PAGE CHAPTER I. SCHOOL-DAYS—EARLY TASTE FOR THE STAGE—FIRST APPEARANCE (1838-1856) 1 CHAPTER II. EDINBURGH AND THE SCOTTISH THEATRES (1857-1859) 6 CHAPTER III. THE ST. JAMES’S THEATRE—‘HUNTED DOWN’—THE NEW VAUDEVILLE THEATRE—‘THE TWO ROSES’ (1866) 23 CHAPTER IV. ‘THE BELLS’—WILLS’S ‘CHARLES I.’ (1871) 31 CHAPTER V. ‘HAMLET’—‘OTHELLO’—‘MACBETH’—DEATH OF ‘THE COLONEL’—‘QUEEN MARY’ (1874) 38 CHAPTER VI. THE NEW MANAGER OF THE LYCEUM—MISS TERRY—HIS SYSTEM AND ASSISTANTS (1878) 50 CHAPTER VII. ‘THE MERCHANT OF VENICE’ (1879) 64 CHAPTER VIII. ‘THE CORSICAN BROTHERS’ AND ‘THE CUP’ (1880) 69 CHAPTER IX. ‘OTHELLO’ AND ‘THE TWO ROSES’ REVIVED (1881) 76 CHAPTER X. ‘ROMEO AND JULIET’—THE BANQUET (1882) 85 CHAPTER XI. ‘MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING’—AMERICAN VISIT ARRANGED (1882) 88 CHAPTER XII. ‘TWELFTH NIGHT’—‘THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD’—OXFORD HONOURS (1884) 96 CHAPTER XIII. ‘FAUST’—‘WERNER’—‘MACAIRE’—THE ACTOR’S SOCIAL GIFTS (1887) 111 CHAPTER XIV. ‘MACBETH’—‘THE DEAD HEART’—‘RAVENSWOOD’ (1888) 119 CHAPTER XV. ‘KING LEAR’—‘BECKET’ (1892) 131 CHAPTER XVI. ‘KING ARTHUR’—CORPORAL BREWSTER—HONOURS (1893) 138 CHAPTER XVII. L’ENVOI 143 SIR HENRY IRVING CHAPTER I. 1838-1856. SCHOOL-DAYS—EARLY TASTE FOR THE STAGE—FIRST APPEARANCE. Henry Irving was born at Keinton, near Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, on February 6, 1838. His real name was John Henry Brodribb. “The last place God made” has been the description given of this little town—Keinton-Mandeville—which lies near Glastonbury. The house in which the future actor was born is still pointed out—a small two-storied dwelling, of a poorish sort.