s make but poor professors, while the best private
teacher I ever met was, like Michonnet, but an indifferent actor
himself. The danger is that the pupil in this kind of instruction may
become a mere imitator of his model. Imitation is the worst mode of
learning, and the worst method in art, as it kills the individual
creative power, and in most cases, the imitators only follow the
peculiar failings of their model.

"There are many objections to dramatic schools, some of which are
very forcible. There is in them, as in private teaching, the danger
of imitation, and of getting into a purely mechanical habit, which
produces conventional, artificial acting. Yet it is not to be denied
that a great number of the best French and German actresses and
actors have been pupils of dramatic schools, and that two of the
schools--those of Paris and Vienna--have justly enjoyed a great
celebrity. Of the schools I have known personally I cannot speak very
favorably. One point must be borne in mind; a dramatic school ought to
have an independent financial basis, and not rely for its support on
the number of its pupils, because in such a case the managers might
be induced to receive candidates not in the least qualified for the
dramatic profession.

"Of the three elements that, in my opinion, go to make up a good
dramatic artist, the first one, technique, must be acquired by
professional training; the second and higher one, which is art itself,
originates in a natural genius, but can and ought to be improved by
the general cultivation of the mind. But there is yet something beyond
these two: it is inspiration. This cannot be acquired or improved, but
it can be lost by neglect. Inspiration, which Jefferson calls his
demon, and which I would call my angel, does not depend upon us.
Happy the moments when it responds to our appeal. It is only at such
moments that an artist can feel satisfaction in his work--pride in his
creation; and this feeling is the only real and true success which
ought to be the object of his ambition."

* * * * *

There is but very little chance for women to succeed as lecturers at
the present time. Some few years ago the country seemed to be overrun
with orators, both male and female. Probably the woman-suffrage
excitement had a great deal to do with this; at all events, there is
not much demand now for female eloquence. Twelve years ago a number of
distinguished women were before t