"H. BY and Lawrence Irving." By Austin Brereton. (Grant Richards.
12/6d. net.
It is a truism that _histrionic genius runs in families. une other arts manifest themselves in one man at a time, and exhaust themselves in that one manifestation—usually for ever. This fact, instances of which multiply themselves in the mind whenever it is considered, is partly due to the peculiar nature of the art of acting which, more than any, other can, to a certain point, be taught, and which, so far as that incalculable element which separates the great artist from the sound actor is concerned, indubitably requires the highly specialized surroundings and atmosphere of the stage in which to come to perfection. But even so, there Is still a sense of miracle inseparable from the recurrence of so marked a gift as showed itself in the great Irving and both his remarkable sons.
Mr. Austin Brereton, who knew the elder Irving well in the days of his first glory, when the Lyceum Theatre had just become the hub of the theatrical universe, was present at the first strange and tragic interview; when two awed and slightly hostile little schoolboys were brought to the famous rooms in Grafton Street for their first conscious sight of the splendid and romantic father, who, so far, had been nothing but a name to his sons.
Srigrinc or THE Spirit.
Mr. Brereton's picture of the gloom and gorgeousness of the setting makes a fitting prelude to the story which follows. Long before they knew their father personally, young Harry and_ little Lawrence had felt the stirrings of his spirit in their infant lives. At school they were always acting. They played Joseph and Charles Surface, Captain Corcoran, Master Bardell (in a dramatized "Pickwick"), and judge, counsel, and criminal in countless mock trials before they reached their teens, and once Harry got to Oxford and Lawrence to Russia, there was no real hope of deflecting them from their true vocal tions. Harry, reading for the bar, played "Stafford" and King John" to admiration, and Law-renee, the embryo diplomatist,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.