New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-15
MR. IRVING IN LONDON.


A. Irving and Miss Ellen Terry reappeareo az
A. ,.os,m ON Saturday in Much Ado About
Noth;ncr The occasion is perhaps unique III tue |
h;.,orv Of the theatre. There have been heroes oe
forc this present Agamemnon, but never "oro '"o
the circumstances quite the same MI Irving you
,oust remember. in going to America embarked
unon an adventure which many OF ms trlenus
thought rash in the extreme. He had AFTER many
wears of endeavor, conquered his English pubhc
He had perfectly secure future before him nau no
chosen to remain in England. London and the
Provinces contended with each other for hlin ana
his company. He had lived down detracton ana
played down if not criticism, which no ao'ot
on ght TO wish to get rid Of yet that hostlh'y anu
aversion VIII CT sometimes veiied them 'eiNcs uu"'i
the appsarance of criticism There We SUN '"o
n rifles There were those who admile1 irving anu
tbcs, VIII, disl XII him; those who saw IN II III an
actor of unrivt Q intelligence, and those VINO saw
in him no hing but the mannerisms and ecceh'r.ci
TIA, which obscured his talent. Bat the majority
wero with him. lie had contributed to the turning
of tho tide and the rise of his own fame by gOoo
sense as well as b; genius. lie had perl ap, not
forever. bat for the time, abandoned the enort' 10
impress Inns IL upon reluctant pablo as trase
dian of the Macbeth and Othelo type. lie re-
pounced thoss mCrs robust parts WHICH,
made dema IDS on ply ii resources which does
not possess in sufficient degree. He narrowed the
range of his art and gained strength aud partiSahS
with every fresh proof of self-oontrol There were
few playgoers who did not acknowledge the intel
lectual experiment of his Hamlet twhichiyou have
vet TO seo) his effective and novel knowledge OF
character parts in modern comedy, his immense
power in such meodrama as The Bells" the
oricinalty and truthfulness of his Louis AI, tho
accurate vivacity with which he depicted on the
stage the shifting moods of Bcncdick, and brought
out his w.t. his gift of repartco. his brilliant humor
and the sincerity beneath 1t. Here, surely, SAID the
play-loving public is range enough 10 content any
ambition and satisfy the most exacting audiences,
Everybody understood that if Mr. Irving played
Romeo it was piece Of chvalrOus generosity TO
Miss Ellen Terry as Juliet, and that it was more
than repaid to her by the tribute of admiration due
10 the splendor with which the play was put on the
stage and the reproduction of the life of the period
with a vividneSs never before seen.
The Lyceum Theatre, under Mr. lrving's manage
ment was at the time of his journey to you, at the
height of its prosperity His popularity was nm
tied to no class The stalls were not more devoted
to him than the PIT. The personal friendship which
surrounded HIM had its counterpart in the more
distant devotion of the humber admirers who
rained down applause on him from the gallery lie
was lion in society. Now position OF tins sort
may easily be endangered and Irvng's friends felt
that he was endangerng 1t when he made up
his mnd to abandon England for six
months and try his fortune in America
Not that they much doubted his success or dis
trusted the readiness of their kin beyond the sea
10 welcome the first English actor OF his time But
they urged upon Mr.. Irving that the absent are
likely to be in the wrong, and that six months were
quite long enough to lose much OF bat he had
slowly gained by years of perseverance. If he
failed-but they would not admit the likelihood of
failure What they laid real stress upon was the
of N prolonged absence.
Mr. Irving listened to their cOunsels and, as you
know put them aside. If ever for one single mo
mont no or his advisers questioned his wisdom III
doing So their doubts vanished before the whlrl-
wind of welcome that shook the Lyceum last night.
il is useless to SIX ones self whether this greeting
would have been the same if Irving had brought
back with him the news of defeat instead of tri-
urnph. When Macready returned from an American
tour the English cheers that saluted him were in
part protest against the enyious hostility he had
met abroad. But the acclamatOns of last night
were after all hardly more than an echo OF that
with which newer friends in the United States had
accompanied the progress of Mr.. Irving and Miss
Terry. That is what makes the occasion unique.
America is VIGOROUSLY distrustlnl of European YER
diets aud resoute TO have and express an opinion OF
her own. With the best intention OF absolute IN
dependence You had not boon able to avoid ratlIy-
ing our English judgment and now the English
w.
once more before an English audience TO resume
their allegiance and renew the afectiOnate relations
which of old have existed between actors and au-
diences in the Lyceum.
Never before, suppose, was the Lyceum made TO
hold so many people. The demand for seats would
have filed the house three times over, and one
heard of stalls that had been engaged for this re-
opening night before Irving had sailed for America
The public was fairly treated, and applications
A. fIa ant pta m ~
n comparatively small number for the multitude of
friends who must" be present. For once fear OF
the Lord Chamberlain was forgotten and seats
were put wherever there space, and the rows
of stalls were close that it was feat of gyInnas-
tics TO get past people in possession Boxes
which ordinarily hold four had six and
eight occupants. The pit presented a series OF
solved mechanical Problems two bodies OF equal
magnitude occupying the same equal space at the
Same time have seen many packed houses but
remember no other which left the impression that
the place had been cleared out and filed up again
with one compact mass of human beings The
human beings were naturally enough in state of
excitement. Before the play began the PIT aud
gallery cheered those whom they recognized IN the
stalls and boxes. They cheered. | am glad to say,
Mr. Lawrence Barrett heartily. They cheered Miss
Maria Terry and the lady who was once an ad-
mred and admirable an actress as Miss Kate Terry.
They cheered Sir Frederick Leighton and other
celebrities.
When the curtain goes up on the first scene OF
"Much Ado About Nothing" BeGtrice appears be-
fore Repodick and so Miss Ellen Terry came first be-
fore the audience. This lady is no less popular IN
England than in America, where, as Nj. Irving has
told u.s. she gained all hearts. The greeting she re-
ceved was such TO shake her nerves, and she
stood on the stage in the glare Of ptiless light ac
knowledging the applause with streaming tears
When she was allowed TO turn away she lad to
borrow a handkerchief. A whisper went round,
younger and more charming than crer" q" Yes"