The tragedy was read to the company by a grotesque, wooden-legged and red-nosed prompter, and it was greeted with laughter.

To make amends, Macready himself undertook to read it aloud, but he declared himself unable, in the disturbed state of his mind, to appear before the public: his part--that of Lord Tresham--must be taken by Phelps.

From certain rehearsals Phelps was unavoidably absent through illness.

Macready who read his lines on these occasions, now was caught by the play, and saw possibilities in the part of Tresham which fired his imagination.

He chose, almost at the last moment, to displace his younger and less distinguished colleague.
Browning, on the other hand, insisted that Phelps, having been assigned the part, should retain it.