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BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE

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'

THE GIFT OF

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1891

.)I..Ar31..r.if.Q..
351 3-1

Cornell University Library

PR 5183.F99A7
Arthur Wing Pinero, playwright; a study, b

3 1924 013 536 796

Cornell University Library

The
tine

original of

tliis

book

is in

Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in
text.

the United States on the use of the

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013536796


ENGLISH WRITERS OF TO-DAY
A
Series of

Monographs on living Authors

first

The following are the

volumes in the Series

RUDYARD KIPLING
The Man and His Work. Being an attempt at an Appreciation." By G. F. Monkshood, Author of ** Woman and The Wits," "My
'*

Containing a portrait of Mr Kipling and an autograph letter to the author in facsimile. new and cheaper edition. Containing a new chapter. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

Lady Ruby,"

etc.

writes fluently, and he has genuine enthusiasm for his subject, and an intimate acquaintance with his work. Moreover, the book has been submitted to Mr Kipling, whose characteristic letter to the author is set forth on the preface. ... Of Kipling's heroes Mr Monkshood has a thorough understanding, and his remarks on them are worth quoting " (extract follows). Glohe. " It has at the basis of it both knowledge and enthusiasm knowledge of the works esteemed and enthusiasm for them. This book may be accepted as a generous exposition of Mr Kipling's merits as a writer. We can well believe that It will have many interested and approving readers," Scotsmaill. "This well-informed volume is plainly sincere. It is thoroughly well studied, and takes pains to answer all the questions that are usually put about Mr Kipling. The writer's enthusiasm carries both himself and his reader along in the most agreeable style. One way and another his book is full of interest, and those who wish to talk about Kipling will find it invaluable, while the thousands of his admirers will read it through with delighted enthusiasm."

^Daily Telegraph. "He

BRET HARTE
A
By T. Edgar Pemberton, Author of Kendals," "Life of Sothern," etc., with anew portrait of Mr Bret Harte and a Bibliography. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.
Treatise and a Tribute.

" The

Spectator. "A highly-interesting book." Daily Mail "An interesting biography full of good things." Simday Sun. " A pleasant and interesting memoir." Written WMtehall Review. "A truly delightful book.

in

no mean

spirit of adulation, it is a well-balanced, characteristic, personallity and a mind far above the average,"

and

fair

estimate of a

Special. "it is an intensely interesting life story Mr Pemberton has This little volume is eminently readable,' full of excellent stories and anecdotes, and is, in short, a very admirable commentary upon the work of one of the brightest masters of the pen that the great continent over sea has produced." Dally Express." Every true lover of Bret Harte ought to get Mr T. Edgar Pemberton's book. There are not many authors, alas that would bear study at close range, but here certainly is one where knowledge of his early struggles and trials will only increase our affection and interest in the man himself and his stories. Mr Pemberton has shown in this book the qualities of an ideal biographer. His touch is light, his figure stands clear, and we find in his work a strong human note we learned long years ago to associate with the creator of M'Liss."

Sunday
tell.
.
.

to

London

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A
Study.

By THEODORE Wratislaw (Dedicated

to

Theodore
a Biblio-

Watts-Dun ton), with a new

graphy. Crown Daily News. " Mr Wratislaw's work

portrait of 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

is

Mr Swinburne and

always dignified and eloquent, and not

without

critical acuteness."

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HALL CAINE.
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By

C.

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" This book

his

is

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interesting.''

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'_'

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writes fluently and well.

His

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George Meredith. By Walter Jerrold. Arthur Wing Pinero. By Hamilton Fyfe.

VOLUMES OF E. W. O. T. (in active preparation.) W. E. Henley, and the " National Observer"
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Geo. Moore and Bernard Shaw.

Fred Kenyon.
1

By

C.

in one volume. Mrs Humphrey Ward By W. L. Courtney. Mrs Craigie Thomas Hardy. By a well-known Critic. The Parnassian School in English Poetry.
J

(Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse and Robert Bridges.) By Sir George Douglas.
London
:

greening &

CO., LTD., 20 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road

ARTHUR WING PINERO

rhol,, ly F.Uis c-

;/ 'alci

^^^^Z."^ >^^^ty^

^!<rT^^,

Arthur Wing Pinero

PLAYWRIGHT
H
Stttftl?

BY

H.

HAMILTON FYFE

'

>!>

Xondon

GREENING &
20
1902

CO.,

LTD.

CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD

All rights reserved

Copyright
IN

Great Britain IN THE Dominion of Canada AND in the United States of America
October 1902

CONTENTS
I.

ARTHUR WING PINERO

INTRODUCTORY
If

any apology
book,
it

is

required in behalf of this

little

must be an apology not so

much
and

to its readers as to
it.

him who

is

the

subject of

Criticism

is

seldom apologetic,
it

yet, as

it

seems

to me,

always ought

to include at least a veiled petition that the

critic

may be

absolved from the faults of

hasty judgment and distorted vision.

To

make anything
meritorious.

is

hard, and, in proportion,

rail

To
to

at

that
lofty

which has
scorn
its its

been made, to
imperfections,
qualities,
is

note with
lose

sight

of

finer

lamentably easy, and,

in

pro-

ARTHUR WING PINERO

contemptible.
I

portion,

If,

therefore,

in

these pages'
to
insist,

should seem here and there

with emphasis, upon a personal

view, to lay bare a cavilling disposition, or

to

discourse

with
in

overmuch assurance,

beg

pardon

advance.
impressions

The

opinions
are

expressed,

the

recorded,

but the fruitage of a single mind.

They
claim

have
for

one

desert

which
loss

may

them without

of

modesty

they
Assail

are genuine and frank and honest.

my judgment
admit that
it is

if

you

will.

But

so
I

you
shall

an honest judgment,

be content.
If appreciations are

permitted of the work

books,
for

of

living

writers

of

much more
a study of a
the present
it

should

room be found
of

playwright's labours.
state

For
in

in

our

theatre
to

England

is

exceedingly

difficult

form any judgment

all.

of a dramatist's

work

at

book you

may

read at any time, but you can only

see a play acted

when

it

pleases a theatrical

INTRODUCTORY
manager
to

stage

it.

tt

is

true.jiialL_Mr

Pinero has printed and published the dramas

on which he desires
or
fall,

his reputation to stand

is

but the reading of plays

a habit
I

which the public has not yet formed,

am

not without hope, therefore, that this

useful

book may be found

value
highly
Pinero's

by many who
have
but

what

they

seen

of

Mr

dramaturgy,

who have
acquaintIt

lacked opportunity to gain a

full
it.

ance with the whole body of

stimulate
their
interest,
it

may

may perchance
it

create a fresh interest.

to
in

If

turns attention

the published

plays

(which are issued

a handy and

attractive

shape by

Mr

Heinemann) and persuades people

and form
it

to read

their

own judgment upon

its

them,
is

will

have served
that,

purpose.

There
for

no

doubt

granted

taste

the

dramatic form of story-telling, their judg-

ment
talents

will

be

warmly

favourable.

The~

which equip

Mr

Pinero for the task

of writing plays would set up at least half

ARTHUR WING PINERO

dozen
average
novelists,

and

had

he

chosen to throw his work into the form

of novels instead
tainly

of plays, he

would

cer-

have won an undisputed reputation

of letters.

as a

man

That

this title is not

universally conceded to him, as things are,

is

result
is

of

the

muddle-headed
in

view

which

generally accepted

respect of

plays claiming to rank as literature.

critical

Un-

critics

are
"

too
if its

ready

to

declare

any play " literary

duced
iiito

author has intro-

hli^^dialogue

such

scraps

of

"fine" and "flowery" writing as any tyro,

if

he

followed

a
at

sound and
once cut

well-known
This, of

rnaxim,
course,

would
is

out.

merely the

point

of
is

view

of

persons ignorant both of what

implied

when proper use

composition.

is

made of

the

word

"literary" and of the elements of dramatic

But there are many people

of wider intelligence

who

are in doubt as

to the essentials of a play that

may

justly

be

lifted

out of the ruck of pieces endur-

INTRODUCTORY
able only
as

acting

dramas and granted

the right to this much-coveted and much-

talked-about term.

The

essential
in

distinction,

to

my

mind,
this.

can be stated

some such way as

sk ilfully
to
in

contrived^ play
the

may
and
in

appeal
enforce
spite

strongly
interest

emotions

its

developments

of

weaknesses and even absurdities that be-

come apparent
fallen

as soon as the curtain has

it

as

soon as

is

considered in any

other light than that of an entertainment

calculated
solely
to

keep

an

audience

amused and
standpoint,

interested for the brief space

of two or three hours.

Judged from

this

by the verdict of the

majority,
like

a Drury Lane melodrama or a play

The Bells may equal

brilliant efforts of

in

merit

the

most

Congreve and Sheridan,

or

the wittiest
fils,

comedy of Moliere

Dumas

the most poetical or the most pregnant

even of the plays of Shakespeare himself.

But the reason why the works of these

ARTHUR WING PINERO

come
to

writers have

be regarded as great

achievements

in literature as well as excelin

lent stage plays lies

will

the fact that they

scrutiny,

bear

the

closest

the

most

severely critical consideration in the study

that
their

pa^es
with

glow with poetry, with

wit

imagination,

and

fancy,

with a

wide knowledge of human character and

human

life

that
first

they are founded upon

observation at
the pen that
wield.

hand and written with

only genius knows

how

to

A
little

play possessinj; none of these qualities,

a play built up carefully upon a basis of a

humanity imperfectly understood and

an intolerable deal of stage trickery only too

well

remembered

-a-^lay
yet
is

Jn^which

the

characters are^ujppets, the^situations strained

and unreal

theplot mechanical, the

senti-

ment

false,

may
it

succeed in

creating

illusions

when

cleverly represented

by
on

capable actors and actresses.

play,

the other hand, that can lay any claim to

INTRODUCTORY
the
by,
title

of literature must create

its illusions

natural

means, by means that are not

inartistic

seen to be

and crude as soon as

the
real

we have escaped from the glamour of playhouse. The characters must be

people, not stage people
:

the developments

such as would occur

that lies

in

the greater world

beyond the small world of the hack

Blemishes
that
are,

dramatist.

perhaps,

unnoticed in an acted play, or that

may be

condoned

in

view of the limitations imposed

stage,

by the conditions of the

are unfor-

givable in a book printed to be read and

not merely to serve the purposes of a prompt

copy.
It

does not follow that a

play written

by a man of undoubted
be a
literary play.

literary talent will

Indeed, the contrary

it

has so often been proved that

were a

work of supererogation to adduce

instances.

A
at

good novelist
a
play,

will,

if

he

tries his

hand

probably write good dialogue.

But, very often the persons

who seem

to

ARTHUR WING PINERO

pages of his novels are
stilted

live in the

and

artificial

on the stage.

Very

often his

situations are either

bald and undramatic,

or else, from a desire to

make them broad

and sensa-

and

forcible

enough

to stand the test of the

theatre, they are over-coloured

tional.

Very
of

often
is

his

power of writing
without a due

brilliant

dialogue

used
In

sense
literary

character.

such

cases

the

man's dramas read no better nor

to the title of literature

have any better claim

than the efforts of playwrights

who have
and
find

gone through no
it

literary training

difficult
is

even to write correct English.

It

not merely good writing that makes

a play literary in the real meaning of the

term.
to
fit

It

is

such writing

as

knows how
people are
illiterate

every speech to the character of the

person

who

utters

it.

If the

illiterate,

they

must

talk
is

in

an

manner.
worst
that
is

Fine writing

the

dramatist's

enemy.
to

-To sum up

-then,

play

rank as literature must convince

INTRODUCTORY
the reader in as greaLJtneasure as
vinces
it

con-

the

spectators vidiaaee.

it

acted,

must so influence

his imagination that its

characters and scenes_are as clear to his

mind's eye as
to

if

it

were being interpreted

him

in the

playhouse by actors capable

of appreciating and carrying out the author's

wishes and design.

Tried by
Pinero
are,

this touchstone the plays of

Mr

may

not be great works, but they

most of them, undoubtedly good pieces

of literature

quite

as good as the novels

period.

and romances of the

sidering the

Indeed, con-

difificulties

against which

Mr
laid

Pinero has had to_contend, their literary

excellence, /^according
to

the

canons

downj

is

distinctly high.

Mr

Pinero's dia-

logue alone gives him an indisputable claim

to be treated as a
.irue," said Fox,

man

of letterSyx-'^t-isoccasion,

on one

"that

am

never

ia_want of a word, but

Pitt
-te-

..aiaway*

has the word."

Mr

Pinero has,
lat,

the happy

10

ARTHUR WING PINERO

the

knack of finding

word.

Add

to

this

the humanity of the plays, the observation

that shines through them, the striving after

something better than the poor conventions

and
it,

artificiaHties

of the

stage as he found

and you have the secret of

Mr

Pinero's

position

and influence as the leading dra-

matist of-tosday.

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mr

P iNERo'g name

is

Por tuguese.

The

correct

method of opening

this sketch of his

career would be to trace back the history of

his family into the storied past.

But

will

leave

that

to

some more

industrious

bio-

grapher, merely mentioning that the playwright's grandfather

was an English subject

Exchequer,

one of the
London.
favourable

last " tellers " of the

a post long since extinct, and that his father

followed the law, practising as a solicitor in

This
eye

father
his

regarded with
first

no
in

son's

efforts

dramatic craftsmanship.
to carry

He

looked to him

on the legal traditions of the family,

into his office,

and put him

where the young

13

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Pinero struggled with the intricacies of the

law much against his

was

nineteen,

By the time he however, he had made up his

taste.

mind

that he

had a vocation

for the stage,

in

and he accordingly took an engagement

1874 with

Mr

and Mrs Wyndham, the well-

known

theatrical

managers

in

Edinburgh.

A
to

pound a week was

his salary,

and he had

work hard
ing of
all

for

it.

After about a year's play-

kinds of parts at short notice, the

Edinburgh Theatre Royal was burnt down,

and the actor

week.

lost

even his poor pound a

However, he soon found employment

again, this time in Liverpool,

and
at

in

1876 he

rame

to

London

to

play

the Globe
the

Theatre.

He

had made,

at Liverpool,

acquaintance of Wilkie Collins,

who was

then

about
offered

to

produce

Miss Gwilt, and who

Later in the
fortune to be

him a part

in that play.

same year he had the good

engaged by
a

Mr

Irving,

and he remained

member

of the

Lyceum Theatre company

still

for five years.

He

played small jiart,s,

BIOGRAPHICAL
and sometimes played them very badly.

13

In

Birmingham he was once

critic that his

told

by a frank

King

in

Hamlet was the very

!

worst King the town had ever seen

this

But

was early

in his five years'

It is

experience

with

Mr

Irving.

generally agreed that

Mr

Pinero developed into a sound "utility"

with
ideas of
his

actor,

own and a

fair

command
considers

of the
that

means

to express them.

He

he established a

theatrical

record by playing two of the worst parts

in

Shakespeare
in

Guildenstern

in

Hamlet,

and Salarino
for

The Merchant of Venice the longest consecutive runs ever known.

In particular

Mr

Pinero complained of thef

still

agony of standing
during the
trial

for thirty-five minutesr

scene without speaking a

word

Sothern had much the same kind of

it

experience, and attributed to

reposeful acting.

his talent for

I

"In America
and
'

played

second

'

heavies,'

if

you had stood and

'

listened to the first

heavy
five

man

ladling out

long speeches

for

years you

would

14

ARTHUR WING PINERO

much repose
as
I

get as

have got."
all

But of
time

course Pinero

was thinking

this

more about play-writing than

play-acting.
all

He

wrote steadily, trying his hand at

In

kinds of pieces.

1877 his

first

chance

came
stage.

of seeing his

work upon the London

little

play called

200

a Year was

performed

at^ the

Globe Theatre on the

Miss Compas

occasion of the benefit of " a rising young

actor,"
ton,

Mr
is

F.

H. Macklin.

who

now well-known

a clever

comedy

actress,

and as the wife of

Mr

R. C.

Carton, also appeared in the piece.

this

After

came Daisy s Escape and Bygones^ both

produced by
the
first

Mr Irving Mr Pinero
to

at the

Lyceum.
from

For
his

received

generous manager the sum of ;^5o.

He

had written

Mr

Irving offering to supply

a curtain-raiser, whenever one

wanted, for nothing.
notice

should be

For some time

offer,
if

no

was taken of the

but one day

like to write
I

Mr me

Irving said, " Pinero,

you

little

piece for next season,

will

give

BIOGRAPHICAL
you ;^5o."
After the
first

15

performance of

Daisy's Escape,

Mr
much
the

Irving, perhaps without

thinking very

of what he said, pro-

phesied that,

if

young author went on as

to take

he had begun, he would be sure

good

position as a dramatic author.

Daisy s

Escape, which was revived not very long

ago with

Mr Lawrence
won
his

Irving in the prinfor

cipal part, not only

Mr

Pinero the
also intro-

good opinion of
duced him

manager but

to his future wife,

ability

Miss Myra
It

Holme, an actress of

and charm.

was not long before

began
to

Mr

Irving's prophecy
first

be

justified.

After his

decided

success as a playwright
acting,

Mr

Pinero gave up
entirely

and wisely devoted himself

to authorship.

His experience as an actor

in the writing

helped him, of course, immensely

of plays, and
it

as he has often

made him a capital speaker, shown at public dinners and

actor.

meetings.
great, or

But he would never have been a

Therefore
that
his

even a very good,

can pretend
to

no

one

regret

i6

ARTHUR WING PINERO

connection with the stage was in this respect

severed.

up

his

The other connection which binds name with the history of the English
last quarter of

Theatre during the

a century

has been productive of far happier results.

Ill
EARLY EFFORTS

Upon Mr
which
little

Pinero's

early

came before The

the plays Squire there

work
is

that can usefully be said.

Nor, indeed,

is

it

necessary to discuss in detail any but

the pieces which

Mr

Pinero has printed

in the

admirable collected edition of his work published

by

Mr

William Heinemann.

These

are the plays by which he asks to be judged.

To rummage amongst
tions of the days
to a

the immature producfeeling his

when he was

way

method

that
;

may be

interesting to a

bibliographer
critic.

it

has no attraction for the

Nothing would, jn_truth,

gaine d
\

by a lengthj^considaration of
early expe riments.

Mr

Pinero^s

His success has been

ARTHUR WING PINERO

much a matter
of will-power that
little

iso

the

study of his
;

beginnings yields

save

admiration for the strenuous effort which out

of so
little

has created so much.

first

There was,

''

in

Mr

Pinero's

attempts, scarcely any-

thing that marked him out as a playwright

of particular

promise

no

evidence of a

superior talent
.

not

even exceptional dex-

terity.

He
;

was not one of Nature's favoured

a
silver
lisp

children

he was not born with

his

tongue

in

mouth

he did not

in

well-turned phrases or delight his schoolboy

hours by searching for

writing never seems
easily.

le

mot

juste.

His

to

have been done

it

You

can always find in

evidence

of

effort,

of patient labour, of determination

to secure the effect

ally acquired the

aimed

at.

As he gradu-

mastery over his material,

he learnt the

art of concealing endeavour.

When you read or listen to the dialogue

comes so pat and seems so

which
in

inevitable

Dandy Dick
lose
for

or

The Gay Lord Quex, you

the

the

moment

sense of

effort.

EARLY EFFORTS
But,

19

when you look

into
it

it

closely,

you

can see

how

laboriously

has

been put

together and shaped into the most effective

mould.
It

was

in

The Money-Spinner that

Mr
and
soliis

Pinero

first

showed a

trace of his power.

types,

The

characters are

commonplace

they constantly talk to the audience in

loquy and monologue.

But the piece

It
tells

undeniably good stage-craft.

how

a young wife cheated at cards in order to

win money to pay

off

a certain sum which

her husband has misappropriated from his

employers
perhaps,

not
is

a very sympathetic motive,

that

but

one

compels a certain

measure of sympathy as
it.

Mr
as

Pinero handled

The

wife
for

known

"The Moneyit

Spinner"
is

her dexterity at cards, so

not an isolated slip on her part.

is

Her
to

father

a gambling-hell proprietor, and she

sister
it.

and her

help the

old scoundrel

manage

The

only character in the piece

is

who

is

not more or less of a knave

more


20

ARTHUR WING PINERO

less

or

of a

fool,

and that
is

is

the

young
for-

Englishman who
he knows

cheated, and

who

gives the fraud practised upon him as soon as

its

circumstances.

Mr

Pinero has
materials

avowed
for

lately his belief that the

drama can only be looked

for to-day in

the upper ranks of Society.

He

evidently

thought so as

far

back as the date of The

Money- Spinner,

for

by making

this

young

Englishman a peer he gave the piece that

aristocratic flavour

which he declares to be
this

essential

to

the plays of

age.

The

Money-Spinner, despite
ing,

its faults, is

interestis

effective, quick-witted.
this,

The Squire

more than
this.
its

and yet

in

a sense less than

It is

a play which begins so well that

is

tame and hackneyed ending

an

irritating

disappointment.

This was the author's rough

note of the idea

on which the drama

is

based

" The notion of a young couple secretly married

girl

about to become a mother

is still

finding

the
those

that a former

wife

in existence.

The heroine amongst

EARLY EFFORTS
who who
respect

21

and love

her.

The

fury of a rejected lover

believes her to be a guilty

to face at night-time.

Query

woman.
Kill the

Two men
first

face

wife

"

Here
treated

is

an idea certainly

an idea which,
play.

in

a serious and original manner,

would no doubt make an interesting

It is

true that

men

are not, as a rule, in

not.

doubt whether their wives are alive or

The
ever,

device

is

of the stage, stagey.

HowPinero

something must

be

granted to the

dramatist.
his
.

No

one need grudge

Mr

postulate.

The grudge which we do

is

bear against him

not for starting with an

improbable situation, but for handling that

situation in

an insincere, nerveless
is

fashion.

The

first

act

wonderfully good.

The
feel

ex-

position of the

theme

is

masterly.

We are
that

interested in the characters.

We

the situation
sibilities.

is

big with

all

kinds of pos-

Then comes

the scene in which

the young husband and wife learn that they are not legally married, that between them

stands the previous wife, supposed honestly

22

ARTHUR WING PINERO

to

by both of them

be dead.

In this scene,
is

you

will

remember, the husband

concealed

behind a curtain.

He

has come in by the

is

window while
This
is

his rival

telling the story.

the

moment

that brings us to the

parting of the ways.

Up

to

now
all

the play

has been

full

of interest, original, sincere.

This
turns.

is

the crux upon which

the rest
story

When
will

the teller of the sad the

has gone,

husband come out at

once from behind the curtain and act as a

man would
he remain
scene
all

in

such circumstances, or will

his

hidden while
herself,

wife

has

to
like

and then appear and

puppet
?

behave

stage

It

is

moment
enough
solution
laid
is

of

breathless

excitement.

Un-

fortunately, the playwright

was not strong

to follow the bolder course.

The
it

took

the

wrong

turn,

insincerity

hold upon the play, and the rest of

artifice

mere

conventional
of

drama of the
eighties.
act,

depressing

period

the

early
first

The

difference

between

the

so

EARLY EFFORTS
full

23
last,

of power and dexterity, and the

its

with

comic-opera peasants and lingering

is

denouement,
scenes
are

truly

pathetic.

The
than
until,

final

really

no

more

tedious

devices to keep the story afloat

upon

the stroke of eleven, the death of the in-

convenient
the curtain

first
fall

wife can be whispered and

upon a
"

fresh

prospect of
the
first

wedding
wife
?

bells.

Query
wife

Kill

"

Alas,
off

the
first

same

malady
proved

which
fatal
?

carried

the

to

the last act.

What was
"

the reason

Did

Mr

Pinero say to himself, " Video meliora pro? or was

it

boque ; deteriora sequor

that he

simply
to

had not yet the force of mind

?

break with the commonplace

fancy.
stature.
tellectual

The

latter, I

He

arrived slowly at his

full

mental
in-

In

1881 he was only in his

Besides,

teens.

there

was
to

no

one

in

1881

to

show the way

better

things, and, in serious matters,

Mr

Pinero's

habit of

mind has ever been

-

to follow rather

than to lead.

24

ARTHUR WING
The
piece
is

PINERO

said to

have owed much of

its

success to

Mrs Kendal.
I

Of

this

must

leave

my

elders to speak.
filled

have no doubt

her beautiful art

the piece with the

fragrance of womanhood,

and gave poig-

nancy to the passion and tenderness which

Chance had so

sorely betrayed.

have only
" squire,"

seen Miss Kate Rorke in the part of Kate

Verity,
certainly,

She made a charming

but she was
gracefully
in

pathetic

rather
scenes.

than
It

powerful
is

the the

emotional

difficult,

by

way, to
a fuss

believe that the people

who made

about the points

of resemblance

between

The Squire and

Mr

Hardy's great novel,

Far from

the

either read the

Madding Crowd, can have book or seen the play. The

between Kate and Bath-

superficial likeness

sheba

is

their only point of contact.

The

rural setting,

which was to waft

" the scent

of the hay across the footlights," was surely

common
wrights.

property

among

novelists

and play-

EARL Y EFFOR TS
It

25

was

after

The Squire that

Mr

William
{^English

Archer

described

Mr

Pinero

Dramatists of To-day, Sampson Low, 1882)

as

"a thoughtful and

artistic aims, if

conscientious writer
full

with

not yet with

com-

mand
found

of his artistic means."

in

Mr

Archer

Mr

Pinero's

work

" sufificient

promise to warrant a hope that we have

in
this

author

playwright

of

genuine
will

talent,

whose more mature work

take

a prominent and honourable place upon the stage in coming years."

forecast of

which

Mr

Archer may very justly be proud.

IV

FARCE
The
Squire, like The Money -Spinner, sugthat

gested

Mr
the

Pinero's
lines

talent

would
serious

develop

upon
But

of

the

drama.

for this

development we had

to wait a

good many years

until the profact,

duction of The Profligate, in

in

1889.

The

interval,
;

however, was thoroughly well

occupied

it

brought forth what many good

judges
fruit

still

hold to be the most characteristic

of the author's pen.

Between 1885
at

and

1887 were

produced,

the

Court

Theatre, the three farces

The Magistrate,

The Schoolmistress and Dandy Dick

that
time.

gave

Mr

Pinero at once a leading place

26

amongst the dramatic writers of the

FARCE
In

27

1889
1893,

followed

The Cabinet Minister,

constructed
this

and

The Amazons,
lines.

on

much

the same

In

delightful

series of farces,

and

in the

Savoy

operettas,

we have

the only two original dramatic art

forms which

England can claim

to

have

evolved during the nineteenth century.

regards
here,
all

As

other forms,

we have
series of

followed

we
call

lead.

When
may

he wrote

this

what we

the Court farces,

Mr

Pinero re-

created the farce of character.

The

farce

of intrigue had, in 1885, long held the stage

unchallenged.

Mr
In

Pinero had tried his

own

hand
of

at

it

before he hit upon his later vein

ore.
this

pure

kind the author's

figures are but puppets

as he pulls
in

an iron

who move according The plot has them their strings. grip. They do not build up the
lines

story

on natural
are

as

they go along.

They
idea.

merely dolls used for the conof

venient

presentment

some one comic

no sudden

There are no

surprises,

28

ARTHUR WING PINERO

turns of merriment in the farce of intrigue.

You

see exactly
end,

how
as

it

will

reach

its

ap-

pointed

just

you watch a
its

train

coming smoothly along upon

set of rails,
points,

appointed

switching off correctly at the

and turning awkward corners with

In

easy assurance.

The Rocket and In

Chancery
lifelike

Mr

Pinero's puppets were

more

than most, but they were really no

lay figures cleverly constructed

more than

for the purposes of a ramified plot.

later

His
the

work was

very

different.

In

Court series the characters are astonishingly

actual.

They

live

and move and have

their

being quite apart from the demands of the

plot.

Indeed,

they themselves and their

idiosyncrasies are the plot.

It

was a bold experiment

and

to

set

about

amusing audiences which included so many

admirers
of
magistrates

deans

and
by

cabinet ministers and

schoolmistresses

showing them these high and mighty personages

in

absurd and undignified situations,


FARCE
29

and by turning upon them the high-lights

of satire and
ridicule.

Yet

this

was the

leading motive of each play

of

to

make
them

fun

various types of
real

modern character by
exhibiting
in

creating

people,

their actual surroundings

and making them

yet just

act

in

highly improbable and

It

possible way.

required a great deal of

wit and

a great deal of tact to do this

without arousing annoyance and resentment.

Both

ingredients

were

supplied

by

Mr

Pinero in just proportion.

His wit made

everyone laugh, and when you can make

people
would,

laugh

they
to

cannot,

even

if

they
you.

continue

be

angry

with

When
has
the

you hear complaint that a playwright

fun of this or that institution

made

Church, or the Law, or the Army, or

Marriage, or Divorce

it

simply means that

he has not been funny enough, or that he

has been funny on wrong
lines.

Mr

Pinero

had both wit enough

and
tact

to be genuinely funny

enough

to

keep him

upon

the

30

ARTHUR WING PINERO

The Dean
that
in

right lines.
instance,
in
is

Dandy

Dick, for

so real in essence and so unreal

action
is

no

one could be offended.

is

He
the
do.

a real person, but he

doing for

moment what
is

a real person would never

This

one of the conventions between

,ajid

the vmtgr-of far^e

the spectator.

