The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-09-28
VARIED CAREER OF
EARL OF ROSSLYN
James Erskine, Peer of British
Realm, Professional Actor.
He HAS TRIED MANY THINGS
Tried to Break the Bank at Monte Carlo,
Has Written Book and Been
Prisoner of War--ls Still
Amazingly Cheerful.

There is no reason why a. gentleman
should not be an actor. a well-bred &C
tor does not have to act the gentleman,
for it requires no effort TO be what he
is. The stage is not only an intellectual
calling but a polite one well, with its
rewards as high as those in the spheres
of art and music. Aud despite caTil ana
criticism 1t is steadily going onward and
upward. Succincuy put this is the way
James TrSliiut. alias the Earl OF Kos
slyn, regards The stage.
i went into the profession to make
a name for myself and propose 70 keep
at IL until l have done so. While l am
here and on the stage I prefer to be
known as James I1rsi1ine. and to bo
treated and regarded as my professional
standing warrants--not as the Earl OF
I.csslyn, peer OF the British realm, would
be
No man in the world had q higher So
cial standing than he. His sisters arc
two OF the proudest and most beautiful
duchesseS in England. They are nearly
as powerful socially as ever was King
Edward when Prince of Wales.
They are noted for their entertainments
n London and at their magnificent coun-
try houses. Naturally the brother OF two
such women lacked nothing in The way
OF social preferment. He was immensely
popular from his own personality also,
and this continued after he had lost his
fortune owing TO the pace at which he
had lived.
CREATED ASToNIslIAIs2NT.
The establishment which the announce
,nent that he was going to adept the
stage as n profession created therefore
can be readily imagined No peer Of
tha Iilitish realm had ever done such a
thing Some Of them had been mixed up
i.
had made proteges and intimate friends
of prize fighters and jockeys, but the
rolite world smiled and looked the other
way.
gut for one of its own to become n
professional actor and appear for all who
chose to pay the price 10 gaze at was
another thing. 1t was daring step. but
Lord RosSiyn has spent his whole life in
DONG daring and unconventional things.
A reorganization of his career reads like
q list of all possible and some seem
ingly impossible occupations for men.
After losing over q million dollars on
the turf in less than five years. some
OF II as racing partner OF Mrs. LanStry
de Battle and being repeatedly bankrupt
cd he IN turn tried his hand as sales
man IN a shop, as newspaper reporter,
editor and war correspondent as the
manager of perfumcry store, as a, cav
airy officer during the campaign in South
Africa, as the principal agent for a syn
dicate bent ON breaking the bank at
Monte Carlo by means OF system. and
as an actor.
HAS TRIED MANY THINGS.
Yet lie still retains the most amazing
cfeeliness of temper, high spirits and per
sonal charm. He has been a prisoner Of
war. has been engaged in a bitter news
rapcr conflict with Richard Harding
Davis. has written q book about the
Sonth American war, has been divorced,
and in spite of all sorts of episodes tina.
would have wrecked the career of any
oMe with less elastic temperament re-
tai9s MANY warm friends and supporters
in the best English society. his sister,
the Duchess CT Sutherland and the Coun-
tess of Warwick, remaining devoted 10
him.
in fact. he IS a young peer. who. at
a time when he might have been living
in luxury at the expense Of his brother
n-law. the Duke of Sutherland. and of
his other titled relatives, preferred to
work for his living at every trade that
came his way, occasionally finding him
self pcnniiess and hungry in the street
Now he has come to America to take