The sun., 1899-10-15
Sir Henry Irving on tho Drama.

From Tie London Daily Chrontels.
Sir Henry Irving laid the m emorial stone OF
a new theatre 10 Lower Brouehton. populous
suburb OF Manchester. Sir Henry said:
II have come here to-day with the keenest
pleasure to take part In this ceremony. for
whenever hear Of q foundation stone OF Q
new theatre always want to lay 1t. and rejoice
over 1t as hen does over an egg. You will
gather from this that am a bit OF an snthu-
siast on this subject. For many years now
l have been preaching the theatre. not
only from the standpoint OF art. but also
on sound social policy. I have always
contendsd that q well-condueted playhouse
IL a centre OF rational recreation. and
without rational recreation no community can
pretend to have It's faculties in proper order. I
know that when we talk about the theatre in
relation to general education some wise person
10 sure to start up and ask whether particular
piece Of BtaRe-work-always chosen in this
| connection for certain defects OF matter or
| taste-is the kind OF thing on which We base
the educational prstensiop%s % OF The drama ran The
broadly-just as we take the literature Of fc.
tion-and maintain that its influence tends to
making due allowance for the i'm perfectons OF
human nature. is productive Of social benefit,
nature IN tho drama. Il So. then there is too
IN s ns "ST ee sa' Ses sns Ss
| In for the suppression OF all public manifest-
the circulating library, and make the publica.
| ton OF newspapers penal of-nce, But really
and ! am half ashamed to mention It here.
don't apologize Tor this foundation stone; !
the Of thos. arste
lifs which tighten the burden Of daily toll
taesn In ior sTaS,ed 3 NoSods ehsrs es.
uIon to Justify III. theatre; Tor Y /. intt.
Taona Tor to rsc.ivs P9t eters as'ir rom
consistent With Christian moraIs9I; and ASK
Of tn. affirmative. some lay. j hone, play
going will eease to be bone Of contention in
purely historical an academic topic OF discuss
sion. Ike the execution OF CharlesI. look to
Ind Ths s'mnI tSH, a
am glad To- Say. goes on pace and that YOU
ss ets in
| IL a worthy tribute to your public spirit"
| DR.. De CoSta's Withdrawal Reprobatsd.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-Sir: Your edI.
torlal this morning on The Briggs Contro.
| versy Revived" speaks of Dr. De Costas with
drAwal from the Episcopal m nistry as the frat
| manifestation among the EpscopAl clergy OF Q
| positive conviction that In toleratinR and SUBJ
| stantially adopting the Biblical theory OF DR..
| Briggs that Church has revolutionized and
| outraged its hAtor faith. and thus forfeited
itG right to the title Of Christian" You also say
that he abandons 1t because he believes that by
departng from The faith it has lost its title to
| Now. the Church has not adopted the theory
| Of DR.. BrigRs. nor has It departed from the
| faith. The Church ts too big to adopt he views
| OF any mere man. and there 10 room In IL for
any ono who believes RI" Apostles Creed Ia itI
! IN his prelilectiOns. II here be any IN tho
Church who do not 30 believe. their member
| ship is merely an evidence Of their hypocrtsyI
men as ny pOGrltes. Our Bishops do not claim
| infhlbility. They may make mistakes, they
| have made many In the past; but tho whole
| organization Ia not responsible for tho mis-
ton appears To be less the result of his convic-
| tons than OF an uncertainty as to the right n
| he 10 sure that tn" ground he has taken Ia tha
| past - the correct one II sesms to me tnHt 10
| holy orders, and TO exert his influence Nc
lsaysn IN the correction OF over-zealous Broad
| Churchmen.
| drhwal " III be a positive source o. discourage
| mont to those men who are striving to aevats
| the plane of good churchmaHshp When
| thso'ogian Of destructive tendencies Ia admitted
those loyal to her traiiti tions is a ! the more az.
| parent. The resignation oi DR. Ds Costa mp
| pears 70 me even more destructive In its ten
dency than was the admiss on OF DR. Briggs,
to-la,. an let US not httempt tn wsiken 1t hy
such defections as this Of Dr. De Costa / cAn-
not believe that there will be found many
Ghurchmen. High. Low or Broad. who will 20,
'S&;S &ss' e G4VSs. RSS.GSs 81 .mli.0A' Il b LII