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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
delicate shading, of careful adjustment and
contrast, of nice relation between parts;
no touch is made so much for its own sake
as for its contribution to the general effect;
and though the inability to use grand and
immediately effective strokes marks one
of Mr. Irving's peculiar limitations, the
difference, in this respect, between his
work and most of the popular perform-
ance, with its vulgar and violent sacrifice
of the truth and beauty of nature to the
frenzy for making points, is very striking,
and altogether in his favor. In his finest
efforts his skill in this kind is masterly,
and fills the appreciative spectator with
the liveliest pleasure. Among these, Louis
XL stands easily first, and Dubosc, of The
Lyons Mail, is second, with no long inter-
val. A more thorough and complete em-
bodiment of wickedness than the former
impersonation — of cunning, cruelty, sen-
suality, treachery, cowardice, and envy,
each vice being subordinate to a passionate
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