MR. MEDLAM. We have heard something of a piece called _The Bells_. I
seldom attend theatres myself, except in the exercise of my public
functions, but I do happen to have seen that particular play on one
occasion. Does my memory mislead me in saying, that you committed a
brutal and savage murder in the course of the drama?
MR. IRVING said that, as a matter of fact, the murder took place many
years before the curtain rose--otherwise, the Member's memory was
entirely accurate.
MR. MEDLAM. Whenever the murder was committed, it remains undetected,
and the criminal escapes all penalty--is not that the case?
MR. IRVING urged that the Nemesis was worked out by the murderer's own
conscience.
MR. MEDLAM said that was all nonsense; a person's conscience could not
be made visible on the stage, and here a murderer was represented as
dying several years after his crime, in his own bedroom, respected by
all who knew him. Did MR. IRVING intend to tell them that such a
spectacle was calculated to deter an intending murderer, or did he not?
That was the plain question.
MR. IRVING thought that intending murderers formed so inappreciable an
element in his usual audiences, that they might safely be left out of
the calculation.
MR. MEDLAM. But you might have an intending murderer among your
audience, I suppose?
MR. IRVING'S reply was not audible in the reporters' gallery.
MR. PARSEEKER. I should like to hear what you have to say about
duelling, MR. IRVING--I mean, is it, or is it not, a practice sanctioned
by the laws of this country?
MR. IRVING said that he did not quite understand the drift of such a
question; but, since they asked him, he should say that duelling was
distinctly illegal.
MR. PARSEEKER. You will understand the drift of my question directly,
MR. IRVING. I have made it my business to acquaint myself with your
dramatic career, and I find that you have played as hero at various
times in _Romeo and Juliet_, _Hamlet_, _The Corsican Brothers_, and _The
Dead Heart_, besides _Macbeth_. Am I wrong in saying that in each of
these pieces you fight a duel?
MR. IRVING. No. I fight a duel in each of them, except _Macbeth_, in
which there is no duel, only a hand-to-hand combat. I do commit a murder
in _Macbeth_.
A MEMBER. MR. IRVING'S tastes seem rather to run in the direction of
murders. (_Laughter._)
After the report of the Official Censor upon the general tone of the
Lyceum plays during the last fifteen years had been read a second time
and adopted, the Chairman, without more than a formal consultation with
his colleagues, proceeded to announce the decision of the Committee. He
said that they had not come to their present conclusion without long and
anxious deliberation. They were now the constituted guardians of the
public morals, and must fulfil their functions without fear or favour.
(_Applause._) They must look at the character of the performances at
each theatre, considering only whether they were or were not beneficial
to morality. In the past, under a _régime_ happily now at an end, public
opinion had been shamefully lax, and official control purely nominal;
plays had been repeatedly performed, and even welcomed as classics,
which he did not hesitate to say were full of incidents that were
revolting to all well-regulated minds. SHAKSPEARE, who, with his
undoubted talents, should have known better, was, so far from being an
exception, one of the worst offenders. The Council must free themselves
from the shackles of conventional tolerance. (_Applause._) Evil was
evil--murder was murder--coarseness was coarseness--whether treated by
SHAKSPEARE or anybody else. Nor could the Committee shut their eyes to
the fact that Mr. IRVING'S histrionic ability, and his popularity with
those who attended his exhibitions could only intensify the injurious
effect which such representations must have upon young and
impressionable minds. In his opinion, much as he regretted having to say
so, the Lyceum was nothing less than a School of Murder. It aggravated
rather than extenuated the evil to be told, as they had been told, that
all these deeds of violence had been represented on the stage with every
aid which money, art and research could give. Again, was it desirable
that the Democracy should derive their ideas of the family life of
crowned heads from being admitted into the scandalous secrets of the
household of _Hamlet_? Or did they wish to see an injured husband
following the example of _Othello_? A thousand times no. These things
must be stopped. The Council was very far from taking a Puritanical view
of the question--(_applause_)--they fully recognised that the stage was
a necessary social evil, and, as such, must be tolerated until the
public taste was sufficiently purified to refuse it further countenance;
but, in the meantime, the Council must insure that such exhibitions as
they were prepared to sanction were of a kind consistent with the
preservation of good manners, decorum, and of the public
peace--(_applause_)--none of which conditions, in the unanimous opinion
of the Committee, was fulfilled by the class of entertainment which the
appellant IRVING had, by his own admission, persisted in providing. On
those grounds alone the Committee dismissed the Appeal, and declared the
Lyceum Theatre closed till further notice. He might say, however, that
they might possibly be induced, after a certain interval, to reconsider
the question, and allow the theatre to be reopened on MR. IRVING'S
undertaking to produce dramas of an entirely unobjectionable character
in future. (MR. IRVING begged for some more definite leading as to the
dramas alluded to.) The Chairman said that he had been informed that an
illustrated periodical called _Punch_ was publishing a series of Moral
Dramas, in which the sentiments and incidents were alike irreproachable.
Let MR. IRVING promise to confine himself to these, and the Council would
see about it. ( MR. IRVING then withdrew, without, however, having given
any definite undertaking, and the Committee adjourned.)
* * * * *
[Illustration: "PUTTING HIS NOSE OUT OF JOINT."
_Engineering (to Little Tour Eiffel)._ "WHERE ARE YOU, NOW, MY LITTLE
MAN?"]
"The Eiffel Tower is 1000 feet high; if the Forth Bridge were put up
on end, it would be 5280 feet in height. The tower has in its
construction 7500 tons of iron; the bridge has 53,000 tons of the
best steel. The tower was made in about six months; the bridge has
required seven years. The Eiffel Tower is a wonderful thing; but,
then, how much more wonderful is the Forth Bridge!"--_Illustrated
London News._
_The Bridge._ You took lots of beating, my sky-scraping friend,
But BENJAMIN BAKER has compassed _that_ end;
I am sure Monsieur EIFFEL himself would allow
That the Bridge licks the Tower; so where are you _now_?
_The Tower._ _J'y suis et j'y reste_, my big friend and great rival,
I hope for a long and a glorious survival;
But don't mind admitting--all great souls are frank--
That you--for the present at least--take first rank
'Midst the mighty achievements adorning our sphere
Of our latest of Titans, the Great Engineer.
_The Bridge._ All hail, Engineering! No wonder you're proud
Of a work in whose honour all praises are loud;
No wonder 'tis opened by princes and peers
Amidst technical triumph and popular cheers;
No wonder that BENJAMIN BAKER feels glad,
Sir JOHN FOWLER and COOPER quite other than sad.
'Twas a very big job, 'tis a very big day,
And the whole country joins in the Scotchmen's Hooray!
* * * * *