SHADOWS OF THE
STAGE

BY

WILLIAM WINTER

Shakespeare

NEW YORK
MACMILLAN AND COMPANY
and London
1893

Copyright, 1892,
By MACMILLAN & CO.

Set up and electrotyped May, 1892. Large Paper Edition printed May.Ordinary Edition reprinted June, August, November, 1892; January, June,October, November, 1893.

Norwood Press:
J.S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

TO

Henry Irving

IN MEMORY AND IN HONOUR
OF ALL THAT HE HAS DONE
TO DIGNIFY AND ADORN THE STAGE
AND TO ENNOBLE SOCIETY
THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED

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PREFACE.

The papers contained in this volume, chosen out of hundreds that theauthor has written on dramatic subjects, are assembled with the hopethat they may be accepted, in their present form, as a part of thepermanent record of our theatrical times. For at least thirty years ithas been a considerable part of the constant occupation of the author toobserve and to record the life of the contemporary stage. Since 1860 hehas written intermittently in various periodicals, and since the summerof 1865 he has written continuously in the New York Tribune, upon actorsand their art; and in that way he has accumulated a great mass ofhistorical commentary upon the drama. In preparing this book he has beenpermitted to draw from his contributions to the Tribune, and also fromhis writings in Harper's Magazine and Weekly, in the London Theatre, andin Augustin[Pg 8] Daly's Portfolio of Players. The choice of these papers hasbeen determined partly by consideration of space and partly with thedesign of supplementing the author's earlier dramatic books, namely:Edwin Booth in Twelve Dramatic Characters; The Jeffersons; Henry Irving;The Stage Life of Mary Anderson; Brief Chronicles, containing eighty-sixdramatic biographies; In Memory of McCullough; The Life of John Gilbert;The Life and Works of John Brougham; The Press and the Stage; The Actorand Other Speeches; and A Daughter of Comedy, being the life of AdaRehan. The impulse of all those writings, and of the present volume, iscommemorative. Let us save what we can.

W.W.

April 18, 1892.

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CONTENTS.