The

characters of farce should be as real as their

creator can

make them,
would

but they must not

act. If

act as real people

we

could

imagine

an

impecunious

dean

suddenly

discovering that
betting

money

could be

made by
his

upon

horses,

commissioning

butler to back a horse for him,

making a
anxiety himself

bran mash for

that
it

the animal

in

his
it

shall

run well, administering

and

then being arrested

on suspicion of

trying to poison a starter on the eve of a

race

if

this

were

really

the

playwright's

suggestion,

the

only play to be
to

made on
But,

such

theme would have

be a very

serious play

almost a tragedy,

in fact.

FARCE
in

31

this

case,

it

is

the very incongruity of

rest,

the idea that sets our minds at

and

upon
built

this

basis

of incongruity
his

Mr
farces.

Pinero

up each of

famous

No

magistrate

we know would
establishment

allow his larky

stepson to take him to a fast supper and

gambling

just

about

to

be

raided by the police; no schoolmistress

we
no
be

know would spend

figuring
as

her Christmas holidays

a queen of comic

opera

Cabinet
likely

Minister
act

and
Sir
it

his

wife would

to

as

Julian

and

Lady

Twombley
that

act;

is

highly

improbable

any dean would behave

like the

Dean
of

of St Marvell's, however

much he wanted
spire.

money
course,

for
it

his

cathedral

Yet,

is

just possible that

;

any of these
just imagine

things might happen

it
;

we can

and that

is jSKfajesS-jiie^

fun

comes
as,

in.

When
by any
fail

people behave on the stage

con-

sidering their characters, they could never

possibility

behave

in

real

life,

they

to

awaken our

interest.

This

is

what

32

ARTHUR WJNG PINERO

and
all

weakens melodrama
on
a
purposeless
to

plays

based
idiotic

sacrifice

or

an

refusal

take

natural
all

straightforward

course.

But we can

be interested

in

improbable incongruous actions so long as

they
are logically led up and so long as
that the playwright
is

we know
joke
act
too.

enjoying the

The
in

persons in farce then should

character.

always

They may do

improbable things, but they must not do

altogether impossible things.
superiority of

The immense
his observance
solidity of

Mr

Pinero's farces to others

lies

even of
of these
central

their

kind

in

rules

and

in

the

his

characters.

He

has

drawn them

with so sure a hand that they remain real people in spite of

actions.

the unreality of

their

They would never behave

do
it

as they

do, but they

so naturally that

we

are

almost convinced in spite of ourselves.

M.

Brunetiere,

know, has defined

farce

as the spectacle of a

human

will

striving

towards some end and meeting with some

FARCE
obstacle

33

such as the

irony of chance,

or

ridiculous prejudice, or a

want of proportion
But then M.

between

means and end.

Bruneti^re bases his whole theory of drama

upon

what Stevenson
wills

called

the struggle
to the

between adverse
grapple."

"coming nobly

" Ce que nous demandons au thditre, c'est le spectacle d'une volontd qui se deploie en tendant vers un but et qui a conscience de la nature des moyens qu'elle y
fait

servir."

Thus, when the obstacles

will

to

human
Pro-

are insurmountable, as

Destiny,

vidence, a law of nature or a grand passion^

we have Tragedy.

When

there

is

a chance of overcoming the

obstacles, as in the case of a strong social

convention or prejudice, or a passion not

quite of the grand order,

we have Drama
conflict

or Romantic Drama.

When
the other

two adverse jvills

one with

we have Comedy.
as
I

And when,

have already

said,

the

34

ARTHUR WING PINERO

will
is

obstacle to

found

in

the

irony of

chance, or ridiculous prejudice, or a want of

proportion between means and end, then,

according to M.

Brunetiere's

classification,

we have
It

Farce.
to offer to disagree

seems impertinent

with so eminent a

man

of letters, but

can-

not help thinking that, so far at any rate as

Comedy and Farce

are concerned,

M. Bruwhole

netiere's definition scarcely covers the

ground, ."Comedy," according to

Meredith, "
tions
is

Mr George
reflec-

game played
life.''

to

throw

upon

social

Now

there are
life

ways

of throwing reflections upon social

which

are not based altogether upon a conflict of

wills
;

and there

is

also

a certain farcical
takes no

incongruity of which
account.
It

M. Brunetiere

Apply

his test to the Pinero farces.

all.

does not comprehend them at

They
scope.

are a form of

drama

quite outside
is

its

May we
gruity,

not say that there

is

a distinct form

of farce which

based entirely upon incon-

and arouses merriment by appealing

FARCE

35

to that sense of the unfitness of things which

Humour ? The difference between Comedy and Farce, then, is, I would submit, this. Comedy
lies

so near the root of

shows us possible people doing probable

things.

Farce shows

us

possible

people

doing improbable things.

Thus The School

She Stoops
to

for Scandal
quer
farce,
is

is

comedy

Con-

farce.

The Relapse trenches upon

The Comedy of Errors is farce, The Country Wife is farce, while Love for Love,
all

and indeed

Congreve's plays,

may justly Comedy

be called comedy.

Put

it

another way and

result.

we

get almost the same

wit,

depends more upon humour.

sets us

farce

more upon
Farce

Comedy keeps
when

us smiling.

on to laugh, and

this is
it

done with the

founded upon

greatest success

is

some incongruity which

all

is

seen at once by

the world to

be an incongruity.

Of

course there are faTes^wluch_depend_upQn

wit rather than

humour

such are the plays

of

Mr

Bernard Shaw and the^earlier_plays

36

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Captain
if

of

Marshall.

These

would

be

comedies
people.

the

characters
is

were possible
so spontaneous

Mr

Shaw's wit

that he almost persuades us his characters

are

real.

But

really they are only so

in

many

Mr

Bernard Shaws

disguise.
little

Captain
lifelike,

Marshall's creations are a

more

but his wit,

mechanical.

on the other hand,

is

more

He

brings forth things

and old out of a well-stored note-book.

often his fireworks

new Too
left

seem
and
of

to

have been
is

out in the rain.

farce

Then, again, there

lately^ to

the

of intrigue,

that

has

succeeded the farce

misunderstanding.

These, as a

rule,

depend neither upon wit

nor upon humour, but upon a large number

of doors

and upon the rapidity with which

lines.

the actors are able to get through their

In neither kind
is

any attempt made

to

draw

character or to display the fruits of observation,

follies

or even to of the

make fun hour. They

of the passing
are

born oldauthors'

fashioned;

they leap from

their

FARCE
brains fully

37

armed with japes which have done

mind of man runneth
Thespis must

service so long that the

not back to the contrary.

have joked so
an
earlier

in his cart,

and the clowns of

it

age have clowned

I

not otherwise.
in-

Of

the two orders

is

think the farce of

trigue

preferable.
to

Here

there

is

really

something
really

be concealed.

has deceived his wife,

The husband the young man

artist's
is

has actually married the cook or the

model.
all.

In the other there

thing
is

no

reality at

The whole
all

a mistake.
all,

No

one

has done anything wrong at

and you

wish

the time that someone would be

sane enough to say so and end the play.

But they do not even pretend

to

be sane.

They

are merely impossible people doing

impossible things.

Mr

Pinero, then, brought back to

life

the
in-

farce of character, the farce based

upon

congruity, the farce which shows us in the

most light-hearted and entertaining fashion

possible

people

doing

improbable things.

38

ARTHUR WING PINERO

understand

To

these pieces

how witty and observant are, how genuine the humour

Anyone who

which inspired them, they need to be read

as well as seen on the stage.

can read them without being amused must

be

like

Mr

Fraser of Locheen,

who had

never learnt to laugh.

And
it

then consider

what unspeakable torture

would beiio be

obliged to read the ordinary farce or light

comedy which passes muster with the

age audience.

aver-

Of

the

first

three farces

Dandy Dick
all

is,

should say, the best, considered

round.
riper,

The

character

is

more developed and

and the

situations

grow

naturally out of the

idiosyncrasies of the dramatis persona.

The

Magistrate

is

perhaps more mirth-provoking,

is

but the fun

Dick.

more forced than

in

Dandy

There are signs here and there of a

determination to get a laugh at any cost,

and,

when you come

schoolboy
of

to think

it

over, the

idea of the
as

young man nearly twenty passing

fourteen
is

not very

FARCE
delicately

39
is

worked
this,

out.

There
I

no need to

dwell upon
that

but

cannot help feeling

relations

Cis

Farringdon's

with

his

mother's friends and maid-servants

might

have been touched upon,

to touch

if it all,

was necessary
with a lighter

upon them

at

hand.

However,

this affects

very

little

of

the play, which

is full

of uproarious

humour
as

from beginning to end.

It is interesting to
is,

observe that Charlotte Verrinder

were, a
first

it

sketch of the inimitable " George

Dick.

Tid

" in

Dandy
Mrs

You

see

it

in this

very

funny conversation between Charlotte and

her
sister,

Posket, in the

first act.

Agatha. Now, we can

undisturbed.

tell

each other our miseries

Will you begin ?

Charlotte. Well, at last I am engaged to Captain Horace Vale. Agatha. Oh, Charley I'm so glad. Charlotte. Yes, so is he, he says. He proposed to me at the Hunt Ball in the passage Tuesday week. Agatha. What did he say ? Charlotte. He said, " By Jove, I love you awfully." Agatha. Well, and what did you say ? Charlotte. Oh, I said, " Well, if you're going to be as eloquent as all that, by Jove, I can't stand out." So
!

40

ARTHUR WING PINERO

settled
it

we

in the passage.

He

bars flirting

till

after
?

we're married.

That's

my

misery.

What's yours, Aggy

Agatha. Something awful. Charlotte. Cheer up, Aggy What is it ? Agatha. Well, Charley, you know, I lost my poor dear first husband at a very delicate age. Charlotte. Well, you were five-and-thirty, dear. Agatha. Yes, that's what I mean. Five-and-thirty is
!

a very delicate
two-year-old,

age to find yourself

single.

You're

neither one thing nor the other.

You're not exactly a

and you don't care to pull a hansom. However, I soon met Mr Posket at Spa bless him Charlotte. And you nominated yourself for the Matrimonial Stakes. Mr Farringdon's The Widow, by Bereavement, out of Mourning, ten pounds extra. Agatha. Yes, Charley, and in less than a month I went triumphantly over the course. But, Charley dear, I didn't carry the fair weight for age and that's my

trouble.

Charlotte. Oh, dear Agatha. Undervaluing

of,

.^Eneas's love, in a
I

moment
years

I hope, not unjustifiable vanity,

took

five

from

my total,

which made

me

thirty-one

on my wedding

morning.

Charlotte. Well, my
has done that before you. sequences

dear,

many a misguided woman

Agatha. Yes, Charley, but don't you see the con? It has thrown everything out. As I am
thirty-one instead of thirty-six, as I ought to be,
it

now

stands

to

reason

that

couldn't
I was.

have been married

I

twenty years ago, which

in proportion.

So

have had to

fib

Charlotte.

I see

making your

first

marriage occur

only fifteen years ago.

FARCE
Agatha. Exactly. Charlotte. Well,
further ?

41

then,

dear,

why worry

yourself

Agatha. Why,
thirty-one now,

dear, don't

my boy couldn't
if

years ago, and,

you see? If I am only have been born nineteen he could, he oughtn't to have been,
married
till

because, on
years later.

my own showing, I wasn't Now you see the result

is

four

Charlotte. Which
gentleman over there
is

that that fine strapping

young

only fourteen.

And his Agatha. Precisely. Isn't it awkward ? moustache is becoming more and more obvious every
day.

Charlotte. What does the boy himself believe ? Agatha. He believes his mother, of course, as a boy As a prudent woman I always kept him in should.
ignorance of his age in case of necessity.
terribly

But it is hard on the poor child, because his aims, instincts and ambitions are all so horribly in advance of his condition. His food, his books, his amusements are out of keeping with his palate, his brain and his disposition; and with all this suffering, his wretched mother has the remorseful consciousness of having
shortened her offspring's life. Charlotte. Oh, come, you haven't quite done that. Agatha. Yes, I have, because, if he lives to be a

hundred, he must be buried at ninety-five.

The Schoolmistress
either

is

wilder farce than

The Magistrate or Dandy Dick, but

the wit of the dialogue and the neatness of the characterisation remove
it

far

away from

42

ARTHUR WING PINERO

anything like the rough-and-tumble variety

of

comic

drama.

Vere

Queckett
is

is

genuine creation.

There
than

much more of
the

him

in

the

piece

of
unless

School-

mistress

herself,

who,

Mrs

John

Wood

had played the

part,

would have been

But Vere

almost a secondary character.

would make up
comings.

for

any number of shortbetween

the
of his " sesquipedalian
utter

The
"

contra,st

immense pomposity
verbiage

and the

insignificance
is

of

his person

and character

delicious.

His

description of the small lark-pie which

was

ordered

for
is

eight

persons

is

irresistible.

The

pie

"architecturally

dispropor-

tionate."

His excuse
:

for fibbing could not

be improved upon

"A

habit of preparing

election manifestoes for various

members
yield

of

my
no

family

may have
As a
is

impaired a
in

fervent
to

admiration for truth,

which
to

man."

foil

Vere we have
action,

Admiral Rankling, the man of

the

Admiral who

distinguished in the Service

FARCE

43

" because his ship has never run into any-

thing," the

man

of few words, who, in reply

tells

to the letter

which

him of

his daughter's

engagement, telegraphs from Walton

single

the

word " Bosh

"

Peggy Hesslerigge,
little

the articled pupil,

ture.

is

a delightful

crea-

Every

line of the

part recalls with

pathetic force the personality of Miss

Rose

Norreys.

Sheba
delicious

in

Dandy Dick was

young

another char-

acter which this

actress played with

humour.

The
to

scenes between the

officers

Dean's daughters and the eccentric

who make
below the
similitude

love
rest
in

them are a long way

both in veri-

of the play

and

humour, but Miss Norreys

carried

them

off triumphantly
art.

by the dainty
himself, his

charm of her

The Dean
butler

sporting sister, "

George Tidd,"
and you

Sir Tristram

Mardon and
perfect
;

the

Blore
his

are

each

the
less.

constable

wife are

scarcely

When

think

of

The
to

Magistrate,

your

memory goes back

44

ARTHUR WING PINERO

situations

to

the

raid

on the gambling
confronting
of

establishment

or

the

the

unlucky

Mr

Posket on the bench with his

wife and his sister-in-law in the dock.

When
is

you

recall

The

Schoolmistress,

it

the
that

laughable ingenuity of the imbroglio

chiefly

occurs

to

you,

the

piling-up

of

misadventures and misunderstandings, and

the gradual closing of the net around poor

Dandy Dick it is the people themselves whom we remember and over whose peculiarities we smile. The plot we almost forget, but the characters
Queckett.

But

in

stand out clear and distinct in recollection.

we have known rather better than we know the most of our acquaintances in real life. The whole play coheres so admirably, is all so much
are
like

They

people

of a piece,

that

one

can

single

out

no

particular scenes for special

It
is

commendation.
that

the

general

effect

leaves

its

impression upon the spectator's mind.

I

Yet

should like to quote one scene, both for

FARCE
its

45

own sake and

Georgiana

also

to

establish

the

relationship

between

Charley
Sir

Verrinder

and

Tidman.

Tristram

Mardon
succeeded

and
in

"George
rescuing the

Tid"

have just

ferocious village constable,

Georgiana. But, oh
say to you
?

Dean from the Noah Topping.

Tris Mardon, what can I ever

Sir Tristram. Anything you Hke, except

you."

"Thank

Georgiana. Don't stop me

Why, you were the

of the cart by his

man who
legs!

hauled Augustin

out

Sir Tristram. Oh, but why mention such trifles ? Georgiana. They're not trifles. And when his cap
fell off, it

was you, brave fellow that you

are,

who

pulled

the horse's nose-bag over

shouldn't be recognised.

my

brother's

head so that he
these are the

Sir Tristram.

My

dear Georgiana,
life.

common

courtesies of everyday

Georgiana. They are acts which any true woman would esteem. Gus won't readily forget the critical moment when all the chaff ran down the back of his neck nor shall I. Sir Tristram. Nor shall I forget the way in which you gave Dandy his whisky out of a soda-water bottle

just before the race.

Georgiana. That's nothing

same.

any lady would

You looked

do the
the

Sir

Tristram.

Nothing!

like

46

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Oh, Georgiana,

Florence Nightingale of the paddock. why, why, why won't you marry me ?

Georgiana.

Sir Tristram.

Why Why ?
only just asked

Georgiana. Why! Because you've me, Tris Sir Tristram. But when I touched night you reared Georgiana. Yes, Tris, old man, but on mutual esteem. Last night you
!

your hand
love
is

last

founded

hadn't put

my

brother's

head

in that nose-bag.

at

Mrs John Wood was, of course, thoroughly home as Georgiana. But the part is not
itself,

one that plays

Pinero's

as

so
do.

many
it

of

Mr
Ada

women's

parts

Miss
in

Rehan was not a

and

success in

America,

when Dandy Dick was

failed

revived in

1900 at Wyndham's Theatre Miss Violet

Vanbrugh
which

to get into the

character

the right touch of good-hearted

is

loudness

Mrs Wood's particular gift. Three years after Dandy Dick came The Cabinet Minister, another triumph for Mrs
John Wood, another popular success, but
not another comic masterpiece like
decessor.
It is scarcely in
its

pre-

accordance with

FARCE

47

the formula of "possible people doing im-

probable

things."

We

might

accept

as

possible the Secretary of State

who
to

plays

the flute and allows his wife to do the most

desperate things in her efforts

escape

money entanglements. We might accept Lady Twombley with an effort, but Joseph Lebanon one cannot regard as anyfrom
thing but a stock figure of low comedy.

He
a

is

extremely funny, but he

convincing.

is

never for

moment
is

His

sister,

Mrs

Gaylustre,

the pushing,

fashionable dressreal.

maker,

much more

low-class

moneylender with

social

ambitions

would

not behave as Joseph

behaves.
is

Accom-

panying
faint

social

ambition
social
likes

always some

idea

of

conventions.
to
tell

The
tedious

vulgarian
tales

who

long,

about his

own

vulgar exploits has no

(excuse
his

fancy for what

Mr Lebanon
"the

humour!) describes as
social tree

top

of

the

where the cocoanuts

are."

The

very

fact of the existence of social

ambition


48

ARTHUR WING PINERO

an
instinct,

implies
for

however rudimentary,
called
"
fit

what Matthew Arnold

life

and

pleasing forms of social

and manners."

Mr Lebanon
his anxiety

has no such

instinct, therefore

" to cut

an eight on the frozen

lake of gentility "

has no apparent motive

not even the desire to advance his financial

schemes

at the

expense of his aristocratic

acquaintances.

No,

Mr Lebanon
for

is

not

observed

freshly,

but taken
to

granted;

and he ought not

be taken for granted

because, off the stage, he does not exist.

The
four

rest

of

the

characters,

beyond the
fill

mentioned,

merely

serve to
is

up

spaces.

The Cabinet Minister

upon
goes no further than
better
in

a play

that can always be counted

to amuse,

but

it

that.

Vastly

every
at

way

is

The

Amazons, produced
in 1893,

the Court Theatre

and written

after

The Second

Mrs

Tanqueray, apparently by way of relaxation.

Mr

Pinero's art gained greatly, even in the

farce,

writing of a

from his more serious

FARCE
effort

49

to

offer

criticism

upon

life.

The

Cabinet Minister was loosely planted in the

top
soil

of character.

Its relation to life

its

was

of the smallest.

The Amazons has

is

roots

deep down.
principles of

It

founded
nature.

upon

eternal

human

In a jesting
realities.

manner
There

it

brings us face to face with

is

things in

more insight into the heart of it, more sympathy with the beating

heart of humanity, than in any of the farces

Mr

Pinero had given us before

it.

Take
family

the scene quite early in the play in which

Lady

Castlejordan
life's

tells

the

old

clergyman her

sorrow.

Lady Castlejordan. You knew Jack, my husband. MiNCHiN. Ah yes, indeed. Lady Castlejordan. What was he ? MiNCHiN. A gentle giant. A grand piece of muscular humanity. In frame, the Vikings must have been of the same pattern. Lady Castlejordan. And you remember me as I was twenty years ago ? MiNCHiN (looking at her). I've no excuse for for!

getting.

Lady Castlejordan.
husband.

was

fit

mate

for

my

so

ARTHUR WING PINERO

MiNCHiN. Perfect. Lady Castlejordan. Even in Jack's time I never scaled less than ten stone, and he could lift me as if I were a sawdust doll. Old friend Oh old friend, what a son my son and Jack's ought to have been

{She leans upon the gate.)

to send

MiNCHiN. But but but it didn't please Providence you a son. Lady Castlejordan (beating the gate). Oh oh MiNCHiN. Come, come, do learn to view the matter
!
!

resignedly.

Lady Castlejordan.

Girls

girls

girls.

Many people like / like girls Lady Castlejordan. You can recall Noeline's arrival.
Bless

MiNCHiN. It's an old story now. Lady Castlejordan. Girls MiNCHiN. Why despise girls ?

my

heart,

was sure she was going to be a boy so was Jack. it The child was to have been so did Jack. christened Noel, Jack's second name. MiNCHiN. Yes, I was up at the Hall that night, smoking with Castlejordan to keep him quiet. Lady Castlejordan. Poor dear, I remember his bending over me afterwards and whispering, " Damn it, Miriam, you've lost a whole season's hunting for.
I

knew

nothing

"

Then

the second.

MiNCHiN. Lady Wilhelmina. Lady Castlejordan. Yes, Billy came next. Jack wouldn't speak to me for a couple of months after that,
the only fall-out

we

ever had.

MiNCHiN. But your third. Lady Thomasine. Lady Castlejordan. Dearest Tommy Oh, by that time Jack and I had agreed to regard anything that was born to us as a boy, and to treat it accordingly, and for
!

FARCE

SI

the rest of his

life

my husband

there never was another

taught our three children

to ride, fish, shoot, swim,

fence, fight, wrestle, throw, run, jump, until they were as

of their jackets.

hardy as Indians and their muscles burst the sleeves And when Jack went I continued
deficiencies,

their old training.

little

Of course I I recognise my boys' but I'm making the best of the great

disappointment of
eccentric

my
sits,

life,

and
!

well, call

me

the

Lady Castlejordan
{She

What do
eyes.)

I care ?

wiping her

There

is

an undercurrent of tenderness
light tone.

and sympathy beneath the

is
it

There

evidence in every line that the writer of understands the hidden tragedies of men's
lives,

and women's

and

is

set

upon creating
little

character, not merely

upon scratching a

from off the surface aspect of things.

three

The
young
all

Amazons themselves

are cleverly dis-

tinguished

Noeline, the average nice

woman
that
is

Wilhelmina, the embodiment of

;

essentially feminine

Thomasine, the

delightful tomboy,

whose mannishness never

vulgarity.

swaggers

itself

into

The

three

men

are capitally drawn, too, though

Lord

Tweenwayes

strains a little one's belief, with

52

ARTHUR WING PINERO

even
in

his family pride

the ailments that

to

have

been

transmitted

him from the

"

generations of his race

history."

made As he was played by Mr Weedon

it

who have
to

Grossmith

was impossible

do anything

but laugh at the ridiculous lordling.

the printed book he seems a
trifle

But

in

overdrawn,
just a

Andr^ de Grival
then

is

now and then

freshly

shade too much the stage Frenchman, but

a

Frenchman

observed and

faithfully

presented might be resented by

the majority of playgoers as untrue to their

ideas.
full

Altogether,

The Amazons

is

a piece
I

of entertainment and charm, and, as

said above, a piece that strikes

two or three

notes of a deeper tone than

we

find in

any of

the other plays in

farce.

Mr
in

Pinero's category of

To sum up
are the

a few words,

the

qualities that give these farces their special

merit

substantial

reality

of

the

character-drawing
alone,

not of the central figures

of the

but

many
;

subordinate char-

acters as well

the natural

manner

in

which

FARCE
the plots and situations
idiosyncrasies of the people
arise
;

53

out of the

the easy

humour

and wit of the dialogue.

They

are not valu-

able as pictures of the manners of the time

as

The Way of the World is valuable, and The School for Scandal, and, in a sense,

Robertson's more sincere comedies.

contain, indeed,
tion
;

They

little
is

enough

social observa-

their

milieu

the accepted land of

theatrical make-believe,

where people behave

likes

as an

average audience
itself.

to

think

it

behaves
as

They will

scarcely live, then,

live.

Congreve and Sheridan's plays

will

But

they

not be willingly

let die, at

any rate

by

this generation.

V
SENTIMENT

Respect

for

dates

and

convenience
to

of

arrangement both

lead

me

interpolate

between the consideration of the farces and

the serious plays of

modern

life

some few

words on

Mr

Pinero's plays of sentiment.

Perhaps sentimentality would be the more

strictly

accurate

word
and

to
in

use.

In

Sweet

Lavender

certainly,

The Weaker Sex,

the playwright sought to draw the tear that

lies

near the surface, to wring the feelings of

those whose emotions

may be

easily stirred.

The Times

is

based rather upon sentiment

life
;

than upon an entirely humorous view of

its

sentiment

is

more wholesome and bracing

than in either of the foregoing instances.

Trelawny of the Wells relapsed a

54

little

into

SENTIMENT
sentimentality, but
that
its
it

55

could plead as excuse

fictitious

date was that of a senti-

mental age.
In point of time The Weaker Sex was the
first
;

in point of interest

it is

the least of the

four pieces

thus

grouped together.

The
to

theme of a mother and daughter loving and

loved by the same

man

is

difficult
is

theme

handle with acceptance.

in the

There

something

idea so eminently distasteful to the

that a

mind of the average healthy person

play dealing with
it it

starts at
is

a heavy dis-

advantage.

Also,

difficult to reconcile

such a situation with probability.

case
Philip

In this

Lyster

is

obliged not only to

for eighteen

have been absent from England

years (just time enough for the daughter to

be born and grow up), but also to have

assumed another name, a

guerre,

poetical
is

nom
to

de

under which he
girl.

known

the

young

Our sense
is

of the

reasonable

and the

likely

revolted as well by

Lady

Vivash's sentimental

treasuring up of the


S6

ARTHUR WING PINERO

of the

memory

man

she

quarrelled

with

eighteen years before the date of the play.

There are women who

treat

men

badly

she admits that she was "

cruel"

wilful, capricious,

and

then

maunder over

their

bad

behaviour for the rest of their

the dramatist

lives.

But
life

who

takes a sane view of

ought never to

treat such

women

seriously.

They should be shown

as they actually are

life

monsters
wrapped
in

of egotism, going through

a mantle of selfish complacency

and

self-consciousness, indulging themselves

with the luxury of a

woe

that has no exist-

ence save

own trumpery imaginations. Put such creatures into comedy and let
in their

people laugh at them, and go away feeling

that

you have cleared the

to

air of a little cant.

But do not ask us

sympathise with their

smug
vastly

pretence of emotion, with their endeav-

our to persuade themselves that they are

interesting persons,

consumed by a
perfectly well

passion of which they

know

they are by nature incapable.

SENTIMENT
Of
course

57

Mr
If

Pinero did not believe

in

his theme.

he had he would hardly have

provided the play with alternative endings.

For the provinces he made

marry Sylvia
rational
after
all.

Philip

Lyster

In

London the more

conclusion
situation

prevailed

if

an

un-

natural

can
Philip

have

any

natural

conclusion
lives

and

passed out of

the

of
it

both mother and daughter.

in

He

does

the most approved manner of

the sentimentalist.
Dudley. Oh
shadow
is
!

Philip,

is

there
it,

no way but
Dudley.

this ?

Philip. None.

You know

Once my

there will be light again.

taken from the lives of these two women I pray to time to do the rest.

Time

will bless

some worthier man than

I with Sylvia's

sweet companionship, and then the first laugh from Sylvia's lips will wake Mary from her long dream.

Cannot you hear the audience

for
its

rustling

hats

and coats and umbrellas and

to
itself
?

murmuring

about

getting

out

before the crowd

Oh

sentiment,

what

atrocities are perpetrated in thy

I

name
the most

suppose Sweet Lavender

is

58

ARTHUR WING PJNERO

popular of

Mr

Pinero's

plays.

It

is

in

many ways
it

a delightful entertainment, and

is

perfectly easy to understand its attrac-

tions.

There

is

a great deal of fun

in

it

and a good deal of tenderness, and the

characters are so pleasantly unreal that

we

judge them not according to our moral sense

of their conduct, but as beings
in

who move
it.

a world that
of

is

not
as

governed by the

hard facts

life

we know

The

persons of the play are (as Charles

called those of the artificial

Lamb
of the
half;

comedy
stage "

eighteenth
believed

century)

the
of

"fictitious,

personages
is

the

and

Sweet Lavender

a piece that allows us

J' to escape from the pressure of reality."

Its

popularity

is

generally explained
to
its

by a

vague reference

"genial humanity"
I

and "kindliness" and "sweetness."

fess
I

con-

fail

to

see the "genial

ruins a

humanity"
leaves

of a

man who
I

woman and

her with a child to become a lodging-house

drudge.

do not discern the "sweetness"

SENTIMENT

59

of a frowsy old barrister with no occupation

but fuddling and scandalising his neighbours.
I

do not quite know that

duly appreciate

the

"human nature"

of

the

young man
daughter

who

persuades himself

that the

of the lodging-house drudge, a child who,

so far as

we

see in the play, has not an

idea in her head, will

wife.

make him a

suitable

But then

Mr
the

Pinero, having chosen

such characters, showed his cleverness by

working

upon

general

fondness

for

unpleasant people
in

who "have some good

them

after all."

And

really with

Dick
well.

Phenyl

he

succeeded

wonderfully

Of

course,

Mr Edward

Terry's talent for

presenting eccentric types of character was

of great service.

