rb bearing, and his invariable authority
and distinction--all those attributes united to announce a ruler and
leader in the realm of the intellect. The exceeding tumult of his spirit
enhanced the effect of this mordant personality. The same sleepless
energy that inspired Loyola and Lanfranc burned in the bosom of this
modern actor; and it was entirely in keeping with the drift of his
character and the tenor of his life that the last subject that occupied
his thoughts should have been the story of Becket, the great
prelate--whom he intended to represent, and to whom in mental qualities
he was nearly allied. In losing Lawrence Barrett the American stage lost
the one man who served it with an apostle's zeal because he loved it
with an apostle's love.

The essential attributes that Lawrence Barrett did not possess were
enchantment for the public and adequate and philosophic patience for
himself. He gained, indeed, a great amount of public favour, and,--with
reference to an indisputable lack of universal sympathy and
enthusiasm,--he was learning to regard that as a natural consequence of
his character which formerly he had resented as the injustice of the
world. Men and women of austere mind do not fascinate their
fellow-creatures. They impress by their strangeness. They awe by their
majesty. They predominate by their power. But they do not involuntarily
entice. Lawrence Barrett,--although full of kindness and gentleness,
and, to those who knew him well, one of the most affectionate and
lovable of men,--was essentially a man of austere intellect; and his
experience was according to his nature. To some persons the world gives
everything, without being asked to give at all. To others it gives only
what it must, and that with a kind of icy reluctance that often makes
the gift a bitter one. Lawrence Barrett, who rose from an obscure and
humble position,--without fortune, without friends, without favouring
circumstances, without education, without help save that of his talents
and his will,--was for a long time met with indifference, or frigid
obstruction, or impatient disparagement. He gained nothing without
battle. He had to make his way by his strength. His progress involved
continual effort and his course was attended with continual controversy
and strife. When at last it had to be conceded that he was a great
actor, the concession was, in many quarters, grudgingly made. Even then
detraction steadily followed him, and its voi