[Illustration] SIR HENRY IRVING A RECORD OF OVER TWENTY YEARS AT THE LYCEUM BY PERCY FITZGERALD, M.A. AUTHOR OF “THE LIFE OF GARRICK,” “THE KEMBLES,” “ART OF THE STAGE,” ETC. “As in a theatre the eyes of men, After a well-grac’d actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next.” _A NEW EDITION, REVISED WITH AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER_ LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1895 PREFACE. One attraction in the life of an actor who has fought his way, and triumphed over many difficulties, in his struggles to eminence, is found in the spirit of adventure which nearly always marks his course. Such a story must be always gratifying and encouraging to read; and we follow it now with sympathy, now with admiration. Nor is it without gratification for the actor himself, who must look back with complacency to troubles surmounted, and to habits of patience and discipline acquired. In this severe and trying school he may acquire the practical virtues of resignation, courage, perseverance, and the art of confronting difficulties. Even at the present moment, when the stage is presumed to be more flourishing than at any former period, the element of precariousness is more present than ever. Everything seems a lottery—theatres, pieces, actors. A theatre has gained a high reputation with one or two successful pieces: of a sudden the newest play fails—or “falls,” as the French have it—to be succeeded by another, and yet another: each failing or “falling,” and seeming to prove that, if nothing succeeds like success, nothing fails like failure.