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HENRY IRVING
and method to which I have called atten-
tion, except only in the performance of
parts like Louis and Dubosc, where his ec-
centricities are as often helpful as hurtful.
Yet I have meant it to appear that Mr.
Irving, in spite of his faults, is, in my
opinion, the most purely intellectual, the
most picturesque, and perhaps, on the
whole, the most interesting of modern
English-speaking actors. The adjective
" interesting " gives the cue for a plain
statement of his peculiar limitations. I
have never seen a performer that aspired
to the name of tragedian who was so de-
ficient as he in the higher emotional force
and in sustained passionate power. Except
in his gift of dealing with the supernatural,
— by which, in Mathias, he makes a tremendous
attack upon the nerves, and in
Hamlet finely affects the imagination, —
he is an extraordinarily light ac|or in so
far as he appeals to the feelings. Many a
poor player, who is immeasurably below
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