New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-16
Anglo-American Memories
IXXXrX.
nan CARDINAL woLseYs-sR AND SIR HERBERT
,copyr4sat. 1910. by George W. smalley,


OF the outside world. He forgot the ex-
lstence OF the box office. He renlem-
bered only his art and himself All his
art and all his wonderful personality he
put at the service of the character he
was about to impersonate New part or
old, il mattered not. He composed IL
for himself as IL il had never been
played before. He knew all the tradi-
tons and Of them all was independent.
They were his servants; not he theirs.
He took what he wanted: the rest were
the property Of the next conner He
thought out all his problems and all the
difficulties of hts part i'm his own way
and 70 his own end He read everything
and knew what 70 renlem Der and what
"a forget There was no detail which
escaped him, and none which embar-
raised him. BY reading and deeply re-
hecting upon the man he was 20 depict,
his mind became saturated with this
new conception Upon il, and upon each
new one in succession. he lavished, I
repeat. sll his gifts, all his technique,
al his overmasterins individuality; and
Of them al he made an imaginative use
His Richelieu was one thing, his Beckett
another. and his woIsey third.
His Wolsev was one Of those pictures
like Nillais's portrait Of Cardinal New
man. which never fade from the mind.
irving had. in a measure, the benignity
Of Newman. in whose face benignity
contended with strength But since be
nightly was only an occasional and per
hars hypocriticsI trait in Wolsey, Irving
never allowed 1t to he paramount. II
vas transitory. yet while Il lasted YOU
thought IL there forever. His face was
wasted by fasting: the scourge had been
laid on his shoulders; the daily torture
OF the hair shirt was his. In this lean
ness Of visage lay one Of Irving's resem-
blsnces TO Cardinal Manning: the skin
clung 70 the bones. But II Irving had
studied Manning he made no mistake:
he was under no delusion. He did not
impute 10 wolsev the cunning Of his
successor. he was clad in the lions skin,
not the fox's. The Wolsey who came
down to the Lyceum footlights was
he who wrote Ego Ct rcr Nous.
Punch in describing the inventory OF
Sir Herbert's stage properties, mentions
q portrait OF Tree as Wolsey- on the
frame Of which the last three words Of
the sentence have been rubbed out
Among all the visions Of all the Trvings
which I've in ones memory this Of VOL
sey IS among the most vivid. He had
taken the trouble 10 send TO Rome TO
get the exact shade OF rose-scarlet Of
which the silk robe Of a cardinal ought
To be made. I believe Sir Herbert had
done the same. but he had not taken the
precaution 10 fit II with that expression
or disdainful power which Irving's face
bore The great actor OF the Lyceum
seemed never 10 care-though Of course
he did care-whether you applauded him
or not. He wanted you 10 see and
understand what was in his mind, what
kind Of character he was seeking to
present TO you. and TO believe that while
Irving was on the stage this character,
WoIsey or another was what you saw
and heard No meaner triumph than
this contented him. He sometimes
failed. but Il was so high an ambition
that when he succeeded the failures
we're as If they had never been. And
he succeeded in Wolsey. And take
It that the public which throngs His
Majesty's Theatre 10 applaud Sir Her
bert Trees wolsey is a public which
had never seen Irving's. G. ". ;.