Note 5 — Chapter III · 1866. THE ST. JAMES’S THEATRE—‘HUNTED DOWN’—THE NEW VAUDEVILLE THEATRE—‘THE TWO ROSES.’

Of this night, my friend Mr. Arthur A’Beckett has recently recalled some memories: “All the dramatic critics were assembled. John Oxenford—kindest of men and ripest of scholars—for the Times, E. L. Blanchard for the Daily Telegraph, John Hollingshead (still amongst us), the predecessor of my good friend Moy Thomas of the Daily News, Leicester Buckingham for the Morning Star, Desmond Ryan (I think) for the Standard, Heraud for the Illustrated London News, Tomlins or Richard Lee for the Advertiser, and Joseph Knight (again one of our veterans) for the Sunday Times. There were others—Clement Scott, W. S. Gilbert, Andrew Halliday, Tom Robertson, Harry Leigh, Jeff Prowse, Tom Hood—all members of the Savage Club in the days before clay-pipes went out of fashion. We were assembled to see a new piece by Dion Boucicault, then one of the most prolific of dramatists. Well, we were waiting for the curtain to draw up on the first act of the new play. It was called ‘Hunted Down,’ and it was buzzed in the stalls that Dion had picked up a very clever young actor in the provinces, who, after a short career in town, had made his mark in Manchester. He was called Henry Irving. Then there was another comparatively new name on the bills—Ada Dyas. The piece had a strong plot, and was fairly successful; but, assisted by the title, I believe it was a fight against long odds. A repentant woman ‘with a past’ was hunted down. I fancy Miss Herbert (one of the most charming actresses that ever trod the boards) was the ‘woman with the past,’ and that it was she who was ‘hunted down.’ But, although my impressions of the play are vague and blurred, I can see Henry Irving as the most admirable villain—cool, calm, and implacable—and Ada Dyas as his suffering wife. They stand before me as I write, two distinct figures. Of the rest of the piece, I repeat, I remember next to nothing.”