satan pleure
irresistible
'
says
the
tempter
as
that
must be
mythic drama
tries to
awaken the
better
feelings of Cain,
him
as a bourgeoise
mother
would appeal
women around me
There
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
205
only
much
good
faith.
And
this constituted
Yet
human
destiny,
occur to them.
earth,
206
delicieux sejour, as
new
favourite,
Man, the
stage
And, probably,
Cain had
was not
went
to the Ga'ite.
house, as N. T. Hicks
antici-
though
it
droll.
But
did
made something
villain
of Cain.
in
'Vingt
Ans
Apres,'
feel before
he spoke that he
to see
was an
evil influence
him
in another
kind of
It
part.
as Cain
he showed no
to play,
ill
good
quality.
it
and he
played
ungratefully.
He
was
violent,
at ease, con-
ventional.
in
badness by Clarence,
who used
as
Adam
when
it
has to
more
elevated.
THE DRAMA IN
Yet the
effect
PARIS.
1865.
207
its
religious
associations,
its
and so
human
this
suggestions, aided
by a splendid
spectacle, has
made
acting,
is
The house
crowded every
to appear
on the
bills
and
there were
no
would
of the
up the benches
at the
fall
this
it is
sacred.
To
the French
is
much good
England, though
it
may
To
this
account
I will
religious
Paris, but in
Antwerp.
The
contrast
is
as great as might
cities.
Antwerp
is
delightful
is
gallery
to
but Antwerp at
streets
and know
2oS
ACTING.
city.
its
architecture,
There
are
in a cafe, or
am
and whenever
am away
from
my
own
them
At Antwerp
Not even
my
desire for
a spectacle of bony
hideous
women jumping
on and
men
vaulting
sounds of
my
which promised
headed
'
Theatre des
Varie'tes,' setting
Ammergau
mystery-play on the
Sunday?
religious
ing),
A
I
theatre
for this
and
that
the
air.
Ober AmNeverthe-
open
chance of seeing
this spectacle
the
last lingering
THE DRAMA IN
PARIS.
1865.
209
and the
actors
were
priests
was so exciting
secure
any regard
dingy
little
theatre,
to see
and
affecting of stories
is
amusement.
And,
nevertheless,
who
have
repulsion
would
it
was
really religious.
is
that
pathetic interest.
am
sorry to be obliged to
fell
were indeed
p
'
at the play.'
This rather
210
irritated
time
but
now
I bethink
me that good
after
Protestants
may be
listening to a
of this
world with
lively levity.
Now
as
to
the
performance.
It
represented,
in
and no speaking,
were avoided.
was arrayed
ground.
The
At
first
I feared the
its
performance was
attempts at illusion
'
doll
head
an attempt
to
which promised
ill
for
what was
come.
The
pretty picture
which followed
The
THE DRAMA IN
Flight
into
PARIS.
us
1865.
211
Egypt
'
showed
his
Mary on a pasteboard
;
and the
child
had
been taught
to
open
de-
tall
who
is
said to prepare
and
to suffer greatly
is
excitement of acting
as
his
over.
The
others were
all
as
bad
bad could be
The
adieu to
garden, the bearing of the cross, and meeting with Veronica, tasked his
to
be
in earnest or to
be a great
artist.
The shudder
when
him on
how thorough
Never once
'
drop the
fluent
and unconventional,
and variously
expressive.
Many
212
pictures.
the
'
Last Supper.'
the Cross
'
was
the
entombment and
;
resurrection
managed, but
it.
any especial
original for
On
the whole, I
came away
The common
symbols
;
visible
and
when
unlike this
'
Godsdienstige Voorstelling
'
cious spectacle of
Le
made
love to
Eve
in the style of a
French
novelist,
and Eve
to a ballet-girl.
Here
many
things to alter,
it
showed a
little
hypocrisy,
and pretended
formance had not only deeply moved them but had solemnised their thoughts for a while,
I
wholly pleased
said,
1867.
213
CHAPTER
XIII.
1867.
Amusement
just as of old
it
Those who
must
stage
fear that
is
is
inevitable
when they
few,
with food.
means
art,
to
ease and
harmony
to a
work of
delights,
and
be exhilarated by a
jingle
and a dance
for
214
ACTING.
bare
necks,
and and
powerful
'
grimace
thus
the mass
easily pleased
liberally
the hour.
this inevitable
tendency
(just as classical
music keeps
contact and
ballads),
all
rivalry
and sentimental
and unless
this separation
take
more
theatres to
performances
final
of
comedy and
is
the poetic
drama, the
It
near at hand.
may be
and
it
may
also
be a question whether
dramatists
and
actors
be secured.
the
do not venture
I
more so
serious
;
because
many and
obstacles in the
way of
but
and the
fascination to
all
1867.
