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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
constructive skill; but its gay wit, its lavish
humor, — now frank and direct, now
sly and ironical, — its intuitive schemes
of character, its broad human sympathy,
its reproduction of the atmosphere and
beauty of Venice, and its literary distinc-
tion made its presentation delightful to the
critical few. As for Alexander Salvini, —
of whom, as an artist, I entertained, in
general, a rather low opinion, finding him
in his larger attempts pretty steadily com-
monplace, — his impersonation of Don Ip-
polito was a marvel. Every native physi-
cal peculiarity of the player repeated the
figure of the romance, and the priest's
Italianic English was the actor's very own
dialect. It is to be added that the Don's
timid sweetness, naivete, and humility,
and his shy yet substantial manliness, with
their overlay of southern finesse, were
clearly appreciated and nicely indicated.
The performance, on the evening of
May 14, 1888, at the Park Theatre, of Mr.
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