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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
has been on the stage the larger part of
his life, and yet he has not learned how to
sit, stand, or move with the ease, repose,
vigor, and grace which are by turns or all
together appropriate to attitude or action;
and, worse even than this, he does not
know how to speak his own language. He
has many lucid intervals of elegant mo-
tion and pure speech, — trebly exasper-
ating as a demonstration that his faults
are not the consequence of utter physical
incapacity,—but he can never be quite
trusted with his legs, his shoulders, or his
tongue for five consecutive minutes. His
ungracefulness is bad, but, as was just now
implied, it is a venial fault in comparison
with his atrocious enunciation. If there
were such a crime as lingua-matricide,
Mr. Irving would have suffered its ex-
treme penalty long ago; for night after
night he has done foul murder upon his
mother-tongue. Soon after his arrival in
New York, Mr. Irving was reported to
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