ABSTRACT
Henry Irving had caught a glimpse of the East in 1879 during a cruise taken with his patroness, the Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, which included Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and the eastern Mediterranean from Turkey to Egypt. This voyage is often credited with providing Irving with his conception of Shylock, thought to be based on his observations of Levantine Jews, but it also provided him with first-hand knowledge of Islamic cultures. Irving obtained a copy of de Bornier's five-act verse drama, which was called Mahomet, had it translated into English, and asked the novelist and playwright Hall Caine to revise it for production at the Lyceum. Lord Lathom, the Lord Chamberlain, recognizing the political exigencies involved, wrote privately to Irving, requesting that further work on Mahomet be halted and informing him that such a play would not be licensed. Many agreed with Caine, including Robert Leighton, who had read Mahomet in manuscript.