215
of the
Monday Popular
German
it is
Concerts in a
city
which tolerates
brass bands
no extravagant hope
if
Not perhaps
to run
the
sensation piece
two hun-
or a burlesque to
make
the fortune of a
but
it
would be
less
only by a
The
theatre
must
for
'
an art-loving public.
effects,'
It
scenic
must
[what a condition
!],
company attempting
Something
1
like
what
here indicated
Scandal
may be found
Since then
'
'
The School
200
for
'
and
Hamlet
'
also for
nights.
216
capitals.
To be
candid, one
to
with
Government
;
assistance
they
are
not
paying speculations
and
if
examination or experiment
should prove that in the nature of the case such establishments could not be
made
large
to
pay if
there
is
in
England
really
no public
drama
for certainly
this
summer
had but
although during
the last thirty years I have from time to time been fortu-
Germany has
produced.
art,
Now,
as of old, there
is
and
at
each
theatre
to the
we
maintenance of the
1867.
217
England
and
rank
and the
'
tragedian in
my
opinion that
Such a
Had
he played
Laertes
consented to
play
it
he would
At any
rate
and the
And
here
it is
only
fair to
add
in extenuation of the
just published
is
an interesting
'
Glance
at the
German
Stage,' in
which there
a sketch of Seydelmann.
218
ACTING.
he obstinately declines
powers or
his
unworthy of
his
rank in
of appearing to
some disadvantage, he
little
knows
for
in the
first
an
e7isemble,
and
him
in that
unworthy
part,
and consequently
bilities.
will
his capa-
It
is
German
for
actor.
He
knows
and cares
an
ensemble,
should be perfect.
He
an
inferior part
saw
him
last
week, or
will see
He
has, therefore,
to lose
part.
and much
Further, his
to
inferior
payment
usually regulated
by the times of
performance.
the result
is
is
that
much
1867.
219
parts
as
on other
they
The
actors
framed
know
very different
the business
'
one
They know
how
to speak
both
verse
and prose
to
;
speak without
speech elevated
stilted.
are there
How many
are there
who
charm which
lies in
music?
How many
an
art
which
is
not ap-
critical ear,
and
effective ?
The
common German
speech,
is
suris
how
rich
when spoken on
the
themselves actors at a
Hof
220
which
was made
that I
nature was
German women.
To
hear the
women on
after
a sermon.
to
Next
basis of
excellence
acting,
of elocution, which
forms the
good
of mimetic
art
first,
secondly, the
and
lastly,
first
and
last
the
German
in the
I
But
much
excel-
And
remember
case
power over
the emotions
seldom successful
morous.
and
fantastically hu-
Now
precisely
in
this
division,
wherein
all
Germany
displays greatest
1867.
221
There
has,
indeed, of late
actors,
on the part of
and
demand on
to
may
be said
without
signifi-
cance that
with
this
and
drama
of a few exceptions,
efforts
is
beside
as
the
'
natural actors
for
mimetic
qualities
which would be
One
German
stage
is
the
presentation of Character in
that
individual
traits,
with just
suffices to
make
it
incisive
into
The performance
The
example.
The
nent
piece itself
is
lively
and
pleasant, with
no emi-
qualities,
sentimental or sensual.
A young
222
he finds
his
pathetically
seated
The Duchess
is
one of those
women who,
most benevolent
out of
all their
intentions, insist
on a despotic carrying
selves as
bility
on
consequences
with
failing
are invoked
she
retires
Homer
takes
refuge in a cloud.
The whole
play
is
an exhibition of
court
It
life
charming
not
oneself at a
German Court
but
more
1867.
223
true of the
actress
who played
the
Grand
Duchess
played
Frau
the
Fried-Blumauer
and
the
actor
who
Oberhofmeister
Herr
Doring.
All the
supremely
artistic.
Madame
Plessy,
may form
a conception of Frau
significant
emphasis,
gentle
imperiousness
which
a
feature
to the admirable
itself to
'
caricature
as that of a
nerves,'
woman
falling
shattered
Frau
Fried-Blumauer
tone,
approached exdetail
aggeration
by look or
such unobtrusive
unobserved.
relief that
Her
The droop-
Not
that she
ever
224
do not remember
the
stage
first
and
from
is
as great
in
low
is
comedy
mistress of
the dialects.
Strange as
may seem
that
this artist, so
remarkable
for elegance
and
delicate nuance,
it,
for
enough
for
At any
rate, there
comedy such
as nothing
on
Very remarkable
Doring.
also
Iago, Shylock,
It
playbill
that I could
it
may be added
1867.
225
how much
how much
back was
mask.
