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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
effectiveness without superelaboration.
In the final scenes with Cordelia the tra-
gedian reached his highest point. Mr.
Booth's ability in pathos was unequal, but
in these passages it was exquisite and
poignant, the dr3^ness which sometimes
marred his efforts in this kind being re-
placed by suavity and warmth, like those
of an April rain.
Mr. Booth's limitations were obvious.
He had little success in straight love-mak-
ing:; in some few seconds of his dialoo^ues
with Ophelia, the passion of Hamlet's love
was mixed with a spiritual pain and un-
rest, which somehow heightened every
tenderness of action and utterance. Like
his father, and all his father's other sons,
he had small gift in mirth. It was there-
fore of interest to note that his Petruchio,
Benedick, and Don Caisar de Bazan were
almost sufficient, by virtue of his vivacity,
fire, and mental alertness, and, in the case
of the last two characters, by the ele-
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