“Well, Mr. Howard, the governor ordered it, and Mr. Loveday told me not to lose any time in getting it ready as we had to rehearse to-day.” This accounted to Mr. Howard, the man, for the breach of decorum; but as the manager he was not satisfied. He was not willing to relinquish his grievance all at once; so he said, and he said it in the emphatic manner customary to him: “But, sir, if Mr. Loveday was to tell you to take down the flys of my theatre would you do that, too?” The answer came in a quiet, grave voice: “Certainly, sir!” Howard looked at him fixedly for a moment, and then raising both hands in front of him said, as he shrugged his shoulders: “In that case I have nothing more to say! I only wish to God that my men would work like that!” and so the quasi-burglar went unreproved. VII LYCEUM PRODUCTIONS During Henry Irving’s personal management of the Lyceum he produced over forty plays, of which eleven were Shakespeare’s: _Hamlet_, _The Merchant of Venice_, _Othello_, _Romeo and Juliet_, _Much Ado About Nothing_, _Twelfth Night_, _Macbeth_, _Henry VIII._, _King Lear_, _Cymbeline_, and _Richard III._ _Coriolanus_ was produced during his agreement with the Lyceum Company. He also reproduced six plays which he had before presented during his engagement by and partnership with the Batemans: _Eugene Aram_, _Richelieu_, _Louis XI._, _The Lyons Mail_, _Charles I._, _The Bells_. He also produced the following old plays, in most of which he had already appeared at some time: _The Lady of Lyons_, _The Iron Chest_, _The Corsican Brothers_, _The Belle’s Stratagem_, _Two Roses_, _Olivia_, _The Dead Heart_, _Robert Macaire_, and a good many “curtain-raisers” whose excellences were old and tried. The new plays were in some instances old stories told afresh, and in the remainder historic subjects treated in a new way or else quite new themes or translations. In the first category were _Faust_, _Werner_, _Ravenswood_, _Iolanthe_ (one act). In the second were: _The Cup_, _The Amber Heart_, _Becket_, _King Arthur_, _Madame Sans-Gêne_, _Peter the Great_, _The Medicine Man_, _Robespierre_ and the following one-act plays: _Waterloo_, _Nance Oldfield_, and _Don Quixote_. _Dante_ was produced after the Lyceum Company had been unable to carry out their contract with him. This gives an average of two plays, “by and large” as the sailors say, for each year from 1878 to 1898, after which time he sold his rights to the Lyceum Theatre Company, Limited. Regarding some of these plays are certain matters of interest either in the preparation or the working. I shall simply try, now and again, to raise a little the veil which hangs between the great actor and the generations who may be interested in him and his work. VIII IRVING BEGINS MANAGEMENT I