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Personal reminiscences of Henry Irving

Name: Personal reminiscences of Henry Irving
Author: Bram Stoker

by Bram Stoker

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Language: en1,294 downloads on Project Gutenberg

Subjects

Actors -- Great Britain -- Biography Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905

In: Plays/Films/Dramas·Biographies·British Literature

Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #68779.

About this book

Bram Stoker’s “Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving” is a memoir‑style portrait of the celebrated Victorian actor, written by a man who knew Irving intimately for nearly three decades. The work opens with a reflective preface in which Stoker argues that an actor’s life cannot be prefaced in the conventional sense; instead, he frames his book as a series of selected episodes that together illuminate Irving’s character, artistry, and the public’s response to his performances. From early Dublin recollections to detailed accounts of productions at the Lyceum, the text proceeds through a meticulously indexed series of chapters, each focusing on a particular play, friendship, or theatrical episode, offering a mosaic of Irving’s professional and personal world.

The voice is that of a late‑Victorian gentleman scholar, earnest and measured, with a tone that blends personal affection, critical observation, and occasional philosophical musings on art and fame. Stoker’s prose is dense yet vivid, reflecting the literary style of the 1890s. Readers who relish detailed theatrical histories, biographical sketches of cultural figures, or the period’s literary sensibility will find this collection rewarding, while those preferring brisk narrative fiction may find its reflective pace demanding.

Characters in Personal reminiscences of Henry Irving

Henry IrvingMiddle‑aged Victorian gentleman, dark hair, trimmed beard, crisp black tailcoat, theatrical backdrop
Bram StokerOlder Victorian scholar, moustache, round spectacles, tweed jacket, ink‑pot and quill beside him

The opening · free to read

Were my book a “life” of Henry Irving instead of a grouping of such matters as came into my own purview, I should probably feel some embarrassment in the commencement of a preface. Logically speaking, even the life of an actor has no preface. He begins, and that is all. And such beginning is usually obscure; but faintly remembered at the best. Art is a completion; not merely a history of endeavour. It is only when completeness has been obtained that the beginnings of endeavour gain importance, and that the steps by which it has been won assume any shape of permanent interest. After all, the struggle for supremacy is so universal that the matters of hope and difficulty of one person are hardly of general interest. When the individual has won out from the huddle of strife, the means and steps of his succeeding become of interest, either historically or in the educational aspect—but not before. From every life there may be a lesson to some one; but in the teeming millions of humanity such lessons can but seldom have any general or exhaustive force. The mere din of strife is too incessant for any individual sound to carry far. Fame, who rides in higher atmosphere, can alone make her purpose heard. Well did the framers of picturesque idea understand their work when in her hand they put a symbolic trumpet.

The fame of an actor is won in minutes and seconds, not in years. The latter are only helpful in the recurrence of opportunities; in the possibilities of repetition. It is not feasible, therefore, adequately to record the progress of his work. Indeed that work in its perfection cannot be recorded; words are, and can be, but faint suggestions of awakened emotion. The student of history can, after all, but accept in matters evanescent the judgment of contemporary experience. Of such, the weight of evidence can at best incline in one direction; and that tendency is not susceptible of further proof. So much, then, for the work of art that is not plastic and permanent. There remains therefore but the artist. Of him the other arts can make record in so far as external appearance goes. Nay, more, the genius of sculptor or painter can suggest—with an understanding as subtle as that of the sun-rays which on sensitive media can depict what cannot be seen by the eye—the existence of these inner forces and qualities whence accomplished works of any kind proceed. It is to such art that we look for the teaching of our eyes. Modern science can record something of the actualities of voice and tone. Writers of force and skill and judgment can convey abstract ideas of controlling forces and purposes; of thwarting passions; of embarrassing weaknesses; of all the bundle of inconsistencies which make up an item of concrete humanity. From all these may be derived some consistent idea of individuality. This individuality is at once the ideal and the objective of portraiture.

For my own part the work which I have undertaken in this book is to show future minds something of Henry Irving as he was to me. I have chosen the form of the book for this purpose. As I cannot give the myriad of details and impressions which went to the making up of my own convictions, I have tried to select such instances as were self-sufficient to the purpose. If here and there I have been able to lift for a single instant the veil which covers the mystery of individual nature, I shall have made something known which must help the lasting memory of my dear dead friend. In the doing of my work, I am painfully conscious that I have obtruded my own personality, but I trust that for this I may be forgiven, since it is only by this means that I can convey at all the ideas which I wish to impress.

As I cannot adequately convey the sense of Irving’s worthiness myself, I try to do it by other means. By showing him amongst his friends, and explaining who those friends were; by giving incidents with explanatory matter of intention; by telling of the pressure of circumstance and his bearing under it; by affording such glimpses of his inner life and mind as one man may of another. I have earnestly tried to avoid giving pain to the living, to respect the sanctity of the dead; and finally to keep from any breach of trust—either that specifically confided in me, or implied by the accepted intimacy of our relations. Well I know how easy it is to err in this respect; to overlook the evil force of irresponsible chatter. But I have always tried to bear in mind the grim warning of Tennyson’s bitter words:

“Proclaim the faults he would not show; Break lock and seal; betray the trust; Keep nothing sacred; ’tis but just The many-headed beast should know.”

