MR. COMYNS CARR AND " MACBETH."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SxR,—In your notice of "Macbeth at the Lyceum Theatre," you are good enough to refer to my recently published essay on the play, which you assume to be "a more or less authori- tative exposition of the aims which Mr. Irving and Miss Terry have consciously sought to realise." I am afraid I cannot lay claim to this distinction. Mr. Irving's concelition of Macbeth was, if I mistake not, first presented to the public some thirteen years ago, long before it had occurred to me to write on the subject; and, on the other hand, my own views of the relations between Macbeth and his wife had been formed some considerable time before the present revival was in question. May I add that to me, who regard this play of Macbeth as the masterpiece of the master of our English tongue, the notion of writing this way or that "because a gifted and popular actress is not endowed with the peculiar tragic force requisite for the adequate interpretation of the character on the old lines," is so utterly inconceivable as to seem almost grotesque? There may be writers whose flexible temperament might fit them for such a task : I, at least, cannot claim to be of their number.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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