New-York tribune., 1885-03-31
up JpnJNC ATCdNBRIDGE.


| albeit without precedent in this country, were
not without reason. The highest distinction
claimed for him by his admirers in England If
that he has founded school of acting OF dis
tinctively intellectual quality. Every one OF his
Shakesperian performances has given an i'm
pulse to dramatic literature and CRITICISM mas
suggested new ideas of the real meaning OF
familiar lines. has revived discussions among
scholars respecting subtle beauties and refine
ments of method in the poets art and has de-
yeloped the thinking function OF audi
ences. His pre-eminence as an actor
is Justly attributed in England to his intellect
nal insight, whereby he has been enabled to
present the masters of dramatic literature as
they are, without following blindly all the ira
ditions of the stage and reproducing conven-
tional methods. An actor who has done so
much TO impart knowledge, as well as to inter-
pret and reveal character, has intellectual cre-
dentials which may be respectfully accepted by
the oldest university on either side OF the
Atlantic. This is the Office which Harvard Col
lege has performed very gracefully. In honor
ing him il has recognized not only .histrionc
genius, imagination and scholarship, but also
his supreme power an educator.
HE auureSS utlNtItu III f'SpohSt " Wis it-
markable tribute was in every sense worthy of
SO impressive an occasion. Our readers this
morning have the privilege of reading the full
text. They will find it treatise on the dig
nifty of the art of acting Its elements, aims,
requirements, practice, standards and rewards.
He claims for his profession a high plane in the
world of intelligence and insists that it must
be Judged by its noblest and not by its most
ignoble products lie contends that 1t il n
constant medium for the diffusion of ideas and
a very active agent in the spread OF knowledge
and the development of taste. He does not
DENY that one of the functions OF the
stage is to give genuine and whole
some entertainment to workaday world,
but he maintains that in its highest
achievements il does much more that it edu-
Gates those whom it entertains and promotes a
widespread appreciation of the greatest works
of human imagination. He makes an earnest
plea for his profession as one that is steadily
growing in credit with the educated classes,
and constantly drawing recruits from them.
Everything that Mr.. Irving says in defence
Of the high standards Of his art will tend to
dignity profession which he represents to be
worth the honest, conscientious self-devotiOn
of men and women making it the bust
ness of their lives. His reflections upon
the technicaities of his craft are equally
interesting although pitched i'll a lower key.
lie ingeniously meets the criticism which is
generally offered to his own nmethod of associat-
ing other arts with thatof acting. the represon-
ta,ion of great works. He recommends truthful
stage pictures, which shall appeal to the eye
and impress the judgment without distraeting
the imagination from the purpose of the acting.
He has only words of censure for undue scenic
decoration and the conversion of plays into
pageants. He has been often accused Of over
loading his own stage with lavish decoration
but his own Judgment is that there can be no
danger SO long as the ends OF verisimilitude are
closely kept in view and scenic effects are
subordinated to the real purpose of the play.
He gives capital illustration OF what has
been described as his own " naturalistic sty yle
in a telling anecdote of Charlotte ushman,
showing by what simple devices and accidental
effects she enforced the lesson of realism as an
element of dramatic truth. The address is one
that will take high rank as profound and
artistic study of the best tendencies of the art
of acting as it is practised to-day by those who
have not only mastered it, but have also
elevated it III the estimation of thinking men.