But Dick Phenyl

is

character out of which any actor of parts

can

make a good
it

deal.

extent

plays

itself.

To a The actor

certain

helped

the author, but he certainly did not

the play.

make

Dick

is

too good to depend

of

upon

the

personality

any

particular

6o

ARTHUR WING PINERO

The
and
old
fellow
is

player.

genuine

creation,

the

kind

of

creation

you
like
little

cannot help

liking.

His reformation,

Mr
late

Wedderburn's remorse, comes a

in

the

day.

These
in

third-act

repent-

ances always leave one

doubt as to how
in this case,

long they
at

will last.

But then,

any

rate,

we do

not follow them out in

fall

thought beyond the

of the final curtain.

right feeling

Thackeray outraged

all

when

he wrote, at the end of Vanity Fair,

"Come,
children, let
is

us shut

up the box and the

puppets, for our play

played out."

But no one could resent

pretty
little

Mr

Phenyl and
GilfiUian

Lavender and Mrs

and the charming Minnie and the "coolas-a-cucumber

pets, for
"

Horace being

called
it

pup-

puppets they are, though

must

be admitted that they are "uncommonly

flexible
in

the
is

joints

and

lively

on

the

wire."

That

the secret of the

enormous
frank un-

success of Sweet Lavender

the

SENTIMENT
likeness
to
life

6i

of

the

play as a whole

the great
its

skill

of the playwright in

making
certain

details

familiar

and up

to

point real.

Plays that deal with the surlife

face elements of
to

in

such a fashion as

make

the majority of people laugh and

think, will

cry,

and as not to make them

if

be always popular
cleverly
as

they are written so

is

Sweet
of the

Lavender

written.

Much more
this

playwright's

knack

is

needed to deal acceptably with a piece of

class

than to handle a serious theme

with

sincerity.

The
in

very earnestness
will

of

an inexpert dramatist

sometimes carry
case.

him through
you must
are

the

latter

Unless

by

nature
pieces

a sentimentalist you
like

write

Sweet

Lavender

with your tongue in your cheek.

am afraid with me when

I

do not carry
put

Mr

Pinero

The Times

into the

class of pieces

depending

for their interest

more upon sentiment than upon humour.

In
his

introductory note

to

the

printed

62

ARTHUR WING PINERO

"in
I

play he says that

its

design

it

is

comic play."

Yet

am
it

unrepentant.

To
its

me The Times
sentiment, and
I

appeals
fancy

by reason of

appealed to most

people

in that

way.

For, look you,

we

are

not asked merely to laugh at

Mr

Egerton-

Bompas and
tions.

his

snobbery and cheap ambiis

His wife

not

drawn with

the

sole

view of exciting ridicule and pouring

contempt
wives cut
to

upon
in

the

figure

that

drapers'

Society.

No, we are invited

certain
is

extend to

them a

measure of

our sympathy, and what

more,

Mr

Pinero

compels us to sympathise with them.

Percy

Egerton
almost
real,

Bompas
through.

is

all

human and real Mrs Bompas is entirely

very

a clever study and a genuine

woman.

Bompas's unreal moments are few, but he

has them.
In

the last act, for example,

he

is

made

to moralise in a preposterously

lifeless strain.
" I wasn't always as

am

now.

It is getting
it all

on

in

the world that has ruined me. I've thought of

night

"

SENTIMENT
through.

63
always be a proud

self-taught

man must

fool ; he has a double share of vanity

the vanity of the

!

ready pupil and the vanity of the successful tutor combined He is blown out till he bursts I say there
!

ought to be a law to stop

men

beyond a certain point. and hardens our hearts."

from getting on Prosperity weakens our brains

like
'

me

'

All true

enough

of

a certain kind

of

parvenu, but quite out of place in Bompas's

mouth.
character.

It is

the author speaking, not the

this

But

does not occur

oftefl

enough

to spoil
I

an admirably-drawn

figure.

No

play that

know, and scarcely any novel,

brings out the pathos of the "

position in

new man's
than

Society more

truly

The

Times.

The

fruitlessness of all his strivings

is

to take his place in a world that

not

his,

the deceit and meanness into which his social

ambitions plunge him, the

efforts to

futility

of

all

his

make money do what money

alone

never can do

that

is,

to

bestow contentthis
is

ment and happiness

and we are

all

shown

to

us without being too

left

much

insisted upon,

with something to think

64

ARTHUR WING PINERO

about when we have done laughing and the

play
is

over.

Many

dramatists have pictured

for us the disillusion of the

believe, until he has tried,

man who will how much,

not

"'Tis better to be lowly born.

And

range with humble livers in content,

to

Than

And wear

be perked up in a glistering a golden sorrow."

grief,

No
Mr

one who has attempted to do

this with

a light

hand has done

and that

it

more
I

effectively than
call

Pinero,

is

why

The Times

a play of sentiment and not merely a comic

play.

What
upon us

is

it

that

makes most impression

in

The Times ?
in

Not the purely

which tears
This one,
lie

comic scenes, but those

not far beneath the humour.

for
act,

example, at the beginning of the fourth

when
to

all

the

Bompas
all

troubles

are ready

come

to a

head at once.

The

unfortunate

Percy has been up

night trying to find

reasons for shifting his allegiance from the

Conservative side of the House to the Irish


SENTIMENT
party
65
is

change which he

compelled to

contemplate on pain of having his private

affairs disclosed

by a

reptile Irish

member

Bompas. Old man, do you remember twenty when you'd just sold our business at Kennington and bought the two shops which were to grow into our present colossal establishment ? Bompas. Rather, as if it were yesterday. Mrs Bompas. And do you remember how we sat down together, you and I, and drew up an announcement to our old customers? Our ideas used to
years ago
, . .

Mrs

flow in those days, didn't they, old

Bompas.
younger.

man ?
because

suppose

it

was

we
sits

were
beside

Both together
her.)

(sighing).

Ah'h

{He

Bompas. But that was when we took a house at Haverstock Hill ; do you remember ? Mrs Bompas. Do I remember Our first home this
!

side of the water.

Bompas

Mrs
though.

(sadly). How we have got on since then. Bompas. Haven't we? It was a nice house,

Bompas. You think so because we did so much to

ourselves.

it

Mrs Bompas. I put up the short blinds rooms with my own hands I know that.

in the bedI preferred

doing it. Bompas. I hung every blessed picture in that house. I can almost feel the blisters from the cord now.

Mrs
to-day

Bompas.

wonder what we would think of

see
it

it

all

if

we could

again.


66

ARTHUR WING PINERO

BoMPAS. Not much after this. Mrs Bompas. I suppose not ; we've got on so since

then, haven't

we ?
(sighing).

Bompas. Rather.

Both together
her hand in
his.)

Ah'h

{She gently puts

Bompas. Our first big half-past-seven dinnerdo you remember ? Bompas. Oh, lor', yes, Clara never mind that. Mrs Bompas. Well, dear, we were inexperienced then. We gave them plenty to eat, though, eh ? Bompas. It took you half-an-hour to write each
party
;

Mrs

menu.

Bompas. Part of the food was sent in, I recollect, it was done at home. Bompas. It doesn't matter much now. Many that were there won't clatter another knife and fork but to this day I regret the part of it that was done at home. That was the night, too, when we had one of our men from the shop, with " P. Bompas " round his coatcollar, to announce the guests. Mrs Bompas. It seemed all right then. Bompas. Yes, by Jove, it's astonishing how we've got

Mrs

and

part of

on

since.

Bompas. Percy, old man, do you ever feel you'd like to go back ? Bompas. Back? Mrs Bompas. I mean, to keep our experience but to go back to the contented, simple part of the old times. When Bompas. It's no good wishing that, Clara. you've got knowledge you've got everything else. It seems to me there's only one thing to do in this world to go on ; even if you're on the wrong road, Clara,

Mrs

my

dear, get on, get on.

SENTIMENT
Even
if

67

Bompas were merely

ridiculous

The Times could never be an

play so long as

entirely comic
in
it.

Mrs Bompas remained

life spoilt,

There

is

a tragic suggestion about her

the

tragedy of a woman's

of her true

instincts crushed, of her capacity for happi-

ness and content strained and twisted out of

its

natural shape.
is

She

is

a snob, too, but

she

so mainly because

she knows that

is

the gratification of snobbish instinct

her

husband's chief pleasure.

When

they have

secured the Maharaja to dine with them she

seconds Percy

in scouting the idea that

they
"
I

should ask their friends to meet him.

should like the best people in London," she

says, to

which

Mr Montague

Trimble
get."

dis-

creetly adds

" the best

we can

She
is

does

not wince at the deception that

practised with the object of

foolish marriage

making her

son's

seem
is.

to

be something quite

other than

it

really

But there
pass.

is

a point

beyond which she cannot

When Bom-

pas wildly declares that their policy must

68

ARTHUR WING PINERO

and that they must
if

be, for the future, self,

throw over their friends

sary,

they find

it

neces-

Mrs Bompas

sees the pitifulness of

still left

such a resolve.

She has

some of the

feelings of honesty

and loyalty that animate

her daughter Beryl.

She cannot persuade

is

herself that a position in Society

worth

all

that

it

costs.

She

it is,

therefore,

who

puts
it

into her husband's

up.

head the idea of giving

is

Her

first

thought
is

always for her

ready
with

husband.
cheerful,

She

always

encouraging word.

Beneath her

vulgarity

there beats the heart of a true

woman.

Of

the other characters, Trimble

is

the

only one

who

leaves a distinct impression on

It
is

the mind.

a cleVer sketch of the

decadent aristocrat that

us.

Mr

Pinero gives
to

There are numbers of Trimbles

in these

be

found

days acting as guides, philofriends

;

sophers

and

to

families

of
to

the
the

Egerton- Bompas type

as

jackals

husband, as social counsellors to the wife.

SENTIMENT

69

The Trimbles
from
the

are what

Dumas

fils called

the vibrions of Society

corrupt

creatures engendered
of

artificiality

modern

manners and morals.

greatest
troubles
is

One
when,

of Montague's

"for the

first

time for nearly forty years," he finds himself

at eight o'clock not in evening dress
!

By

dwelling

upon

his

little

peculiarities

Mr

Pinero gives us a vivid portrait of this contemptible

clearly
parasite.
his

He
his

comes before us
manner,
of
his

with
to

insinuating

anxiety

please,

habit

sucking

lozenges, his low

cunning when
selfish

difficulties

have

to

be met, his

annoyance when

his ingenuity fails to avert unpleasant occur-

rences.

Montague Trimble

is

a creation, a

valuable footnote to the social history of the

period.

The moderate
the
curiosit4.

success which Trelawny of

Wells enjoyed was mainly a succh de

If
it

had not been dressed

it

in the

costumes of the crinoline period,

hardly have secured

would

much

of a hold upon

70

ARTHUR WING PINERO

You may
say, perhaps, that
in this period
it

playgoers.
it

if

had not been placed

a
yet

Mr

Pinero would not have written

It is

as he did.

fair retort,

it

does not make

my

statement any the less true.

There was

much
left

that

was amusing

in the story of the

actress of the mid-nineteenth century

who

her

own tawdry

little

world to marry

into

the great world, and found that the

great world bored her to death, and went

back

to her profession,

and found that making

of

believe could not satisfy after her taste

reality,

and

finally

was reunited
after.

to her lover

and lived happily ever

There was a
but

good deal that was tender,

the

too,

somehow

humour and the tenderness did not mix

well.
It

very
it

was a

fairy-tale,

and as such

ought

to

have kept our sympathies de-

cidedly in one direction, but in this

it

somehow
it

did

not quite succeed.

the
characters

Perhaps

was

because

were

so

lightly

sketched, because

we
this,

really

knew

so

little

about them.

Yet

on the other hand,

SENTIMENT
was an advantage,
for,
if

71

they had been

Pinero's dainty

more

solidly blocked in,

Mr

handling of them would have seemed insincere.

As

it

was,

the characters and the

dramatist's treatment of his

theme suited one

pleasant

another

exactly

and furnished a

evening's entertainment.

And

as this

was
it

what

Mr

Pinero aimed at furnishing,

is

both more courteous and more just to admit

so

much

frankly and freely than to complain

is

that Trelawny of the " Wells"

striking as

not very

a play.

If

one

is

inclined to

take the latter course, the reason must be

sought
inspired

in

the hopes that

Mr

Pinero had

by the character of the work which

immediately preceded Trelawny.

When

man

has just created a Paula Tanqueray

it

and a Mrs Ebbsmith and a Theo Fraser

seems a
little

like retrogression to toy with

Trelawny and a Sir William Gower.

then this has always been
It
is

But

Mr

Pinero's way.

difficult

to believe that

he

is

greatly

interested in

any one form of drama more

72

ARTHUR WING PINERO

than in the others.

line

He
Any
it

has never taken a

kind of framework

and kept to

it.

suits

him so long as

gives free play to his

talents for construction

and
in

for

studying fine

shades
appears

of
to

eccentricity

character.

He
in

care

more about the way

hand enables him

which

his neatness of

to

do things Ihan about the things themselves.

Ideas are acceptable to him less for their

own sake than

think, explains
cult

for the

sake of the use to

in
is

which he can put them

drama.

This,

much

that
in

otherwise
Pinero's

diffi-

of

explanation

Mr

play-

writing career.

The

comicalities

of the player

folk
life

in in

had more Trelawny of them than the sentimental side of the

though more
stress

the " Wells"

piece,

seemed

to

be

laid

upon

the latter side by the author himself.

ridiculous
airs

The

of the jeune premier were

off.

The low comedian was a very amusing little creature. The heavy
laughably hit
tragedian and his wife

represented a real

SENTIMENT
type
not
altogether
extinct
first

73

even to-day.
act

The

farewell dinner in the

and the
into

incursion

of

the

soaked

actors

Sir

William Gower's drawing-room during the

thunderstorm
ingly funny.
less
in

the second

were exceedlater

But the two

It

acts

had
take

attraction.

was not easy

in

to

much

interest

either

Rose Trelawny's
have been

love affair or in the efforts of the deserving

young playwright (supposed

modelled on T.
hearing for
his

to

W.

Robertson) to obtain a

plays.

Miss Irene Van-

brugh's performance
to the front,

helped to bring her

Boucicault's strong

and

Mr Dion
made

sense of character

Sir William a strik-

ing figure, and the eye was taken by the

familiar

strangeness of the ladies' dresses,

with their enormous hoops and their staring

colours,

and

their white stockings

and

flat-

flooted, elastic-sided boots.

little

But there was

more
is
it

in the piece to call for discussion,

nor

likely to

be reckoned among the

Pinero his name.

plays which gave

Mr

"

VI
SATIRE
I

AM not

sure whether the term " satirical

will
I

be held to cover the three plays which

to

come now

consider.

They

are (in

order of production) The Hobby-Horse,

Lady

Bountiful and The Princess and the Butterfly.

They

are certainly not farces, and they

are not altogether plays of sentiment.

Your

sentimental

drama must be sentimental with

each of these pieces

a whole heart, with a relish for sentimentality.

is

But

in

Mr

Pinero

inclined to

poke fun

at sentiment, to indiit

cate, at all events, that

is
I

an unsafe basis
think
" satirical

to build

upon

for

life.

comedy " would perhaps

class into

best describe the

fall.

which these three plays

They

may

justly be

termed comedy
74

since, in

Mr

SATIRE

75

George Meredith's

phrase, they "deal with

human
civilised

nature

in

the

drawing-room

of

men and women, where we have

to

no dust of the struggling outer world, no

mire,

no violent crashes

make

the correctIn

ness of the representation convincing."

each of the three

Mr

Pinero sought
social
life."

"to

throw reflections upon

treatment of the characters of

The Mr and Mrs

philanthropic

Spencer

Jermyn

and

their

enterprises, of
ing,

Miss

Moxon and Mr

Pinch-

of

Shattock and Pews, of Roderick

earlier

Heron, and the whole tone of the

acts of

The Princess and

the Butterfly, justify

us in calling them

satirical.
is,

The Hobby-Horse
pleasant,

to

my

mind, a very
piece.
Its
;

amusing and interesting

is

serious side

treated with a light

hand

its

fun

is

rooted in character and never de-

generates into buffoonery.

Yet The Hobbyany

Horse did not

large section
said
it

at first hit the taste of

of playgoers.
;

Some

people
it

was too serious

others said

was

76

ARTHUR WING PINERO

One
party cried out
fine situation

not serious enough.

that the author

had ruined a
wittily

by handling

it

and with
declared

humour.
they
cry.

The opposing group

Herein
lies

that

expected to laugh and were made to

the great merit of the play.

The

elements of humour and of pathos are

it

so mixed in

as they are mixed

in

life.

The whole
anxiety
to

plot springs naturally out of the

leading motive of the play.

Mrs Jermyn's
Noel

work

in

the

East-End leads

directly both to her acquaintance with

Brice and to the discovery of Jermyn's lost

son,
is

and upon these threads the imbroglio

woven.

Of

course there are more coin-

cidences in the play than one can reconcile

with absolute probability.

only

But coincidences

annoy

us

when

we

feel

that

the

dramatist would have been unable to work out

his

theme without them.

In a piece which

shows us such genuine characters as are

drawn

in

The Hobby-Horse we take

little

heed of the

means employed

to

exhibit

SATIRE
and contrast them
Both the

77

to the best advantage.

real

Jermyns are quite

people

within limitations

the

limitations, to wit, of

the author's interest in them.

is

Noel Brice

a really well-drawn parson of the muscular

Christian type, a charming fellow as well as

a good man.

When he

finds that

he has

let

himself think with affection of one

whom he

mistakenly supposed

to

be an unmarried
sincerely with his
senti-

woman, we sympathise
pain and shame.

But he does not

mentalise over his mistake and his bitter

disillusionment.

He

bears his trouble like

a man, and we cannot sentimentalise over

him.

This affords one reason

for the small

amount of popularity which the piece won

in

1886.

The

vast majority of playgoers

their less noble

wanted to snufHe, to have

emotions
titillated gently,

instead of having

their finer feelings their

brought into play, and

mind and heart braced up by the

upon
life.

dramatist's sane outlook

time,
I

By

this

fancy, the class of theatre-goers has

78

ARTHUR WING PINERO

sufficiently

been
wider

leavened by persons

of
to

culture

and

keener intelligence

provide as

many
a

audiences as would

make

play like
of

The

Hobby-Horse
In

success

instead

failure.

1886 the new

dramatic
far as

movement had

scarcely

begun so

England was concerned.

Of Ibsen

as yet only a very few people

at
all.

knew anything

With Dumas

fits

and Augier and

Feuillet

we had scraped

a bowing acquaint-

ance, but they dealt so largely in sentiment

themselves that they scarcely served as a

tonic
;

they did not greatly encourage us to

look at things as they are, and to develop

our dramatic ideas inexorably in accordance

with the laws of nature and of

common

life.

When we

thought of the German drama we

thought of Klopstock and Kotzebue and

sentimentality

run
felt,

mad.

What

the play-

goer of

886

then, with regard to

The

Hobby-Horse was that he had been defrauded

of the ddnouement which he had been led to
expect.
If

Noel

Brice,

the

heroic

young

SATIRE
clergyman, was allowed to
fall

79

in love with

Mrs

Jermyn,

then
to

the

unfortunate

Mr
du

Jermyn ought
nick of time

have
the

fallen a victim in the

to

familiar

maladie

cinqui^me

acte,

and the curtain could have

of marriage.

come down upon a purpose

Or, in the alternative course, the audience

ought to have been treated to some scene of

maudlin
tears

and sugary-sweet, unmanly

Fate.

lamentation against

To

send

the

poor young
never so

man about his much as a single

business with

appeal to the

lachrymose sensibility of the easily-moved

was an unheard-of departure from precedent.

And

yet
in

who

can read or hear the

Brice
figures
?

last little

scene

which

without a
It is as far
it

glistening beneath the eyelids

away from

sentimentality as can be, but

strikes a deep, true note of real emotion.

Mrs Jermyn.
has occurred.
pardon, for

Spencer, you know the mistake that Say what you like to me but beg his

I can't.

Mr
am

Jermyn.

Mr

Brice,
I

Mrs Jermyn
do
so.

tells

me

to beg your pardon.

have married a

8o

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Mrs I beg your pardon. Jermyn keeps your niece company and assists you in your parish work without my permission I beg your pardon. In the meantime you fall in love with my wife, sir, and you ultimately propose marriage to her in my
very foolish, headstrong lady

presence

Mrs Jermyn.
it

beg your pardon. Oh, dear oh, dear

!

You're not doing

properly.

spares
is

Noel Brice. Mr Jermyn, the tone you speak in me the pain of thinking you believe an apology
As
for

necessary.

my

mistake,

it is

slighter than

you

imagine.

Mr Jermyn.
Noel
object.
I
fell

Slighter ?
sir.

Brice. Yes,
into

The

only great mistake pos-

sible in proposing marriage is to select

an unworthy
believed Miss

no such

error.

Moxon to be a generous, warm-hearted man should be proud to call his wife.

and
I

lady
I

whom

any

thought that

think

it still.

Mr
Mr

Jermyn. But your Miss Moxon

Brice. So
all

is

Mrs Jermyn,

Brice.
I find

Noel
you with

and upon
are

that I congratulate

my

heart.

Tom
Bertha,
pair of

Clark, otherwise Allan Jermyn,

and

Noel's niece,

the

pleasantest
recall

boy and

girl

lovers

we can

out of endless plays in which such characters,

borrowed

originally from the French,

to

have been held

be necessary.

If ever
it

they were tolerable on the stage

would

SATIRE
be
in

the

persons of

this

breezy

young Tom's
he

sailor

and the charming

he loses
of
his

little

person to

whom

boyish heart.

explanation

the

manner

in

which

proposes to inform his father of his marriage

is

delicious in

its

humour and simreally

plicity.

He

has just opened his heart to

the supposed

Miss Moxon, who

his

is

Mrs

Jermyn,

step - mother.

She

questions him about his prospects.

Mrs Tom Mrs Tom

Jermyn. Are you very well off then ? Clark. Haven't a brass button, you know. Jermyn. Really, Mr Clark Clark. But my dear old father is rich. He and

I quarrel awfully.

Mrs Jermyn. Well, then, how Tom Clark. Why, the moment
break
it

gently to the dad

I

"Dear

marry I write and Dad, I'm married.

Yours, etcetera
to him, could

"

See

Mrs Jermyn.
it ?

Perfectly.

That couldn't be a shock

what's the result?

Tom Clark.
Dad

No. Well, then, burning with anxiety to see

my

wife

my

wife!

Oh, doesn't it sound jolly? Mrs Jermyn. It sounds pretty well Tom Clark. I take her home I can picture father "Who's this?" standing, glum and sulky, at the gate! " My wife, dad " " Your I can hear him saying it.
! !

82
wife

ARTHUR WING PINERO

!

What, that pretty

little fairy

like
?

your

taste,

my boy

come

in,

we dine

at seven."

See

Mr

Pinching,

the

solicitor

who always
just

thinks of

the right
late,
is

thing to say

moment
a
little

too too

amusing, though cut

to

rigidly

pattern.

Miss
perhaps
quite

Moxon
the

has

more
meant

actuality,

and
be

author

her

to

not

a lady.

The broken-down
does
are
his

jockeys

whom
and
not
the

Jermyn
benefit

best

to

reclaim
really

very

funny

and

exaggerated.
play
is

The workmanship

of

excellent

even
of of

above

Mr

Pinero's
in

very

high

level

excellence

this

direction.

In

the

last

act

Lady Bountiful
the
level,

cannot
ship
this

help

thinking that

workmanand
the
to

sank
sinking

below

that
partly

was

due

poor
drop

success of the

play in London.

To

the curtain for a few the flight of hours

in certain cases.
is

moments
this

to indicate

a permissible device
is

But

such a case

83

SATIRE

Here you have Miss Brent, who has long

loved and been loved by Dennis

Heron,

about to marry a worthy but tedious old

gentleman.

Why
not

has

she

consented?
of

Dennis

has

seemed
Recollect
to

worthy
the

a
in

woman's

love.

scene

which he asks her

marry him.
!

Camilla. You've no right to speak to me like this Dennis. No right ? Why, a man doesn't love by right. Camilla. A man should love by right ; by the right of some achievement which deserves reward, or some failure which earns consolation. But you! Dennis. I know what you mean. Idle at school ; in the wrong set at college ; and now if I started in the race a boy would beat me.

Camilla
Dennis.
stableyard.

{to herself).

Ah

And

so I beg your pardon for dreaming you

could stoop to pick a weed from the bricks of your

Camilla. Dennis,

it

isn't

great
;

men women

love

dearest, or even fortunate

men

often, I tell you, their

who labour and fail. But for those who make no effort, who are neither great nor little, who are the nothings of the world Dennis. Who are the Dennis Herons of the world Camilla. For those a true woman has only one feeling anger and contempt.
deepest love goes out to those
!

Camilla Brent

is

quite right

right in her

84

ARTHUR WING PINERO

opinion and right in telling her cousin what

it is.

Stung

to action
to

by her plain speaking,

for his living.

he determines
Naturally he
little

do something

flies

to an extreme.

He

has

aptitude for any of the ordinary pursuits

life.

of workaday

But he

is

thoroughly at

home

with horses.

So he

takes a situation

as a riding-master.

To

his genially selfish,

worthless and unprincipled

father

(whose

relationship to " the well-known family of the

Skimpoles

"

Mr

Pinero acknowledged on the

play-bill) this decision

seems

little

short of

madness.
living
"

Why
is

should they be ashamed of

?

on Camilla's bounty
wealthy

Camilla

no

credit to her

she can't help

to us
;

it.

We're poor
it.

no

discredit

we

can't help

Camilla has a large

in

house with empty rooms and beds

them
those

why on

earth
air

shouldn't

we occupy
?

rooms and

those beds

Camilla's cook

prepares a dinner for four persons

for four is a dinner for six.

dinner

Really,

you

know, an extra oyster

in the oyster-sauce or


SATIRE
an additional pinch of curry
in
85

the Mulli-

gatawny represents

way

the

looked
of

at in the right

extent

our

obligations

to

Camilla.

...

So

do, dear Dennis,

abandon
living.
it.

this crazy desire to earn

It's

your own

not even original

so

many men have

compromise us

And, great heavens,

you
is

you'll

really will.

If

people learn that

they'll "
!

my

son
I

a cad of a riding-master

think

I've

no means, you know

However, Dennis
tion,

sticks to his determinafinds

and when he
little

that

the

pretty,

gentle,

daughter of the worthy

to

man he

serves has lost her heart

assistant,

her father's
to her in
this

he

feels that

he

is

bound

gratitude and honour.

pretty, gentle, little

So he marries
act.

Margaret Veale.

This
In

brings us to the end of the second the third act Margaret dies
that
is

dies a

in

a scene

imagined with rare tenderness, written

scene
that

with sympathy and power

wrings the heart

die's,

and leaves Dennis

he surrendered
in

free to find the happiness


86

ARTHUR WING PINERO

all

giving up

thought of Camilla.
it
;

Five
in the

years pass before he does find

meantime he has prospered

in

America and

Camilla has agreed to marry an old admirer.

He

reaches

England

on the eve of the

in

wedding,

meets

Camilla

the

village

church, asks her to reconsider the answer

she gave him six years before, and learns

that her troth
is

plighted to another.
curtain parts one

Then

the

momentary

day from

the next, and ing

filled

we

see the church next morn-

with guests and villagers.

The

bride enters, sees Dennis,

who

is

standing in

her path, " totters back with her hand to her

brow," and murmurs his name.

Then

the

old gentleman sees that his chance has fled,

and says
" There shall be no marriage to-day.
I

I think I

know,

think

know."

It

is

not the melodrama of this ending

it

that spoils

it is its

ineffectiveness.
will

Often
help to

a daring melodramatic touch

SATIRE
carry off a situation that
serious
falls
is

87

otherwise of the
the

order.

But here
flat.

melodrama

absolutely

The

lowering of the

curtain leads the audience to look for

final

some

scene

of

an unexpected, interesting

nature.

This tame conclusion sends them

away

disappointed, and, in their disappoint-

ment, they forget

play has been.

how good

the rest of the

indeed, must

Mr
it.

Pinero,

have forgotten
such a

this himself

when he wrote
been
quite
to its
:

finish to

The

interest has
is

an interest of character, and there

enough of
close.

it

left to

carry the

drama

No

coup de thddtre was

needed

only a sincere gathering-up of threads in

such a manner as the author might have

thought most

natural.

But

the

courage

which had supported

to

Mr

Pinero in his desire

its

make
leans

the play depend for

interest

upon character deserted him

at

the

end.
well-

He

upon the broken reed of a

and
lo!
it

worn

theatrical device,

breaks in

his hand.

88

ARTHUR WING PINERO

The
repetition of the letter trick, too,
is

trifle

lacking in ingenuity.

Dennis

finds

letter

and learns that Margaret loves him.

letter
tells

Another

which

falls

into

his

hands

by chance

him

that Margaret, before

she died, foresaw that he and Camilla would

come together
action,

in the

end.

In a

drama of
them

of violent emotions, of scenes that

the spectator irresistibly with

carry

in a gust of passion,

almost any expedient

for arriving at the necessary juxtapositions

of character will

pass muster.

But Lady
in

Bountiful
that
its

is

play so slight
all

texture

theme demands

the vraisemb lance

possible in treatment.

"My
No
By

masters, will you hear a simple tale?

war,

lust, not a commandment broke madam, but a history To make a rhyme to speed a young maid's hour."

no

sir

or

So the author himself described

some
of
critics
its failure

it,

and.-

have found here the reason for

to attract audiences.

