THE pieces produced during the two weeks of Irving’s stay in Chicago
were “Louis XI.,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Bells,” “The Belle’s
Stratagem,” and “The Lyons Mail.” On the last night, being called
before the curtain by one of the most crowded houses of the season, he
addressed the audience as follows:—
“Ladies and Gentlemen,—It is my privilege to thank you for the hearty
and enthusiastic welcome which you have given us during our too short
stay amongst you. Many years ago, when a boy in England, I remember a
song,—
“‘To the West! to the West!
To the land of the free!’
“I little dreamed in those days I should ever see your fair city—the
Queen of the West. For the welcome you have given my colleagues
and myself I thank you,—especially I thank you on behalf of Miss
Ellen Terry, whose indebtedness to you is equal to my own. I was
good-humoredly told the other day that I was too pleased with America,
especially with Chicago; and if I were to find some faults it might be
a relief, and would vary the monotony a little. (Laughter.)
“Well, I hope I am not naturally a fault-finder; but, if I were, you
have afforded me no opening; for you have loaded us with gratitude,
and extended to us a welcome as broad as the prairie upon which you
stand. I cannot leave you without thanking the press of Chicago for
its sympathy, its eloquent and its ungrudging recognition of at least
a sincere, although incomplete, effort to bring the dramatic art
abreast of the other arts, and not leave the art of the stage behind
and out in the cold in the general march of progress.
“I am very glad to tell you that we shall soon meet again; for we
shall have the honor of appearing before you on the 11th of next
month, when we shall have the gratification of spending another week
amongst you. And now I beg to thank you again and again, and I can
but hope that we may live in your memories as you will live in ours.”
(Applause.)
The receipts for the first week in Chicago were $17,048, and for the
second, $19,117; making a total of $36,166. From a mere box-office
point of view the success of his visit is unprecedented; the increase
of the receipts at the close of the engagement dissipating the last
“weak invention of the enemy,” that Irving only excites curiosity.
If this shallow nonsense merited the smallest attention the figures
already quoted would be a sufficient answer. A truer test of the
genuineness of Irving’s popularity, and the hold his work has obtained
upon the intelligent and intellectual public of America, will be the
character of his reception when, in the course of the present tour,
he begins to pay return visits to Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and
New York; for he goes back to these cities when their enthusiasm may
be said to have cooled, and in the Lenten season, which is largely
observed in the chief cities of the United States.