His
face
was
was
old, his
old, his
And
as thirteen years
may
bring enor-
mous changes
my
saw
when
it
was a puzzle to
me
to form a
Although actors
peculiarity,
rightly take
them
to represent a character,
means employed,
when
art is
known
mire a
age.
We
do not ad-
man
All
my
on the following
when
toothless, pottering
man
of
fifty.
would be
to
the
German
what
saw
at
226
ACTING.
I
saw nothing
creditable ensemble
artist)
and two
friends of
mine (one a
rare
They
also confirm
my
Let
it
be added that
if
the
and of
The
'
Niebelungen,'
Dresden during
my
stay there.
Why
this
six years
successful
reflects
production
at
Weimar,
of
all
especially
when one
is
on the
poverty
the
the
German drama,
management could
Shakspeare
!)
as the
'
Two Gentlemen
'
of Verona,'
'
The
Comedy
all three
many
weeks.
'
trilogy of
The
1867.
227
spoken of as the
finest
work produced
since Schiller,
it
at the
chance of seeing
ill
performed.
bear trans-
German
poem than
reproduces.
But
German
will
thank
me for
it, if
during
my
stay
at
Dresden.
respectable.
The
actor
who
The
heroines
which
is
saying much.
Thanks
still
to the existence of
effort to
is
some strenuous
stage,
vulgar food.
228
and French
Man kommt
zu schaun,
man
will
am liebsten
sehen.
and
as theatres
must be
rilled,
the
temptation to
fill
to prefer,
very strong.
The
bust than
;
and the
draws
used to
and
grisettes)
murmur
raised.
fill
When
the houses
and forced
to rely solely
on
woman
or the splendour of a
mise en
scene,
one
is
Even
1867.
229
farce.
But
at
There
is still
a public which
still
appreciates
works.
There are
theatres
where
classical
repertory.
weeks of
'
my
stay at
Fiesco,'
men
of Verona/
'
The Comedy
'
of Errors,'
The Mid-
summer
with a
The Merchant
of Venice,'
Niebelungen,' and a
comedy by Franz on
the subject of
full
of political
stage,
it
from our
and
turns discovered
and
confusion,'
And
'
to these
'
Oberon,'
'
Don
Juan,'
<
the Devil,'
Masaniello,'
Lo-
hengrin,'
Tannhauser/
'
'
L'Elisir
and
is
'
Czar und
Zimmermann.'
This,
it
must be owned,
different
an array of
230
and a
similar-
other
Hof Theater.
exhibited
The
stage
is still
an
intellectual
amusement
in
Germany.
The
theatre
and
me
not a
little
and contemptuous
the effect that
critics to
Wagner
is
The
when
all
novelty must
theatres of
still
long
ago
the various
Germany and
rooms can
will
find
to
pronounce an opinion
music
is really
this
des-
music of the
future,' or
whether
it is
effort.
This
is
a question be-
1867.
231
my
competence.
may
music
its
that, as far as
my
ear in
pre-
is
exqui-
for
it,
the
melody.
But then a
reflection suffices to
remind
far
more
It is
many
and
popular ear
to
me
that
in favour
of
Rossini a passing
adding,
'
and now
I regard
him
How
Bellini
and Donizetti
fared,
still
fares at the
hands of the
critics
who
are exasperated at
we
all
know.
Yet
irate
these
critics,
more
with Wagner,
who
offers
commonplaces of the
might be
Yet no.
The
very
effort to create
is
new form
It is
is
denounced, and a
all
patient hearing
denied.
232
ACTING.
critics
the
(justly)
forms,
and the
critics are
put out
deprived
It
is
standards
and
its
denounce the
heresy.
the
it
artist,
and
does so by
And
the real
How
shall
we recognise
constitutes
Vox
populi
'
in such a case ?
?
What
a discriminating public
form of
art there
can
at first
souls
really
moved, and
of
responding because
larger groups
;
moved
implies
the
existence
steadily
increasing
its
number of
is
adherents,
we may be
will
pretty
forming which
The
Public
may
always circumscribe
comparatively
narrow
limits
of Beethoven, would always be excluded from a vast mass of minds not in themselves insensible to philosophy or
.
music
numbers,
depends on generations
1867.
233
this
for one,
can
at present
and
after
very super-
respond
to the enthuis
the
me
many
it
;
and an
that
many
not
Germany crowd
the
and
testify in
me
as
and wanting
in charm.
?
Why am
I to set
up
my judgment
against theirs
If the
its
flatter
my
ear, I
way,
I cultivated a
self-suspicion,
firstly,
and withheld
all
that other
and more
none
secondly, that I
may therefore
expect that on
a longer acquaintance I
not admirable.
may
learn to admire
what
is
now
circle I
for
Wagner is
What
234
OF ACTING.
will
to decide.
will sneer at
us for not
will
having recognised
following
be
some
greater
But
much seems
Wagner has
hearing.
