importance which are unknown to the complex method. Under the latter
system, the attention of the spectator is largely absorbed by the
triumphs of the scene-painter and machinist, of the costumier and the
musicians. The actor and actress often elude notice altogether.

Macready, whose theatrical career was anterior to the modern
spectacular period of Shakespearean representation, has left on record
a deliberate opinion of Charles Kean's elaborate methods at the
Princess's Theatre in their relation to drama and the histrionic art.
Macready's verdict has an universal application. "The production of
the Shakespearean plays at the Princess's Theatre," the great actor
wrote to Lady Pollock on the 1st of May 1859, rendered the spoken text
"more like a running commentary on the spectacles exhibited than the
scenic arrangements an illustration of the text." No criticism could
define more convincingly the humiliation to which the author's words
are exposed by spectacle, or, what is more pertinent to the immediate
argument, the evil which is worked by spectacle on the actor.

Acting can be, and commonly tends to be, the most mechanical of
physical exercises. The actor is often a mere automaton who repeats
night after night the same unimpressive trick of voice, eye, and
gesture. His defects of understanding may be comparatively unobtrusive
in a spectacular display, where he is liable to escape censure by
escaping observation, or at best to be regarded as a showman.
Furthermore, the long runs which scenic excess brings in its train
accentuate the mechanical actor's imperfections and diminish his
opportunities of remedying them. On the other hand, acting can rise in
opposite conditions into the noblest of the arts. The great actor
relies for genuine success on no mere gesticulatory mechanism.
Imaginative insight, passion, the gift of oratory, grace and dignity
of movement and bearing, perfect command of the voice in the whole
gamut of its inflections are the constituent qualities of true
histrionic capacity.

In no drama are these qualities more necessary, or are ampler
opportunities offered for their use, than in the plays of Shakespeare.
Not only in the leading roles of his masterpieces, but in the
subordinate parts throughout the range of his work, the highest
abilities of the actor or actress can find some scope for employment.
It is therefore indispensable that the standard of Shakespearean
acting should always be maintain