t the height of its popularity and start a fresh
experiment. [Laughter.] But he is sunk in the base commercialism of the
age, and, sad to relate, he has the sympathies of the dramatic author,
who wants to see his piece run say a hundred nights, instead of twenty.
I don't know how this spirit of greed is to be subdued, though with the
multiplication of Play-houses, long runs may tend to become rare. A
municipal subsidy or an obliging millionaire might enable a manager to
vary his bill with comparative frequency, when he has persuaded the
dramatic author that the run of a play till the crack of doom is
incompatible with the interest of art. [Laughter.] I cannot help
suspecting that the chief difficulty of a manager, under even the most
artistic and least commercial conditions, will always be, not to check
the inordinate proportions of success, but to secure plays which may
succeed at all.

I hope you will not accuse me of taking a too despondent view of the
drama, for believe me, I do not. To be sure, we sometimes hear that
Shakespeare is to be annihilated, and that the poet's intellect has been
overrated. And lately a reverend gentleman at Hampstead announced his
intention of putting down the stage altogether. [Laughter.] The
atmosphere of Hampstead seems to be intellectually intoxicating; at any
rate it has a rather stimulating effect on a certain kind of dogmatic
mind. This intolerance has been very eloquently rebuked by a
distinguished man who is an ornament of the Church of England. It is
Dean Farrar who says that these pharisaical attacks on the stage are
inspired only by "concentrated malice." Well, the periodical
misunderstanding to which the stage is exposed need cause but little
disquiet. I have no doubt it will survive its many adventures, and that
it will owe not a little of its tenacious vitality to your unflagging
sympathy and hearty and generous encouragement. [Cheers.]

* * * * *

THE FUNCTION OF THE NEWSPAPER

[Speech of Sir Henry Irving, as Chairman, at the thirty-fifth
anniversary dinner of the Newspaper Press Fund, London, May 21, 1898.]

GENTLEMEN:--When I received the great compliment of an
invitation to occupy this chair, I was conscious of a certain ironical
fitness in my position. The politician and the actor divide between
them the distinction of supplying the most constant material for the
most intimate and searching vigilance of the newspaper press.