" No one who heard it can possibly have yet
forgotten it. The two men used echoes of one another's voice, then
outpaused each other. It was a contest so determined, so unrelaxed, so
deadly, so inveterate that you might have slept between its encounters.
You did sleep. These men were strong men, and knew what they wanted. It
is tremendous to watch the struggle of such resolves. They had their
purpose in their grasp, their teeth were set, their will was iron. They
were foot to foot.
And next morning you saw by the papers that the secondary, but still
renowned, actor, had succeeded in sharing the principal honours of the
piece. So uncommonly well had he done, even for him. Then you
understood that, though you had not known it, the tragedian must have
been beaten in that dialogue. He had suffered himself in an instant of
weakness, to be stimulated; he had for a moment--only a moment--got on.
That night was influential. We may see its results everywhere, and
especially in Shakespeare. Our tragic stage was always--well, different,
let us say--different from the tragic stage of Italy and France.
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