"The
" of

kind

play,"

these

critics

call

it,

which

SATIRE
everyone
approves
in

89

theory

and

from

which they unanimously stop away

tice."

in prac-

There

is

a good deal of truth

in this

view.

We

English do undoubtedly try to

other,

make each

and even

try

to

make
strictly

ourselves, believe that

we

are

more

moral and fonder of conventional virtue than

we

should be found

if

our hearts could be

surprised and set in

shop windows.

We

could never bring ourselves, as a nation, to

confess
that

we accepted anything lower

Les
life

than the standards of the highest morality.

Charrier,
in

Effronth,
thus
:

excuses

his

philosophy of
sais

"

Mon
la

Dieu, je

bien que ce n'est

pas
celle

morale

de

I'Evangile,

mais

c'est

du

monde."

That

is

the French view of the case.

We
are

prefer to practise ia morale

du monde while

we

profess loudly

all

the time that

we

trying to live up to t^vangile.

Perhaps a
but the fact

good many of us are

remains that very

trying,

few succeed.

At

the

same

time,

numbers of plays have sue-


90

ARTHUR WING PINERO

ceeded which were equally qualified with

Lady Bountiful
hour
"

to

" speed a

young maid's

Liberty Hall, for example, and One

Summer's Day, and

and the popular
the reasons of

Pair of

Spectacles
I

Little Minister.

look for
success

Lady Bountiful's small

it

rather in the fact that

tried to
it

combine two
fell

kinds of play in one

that

between

two

stools.

In a play of character the dramatist must

devote himself entirely to the few characters

which he seeks to

exhibit.

He
fill

does not

want subsidiary personages to

or striking episodes to clear

up gaps,
situations.
in

up

There are three or four personages

Lady

Bountiful who would be better out of the

way.
real

They

contribute no variations to the

theme, and the space which their re-

moval would release could have been used by

Mr

Pinero

in

making

clearer the char-

acters of

Dennis and Camilla,

We

could

then have had more of Roderick Heron,

too,

who was

well worth

more elaboration

SATIRE

91

and a more intimate connection with the

thread of the story.
after the third act,
is

As
and

it

is,

he disappears
of

all

we hear

him

that in

America he "has revealed capain

bilities

hardly suspected

England," and

is

doing rather
not for pole
end.

well, which, of course,

we do
to

an

instant

believe.

The Skimthe

family

remain

Skimpoles

In a play of sentiment, on the other hand,

the whole thing

playwright

may be as pleases. He may

unreal as the

bring in char-

acters simply for the sake of extracting an

extra tear,

invent the unlikeliest episodes

pile

merely in order to
all
is

up the agony, break

the rules of drama and probability, so he

rewarded by the

facile sob,

the guerdon
"
!

of "

How

pretty " or "

!

How

sweet

Lady Bountiful

is

not a play of sentiment,

It

nor altogether a play of character.

not appeal sufficiently to

did

the admirers of

either of these classes of piece to win their

whole-hearted adherence.

Nor

did

it

offer

92

ARTHUR WING PINERO

a mixture of styles so bizarre as to please

the large body of playgoers

who seek

ever
not

some

new

thing

its

elements were

so lively in themselves as to gain applause

for their

own

sake.
it

Therefore, like
failed.

many

another experiment,

The Princess and

the Butterfly

mixed up
It

almost equally sentiment and character.

defied
tradition,
it

outraged the accepted

its

canons of form and symmetry,

ality

origin-

even hurled
of

itself

against the salutary

But,

barriers

common
this

sense.

unlike

Lady
first

Bountiful,

play
it

had

separate

elements

which

gave

vogue.

The
and

three acts are occupied with exposition.

little

They have

interest in themselves,

the scene with the boys in the St Roche's

smoking-room
a
far-off

is

tiresome and only serves

dramatic purpose.
is

Yet the

attenit

tion of the spectator

is true,

held, not firmly,

but with a gentle grip which seems

to

herald

developments
In the

of

the

gradually
act,

unfolding plot.

fourth

better

SATIRE
late

93

than

never,

these

developments

are

reached, and from this point until the end

the
that

play

is

of a

charm and an
in

interest

have not been surpassed

Pinero's

any of

Mr

works before or

since.

The

ostensible subject of the

drama

is

the

malady of middle-age.

Both the Princess

Pannonia and Sir George Lamorant have

reached this period of
life.

Both

feel

that

they have tasted the best that existence has

to offer

and

that the future lies before

them

joyless and unexciting.

This

is

chiefly be-

cause

they

have never had anything to

themselves,

do

but

amuse

because

they
life,

have never

really

come

to grips with

have
loved.

never

suffered,

and

have
their

never

They almost make up

minds to

end

their long platonic affection, their per-

functory flirtation of so

many

years,

by a
drift

marriage which shall enable them to

quietly
into

old

age holding each other's

hands, not with the close grip of passion,

but with the gentle clasp

of a moderate


94

ARTHUR WING PINERO

tenderness, based partly on convenience and

partly

upon mutual esteem.

Sir George. Well, suppose you and

became husband

and
I

wife ?
far

am

sufficiently

your senior.

You

are rich.

from the state of a beggar. The world could not throw up its hands in surprise. Would it not be in all ways a suitable match? We both suffer morbidly, fantastically it may be but we suflfer. Should we not find in each other a cure ? You dread being tempted to marry unwisely. No such temptation, I believe, is likely to befall me. But, at anyrate, your honouring me as I propose would make both safe. The Princess. Safe Sir George. What do you say ? The Princess (her eyes closed). We should not naturally love each other. Sir George. At our age I suppose there is no love but in folly. {She makes a movement.) Forgive me. The expression, " our time of life," was your own. (She I speak, of course, of passionate love. assents by a nod.) Otherwise, am I quite outside the reach of your tender

am

regard

As

for passion, let us

that we could not be five-and-twenty

make ourselves believe if we could Passion

!

dear Laura, has it ever happened to you to stroll through a garden on the morning following a great
letting off of fireworks ?

My

Oh

the hollow, blackened

shells of the spent cartridges

should

at

trodden into the turf. least be spared the contemplation of

We
that.

But you and I are already fast linked by many associations, Certainly, in that spirit, / and sympathy is affection. love you most sincerely.

SATIRE

95

The Princess {in a strange voice). Say three times you love me. Sir George {puzzled). Three times

The
Sir

Princess. "

love you," thrice.

I

George
I

{as if repeating a lesson). I love you.

love you.

love you.

{She throws her head back and

breaks into a peal of hysterical laughter^

What

reason has the

?

Princess for this

strange request
earlier she has

Simply that a few minutes

triple declaration

heard such a

of love from the fervent lips of a young

really in love with her.

man

She has won the

heart of the preternaturally grave

Oriel,

Edward
broken

and

his habitual reserve has

down

before the

flood-tide of his emotion.

Fear of

ridicule hinders her admission that

she loves Oriel,

and she
she

strives

to

per-

suade

herself

that

must

accept

Sir

George's

lukewarm proposal.

But before

the passing of the

month
each
is

for

which she
her
suitors,
in

has
Sir

bargained with

of

George's

heart

also

engaged

earnest.
tion,

He
to

has taken under his protecgirl

almost adopted, an Italian

whom
She

he believes

be his brother's

child.

96
is

ARTHUR WING PINERO

a wayward,

charming creature,

with

very tender heart hidden beneath her gaiety

and
she

mischief.
is

When

he discovers

first

that

not his brother's child, and next that

she has learnt to love him, he very quickly

passes from affection to adoration.
the Princess

He

and

make an

effort
it

to clinch their
fails,

half-concluded bargain, but

and they

each take up their newly-found happiness to

the tune of a Hungarian march
called

"A
ever

Szerelim mindig
ing to

ifju

marad," which, accord-

Mr

Pinero,

means

"

Love

is

young."

Unquestionably the
Princess

last

two acts of The

and the

Butterfly are fashioned with

skill

compelling admiration and touched

with a certain charm that prevents us from

analysing too closely the kind of happiness

which the Princess and the Butterfly have

found.
author's

moment we accept our conclusion. The strains of the march

At
the the glamour of romantic

ring in our ears,

attachment dazzles our eyes.

Yes,

we

cry,

SATIRE
love
is

97

ever young

it

can bring a fresh

interest

and a vivifying tempest of emotion

lives of the

even into the

Society,

jaded victims of

men and women who have done

in the

nothing

world but
"

Here and
Chatter,"

there

eat and drink,

eddy about

without even the stimulus of love or hate, without striving, though

it

be but blindly,

towards any aim.

But when you think

it

over quietly, as one

should think over any play that pretends to

offer us sincere criticism

upon

life,

you have

an uncomfortable suspicion not only that the

world would write the Princess Pannonia and
Sir

George Lamorant down

as foolish people,

but that the world would probably be right.

For on what
world

basis

have they founded

their

determination to defy the opinion of the

?

So

far as

we can

judge, " upon the

fugitive attraction of sex."

Now, marriages

of

men and women

of tolerably equal age

98

ARTHUR WING PINERO

tastes

and of tolerably common

based upon
of success.
this attraction
It is, after all,
its first fine,

may be

with every hope

the natural basis.

Even when
bonfire
are

careless rapture has

fresh-lit

waned, the leaping flames of the

succeeded

by a steady glow

which gives out more warmth and comfort.

But a marked disparity of age and a striking
dissimilarity

of

taste

and

inclination

are
harare'

seldom

very

seldom

blended
;

into

mony

at the bidding of passion

they

stubborn bars of iron which cannot be per-

manently fused by the mere white-heat of

a sudden infatuation.
If

Mr

Pinero had
infatua-

shown us

that there

was more than

-

tion in the loves of his strangely

lovers, his conclusion
test of reflection.

assorted

would possibly bear the

he had put the whole
plane,

If

story of their loves

upon a higher
never too

and

hinted to us that
that

it is

late to

hope
life's

we may come upon

to take

the key to

puzzle,

he would have given us a poetic and

a satisfying thought

away with

us.


SATIRE
" Only

99

but

this is rare
is

When

a beloved hand

laid in ours,

When, jaded with the rush and glare Of the interminable hours. Our eyes can in another's eyes read clear

When
Is

our world-deafened ear

by the tones of a loved voice caress'd bolt is shot back somewhere in our breast,
a lost pulse of feeling
stirs

And
The

again.
lies plain,

eye sinks inward and the heart

And what we

mean, we

say,

and what we would, we

know. becomes aware of his life's flow, And hears its winding murmur ; and he sees The meadows where it glides, the sun, the breeze.

A man
And

there arrives a

lull in

the hot race

Wherein he doth for ever chase That flying and elusive shadow, rest. An air of coolness plays upon his face, And an unwonted calm pervades his breast. And then he thinks he knows

The

hills vyhere his life rose.

And

the sea where

it

goes."

No one expects Mr
Matthew Arnold
is

Pinero to be a Matthew-

Arnold, but there in those beautiful lines of

a subject that a play-

wright of poetic feeling might well essay.

true

and tender devotion must always

help to

make

the path of

life

plainer, to clear

up the mists

that gather round the wayfarer,

100

ARTHUR WING PINERO

show
that there
is

to

a definite plan of exist-

ence which perhaps he has

suspected.
as

before

never

we

will.

We may analyse this devotion We may take the calm, conwho understood by
is

sidered view of Gibbon,

the passion of love "the union of desire,

friendship

and tenderness which

inflamed
to the

by a single female, which prefers her

rest of her sex,

and which seeks her possessole happiness of

sion as the

supreme or the

our being."
mystical,

Or we may
it,

incline to

a more

transcendental view.

But,

how-

ever

we

regard

we can

only reason de-

ductively from

its

manifestations,

and here

is

the dramatist's opportunity.

Mr

Pinero had

such an opportunity in The Princess and the

Butterfly, but he hardly
It

made

the most of

it.

scarcely seems to have possessed

If
it

much

interest for him.

had, he would surely

have given us more of an insight into the

characters of the Princess and Sir George,

and

also of

Edward

Oriel and

Fay

Zuliani.

But he only elaborates those characters just

SATIRE
enough
is

loi

for the

purposes of the play.

This

his

way

in all his plays,

with the excep-

tion of Iris

and The Second Mrs Tanqueray.

to

There he does appear

have been genu-

inely interested in the problems of character

that lay before him.

In

all

the other plays

in-

he gives his creations only just enough

dividuality to be effective on the stage, to

serve the ends

of

his

dramatic

scheme.

They

are so cleverly presented that they

leave the impression of real characters, but

they are, as a
characters.

rule,

not more

than

half

The

author does not turn the

all

light of his revealing lantern

round them,

upon every

side of their personality in turn,

will

but only upon the one or two sides that

be useful to him.

In other words,, Mr Pinero

the.-

does, not pursue character for

sake of

character, but for the. sake of making-stageplays.

He

does not take a

let

handful
their

of

people and
destinies.

them work out

is

own

He

not so

much

the observer,

the recorder, as the puller of strings.

He

102

ARTHUR WING PINERO

plays with his characters as you play with

chess

men, moving them here and there,

sees

wherever he
effective

the opportunity for an

combination.

The combinations
effective,

he makes are immensely

cannot
in the

but they

nature of things produce upon

the spectator
effect

who

looks closely into

them the
Lik e

of an unconstrained sincerity.

Dr

Ibsen,

Mr
if

Pinero

is

a master of

theatrical
in the

craft,

and,

he had the same interest

things of the

mind

that inspires

Dr

Ibsen,

he might have gained an equal reputation

as a philosopher without
it

any more deserving

his

than

Dr

Ibsen deserves

fame.

genuine philosopher who wrote plays would

have
sans

to
le

be very emphatically un philosophe

savoir.

But a dramatist who has

a

the gift of fashioning his dramas with

complete

knowledge

of

stage

effects

and
is

how

to

produce them, and who further

sincerely
tions of
his

interested in the particular ques-

mind and

morals

which

occupy
of

age,

can easily win

the

name

SATIRE
philosopher.
it

103

Mr

Pinero

may

indeed win

yet.

If

our playwrights would make a close

study for a year of the modern French drama

since.

about i860, and of the serious German

last ten

drama during the

sincere spirit with

years,

believe

they would see the advantage of dealing in a

the

manners and proif

blems of their time.

And
their

they could at the

same time preserve

English sense of

humour, they would probably end by writing

much

better plays than either the

Germans

or the French.

VII
NATIONALITY IN DRAMA

The

digression into which

The Princess and

up,
I I

the Butterfly has carried

me leads

find, to

a branch of

my

subject in which

must plead

guilty to being greatly interested

and with
is

which

may

as well

now

deal.

This

the

extent generally to which nationality can be

embodied and revealed

in

dramatic

art,

and

the extent in particular to which

Mr

Pinero's

have been essentially English

in character.
in
is

The

point

which

have reached
Pinero's plays

the

consideration of
ciently

Mr

suffiI

appropriate for this discussion.

have just spoken of The Hobby-Horse and

Of The Second Mrs Tanqueray and The Benefit of the Doubt I am

Lady
Bountiful.
just about to speak

These plays are the

104

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
four out of
all

105

Mr

Pinero's

work which,

to

my

mind, really are

distinctively

English

in tone

and

feeling.

The

people to

whom
who
any
are

they introduce us are the kind of people

form the mass of the middle

nation.

class

of the
to

They

could

not

belong
nation.

nation but the

in

English

You

no danger of thinking that the pieces

have been adapted from the French or the

German or the Norwegian or the Japanese. They are contributions, therefore, in a real
sense, towards a national

modern English
only
vast

drama, such a
possess
in
full

drama as

we shall measure when our

it,

society, or a sufficient section of

in

is

united

common view

of

life,

and

in

common
it.

ideals capable of serving as a basis for

It is

very important that we should under-

stand

what
to

are

the

qualities

in

plays

which go
because,
if

make up ever we are

a
to

national

drama,

have such a form

of art flourishing amongst us again,

we must

be on the lookout

for its earliest manifesta-

io6

ARTHUR WING PINERO

and be ready
to

tions

encourage them with

an

intelligent

sympathy.
of of

Now, when we English people speak pur national drama, we mean, nine in ten
us,

the
is

drama of the Elizabethan

the only dramatic literature
fully

poets.

That

we have

had which

expressed the character and

the ideas and the aspirations of the English

race.

You

often hear

it

asked

in

wonder
and

why why The

forth

the theatre was in Shakespeare's day

all classes,

the constant popular resort of

it

has never enjoyed anything like the

since.

same popularity

The

reason

is clear.

Elizabethan dramatists were closely in

touch with national sentiment.

in

They bodied

stirring language, they interpreted

by means of
feelings that

rich

imagery the thoughts and

in the

were

mind and breast of

court gallant and

every Englishman.
the
careful

The

tradesman

and

the
in

ruffling

'prentice

took an equal

delight

these

dramas, though possibly in different aspects

of them
:

each knew that the plays expressed

NATIONALITY IN DRAMA
what he himself and everybody
could not put into words,
of the pit inspired, as
life,
it

107

else felt but

"

The rough mob

the vigorous
the

felt,

the

rapid

transitions,

passionate

energy, the reality, the

lifelike

medley and

confusion, the racy dialogue, the chat, the

wit,

the pathos, the sublimity, the rant and the coarse horrors and vulgar
all

buffoonery,

blood-shedding, the immense range over

classes

of

society,

the

intimacy with the

foulest as well as the fairest

developments

of

human temper which

(J.

characterised the

English stage"
the

R. Green.

History of
of

English People).
to

Thus the sense

sympathy grew
life.

be an active principle of
of the

All

classes closer

community were
by
the
theatre.

brought

together

The

theatre
life.

was one of the main

arteries of

national

Since then

we have had a drama

centuries,

of the

town
the

the plays
eighteenth

of the late seventeenth and

stretching
to

from

Etherege and Sedley down

Goldsmith

io8

ARTHUR WING PINERO

and Sheridan

a
no

drama which

expressed

merely a phase of society and appealed only

to a small
class.

The
no

solid

elements

of

English
theatre.

life

longer

frequented a

the

It It

was

longer

national

institution.

had ceased

to be a national

institution,

not so
dislike

much because
and
distrust

of

the
in

Puritanical

of art

any

shape,

as

for

these

reasons

that
that

national

sentiment

with

power
existed
;

upon

the

whole race no

longer

the

break-up of "the Elizabethan social system

ordered

and
as

planetary
the
angelic

in

functions

and

degrees

hierarchy
all

of the

Areopagite" had plunged

but frivolous

or philosophic minds into the all-absorbing

tussle with religious

and

political

problems

that the writers for the stage appealed to

the frivolous alone, and only recognised the existence of the rest by an occasional sneer

or gibe.

think

it

is

possible

that

if

group of dramatists had

deal
seriously

set themselves to

with

noble

themes and to

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
carry on the

109

traditions of the Elizabethan

its

stage

before

decline,

they would have

won back

the nation to the theatre.

But
the the

no such dramatists were found, and mass of the nation, deprived of

emotional and imaginative stimulus of the

play,

found

substitutes

for

it

in

the

theatrical preaching of Whitefield

and the
Wesley's

fervent

sweetness

of

Charles

hymns.
out

The

Puritans had tried to stamp

of the

English

race

its

capacity for
failed.

emotion, and had completely

had,
it is

They
the

true,

hindered sorely the developart of

ment- of the

England

we

feel

hindrance sorely to this day.

only

But they had

emotion
into

succeeded

in

turning

another channel.
the
chill

The

stern intellectuality,

repression

of the

Puritan

faith

could never keep a hold upon the English

race.

Persuaded that emotion called forth

by
its

art

was immoral, the nation surrendered

and grovelled
for

ideals

a period in a

slough of grossness and scepticism.

From

no
that

ARTHUR WING PINERO

slough
it

only

escaped
finding

by making
in
it

religion

emotional

and

the

solace

it

had once derived from drama, the

which had gained a
All that was
call

one

art

really national
in

influence.

best

England

answered to the
the
religious

the
of

larger

number

in

revival

the

eighteenth

century
band,

a
not
the

smaller,

yet

more picked
years
later,
its

quite

hundred

when

Oxford

Movement gained
drama has
life

fullest force.

All this while, then, the

lain

outside the track of English national

so

completely outside that

years has
that
it

only within recent

occurred to anyone to suggest

it

some day
it

might possibly recapture the

place

once held.

The

suggestion, once

made, however, found ready welcome.

subject of a national

The

drama

is

now

a stock

subject for discussion wherever interests go

little

beyond the material concerns of the

It

moment.
wisp, that

may be
follow.

a mirage, a will-of-the

we

But

it

does seem

that.

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
if

1 1

ever

we
it

are to see the revival for which so

many
the

of us hope, the times are

ripening

towards

now.

The

emotional force of

religious

revivals

has

spent

itself

Formalism

and

eccentricity

have

damped
For a

down
while
its

the fires of devotional fervour.

it

seemed as

if

the novel might take

place as a vehicle for the expression of

in

ideas held
large.

common by

the

nation

at

Thackeray and

Dickens

between
neither

them covered the whole ground, but

was able
while could
for

to cover

it

alone.

And

then,

even

we awaited the arrival of the man who make a wider appeal, the reading class,

which novelists of intelligence wrote, was

swamped by the Education Act, and the day when a book should be able to reveal the nation to itself was postponed for many a
long year.

But the ^xama

the novel.

is

not in the same case as a rnoredirect

call

It iT|a keg
:

upon
its

the emotions

it

does not demand for

comprehension

the

same

training

of

the

112

ARTHUR WING PINERO

to

mind as would be required

grasp the

same ideas conveyed

play
ings
is

in
:

a book.
in

A,
it

fing

lik^ life itself

some see

mean-

and suggestions
:

that are hidden from

in
it

others
tual,

this

man's delight
purely

is

intellec;

that

man's

sensuous

you,

perhaps, are content merely to watch and

smile,

while your neighbour

is

busy with

analysis

and introspection

but
it

all

have their

interest aroused

and

find in

some kind of
in widely

stimulus,

Shakespeare makes some impresit

sion

upon everyone, but makes

differing ways.

One man,
will

after a performlike

ance of
Quincey,

Macbeth,

go home,

De
will

and write a philosophical

at the gate
;

essay

upon the knocking

another

say, with the north-country

working-man of
us, that

whom Mr Frank Benson

it

once told

has helped him to do a

better week's

work.

Hamlet

is

the most popular

drama
and

in
it

the world, because everyone can find in

something occupy

to

engage

his

attention

to

his mind.

We

can scarcely expect

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
another Shakespeare.

13

For myself,

doubt,

as Lowell doubted, " whether any language

be rich enough to maintain more than one

truly great poet

and whether there be more

is

than one period, and that very short, in the

life

of a language

as a great poet

when such a phenomenon But surely we possible."

can have a national drama without another

Shakespeare.

Other nations give expres-

sion to their national characteristics through

dramatic
poets
is
it is

art,

and yet the supply of great

not any more plentiful with them

What do these other nations possess which we lack ? They possess a class of writers for the stage who
than

amongst ourselves.

strive to

awaken an
to

intelligent interest in
it
;

drama and

make

contribute

to

the

general flow of ideas

who

are not content

simply to provide entertainments which shall

distract

after-dinner audiences

and enrich

theatrical managers.

These
in
for.

writers, unlike

ours,

have sentiments

audiences they write

common with the They are moved

"; ;

114

ARTHUR WING PINERO

by the same springs of passion and emotion

they are interested in the same themes and
in

the

same modes of
to
their

expression.

They
pro-

appeal

audiences not by a

cess of calculation, but because both they

and playgoers
ality,

are, in virtue of their nation-

imbued with the same

aspirations
;

feelings,

the

same general
take, in a

and because they

life

broad sense, the same view of

art.

and of dramatic

Consider for a moment a few of the foreign

plays with which English playgoers are most
familiar.
first.

Place aux dames.

Take France

M. Rostand's L'Aiglon is not to us a good acting play. The poetry that we find in M. Rostand's noblest imaginings fails to get
over the
footlights.

Read the Wagram scene,

its

and you are struck by

pity

power and beauty

soul

and

terror

cleanse your

it

is

mysterious, haunting,
stage,

wonderful.

On

the

with a

crowd of hoarse " supers

bawling behind the scene, and with

Madame

Sarah Bernhardt,

in incredibly tight uniform,


NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
going
off like
1 1

an alarum clock every few

moments, the poetry, the imagination, the

mystery have evaporated.

What

is

left

appeals not to the deeper emotions but to

the theatrical

sense,

to

the

fondness for

resonant declamation and striking contrast

in

a word, to the traditional French hankerall

ing after
is

that savours of la gloire.

That

why

the piece carries a French audience

irresistibly

along with

it,

whereas

it

leaves us

cold and dissatisfied.

We

English people

love poetry

the French people Fove rhetoric

and

la gloire.

We would have the poet sug-

gest to us more than he can put into words, to

give us " huge, cloudy symbols of a high

romance," to leave something to our imagination.

"

'st'

Inglesi son matti sul misticismo

1^,"

somiglia alle nebbie di

says the scoffing

student

in

Rossetti's

Hand and

Soul}

Whereas the French mind

that
is

dislikes anything

not

logical, clearly expressed,

its

well

within the four corners of

'

comprehension.

"Those English

are

mad upon

mysticism, as cloudy as their

skies."

ii6

ARTHUR WING PJNERO

agrees with Rossetti's other painter in
:

It

the Pitti Palace

" Je tiens que quand on

c'est
is

ne comprend pas une chose, ne

signifie rien."

qu'elle

Here, then,

one side of
successfully

the French national

character

appealed to

by L'Aiglon, as
in the past

it

has

been

appealed to

by Victor

Hugo and

Dumas
others.

pere,

and M. Coppde and a host of

Again, the
of
life
is

average
(to

Frenchman's
use a

ideal

the ideal
of

phrase
moyen.

now
See
play

classic)

rhomme
the
that.

sensuel

how

faithfully

modern

French

represents

La Dame aux
in

Camilias

represents

it

on the sentimental 5ide.

which

Sapho

and

La

Parisienne,

Madame
upon
its
is

R^jare exhibits the immense cleverness of

her
realist

method,
its

reveal

it

moralising and

cynical sides.

La

Tosca

the kind of piece which gratifies the appetite

for

horrors

and

harlotry

which

rhomme
indulge.
in

sensuel moyen must

now and then

La

Course du Flambeau catches him

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
reflective
after,"

1 1

mood when he
of

the mood
feels

of " the morning

doubtful
race.
is

about

the

welfare

the

human

The main
that

thing

want
all

to insist

upon

you can

trace in

of these plays, and they are a

fair selection

from the modern French drama,

of

the existence

the ideal of the

is

homme

sensuel moyen, which

the ideal both of the

playwright and of the spectators, and which

therefore gives the

modern French drama

in the

the

title

to

be called a national drama

natural sense of the words.

You find when you examine the modern German drama that it can make good the
same claim
to this epithet "national."
Its

ideals are quite different from the

ideals.
It

French

sets itself for the

most part to
the smallest

discuss

heavily,

and without
the

spice

of

humour,

problems

of

our

super-civilised existence.

It offers- pictures
life

of provincial and metropolitan

strangely real in externals

that are

and
this

strangely

exaggerated

in essence.

But

exagger-

ii8

ARTHUR WING PINERO

is

ation

inevitable considering the

methods
scarcely
sake,

employed.

The

characters

are

human
so

beings, studied for their

own

much

as abstract types of
set

passion or

peculiarity

up

for the

purpose of the

dramatist's

theme.
example,
;

Colonel
is

Schwarze

in

Magda,
im

for

an embodiment of
in

the parental idea

Von Rocknitz

Gliick

Winkel merely sums up the German

of a
;

notion
de

full-blooded, magerful coureur

femmes

even

in

Johannisfeuer
is

the

interest of the

problem

rather universal

than personal.
so
it

is

with
so.

As it is Hauptmann
In

with Sudermaan,
as well
;

perhaps

even more
are

Die Weber the

puppets
;

characters
it

the

playwright's

is

the

atmosphere and the episodes that give the

drama

its

marvellous power and intensity.

Einsame
interest,

Menschen

has

more

individual

but here, too,

all

the people of the

play are

carefully labelled.

This

is

in

accordance

with

the

German

audience's
attitude

view

of

life,

with

the

Teutonic

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA

19

of mind which prefers a studied philosophic

generalisation to the presentment of a particular

human

being.
fact,

The

serious

drama

of Germany, in

expresses the serious

side of the national character, just as the

comic drama keeps touch with the German

weakness

for fun cut in thick slices

and

for

elephantine

gambols.

Both

varieties
in

are

unmistakably German, as much

sion as in idea.

expres-

Turn now
of

to a

drama

that

is

based upon

ideals very unlike those both of

France and
as

Germany
it

to the

drama of Japan,
Sada

we

have had
players,

interpreted for us by Japanese

exquisite
their

the

Yacco,

Mr
is

Kawakami and
form
of
art

troupe.

Here

that

proceeds directly from

national character.
chiefly delight in
?

What do

the Japanese

In beauty of colour and

form,

from the simplest manifestations of

loveliness
to

natural

the

strange

exotic

imaginings of an art based upon traditions

of incalculable antiquity, and followed with

120

ARTHUR WING PINERO

for perfection that
trifles
is

a passion
clearly in

shown as

as

in
all,

its

most ambitious

attempts.

First of

then, the Japanese

drama

satisfies

this

desire
to

for

beauty.

The very

scenery brings

us

Western
;

folk a sense of refreshment

and

satisfaction

the dresses are things of rare delight, every

one

all

the

movements and gestures of the

harmonies of expression,

actors

fall

into rich

and an
lends

entire absence of self-consciousness

like that of music, or

them a charm
of
the

the ordered, inevitable processes of Nature.

