MRS. SIDDONS AS LADY MACBETH 49 



few of us can form any vivid conception of the state of Hamlet's 

 mind, sentence by sentence, word by word, as he utters them. 

 Of the few who can form any conception beyond a mere colour- 

 less, shadeless, pointless impression of gloom or bitterness, each 

 one must of necessity form a distinct and new conception. In 

 order that such a speech may sway a house, it must represent a 

 series of emotions, each intense, natural, and noble each suc- 

 ceeding the other in a natural sequence. After the speech has 

 been understood and the feelings to which it corresponds con- 

 ceived, comes a task of ineffable difficulty that of finding tones, 

 look, and action, which shall represent those feelings. The 

 author gives an outline, which the actor must fill up with 

 colour, light, and shade, so as to show a concrete fact ; and no 

 two actors can or ought to do this in one and the same way. 

 Let any reader who doubts this who thinks, for instance, that 

 there is some one Hamlet, Shakespeare's Hamlet, who could only 

 speak the speech in one attitude, with one set of tones open 

 the book, and in the solitude of his chamber try first to find out 

 the emotions which Shakespeare meant his Hamlet to feel, and 

 then try to express those emotions in tones which would indi- 

 cate them to others. If honest and clever, he will find out after 

 half an hour's study how little the author has done for the 

 actor, how much the actor is called upon to do for the author. 



These views will find their illustration in the remarkable 

 notes by Professor G. J. Bell on Mrs. Siddons' acting, which are 

 now published for the first time, having been kindly placed at 

 the disposal of the writer by his surviving son, Mr. John Bell, 

 of the Calcutta bar. Written apparently on the spot, and 

 during the red-hot glow of appreciation, they bring the great 

 actress before us in a way which no laboured criticism or de- 

 scription could do. They show how noble an art she practised, 

 and might almost inspire some young and generous mind with 

 the power once more to create heroic men and women on the 

 stage. 



Professor G. J. Bell, brother of the great surgeon Sir Charles 

 Bell, was Professor of Scottish Law in the University of Edin- 

 burgh, and author of ' Commentaries on the Law of Scotland,' a 

 standard work still in high repute. He was well known by his 

 friends to be a man of fine taste and keen sensibility, as is 



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