[During his American tour of 1882-1883, Salvini played in Boston. One
of his auditors, Henry James, the distinguished novelist, in the
_Atlantic Monthly_ for March, 1883, gave a detailed criticism of the
performances. Of Salvini's Othello he said:
... "What an immense impression--simply as an impression--the actor
makes on the spectator who sees him for the first time as the turbaned
and deep-voiced Moor! He gives us his measure as a man: he acquaints
us with that luxury of perfect confidence in the physical resources of
the actor which is not the most frequent satisfaction of the modern
play-goer. His powerful, active, manly frame, his noble, serious,
vividly expressive face, his splendid smile, his Italian eye, his
superb, voluminous voice, his carriage, his ease, the assurance he
instantly gives that he holds the whole part in his hands and can make
of it exactly what he chooses,--all this descends upon the spectator's
mind with a richness which immediately converts attention into faith,
and expectation into sympathy. He is a magnificent creature, and you
are already on his ride. His generous temperament is contagious; you
find yourself looking at him, not so much as an actor, but as a
hero.... The admirable thing in this nature of Salvini's is that his
intelligence is equal to his material powers, so that if the
exhibition is, as it were, personal, it is not simply physical. He
has a great imagination: there is a noble intention in all he does.
The pages which now follow, taken from Salvini's Autobiography, are
presented with the permission of his publishers, the Century Company,
New York.--ED.]