A DIALOGUE.

SCENE. A hotel chamber, dimly lighted. Time summer evening. Mr. Booth discovered sitting at an open window, smoking. A glazed cap, and a roundabout formed a part of his dress, giving him the appearance of a "Middy Ashore." Enter Guest. Interchange of salutations and courtesies.

Guest. I saw your "Sir Giles last evening. How do you manage to carry the scene so smoothly, with such weak support? Actor. By close attention to the business of the stage.

Guest. But you seemed to lose yourself in your impersonation.

Actor. Else how could I identify character?

Guest. And can you keep up these two diverse processes of thought at the same time?

Actor. Nothing easier- after the machinery is oiled. In one view, that is a strange play, "A New Way to pay Old Debts," — not one honest person in it. They are all

rogues from beginning to end; rogues for virtue, rogues in vice. Shakespeare drew the foibles of the good; but he never blurred the lines, by making the good counterplot against the villains. Did you see how near they came to letting Shakespeare's birthplace slip into the hands of a Yankee speculator? I once saw, on the 23d of April, the whole way from London to Stratford lined with flowers, in honor of the poet. They should preserve every vestige of him.

Guest (Murmurs the title of a book then popular). "Vestiges of Creation.”

Actor (Catching the allusion, instantly rejoins). Yes, he was the god of the histrionic art in England. Can you tell me whether Howard Payne be still living?

Guest. I cannot. But I recall a bon mot upon him, made by some London critics, who "cut up " his tragedy of Brutus. The author was indiscreet enough to retort through the press. Whereupon the critics rejoined,

"The labor we delight in, physics Payne." and turned the laugh on him. Mr. Booth, did you ever read in public?

Actor. Reading is emasculate acting. The drama should never be so treated. (Then

added, smiling) I did attempt it once. I read the "Ancient Mariner" at the Chatham Street Theatre in New York. But the reading was a failure. The boys were cracking nuts and calling out to each other, "Hi! hi!" all over the house.

Guest. I fear your audience was of similar quality to those sailors, who are said to have bought up the first edition of the poem, out of regard to the name. But they soon became disgusted with the purchase. They couldn't fathom the meaning. "I would I had been there," and heard your reading, even with the "Hi! hi!” accompaniment.

Actor (whiff, whiff, in silence).

Guest. How vivid the imagery, how alluring the measure of that remarkable poem. "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew;

The furrow followed free."

Actor (continuing the verse).

"We were the first that ever burst,
Into that silent sea!"

Guest (Listens patiently, but hears no more of the "Ancient Mariner" that night. The actor was "not i' the vein ").

Actor. The reports about Rachel interest me greatly. She has become famous since

my last visit to Europe. The French style, even in the antiquated tragedy of Racine, is closer to nature than ours.

Guest. Is she a Jewess?

Actor. Juive Francaise (with exquisite purity of accent). By the way, this is the first Jewish month (September).

Guest takes leave.

Actor. Come down with me to supper; come, take a bit. I'm going in (on the stairs). Come now, you'd better take a bit.

Guest declines, bids good-night, and sees the actor pass across the hall, and out of sight, with his natural and kingly stride.

THE TRAGEDIAN.

His knowledge and accent of the French tongue were simply perfect. He played Oresté in Racine's tragedy, " Andromaque," at the French Theatre in New Orleans, repeatedly, and in a manner to rouse the wildest enthusiasm. Frenchmen of that city speak of him to this day, as a second Talma.

MEETING on one occasion, at the house of the late Governor Andrew, a select company of gentlemen and ladies, the talk turned on the stage and the drama, and was varied by imitations running up into the region of Shakespearean criticism. The Reverend Mr. Clarke, who was present, related an adventure he had with Mr. Booth in Louisville. His recital was the germ of an excellent paper, which has since appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. At the close of the interview therein described, and which appears so