t the creative power, and so it remains a question if the
greatest actor can properly be said to possess it. Again, how far
does the masterly filling out of an inferior conception by a
superior execution of it, such as really great actors frequently
present, fall short of creative power, properly so called? Is it a
thing positive, of individual inherent quality, or comparative, and
composed of mere respective quantity? Can its manifestation be
partial, and restricted to one faculty, or must it be a pervading
influence, permeating the whole mind? Certainly Mrs. Siddons was
what we call a great dramatic genius, and off the stage gave not
the slightest indication of unusual intellectual capacity of any
sort. Kean, the only actor whose performances have ever realized to
me my idea of the effect tragic acting ought to produce, acted part
of his parts rather than ever a whole character, and a work of
genius should at least show unity of conception. My father, whose
fulfilling of a particular range of characters is as nearly as
possible perfect, wants depth and power, and power seems to me the
core, the very marrow, so to speak, of genius; and if it is not
genius that gave incomparable majesty and terror to my aunt's Lady
Macbeth, and to Kean's Othello incomparable pathos and passion, and
to my father's Benedict incomparable spirit and grace, what is it?
Mere talent carried beyond a certain point? If so, where does the
one begin and the other end? Or is genius a precious,
inconvertible, intellectual metal, of which some people have a
grain and a half, and some only half a grain?... There is dreadful
news from Spain, and I fear it is too true. Torrijos has made
another attempt. Oh, how thankful we must be that John is returned
to us!

GREAT RUSSELL STREET, Monday, December 23.
DEAR MRS. JAMESON,

I owe you many excuses for not having sooner acknowledged your
letter, but you may have seen by the papers that we have been
bringing out a new piece, and that is always, while it goes on, an
engrossing of time and attention paramount to all other claims. It
is a play of Lord Francis Leveson's, and I know you will be glad to
hear that it has been successful and is likely to prove serviceable
to the theater. Another reason, too, for m