Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1910 — ITALIANS AND IRVING. [ARTICLE]

ITALIANS AND IRVING.

Memorial Presented by Ambaaaader In London to Drury Lane. “The critics were very severe—and In my judgment justly severe—toward the ‘Dante’ of Sardou; but the fact remains that Irving, at the decline of his life, felt the attraction of the Influence of Dante’s great personality. * * * Irving’s endeavor to impersonate on the English stage that powerful individuality turned his last thoughts toward Italy, and today it is those among her sons who are united to him by the brotherhood of art who offer this tribute to a man who has so highly contributed to show to mankind all the nobility and loftiness of his art.” Thus spoke the Italian ambassador in London, the Marquis of San Giuliano, at Drury Lane theater recently in unveiling the memorial to the late Sir Henry Irving presented by Signor Tommaso Salvlni and the leading members of the dramatic profession in Italy, says the London Chronicle. The memorial shows the effigy of Irving in bronze, enriched by a wreath of laurels, with a background of gray marble. The memorial has been placed on the wall at the head of the grand staircase. Around it yesterday were gathered many people well 1 known in the dramatic world. “You English artists,” said the ambassador in the course of his speech, "have greatly assisted me in my study of the English language. Frequenting the theaters and seeing your acting I have learned more of the English character, life, seeings and mode of thought than In reading many learned books —which I have tried to forget as much as possible.” “The English artisfs have given eloquent proofs of their sympathy with Italy by the homage they have paid to Salvlni, the magnificent benefit to the memory of Ristori, and the part they have always taken in our charitable works. When Italy was still divided, when Its independence and unity were still a goal and an Ideal, and to many people even a dream and a Utopia, Salvlni and Ristori were among the forces which contributed to our national deliverance. "Salvlni In 1849 acted In Rome, and at the same time fought in defense ot the cause of liberty. Once an alarm was raised during an interval. He went tp the ramparts and after the repulse of the attack resumed the performance. Of course that evening the curtain, after the interval, did not rise with the scrupulous punctuality of the English stage.”