426 Mr Henry Irving [Feb. 1, 



the words of the text, reasons upon, and infers the meaning, and so 

 extracts the character. The result of this method, however carefully 

 and comprehensively employed, is at best but an abstract induction, 

 having something of the aspect of reality, but automatic, and without 

 the breath of life. The other looks into a great creation, as if pass- 

 ing into a real presence ; is filled and atmosphered by its spirit ; 

 listens to its language as to a living voice ; is brought into intimate 

 relations with the springs of its being, and conceives it in unity by 

 the power of a brooding and recreative imagination. 



" And unto this power — because ' it cometh not with observation,' 

 but transcends the understanding, because it is vital and life-giving, 

 and elevates Acting from a mimetic into an imaginative art, subor- 

 dinating the comparative intellect to its higher and self-justified 

 laws — we feel bound to give, with a considerate and responsible 

 decision, the sacred name of ' Genius.' " 



I have myself heard a great actress say when coming off the 

 stage : " I could not act to-night ! " Of course she had acted well — 

 her art was too good to fail her — what she meant was that on that 

 particular occasion she felt herself without inspiration or ecstacy — 

 that force which must be behind every great personal effort. 



Perhaps these examples may serve to point how the art of acting 

 complies with Taine's idea as to the necessity of the artist experi- 

 encing " original sensation." 



Now as to endurance of impression, is it to be seriously put forth 



by any one as an argument that art ceases to be art because its 



work does not endure? There are two questions here involved — 



first as to what is endurance, and second, what method of record 



does it require. The life of all things of the world is bounded by 



time, and the many accidents and disasters which are time's agents 



of destruction. Surely of all materials in which art can work, 



marble, and brick, and metal are the most enduring ; and yet the 



works wrought in them pass away. With the Parthenon and the 



Colosseum in ruins, and the great temples of the gods obliterated ; 



with the works of Praxiteles and Phidias almost unseen by any eye 



in their perfect beauty ; with the wilderness of Benvenuto's marvels, 



mainly long ago reduced to chaos in the melting-pot ; with Apelles 



a name, and even the names of the host of his compeers forgotten, 



who is to say that works of art need immortality in order that the 



labour to which they were due may be classed as art, or the labourers 



as artists ? Where are now those mighty works of man's art which 



came to be known as the " Seven Wonders of the World" ? Where 



are the Pyramids — mighty wrecks whereon Time has set his hand 



— the sole survivors of all the wonders of yore? Where is the 



mighty city Babylon, with its walls and temples and gardens? — 



gone ! Where is the mighty statue of Olympian Jove, the triumph 



of Phidias? — gone! Where is the Temple of Diana? — gone! 



Where is the Mausoleum of Artemisia ? — gone ! Where is the 



Pharos of Alexandria ? — gone ! Where is the Colossus of Rhodes ? — 