And what
They
are

matter of their plays?

all
is

rooted nearly

in

that

con-

ception

of
in

duty which
the

so

strong

an

element

Japanese

character
to

the

duty which
selves,

men and women owe

and of
truth.

them-

to

one another, and to the eternal

In minor
to the

verities of justice

ways the drama of Japan

full

satisfies

the Japanese sense of the mysterious,

;

the terrible, the inevitable

and

it

satisfies

as well

their

childlike

delight

in

combats

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
and
in

121

playfulness.

These players have

of

studied

every means

heightening

the

effect of their efforts.

Think of the
act

inter-

mittent striking of the

intensely

gong throughout the

of

moving

last

The

Wife's

Sacrifice, the wailing voice raised

now and
stillness

again

in

melancholy

chant,

the

broken only by these ominous sounds and

by

the

pathetic

cheeping
of

of

the

birds

without,

symbolic
little

the

heedlessness of

Nature to the
If this

tragedies of humankind.
art,

simple and unfamiliar

with

its

unsophisticated directness of

method, can

produce so deep an

effect

upon us with our

abnormally-developed sense of the ridiculous,

imagine

how

it

must

affect the

people

out of whose passion for beauty and out of

whose

simple

ethical

code

it

has

been

gradually developed.

And now

let

us think of our
far
it

own drama,

and ask ourselves how

expresses any

aspect of our national character.

claim
to

We
the

can
past
!

have

evolved,

during

122

ARTHUR WING PINERO

two art-forms which
English
are
dis-

generation,
tinctively

the

Savoy opera

and

Mr

Pinero's farces of character.

But, then,

neither of these have

"made
part,

school."

Both

depend, for the most

of individual men.
evitable

upon the humour

are not the in-

They

outcome of a generally - accepted

life
;

view
tions

of

they are

rather

the

crea-

of personal talent, forcing a certain

of

number

people
in

to

look at themselves
It is

and the world

distorting mirrors.

true that our peculiar

humour makes
absurdities

us, as

a race, derive

certain

enjoyment from

being shown our

witted
satirists.

own

by keenobjection,

We
all

have

no

because

we

feel

the while that,

even

with our absurdities,

superior to
all

we

are immeasurably
else
:

nations
a

indeed,

the

possession

of

few

absurdities

which,

amongst
unnoticed,

our noble

qualities,

pass almost

serves to point and

emphasise

our superiority.
to

Exaggeration, too, seems

the stage.

come

natural to us on

So

NA TIONALITY IN DRAMA
far,

123

then,

these two forms

of

drama are

based upon national characteristics, but so

far

only and

no

farther.

They

are,

in

Matthew Arnold's
fantastic "
:

phrase, "at the bottom

not so utterly untrue to our real

the sugar-plum play, or as the

selves

as

many
but

deodorised farces which

spoil
in

we borrow
borrowing

from the French and

still

fantastic in being

removed from the

spirit.

main currents of the English

serious that

A more
and
said,

drama
lack.

is

needed to

reflect these,
I

we

Mr

Pinero, as

have
it

seemed
and

to

be

striving towards

when he

wrote The Hobby-Horse and Lady Bountiful,

later

on when he gave us The Second

Mrs

Tanqueray and The Benefit of the Doubt.

The pity of it is that he did not persevere. The two later plays of those just mentioned come now in the natural order of our survey
to be considered,
in

and

must

try to

show

what way they

reflected,

more than
spirit

Mr
the

Pinero's

other dramas,
it

the

of

times as

affects the

English race.

VIII
SERIOUS INTENT

When Mr

Pinero wrote The Profligate, in

1887, he followed up, after a long interval,

the line of advance upon which he started

with

The Squire.

Whether he chose
life

to

deal with a grave problem of

one

of

man when he enters the manly state, and which may be offered for the solution of any woman who has become a wife whether he left
the problems which face every

the comic and the sentimental highroads of

drama
he
felt

for this

more strenuous path because

impelled thereto by sympathy and

interest, or

whether he merely judged that

the time was ripe for plays of serious intent,

I

cannot

tell.

One

is

inclined to pin one's

belief to the

former alternative when one

124

SERIOUS INTENT
recollects that

125

he has given

us,

since

The

Second Mrs Tanqueray, The Notorious

Mrs

Ebbsmith

and

The Benefit of

the

Doubt.

But we must also remember The Princess

and

the Butterfly

and The Gay Lord Quex.

Tre lawny of the " Wells" he may have written

by way of
he treated
suggested

recreation.

The Princess and the

treated as
I

Butterfly even
it

may have been

now,
a

of set purpose, though, as

just

deeper interest in

the eternal verities of existence would pro-

bably have brought the theme nearer

to

home
The
plan
side,

the

mind and heart of the

is

time.

Gay Lord Quex

altogether.

on

different

Here Mr Pinero took no

did not even show which

tended.

way

his

sympathy

He

drew a picture

gerated picture in
in
its

an exagmost respects of Society

aspects,

most corrupt and unpleasing

the best use he could

and made

of

his

materials from the point of view of theatrical

effect,

without offering any moral or appearenforce

ing to

any

lesson.

What

moral

126

ARTHUR WING PINERO

was the spectator had
to

there

draw

for

himself.

How
?

can we explain

this

change

of plan

Had Mr
it

Pinero changed his out?

look in the interval between 1887 and 1899

If not (and

scarcely seems probable),

how
of a

can we reconcile the two methods of

treat-

ment

the

one bracing, ennobling,

sincerity
its
;

full

stimulating
cynical,

the

other,

frankly

making

appeal by dint of clever?

ness and not by dignity of purpose

Only

by concluding that

Mr

Pinero has no par-

ticular fondness for either

method, and that

he adopts the one or the other as

fancy and
dictate.

the

fashion

of the

own hour may

his

To
Pinero
of

this
is
:

it

may be answered
of
it

that

Mr

a writer not
that
is

one mood but

many
in

stupid to expect him

always to produce the same kind of play

that,

short, his versatility of

method

is

his greatest merit

and the surest proof of

his genius.

Well, for those to

whom

this is so,

it

is

SERIOUS INTENT
SO.
It is, I

127

grant with the utmost readiness,

versatile.
rule,

a great merit to be

But versatile
leave a deep

authors do not, as a

impression upon their age.

Even when a
the heart of
afford

man

has

the

brain

and
he
in

a
to

Robert
squander

Buchanan
his

cannot

genius

every

direction.

Furthermore, an ingrained habit of mind

mark upon everything which the mind produces. Over Mr Meredith's

must leave
its

work broods always the

over

spirit of

Comedy

Mr

Hardy's always the Tragic Muse.

Richard Feverel and Beauchamp both come

to

an end that might

tragic.

be,

and generally

is,

termed

But consider cases closely

each a certain freakishis

and you

will find in

ness of circurnstance which

tragic manner.

alien to the

In neither case has the end

been foreseen as inevitable.

is
it

In neither case

the result of conflict with one of the

great obstacles to the

human

will

Destiny,
we
see

Providence, a
passion.

law of nature or a grand

In

Mr

Meredith's books

128

ARTHUR WING PJNERO

with his fellow
-

man contending
and prejudices
Hardy's novels,
catastrophe
first.

men and
In

with the obstacles which their conventions

set
in

his

path.

Mr
the

on

the

other hand,

is

to

be apprehended from the

" appears

Humanity always

on the

scene hand in hand with trouble"

not created by
its

trouble
of

own
in

actions, but trouble

which has
things.

its

root

the very nature

Now,

if

Mr

Pinero had an ingrained habit

of mind, a steadfast persistency of vision,

they would colour

all

that he wrote.

They

might tinge

it

lightly, or

they might deeply

dye
is

it

to a uniform hue.
all

What

is_certain
find

that in

his

work we should

some

evidence of the point of view from which

he surveyed existence.
I

Any
have

such evidence
failed

must admit that

to

find.

It

may be my own
perception,
else

fault,
I

my own
never

dulness

of

but

have

heard
it,

anyone
until

claim
is

to

have found

and

such a claim

put forward and justi-

SERIOUS INTENT
fied
I

129

do not see
save

that

we can come

to

any
no

conclusion

that

Mr

Pinero

has

particular point of view,

and that

his plays
its

must be judged one by one, each on

merits, not in bulk, as a

own

body of work express-

ing a considered and consistent criticism of life.

This,
it

will

have been noticed,

is

the

plan

have adopted

in discussing the plays.

In succession

we have had under

early
efforts,

the glass
his

Mr

Pinero's

his

farces,

dramas of sentiment,

his satirical comedies,

and now we come

intent.
It is in

to his plays
I

of serious,

these that

personally
I

am

mainly interested, and since

majority of
dilection,
I

believe the

my

readers will share this pre-

shall offer

no excuse

for dealing
is

with them at some length.

increasing

There
while

an

number of playgoers who agree

with Alexandre

Dumas
it

fils that,

it

is

good

to laugh,
;

is

not good to laugh at

everything
jects

and that there are certain sub-

which ought to be treated seriously even

I

in the theatre.

130

ARTHUR WING PINERO

En France nous rions beaucoup des choses s6rieuses mSme de celles-la, je crois pouvoir I'affirmer, qu'on
Moi,. c'est

"

c'est

rit le plus.

un

goiit particulier, j'aime

mieux

rire

des choses qui ne sont pas s6rieuses et qui n'en ont

pas

moins

la pretention
;

de

I'etre

ma

conscience se

trouve ainsi de repos

je suis s<ir d'avoir plus

longtemps

des sujets de giit^ et d'avoir finalement raison."^

Holders of

this opinion

have had to bear

a good deal of ridicule in England as well

as
in

France,

and

also

good deal of
" Ibsenite"
in

abuse.

For a good many years

was a term of reproach implying,

person at
lack
of

the

whom

it

was

hurled,

not only

taste,

but

irreligion.

To

admit
to

a liking for the

write

"problem play" was

in

oneself

down

general

estimation

a raker amongst unsavoury garbage.

Any
up
to

drama
the

that dared to hold the mirror

Nature and to reveal what the

in

polite world,

manner of
aside,

Mr

Podsnap, preferred

to

wave

was decried as morbid, un-

wholesome, unpleasant.

Any

dramatist who,

in pursuit of better things,

'

ventured to
Femmes
qui Volent."

" Les Femmes

qui Tuent et les

"

SERIOUS INTENT
" Take the suffering

131

human race To read each wound, each weakness clear To strike his finger on the place And say, Thou ailest here and here,'
'

.;

was convicted not only of tiresomeness, but

of immorality, whereas, of course, the only

immoral plays are the plays which represent

vice both as being attractive and as having

no necessary, unpleasant consequences, which

vice always has.

In a preface to a drama
far

produced at the Comddie Frangaise as

back as 1840, M. Walewski wrote a few

sentences on this subject which

sum

it

up

very
said
la

pithily

and

briefly.

" L'immoralitd,"

M. Walewski, "consiste a d^guiser

la

laideur de

corruption et a parer
les

le

vice

des

couleurs

plus

s^duisantes,

trouver

des

phrases
et

mignardes,

des

afP&teries
la

de mot
des

de style pour voiler

corrumpues
et

misere

civilisations

des dges pervertis.

Mais, signaler la prose tenir au

fondeur de la

plaie,

bord du
afin
qu'il

precipice et le montrer

du doigt

'

132

ARTHUR WING PINERO

evit4 est-ce li de rimmoralit^
?

soit

"

thousand times, no

Now

in

The Profligate

Mr

Pinero set

out to do just what the author of the play

of 1840 did
precipice
it

to
to

stand on the edge of a

all

and

warn

passers-by to give

a wide berth.

He

set

out to show, in
leads

a word, that the

life

man who
will

dissolute certainly

before

marriage

pretty
it

have

bitter cause to repent

"

afterwards.

It is

a good and sooth-fast saw,

Half-roasted never will be raw

No dough is dried once more to meal, No coach new-shapen by the wheel.

You
can't turn curds to milk again,

Nor Now by wishing back

to

Then ;

And, having tasted stolen honey, You can't buy innocence for money."

These were the

his playbill.

lines

Mr
it.

Pinero set upon

the keynote of

They
at

strike

the play as he wrote

as
it

Not, however,

was acted
lacked

the

Garrick Theatre.

Mr Hare

Mr

Pinero's courage.
in a public letter,

As
he

he afterwards admitted

SERIOUS INTENT
felt afraid

133

of braving the popular prejudice

in favour of a

"happy ending."
Pinero
stern

He
give

sugthe

gested

that
to

Mr

should

go-by

the

logic

which

made

Dunstan Renshaw bear the consequences

of his profligacy.

ency prevailed.

The counsel The ending was

of expedire-written.

"happy ending" was

was
lost

contrived,

and

there

more than
Pinero

half the force of

the lesson

Mr

set

out to teach.

The

original

ending

the

ending

which

Mr

Pinero printed and to which he pre-

sumably

adheres

is

painful

it

presses

home
truth

with

uncompromising
in

force

the

embodied

the

lines

just

quoted.

The
but

stage ending was not really "happier,"

it

seemed so

to the people

who

regard
could

only the outsides

of

things.

How
be

Renshaw and
again, she

his

wife

ever
life

happy
was

knowing the

he had lived
It
is

and he knowing that she knew?

not merely that he had lived what

called
life."

with

unconscious

irony

"a

man's

134

ARTHUR WING PINERO

as

That might have been forgiven,

Ardale's past
gotten,
is
if

Hugh
;

forgiven by
Leslie

EUean

for-

even,

only

knew

of

it

vaguely and had no hideous details seared

into

her brain.
a
loving

One can never

woman's
it

tell

of

what

heart
true,
is

may be
a kind

capable.

Renshaw,
for

is

of

man

whom

it

seems

at first

impos-

sible to feel

much sympathy.

On
girl

the very
has,

eve of his marriage to the

who
his

he declares, changed and purified

nature,

whole

he indulges

in

a vulgar carouse.

On
of

his

wedding morning he shows no sign

regret

shame or

when Murray speaks

of the smirched love he offers Leslie.

jauntily says that

He

he has taken the world

as he found

it,

and prates fatuously about

happy marriages being the reward of men

who have sown

their wild

oats.

Women,

however, have loved such men, even when

they have guessed pretty shrewdly at the
truth

about them, and

will

go on loving

them without a doubt.

Dissipation of the

SERIOUS INTENT

135

ordinary kind has been forgiven, and will

be forgiven so long as men are weak and

women

steadfast.

But Renshaw was not the

mere dissipated man-about-town.

a betrayer, a seducer, as well as a
coureur de femmes.

He
is

was
the

common

His character

character of a profligate without any re-

deeming

feature.

It is

not suggested that

the episode of Janet

Preece stood alone.

No

doubt

" Laurence

Kenward "
girls

had
under
But,

duped and ruined other poor

even

the cowardly refuge of a false name.

if it

did stand alone,

is

such an episode

ever to be forgiven by a wife

all
its

who knows
with

foul

details

and has
its

realised

agonising exactness what

consequences

have been

If

Leslie

could

have

par-

doned Renshaw, could he ever have been

forgiven by her brother Wilfrid,

who has

loved Janet and whose

life

is

embittered

by Renshaw's crime?
the shadow of Janet

No, between Leslie

and her husband would have stood always

Preece.

No

happi-

"
!

136

ARTHUR WING PINERO

was
possible
last

ness

to

them,

Renshaw's
incline

misery in the

act

may

us to
It

be merciful in our view of his faults.

is

difficult to

withhold from him a measure

of pity, even of sympathy,

when
in

the change

which
clear.

his marriage has

made

him becomes

"I married," he
ness, as
it

tells

Murray, "in dark-

were; she seemed to take

to lead

me
this

by the hand and

light.

me

out into the

Murray, the companionship of

pure
.
.

woman
But
future

is

a revelation of

life

to me.

you know

because
I

you read

my
I

you

has become.

know what my existence The Past has overtaken me

dread the
visit

am

in

deadly fear!

of a stranger or the sight of strange handwriting,

and

in

my

sleep

dream

that

am
"

muttering into her ear the truth against

myself."

Be

sure

your

sin

will

find

you out

had been Murray's warning, and Renshaw

can only groan out that he spoke
truly.

SERIOUS INTENT
But neither
in
pity,

137

nor the latent tendency

us
to

nearly
of

all

of

believe

in

the

efficacy

eleventh
to

hour

repentances,

must blind us

the

realities

of

things.
sin like
is

For a mean,

despicable,

unmanly

the sin of Dunstan

forgiveness,

Renshaw

there

no

believe that

make thoughtless people a "happy ending" is possible to

and
to

a story such as the story of The Profligate

is

to palter with

truth

and

to

do an

ill

service to the cause of morality.

It is this willingness to palter

with truth
the

and

conscience
in

which

has

hindered

drama
it

England from taking the place

other
countries.

has taken in

For a

writer to write against his

own judgment
is

what
fatal

will please

the majority of people

It
it

to the interests of art.

robs the

artist's

work of

its

interest,

robs

his

calling of its dignity.

Imagine a publisher

suggesting to
that

Mr

Meredith or
alter

Mr Hardy
novels
in

they
to

should

their

order

make them more

acceptable to

138

ARTHUR WING PINERO

It
is

the purchasing public!

difficult

to

imagine

this.

It

is

impossible to imagine

Mr

Meredith

or

Mr Hardy

consenting

to such a proposal.

How

can the theatre,

it

so long as managers and authors treat

in this

fashion, expect

to be

regarded as

anything

but

a
if

form of light entertain"

our
leading
is

ment?
with
his

And
to

playwright,

position

assured,
his

so

easily

persuaded

sacrifice

ideas

on

the

altar of expediency,

what courage or con-

sistency can be looked for in authors

who

are

struggling hard to
?

make

a living and

a name
If

The Profligate were not a

would
less

fine play,
in-

one

regret
It

its
is

author's
fine

stability of purpose.

play in
It
is

spite

of

its

occasional, theatricality.
little

now and
is

then a

too "well

made"

to

be absolutely convincing.

But the theme

handled with remarkable power.

The

story holds the attention firm, and the pity

and pathos of broken

lives

touch the heart

SERIOUS INTENT
with poignant force.

139

produces
the
later

almost as
in

Upon the much effect

playhouse

reader
as

it

upon
the

spectator
acts

the
as

in
is

quite

much.
as

This
it

the
the

test of

good drama now

Aristotle.

was

in

days

of

In

the

Poetics

we

read that
to

the plot of

a tragedy

"ought

be so constituted
of

that,

even without the

is

aid

the eye,
will

anyone who

told

the
pity

incidents

thrill

with horror
.
.

and
to

at the turn

of events.

But

prois

vide

this

effect

by the mere spectacle

a less artistic method and one dependent

upon the extraneous

ment.

aid of stage

manage-

Those
to

who
a

employ
sense,

spectacular

means
terrible,

create

not

of

the

but of the monstrous, are strangers

of

to

the purpose
is

Tragedy."

The Pro-

fligate

as truly a tragedy as any of the

great dramas of the Greeks which showed

men
is,

struggling in the grip of Fate.

all,

Fate

after

only the

nickname we give
for

to

retribution

retribution

our

own

I40

ARTHUR WING PINERO

and blunders,
sin
or,
it

follies

may

chance, for
of

the

long -past

or

thoughtlessness

others.
relation

The Greeks
a stern

bridged over the dim

effect

between cause and

by

in-

venting

Power, which
as
it

compelled
willed,

men
in

hither

and thither

now

justice,

now

in

irony.

We

see more not of

clearly

that

they are the victims,

outside

any
their

agency

themselves,
is,

but

of
no-

own

acts.

De.stiny

in
is

short,

thing but Character.

basis of tragedy,

Here

the

modern
both

and upon

this basis

The Profligate and The Second Mrs Tanqueray are founded.

The
lary
to

one, indeed,

is

a pendant, a corolstory of Dunstan

the other.

The

Renshaw shows
always
"

us that the profligate must

Buy

a minute's mirth to wail a week,

sell eternity

And
that a

to gain a toy "

man

cannot escape from his past.

of

The

story

Paula

Tanqueray enforces

SERIOUS INTENT
the same truth as
it

141

applies to the

woman.

Paula, like Dunstan, wanted to leave be-

hind
it

all

that
if
it

had marred her

life,

to

let

be as

had never been.

But she

finds

the burden of her former self dogfootstep

just

ging her every

It
is

as

he

did.

not merely that the outward conserise

quences of her acts

horizon
press
:

up

to

cloud her
the

her

very nature bears

instincts.

im-

of

perverted

"There's

hardly a subject you can broach," Aubrey

tells

Cayley

Drummle, "on

which poor

Paula hasn't some strange,

out-of-the-way

thought to give utterance

to,

some

curious,

warped

notion.

They

are not
!

mere worldly
they belong

thoughts
to the

unless,

good God

little

hellish

world which our black:

guardism has created

too
little

no, her ideas

have

calculation in

them
it

to

be called

worldly.
ful

But

it

makes

the more dread-

that such

thoughts should
that

be

ready,

spontaneous;

expressing
natural

them
;

has
that

become a

perfectly

process

142

ARTHUR WING PINERO

words,
acts

her

even,

have

almost

lost

their proper significance for her

and seem

beyond her

control."

Paula cannot do or

be what she would.

kindly, trusty

She wants
to

to

be a

comrade

Aubrey, but she

can never miss an opportunity of saying

an ill-natured word.
Ellean love and
is

She longs
in

to

make
she
of

confide

her,

but
signs

always

on
is

the
for

watch
ever
the

for

distrust

and

revealing
tie

her
binds

morbid
Ellean

jealousy

of

that

and
like

her
to

father

together.

She

would

receive

such a manner as

Mrs Cortelyon in she knows both prudictate,

like

dence and politeness

of
this,

but,

instead

she

behaves

madwoman.
vulgarity of
imbecility of

She cannot go back

to her former friends

she has outgrown them.

The

Lady Orreyed and the toping

Sir

George

fill

her

with

disgust.

The

past hangs

its

loathsome weight about her

memory
and

the present leaves her unsatisfied

;

ill-content

the

future

terrifies

her


SERIOUS INTENT
with
its

143

long

vistas

of

weariness

and
to

horror.

Read her
Is

last

long

speech
in

Aubrey.
temporary

there

any passage

con-

literature

which compresses into

the

more

striking
*

words

Nemesis

that

waits for

all,

men

or women,
?

Paula Tanqueray had lived

who live as The sudden

can never
her that
sort

appearance of Captain Ardale has shown

her in a
flash
off,

that

the

past

be shaken

Her husband
unstrung
to
;

tells

her nerves are

thing
isn't

" that

of

isn't

likely

recur.
all

The world

quite so small as
Isn't
it.

that."
it

Paula.
are those

The

only great distances

we

carry within ourselves

the
!

contains

distances that

and wives, for instance. And so it'll do your best. Oh I know that But circumstances will be too you're a good fellow. Of course strong for you in the end, mark my words. I'm pretty now I'm pretty still and a pretty woman,
separate husbands

be with

us.

You'll

whatever else she may be, is always well, endurable. But even now I notice that the lines of my face are Yes, getting deeper ; so are the hollows about my eyes. my face is covered with little shadows that usen't to be there. Oh I know I'm " going off." I hate paint and dye and those messes, but by-and-by I shall drift the way of the others; I sha'n't be able to help myself.
!


144

ARTHUR WING PINERO

And

then some day perhaps very suddenly, under a queer fantastic light at night, or in the glare of the

morning

that

horrid,

inevitable truth that physical

will

repulsion forces on

men and women

me.
. . .

come

to you,

and
last,

you'll sicken at

You'll see
you'll see

me

then, at

with other people's eyes

all

me

just as

your

daughter does now, as

like

me.

And

I shall

wholesome folks see women have no weapon to fight with

bit

not one serviceable defend myself with

!

little

of prettiness
creature

left

A worn-out
I

very likely, some time before

light,

ought

broken up, to be my hair

my

me

to

my

eyes dull,

my body

too thin or too stout,

raddled and ruddled a ghost, a wreck, a caricature, a candle that gutters, call such an end what
cheeks

you like you then ?

!

Oh Au^ey,
!

what

shall I

know
It

it

And
know

this is the future

it."

be able to say to you talk about I

!

is

an awful speech,

this of Paula's,

speech that rings in the ears for days.

it
is,

And

every word of

it,

true,

not of Paula's

case alone, but of every case like hers, and

in

a modified degree

its

truth

comes home

to all

who wantonly break

the laws which

the experience of the world has

made

for

men and women.

There may

for

certain

people be a higher morality than the world's,

but in their individual equation wantonness

can be no

factor.

Many

are offended by

SERIOUS INTENT
plain-speaking on these points.
" "

i45

We

need

no such warnings," they

nise the existence of
at all
?

say.

Why

recog-

women
the
all

of Paula's class

These

subjects are not for public

discussion,

even

by

preacher.

We

should be kept from

things."

knowledge of such

Yet neither the preacher nor the

if

dramatist do their duty to their age

they
fail

see a precipice yawning in the path and

to

warn the passers-by.

The

social

evil

with which

Mr

Pinero dealt in The Profli-

gate and in The Second

Mrs Tanqueray
more
lives
it

is

precipice that has engulfed

than

can be counted, and

is

not by looking

away from

it

that the
it

evil

can be cured.
but
to

Cured perhaps

never can be,

hideousness
the
is

make
means

manifest
of

its

the best of
its

lessening
is

number

victims,
in

and that

what

Mr

Pinero did
skill

these two plays, with the

as
well

of the

artist

as

the the

philosopher's calm

insistence

upon

lesson

he

has

in

mind.

"

146

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Compare with
this
pitiful

prophecy of
fore-

Paula's the speech in which

casts

Renshaw

the

only

life

which he and Leslie

could live in common.

is some chance of my regaining Regaining her How dull sleeplessness makes me How much could I regain of what I've lost Why, she knows me nothing can ever undo that sfw knows me. Every day would be a dreary, hideous masquerade ; every night a wakeful, torturing retrospect. If she smiled, I should whisper to myself, Yes, yes, that's

"Supposing there
!

her.

'

a very pretty pretence, but

she

knows you
'

'

The

slamming of a door would shout it, the creaking of a stair would murmur it she knows you I And when

'

she thought herself alone, or while she lay in her sleep,

I

should be always stealthily spying for that dreadful

look upon her face, and I should find it again and again as I see it now the look which cries out so plainly,

you taught one good woman to believe you, but now she knows you I
'

Profligate

in

'

The same
here,

note of hopelessness sounds

the same terrible certainty that, as

their lives, so they
It

men and women shape

must
live

them

until the end.

was

this

hopelessness

that

made

Mr

Pinero close

both plays with the suicide of the being

whose existence was thus

blighted.

This

SERIOUS INTENT

147

was

another

concession,

surely,

to

the
shall

fashion

which

demands
definite

that

plays

come
it

to

some

conclusion.

Would
to

not

have been even more

effective

leave

Dunstan
ought

and

Paula

face

to

face

with the necessity of living on

Suicide

somehow ?
in

only

to

be

permitted

pction to characters which

we may
not

justly to

regard

as

heroic.

It

ought

be

allowed to dignify weak characters which

have no heroic elements about them.

is

It

in

no sense an expiation

it

is

merely

way of escape, and a way which very ew of the Paulas and Dunstans take, however much they may talk ,about it. The total number of people who kill\
themselves
total
is

quite

small,
is

and

of

this

number there

but

a small per-

centage

who

are driven to

commit suicide
I

by any

real trouble or misfortune.

quite

admit that neither the average reader of

books nor the average spectator at plays

likes to

be

left

with a problem unsolved.

148

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Either there must be a "happy ending,"

which

need

not

trouble

the

mind

with

speculation,

or the
is

knot must be cut by

the

death.
all,

This
it

not

way

of

life

at

and

is

a pity that
to

the unthinking

should
it
is.

be

encouraged

suppose

that

The "make"
queray
is

of The Second
finished, detail

Mrs Tanof

more
in

and therefore more

than
I

convincing
Profligate

that

The

or

perhaps

should say than

that of the earlier part of

The

Profligate.

Compare the openings.

conversation with
bears

Hugh
stamp
of

Murray's

Lord
the

Dangars scarcely
nature.

upon

it

Aubrey's dinner-party
of
exposition.

is

perfect

piece
is

The whole
easily,

situation

unfolded

simply,
little

naturally,

not

a
inis

word too
terested

or

too

much, we are
our
for

at

once,
to

and

attention

never allowed

wander
in

moment
author's

from the problem

purpose
is

hand.

The

effected

without

any straining

SERIOUS INTENT
of
probability,

149

without

even

making the
the
co-

spectator or the reader

artifice

conscious of

that

is

used.

There

are

incidences in either piece, but they need

not trouble us.

It

might be better

if

they
is

were

less

long-armed, but coincidence

it

always permissible on the stage so

not merely episodic.

be

Here,

it

matters

little

by

what

means
into

Janet
lives

and

Ardale

are

brought
Ellean.

the

of Leslie
is

and of
press
this

The
the

great

matter

to

home

author's

conclusions,

and

demands
of

their presence in the plot.

They
in

are brought in to serve the definite end

the

whole

play

the

coincidences,
all.

themselves, are of no interest at

On
all

the

other

hand,
to

the

characters

are

drawn so as
sake, as

interest us for their

in their

own

well

as

general bearing

upon the leading motive.

of

Ellean

is

typical

certain

kind of girlhood
shrinking from

peculiarly

English.

Her

Paula,

and

her swift accusation of herself, at the end,


ISO

ARTHUR WING PINERO

kill

of having helped to
are equally true
illogical

her step-mother,

to this type.

