_Copyright, 1908, by Ellen Terry (Mrs. Carew)_
Perhaps Henry Irving and I might have gone on with Shakespeare to the
end of the chapter if he had not been in such a hurry to produce
"Macbeth."
We ought to have done "As You Like It" in 1888, or "The Tempest."
Henry thought of both these plays. He was much attracted by the part
of Caliban in "The Tempest," but, he said, "the young lovers are
everything, and where are we going to find them?" He would have played
Touchstone in "As You Like It," not Jacques, because Touchstone is in
the vital part of the play.
He might have delayed both "Macbeth" and "Henry VIII." He ought to
have added to his list of Shakespearian productions "Julius Caesar,"
"King John," "As You Like It," "Antony and Cleopatra," "Richard II.,"
and "Timon of Athens." There were reasons "against," of course. In
"Julius Caesar" he wanted to play Brutus. "That's the part for the
actor," he said, "because it needs acting. But the actor-manager's
part is Antony. Antony scores all along the line. Now when the actor
and actor-manager fight in a play, and when there is no part for you
in it, I think it's wiser to leave it alone."
Every one knows when luck first began to turn against Henry Irving. It
was in 1896, when he revived "Richard III." On the first night he went
home, slipped on the stairs in Grafton Street, broke a bone in his
knee, aggravated the hurt by walking, and had to close the theatre. It
was that year, too, that his general health began to fail. For the ten
years preceding his death he carried on an indomitable struggle
against ill-health. Lungs and heart alike were weak. Only the spirit
in that frail body remained as strong as ever. Nothing could bend it,
much less break it.
But I have not come to that sad time yet.
"_Macbeth_"
"We all know when we do our best," said Henry once. "We are the only
people who know." Yet he thought he did better in "Macbeth" than in
"Hamlet!"
Was he right, after all?
[Illustration: ELLEN TERRY AS KNIERTJE IN "THE GOOD HOPE"