endowment would be if allied with those outward resources which
complete the full largess of Heaven's favoritism. In the latter case we
yield our unqualified affection to beings who afford us an unqualified
delight. We are reverencing the gifts of the gods; and in their display
see clearly that no human will can secure that nobility of appearance
and expression which a few maintain without intention, and by right of
birth.

Bodily fitness is no small portion of a genius for any given pursuit;
and, in the conduct of life, the advantages of external beauty can
hardly be overrated. All thinkers have felt this. Emerson says "of that
beauty which reaches its perfection in the human form," that "all men
are its lovers; wherever it goes, it creates joy and hilarity, and
everything is permitted to it." Now there is a beauty of parts, which is
external; and another of the expression of the soul, which is the
superior. But in its higher grades the former implies the latter.
Socrates said that his ugliness accused just as much in his soul, had he
not corrected it by education. And Montaigne writes: "The same word in
Greek signifies both fair and good, and Holy Word often calls those good
which it would call fair"; and, moreover, "Not only in the men that
serve me, but also in the beasts, I consider this point within two
finger-breadths of goodness."

Can we claim too much for physical adaptation in our measure of the rank
to be accorded an actor? For he of all others, not excepting the
orator, makes the most direct personal appeal to our tastes. In his own
figure he holds the mirror up to Nature, while his voice must be the
echo of her various tones. By the law of aristocracy in art, he must be
held so much the greater, as he is able to depict the nobler
manifestations of her forms and passions. Of course the first excellence
is that of truth. A spirited enactment of Malvolio, of Falstaff, or of
Richard Crookback has the high merit of faithfully setting forth
humanity, though in certain whimsical or distorted phases; but we are
more profoundly enriched by the portrayal of higher types. And thus, in
making an actor's chosen and successful studies a means of measuring his
genius, we find in the self-poise which wins without effort, and must
throughout sustain the princely Hamlet, or Othello tender and strong,
that grand manner which, in painting, places the art of Raphael and
Angelo above that of Hogarth or Teniers. Each may be pe