New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-23
LAWRENCE BARRETT.
oNE OF THE NoBLEST FIGURES OF THE
MODERN STAGE.

..oos Durinn the whole of his career, in a pup
lie life of thirty-fve years, he was steadily ana
continuously impelled by a pure and fine amol-
zion and the objects that he sought TO
were always the wOrthiest and the best. HIS
devotion 10 the dramatic art was a passionate
devotion. and in an equal degree he was devoted
10 n high ideal of personal conduct. Doctrines OF
expediency never influenced him, and indeed were
never considered by him. He had early fixed his
eyes on the dramatic sceptre. He knew that IL
never could be gained except by the greatest and
brightest Of artistic achievements, and to them ac-
cordingly he consecratcd his life. Whenever ana
wherever he appeared. the community was I'M
pressed with a sense of Intellectual character,
moral worth. and individual dignity. Many other
dramatic efforts might be trivial. Those oil
Lawrence Barrett were always felt to be important
Most of the plays with which his name is identliied
are among the greatest plays in our language ana
the spirit in which lie treated them was that of
exalted scholarship, austere reverence. and per-
feet refinement. lie was profoundly true to all
that is noble and beautiful, and because he was
true the world of art everywhere recognized hin
as the image of fidelity. and gave to- him the high
tribute of its unwavering homage. His coming
was ALWAYS a signal to arouse the mind. Ills
mental vitality. which was very great, impressed
EVEN unsympathetic behOlders with a sense of
fiery thought struggling in its letters of mortality
and almost SCATTERING and consuming the frail
temple of its human life. His stately head,
silvered with grazing hair. his dark eyes deeply
sunken and glowing with intense light. his thin
visage pallid with study and pain, his form of
grace and his voice of sOnorouS eloquence and
solemn music lin compass. variety, and sweetness
one of the few great voices of the present dramatic
generation, his tremendous earneStncss. his superb
bearing, and his invariable authority and dis
tinction-all these attributes united TO announce
a ruler and leader in the realm of the intellect.
The exceeding tumult Of his spirit enhanced the
effect of this mOrdant personality. The same
~sleeplcss energy that inspired Loyola and Lanfranc
burned in the bosom of this modern actor and il
was entirely in keeping with the drift of his
character and the tenor Of his life that the last
subject that occupied his thoughts should have
been the story of Beckett, the great prc!atc-whom
he intended TO represent, and to whom in mental
qualities he was so nearly allied. in losing
Lawrence Barrett the American stage has lost the
one man who served it with an apostles zeal, be-
cause he loved ii with an apostles love.
The essential attributes that Lawrence Barrett
did not possess were absolute enchantment for the
public and entirely adequate and philcsophic
patience for himself. He gained, indeed, a great
ohVuHo 4 PupHO Id'Oi, oiIu, WItu IclcIcllCc 10 an
indsputabe lack of universal sympathy and en-
thusiasm, he was learning to regard that as a
natural consequence of his character which form
erly he had resented as the injustice of the world.
Men and women Of austere mind do not fascinate
their fellOw-creatures. They impress by their
strangeness. They awe by their majesty. They
predominant by their power. But they do not in
voluntarily enticc. Lawrence Barrett although
full of kindness and gentlcness, and, to those who
knew him well, one of the most affectionate and
lovable of meD,-waS essentially a man of austcre
intellect: and his experience was according 20 his
nature. To some persons the world gives every
thing, without being asked to give at all. To
others it gives only what it must, and that with
a kind of icy reluctance that often makes the gift
a bitter one. Lawrence Barrett, who rose from
an obscure and humble position, -withOut fortune,
without friends, without favoring circumstances,
without education, without any help save that of
his talents and his will.-was for a long time met
with Indifference, or frigid obstruction, or i'm
patient disparagement. He gained nothing with
out battle. lie had to make his way by his
strength. His progress involved continual effort,
and his course was attended with continual con-
troversy and strife. When at last it had 10 be
conceded that he was a great actor, the concession
was, in many quarters, grudgingly made. Even
then detractiOn steadily followed him, and its
voice-though impotent and UNNECESSARILY trivial
has not yet died away. There came a time when
his great worth was widely recognized, and from
that moment onward he had much prosperity, and
his nature expanded and grew calmcr and swecter
and brighter under its influence. But the habit
of warfare had got into his acting, and more or
less it remained there 10 the last. The ~assertivc
quality. indeed, had long since begun 10 die away
The volume of needless emphasis was growing less
and less. Few performances on the contemporary
stage are commensurate with his embodiment6 OF
Harebell and GringOire, in s~oftness, simplicity,
poetic charm, and that gentle ~quietude which Is
The repose of the self-centrcd soul. But his deep
and burning desire 10 be understood, his anxiety
lest his effects should not be appreciated, his III
yeteIatc purpose Of conquest, this overwhelming
solicitude of ambition often led him to insist upon
his points, 70 overelaborate and enforce them
and in that way his art TO some extent dcieatF0
itself by the excess of its eager zeal. The splTl'
Of beauty that the human race pursues is the
spirit that is typifed in Emcrson's poem OF "1hc
Vanishers"-the elusive spirit that all men lee
and no man understands. This truth, undiScerncd
by him at first, had become the conviction Oh M
riper years: and if his life had been spared tic
autumn Of his professional career would have been
gentle, serene, and full Of tranquil loneliness.
The achicy cmcnt of Lawrence Barrett as All
actor was great, but his influence upon the stage
was even greater than his achievement. Among
the Shakespcarean parts that he played were
Hamlet. Macbeth. King Lear. Othello, laso. Shy
lock, Leontcs, Cassius, Wolsey, Richard III
Romeo. and Benedict. Outside OF Shakespeare
Ito mention only a few of his impersona'lols ne
acted, Richelieu, Evelyn, Aranza, GarrIck. Oiauo'
Melnotte, Rienzi, Dan'l bruce. Lanclotto, Iler
mani, King Arthur, ami Ganelon. The rar'S IL
which lie was supcrlatively iine,-and III some
respect Incompatible CassiuS. Iiarcoct
Yorick, Gringoire. King Arthur, and James ',
King of the Commons. In his time he nae
played hundreds of parts, ranging over the whoi'
field of the drama. but as the years passed ano
the liberty of choice came more ana more "i'hin