We
he
offers us,
THE DRAMA IN
SPAIN.
1867.
23s
CHAPTER
THE DRAMA IN
If an old hunter
is
XIV.
SPAIN.
1867.
harnessed to a chaise he
will trot
along quietly enough, careless of the indignity, submitting like a philosopher to his altered condition in
life
;
but
:
scarlet coats
:
it
the old
all,
through mire,
which
brings back to
It is
He may
be invalided, and relapse meekly enough into the philosopher meditating on the amusements in which he ceases
to participate.
'
He
No
becomes quite
invitations.'
how
little
'At homes.'
Lectures
Balls
leave
him
and
236
have
resist
a sermon.
But the
sight of a
shock through
become complete
footlights
;
desires.
He
No amount
of
him ; he
keeps a
little
to
him
as the herald of a
new
Hence
All
its
The leading
per-
of the ideal.
legs.
The
and heterogeneous
The
The
:
comedian
is airy,
humorous
Hope
had been
from theatres
for
some
time, having
THE DRAMA IN
London playhouses were
SPAIN.
;
1867.
237
not sanatoria
had
just
and turned
to
town
make
first
acquaintance with
'
las
my
eye with
'
Teatro
'
'
in
modest
caps.
Approaching
it,
I read that
an
original
y magnifica comedia en
tres actos
y en verso/ by
Don
most
was
to
be performed
:
The
Bastos
'
title
was suggestive
'
'
Oros,
Copas,
Espadas y
;
'
literally,
it
Money, Cups,
significantly,
or to render
more
I allured
out,
who
made
hour
drama a
and up
to this
Sebastian
is
is
it
Seville,
had no
right to expect
such
art.
238
One does
Ilfracombe, or Sheridan
tolerably familiar with
Knowles
at
Ryde.
But being
French,
Germans, and
of
St.
Italians, I
style.
Bad
acting
as I
cruelly
common, and
singularly uniform
on
all stages,
actors
after the
same
patterns.
Good
which
there
acting
is
is
also uniform
is
racter.
man
are the
in the East
distinctive character
and
this is
Some
vanity.
Why,
for
instance,
do
Why
on the
an impassioned
THE DRAMA IN
eyes of his mistress, to
the side scenes
?
fix
SPAIN.
1867.
239
imaginaits
by withdrawing
is
from
direct
because he
audience,
so feeble
and confused.
he kept
on
would hinder
the scene
:
it
a poise
feeling
all
the
more needful
;
to
him because
his artistic
is
feeble
and since
spontaneous suggestions
all
imagination,
external aids
become
important.
It is
whereas
it
is
bad
selves
my
stall,
was indeed
240
especially
often renders
acting
intolerable.
gentlemanly
was
speaking
brother
or
his
mistress
and
premiers
stage.'
'
took the
entirely
and
absorbed in his
The two
they hoped to
make up
in that
way
for
acting, there
and
whenever an exceptional
find a fitting arena.
is
talent presented
itself, it
would
The
organisation required
see
exceptional, as
we
by the
rarity
of
good
demand; but
has to contend
stage,
when
does present
itself in
England
it
against a
mass of absurd
traditions
on the
and a
THE DRAMA IN
SPAIN.
1867.
241
To
to
the majority of
like
want of
force.'
Hawk
ground of
its
'
wanting weight.'
to
The
fact
is
we have
and
really curious
who
habitually
on
who
rarely,
make
in general to
know no medium
grotesqueness
the
air,
he forces
saws
who
by
respects himself
by incongruities of costume
admiration
On
'
242
ACTING.
at St. Sebastian,
which followed
the
'
comedy, and
or
which the
'screaming,'
play-bill
announced as
was
fun,
chistosissima,'
there
the
same
it
The
such as
looks, not
from incongruities
It
was the
same
at Barcelona.
It
at Seville.
What
style
drawing-room
it
everywhere prevails.
'
do not think
life is
inferior to the
barn
style.'
to
be represented
is
on the
stage, only
demanded by
adopted ;
required
is
;
if
that of representing
life
and
all
obvious violations of
the truths of
are errors in
art.
is
Verse
is
not
to-
be spoken as prose.
or verse
is
of speaking prose
requisite
It
preserving the
it is
unusual.
indeed speaking
not mouthing.
THE DRAMA IN
SPAIN.
1867.
243
troupe, namely,
that of representing a
verse.
coat-and-waistcoat
comedy
'
in
The
short, tripping
interspersed with
rhymed
passages,
had
to
be delivered
generally
it
was
easily delivered.
Imagine a comedy in
On
the whole,
my
first
Madrid with
great eagerness.