For nearly thirty years I was an intimate friend of Irving; in certain ways the most intimate friend of his life. I knew him as well as it is given to any man to know another. And this knowledge is fully in my mind, when I say that, so far as I know, there is not in this book a word of his inner life or his outer circumstances that he would wish unsaid; no omission that he would have liked filled.

Let any one who will read the book through say whether I have tried to do him honour—and to do it by worthy means: the honour and respect which I feel; which in days gone I held for him; which now I hold for his memory.

BRAM STOKER.

4 DURHAM PLACE, CHELSEA, LONDON.

Page I. Earliest Recollections of Henry Irving 1

Earliest recollection, Dublin, 1867—Captain Absolute—Impersonation—Distinction—Local criticism—“Two Roses,” Dublin, 1871—The archetype of Digby Grant—Chevalier Wikoff.

Ii. the Old School and the New 8

Irving’s early experience in Dublin—A month of hisses—The old school of acting and the new— Historical comparison—From Edmund Kean to Irving— Irving’s work—The thoughtful school.

V. Converging Streams 27

A reading in Trinity College—James Knowles—Hamlet the Mystic—Richard III.—The Plantagenet look—“Only a commercial”—True sportsmen—Coming events.

Vi. Joining Forces 35

“Vanderdecken”—Visit to Belfast—An Irish bull—I join Irving—Preparations at the Lyceum—The property master “getting even.”

Viii. Irving Begins Management 46

The “Lyceum Audience”—“Hamlet”—A lesson in production—The Chinese Ambassador—Catastrophe averted—The responsibility of a manager—Not ill for seven years.

X. Shakespeare Plays—ii 59

“Romeo and Juliet”—Preparation—Music—The way to carry a corpse—Variants of the bridal chamber— “Much Ado About Nothing”—John Penberthy— Hyper-criticism—Respect for feelings.

Xi. Shakespeare Plays—iii 68

“Macbeth”—An amateur scene-painter—Sir Arthur Sullivan—A lesson in collaboration—“Henry VIII.”— Lessons in illusion—Stage effects—Reality v. scenery—A real baby and its consequences.

Xiii. Irving’s Method 82

“Eugene Aram”—Sudden change—“Richelieu”— Impersonation fixed in age—“Louis XI.”—“Up against it” in Chicago—“The Lyons Mail”—Tom Mead—Stories of his forgetfulness—“Charles I.”—Dion Boucicault on politics in the theatre—Irving’s “make-up”— Cupid as Mephistopheles.

Xiv. Art-sense 91

“The Bells”—Worn-out scenery—An actor’s judgment of a part—“Olivia”—“Faust”—A master mind and good service—A loyal stage manager and staff—Whistler on business—Twenty-fifth anniversary of “The Bells”—A presentation—A work of art—“The Bells” a classic—Visit of illustrious Frenchmen—Sarcey’s amusement.

Xv. Stage Effects 101

“The Lady of Lyons”—A great stage army—Supers: their work and pay—“The Corsican Brothers”—Some great “sets”—A Royal visitor behind scenes—Seizing an opportunity—A Triton amongst minnows—Gladstone as an actor—Beaconsfield and coryphées—A double—A cure for haste.

Xvi. the Value of Experiment 112

“Robert Macaire”—A great benefit—“Our genial friend Mr. Edwards”—“Faust”—Application of science— Division of stage labour—The Emperor Fritz— Accidental effects—A “top angel”—Educational value of the stage—“Faust” in America—Irving’s fiftieth birthday.

Xviii. Tennyson and His Plays—i 128

Irving on Tennyson—Frankness—Irving’s knowledge of character—The “fighting” quality—Tennyson on Irving’s Hamlet—Tennyson’s alterations of his work—As a dramatist—“First run”—Experts on Greek Art.

Xix. Tennyson and His Plays—ii 136

Before “Becket”—Irving’s preparation of the play— Re “Robin Hood”—Visit to Tennyson at Aldworth— Tennyson’s humour—His onomatopœia—Scoffing— Tennyson’s belief—He reads his new poem—Voice and phonograph—Irving sees his way to playing “Becket.”

Xx. Tennyson and His Plays—iii 146

“Becket” for the stage—My visit to Farringford—“In the Roar of the Sea”—Tennyson on “interviewers”— Relic hunters—“God the Virgin”—The hundred best stories—Message to John Fiske—Walter Map—Last visit to Tennyson—Tennyson on Homer and Shakespeare—His own reminiscences—Good-bye.

Xxi. Tennyson and His Plays—iv 156

“Becket” produced—Death of Tennyson—“Irving will do me justice”—“The Silent Voices”—Production of the play—Irving reads it at Canterbury Cathedral—And at the King Alfred Millenary, Winchester.

XXII. “WATERLOO”—“KING ARTHUR”—“DON QUIXOTE” 161

Acquisition and production of “Waterloo”—The one man in America who saw the play—Played for Indian and Colonial troops, 1897—“King Arthur” plays— Burne-Jones and the armour—“Don Quixote” plays—A rhadamanthine decision.