Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/368

 was that, should he succeed in the part, he should be engaged to play it in London; and the arrangement was duly carried out.

When he joined Miss Herbert's company at the St. James's Theatre in Oct. 1866 Irving was twenty-eight and a half years old, had been on the stage ten years, and had played nearly 600 parts (,, ii. 345). His first part at the St. James's was not Rawdon Scudamore, but Doricourt in ‘The Belle's Stratagem.’ Boucicault's play ‘Hunted Down’ was produced in November, and Irving's performance made a favourable impression. In Feb. 1867 there followed Holcroft's ‘The Road to Ruin,’ in which he played Young Dornton. A brief engagement with Sothern to play Abel Murcott in ‘Our American Cousin’ at the Théâtre des Italiens, Paris, was followed by a tour with Miss Herbert in England, and in Oct. 1867 Irving returned to the St. James's, now under the management of J. S. Clarke, only to leave it very soon for the new Queen's Theatre in Long Acre. Here, under Alfred Wigan, he appeared in Dec. 1867 as Petruchio in ‘Katherine and Petruchio,’ the Katherine being Miss Ellen Terry, whom he then met for the first time. His Petruchio was not liked, but during his engagement at the Queen's, which lasted till March 1869, he played with success three villains, two in plays by H. J. Byron, the third being Bill Sikes in Oxenford's ‘Oliver Twist.’ Like Macready, he was almost confined for a time to villains, for after a brief and unsuccessful engagement at the Haymarket in July, in August 1869 he was playing yet another villain at Drury Lane. In April 1870 he joined the company at the Vaudeville, and here, on 4 June, he made his first notable success in London, in the part of Digby Grant in Albery's ‘Two Roses.’ The run was a long one, and on his benefit night in March 1871 Irving added to his fame by reciting ‘The Dream of Eugene Aram.’

In this year, 1871, the Lyceum Theatre was taken by an American, H. L. Bateman, whose daughters, Kate and Isabel, were actresses. Irving, rather against his will, left the Vaudeville to join the newly formed company, of which Miss Isabel Bateman was the leading lady. On the opening night, 11 Sept. 1871, he played Landry Barbeau in ‘Fanchette,’ an adaptation from the German by Mrs. Bateman, the manager's wife. On 23 Oct. this play gave place to Albery's ‘Pickwick,’ in which Irving took what proved to be the leading character, Alfred Jingle. Bateman's resources were now almost exhausted; and as a measure of despair he accepted Irving's urgent entreaty to put on ‘The Bells,’ a version by Leopold Lewis [q. v.] of Erckmann-Chatrian's ‘Le Juif Polonais.’ ‘The Bells,’ produced at the Lyceum on 25 Nov. 1871, was a complete success. Irving, now between thirty-three and thirty-four, ‘woke to find himself famous.’ In place of the easy-going, comfortable Burgomaster represented in the original and other versions of the play he created a conscience-haunted wretch, and made horror the chief emotion of the play. ‘The Bells’ ran till the middle of May 1872 and during its run Irving acted nightly, in addition to Mathias, first Jingle and later Jeremy Diddler. On 28 Sept. 1872 Bateman put up ‘Charles I.’ by W. G. Wills [q. v.]. Despite much protest against the dramatist's treatment of Cromwell, the play was successful, and the pathos and dignity of Irving's performance of the King increased his fame. On 19 April 1873 Bateman put on Wills's ‘Eugene Aram,’ in which Irving took the title-part; and on 27 Sept. he appeared as the Cardinal in Lytton's ‘Richelieu.’ Here, for the first time, he came into comparison with Macready and Phelps. In spite of his nervousness, the originality of his conception, and the inadequacy of his support, his success was almost complete, only one critic of importance accusing him of monotony and feebleness of voice. On 7 Feb. 1874 ‘Richelieu’ gave place to Hamilton Aïdé's ‘Philip,’ where Irving snatched a personal success from a poor play.

Meanwhile, somewhat against Bateman's wishes, Irving was preparing a bolder stroke; and on 31 Oct. 1874 he appeared as Hamlet. The excitement among playgoers was great; and though the play was cheaply mounted and the audience failed during the first two acts to see the drift of a very quiet and original performance, in the end the rendering was a triumph. The play ran for 200 nights. Tennyson and others liked the new Hamlet better than Macready's, and Irving had now attained the supreme position among living actors. Criticism and even scurrilous attack were not wanting, and they broke into greater activity when in September 1875 he appeared as Macbeth. His Macbeth was not the robust butcher to whom the public were accustomed, and in bringing out the imagination in Macbeth, Irving doubtless, in this his first rendering, brought out too strongly his disordered nerves. The play ran for eighty nights. In February 1876 ‘Othello’ was produced. Salvini had