On
fattest
this
she
flitted
startling to
admirers.
the aspect of a
all
Don
is
R2
244
ACTING.
dramatist,
Bastos,'
comedy,
'
seemed
to
town we entered.
acquaintance
as
:
thought
it
rather dull
on a
first
my
ears
were not
with the
language to enable
me
to follow
felicity,
it
enough
to catch
it
its
wit and
and read
performed at Barcelona
acted than at
St.
was
less well
The
this
reader
may
account of
to-day.
.
in the salon of
is
Dona
Eduvigis in
Madrid.
who has
quitted her
convent, regarding
men
as
agreeable
Unos
seres
reloj
con gaban
y bigotes y
whose business
business
is
it is
to
make
love to
women,
as
women's
to
be made love
sister
to.
Rosa
says that
when she
was
in the
convent
1867.
245
whose
sole occupa-
tunate
who looked
salt.
'
at or listened to
I
left
into a pillar of
1
the convent,'
Rosa adds,
their claws,
pillar of salt.
So they
all
some
please
me
particularly
Por eso
y algunos
The
men
;
them too
little
the
more
life
property to
on condition of her
and, in the event of
hospital.
money
is
to
go to a
The
four
to
by public advertisement
Old
as this idea
is,
good opportunities
But comedy
demands two
wit and
character.
Of the
all
246
I will
that
it
is
not sparkling.
Of
the character-
drawing you
By
made
the four
cousins,
quite
needlessly,
yet,
men
of wholly
different
nationalities
one
is
third Castilian.
This
Don
Luis
is
a cavalry
officer,
proud of
his profession,
and especially of
las magnificas glorias
Espanolas.
He
cites
may
olerle
ironically assured
replies
'
:
him
that
him
to
be a dragoon,
It is not,
after
left
the three
women Carmen
is
is
entering, asks if he
in the
house of
in
Dona
Eduvigis,
compliance with
is
anxious
THE DRAMA IN
to
SPAIN,
1867.
247
know why he
is
summoned.
tunity
of exhibiting his
character.
is
to
Don
Luis
is
attracted
arrival,
presents the
the
is,
'
title.
Casto
life,
that
having Falstaff's
and
is
gulosity, without
his wit.
The
meant
mo-
He
is
especially
of
women.
Having thus presented two of the
lovers, the author
is
now
Luis
struck with
'
How
And
shall
we be married
quickly?
'
he gravely
fifteen
'Have
said anything
. ,
.
she asks.
'
No
248
it is
never mentioned.'
'
But
if it is
done ?
'
Don
'
Luis
nonplussed and
grave personage
is
who
.'
But Casto
by the appearance of
Bias
is
an Arragonese, the
'
clubs
'
of the
Jose
'
diamonds,' one
who
believes
in the virtue of
money.
Dona
to her
summoned
reads aloud
the
main point
rises
which
have already
in a
mentioned.
Carmen then
men
in general.
From
childhood,
brush her
them.
face,
behind
if
Adam
if
they
;
if
indifferent
tranquil.
THE DRAMA IN
Si voy a la calle
SPAIN.
si
1867.
249
juran que
me aman
;
no quiero mirar
por
si
un barbilindo
:
me
dicen
mi
si
sigue detras
a mi
me
es igual
voy a
los bailes,
renuncio a bailar
porque no
me
toque
;
un
hijo de
Adan
tranquilo y en paz.
if
To
this
On
*
This
mad
'
to prove that
mean what
are
deficient.
is
But although
argument
excessively feeble,
and amounts
to this, that
Carmen
will
grow
old,
and
The
ready,
and
Bias
rises,
and
which there
'
is
one charm-
who
:
all
she feels
'
y no sabe
lo
que
siente.
250
ACTING.
He
paint
their
own
portraits
for
Carmen's choice.
Jose
begins,
his joy.
To
down
his ambition.
The
verses, with
which
pit.
this is
expressed are of a
made on
who pretends
hand of a young
heiress ?
Luis then rises and avows his military ideal, gratuitously adding that constancy
is
virtue.
What
Leporello says of
Don
Giovanni
avowed by Luis
of himself.
La
la
rubia para
mi no
tiene pero
;
morena me roba
la
los sentidos
por
me muero
me da placer, gorda me encanta me muero por la triste, cuando llora me muero por la alegre, cuando canta.
THE DRAMA IN
Now
comes the turn of
SPAIN.
who
1867.
251
Bias,
gambles, neither drinks nor smokes, but has the one defect of irresistible outspokenness.
'
I tell
and as
this pleases
no one
am
at
once
When
am
on the contrary,
I
if
man
offends me,
down comes
the stick.
gloves,
hate ceremony
dress
and loathe a
rarely pass a
my
hearing) that I
If
am
a brute
the fact
is
am
not a stone.
