Lewis Melville

“ Scott began in 1871 a long connection with the 'Daily Telegraph.' He then became assistant to the dramatic critic, Edward Laman Blanchard [q. v. Suppl. I] , whom he shortly afterwards succeeded. With the 'Daily Telegraph' he was associated till 1898, becoming the best known dramatic critic of his day, and largely leading popular opinion in theatrical matters. For a time in 1893 he was also dramatic critic for the 'Observer,' and later of the 'Illustrated London News.' From 1880 to 1889 he edited the monthly periodical called 'The Theatre.'
Scott also tried his hand at the drama. ”

“ His second wife, Helen Couper-Black, daughter of the procurator-fiscal of Wigtownshire, matriculated at London University with high honours and was at one time D'Oyly Carte's secretary; she took an active part in the organisation and management of his ventures, and since his death has revived the Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the Savoy Theatre, and has maintained a touring company which performs them in all parts of the British Isles. ”

“ Meanwhile, theatrical management absorbed most of Carte's energies. In 1875 he was manager for Selina Dolaro, who played 'La Perichole' at the Royalty Theatre. By way of successor D'Oyly Carte produced on 25 March 1875 'Trial by Jury,' a comic opera by (Sir) Arthur Sullivan [q. v. Suppl. I] and (Sir) William Schwenck Gilbert [q. v. Suppl. II] . Owing to the success of this piece Carte formed a small syndicate of music publishers and private capitalists to rent the Opera Comique theatre for the presentation of other light operas by the same author and composer. ”

“ His best novel is the melodramatic 'Devlin the Barber' (1888; new edit. 1901) . A play by Farjeon, 'Home, Sweet Home,' was produced by Henry Neville at the Olympic Theatre in 1876, and in 1891 George Conquest put on at the Surrey Theatre Farjeon's dramatised version of his novel 'Grif,' which had already undergone unauthorised dramatisation. In 1873 he sat with Charles Reade and others on a committee formed by John Hollingshead [q. v. Suppl. II] to amend the law so as to prevent the dramatisation of novels without their writers' assent (Hollingshead, My Lifetime, ii. 54) . ”

“ Carte's activity as a light-opera impresario extended to the United States. There he often had five touring companies performing the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. While at the Savoy, Carte, in partnership with John Hollingshead and Michael Gunn, also managed for several seasons leading theatres in Liverpool, Manchester, and elsewhere. ”

“ SCOTT, CLEMENT WILLIAM (1841–1904) , dramatic critic, born at Christ Church vicarage, Hoxton, on 6 Oct. 1841, was son of William Scott (1813–1872) [q. v.] , then perpetual curate of Christ Christ, Hoxton, by his wife Margaret, daughter of William Beloe [q. v.] . After attending a private day-school at Islington, Scott was at Marlborough College from August 1852 until December 1859. ”

“ It was during his visit that president Garfield was shot, and Hatton, who had early intelligence of the outrage, held the line for three hours and cabled the longest telegraphic message then recorded from America to the 'Standard.' That paper thus gave full details of the tragic event on 3 July 1881, a day before its London contemporaries (People, 4 Aug. 1907) . ”

“ From the goldfields of Victoria he went to New Zealand, on hearing of rich finds there. Soon abandoning the quest of gold, he settled at Dunedin as a journalist. He assisted (Sir) Julius Vogel [q. v. Suppl. I] in the management of the 'Otago Daily Times,' the first daily paper established in the colony, which Vogel founded in 1861. ”

“ Henry Irving and of J. L. Toole, and accompanied the former on his first visit to America in 1883, which he described in 'Henry Irving's Impressions of America, narrated ... by Joseph Hatton' (2 vols. 1884) . In 1889 he ’chronicled' in like fashion Toole's reminiscences (2 vols.) . In 1892 Hatton became editor of the 'People,' a conservative Sunday newspaper, and contributed to that paper (and also to a syndicate of provincial papers) his 'Cigarette Papers for After-dinner Smoking,' a weekly medley of reminiscences, stories, and interviews. ”

“ According to his own story, he was looked after in boyhood by two maternal great-uncles, who had been surgeons in Napoleon's army, had set up after Waterloo in private practice at Paris, enjoyed the entrée to the court of the second empire, and entertained at their house the leaders of Parisian artistic society. ”

“ He married (1) on 30 April 1868, at Brompton Oratory, Isabel Busson du Maurier, sister of the artist, by whom he had four sons (two dying in infancy) and two daughters; she died on 26 Nov. 1890; and (2) in April 1893 Constance Margarite, daughter of Horatio Brandon, a London solicitor. ”

“ His first clients included Mario, whose farewell tour in 1870 he organised. The agency proved a permanent success, and later under its auspices Archibald Forbes, Oscar Wilde, Sir Henry Morton Stanley, and many others made popular lecture tours. ”

“ In 1863 he was appointed editor of the 'Bristol Mirror.' He held that and other provincial posts until 1868, when he came to London. Pushing and energetic (Tinsley, Random Recollections, ii. 86) , he was entrusted by Messrs. ”