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HENRY IRVING
it is the source of the pure, pathetic faculty;
it is essential to a complete mastery of the
spectator; it gives the eagle's tireless wing
to the actor's impassioned speech. I have
already alluded to Mr. Irving's inability,
through lack of elocutionary variet}?^ and
strength, either to attain or to sustain the
effects of noble declamation ; but his entire
performance displays, through an unbroken
series of phenomena, the want of that tem-
peramental impetus of which his feeble
speech and his monotonous repetition of
the rhythmic nod of the head, the dull
stamp of the foot, and the queer clutch of
the breast in exacting passages are but
single symptoms. Mr. Irving's style has in
no respect the sustained quality ; it is, so
to speak, altogether staccato; there are no
sweeps or long strokes in it, but every-
thing is accomplished by a series of light,
disconnected touches or dabs, the total ef-
fect of which, when the subject is not too
lofty, is agreeable and harmonious. As for
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