I will tell
you suc
you frankly
if
if
But, observe,
we
marry,
I tole-
no
friends or cousins in
my
house.
rate
life,"
nor sentimental
sigher.'
Carmen then
replies.
who
of ex-
change
cutlet
;
if
if
if
and
252
ACTING.
rever-
Making a
retires
own
What
is
to
!
be done ?
Bias
observe
and
all
the frank
severally
and
truthful Bias
suggests
four
make
Accordingly each
writes
a grossly insulting
renunciation.
who
is
pleased at being
enters,
made
Carmen
'
to
Rosa?'
Casto hereupon,
replies,
'
Because
do not care
for
He
and
that
departs.
and
one leg
THE DRAMA IN
his letter of renunciation.
SPAIN.
1867.
253
The
others follow,
finale for a
vowing love
to
Rosa, each in
his characteristic
like a lioness.
The
two
first
third act, as
is
usual in comedies,
is
feeble.
The
dicated, but at
any
rate
there
is
movement
and a
is
to
untied.
The
up
their
when Luis
discovers
discover, to
that
ar-
and the
spectators,
is
double marriage
this
comedy
plot
there
is
is
skill.
The
im-
compensate
The
yet
chathere
And
good
scope
for
excellent
acting.
How
they
254
play
in
to
Madrid
cannot
say,
but
at
Barcelona
it
seemed
me
as if
in
the
At
fun.
St.
Sebastian there
and more
My
first
when
I should
fessed mediocrity
for Seville
it
was natural
;
and Madrid
seeing
so
me
far as to
Hartzembusch
in
'
my
way.
Alas
Spain,
as
'
in
and
when
like
native talent
very
much
and
and
early
seemed a prospect of
revival
out.
Spanish drama.
is
still
France
or less
without a
and French
all
pieces,
more
adapted,
it
hold possession of
stages.
The
second piece
was
my
chance to
see,
'
THE DRAMA IN
SPAIN.
1867.
255
'
sentiment
'
'
failed to
me and at Madrid,
;
At Granada
give
At Cordova the
was said
to
be miserable.
cities in
Thus
I
which
was
enabled to extend
my
experience,
On
greatly pleased
find
among
the various
theatrical
in
the
when
written that I
concluded
spoken.
it
The
The
theatre
was a
256
0AT ACTORS
and
large tent,
as the
freely through
nor was
the smallness of the audience so disagreeable to us as to the manager, especially since every male from eight to
and
not
fair
garlic,
though stronger,
is
and a not
ineffective
itself
demons.
turies old.
The
piece
Probably
it
was.
it
Except
in the matter of
sort of
work
;
which we find
in the Chester
I
and Coventry
little
collections
and although
understood extremely
said, I
of what the
that
could have
no doubt
In Chapter XII.
mystery at Antwerp,
troupe.
But
Shepherds of Bethlehem
'
we had a
real
drama,
THE DRAMA IN
angel were
earnest
SPAIN.
1867.
257
evidently regarded
;
awe
and
the processions,
('
the
interspersed with
comic
absorbed them
it
a religious ceremony.
On
the whole
was an intensely
an amusement for
it
finer issues
plays.
suggestions,
the
scenes
represented
had a
And
at
greatly
would be shocked
such repre-
no doubt that
ele-
Of
course
it
expect to see
Nevertheless,
there
spirit
was
one
feel-
young
actress
who played
little
'
with so
much
;
and
I
stage
manner
that
had
been a
artist.
There was^
^58
also,
man whose
me
to
for
this day.
am
sorry to say he
showed no aptitude
;
but
He
was of the
sat to
Giorgione for a
model.
pale
mat complexion,
hair,
exquisitely sensitive
and
was
we
must have
although experience
another mould.
stage, I
made a remark
on
this
is
chorus
singers,
all
mostly are
and
often
seem
Velasquez.
Recall for a
moment
by
Florence
THE DRAMA IN
hunters
!
SPAIN.
1867.
259
It
what
corre-
with figures
so
Musical superiority
personal beauty
;
But the
seems
not alluring.
Not
so in Spain
or rather let
me
keep
strictly within
not so in Catalonia.
women
Pale,
I need say
no more.
experience of the drama (omitting the comic
My next
opera, of which
all.
It
El
Hombre de la
Selva
Negra
and
this
Man
all
who have
From
26o
logue,
but even
German phlegm
fiery
audience listened
sublimely patient.
is
One
finds, insit
easily
amused.
sufficient.
To
idly
Wrapped
his nose,
under
is
a specta-
theatrical
performance
The
marked
but
it
also
of
moderation.
disappointed
like
gentlemen
and the
villain
would
who
say,
when they
He
looked the
villain
'
It
on
this
moderation and
one
may ground
the
of tameness, no doubt
but even
this defect is
is
more
and
less des-
THE DRAMA IN
tractive to the art.
