_Irving on Long Runs_
During the run of "Faust" Henry visited Oxford, and gave his address
on "Four Actors" (Burbage, Betterton, Garrick, Kean). He met there one
of the many people who had recently been attacking him on the ground
of too long runs and too much spectacle. He wrote me an amusing
account of the duel between them:
"I had supper last night at New College after the affair. A. was
there, and I had it out with him--to the delight of all.
"'_Too much decoration_' etc., etc.
"I asked him what there was in Faust in the matter of appointments,
etc., that he would like left out.
"Answer--nothing.
"'Too long runs.'
"'You, sir, are a poet,' I said. 'Perhaps it may be my privilege some
day to produce a play of yours. Would you like it to have a long run
or a short one?' (Roars of laughter.)
"Answer: 'Well, er, well, of course, Mr. Irving, you--well--well, a
short run, of course, for _art_, but----'
"'Now, sir, you're on oath,' said I. 'Suppose that the fees were
rolling in £10 and more a night--would you rather the play were a
failure or a success?'
"'Well, well, as _you_ put it, I must say--er--I would rather my play
had a _long_ run!'
"A. floored!
"He has all his life been writing articles running down good work and
crying up the impossible, and I was glad to show him up a bit!
"The Vice-Chancellor made a most lovely speech after the address--an
eloquent and splendid tribute to the stage.
"Bourchier presented the address of the 'Undergrads.' I never saw a
young man in a greater funk--because, I suppose, he had imitated me so
often!
"From the address: 'We have watched with keen and enthusiastic
interest the fine intellectual quality of all these representations,
from Hamlet to Mephistopheles, with which you have enriched the
contemporary stage. To your influence we owe deeper knowledge and more
reverent study of the master mind of Shakespeare.' All very nice
indeed!"
_Irving's Mephistopheles_
I never cared much for Henry's Mephistopheles--a twopence coloured
part, anyway. Of course he had his moments,--he had them in every
part,--but they were few. One of them was in the Prologue, when he
wrote in the student's book, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil." He never looked at the book, and the nature of the _spirit_
appeared suddenly in a most uncanny fashion.
Another was in the Spinning-wheel Scene, when Faust defies
Mephistopheles, and he silences him with "_I am a spirit_." Henry
looked to grow a gigantic height--to hover over the ground instead of
walking on it. It was terrifying.
[Illustration: _From the collection of Robert Coster_