they are under a dominating influence which can, on occasion, quench these feelings. If, in the one scale, the followers of Gladstone place the claims of humanity, the sentiments of honour, the credit of their country, in the other they cast the interests of their leader and their party; and then humanity, honour, and national repute kick the beam. It is not fancy, but very present reality, that recalls to mind, while contemplating his attitude on this occasion, some grim idol such as we read of as being worshipped by barbarous tribes, whose altar reeks with the blood of hapless and innocent victims. Under an influence no more respectable than that which those benighted adorers submitted to, a great number of our countrymen literally no longer dare to call their souls their own. Men have been asking this long while, how far the delusions of the party could carry them; how long it would be, and to what length they would go, before they would abandon the worship of the gloomy and truculent image which they have set up? And perhaps there will this much good spring out of the horrible calamity in Egypt, that it will bring the spirit of party before us in its ugliest aspect and attended by its most pernicious conséquences. When it is apparent that the voice of our common humanity, the natural impulses of Englishmen,

are held as nothing compared with the consistency" of a single man, the predominance of a certain party, a spirit may be evoked, before which the most devoted Liberal will recoil. But the complacency of Mr Gladstone is as yet unshaken. The whole nation was moved to its depths by the catastrophe of Sinkat. It demanded of the Premier, through speakers in the House, “Where are these thy brothers?" and his answer was, "Am I my brothers' keeper?" Surely we may continue the parallel so far as to say that the slaughters of the Soudan have set on his brow a mark which nothing can efface.

MR FECHTER'S OTHELLO.

TOWEVER critics who go to see Mr Fechter

HOWEV

may object to his foreign accent and French manner, it is impossible for the most prejudiced Briton to deny that he possesses great qualities as an actor. His features are handsome, his bearing noble, his gestures appropriate and graceful, his attitudes picturesque, and his countenance extremely expressive. Besides these endowments, he brings to the delineation of a character an anxious wish to comprehend it, not merely as an individual creation, but as a harmonious part of an entire play, and his intelligence and sensibility enable him to catch the subtlest meanings of its creator. With so much native power to rely on in executing an original conception, and a good taste that warns him against claptrap

and mere traditional effect, he can, and does, almost altogether dispense with conventionalism. We are therefore certain to find his representation of a great character highly suggestive, and very original; we receive convincing proof throughout the performance that it has been studied in an earnest spirit; and his qualities as an actor enable him to give full and clear expression to his conception. Experienced playgoers, accustomed to look to points, miss many, but are reconciled to the loss by a succession of others quite new and equally effective. With less than the traditional amount of emphasis, they find enough of passion and energy to give force and vivid colour to the picture, and to satisfy their desire for strong effect. And a younger generation, who bring nothing to the judgment-seat but a capacity for receiving new impressions, are gratified with distinct and artistic impersonations of the introspective Hamlet and the fiery Moor, and they return to the works of Shakespeare with a sense of his depth, completeness, and dramatic power, which their unstimulated imaginations had perhaps been, on mere perusal, too inert to supply. He who can produce these results fulfils the actor's natural function of interpreter; his performance is seen, not only with pleasure, but profit, and de

mands the respect due to the labour of a conscientious artist directed to a lofty purpose.

But, while giving Mr Fechter his due, it must not be forgotten that there is another whose interests claim even prior consideration. It is of great consequence to bestow on such an actor the encouragement and recognition which artists of all sorts, and players especially, find so essential to sustain their enthusiasm in their art, and their belief in themselves. But it is of greater consequence that the ideas of Shakespeare should preserve their full significance for each successive generation of his countrymen. And to measure rightly the value of Mr Fechter's impersonation of a Shakespearian part, it is necessary to ascertain what the precise conception was which the poet intended to embody.

Apart from the individual Othello, it is evident that the story and situations are eminently tragic and pathetic. Any man naturally estimable, who should, by the machinations of a villain, be urged to destroy the wife that he passionately loved, would be an object of interest and pity to the dullest audience. A newspaper report of a respectable mechanic who had been driven by such means to such a crime would contain deep tragic elements. A French novel, taking such a story as its basis, and an ordinary French