I I
SPAIN.
T867.
261
those actors
whom
were deficient in
individuality
artist
This
enough
and per-
and gesture
'
and
Farren.
He
was the
see.
whom it
was
my
luck to
Not
that he
held an important
position
on the
unperverted play.
And
after
seeing
him
was
strengthened in
my
expectations of what
Seville
and
Madrid would
Alas
!
offer.
Seville
offered
me
'
nothing
but gentlemanly
Un
Valle de Lagrimas/ of
farce,
'
'
with
all
the
and Madrid,
tempt me.
262
know
not,
though
eminently probable.
At any
rate
is.
one
feels the
an excellent arena
ever the
artist
genuine
art,
whenseems
presents himself.
Unhappily the
art
The
is
national
drama
no
exist.
There
no
Zorilla,
And, aproposany
me
direct the
attention of
ingenious playwright
effective
to the very
which pre-
and
of.
fine
parts
'
such as a dramatist
The zarzuda
is
lati-
singers.
;
The two
and entertaining
I
one of them,
in the dearth
Conquista de Madrid,'
managers to
it.
jingle as Flotow's-
THE DRAMA IN
'
SPAIN.
'
1867.
263
Martha,' this
It
'
Conquista de Madrid
is
a work of inspi-
ration.
second tenor.
is
;
certainly
and
if
and German
ruts.
264
ACTING.
CHAPTER
XV.
1875.
cannot pretend
to
form an estimate of
at
Salvini.
A few-
him
Genoa
i
in a coat-and-waistcoat
comedy by
Scribe (a version of
La
'
Othello,'
once
not
Gladiator,'
and twice
in
;
'
Hamlet.'
But
this is
enough
set
and
down
impressions.
at
His performances
an enthusiasm which, of
course, has
been opposed by
some
fierce
affected
It is
by
who
always
But
for the
acknowledgment of
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF
even from those who think
false.
SALVIA/1.
1875.
265
his conception
of Othello
My
object here
is
art
as
an
actor.
The
question of
definite
is
and
intelligible principles.
The
question of insight
one which
taste
fluctuates
amid the
indefiniteness of personal
traditional views,
fortified
and only
ence
to
being
by
refer-
indisputable
indications of
the
text.
Thus
fiery
and sensual
modified
by
long
contact with
Europeans,
or as one with a
is
native
chivalry towards
less
woman who
led to marry
Desdemona
from
lust,
who
may be
evidence
evidence
left for
each person to
cited
in
as
he pleases;
;
may be
may be
as
was
'
not
I
meant him
be
less
to
266
ACTING.
ought to represent.
different attitudes
pretation.
In the
impertinent
if
he
which the
little
actor
is
bound
to follow
the
more so when a
to
re-
modest hesitation as
whether
on the whole the actor who has given long and continuous
study to the part in
seize every hint,
likely to
all its details,
alert to
and
settle
every intonation,
not more
be
right,
than one
who
visits to
the theatre.
disregarded
definite
that
is
and
intelligible principles.
No
actor
is
to
be
blamed
Othello, or
Macbeth
but he
justly
all
blamed when he
understand
it.
men
You may
man
of fierce
know
his throat.
'
It is
Othello
'
that
his
I shall
touch upon, so
is
much
I
which
reading
personated.
went
by very
vivid recollections of
Edmund Kean
and came
his varied
when Desdeit
mona
appears,
and when
my
confirmations of
high expectation.
Here
art
was
evi-
were in
It is
his
He
facial expression.
only
who have
the least
it is
a primary
but
know how
to sing
268
is
know how
actors
The consequence
to speak,
is
do know how
verse.
can speak
was expressed.
good.
I did
The memory
of
Kean
here obtruded
to last,
itself.
But
first
was a magnificent
subtle
art.
The
and varied
grief,
that
know
it,
trying
to conceal
hints,
could
not
artistically truthful.
was profoundly
gave a novel
'Excellent
He
and
felicitous
wretch
perdition catch
my
and
when
I love thee
not
'
chaos
come
again,'
monstrous
state of feeling.
1875.
269
and im-
personal pathos of
sently),
Kean
(I will
and
it
seemed
to
me
over acted
it
the
same
re-
mark
applies to the
'Had
affliction
on me.'
Kean's
'
and
'
'
I'll
and
Oh
the pity of
Iago.'
But the whole house was swept along by the intense and
finely
'
Villain,
be
sure
seizing
Iago
by
flinging
on the wretch
and then a
sudden revulsion of
feeling
act, the
hand
to raise
him
up.
remember nothing so
musically perfect in
its
passage
the fury visibly growing with every word, his whole being
vibrating, his face aflame, the voice
more
terrible,
it
trol that
Kean was^
tremendous
270
evidence of what
(at
page
9)
I called the
of subsiding passion.
