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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
blush, as if an amateur of painting were
to say, "You will be delighted with M.
Blank's pictures. He has some unpleasant
mannerisms, to be sure, — his coloring is
poor and his drawing incorrect; but in spite
of these, you are sure to like his work."
Or as if an acquaintance were to recommend
for confidential clerk a young man
who was a little weak on the score of
honesty and accuracy, but, aside from these
trifling mannerisms, had every desirable
qualification. The view which a majority
of Mr. Irving's American auditors naturally
take, at first, of his inost conspicuous faults
is highly unfavorable. It is, indeed, the
view which the more critical portion of
his English audiences took when they were
beginning to make his acquaintance. And
the difference in the attitudes of the French
and the English nations towards the art of
acting cannot be better indicated than in
this: that Mr. Irving, in spite of his faults,
is to-day accepted and recognized as the
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