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 man I owe all—I built myself up on him!' The fact is," continued Mr. Irving, "when I was playing at the St. James's, after I had finished I would often drop into the gallery of the Princess's Theatre and see the end of a French play. From that gallery I saw an actor, which caused me to say inwardly, 'That's my man.' He was great. That actor was Lafont. That is how I recognised him in Mathews' album.

"Mathews was always letter-perfect, and severe with the forgetful ones. Here is an instance. I was once playing at Edinburgh in 'Bachelor of Arts.' A certain actor was cast for the part of Adolphus. Mathews, in the play, was his tutor. It was necessary for the elucidation of the plot for Adolphus to tell the story of his life to his tutor. The scene arrived. He did not know his part. He started and stumbled, started again and stumbled worse, until at last, thinking to get out of it, he turned to Mathews and said: 'Well, er—if you'll come into the next room I'll tell you the story!'

"Mathews caught him by the coat.

Sit down, sir,' he cried, 'sit down. There are some ladies and gentlemen in this house to-night who would like to