bably have been sitting in my dressing-room at the theatre,
painting myself to fit the character of an _Alba_ or a _Richard III._,
for this evening's performance. Whether the public has lost much by it,
I can't say. At all events, there is no doubt that I have gained."

"I am amazed that you can speak so cold-bloodedly of something that any
other man would regard as the great misfortune of his life. After the
high opinion of your talents that I was led to form by your performance
of yesterday--"

"Do not allow yourself to be deceived by a little bit of coarse humor,
my excellent friend. A man, can rid himself of any other kind of
homesickness sooner or later; but no one who has once felt himself at
home behind the footlights can ever be free from homesickness for the
stage. I must confess that I felt a real pang of envy when I took my
little troupe of yesterday out of their box, and rigged them out for
the play. Now, does not that positively border on insanity? But reason
counts for nothing in such a case. I know that I, with my average
talent, could never have attained the highest point of eminence, and
that for that reason I ought to feel nothing but gratitude toward my
friend _Laertes_ for pushing me back into that obscurity where I can
plod comfortably along on the golden, path of mediocrity. And yet all
my philosophy oozes away the moment the conversation turns upon the
theatre."

"But should not this be so? and since you are justified in thinking
yourself a born actor, what reason have you for believing that the
highest distinction would have been denied you? Why should not your
fate strike you as a tragical one?"

"Because with all my good qualifications, especially for declamation, I
am not only a born actor but also a born German, which, I admit, sounds
like a very palpable paradox. But just consider our race a moment. In
spite of some rare exceptions, that stand out almost like miracles and
that merely prove the rule, it may be said to possess scarcely a single
qualification that would enable it to reach any decided greatness in
the art! Ought not the actor to be able to shed his own skin when he
slips into that of another? And when did a true German ever exist that
could put himself in another's place? When was he ever untrue to
himself?--when did he ever deny his personal virtues and faults? Don't
you see, the very thing that makes our people so respectable stands in
the way of our acting. We are not a p