A sin confessed is half-forgiven.
A sin concealed is half-pardoned.
WHEN THE LAST CURTAIN FELL.
Some Striking Instances of How Death Has Stepped Behind the Footlights and Claimed His
Victims in Full View of Audiences Who Have Mistaken Real Tragedy for Play.
"Into Thy hands, O Lord! Into Thy hands!"
These words, inscribed on a card that was fastened to the cross of lilies sent by Queen Alexandra of England to be laid on the casket containing the body of Sir Henry Irving, were the last uttered on the stage by that famous actor. They are the last words of Becket, in Tennyson's drama of that name.
Though Irving did not die on the stage, the hand of death was upon him at the close of that last performance. He was scarcely more than outside the theater in Bradford, England, when he was stricken with syncope, and he died a few minutes after reaching his hotel.