WILSON BARRETT PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OCTOBER 16, 1884 AD not Mr. Wilson Barrett suc HA ceeded beyond even his most distant ambition, he would never have spoken the speech he speech he delivered in response to the applause that followed the fall of the curtain in the play of Hamlet. Had the actor not detected a truth and sincerity in the encouragement beyond mere conventional compliment, he would never, from his own stage, have allowed the lips so faithfully to follow the dictates of a full heart. "Twenty-five years ago," said Mr. Wilson Barrett, "a poor and almost friendless lad stood out side the walls of the theatre that once stood here, and determined to devote his last sixpence to the enjoyment in the gallery of one of the celebrated revivals of Charles Kean. Coming out of the theatre, he swore to himself that he would not only become manager of that theatre, but that in the distant future he would play Hamlet on that very spot. Ambition is in this instance satisfied, for the little boy was myself, and I have played Hamlet before you this evening!" The effect of this simple story was immediate and direct on an audience for the moment taken off their guard by the naïveté of the announcement, and amidst renewed cheers Mr. Barrett retired behind the curtain to receive even a more enthusiastic welcome from the company who served him so loyally and by whom he was held in such affectionate regard. It was, of course, a very memorable evening, and would have been an encouraging moment in the career of any actor. In addition to the many personal friends who wished him well in a trying ordeal, literature was represented by such true lovers of the drama as Lord Lytton, Professor Ruskin, and Mr. Matthew Arnold, and from first to last the play and the players received the utmost courtesy and attention. The stage of the theatre, dedicated to some unnamed and unidentified princess, appears to play a very important part in the history of Hamlets. Here, more than a quarter of a century ago, Charles Kean, many a time and oft, enacted this one of his most favourite Shakespearian characters, the memory of which has not been dispelled by days of so-called natural |