d
great triumphs in Shakespeare. Now, it may be observed that in most of
his tragedies, though not guilty of writing "star" parts, Shakespeare,
himself an actor, took very great pains to create "fat" acting parts,
and the actor-managers of the eighteenth century were careful that, in
the mutilated versions which they presented, these parts did not shrink
in relative importance. The great dramatist's action in this respect is
not, as a general rule, followed by the serious playwrights of the
present.

Whilst speaking of Shakespeare, one may refer to a passage in the essays
which has some bearing on the question of the place of acting in the
hierarchy of the arts. Garrick clearly was the greatest actor of his
century; but in speaking of Barry, Mr Irving says: "He had not Garrick's
fire or versatility; he had no gift for comedy; but in such parts as
Othello, Romeo and Alexander the Great his superior physique, his
stately grace, his charming pathos gave him the victory." _His superior
physique_ is a phrase which explains the reluctance of some fully to
admit the actor's claim for his art: they think that the purely physical
enters too often into the matter. There may even be detractors moved by
jealousy, unknown, perhaps, to themselves, of the "superior physique."

Possibly there are more subtle reasons why many writers are unwilling to
recognize the highest claims of the actor. They are perhaps, discernible
in what Mr Irving calls "the sympathetic reflections of Charles Lamb"
and the "impressive nonsense that Doctor Johnson talked" about acting.
In one of the essays we find: "There has been at all times a certain
resentment on the part of some writers against the player, against his
immediate fame.... It is a form of jealousy that has warped many
otherwise enlightened minds: an envy that forgets that a capacity to act
is a much rarer gift than a capacity to write." What is the meaning of
the last sentence. Does it mean that Garricks are rarer than Tuppers?--a
sad thought: or that Siddonses are rarer than Shakespeares?--which may
be denied confidently.

Does it mean anything? Perhaps not. It merely exhibits a confusion
between the relative and the absolute. This warping jealousy--if it
exist--really is due to a feeling that the actor becomes great in
popularity at the expense of the author. When the actor causes the
triumph of the play the author should be grateful; when the play causes
the triumph of the actor the play