ould merely use some obscure phrases about
unsuitability of temperament instead of saying something usefully brutal
about the folly of these admirable artists. If we go a little further,
our editors are pestered with letters to which we have the privilege of
replying.

The whole thing is absurd. The public is not deluded, and we hear
murmurs in the theatre and outcries in the streets about the fact that
Miss So-and-so is far too ugly for her part and Mr So-and-so too old,
and the plays fail because the charges are true and the stage illusion
has never been created, and the critic's authority--if any--is weakened.
There are as many bad performances because the players are physically
unsuitable as because they are otherwise incompetent.

If these ideas were acted upon the profession at large would gain, for
the players would be put more constantly in circulation; on the other
hand it will be suggested that the actors and actresses would grow less
skilful, since it may be imagined that their highest achievements are
exhibited when overcoming the greatest difficulties, in which
proposition there is an obvious fallacy; and also that they would gain
less experience, having a smaller variety in parts.

The advocates of the old stock system certainly would howl, because they
think it did an actor good to play a great number of vastly different
characters. It must, however, be recollected that in the time when the
stock system flourished, putting aside the comparatively small classic
repertoire, a very large proportion of the pieces were written upon more
mechanical lines than the better plays of the present time, and parts
tended to become classifiable into distinct well-known categories.
To-day popular players are often engaged for long terms at theatres,
where they are inevitably given characters for many of which they are
unsuited in physique or temperament, to say nothing of age.

Another matter is the question of accent. From time to time we have
players on our boards who speak English with a foreign accent in parts
where such an accent is an absurdity. No doubt some have grappled with
this difficulty very cleverly. Modjeska, for instance, Bandmann, Mlle.
Beatrice, Marius, Juliette Nesville and the lady who played here as
Madame Simon le Bargy.

The memory of few goes back to Fechter, and it would hardly be tactful
to refer on this topic to several American players. The effect, however,
necessarily is unfortunate; it