MR. H. B. IRVING'S PLANS. AN OSCAR WILDE COMEDY. A PROVINCIAL SPRING TOUR. Special to the "Pall Mall Gazette." It is not surprising that Mr. H. B. Irving should be feeling very well satisfied with the results of his season now about to terminate at the Shaftesbury Theatre. For to a large extent the young actor-manager has not had to depend upon his repertory of plays, so great has been the success of "The Lyons Mail." Indeed, the run of nearly 150 performances which this powerful drama has achieved constitutes (writes a correspondent) a record run for the piece.

When I sought Mr. Irving in his dressing-room at the Shaftesbury, I found him immersed in plans for his approaching spring tour of the provinces. "I shall open at Harrogate," he said, "on April 8, and my tour will last about twelve weeks. From Harrogate we shall proceed, in the order named, to Hanley, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Burton-on-Trent, Cambridge, and Oxford. At the last-named town we finish, after producing a new comedy which I am tentatively rehearsing already. What plays shall I carry on this tour? All those which I have produced at the Shaftesbury during the past season, in addition to 'The Bells' and Mr. Justin Huntly McCarthy's tragedy, 'Cæsar Borgia.' Such has been its success with me here, however, that I intend mainly to depend upon 'The Lyons Mail.'"

"What about 'Hamlet'?" I asked.

"Yes, I hope to give a few performances of it on the tour, as well as of Mr. McCarthy's play."

"And what is the new comedy which you hope to produce at Oxford at the close of your spring tour?"

"It is a piece of which I dare to cherish high hopes and expectations—a comedy of the lightest texture, based upon the late Oscar Wilde's story, 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime,' which is the title (at present) designed for it. The authors are Mr. Gilbert Cannan and Mr. Howard Peacey, and it is written quite in the Wilde style. Moreover, it contains what should prove a really fine part for myself.

"I shall thus have two strong cards for my autumn season in London in two plays powerfully contrasted—one very light, one very grim—both new to the metropolis. I have not yet fixed upon a theatre for the autumn."