ABSTRACT
In Henry Irving's opinion, the 'period after the Restoration' was 'when the worst taste in dramatic literature prevailed'. As Laurence Irving observed, Irving and Marshall 'had conceived the idea of presenting to the public in a popular form the plays of Shakespeare with notes and commentaries based upon the recent researches of Furnivall and Furness. Appearing in volume VI of The Henry Irving Shakespeare, King Lear was introduced by Oscar Fay Adams and A. Wilson Verity. As was his custom, Irving published an acting edition of King Lear, which, together with the illustrated Souvenir of King Lear, provided attractive merchandise for Lyceum audiences. In his preface to the acting edition, Irving wrote of 'the play being necessarily reduced to suit the exigencies of the present time, all superfluous horrors have been omitted'. As the introduction to King Lear in The Henry Irving Shakespeare observed: 'Shakespeare has carefully refrained in the play from all direct references to Christianity'.
