of Shakespeare, Desdemona
would have been guilty, Isabella would have ransomed her brother
at the Duke's price, Juliet would have married the County Paris,
run away from him, and joined Romeo in Mantua, and Miranda would
have listened coquettishly to the words of Caliban. The French
are exceedingly artistic. They understand stage effects, love the
climax, delight in surprises, especially in the improbable; but
their dramatists lack sympathy and breadth of treatment. They are
provincial. With them France is the world. They know little of
other countries. Their plays do not touch the universal.

_Question_. What are your feelings in reference to idealism on
the stage?

_Answer_. The stage ought to be the home of the ideal; in a word,
the imagination should have full sway. The great dramatist is a
creator; he is the sovereign, and governs his own world. The
realist is only a copyist. He does not need genius. All he wants
is industry and the trick of imitation. On the stage, the real
should be idealized, the ordinary should be transfigured; that is,
the deeper meaning of things should be given. As we make music of
common air, and statues of stone, so the great dramatist should
make life burst into blossom on the stage. A lot of words, facts,
odds and ends divided into acts and scenes do not make a play.
These things are like old pieces of broken iron that need the heat
of the furnace so that they may be moulded into shape. Genius is
that furnace, and in its heat and glow and flame these pieces,
these fragments, become molten and are cast into noble and heroic
forms. Realism degrades and impoverishes the stage.

_Question_. What attributes should an actor have to be really
great?

_Answer_. Intelligence, imagination, presence; a mobile and
impressive face; a body that lends itself to every mood in appropriate
pose, one that is oak or willow, at will; self-possession; absolute
ease; a voice capable of giving every shade of meaning and feeling,
an intuitive knowledge or perception of proportion, and above all,
the actor should be so sincere that he loses himself in the character
he portrays. Such an actor will grow intellectually and morally.
The great actor should strive to satisfy himself--to reach his own
ideal.

_Question_. Do you enjoy Shakespeare more in the library than
Shakespeare interpreted by actors now on the boards?

_Answer_. I enjoy Shakespeare everywhere. I think it would give
m