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THE ENGLISH STAGE




_WORKS BY THE AUTHOR._

  PROFILS ANGLAIS.
  MERIMEE ET SES AMIS.
  VIOLETTE MERIAN.
  AMOURS ANGLAIS.
  LES CONTES DU CENTENAIRE.
  ETC. ETC.




  THE ENGLISH STAGE

  _Being an Account of the Victorian Drama by Augustin Filon_

  Translated from the French by Frederic Whyte with
  an Introduction by Henry Arthur Jones


  JOHN MILNE
  12 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON

  NEW YORK
  DODD, MEAD, & COMPANY
  MDCCCXCVII




_All Rights Reserved_




CONTENTS


                                                                    PAGE

  Introduction by Mr. Henry Arthur Jones                               9

  Author's Preface                                                    31


  CHAPTER I

  A Glance back--From 1820 to 1830--Kean and Macready--The
  Strolling Player--The Critics--Sheridan Knowles and
  _Virginius_--Douglas Jerrold--His Comedies--_The Rent
  Day_--_The Prisoner of War_--_Black-Eyed Susan_--Collapse of
  the Privileged Theatres--Men of Letters come to the Rescue of
  the Drama--Bulwer Lytton--_The Lady of Lyons_--_Richelieu_--
  _Money_                                                             39


  CHAPTER II

  Macready's Withdrawal from the Stage--The Enemies of the
  Drama in 1850: Puritanism; the Opera; the Pantomime; the
  "Hippodrama"--French Plays and French Players in England--
  Actors of the Period--The Censorship--The Critics--The
  Historical Plays of Tom Taylor and the Irish Plays of Dion
  Boucicault                                                          73


  CHAPTER III

  The Vogue of Burlesque--Burnand's _Ixion_--H. J. Byron--The
  Influence of Burlesque upon the Moral Tone of the Stage--Marie
  Wilton's Debut--A Letter from Dickens--Founding of the Prince
  of Wales's--Tom Robertson, his Life as Actor and Author--His
  Journalistic Career--London Bohemia in 1865--Sothern                93


  CHAPTER IV

  First Performance of _Society_--Success of _Ours_, _Caste_,
  and _School_--How Robertson turned to account the Talent of
  his Actors, John Hare, Bancroft, and Mrs. Bancroft--Progress
  in the Matter of Scenery--Dialogue and Character-drawing--
  Robertson as a Humorist: a Scene from _School_--As a Realist:
  a Scene from _Caste_--The Comedian of the Upper Middle
  Classes--Robertson's Marriage, Illness, and Death--The "Cup
  and Saucer" Comedy--The Improvement in Actors' Salaries--The
  Bancrofts at the Haymarket--Farewell Performance--My
  Pilgrimage to Tottenham Street                                     114


  CHAPTER V

  Gilbert: compared with Robertson--His First Literary Efforts--
  The _Bab Ballads_--_Sweethearts_--A Series of Experiments--
  Gilbert's Psychology and Methods of Work--_Dan'l Druce_,
  _Engaged_, _The Palace of Truth_, _The Wicked World_,
  _Pygmalion and Galatea_--The Gilbert and Sullivan Operas           138


  CHAPTER VI

  Shakespeare again--From Macready to Irving; Phelps, Fechter,
  Ryder, Adelaide Neilson--Irving's Debut--His Career in the
  Provinces, and Visit to Paris--The role of Digby Grand--The
  role of Matthias--The Production of _Hamlet_--Successive
  Triumphs--Irving as Stage Manager--as an Editor of
  Shakespeare--His Defects as an Actor--Too great for some of
 