THE REFLEX EFFECT OF ACTING.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—In the hope that the line of thought indicated in the article on " Reflex Effect of Acting '•' (Spectator, June 29th) may be followed up by some one with leisure and opportunity for observation, I beg to enclose the following extract from D'Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature," article " Tragic Acting," as a slight instalment, which may be of use, and is certainly of interest :- " The memoirs of Mdlle. Clarion display her exalted feeling of the character of a sublime actress ; she was of opinion that in common life, the truly sublime actor should be a hero or heroine off the stage. ' If I am only a vulgar and ordi- nary woman during twenty hours of the day, whatever effort I may make, I shall only be an ordinary and vulgar woman in Agrippina or Semiramis during the remaining four.' In society she was nicknamed the ' Queen of Carthage,' from her admirable personification of Dido, in a tragedy of that name." The point raised is of great ethical value, and would well repay thoughtful
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