After the
dread conviction
his soul, Othello
Desdemona's
never for a
calamity.
guilt has
once entered
can
moment
He may
but
shown
to cover a
woe.
I did
not feel
this in Salvini's
calmness.
But how
and
his shrinking
from Desdemona's
quits
approach
Emilia
!
In the
fifth
act
my
admiration ceased.
learns
Except the
passionate cry
when he
in
Desdemona's innocence,
to
which he paces
and
I
fro, like
remember
in this act
which
satisfied
me.
The
frequent objec-
introduction of thunder
and
lightning,
and
his using a
The
lightning
at
'
had
better have
'
been omitted
scimitar,
local colour
the. first
with the
it is
in
place
1875.
271
know
But
'
suicide.
even admitting
realism
'
gross
one defect in an
seemed
me
to
sin in far
fifth
deeper respects.
that
it is
My
objection to Salvini's
;
act
is
underfelt
and overacted or
let
me
say
it
seemed
to
me mistakenly
me
as
it
therefore
by a
multiplicity of
varied
effects.
We
who
and
the want of
art.
Hide by ornament
There
resolve.
He
raged
and
blubbered
and
was
never
And
here I
may
'
272
His pathetic
;
there are
no
of that he
is
unpleasantly tearful
which
is
be impersonal.
the sufferer
is
made
to feel that
up
to self-pity,
we should be
made
sorrow.
The
The hero
:
is
presented less as
moaning over
his
lot,
exclaiming
'
am
so miserable
lot,
common
ex-
O, this misery
'
Even
is
in daily life
you may
apt to be somewhat
sufferer
:
is
the
more he
Grief,
however
intense,
however wild
of
its
in
its
being part of
;
we
sufferer in feeling
with him.
much enjoyed
fine
'
The Gladiator/
showing how
artistically
he endeavoured to personate
1875.
273
that
all
is
to
Nothing could
to
But
it
seemed
me
that
in the Gladiator;
self-pity left
me
cold.
The
'
play
is
contemptible
a succession
of conventional
motives,'
writers
who
vainly
all
the frippery of
the stage.
acting,
One may
him
if it
No
sir,
there
is
in
it
Salvini
;
showed us what
is
and so powerful
his
many
as
just
many
readers
accept
for
poetry
the
splendid
images
inferior
writers gather
for not
having interested
that
me
do not think
must
274
blame
the apparent
determination to get
a multiplicity of
effects
An
In
may be
cited
from his
first
scene.
the
mother's
womb, he turned
the
narrative
into
far as
in high
womanly
In his
;
an
indeed by
Italians, since
they are
gesture
;
much
but
it is
given to what
it
may be
called
pictorial
cannot think
being as
wherein gesture
descriptive,
:
and
stages, symbolical
it
With
this
qualification,
as
an
my
think-
ing,
redundant.
the
actor's finest
gestures
and
effective.
My disappointment
abated
my
1875.
275
him.
Yet here
to
because
It
work upon
was
not Shakspeare's Hamlet, one must admit; the manysidedness of that strange character was sadly truncated
conspicuous by their
The
down
the
to suit Italian
I
Nevertheless I think of
is
Hamlets
have
^L.
seen, Salvini's
Of
The
all
that I
have seen,
the
it
scenes with
depicting
Ghost erred
think
psychologically in
awe
but
this is
and
Salvini's
terror
quiet,
was
finely ex-
The
soliloquies
were
and were
then too
real
now and
much
less
was
italicised
so that he
seemed
illustrating his
'
meaning to a
listener.
Polonius,
Words,
at the
deepened regret
this
mutilation
of the
text
which reduced
aspect of
Hamlet
to
a transient indication.
T 2
The
scene
with
'
276
Ophelia
Instead of
roaring
and
which
is
all
the
more incomprehensible
is
that they
do
strange, enig-
and
his
'
To
a nunnery go
This tender-
The growing
intensity
No
ful
power-
passages of
gives,
'
in
Which Hamlet
at prayer.
The
has
close
was magnificent.
No more
pathetic
death
1875.
277
Among
its
many
fine
touches
of Horatio to kiss
him
'Kiss me,
And
this
affecting motive
as
it
was
truthful
namely,
the uncertain
hand blindly
with a sort of
final adieu.
the
first
was a
tearful tendency,
;
a whining feebleness
this,
and
it
and voice
was an operatic
tragic hero
on the
But
am
only noting
faults
first
impressions,
and
I will
not
by
insisting
on
seem ungrateful
who
of.
capable
artist
Make what
and
no
278
is
you
must
still
He
has a
face, graceful
and
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