So
for

is

the

but

very

natural

feeling

which
having
because
India!

prompts her to forgive Ardale

been "a
of
bit

wild at

one

time,"
in

what he

has
is

done

since

Cayley Drummle
as

delightful

as

shrewd,
little

kind-hearted
as

and as amusing a
year

man
about

ever wasted his time in hanging

clubs
half

London

the

and

country-houses the

rest.

Sir

George and

Lady Orreyed
"type of a

{nde

Miss
is

Mabel Hervey,
immortal")
but could

class

which

may
be

seem
amply

trifle

overdrawn,

justified

by human documentation.
all

The
witty

dialogue

through
occasion

is

admirable
permits

when
first

the

one
of
at

thinks at once of Cayley 's description of

the

Mrs
talk

Tanqueray,

indeed
;

Cayley's

throughout the play

high level of seriousness and power

long
closing
scenes.

in the

Indeed, the

piece,

regarded as a whole, strikes one as being

SERIOUS INTENT
finer

151

and
one

more
sees

worthy of respect every

or reads
it

time

afresh.

The

French
not

writer,

M. Charles Hastings, was

going

beyond the generally-accepted

it
:

opinion
I'avis

when he wrote of
meilleurs

" C'est,

de
la

des

critiques,

I'ceuvre

plus remarquable de I'histoire du Th^dtre

Anglais

pendant

la

deuxieme

partie

du

XIX^-

siecle."^
I

While
I

subscribe readily to this opinion,

am

inclined, as a matter of personal pre-

The Benefit of the Doubt as the play of Mr Pinero's which, on the

ference, to regard

whole, has given

me

the most pleasure.

It

had nothing

like the success of

The Second
work look
it,

Mrs

Tanqueray.

A great
Mr

many people who

and

heartily

admire

Pinero's

blankly at you

when you mention

think
its

admit that they have never seen

lent
piece.
I

this excel-

failure

to

hit

the

popular taste must be set

that
^

down

to the fact

its

theme

is

not direct and single like

Fiimin-Didot, Paris.
1900.

Le Thidtre Franfais

et Anglais,

1S2

ARTHUR WING PINERO

and
is

that of the earlier work, but complicated

of a criss-cross

texture

that

sympathy

drawn

different ways,

and the spectator com-

pelled to consider the nature of the situation

instead of being allowed to start from a point

at

which everything can be taken

is

for granted.

Furthermore, there

nothing heroic about

any of the
is

characters,

Fraser of Locheen
the

dull fellow

who has married

is

wrong

woman,
little

Theo

a poor,

tawdry, flighty
the wrong

person

who has

accepted

man.
equally

Jack Allingham and his wife are an

ill-assorted
pair.

Her

jealousy

makes

his existence with

her unendurable,

because he has not strength of mind enough

to endure

and to convince her by degrees

that her state of

mind

is

absurd.

Nor has

he

sufficient consideration for his old friend

Theo

to prevent

him from compromising her

Sir

reputation

by stupid thoughtlessness.
is

Fletcher Portwood

a wind-bag,
little
fit

Claude

Emptage

a fribble, Justina

better than

a minx, and Mrs Emptage a

mother

for

SERIOUS INTENT
such children.
Bishop's wife

iS3

Remains
well, in

Mrs

Cloys,

the
is

Mrs Cloys

there

an element which does approach the

but
it

heroic,
It

stops short at the approach.

may

be heroic to
but
it

flout the prejudices of the world,

can never be heroic, however judicious

it

and proper

may
is

be, to

shape one's conduct

with the view of conciliating the world.

that,

And
e

after

all,

what Mrs Cloys thinks

about principally when she plays the dea

machina and

offers to rehabilitate

Theo

in

Society's esteem

by taking her niece under

does she say herself?

her wing.
that
it

What

Not

is

a censorious, evil-thinking world,

and

that

no heed need be paid to what

scandal-mongers

and worldlings may

all in

say.

Oh, no
with

that would not be at

keeping
of the

Mrs

Cloy's

character.

It

is

effect of
is

her action upon the world that she

all

thinking
" Both
in

the time.
at St Olpherts

London and

Theophila

will

be

my

close companion.

In our

little

London

gaieties

she

will figure

prominently.

At

certain formal gatherings

If

she

will share the responsibility of the hostess.

any

"

154

ARTHUR WING PINERO

paragraph concerning our doings should creep into the newspaper it will concern the Bishop of St Olpherts,
think there will be

Mrs Cloys and Mrs Fraser of Locheen. Oh, I don't many to wag evil tongues against Mrs Fraser a few months hence
!

kindly speech,

if

you

will,

and a speech

wise from the world's point of view, but not

heroic.

Now,
theatre

the average audience in an English

likes

the

heroic in

drama.
is

The
this

popularity of the
taste

melodrama
to

due to
else.

more than

anything

The

average audience likes to see people performing noble, improbable actions.

thing, these actions

For one
far

remove the play so

outside the realm of reality that the spectator

does not have to think

much about
It will

it

either

at the time or afterwards.

not bear

thinking about

he

is

not meant to think

about

it.

The Benefit of the Doubt does not

it

at all gratify this taste for the heroic, but

does

make an audience
is

think.

It

ran about

lOO nights, which

as
to

much
do
;

as most really
it

good plays can expect

did not take

SERIOUS INTENT

155

hold of the average play-going public, nor

did
it

become

fashionable.
it

It

has never

been revived, though

is

certainly a play
if

which, ought to be acted, and,

we had any-

thing in the nature of a repertory theatre,

would be acted frequently.

The opening
more
interesting

is

quite as clever and even

and entertaining than that

Tanqueray.

of The Second

Mrs
we

With

con-

summate

skill

learn the whole story

up

to the point at which the play starts from

the snatches of conversation in the Emptages'

drawing-room while the verdict of the Divorce

Court
in

the

action

of

" Allingham
is

v.

Allingham,

Fraser

intervening,"

being

anxiously awaited.

The

arrival

of succes-

sive friends from the court itself keeps the

interest strung
pitch.

up to the highest dramatic

By

the end of the act

we know

the

outlines of the characters of

all

the persons

who have been

expectation.

introduced, and the developis

ment of the imbroglio

attended with keen

iS6

ARTHUR WING PINERO

act
certainly does

The second
appoint
us.

not disleft

Theo, when she has

home

after her husband's cold refusal to take her

view of their position, goes straight to the

man from whom

Locheen,

she had got the sympathy

in

which she asked

vain
is

from Fraser of
wildly indiscreet,

Her

action

but her intentions are the most innocent in

the world.
All she

wants

is

to

borrow

enough money
her to join

to take her abroad, to enable

friend

in

Paris.

At

the

moment when Allingham

from her asking
if

receives a note
his

he can see her at

Epsom
some

country cottage, he has in the house,

not only his wife,

who has come

Fletcher
set
off

to see

if

reconciliation can be arranged, but also

Mrs

Cloys,

Sir

Portwood, and
for

Claude,

who have
tells

Epsom

as

soon as Theophila's

flight
all

became known.

Allingham
says.

them

what Theo's note

Mrs Allingham

seizes the opportunity

at once.

If the relations

between Jack and

and
if

Theo were

entirely innocent,

the judge

SERIOUS INTENT

IS7

was

right in giving
let

them
it

" the benefit of the

doubt,"

them prove
let

now.

Let Theo be

admitted and

her talk to Jack, imagining

they are quite alone, while

concealed
in

Mrs AUingham

is

the adjoining room.

For the
Theo's

sake of peace AUingham consents.

relatives are

bundled into the dining-room,

Olive takes up her position in the library,

and Theo

is

ushered

in.

At first the result of the experiment justiTheo exfies AUingham in permitting it.
plains her position.

Her husband,

to

whom

she looked to stand by her, has

failed.

He

doubts her innocence, and, instead of facing

the world boldly, he proposes to take her

abroad.

Therefore

she

has

done

with

Fraser of Locheen.

"You
moment who are
has a
really
if

know," she says, "there's always a

in the lives of a

man and woman tied to each other when the man chance of making the woman really, his own property. It's only a moment
chance
slip it's

he

lets the

gone

it

never

"

158

ARTHUR WING PINERO

I

comes back,
chance to-day.

fancy
If

my

husband had
his

his

he had just put

hand

on

my

shoulder this afternoon and said,

'You

fool,

you don't deserve

I'll

it,

for
'

your
if

stupidity,

but

try

to save

you

he
to

had said something, anything of the kind

me,
I

think

could have gone

down on my
at the

knees to him and

But he stared
!

carpet and held on to his head and

moaned

out that he must have time, time

What Theo says

Jack
is

about her friendship with

to convince

more than enough

Mrs

AUingham, but yet she delays

bell

to strike the

which was to be the sign that she had

heard enough.

At

last

AUingham persuades
is,

Mrs

Fraser, half-fainting as she

to drink

a glass of champagne,

and then another.

day, she
is

She has eaten nothing

wine

all

beside

herself with excitement

affects

and

fatigue,

and the

her brain at once.

She becomes
to a state of
fly

loud and slangy and confidential as to her

future,

and then, worked up

delirium,

she wildly begs Jack to

with

SERIOUS INTENT
her.

159

At

this

moment her

relations,

con-

sidering that the interview has lasted quite

long enough, knock loudly for admittance.

Their appearance naturally bewilders Theo,

and before she has recovered from

shock she receives another
reveals herself.
that

this

Mrs Allingham
the plot

Theo understands

has been laid for her, and her mind

gives way.
the act she
feet.
It is

As

the curtain descends upon a swoon at AUingham's

falls in

a situation

full

of significance, charged

with dramatic intensity.

brilliant in invention

The whole
it

act

is

and construction, and

that could not

this scene

forms a climax to
It

be more powerful.

has,

however, this

one drawback
third
act

it

makes the writing of the

difficult
is

an extraordinarily
of
the

task.

The
Mrs many
It
is

solution

problem

found

eventually, as

have already indicated, by

this

Cloys,
critics

and
to

solution

seemed

to

be weak and inconclusive.

inconclusive, certainly.

No

play that

i6o

ARTHUR WING PINERO

human beings can be
" finish
off.

deals sincerely with

brought to a " conclusive

the
life

unless

all

characters are killed

is

Nothing
But

in
I

ever

final

except
it

death.

cannot see that

is

a weak ending.

The
be the

charge of weakness seems to

direct

me

to

outcome of the hankering

I

after the

heroic which back.

It
is

remarked upon a few pages

It
is

a natural ending.

just

such a compromise as the

loves
in

English nature
it

practice,

however much

may

prefer, in theory, fireworks

and the beating

of the breast.

They

are ordinary people,

for getting

and

this is

an ordinary expedient
their difficulties.

them out of
whose

One

critic

appreciations, as a rule, are of

more
and
dis-

than ordinary insight and judgment, made

complaint of a falling-off in the
last act,

then wrote, as a justification for his

content
:

"
;

The

author has presented

not

his

problem

but

even
of
it."

he

can

offer

a
is

satisfactory solution
to take

Surely this

a wrong-headed view of the play

SERIOUS INTENT
altogether.
to
It is

i6i

not intended by the author

be either a neatly-rounded moral apologue

or

an

ingeniously-solved

chess

problem.

The man who

life

could offer a "satisfactory

real

solution" of any of the

problems of

would be hailed as a great philosopher

or the founder of a
criticism as this

new

religion.

To
"

such

Mr
to

Pinero might well

Israel,
?

make

answer with the King of

Am

God
of

to kill

and

make
is

alive

"

All that

a dramatist can do
life.

to tear

you a page out

He

is

not concerned to get his

all

characters

out of

the

difficulties
is

into

which they are involved.

He

the holder

of no universal panacea for the misfortunes of the

human
the

race.

You may,

if

you

like,

hold

opinion that neither

Theo and
Jack, could

Fraser, nor

Mrs Allingham and

ever live happily together.

not imagine that

But you must

Mr

Pinero said or thought

they could.

He
way

does not pretend to leave

of living happily ever after.

them

in the

He

merely closes the particular episode in

i62

ARTHUR WING PINERO

which
his play has

their history with

been

concerned.
I

have never heard anyone suggest a more

natural or a

more

effective ending,

however
ending

much they may have

conceived by

disliked

the

Mr

Pinero.

And, whatever
I

has been urged against the conception,

have never heard anyone deny the

treatment of the
the Doubt.
last act of

skilful

The

interest is

The Benefit of kept up with

wonderful dexterity, and though

we do

not

get any further light upon the characters of

the four people whose fortunes

we

follow, yet

they

all

behave as we should expect them

to do.

behave,

knowing them already as we

after

And
there

really,
is

the

two preceding

acts,

nothing more to be done in the way

of revealing character.

By

his daring ex-

pedient of the champagne

Mr

Pinero has
the
I

opened

to us the

mind and heart even of

little

complex Theo, a tawdry

have
said,

person, as

who might seem

at first scarcely

worth studying even as a specimen of a large

SERIOUS INTENT
but not very
interesting
class.

163

But the

dramatist, like the naturalist, can find points

of interest in every specimen that he places

under the

glass.

Here,

for instance,

we have

Theo proving to us the eternal truth that between a man and a woman of presentable
appearance and of anything
like

an equal* age

there can never exist a friendship which lacks

altogether the disturbing element

of

sex.

She and Jack Allingham have imagined honestly that " there never was one single
thought of anything but friendship on either
side."
it

But the something

else

was

there, as

always must be, whether the

it
it.

man and

the

woman know
do not know
to the people

or not, and they very often

This

may seem
all

incredible

who

think that

the mysteries

of

life

can be solved by accepting the basest

explanations of them.

But

it

is

a fact that

must be apparent

to

anyone who has studied

human
thrown

nature as closely, for example, as

it.

Mr
is

Pinero has studied

off her

As soon

as

Theo

balance the something that

i64

ARTHUR WING PINERO

has been at the back of her mind emerges

into consciousness.

ous appeal to Jack.

that she

The result is her deliriHer husband tells her

was not

herself, that the fatigue of

the day and the preceding days, the excite-

ment, the wine, had taken away her real

personality.
it

She

replies, truly

enough, that

was, on the contrary, her real personality

itself,

which revealed

"It was myself, the

dregs of myself, that came to the top last

night."

The

revelation

is

a bitter surprise,

but

it

bids fair to leave a lasting effect for

nature.
It is

good upon Theo's

case a sudden

in

many

illuminating

flash like this

life.

which

alters the

whole course of a

Of

course the champagne was a block of offence

to

numbers of people. The

by alcohol
is

sight of a

woman
re-

affected

so terrible and so

volting that the use of such a device certainly

ought to be carefully hedged about.

this instance the device

But

in

had a

definite pur-

pose to serve, a purpose which could have

been achieved by no other means.

Further,

SERIOUS INTENT
it

165

was introduced with so

careful a
it

hand and

in

so artistic a spirit that

could not be

regarded as offensive by anyone

the play as a whble.
Benefit of the Doubt
is

who judged
The
it

Interesting as
to read,

must be

seen upon the stage to be

fully appreciated.

Yet
its

it

has never been acted

in

in

London

since

original production

1895.

Until

we

have a theatre which

shall

form a repertory
in

of pieces, and play them

to

all

turn,

adding
shall

them gradually as time goes

to

by,

we

be unable

judge

fairly

the

life

work of any

British dramatist of our

own

time.

And
loser

not

only

is

the student of the

drama a

by

the absence of any machinery for keeping

modern plays before the world

tist

the drama-

must be sorely hindered and discouraged

If

as well.

his

effort

is

merely to be a

nine-days'

wonder,

to

occupy the boards

to

for a season

and then

be

laid aside

and

forgotten,
his

how
work

can we expect him to put

into
it ?

best

Must he not

trim

his sails so as to catch the

passing breeze

i66

ARTHUR WING PINERO

of steering such

of popular favour instead

a course as may,

if

his vessel

be seaworthy
at last into
?

and
the

built to endure, bring

him

Harbour of Lasting Fame

"

For a

spirit

of any delicacy and dignity," wrote

in his

Matthew Arnold

essay on Joubert,
it,

"what a
an oracle
little

fate,

if

he could foresee

to be

for

one generation and then of

or no account for ever."

But what a
few

vastly

more despicable mind

fate to entertain a

hundred

theatre-fulls of playgoers
!

and then

to pass out of

How
its

can the theatre

expect to attract to

service a sufficient

volume of

talent to furnish forth a

modern

English drama?
part
well
in

Mr

Pinero has done his

but

face

of discouragement,

one

dramatist cannot

make a

school any

more than
a wilderness.

one small stream

can irrigate

Of
to

Sir Fletcher

Portwood

have said a
to

word or two, but not enough

Pinero has drawn

do

justice

one of the most comical portraits

in

Mr
Sir

any of

his plays.


SERIOUS INTENT
Fletcher
is

167

a perpetual joy.

His cheery
off to the

self-assertion
life.

and pomposity are hit

What

a delicious scene that

is in

which

he explains the true inwardness of

acquittal.

his niece's

Mrs Twelves. It has been awfully reassuring to see you beaming in court, Sir Fletcher. Sir Fletcher. Ha I daresay my attitude has been remarked. Beaming ? Why not ? I've had no doubt as
!

to the result.

Mrs Twelves. No

doubt of Theo's innocence

of

course not. Sir Fletcher. Innocent ; that goes without saying my niece. But the result, in any case, would have been

much

the same, I venture to think.

Mrs Twelves.
Sir Fletcher. may speak of it

Really?

You
Oh,

see,

my own

public position,

if

Mrs Twelves.

yes.

Sir Fletcher {smiling). And I happen to know the judge slightly perhaps ; but there it is. Mrs Twelves. But judges are not influenced by con-

siderations of that kind

Sir Fletcher. Heaven forbid I should say a word against our method of administering law in this country. The House knows my opinion of the English Judicial

Bench. At the same time judges are mortal I have never concealed that from myself; and Sir William and {To Claude.) You saw the judge look at I have met. me this morning, Claude ? Claude. No.

i68

ARTHUR WING PINERO

return.
I've

Sir Fletcher. No ? Oh, yes, and I half smiled in Yesterday I couldn't catch his eye, but to-day

been half smiling

at

him

all

through the proceedings.

Again, Sir Fletcher's fussy anxiety

last act to "arbitrate"

in the

between the husbands

and the wives

is

vastly entertaining.
in

He

is

a recognisable figure
respectable nonentity,

modern

life,

this

who began

to

"apply

the lever to the mountain " at an early age,

and who ends with a

a knighthood.
but a valuable
type.

seat in Parliament
is

and

Thus he

not only amusing

record of a
is

contemporary

Claude Emptage
also,

very humorously
life.

sketched in

and

is

equally true to

He

has

all his

uncle's sense of self-import-

ance without the pushing energy which has

made

Sir Fletcher's position.

is

All through the play one

struck by

Mr

Pinero's knowledge of stage effect and of the

thousand

little

ways

in

which a dramatist
in

can keep his audience interested and

good humour.

Even when he

introduces a

servant for no more than a

moment he

can

SERIOUS INTENT

169

contrive to suggest character and to create

amusement without hindering the development of the

to
plot or deliberately turning aside

be

funny.

Consider

the

manservant
is
;

Quaife, for example.

His wife

"exceedthe boy

ingly healthy for a stout person "

is

not ready to carry bags to the station,

but he

"can be worried
called

till

he's

ready."

This

may be
in

the

mint

and anise

and cummin of play-writing, scarcely worth

mentioning
comparison with the weightier
art.

matters of the dramatist's

its effect

But

it all

has

in building

up a

solid impression
reality.

and creating an atmosphere of

There

will,

to revert for a
play,

moment

to the

main current of the

be always people

who

shrink from looking upon the petty

life

tragedies of

with the

satirist's eye.

Such

people, while they are

for

filled

with admiration

The Profligate and The Second Mrs

The Benefit of the Doubt grates upon their palate. The
in
call

Tanqueray, find

a flavour that

same people would no doubt

Thackeray

170

ARTHUR WING PJNERO

as

"cynical,"

the

fashion
their

goes in words.
liking
for

They would avow

either
else

plays

avowedly comic and light-hearted, or

throughout
in

cast

a serious

mould.

But they forget that

life is

of a tangled web,

good and

ill

together,

serious

and

^mic

elements inextricably interwoven, and that

often

we know

not whether to laugh or to

tricks

cry at the fantastic

creatures.

of our fellow-

Merely

to laugh at the troubles

of the Frasers and the Allinghams would

be to bring our merriment under the sentence

of

Solomon

'twould be but the crackling of

thorns under the pot.

And

yet to deal in

a tragic

spirit

with

Theo and her husband

them unduly, and would

would be

to dignify

point to faulty perspective in a dramatist's

mental picture of

life.

They have
theirs.

their

moments of
Rawdon,
rises to

exaltation, as

Becky Sharp and

for

example, have

Rawdon
flings the

moral grandeur when he

jewel at Lord Steyne.

Every now and then

seems
to put

Becky reveals some

trait that

SERIOUS INTENT
her whole character on a higher plane.
forget Theo's tawdry nature

171

We
falls

when she
full

senseless after

realising

the

extent of

her half-delirious indiscretions at the

cottage.

Epsom
on

But

it

showed a
Doubt

just estimate,

Mr
in

Pinero's part, of the

the

theme
that

dealt with in

The Benefit of

he treated

it

the vein of satire.

He

lost

nothing of

the humanity of his characters, nothing of

the interest of their story.

out of the

Book

of the Age.
skill

He tore a leaf He exhibited at

maker of plays

once his surpassing

as a

and the

fruits of his

labour as a student of

human

character.

In both these respects The Notorious

Mrs

Ebbsmith
Doubt.
are

fell

short of
first

The
keen

The Benefit of the two acts and half the third

a firm grip upon reality
instinct

written with
a

and

literary

as well.

But
lesser
in.

after that the play falls to pieces.

The
in

characters are exceedingly well sketched

The Duke

of St Olpherts

is
is

drawn

a vein

of literary sarcasm, but he

true in essence

172

ARTHUR WING PINERO

also very amusing.

and
is

The English
to

parson

(contrary to the custom of our stage) not

in

any way exaggerated or held up His

in
sister,

cheap
is

ridicule.

Mrs

Thorpe,

woman who,
she
is

the hands of most play;

wrights, would have been a prig

as

it

is,

sympathetic, natural, lovable.

The

persons

who merely appear and

disappear

have each a subtle flavour of

In 1895

individuality.

Ibsen had begun to be generally

recognised in this country as a master of

dramatic

craft,

and The Notorious

Mrs

Ebb-

smith shows more than any other of the

plays the influence of Ibsen, and especially
[

the influence of Ibsen's studies in femininity.

Even Mrs Thorpe's fancy about her little " You know I still tuck my boy's grave

child
at
is

up

at night-time,

still

have

my last peep
bed
;

him before going

upon that
that

to

my own

and

it

awful to listen to these cold rains

little

drip,

drip, drip

green coverlet of
in

his "

even

reminds us of Agnes

Brand plsicing

her candle in the window so

SERIOUS INTENT
that
its

173

light

may

fall

across the

snow on
which

her boy's grave and give him a gleam of

Christmas comfort.

But the scene

in

Agnes
method
for

hurls the Bible into the stove

it

and

then snatches
of the

again

is

very

far

from the

Norwegian master.

Nothing

in the character of
it,

Agnes has prepared us

If

nor does the ending of the play seem

natural.

any more

Agnes had ever been

convinced that she was grievously wronging

Mrs Lucas Cleeve by keeping Lucas away

from her, she would surely have gone back to
her old lonely
life.

Women

of her tempera-

ment do not
of religious

fall

back upon the consolations

because they have never

faith,

found in religion anything to console them.

It is

true that Agnes's sex has found her out,

;

as she says, in one direction

but there

is

no

reason to suppose that, because a thwarted

instinct takes its revenge, the

mental habits

of a lifetime would give place to an attitude

of mind to which she has never been any-

thing but a complete stranger.

There

is

174

ARTHUR WING PINERO

in the

nothing wonderful

mutual confession

of Theophila and Jack Allingham that, in

their distress, they

have gone back

to the

habit of prayer, for with

" saying their prayers,"
habit,

them praying, or
had once been a
back
easily,

and the mind

slips

under

stress of pain or

deep emotion, into grooves

that have been formed in the impressionable

early years of
life.

But Agnes Ebbsmith's

father "believed in nothing that people

who

go

to church are credited with believing in,"

to take his

and he brought her up

existence

view of
her.
in

and of the world

around

When
her,

she cries out that she had trusted

it,

the Bible and clung to

and that

it

failed

we feel woman who

that this

must be some other

has strayed into the piece in

order to help the author towards a striking

finish to his third act.

This

is

not the

Mrs

Ebbsmith we have known up

to that point.

And we

are sorely disappointed, for up to

that point

Mrs Ebbsmith has aroused our

seemed
to

intense interest and has

be the

SERIOUS INTENT
finest,

175

most complex study of womanhood

under the conditions of to-day that

Mr Pinero

or any other modern playwright has drawn

for us.

In essence, The Notorious

enforces the
the
tion

Mrs

Ebbsmitk

same lesson
a

as

The Benefit of
a

Doubt

the

lesson that a platonic rela-

between

man

and

impossible for nine out of every

woman is ten women

and
men.
little

for

ninety-nine out of every hundred

lesson
is,

The

of course,

weakened a

from one side by making Lucas so poor

;

a creature

but

this,

on the other hand, puts

the woman's infatuation in a more striking

light.

Again,

if

the

man

in

the case had

to all ordinary

been drawn as an exception

rules
in

the

opposite sense to

Lucas, he

would have been

also there

railed at as unnatural
!

and
Even

would have been no play

is

as

it

is

there

scarcely a complete play,

for such a subject cannot be fully discussed

before a mixed theatre-full of

men and women

I

of

all

ages.

It is not,

therefore,

think,

76

ARTHUR WING PINERO

suitable

quite a

subject for

drama under
resolves

present conditions.
that, if

When Agnes

she cannot keep Lucas by her side

will

in her

way, she

descend to his level and

all
is

hold him by the power that

exercise over men,

women

can

enough
Yet the

said to leave

half of the spectators mystified

half uncomfortable.
really

and the other

is

situation

not

made

clear, for the

reason that

it

must

remain obscure without the addition of what

has to be
left

unsaid.

It is really

the whole

mystery of

the sex relation that

we

are

invited to ponder.

This

is

too large a sub-

ject for the theatre to tackle all at once in

its

present stage of development.

For
ous
as

this

very reason, however, The Notoriwith

all its

Mrs Ebbsmith
drama
is

defects

more stimulating

to

thought
Just

than any other of because

it

Mr

Pinero's plays.

casts into the arena of discussion

all

a subject so important to nearly

the^

mea

and women

in the world,

it

gives us

fruitful

matter for reflection, a mental cud to chew

SERIOUS INTENT
for so long as

m
minds
to

we choose
Agnes
was one

to let our

work upon

it.

tried

persuade

herself that she

of the exceptional

women to whom this subject is unimportant. The process of her undeceiving provides the
stuff of the

drama.

When

she finds that

this

weak, vain, egotistical Lucas has no idea

finding
in

of

her

merely an
affinity,

intellectual

comrade, a

spiritual

does she at
?

once renounce their compact of partnership

Her head
back

resents the intrusion of the flesh

and-blood element, but her heart holds her

from

any

attempt

at
is

renunciation.

Lucas's feeling towards her

the outcome

of passion.

She has

learnt to love

him with

the self-denying tenderness that seeks rather

to offer service than to extract gratification.

The

greatest sacrifice that a

is

woman

like'

Agnes can make

victions

the sacrifice of her con-

and

ideals.

Her

love for

Lucas

persuades her to throw them over at the

very

first

thought of the possibility of her

losing

him.

The Duke M

of

St

Olpherts


178

ARTHUR WING PINERO

in

verifies,

his

brutally frank

manner, the

impression of Lucas's character which has

been gradually forcing

itself

upon Agnes.
for
it

She

sees that there

is

nothing
to

but to

surrender her
standpoint.

own and
is

accept Lucas's

She

not the

content with half-measures.

woman to be Her mind is

upon

made up

quickly,

and she

acts at once

her determination.

The

dress that Lucas

has ordered for her comes into her thoughts.

Only an hour before she has expressed her

disgust at the idea of wearing
it.

Recollect

her conversation about

it

with Lucas.

Agnes. And when would you have me hang this on bones? Lucas. Oh, when we are dining, or Agnes. Dining in a pubUc place ? Lucas. Why not look your best in a public place ? You know I don't think of Agnes. Look my best sort of garment in connection with our companionthis

my

ship, Lucas.

Lucas.
lady.

It

is

not an extraordinary garment for a

glare of

Agnes. Rustle of

silk,

arms and throatthey

mind, to such a very different order of belong, in things from that we have set up.

my


SERIOUS INTENT

179

An
the

hour afterwards she has realised clearly

condition

only

upon which she

It

can

hold Lucas to her.

to
it,

revolts her to submit

but she has no choice.

dress
that

She puts on
her
scorn
in-

the

has

aroused

she
to

transforms

herself

from

dowd

a beautiful woman.
is

The
At
first

effect

upon

Lucas

immediate.
the

he cannot
in

understand
appearance.

sudden alteration

her

Lucas. Why, what has brought about you? Agnes. What? Lucas. Agnes. Lucas. Agnes. Lucas. Agnes.

this

change

in

What? I know You know ? Exactly how you

I don't

regard me.
in Florence, I

understand you.

Listen.

suspect that
to allow

Long ago, we had made a

began to

mistake, Lucas.

