The new season of 1873 began on September 27, with Lord Lytton’s ‘Richelieu.’ It is a tribute to the prowess of that gifted man that his three pieces—the ever-fresh and fair ‘Lady of Lyons,’ ‘Money,’ and ‘Richelieu’—should be really the only genuine stock-pieces of the modern stage. They never seem out of fashion, and are always welcomed. It might be said, indeed, that there is hardly a night on which the ‘Lady of Lyons’ is not _somewhere_ acted. In ‘Richelieu’ the actor presented a truly picturesque figure—he was aged, tottering, nervous, but rallying to full vigour when the occasion called. The well-known scene, where he invokes “the curse of Rome,” produced extraordinary enthusiasm, cheers, waving of handkerchiefs, and a general uproar from the pit. It was in this piece that those “mannerisms” which have been so often “girded at,” often with much pitilessness, began to attract attention. In this part, as in the first attempt in ‘Macbeth,’ there was noted a lack of restraint, something hysterical at times, when control seemed to be set aside. The truth is, most of his attempts at this period were naturally _experiments_, and very different from those deliberate, long-prepared, and well-matured representations he offered under the responsibility of serious management. This piece was succeeded by an original play, ‘Philip,’ by an agreeable writer who had made a name as a novelist, Mr. Hamilton Aïdé—a dramatic story of the average pattern, and founded on jealousy. It was produced on February 7, and enjoyed a fair share of success. CHAPTER V. 1874. ‘HAMLET’—‘OTHELLO’—‘MACBETH’—DEATH OF ‘THE COLONEL’—‘QUEEN MARY.’ But now was to be made a serious experiment, on which much was to depend. Hitherto Irving had not travelled out of the regions of conventional drama, or of what might be called romantic melodrama; but he was now to lay hands on the ark, and attempt the most difficult and arduous of Shakespearian characters, Hamlet. Every actor has a dream of performing the character, and fills up his disengaged moments with speculations as to the interpretation. The vitality of this wonderful play is such that it nearly always is a novelty for the audience, because the character is fitfully changeful, and offers innumerable modes of interpretation.