Personal reminiscences of Henry IrvingStoker, Bram
General
Personal reminiscences of Henry Irving
Stoker, Bram
Actors -- Great Britain -- Biography; Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905
He had had also two Kean pictures on which he set great store. One of
large size was the scene from _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_, in which
Kean appeared as Sir Giles. The other was the portrait done by George
Clint as the study for Kean in the picture. This latter was the only
picture for which Edmund Kean ever sat, and Irving valued it
accordingly. He gave the large picture to the Garrick Club; but the
portrait he kept for himself. It was sold at the sale of his effects at
Christie’s where I had the good fortune to be able to purchase it. To me
it is of inestimable value, for of all his possessions Irving valued it
most.
LV
WALT WHITMAN
I
In the early afternoon of Thursday, 20th March, 1884, I drove with
Irving to the house of Thomas Donaldson, 326 North 40th Street,
Philadelphia. We went by appointment. Thomas Donaldson it was who had,
at the dinner given to Irving by the Clover Club on December 6, 1883,
presented him with Edwin Forrest’s watch.
When we arrived Donaldson met us in the hall. Irving went into the
“parlour”; Hatton, who was with us, and I talked for a minute or so with
our host. When we went in Irving was looking at a fine picture by Moran
of the Great Valley of the Yellowstone which hung over the fireplace. On
the opposite side of the room sat an old man of leonine appearance. He
was burly, with a large head and high forehead slightly bald. Great
shaggy masses of grey-white hair fell over his collar. His moustache was
large and thick and fell over his mouth so as to mingle with the top of
the mass of the bushy flowing beard. I knew at once who it was, but just
as I looked Donaldson, who had hurried on in front, said:
“Mr. Irving, I want you to know Mr. Walt Whitman.” His anxiety
beforehand and his jubilation in making the introduction satisfied me
that the occasion of Irving’s coming had been made one for the meeting
with the Poet.
When he heard the name Irving strode quickly across the room with
outstretched hand. “I am delighted to meet you!” he said, and the two
shook hands warmly. When my turn came and Donaldson said “Bram Stoker,”
Walt Whitman leaned forward suddenly, and held out his hand eagerly as
he said:
“Bram Stoker—Abraham Stoker is it?” I acquiesced and we shook hands as
old friends—as indeed we were. “Thereby hangs a tale.”
II
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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