Even

there I began to suspect that your nature was not one

you to go through life sternly, severely, looking upon me more and more each day as a fellow-worker and less and less as a woman. I suspected this oh, proved it but still made myself believe that this companionship of ours would gradually become in a sense {Beating her colder more temperate, more impassive. brow.) Never never Oh, a few minutes ago this man.

i8o

ARTHUR WING PJNERO

to part us

who means

disposition, in a

if he can, drew your character, dozen words. Lucas. You beheve him I You credit what he says

of

me
Agnes. I declared it to be untrue. Oh, but Lucas. But but Agnes. The picture he paints of you is not wholly a

false

one.

S-s-sh

Lucas.
Dear,

Hark
I

attend to

me

resign myself to

it all.

Lucas. Resign yourself?

so distasteful
?
it

must resign myself to it Has life with me become

Agnes. Has

Think

conditions of our companionship

Why, when I realised the actual why didn't I go on

my own way stoically ?

Lucas.
tender

I go at this moment ? You really love me, do you mean as simple, women are content to love ? {She looks at him,

Why don't

nods slowly, then turns

away and
!

droops over the

table.
girl,

He my

raises her

and

takes her in his arms.)

My
!

dear

dear,

cold, warm-hearted girl

Ha

You

couldn't

bear to see

me packed up

in

one of the Duke's

travelling

boxes and borne back to London, eh ? {She shakes her head; her lips form the word " No.") No fear of that, my

my sweetheart

Agnes. Quick, dress, take me out. oppose you, I won't repel you any more.

...

won't

It is

a powerful,

pitiful

scene

this.

It is
life.

the tragedy of the exceptional woman's

Few women,
born
like

luckily for themselves, luckily

for the continuance of the

human

race, are

Agnes Ebbsmith.

There are two


SERIOUS INTENT
ways of love
though
reversed
i8i

the man's and

we
see

the

woman's
positions
;

sometimes

the

the woman, masterful, passionate

the man, patient, tender, serviceable.

But

the two ways in their extremes are seldom

brought to a clash so violently as they are

in

the case

of Lucas

Cleeve and Agnes

so complete a sacri-

Ebbsmith.
fice

Seldom

is

of inclination and ideal called for as that

this
is

which

scene presents to us.

This

a tragedy in

itself, this

surrender

of the higher nature to the lower, the failure of a strong soul to escape from the

common
an even

burdens of humanity.

But there

is

more poignant

sequel.

For no sooner has

the sacrifice been offered than

that
it

Agnes

finds

has been ineffectual as a means of

binding more closely to her the

pretends to love her

man who

who
is

honestly believes
his conception of

that he loves her, so low

the

tie

that
is

means so much

to
shall

her.

proposal

made

that

he

consent

to a feigned reconciliation with his wife in

i82

ARTHUR WING PINERO

may be
his

order that her position

that

regulated and
career.

he

may resume

political

His
little
is

relations with

Agnes

are to continue as

changed as need
be saved

be, but the situation

to

in the world's

eyes and a

scandal avoided.
that

Of

course,

Agnes expects
But
too
if

Lucas

will

repudiate this degrading

suggestion with anger and contempt.

the

wretched

creature

shows

only
at
it

evidently that he
dared.

would grasp

he

This

is

the final disillusioning touch,

it

and, unfortunately,

is

here that

we

get

our
in

final

glimpse of the real Mrs Ebbsmith

Mr

Pinero's play.

We

can

all

form our

own
the

notions of the further development of

situation
at

which

we have
act.

arrived

towards the close of the third

thing

Of one
:

we may

feel,

think,

certain
is

that

the end which

likely

Mr

Pinero gave us

neither
in

nor convincing, and that nothing

the play has prepared us for so strange and

seemingly

unnatural

a conclusion.

Even

Mrs Thorpe

startles us

towards the end of

SERIOUS INTENT

183

the third act with a sudden declaration that

she too had an unhappy married

declaration

life

a
in

which was perhaps needed

lead

order

to

up

to
is

the

Bible-burning

episode, but which

so unexpected as to

be almost laughable.
that the

One

cannot but

feel
is

agony of unfortunate marriages

little

being piled up a

too high.

It is

thousand

pities

that

drama of

sincere

analysis and great power, such as

in

we

find

the earlier part of the play, should remain

torso, a fragment, instead of

merely a
ing

growinto

under

the

dramatist's

hand

coherent
art.

and

satisfying finished

work of

IX
MANNERS AND MORALS

,Up
the

to

1899, then,

Mr

Pinero had written

four plays of serious intent, a ll dealing with

men and wo men. Two of them showed how impossible it is for a man or a woman to get rid of the burden of an evil past. The other two
relations

between

pointed
,

out

the obstacles that

lie

in

the

way of mere friendship between the sexes. So far Mr Pinero seemed to have based his
serious

work upon a
nature

settled

view of

life

and

human

a sound view, a
in

broad view,

a view that experience and intuition alike

supported.

But

1899 came
theory of
to

The Gay
Pinero's

Lord

Qtiex.

The
"

Mr
sign

" settled

view

seemed
see
184

be overturned.
in

Most people could

no

this

MANNERS AND MORALS

brilliantly-clever

185

play

of anything but

an

anxiety to

make

the most of exceptionally

If

interesting dramatic material.

The Gay
at
all,
it

Lord Quex expressed any view

that which
Profligate.
est
its

appeared to be a view directly opposite to

Here was Quex "the

London," according
to

author expounded

in

The

wicked-

man
shake

in

Sophy

Fullgarney,
to

who knows most

things

able
girl,"
it

off his

burden of loose living and

settle

down, apparently a model husband,

"the
typical

with

creamy
has

English

Muriel Eden.
true,
is

He

"reformed,"

is

but so had

Dunstan Renshaw.

He
that

genuinely in love, but Renshaw's passion

less

was no

genuine.

All the

force

there was in

Mr

Pinero's handling of

The

Profligate theme

seemed
in

to

be dissipated

by the manner

which

he treated the

same
was

subject in
this
if

The Gay Lord Quex.

But
?

the

final

word on the subject

How

the object of the latter play was to

a low tone of morals and manners

show what

86

ARTHUR WING PINERO

in

prevailed

Society at the close of the

nineteenth
piece

century?

How
in

if

the whole
bitter

was conceived
?

irony

" If

it

were

so,"

mood of you may

reply,

" there

would surely be one character

part

to to

act

the

of

the

ancient

chorus

indicate, not necessarily

by words, but by

general attitude of mind, that the author's

purpose was satire

to represent a higher

type than the Quexes and the Fraynes and

the Bastlings and the
this world.

Mrs Jack Edens of For dramatic purposes we must

and that
is

have
in in

contrast,

just

what we miss
is

The Gay Lord Quex."

these arguments,
I

There
admit,

weight
I

but

am

inclined to believe

wish to believe

that
They
which
least

they can be answered.

Look

at the plays

of the eighteenth-century dramatists.

are valuable beyond compare as evidence of the

prevailing

tone of the
Is
it

age
not

in

they

were

written.

at

possible

that

Mr

Pinero

set himself the

task

of

drawing

a picture

of

decadent

MANNERS AND MORALS

Society as
it

187

appeared to him, and leaving

the spectators each to draw the moral for

himself?

It

is

true

The Gay Lord Quex

of

gives us the unpleasant sensation of having

passed
people
is

an

evening with
dislike

collection

whom we

and despise.

But

not that just the impression which

it

Mr

Pinero intended

to produce

He

takes

a theatre-full of people, five-sixths of whom

are dominated by an absurd reverence for

rank and fashion, and he shows them

how

exceedingly unpleasant people of rank and

fashion can be
;

he shows that

(to amplify

a verdict said to have been passed by one

ornament of Society upon another

years)

in recent

they

have the manners of organthe

in

grinders
Naturally,

and

morals
such
a

of

monkeys.

then,

play as this
It

we
its

miss any appeal to the heart.

makes
is

appeal entirely to the head.

There

no one with
except,

whom we

really

sympathise,

perhaps,

the dear old lady whose

hospitality

and confidence are so shamefully

i88

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Muriel
doll,

abused,
Society

Eden

is

featureless

with just enough cunning to

intrigue,

carry on

an
to

even

after

she

is

engaged

Quex, with a young man of

whom
know
that

she knows nothing.

As
in

for Captain

Bastling, the

young
is

man

question,

we
told

that

he

stupid,

and we are
very

he

is

immoral

unattractive

combination.

Mr

Pinero, by the way, has

a poor opinion of young men.

Ardale, Bastling, Denstroude,
all

Renshaw,
are of the

same
they

vicious

type,
into

and naturally enough

the

develop

Quexes

and

the

Fraynes and the

Peter Jarmans and the

life.

St Olphertses of middle and later

for

As
when
spy,

Sophy Fullgarney, she

study, but

is

a wonderfully
is

interesting

Quex

right

he
an

calls her, in his

elegant way,
liar,

"a low
a

impudent,

bare-faced

common
the
best
spits."

kitchen-cat

who

wriggles

into

rooms, gets herself fondled, .and then

Quex

is

interesting,

too,

but he

is

three

parts a cad, as well as a hunter after sordid,

MANNERS AND MORALS

189

commonplace adventures, lacking the excuse

even of romance or passion.
Consider the course of
the
plot
for

moment.
manicurist,

Sophy, the
is

New Bond
Eden's
in

Street

Muriel

foster-sister.

She

is

capable,

common to a degree
bailiff
is

manner

and mind, warm-hearted,

the daughter of a

excitable.

She

is

on the Eden

estates,

but her character

that of a typical
set

London

gamine.

The Edens have

her up in

Bond

Street (which shows an amazing ignor-

ance on their part of the usual nature of

the manicuring industry), and the two girls

have kept up
the
that

their childish affection.

When

Marquess of Quex, with a reputation

is

only faintly adumbrated by the epi-

thet gay, has offered himself, at the age of

forty-eight,

and been accepted by Muriel

of
at

under
sorely

pressure
troubled
"

her
the

family,

Sophy

is

thought of "her
to

darling

being' sacrificed
to catch

an old rake.
tripping
if

She determines

Quex

she can, for Muriel,

who has

listened to

igo

ARTHUR WING PINERO

records
of

squalid

her

future

husband's

"gaieties,"

avows

that "if she found

him
she

up

to

anything

of

the

sort

now,"

would break
Bastling.

off her

engagement and marry

is

But Quex

not

to

be caught

by the pretty manicurist's

sly blandishments.

"A
looks

kiss

or a squeeze

of the

waist

anySophy
vain.

thing of that

sort" would do, but

and

sighs

and

pouts
will

all

in

This method

failing,

she

spy upon him

and

find

out

whether any other succeeds

failed.

where she has

something
foolish,

Soon she does

find

out.

The Duchess
has
amies,

of Strood, a

extravagantly sentimental creature

of

thirty-seven,

been one
and,

of

Lord
to
his

Quex's

cheres

much

annoyance, she demands a farewell scene.

She

is

staying with Quex's

for

aunt at Rich-

mond, and
he consents
their

some unaccountable reason

to

"a

parting in keeping with

"

great

attachment

in

the

boudoir

adjoining her bedroom

late

at

night.

By
to

chance Sophy, who has

been allowed

MANNERS AND MORALS

Spend an afternoon
in

191

the grounds, overthat

hears enough to guess

the
are

something of

kind

is

intended,

and her suspicions

strengthened

when the

Duchess anand

nounces that she has had to send her maid

home.

She

rises to the occasion

offers

to take the absent maid's place.

Then, of

course,

all

happens

in

due course.

Quex

goes to the Duchess's apartments merely

to return her presents,
is

and presently Sophy

discovered at the keyhole.

The

scene which follows between

girl

Quex
in-

and the

who

is

determined to ruin his

chance with Miss

genious

Eden

is

the

most

Mr
a

Pinero has ever written.

Duchess has been sent

share
friend's
" nerves."

The away by Quex to

on
to

room

pretence
try

of

He

remains
if

and save

her reputation, even

he cannot mend his

are scornfully
all

own.

His

offers

of

money
tell

rejected.

Sophy

will

she knows
Ice

(which
to his

is

not much, for

Quex has been

and

old flame's blandishments)

dis-

"

192

ARTHUR WING PINERO

damning
fact of his
is

close the

midnight

visit.

Quex's next move

attempt to buy

more

effective than the

silence.

He

has locked the

if

doors of the rooms, and he declares that

Sophy denounces him she

herself too.

shall

denounce

She may rouse

is

the house, but

will

the Duchess

safe

Sophy and Quex

story
will

be

found alone.

Her

not be
gone.

believed.

Her
At

character

will

be

Neither her rage nor her appeals have any

effect.
last,

in

her dread of such an

exposure (which would also mean the ending

of her

own engagement
made

to a

Bond

Street

palmist) the girl consents to hold her tongue.

She
in

is

to write a letter
if

which puts her

it,

Quex's power

ever he should produce

and she turns

of Muriel
it's

to go.

But suddenly the thought

into
"
!

comes

her head.

"Why,
" Just to

like selling

Muriel

she

cries.

get myself out of this I'm simply handing

!

her over to you

won't do

it

won't

And

she pulls violently at the

bell.

Her

sudden, self-sacrificing change of front has

"

MANNERS AND MORALS

a remarkable
effect

193

on the man.

Mumbling
letter

words of admiration, he thrusts the

into her hand, unlocks the door leading to

her bedroom, and flings

the awakened servants

it

open.

But

first

at

the other door

must be dismissed with some explanation of

the loud ringing.

message

about the
is

Duchess's

letters in the

morning
all

invented

by Quex, and when Sophy,

across the room,
tone.

unnerved and
it

almost hysterical, has repeated

and

totters

he speaks

in

an altered

"Be
Serve

off,"

he says kindly, "go to

please.
I

bed.

me how you

Miss

Fullgarney, upon

my
And

soul

humbly beg
falls

your pardon."
Sophy's

the

curtain

on

"God
I'll

bless you.
I

You're a gentle!

man

do what

can for you

No

one,

however much they disliked the

could
this

piece as a whole,

deny the

great

power and grip of

remarkable scene.

Given the characters of Quex and Sophy,

it

is

thoroughly natural,
interest.

full

of observation

and of absorbing

No

one who saw

194

ARTHUR WING PINERO

first

it

on the night of the

performance,

when
the
in-

thd house was in the dark as to

how

scene would end,

tensity with

is

likely to forget the

it

which

was followed, or the

outburst of applause, of pent-up excitement

and

admiration,

at

the close
in

of the
this

act.

Nothing

more

ingenious

kind,

nothing cleverer, has

been
since
in

written

by an

English
the

playwright
scene

Sheridan wrote

screen

The

School for

Scandal.

After this nothing

Bastling

remains way,

but to get

out

of

the

and

this

is

accomplished by Sophy
culty at
all.

without any
or

diffi-

She has somehow

this delightful

other
real

overlooked
character.

young man's
however,

Quex
I

tells

her,
at

that

"he's just what

was

eight-and-twenty

what
by
proved.
once.

was

and worse,"
fidelity
falls

and Sophy now

determines to apply to him the

same

test

which

Quex's
Bastling

to

Muriel was
the trap
at

into

Her

suggestion

that

she

would

MANNERS AND MORALS

appreciate
for

195

"a

little

more than

plain thanks

"

her help to him and to Muriel, leads

Muriel
is

to a kiss.

a witness, and Bastling

hurries as the

out like a whipped dog.

So

far

audience
all,

has

had

its

sympathies
with

aroused at

they are
falls

now

Quex,

and the curtain

upon the prospect of

Muriel's early marriage to him.

No

romance

here, and, according to

my

view, no suggestion
Just a picture of the

of romance intended.

way

in

which marriage
life in

was regarded and everyday

lived at the

London

end of the nineteenth century.

picture,

Not a pleasant
makes us
of
life,

not a picture that

to the ugliness

feel

more reconciled

but one that

may

brace us up, neverto face with

theless,
facts,

by bringing us face
filling

and

us with a healthy disgust of

the kind of world in which the Quexes and the

Sophy Fullgarneys
(and
dramatists

live

and move and have

being.
If a

their restless, worthless

poet

are

poets,

even
can

though
us

they

never

write

verse)

make

196

ARTHUR WING PINERO

life

face

with

renewed

confidence
to

and

vitality,
"

and can tune our minds Oh

!

world as
All
is

God

has

made

it,

beauty,"

he
age.

is

beyond question a benefactor

to his

But as our bodies sometimes need un-

pleasant medicine

medicine

which perhaps
better

makes us worse before we are

our minds
tonic,

so do

now and then

require an astringent

some

plain presentment of unpleasant

facts that pulls us

up short and

sets us think-

ing of the goal whither

tonic
afraid

we tend. Such a was The Gay Lord Quex. I am

it

most people regarded

merely

in the

light of

an exciting entertainment, akin to

slack
their wire,

lion-taming or walking the

performance
interest

that

stirred

sluggish

and helped them

to

get through

an evening without being bored.

why, even though
I

That

is

cling to the
to

hope that

Mr
than

Pinero meant
this,
I

it

be something more

am

sorry that a serious purpose

was not more

definitely indicated.

MANNERS AND MORALS

Now,
in Iris
all

197

a serious purpose was indidoubt.

cated beyond

Everyone

is

agreed

upon that

even
it
:

the casual playgoer

who

pronounced
inquire

dull.

But as soon as you

purpose was, agree-

what

Mr Pinero's

ment

vani.shes

a hundred voices offer a

hundred varying explanations.

Here

is

one

apologist inviting you to consider Mrs Bellamy

the victim of circumstances.

Iris,

The
fate

fate

of

he

cries,

might be the

of

any

moderately

good

woman
Frederick

against

whom
in-

chance and

Mr

Maldonado
student,
is

cessantly warred.

That acute

Mr

W.
to

L. Courtney, tells us that Iris

merely

weak, not wicked, and that

Mr

Pinero meant

show how wrong

it

is

to let oneself drift,

or to be too fond of soft cushions and the

sunny side of the Street of

third suggestion
is

Human
is
is

Life.

that Iris

a thoroughly
at heart

bad woman.

fourth, that she

a thoroughly good
against.

woman,
on
to

sorely

sinned

And

so

the

hundredth,

possibly beyond.

198

ARTHUR WING PINERO

After studying the play with care, both in

the theatre and from the printed page,
I

think there can be no doubt that

worthless

Iris is

woman, weak,

self-indulgent,
is

and

incapable of appreciating what

right

and

what wrong
non-moral,

not an immoral
lacks

woman, but a
will-

one who

both the

power and the

intelligence to grasp

even the
to be in

outlines of morality.

She seems

this respect intended as a contrast to

Mrs

Tanqueray, and, even more

so,

to

Agnes
to

Ebbsmith.
well

Both Paula and Agnes knew

enough when they were so acting as

be true to themselves, to the better instincts

of their natures.

When

they were false to

false.

those instincts they were deliberately

They allowed
instincts

their passions or their

worse
full

to

carry

them away with a

in

knowledge that they must

the
price
is

some way pay

for

self-indulgence.

Of

such

natures

the stuff of

drama compounded.

In a play you want a conflict between the

force of will

and some opposing

force,

it

may

MANNEJiS AND MORALS

chance of nature or of some
other

199
will.

Your

characters must
at

know

their

own

minds.

They must aim

good end or a
existence, also,

something, whether a
In the larger

bad.

drama

of

men and women who play the prominent parts are those who of set purpose shape means to ends. Of the
the
nerveless,

the undetermined,

nothing

is

to

be hoped.
If a

man

or

The world has no a woman is wicked

use for them.

energetically,

and deliberately chooses

is

to be wicked, there

a chance that some day they

may

alter

their line of conduct

and may benefit Society

instead of harming
"

it.

They

say best

men

And

oftentimes

are moulded out of faults. become much more the better

For being a

little

bad."

Much

better

have

them

in

your

com-

munity than people who are merely good

from unthinking
fashionable to
habit,

and who,
steal,

if it

became

lie

and

would eschew

truth and honesty as readily as they

now

profess these virtues.

The

bitterest fate of

200
all

ARTHUR WING PINERO

in

Dante's Inferno was reserved for the

souls of those
"

Che

visser senza infamia e senza lodo,"

who

in their lives

earned neither praise nor

cast

blame.

Heaven
for

them
;

forth lest they

should stain

its fair

courts

Hell would have

none of them,

even

in

Hell the wicked

would have taken place above them.

" Questi

non hanno speranza

di morte,

la lor cieca vita e

tanto bassa
^

Che

invidiosi son d'ogni altra sorte."

Among
would,
I

these

wretched

spirits

Dante
Iris

fancy,

have placed the soul of

to

Bellamy.
description

She answers
of
the

the
folk

letter

his

feeble

resembling
are neither

" that
rebels

caitiff

choir of angels

who

nor
of

God's
their

faithful

servants,

but

thought
alone."

own

selfish

interests

Observe how

this selfishness colours

life.

every

act of Iris Bellamy's

She cannot make

life

' " These have no hope of death, and their blind drags that they are envious of every other fate."

so

meanly

MANNERS AND MORALS

Up her mind
to

201

marry Laurence Trenwith,

if

because she loses her fortune

again.

she marries
is

Yet she
is

feels that if

she

left

to

herself she

in

danger of marrying him and

so becoming poor.
Stiffen her resolution

What

does she do
?

and stand firm

No,

she decides to accept an offer of marriage

from

Maldonado, her millionaire admirer.

She does not love him

him even, as a
engagement
ence and
lover.

she

does not like

is rich,

But he
barrier

and her

sets

up a

between Laurall

herself.

Well, at

events, she

has taken a step

decisive

had nearly written a

is

step

but

it

only decisive until

is

she next sees Laurence alone, which

few hours

later.

Looking
upon her

into
lips,

his

eyes,

feeling his kiss hot

she casts

away her
She
will

anchor, breaks her word to Mal-

donado, and accepts Trenwith as a lover.

not have a poor

man

for

a husband,
this

but she has no

objection

to

making

young man play an unpleasantly equivocal

part,

no reluctance

to

become

his mistress.

202

ARTHUR WING PINERO

boy, however, has a sense of

The

what

befits

a man.

He

cannot earn a living at home.

is

His only chance

is

to

farm

in

Canada.

Iris

incapable of understanding

why he declines
to

to live

upon her money, equally unable

will

see

why he

not agree to accept

"some

suitable occupation in town," a secretaryship,

for instance,

that imaginary refuge of the

incapable
billet,' as

and the unlucky

Laurence

"the

sort

of

says, "that provides a

fares,

man

with gloves and cab

and a flower
the

for his coat."

She has no conception of

feelings that spur a

man on

to

be independent

and

to

make

a place for himself in the world.

taken, as they came, the

She has always

things, with

good

which from childhood Fortune

;

has furnished her

extravagant,
people.

has always been profuse,

with

money earned by
insist

other

Why

should Laurence

upon

talking about " that terrible ranche " at Chil-

coten

What does his career matter ?

make an

Why

cannot he snuggle down comfortably, as she

has done, and
ignoble ease his only

MANNERS AND MORALS

aim
in
life ?

203
is

"

Another time

"

her

cry-

when he speaks
wife.

of the possibility

of her

joining him on the ranche and becoming his

"

Let us discuss the point another

time."

Before

"

another time

"

arrives, the

news

comes

that Iris has lost her fortune.

Her
All

solicitor

and trustee has

fled,

leaving ruin

behind him (a timely

that
is left

hit this, in 1901).

to her

is

a beggarly ;^ 1 50 a year.

Surely she need not any longer stand out

against Laurence's pleading.

There

is

no

reason whatever

why she

should.

He
in

offers

her independence and a home, not luxurious,

but as comfortable as she can

make
if

Eng-

land on her ;^i50 a year; and

him, as she protests lady protesting too
true,

she loves

but

is

it

a case of the
does,
it

much ?

She

is

announce her engagement to Trenwith

immediately, but she will not go to Canada

with him.

He

can

make a home and come

Evidently

back

for

her in a few years' time.

she counts unconsciously upon

something

204

ARTHUR WING PINERO

up
in the

better turning

meantime
will

thinks,
at any-

perhaps, that her

^\lo
c^ao.'a.^

go some way

towards comfort
little

in

pensions (she knows

!)

enough about them

shrinks,
in this

rate,

from the idea of the ranche.

it

But of

course she does not put

to herself.

way, even
is

She persuades
She
if

herself that she

acting nobly.

tells

Laurence that he

would despise her

he recollected that she

declined to marry him

when she was

well-

off
almost as poor as would marry you ; and that then I promptly hung myself round your neck like a stone."

"that

it

wasn't until I was poor

I

yourself

that
to

And

Laurence,

reminding

her

that,

whenever she joins him, she

poor woman, she talks
in this

will still

be a

exalted strain.

She

will

go

to

him
had my own
;

"after I have

struggle,

my own

battle

with poverty, singly, alone

that
I

after I

can

live

patiently,

have proved to you uncomplainingly, without

I

luxury, willingly relinquishing costly pleasures, content

with the barest comfort

yes, yes, after

have shown
qualities

you that there are other and better and deeper

MANNERS AND MORALS

in

205

my nature than you have suspected, than I myself have suspected then, then I'll join you, Laurie."

She deceives
a

herself,

she deceives her

lover, she deceives her friends.

And when

woman

of this character begins to suffer

from the

delusion

that

there are hidden

depths of gold in the trashy ore of

nature, she
ever.

her

becomes more dangerous than

is

This

the

mood

in

which she works

the most complete destruction.

One
the

friend,

however,

is

not

deceived.

Maldonado knows pretty

well the nature of

woman

in

whose pursuit the sting of

passion keeps him steadfast.

part of the

He

plays the

magnanimous

friend, takes

Laur-

ence under his especial care, sees him off

with false good-nature and a devilish chuckle, then goes back to bid
Iris

farewell,

and to

leave with her a cheque-book that she can

use at

will.
is

She

protests that she will never

insists

use
ing

it,

angered when he
her to destroy.

upon leavfor

it

for

sudden need

money

to satisfy a

generous impulse sends

2o6

ARTHUR WING PINERO

it

her to she

thoughtlessly perhaps.
that

Yet,

when
of
up.

realises

she

has

used

one
it

"Maldo's" cheques, she does not

tear

Nor, when the servant comes to take her

dressing-bag, does she forget to drop the

cheque-book into

it.

And

then, of course,

" almost from the very ing

it,

moment

of

my receivscrawling
until

my hand

accustomed

itself to

cheques for one object and another "

the account considerately opened by Mal-

donado
brings

is

overdrawn.

This naturally enough

Maldo

to her side,

"pocket-book

in

hand."

But the repulsion he excites

her to

is still

strong enough to stimulate

flight.

Then
she

follows
Iris

a period of poverty.

Why
Mr
still

does not
is in

write to Trenwith to say that

dire

need?

It is

hard to say.

Pinero offers us no help.

Perhaps she

calculated on " something turning up."

No
dis-

doubt the idea of the ranche was

tasteful.

still

She thought
friends.
all

at first she could live

upon her

But they turned their

but Maldonado.

backs upon her,

He

fur-

MANNERS AND MORALS

nished a
Street.
flat

207

close to his house in

Mount

He

kept

it

ready for occupation at

any moment.

He

was always on the look-

out for the tenant he meant to have.

And

one evening, when

shilling almost,

Iris

was

at

her last

he met her and gave her the

it.

key, and she

she used

Thus

the fourth act of the play shows Iris

in this flat

with Maldonado
ever,
it

still

her lover,
;

more her lover than

seems

for

he

is

urging her to marry him and to accept a

settled position.

He
to

admits that he has

" treated her a bit roughly,"

and frankly owns

if

that he

meant
it,

have

his revenge,

he

could get

" for her caprice in

throwing
is

him over
" to

for
it

a lover."
to her."

Now
But

he

anxious

make

up

Iris still

dreams
It

of the time for Trenwith's return.

does

not occur to her that the altered state of her

life will

alter Laurie's

love for her or inter-

fere with their plans.

By

this time

he must

have made a
will

fairly

comfortable home.

She

be delighted to leave Maldonado and to

2o8

ARTHUR WING PINERO

loves.

go away with the man she

puts
think

So she

Maldo
it

off,

asks for time, promises to

over.

few minutes later comes

the one old friend

the

who

has been faithful with

is

news

that Trenwith
is

back

in

England.

Her

instant thought

that the old friend

shall act as a

go-between.

moral sense sees

dislike the
office.

Her undeveloped no reason why he should

His protest she meets
In the end,
let

with an air of pained surprise.

however, he undertakes

to

Trenwith

know where she

her story.

is.

The same evening

Iris

Trenwith appears, and

stammers out

She

is

plainly incapable of perit

ceiving anything in

except that she has

had an unpleasant time and deserves sympathy.

When

Laurence has heard her to

the end and, murmuring incoherent words,

takes up his hat and coat, she finds
it

hard to

believe that he intends to leave her.

Even
It

then she cannot see things as they are.

is

" the little

good
It

in her that

has proved her

for

downfall."

was her love

Laurence

MANNERS AND MORALS

that prompted her
first

209

downward

step.

So

she discovers her excuses.

powerless to
stay

But they are

steps.

Trenwith's
the

He
comes

stumbles out, dazed with

distress

shame and
then

of

her
wild

story,

and
rage,

Maldonado,

with

having disall

covered his mistress's deceit and heard

from the neighbouring room.

pulse
is

His

first
it

im-

to kill her, but

he subdues

and

turns her out into the night.

And, when she

has gone, his wild anger returns, and the

curtain
falls

upon him as he breaks everystory "

thing within his reach.

"Not an edifying
verdict, but

was the general

It

no doubt a
its

lifelike picture.
life

lacked some of

likeness to

on the

stage, because Iris

was played by an actress

Miss Fay Davis was

unsuited to the part.

unequal to realising such a character as that

of
Iris.

