New-York tribune., 1901-11-10
THE DRAMA.
HENRY IRVING AND ELLEN TERRY
FAREWELL PERFORMANCES.

| Henry Irving and Ellen Terry have again said
| Farewell to the New-York audience A perform
ance of The Merchant Of Venice" given at
| the Knickerbocker Theatre yesterday afternoon
and performance of Waterloo and The Bells
was given last night, and the Irving season.
which began on October e. was brought to close.
1t has been happy time for the lovers Of acting.
ana 1t has been, in every way. brilliant and pros
porous. The full repertory chosen by Henry Irving
for MS present American tour has been presented
/ a repertory comprising THE Merchant of Venice
| king Charles the First" King Louis XII The
| Bells" The Lyons Mail" Nine. Sans Gene
| Nance Oldfeld,' and Waterloo and thus
while various tastes have been gratifed. signif-
cant Illustration has again been afforded of
binary versatility and creative power Miss Terry
! took leave of her audience Portia.-presenting
| an image of imperial beauty and emblem of
noble intellect. Waterloo was acted last night
for the first time this season, and, by placing in
immediate contrast his ernbodiments of Sergeant
Brewster and Matthias. Henry Irving displayed the
| astonishing resources of his dramatic genius with
| irresistible plenitude and force
The actor who pass from Mephistopheles to
DR.. Primrose, from Hamlet to Don Quixote. from
Lesurques to Dubosc. from Robert Macaire to
Charles the First, from Edgar of Ravenswood to
King Louis XI, and from Brewster to Mathias.-
proving adequate every of these characters
ana. at all times, holding his auditors in perfect
sympathy.-has. beyond all question reached the
summit Of achievement in the art of acting. and he
may well receive the public homage. The contrast
between Brewster and Matthias is. in particular,
most expressive Of this great actors depth of feel
Ing and marvellous breadth Of range-for Brewster
is the feetins image of Pickering senility,
soldier just poised the brink of the grave:
and Matthias is the vital incarnation OF agonizng
remorse. criminal haunted with horrors and
slowly driven mad by the corrosive of iniquity
and the terrific dread of exposure soaring his heart
and shattering his will. OF the permanent value of
these embodiments whether moral or intellectual,
(the something precious that remains in the heart
understood). various minds will form various judg
ments: but ot both of them. it certainly is true
that they show the of all human
the frailty of mortal state, and the essen
tial weakness Of everything but virtue in all that
this world contains: and Shakespeare's master
piece. the sublime tragedy OF Hamlet" however
prodisal Of diverse riches. could. morally and spr
itually. do Henry Irving's embodi-
ment OF Matthias. viewed a personal revelation.
shows his imaginative temperament, his concen-
tration of intellect. his of will, his nervous
force. and his tremendous sincerity and thorough
precision of method. at their supreme height. In
this realm OF art he has had equal and we
shall not look upon his like again. AS Brewster
he touches the heart by painfully truthful picture
Of pathetic decreptude: it is the tragedy Of NOR
tality: Matthias he towers in the vast aerial
realm Of the imagination. dark and suffering
spirit that slowly fades into mystery of death
His audience profoundly moved. and he had
the response not simply of tears but OF the
erent thought that dwells beneath them. His
triumph is that of genius dedicated the no5lest
ends, great mind and heart, ambition that never
sleeps and labor that never tires. He has written
his IN golden letters this age and he
will be forgotten. ". W.