New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-19
THE LYCEUM.

rEs AND THE LATE Mr.. w. @. WILLS
DON ou1xoTE IN ENGLAND-TIE
STORY OF WATERLOO AND
MIR. IRvING's INCOMPATIBLE
CORPORAL BREWSTER.
London May s.
=, NAV no n ouestion whether Mr. Irving acted
entirely ON his own Judgment In producing Don
ouixote" on saturday. or whether he gave way
q tho ners,stent demand Of his admirers He
ms ,orr been told. and truly told. that he was
.ho ,doa, Don ouixote OF the stage. Truly told
,ha, to supposing stage Don Quixote to be pos
.u,,. or rrsc,,cable The difficulty lies not 80
r,,c, 4, the character, when once the right
actor has been found as in the play. NO man
,oa, care 10 have a harder task set him than
Tho, - making the story Of Don Quxote u'a
,,a,,c The immortal romance Of Cervan'ss mas
4, {, n ,rdlv the elements Of the dramauc' A. -
q character study & problem study OF sraVe
eoc,,l questions a luminous treatse upo" ''
end much else But the least important p"'' -
9. "a tho story. ana Of action there - "ai'''
nm, ovcept such as Is illustrative OF cha''e'e'
o,d ,diosyncras.es. The adventures are NV
ia for their own sake. The movement Oh '"e
narrative Is OF secondary significance. """'
Ceryantes did was to fling INTO H'e'"'"' -
Of those secular figures which appear "'''e
" - ~ several centuries. and live for
. yvi,b II all goes philosophy OF human
-. ,.ntcb In Cervantess own mind may wen
have been the main thirs. How remote al ''''
t.. ,r,r, the theatre need not be pointed ou'' nol
how unsuited to any conceivable pu'p''
the stage You might az Wen u'""'"'
rolden Ass OF Apuleius or Dialogue Vi
Whether il can be done or not 'ne 'd"
,,.u,s ,ros surely not the man to do it. he hau
done mischief enough in his time iie !,
mon tho stage a schoolgirl version of Charles
. ~ ,.,,,.,r forfeiture of Cromwell. He vulgar
tod Faust: in itself a feat with which the most
49,, ,o,.or of the commonplace or the ignobie
might rest content. lie left travesty OF Don
or,xo,a nc his posthumous legacy to the Lyceun''
Ar Irving loyal In all things. spoke OF Wits as
,,s doar friend. Personal affection may wen
ro,cb have ,n!sled him: albeit Mr.. lrNhs
,o,operial shrewdness seldom deserts h'm OF
4. s.d,m led astray by the impulses OF aHec"o"'
Tho latter he keeps In good measure Tor private
NO Ills duty 10 the public and to MS '"e""'
and To himself is n thing apart lie mas ~"
Lrnwn ,o reconcile the two In the FORM vi '."'
Nv Tint r. the testimony Of frieho VIM nav
60, IN, rcnsion lis, Of the Lyceum which II
,,,o,o cxamn,c Of generous consideration for ola
s.rvan,s whose DAYS Of useful service are past
r.ho ,ac, TINT Mr. Wills had written piece
ho,.d more or lcss Ceryantea might not VI ''s''
bc 10 MIR Irving n suncicn, reason 'or p'"'"''"'
n. That and the continuous entreaues "' '''''"S
,ndcious ami injudicious. might toHc'n'' w
nuonce his managerial Judgment Inc p,u"" ,
,,o, ~ saturday. however. was not Mr. Wi''ss
,cyocy What Mr. wills boqueothed to pos''r''
wos MAY IN. | think. four acts.-at any rate "
Mr.
one.oc, performance lie had obviously seec'eo
H., ,,as Iona, undramatic: point on which his
experience and instinct were likely To serve "'''
nau I, IL nil so clearly meant to enable Mr.
yrv,nv ia present different phases OF Don VuiN-
o,e,s character that any c.iicism on " rs an
acting play n wide OF the marx Wi'hou' MI
Irving Il would he impossible. The most 'oier"h'
~ nrst-n!ght audiences would never nave s"'
through Il 10 the end And there were moments
even on Saturday which seemed iull OF peril anu
symptoms Of revolt In more than one part OF the
hone Mr. Irying's long-established ascendancy
carried him Safely through A similar thing has
been seen at this theatre before now.
None ~ these criticisms occurred to anybody
a, the beginning Curiosity and interest were
nigh strung The audieQce was critical enough In
one sense II distinction of many different KINDS
NAV be supposed TO imply or to include the pos
session Of the critical faculty. Yet 1t can hardly
be thought to extend to Don Quxote." Ger
yantes's book is not unknown in England. but 1t
&c III known There IL no good English transla-
ton There is no general knowledge Of Spanish,
Tr,ardots French rendering which is perhaps the
hest that has been made. is no more common In
English libraries than Is. the original. The popu-
lar conception Of Don Quixote connects him with
Robinson Crusoe. at best with CULVER which
the' modern Englishman reads for the story. OF
perhaps does not read at all after he has left
school where no doubt the story was the attrac
tive thing II the average Briton. who reads
little French also found a modern analogue fol
\ "Don Ouxote" 1t would probably be "Tartarir
sur les Alpes'': Daudets exercise is pure buf
foonery: caricature Of his own Tartarin ofTar1s
con. which was itself carIcature To bracket thu
masterpiece of Cervantes with the extravagan
creation OF the clever Frenchman Is an act OF ir
religion, but Of that. as OF other blasphemies II
literature the modern Is capable. or what Is h
not capable? His ignorance is sometimes III
most excusable or plausible part Of his intellect
nal equipment On Saturday heard the questio
put again and again tosvarious people,
"Have you ever read Don Quixote'?
Never"
"Do YOU know anything about him."
Wasn't he mad?"
And once by way OF variation:
Hadn't ne something to do with windmills?'
Such was the condition Of mind vague II not er
tirely foolish In the greater part Of the audienc
upon whom the curtain went up that evening
What they beheld at first might well have cor
WINGED them that they had not come TO see fare
as one ingenious ornament Of society frankly sal
I'm advance ne supposed. Mr.. Irving IL fertile !
surprises. Whatever ne offers you In an unplaye
part will be. we all know. at least novelt,
He STROBE into the room the living image OF IN
sad. strange being whom Cervantes called int
life. There was not. at first. one single elemen
Of the ridiculous in this pathetic parsonage; HARD
10 even Of the fantastic. so Intense was Mr. Irving
realization OF an idea which, fantastic in itsel
had gained dignity from his devotion TO 1t. Their
was hardly more suggestion Of dsordered inte
,ect than you see in many a sanity face in whic
r.hed oyer the aesh TIL