[On November 24, 1883, Henry Irving closed his first engagement in New
York. William Winter's review appeared next morning in the _Tribune_,
It is reprinted in his book, "Henry Irving," published by G. J.
Coombes, New York, 1889. Mr. Winter said: "Mr. Irving has
impersonated here nine different men, each one distinct from all the
others. Yet in so doing he has never ceased to exert one and the same
personal charm, the charm of genialised intellect. The soul that is
within the man has suffused his art and made it victorious. The same
forms of expression, lacking this spirit, would have lacked the
triumph. All of them, indeed, are not equally fine. Mr. Irving's
'Mathias' and 'Louis XI,' are higher performances than his 'Shylock'
and 'Dorincourt,' higher in imaginative tone and in adequacy of
feeling and treatment. But, throughout all these forms, the drift of
his spirit, setting boldly away from conventions and formalities, has
been manifested with delightful results. He has always seemed to be
alive with the specific vitality of the person represented. He has
never seemed a wooden puppet of the stage, bound in by formality and
straining after a vague scholastic ideal of technical correctness."
Mr. Irving's addresses, "The Drama," copyright by the United States
Book Company, New York, were published in 1892. They furnish the
pages now presented,--abounding on self-revelation,--ED.)