ABSTRACT
A very close friend of both William Tinsley and Henry Irving was John Lawrence Toole. Young Laurence Irving illustrates Tinsley’s remark with a story about his grandfather with his dearest friend J. L. Toole in 1869: Throughout the tour Toole and Irving had been in high spirits. William wrote of various parties at which his particular friends, J. L. Toole, or Lionel Brough, or Henry Irving, were present, usually with a party of others. ‘The mention of Salvini’s name seemed to irritate Mr. Bateman, Mr. Irving’s manager, in no small degree, and he scouted the idea of any other tragedian coming near the theatre, or in any way rivalling his protege, Henry Irving. Foremost in professional stature among Tinsley’s theatrical friends was, of course, the great Henry Irving. Tinsley wrote: Toole is what is called in Free Masonry a Past Master in the Art of Amusement, and Irving is without doubt the English tragedian of his time.
