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    ti&w are , but as old Homer described them * You , good critic of the present stage , will say that all this is too corporeal , and has little to do with the actual business of the stage , I tell you that all these things serve to develope the perfections of a man's body ; they tend to give him

    4 front of Jove himself , An eye , like Mars , to threaten and command , A station , like the herald Mercury . * * * * * A combination and a form indeed , Where every god doth seem to set his seal , To give the world assurance of a man . '

    It is through the eye that an actor makes his first appeal to the hearts and brains of an audience , and to make his first appeal successful , he should show that his mind's volition , his magnificent will , sways every movement of the frame it inhabits , even as by the inflection of voice and knee the rider rules the motions of the

    gallant steed beneath him . The hand of the actor should be like an ensign of command , when it is lifted in expressive action . The extension of his finger should arrest attention , like the impending stroke of an uplifted sword . Such should be the material organization of an actor , and the mind to inhabit it should not be less riph . He should be a poet , i , e . he should have a clear

    perception of all beauty both in nature and art . If he have not this perception he cannot comprehend the words of poets , and if he be a poet , he will be able to write plays himself . He should be a philologist , to enable him to dive into the hidden meanings of words , and thus ever use them with effect . He should be a linguist , inasmuch as that faculty is a powerful help to a clear enunciation , and the knowledge of other languages is necessary to those who

    would truly present the manners and customs of the people of other climes , He should possess a general knowledge of anatomy , and a clear perception of the details of human beauty as well in person as in feature . For want of this perception it is , that many actors , in striving by art to give character and expression to their faces , produce onl y deformity . Moreover the knowledge of anatomy and especially of comparative anatomy is necessar y to the clear comprehension of the effect of the varying passions of human

    nature . And tf the anatomy of the body be an important requisite , how much more so must be the anatomy of the mind . The actor must be a metaphysician , or he cannot deal with the refined subtitles which impart lights and shadows to character . He must be a logician , or he cannot trace effects up to their causes . Rhetoric ana oratory must walk hand in hand with him . He must be versed in history , or he cannot embody historic facts in spirit and in truth . His knowledge of costume should be widely extended , and he should combine just taste with antiquarian skill , Attd in addition to all this , the wider his knowledge and grasp of

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    Qtt On Theatrical Reform .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 632, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/38/