s,
Shakespeare's--is a creature totally opposite in his whole
organization, physical and mental, to my father's; and as my father
cannot force his nature in any particular into uniformity with that
of Shylock, he endeavors to persuade himself that the theory by
which he tries to bring it into harmony with his individuality, and
within the compass of his powers, is the right one; but I think him
entirely mistaken about it. Kean did with the part exactly what my
father wants to do--adapted his conceptions to his means of
execution; but Kean's physical constitution was much better suited
to express Shylock as Shylock should be expressed than my father's.
My father attempts to make Shylock "poetical" (in the superficial
sense), because that is the bias of his own mind in matters of art.
Classical purity and refinement of taste are his specialties as an
actor, and neither power nor intensity.

Shylock's master passion is not revenge, which is a savage, but
avarice, which is a sordid motive. His hatred is inspired more by
defeated hope of gain and positive losses and threatened ventures,
than by the personal insults and contumely he has received.

Avarice is an absolutely base passion, and a grand poetical
character cannot consistently be raised upon such a foundation, nor
can a nature be at once groveling and majestic. Besides,
Shakespeare has not made Shylock "poetical." The concentrated venom
of his passion is prosaic in its vehement utterance--close,
concise, vigorous, logical, but not imaginative; and in the scenes
where his evil nature escapes the web of his cunning caution, and
he is stung to fury by his complicated losses, there is intense
passion but no elevation in his language.

There is a vein of humor in Shylock. A grim, bitter, sardonic
flavor pervades the part, that blends naturally with the sordid
thrift and shrewd, watchful, eager vigilance of the miser. It
infuses a terrible grotesqueness into his rage, and curdles one's
blood in the piercing, keen irony of his mocking humility to
Antonio, and adds poignancy to the ferocity of his hideous revenge.
This Kean rendered admirably, and in this my father entirely fails,
but it is an important element of the character.

My father is hard upon Kean's defects because they are especially