d the pomps and
vanities of this wicked world.

In many minor parts--or along the subsidiary lines of great parts--Mr.
Irving's subtlest power comes into effective play. Who, for example, can
be more gentle or more graceful with a little child? Who could hug the
"fool" more fondly than old _King Lear_? Then recall his wonderful
recognitions of old friends. When, in "The Dead Heart," he is liberated
from the Bastille, how old times slowly but surely dawn into
consciousness, and how quickly the dawn hastens into the noontide of the
tenderest fellowship and highest festival of joy. It is verily a
resurrection. After eighteen years' entombment this political Lazarus
comes forth to liberty, to leadership, to dominance.

In "Lear," there are two wonderful instances of recognition, the
recognition of _Gloster_ and of _Cordelia_. _Gloster_ is blind and
bandaged. _Cordelia_ has been long out of sight--if not in actual days
yet in depth of feeling--and the King himself is demented. Little by
little things shape themselves in the memory and fancy of the King.
There is something confusedly familiar in the voice of _Gloster_ which,
tone by tone, settles into recognition. In the case of _Cordelia_ the
father gradually subdues the King, and instinct takes the place of
reason; then, in a fine strain, comes the identification:

"Do not laugh at me,
For, as I am a man, I think this lady
To be my child Cordelia."

The utterance of these words by Mr. Irving is simply thrilling. The
tones, the glances, the approach, the embrace, lift up the words into
new light, keen and tender as the brightness of a summer morning. The
words themselves are by no means striking, are, indeed, the merest
commonplace, but, uttered with the natural pathos of a consummate actor,
they carry the play to its most subduing climax. The humanity and the
genius satisfy expectation in its most eager and jealous temper. Failure
at that point would have ruined the play. Which was better, _Lear_ or
_Cordelia_, in that critical action? We must first settle, Which is
better, the star of morning or the morning star?

[Illustration: MR. IRVING AS "KING LEAR." (FROM THE LYCEUM SOUVENIR.)]

* * * * *

As I opened this brief review with a reference to the religious
standpoint, it may be well now to ask how the Church is to regard the
Stage as an educational institution? The Stage cannot be put down. It
responds to an ins