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CHARLES FECHTER
man, treasure, pabulum, and sine qua non
of the comedian — he pronounced in a
mean between loaf ?c!\6i loave, to the end
of his career. But with the appearance
of Fechter American audiences first came
in contact with an actor of great natural
gifts and Continental training, who used
the English language at his performances.
In many ways the experience was a re-
velation. Here was the culture of the
Comedie Frangaise, conveyed through the
vernacular, and not under the immense
disadvantage of exposition in a foreign
tongue. One could see, as Fechter played,
the potency of abundant but perfectly ap-
propriate gesture, the action fitted to the
very word, the word to the action, accord-
ing to Hamlet's prescript; the.trained apti-
tude for rapid transitions of feeling; the
large freedom of movement; the ease and
force of style which seemed spontaneous
and unstudied, when most refined. After
an experience of Fechter in tragedy or
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