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HENRY IRVING
ficial and unessential ; of elocution as a
matter of form, and not of substance. And
they constantly inquire whether the spirit
within the artist is not of more importance
than the character of the tool with which
he works. The inquiry is pertinent, the
correct answer obvious, the figure em-
ployed a good one. An actor is like a
painter, and the soul of the limner is of
much more consequence than the shape
of his implements. But if the artist has
only a boot-brush and a palette-knife to
work with, his soul will find great diffi-
culty in giving expression to its inspira-
tions. Mr. Irving's acting often reminds
me of the work of such a painter. It is
a perpetual annoyance to see how ill his
hand and tongue subserve his purposes;
how the poorness of his tools is shown in
dull or ugly lines ; in other words, how
his absurd enunciation disables and dis-
credits his thought. It is necessary to go
even further. Mr. Irving's elocution is
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