Note 46 — Chapter XIII · 1887. ‘FAUST’—‘WERNER’—‘MACAIRE’—THE ACTOR’S SOCIAL GIFTS.

Quite a number of relics of great actors have, as we have already shown, found their way to Irving’s custody; and there is always something pleasant for him to think of when he recalls the presentation. Thus on his visit to Oxford he had spoken of the last days of Edmund Kean, who had died in sore straits. A few days later he received a purse of faded green silk found in the pocket of the great actor just after his death, and found empty. It had been given by Charles Kean to John Forster, and by him to Robert Browning. Edmund and Charles Kean, Forster, Browning, and Irving form a remarkable pedigree. “How can I more worthily place it,” wrote Browning, “than in your hands, if they will do me the honour to take it, with all respect and regard?”