The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10
HARD WORK BASIS ON WHICH Fg IRVING BUILT HIS CAREER
Story of the Poverty Stricken Days of hvings.
 Early Life When He Laid by Hard Study M the Basis for His Future Success.

4 book to which the actors innum-
 erable admirers have loked forward { for three years has at last seen the :4}rhf namely, the authorized Life or uIel1ry Irving, by Austin Brereton l<L6ngmans). says The New York sun. ;The narrative fills two volumes large octnvo. comprising upward or foo pages. and we are by no means sure that more distinct impression of the
 subject might not have been given Tn Ia more concise biography. The hrst
 yonIme is distended with a multitude 5of "details which can hardly interest th& general reader, as for example
 minute record of all the second tniro
 or fourth rate parts played by Irving during the ten years novitiate wnlcn he passed in prfvincial towns before he Y can fairly be said to have been 5launched upon the London stage. It lis known to everybody that as rule 1 d tyro in the theatrical profession does lnof begin by playing Hamlet or the jGl6st or Horato, or yet Laertes, but IS igiad enough to pace up and down in lth6 armor of Marcellus or Bernardo ion kthe watch. Irving had much more 1 ith&n his share of obscurity, poverty lanA bitterness, but to chronicle 1t a tchapter would have sufficed.
 
 {; T.. 1 John Henry Brodribb-this of course I was the real name of the actor known flo h1s as Henry Irving-was born in lFebruary. 1898, in the village of Kein- tfoif Mandaville. not very far from the fAbbey of Glastonbury. He was the fson of Samuel Brodribb, just then a IsnIa1l shopkepeer, who did not possess a4ha faculty of earning a living and con- isequently found it expedient to move
 from place to place. When the future
 actor was four years old his parents fweft to Bristol, and not long after ward to London, but fortunately TOT ffha boy's health he was consigned to his3 mothers sister in Cornwall Here he Rived till 1S4s, when he went to ghiS parents in London and was sent Ito khe City Commercial School, George sYakd. Lombard street. Here for two Lof three years he obtained such edu- eaton as he ever got outside of that which he gave himself. On leaving lsclfooI at the age of 13 in 1851 he was
 plaeed in the office of firm or soiici- tors, but a year later he was trans iferfed to a clerkship in the counting room of some East India merchants. Here he seems to have remained about sfo1Sr years, but commerce had no at-
 Rraction for him. All his thoughts were turned to the stage, which ne had already fixed upon for his future lprdfession. Every moment that could be Espared from his regular work was b.favoted to the study of plays, ana ne savafled himself of every opportunity ifork amateur experiments. WnepeVer inc nould afford 1t his evening would be spent In a theatre. - Ik 1888 he obtained from an actor EwlDse sympathy he had enlisted hetker of introduction to one Davis, I1haatrical manager more or less knowS s in khe provinces. and in September or lfhat year. being then IS, and half wears of age. he. obtained employment }on a very small salary at the sunder- hand Theatre. He was better qual- filled to succeed than the ordinary stagestruclx youth. He had stuuieo. ms we have seen, assiduousiys and had ET,vartised so far as it was possible. Ms an amateur During his youth in London he had also taken lessons In sdancing and for two years he went t4wfce a week to a school Of fencing'
 Acording to his bfographer he conttn- hued his practice in fencing when in kE,dinburgh and in London and hecame bnes of the best swordsmen on the theatrical. boards. When he arrived in he had a minor advantage lover most beginners. He had had Q little money left to him--Mr Brere- lton does not say by whom ana hao invested 1t in ''properttes Tor ex- Aample. wigs, tights, shoes, swords and lgloves.
 We have not the least intention of dwelling on these ten years during (which young Irving-he had droppe1 Ithe name of Brodribb when he went Ion the stage. his biographer does not gay why-played in provincial towns, sincluding Manchester, Edinburgh, fGsIasggow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Dub- lin.s and many others less important, and during which he was often glad to learn $10 a week, even when he could lkeep himself employed. He had done fthe humblest work. and at best had seldom been permitted to touch any tbut secondary parts. The professional fexperience, however, which he ac- squired was enormous. During his first two and a half years he acted 42S
 parts, and between 1860 and July, 1866, ,he added 160 characters to his reper- itoire, so that when he came to London Inc had at least fine record for in-
 dustry and a reputation as an am
 bilious actor. He had been in some
 good schools of acting-the stock com ,paIiies of Edinburgh and Manchester and he had supported some of the fore most players of the day, including
 Helen Faucit, Charlotte Cushman, Ed win Booth, E. A. Sothern, G. w. Brooke, J. L. Toole. Charles Matthews,
 MT and Mrs. W. J. Florence.
 To these ten years of trial and pri- walton Irving never alluded in a com
 plaihing spirit On the contrary, his Eunerings, mental and physical, seem ito have brought out the sympathetic side of his nature and to have inclined him to charity. Discoursing many Iyears later at the University of OK ford on Edmund Kean. he had occas- lion to portray the early life of that famous player, and there is no doubt lthat his own experiences were reveal led in the following words: For many Iyears after boyhood his life was one tof continual hardship With that un- Esubdued conviction of his own powers Fvliich is often the sole consolation of tgenius he toiled on and bravelY strug- tgled through the sordid miseries of a istrolling players life The road to success lies through many a thorny course, across many a dreary stretch of desert land. over many an obstacle from which the fainting heart is often tempted to turn back" Irving went lon to say, however, that "hope and tthe sense of power within which no
 discouragements can quell to inspire
 the struggling artist stin to continue
 the conflict, till at last courage and
 perseverance meet with their just re-
 ward and success comes. The only
 feeling then. to which the triumphant
 artist may be tempted is one of good
 natured contempt for those who after hao at 61y