Her
;

inginue

moods and graces were

irritating

they stood between the audience

intention.

and the dramatist's

is

At

least this

the impression that a reading of the play

310

ARTHUR WING PINERO

on
the

leaves

mind.

It
it

is

essentially a
really

study of one woman, and

great actress to interpret

demands a

it

an
and

actress

who
in

can

express

experience

intuition

terms of emotion.
all

Mr

Pinero concentrated
Iris,

his effort

upon the portrayal of

and

his effort has lost half its effect, so far as the

theatre

is

concerned,

because

it

was not

seconded by his chief player.

The minor
consider-

characters have less to do in this than in any

other of the dramas

ing.

we have been
is

The

actual writing

simpler.

The
us the

play contains

few of these biting phrases

that stick in the

memory and show

It
is

value to a playwright of a pretty wit aided

by

a full

notebook.
with

not even conusual deftness.

structed

Mr
in

Pinero's

There
craft

is

one piece of extremely clever stage-

the scene

which Maldonado

finds the

fragments of a

letter that tells

Iris.

him of Tren-

with's intended visit to

By making him
an

put the fragments together, and then silently

extract

the

latch-key

from

ornament

MANNERS AND MORALS

where
he
has placed
it

211

just

before,

the

author conveys to the audience, without a

word spoken, the nature of the development

they are to expect.

The

scene which shows

the reception of the news that

Mr

Archie

Keen, the well-known

is

solicitor,

has decamped
too.

very naturally conceived and written

But, taken as a whole, the piece cannot be

considered to represent worthily

Mr

Pinero's

standard of craftsmanship.
acts into scenes
;

The

division of

the long interval which the

spectator's imagination has to

bridge over

between the end of the third

begins her
life

act,

when

Iris

of hardship,

tempered by

Maldo's cheque-book, and the opening of

the fourth, which shows her in Maldo's the sketchy treatment of
side
issues
flat

all

are signs that the author's interest was in

the play of character alone.

And

it

was a
us,
It

masterly study of character that he gave

even though Iris be not a masterly

is, it

play.

seems

to

me, the one play which he

in order to follow out his

has written rather

212

ARTHUR WING PINERO

interest in his subject than to

own
he

make an
to

effective stage-piece.
sacrificed

In each of the others

in

something
it

order

be

dramatic.

In Iris

was drama
to

that

went

by the board.
future for a
result of

We

must look

Mr

Pinero's

work

that shall be, like Iris, the

in

keen interest

some

particular

problem of character, and which

shall, at

the

same

time, be constructed with the ingenuity

and the apt employment of convention that

must go
It

to the

making of a

perfect play.

was

said that after Iris

Mr

Pinero had no
plays.

intention to write

more serious

The

announcement was, of
the mark.
that
If

course, very wide of

we had no

other indication

Mr

Pinero feels within his mind the

seeds of

many
the

other such works,

closing

we have
his

at

anyrate

words

of

intro-

duction to

Mr W.
(1900):
tell

L. Courtney's interesting

and illuminating essay on " The Idea of

Tragedy"

"And
us you

now,

my

dear

Courtney, you

perceive signs

encouraging you to hope that the tragic idea

MANNERS AND MORALS

may

213

yet find fruitful stimulus in the great

tumult
stirring

of

imperial

emotions
of
it

at

present
peoples.

the

world
heart

- spirit
I

our

With
not

all

my

trust

may prove
least
in

so
will

and that we poor modern playwrights

be
found
wanting,
at

the

endeavour to respond to
inspiration."

lofty

and heroic

X
MR
PINERO'S ACTORS
in

FEW words

conclusion

about

the
to

actors

and actresses who have helped

interpret

Mr

Pinero's plays

to

the world

of

theatre-goers

and

who
benefit

have

been
in

helped
their

by him
profession.

to

take leading
is

rank

The
and

mutual.

A
to

dramatist must have players of ability

act
his

plays,

players
if

must

find

clever
to

inventors of character
their
ability

they are
best adis

exhibit

to

the

vantage.
actor's
offer

Mr
his

Pinero, like

Dr

Ibsen,

an
to

dramatist.

His plays never

notable
art.

fail

to

players

opportunities
All
intelli-

for

the

exercise of their

gent actors and actresses

214

will tell

you

that

MR PJNERaS ACTORS
it

215

is

a pleasure to perform in the plays of

is

a man who

at

once a student of humanity

stage-craft
;

and a master of
task akin to the

that

it

is

making of bricks/without
life

straw to aim at putting

into

the

stiff

motions and awkward phrases of a mere

stage-puppet.
is

There have been

players,

it

true,

who have
life

taken more pleasure in

filling

out and in. endowing with a sem-

blance of

some

figure of straw, imitated

abominably from nature by a hack playmaker, than'' in carrying out the intention
of a
clever
dramatist.

But

these

are

nowadays of an elder

fashion.

Note how

eager our best-graced actors and actresses

are to act the characters of Ibsen.
iSeej
hasi

how

many

reputations

Mr

Pinero

helped to make.
are so real that

The persons in his in many cases they

plays
" play
i

themselves," as the phrase goes.

To

adopt

another idiom, they are " actor-proof parts,"

Failure
in

them

is

scarcely

possible.

have often been struck by

this

very great

2i6

ARTHUR WING PINERO

merit in
studies

Mr
have
I

Pinero's

plays

when under-

been playing leading parts,

or

when

have seen provincial companies

them.
]

performing

Two

or

three

Paula

Tanquerays,

notably

Miss

Granville's

(though not Mrs

to

Kendal's),
of

were

worthy
Patrick

be

placed

alongside

Mrs

Campbell's.

No

one

has

ever failed to

get an immense amount of fun out of the

Magistrate, or the
or Dick Phenyl.

Dean

of St

Marvell's,

On

the other hand, the

parts written specially for

are by no means for

Mrs John Wood every talent. Can

" in

one ever forget her " George Tid

Dandy

Dick?
all

Yet Miss Violet Vanbrugh, with

sportswoman

her distinction and cleverness, was never

for a

the real

moment

she

was a

charming

woman
Terry

of the

womanly
Sans-

type pretending to be mannish and horsey,

just as Miss Ellen
in

Madame

gine

is

delightful,

refined,

captivating
is

creature trying to persuade us that she

a vulgar washerwoman.

Madame

Rdja.ne

MR
is,

PINERO'S ACTORS
being,

217

for

the

time

the

very person

whom
vented
"
;

history

and

M.

Sardou

have
the

in-

Mrs John Wood was

" of

actual

George Tid

Mr

Pinero's brain.
in

The

notable acting quality

Mr

Pinero's

work was
vigorous

noticeable very early in his career.

The Money - Spinner,

with

its

deft

and
a

characterisation,

has attracted

whole generation of amateurs.

found Mrs
Kendal,

The Squire

no bad judge of an

effective part, ready to lend the assistance

of

her

art

to

the

embodiment of Kate

Verity.

When

Miss Kate Rorke revived

in

this play in

1900 one saw the qualities

the

piece

which

had

appealed

to

Mrs

Kendal.
instinct

Miss Rorke's was a performance

with
in

charm, and of a
the

restrained
scenes.

intensity
It

more strenuous
a
little

reminded

one

of

her
the

Lady
Leslie,

Bountiful.
too, in

Miss

Rorke was

The

Profligate, a tender, touching,

girlish figure.

But

it

is

to actresses of a

more

versatile

talent

than

Miss

Rorke's

2i8

ARTHUR WING PINERO

that

Mr

Pinero has been of most service.

The

Second

Mrs Tanqueray made Mrs

reputation.

Campbell's

The

Gay

Lord

Quex
her

set

the seal upon Miss Irene Van-

brugh's patent of superiority,

definitely
in

and placed
rank.

the

front

Miss

Emery has never done anything so good as her Theo Fraser in The Miss Emery has, Benefit of the Doubt.
Winifred
unfortunately, never had another part in a

Pinero play.

Nor has Mr

Cyril

Maude,

who caught so exactly the spirit of Cayley Drummle and who played Sir Fletcher Portwood with so exquisite a sense of character
and humour, ever been
enlisted again under

Mr

Pinero's

command.
up

As
Paula

rule

one

success of this kind leads to others.

Mrs

Campbell
with
in

followed

Tanqueray
performance

her

exceedingly clever

The

Notorious

Mrs
had

Ebbsmith.

Miss
in

Irene

Vanbrugh

proved

herself

Trelawny before she made her great

as

hit

Sophy Fullgarney.

Mrs Kendal,

too,

MR PINEROS ACTORS
was
faithful to

219

the

author

who had given

ability-

her so fine an opportunity in Tke Squire.

It is true that

not even her brilliant

into

could

put

life

Tke Weaker Sex, but

in

her

Mrs Jermyn,
a

Tke Hobby - Horse,

that

was

performance

dwells

in

the

Take Miss Fay Davis for another example of the actresses who have never
memory.
found
their

mdtier

so

truly

as

in

Mr

Pinero's drama.

Never has Miss

Davis

made
tke

so deep

an impression, never has

she acted better than in The Princess

Butterfly.

and

The
is

reason

must be that
distinct
in

Fay

Zuliani

a real person, a
well

individuality,

standing

out

the

mind as someone we have

studied,

known and
Davis's

whereas

most

of

Miss

other
types,

parts

have been mere stock stage

shadowy
were
Miss

and

incorporeal.

These
Iris
in

sentences

written

before
failed

was
that

produced.

Davis

because the
her powers.

part was

altogether

beyond

220

ARTHUR WING PINERO

to actors, the

Turning from actresses

one

who

detaches himself from the rest as the

player to
greatest

whom Mr

Pinero has given the

is

number of chances

surely as

Mr
the
;

John Hare.
good-hearted,
recall the

Think of Mr Hare
irascible

Spencer

Jermyn

charming touch-and-go manner of

;

his

Roderick Heron

pass in

review the

cleverly

differentiated

types of aristocratic

rou& which he offered in the parts of Lord

Dangars, the

Duke

of St Olpherts and the

Marquis of Quex.
acting has, indeed,

Mr

Hare's method
in

in

much
down
It

common

with
It
is

Mr

Pinero's

method

in play- writing.

neat, incisive, fined

to a sharp point

and a

delicate edge.

aims just a shade

more

at effect than at nature.

The
to

actor

has always perfect

the

command over
seems

himself;
let

playwright

never

his

emotions break a certain bound.

in

By

both,
to

short,

emotions

appear

rather

be

regarded as playthings, or as means to an

end, rather than as an end in themselves

MR PINEROS ACTORS
neither seems
seriously.

221

inclined to treat

them very
alike

In author and actor

we

mark the

qualities proper to the polished,

observant, rather cynical

man

of the world.
tearing

We

could never imagine

Mr Hare

passions to tatters, or splitting the ears of

the groundlings, any more than

figure to ourselves

we
in

could

frenzy rolling, or

Mr Pinero's eye Mr Pinero's pen

It is

a fine

running

away with him and

passion or mysticism.

inditing rhapsodies of

no wonder that

such an

affinity of spirit

should have brought

playwright and player together, or that such

a partnership should have yielded such excellent results.

Next
actors

to

Mr Hare

in the

category of those
especially
in

who have shone

Cecil,

Mr

Pinero's characters

come Mr Edward Terry,

Mr
ever
or a

Arthur

Mr

John Clayton, and,

perhaps,

Mr Weedon Grossmith. Has there been a Mr Posket quite like Mr Cecil,

of St Marvell's in
clerical
all

Dean

respects so
irresistibly

unimpeachably

and

so

222

ARTHUR WING PINERO

may be that distance lends enchantment to the memory of the old playgoer. But we may safely
funny as
Clayton?
It

Mr

say that the characters have

never been

played
revived

better.
in

When Dandy Dick 1900, Mr Alfred Bishop

and
It

was was

certainly a delightful Dean, suave

fied

digni-

and simple-minded.

seemed unkind

to hint that
part,

Mr
it

Clayton got more out of the

and

yet,

and yet

As

for the Blore of

the revival,

could not be put anywhere

near the inimitable Blore of

Mr

Cecil

the
of

Blore of

cherubic

countenance
portliest

and deep
rosiest

underhand
of

cunning,
butlers,

and

Deanery

most

abandoned

gambling

manservants.
too,

And Mr

Cecil's
little

Vere Queckett,
boy of a man,
ness,

what a naughty

full

of a childlike gamesomeinsouciance.

an

infantile

What

delicious contrast, with his inbred politeness

and delicacy of manner,

spoken Admiral of

to the noisy, out-

Mr
that

Clayton, the very

embodiment of

all

we have agreed

to

MR PINERaS ACTORS
denote by the useful adjective "bluff."
the Cabinet Minister again,
hit
off

223

As

who

could have
peculiarities

Sir Julian

Twombley's

with so light a hand as

Mr

Cecil

have

played the

flute

with an air of such melanor have

choly enjoyment,

endured public

and private
fortitude ?

tribulations with so resigned a

Only so long-suffering a husband

could have endured so irrepressible a wife

as

Lady Twombley became in the hands of Mrs John Wood. The English stage lost a
pair

notable

of

comic

actors

when
difficult

Mr
to

Clayton and

Mr

Cecil died.
it

Of Mr Edward Terry
Dick Phenyl.

is

think without at the same time remembering

Seldom has an actor

identified
part.

himself so closely with a particular

What an immense amount

tion

of pleasure he

has given by his vastly humorous impersonaof the broken-down barrister!

How

deftly

he drew a tear now and again by a

pathetic touch

repentant

among the comicalities of the toper. The part might have been

224

ARTHUR WING PINERO

played in several ways other than that which

Mr

Terry chose, but he impressed

so
firmly

his per-

sonality

upon

it

that

his
real

Dick
one

Phenyl always seems to be the

and those of other actors

either imitations

or deflections from the true type,

in

Mr

Terry

The Times again had great

opportunities,

and

made

the

most

of

them.
character

Egerton
in

Bompas was a genuine

hands.

his

He

hit off with

a masterly breadth

of treatment the frenzied determination of the parvenu to succeed in Society, his morbid
self-consciousness and fear that the world, as
it

eddied around him, was thinking of his

shops.

draper's

He

caught, too, just the

tone of pathos which was needed here and

there to win our half-scornful sympathy with

Bompas's

aspirations, to
it

keep the character

human and prevent

from becoming a mere

ridicule.

type held up to contempt and

Of
The

Mr

Terry's

earlier

performances

in

Rocket, and one or two other of

'prentice efforts
I

Mr

Pinero's
I

cannot speak, but

have

MR PINERaS ACTORS
about hotels, well spoken

225

heard them, as the invaluable Baedeker says

of.

Mr Weedon
lent

Grossmith made such excelthe

parts

play with

of

Mr

Joseph
in

Lebanon and the Earl of Tweenwayes

The Amazons that
it

has been a disappointin

ment not
of

to see

him again

a Pinero play.

How capitally the

ford Cleeve
!

fatuous aristocratic

manner

Tweenwayes would have

suited Sir Sand-

How

admirably would

Mr

Weedon
self
-

Grossmith's other manner

smug,
upon

satisfied,

underbred
in

have

sat

Claude
Doubt.

Emptage
It
is

The Benefit of the true that Mr Aubrey Fitzupon

life

gerald played Claude to perfection in another way,

and

a than

method

that

is,

perhaps, nearer to

Mr

Grossmith's

think,

too, of

Mr
it

Fitzgerald's footman in
interest-

Trelawny

but

would have been

ing to see what

Mr Grossmith made

of

Theo

Eraser's absurd brother.

Such comparisons

as this, between the styles and conceptions of

different actors, we miss altogether in

London.

226

ARTHUR WING PINERO

we had a
repertory theatre

If

we

should soon

begin to take, as a community, more interest

in acting as

an

art, for

we

should see various

to con-

actors in the
trast

same

part,

and be able

and judge between

their renderings as
in

the audience at the Thddtre Fran9ais does

Paris.

There would be

certain parts in the

modern drama,
in

just as in the classic drama,

his

which every actor on

way up

the

ladder would be anxious to appear, and in

which
Also,

his admirers

would wish

to see him.

we

should watch the playing of small

parts with

more

interest

when they were

in

the hands of

actors

and actresses whose

day-to-

progress
day.

we were watching from

I

But

will

not digress further upon

my

idde fixe.

We

must

return

to

Mr

Pinero.

Mr Pinero's chief exponents amongst actors have been Mr Forbes Robertson and Mr Alexander. Mr Forbes Robertson
In serious parts

was

just the figure for a

Dennis Heron, but

he scarcely looked the kind of man who had

MR
led the
his
life

PINERO'S ACTORS

227

of Dunstan Renshaw, nor were

personality and

romantic

sympathetic

method
ance
of

suited to the feebleness

and

petul-

Lucas

Cleeve.

Mr

Courtenay
to

Thorpe was much

convincing version

better fitted

give a

of

Agnes

Ebbsmith's

weak-natured
a capacity for

lover.

Mr

Alexander showed

self-sacrifice rare

among

actor-

managers when he
Tanqueray,
well, as well

cast himself for

Aubrey

He

certainly played the part

it

perhaps as
little

could be played,

but he gained
actor
-

of the distinction which

to covet.

managers are reputed

and

In

Tke Princess and

better chance,

the Butterfly

he had a

his portrait of the

man

who

is

afraid of middle

age was sketched

with humour and a grasp of what small

amount of character
was allowed
with

Sir

George Lamorant
It

to exhibit.

was throughout

a pleasant performance, and in the scenes

Fay

Zuliani there

was a pretty note

of tenderness.

A grand passion
then love
-

was scarcely

suggested,

but

making on the

228

ARTHUR WING PINERO

English stage seems bound to be of the

cup and saucer variety

it

can be done

in

the intervals of afternoon tea.

Mr

Herbert

Waring was a

dignified, earnest

Noel Brice

many
air,

years ago, and lent the same strenuous

in

which was

those days his speciality, to

the part of the young

man

in

The Cabinet

Minister

who has no
of

patience with the ways

polite

and

manners

the

world.

Mr
and
little

Oscar Asche made a consistent

pressive study of

and imIris,

Maldonado

in

Mr Dion
the play

Boucicault gave a finished

sketch of Croker, which was of service to

just

as

his

eccentric

old Vice-

Chancellor was valuable in the representation of Trelawny.

Mr

Fred Kerr

is

another

actor with a talent for neat characterisation

whom Mr
good

Pinero has provided with several

opportunities.
in

His Horace Vale,

Lavender,
his
all

his

Bream

Sweet
his

Major

Tarvey and
ances that
with

Litterly

were

perform-

one can

recall

distinctly

and
Miss

recollections

of

enjoyment.

MR PINERaS ACTORS
Rose Leclercq
left

229

no actress behind
our
stage

her,

when her death

bereft

of so

bright an ornament,
parts of the grande

who
dame

could rival her in

order.

Her Lady
finished

Castlejordan in The

Amazons was a

performance, abounding in delightfully rich

humour and
Equally good

in

touches of moving pathos

called
for a

when the scene

deeper note.
Cloys,

in its

way was her Mrs

the capable, practical

woman

of the world, a

Mrs Proudie
of

of later date, with

much

less

the

hard,

domineering
wife

qualities

of

traditional

bishop's

than

Trollope's

character.

The

pleasure which a retrospect like this

is

can give to the hardened playgoer

proof of the notable qualities of

a sure

Mr

Pinero's

drama.

You

can think over his characters

long after you have seen them embodied on

the stage without
feeling
fancy.

that

they were
chuckle
of

merely
over
their

children

of

You

their

eccentricities,
recall

think

kindly

foibles,

their

generous words

230

ARTHUR WING PINERO

They dwell, memory. They are
heart.

and deeds with softened

each
distinct,

in

the

genuine

creations,

not

mere pastiches of
effect.

scrappy observation and theatrical

XI
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF

MR

PINERO'S PLAYS

This
far as

list is

as complete as
is

can

make

it

so

London
or
in

concerned.
in

To

include

even notable casts

America,

the

country,

or in

Australia,

would
of

fill

too

many

pages.

The
is

writing

accurate

theatrical

history

made

difficult

by the

absence of any regular record of productions.

files
I

have had to hunt through many

to get

some of these names, and

However,

often

the result did not seem worth so

much time

and

trouble.
I

have persevered,

and

have had much help from

Mr

Pinero's

secretary,
I
is.

Mr
it

F. A. Besant Rice, for which

list

am
I

exceedingly grateful, and here the

hope

will

be

useful.

can help

me

to

amend
231

or

Anyone who extend it may be

232

ARTHUR WING PINERO

assured beforehand of
to accept suggestions, to include all revivals
interest.

my
I

thankful readiness

have not attempted

of special

only those
October i8;'7
.

TWO HUNDRED A YEAR

Globe Theatre,
Jack Meadows
.

Mrs Meadows
Lawyer's Clerk

Mr F. H. Macklin Miss Compton Mr Bradbury

TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME

Lyceum Theatre,
Acted by
1877

Mr Archer, Mr

Lyons,

Mr

Pinero himself,

and Miss Sedley.

DAISY'S ESCAPE Lyceum Theatre, September 1879 Augustus Caddel Mr Pinero Tom Rossiter Mr F. Cooper BuUamore Mr Ganthony Tulk Mr Tapping Major Mullet Mr C. Cooper
. . . .

Molly Daisy White

Miss Harwood Miss Alma Murray

HESTER'S MYSTERY
Folly
(afterwards Toole's)
.
.

Theatre, /e 1880

Mr Owen

Silverdale

Mr

H. Westland

John Royle

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERGS PLA YS

233

BYGONES
Lyceum Theatre,
The Hon. Curzon Gramshawe The Rev. Giles Homcastle
Professor Bella

September 1880

Ruby

....
.

Giacomo Mazzoni

Mr Elwood Mr Carter Mr Pinero

Miss Moreley Miss Alma Murray

THE MONEY-SPINNER
St James's Theatre, November 1880
Lord Kingussie Baron Croodle Harold Boycott
Jules Faubert

A Porter
Millicent Boycott

Mr Kendal Mr Hare Mr John Clayton Mr Mackintosh Mr De Verney

Mrs Kendal
Miss Kate Phillips Mrs Gaston Murray

Dorinda Croodle Margot

IMPRUDENCE
Folley's Theatre, July 1B81

Coxe Dalrymple, C.B. Captain Rattlefish, R.N.

Parminter Blake

George Castleton Barnes Durant

Doby Mrs Parminter Blake

Zaida Dalrymple Lazenby Mattie
.

Mr Clifford Cooper Mr A. Wood Mr Edward Righton Mr Leonard Boyne Mr Carton Mr Redwood

Miss Miss Miss Miss

Compton
Kate Bishop Emily Miller Laura Linden

234

ARTHUR WING PINERO

THE SQUIRE
St James's Theatre, December
1881

The Rev. Paul Dormer

Lieutenant Thorndike
Gilbert Hythe Gunnion Izod Haggerston
.

Fell

Robjohns, Junior

Mr Hare Mr Kendal Mr Herbert Waring Mr Mackintosh Mr Charles Burleigh Mr Sims Mr E. Hendrie

The Representative of ThePaghy

Mercury
Kate Verity Christiana Haggerston Felicity Gunnion
.

Mr Branscombe
Mrs Kendal
Miss Rose Murray Miss Blanche Horlock

GIRLS
Solomon Protheroe Josiah Papworth

AND BOYS
Mr J. L. Toole Mr John Billington Mr G. Shelton Mr E. D. Ward Mr E. W. Garden
Master Solomons Miss Nelly Lyons Miss Eliza Johnstone Miss Ely Kimpster Miss Myra Holme (now

Toole's Theatre, October 1882

Murch Mark Avory

Joe Barfield
Billy

Sunnocks

Susie Tidby

Honor
Jenny Kibble
Gillian

West

Mrs A. W.

Pinero)

THE RECTOR
Court Theatre, March
The Rev. Humphrey Sharland Dr Oliver FuUjames Captain Jesmond Ryle
.

1883

Mr John Clayton Mr H. Kemble Mr A. Elwood

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERG'S PLA YS

Connor Hennessy Mr Hockaday
Octavius (his son) Mr Gilks

235

Mr Arthur Cecil Mr Mackintosh

Mr

Voss

Saul

Mash
.

Tony Hope Hennessy

Sally Brotherhood

Mr Mr Mr Mr

Master Phillips A. Trent

Milles
Philip

Day

Maurice Miss Marion Terry Miss Kate Rorke

LORDS AND COMMONS

Haymarket Theatre, November
Earl of Caryl Lord Percy Lewiscourt
Sir

1883

George Pamacott, M.D.

.

Tom Jervoise Mr Smee

MrChadd Mr Tredger
.

Pressenger Countess of Caryl

Mr Forbes-Robertson Mr C. Brookfield Mr Elliott Mr Bancroft Mr Alfred Bishop Mr Girardot Mr Albert Sims Mr Percy Vernon
Mrs
Stirling

Lady Nell Mrs Devenish

.

Miss Calhoun Mrs Bernard-Beere

Miss Maplebeck

Mrs Bancroft

THE ROCKET
Gaiety Theatre, December 1883

The

Chevalier Walkinshaw Lord Leadenhall "^ John Mable

Joslyn

Hammersmith
at

Clement (Waiter Vue")

....
the
at the
.

Mr Edward Terry Mr J. W. Adams Mr M. Kinghorne Mr H. C. Sidney

Mr Mr
F. Martineau
C.

"Belle

Chatwood (Waiter
Gordon")

...

"Lord
Amalia

236

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss

Lady Hammersmith Rosaline Fabre Quette

Florence Georgette Bingle
.

Maria Jones
Ethel Castleton F. Sutherland
A. AubreyE. Maribel

LOW WATER
Globe Theatre, January
Lord George Ormolu
i

Mr

Vereker, Q.C. Captain Todhunter

Mr

Algernon Linklater

Josey

Dicky Smallpage The Chevalier Adolphe Victorin de Montfallet

Dottridge The Rev. Cyril Charlesworthy

Mr Charles Cartwright Mr Carton Mr R. Dartrey Mr J. F. Young Mr E. Hamilton Bell Mr J. L. Shine

Mr

Dr Medwin

Mr Passmore
Skilliter
.

Sloman

"Gas Light & Coke Co." Anne ("The Major") Rosamond ("The Beauty")
Miss Butterworth

Mr Charles A. Smily Mr T. Squire Mr Frank Evans Mr Harry Leigh Mr Richardson Mr E. W. Gardiner Mr Albert Chevalier Mr W. Guise
Miss Compton Miss Abington Miss Maria Daly

THE IRONMASTER (after "Le Maitre de Forges," by

Georges Ohnet)

St James's Theatre,

May

1884

Due de Bligny Octave Baron de Prdfont Philippe Derblay General de Pontac Moulinet

Mr Henley Mr Geo. Alexantier Mr H. Waring Mr Kendal Mr Brandon Mr J. F. Young

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERO'S PLA YS

Bechelin

237

Dr Servan
Old Gobert

Young Gobert Mouchot

Servant of the Marquise . Servant of Philippe Derblay

Mr J. Maclean Mr A. Knight Mr R. Cathcart Mr Day Mr Daniels Mr De Vemey Mr T. Lovell

Mrs Gaston Murray Miss Linda Dietz Mrs Kendal Miss Vane Miss Webster Miss Turtle

Marquise de Beauprd Baronne de Pr6font Claire de Beauprd

.

Ath^nais

Suzanne Derblay
Brigette

IN
Montague

CHANCERY
Mr Edward Terry Mr Alfred Bishop Mr Laye Mr John Dallas Mr Guise Mr Sherrard Mr Lyndal
Miss Phyllis Broughton Miss Gladys Homfrey Miss Maria Jones Miss Oliver Miss Emma Broughton Miss Clara Jecks

Gaiety Theatre, December 1884

Joliffe

Captain Dionysius M'Cafferty Dr Titus

Mr Hinxman Mr Buzzard Mr Gawge

John

Mrs Smith Mrs Marmaduke Jackson

Patricia M'Cafferty

Amelia Ann Buzzard

Walker
Kittles

REVIVAL
Terry's Theatre, November 1890

Montague

Joliffe
.

Captain Dionysius M'Cafferty Dr Titus (his medical attendant)

Mr Hinxman

(a detective)

Mr Edward Terry Mr Julian Cross Mr F. W. Irish Mr Prince Miller

238

ARTHUR WING PINERO

.

John (Mrs Smith's servant) Mr Buzzard (a butcher)

Mr Gawge (a draper) Mrs Smith Mrs Marmaduke Jackson

Patricia M'Cafferty

Mr Henry Dana Mr Robert Soutar Mr Geo. Belmore

Miss Elinor Leyshon Miss Alice Yorke Miss Kate Mills Miss Jessie Danvers Miss Violet Armbruster Miss Rose Dearing

Amelia Ar i Buzzard Walker (Mrs Smith's maid)

Kittles

THE MAGISTRATE
Court Theatre, March
1885

Mr Posket Mr BuUamy

Colonel Lukyn Captain Horace Vale Cis Farringdon

Achille Blond
Isidore

Mr Wormington
Inspector Messiter Sergeant Lugg Constable Harris

Wyke
Agatha Posket
Charlotte

Mr Arthur Cecil Mr Fred Cape Mr John Clayton Mr F. Kerr Mr H. Eversfield Mr Albert Chevalier Mr Deane Mr Gilbert Trent Mr Albert Sims Mr Lugg Mr Burnley Mr Fayre Mrs John Wood
Miss Marion Terry Miss Norreys Miss La Coste

Beatie Tomlinson

Popham

MAYFAIR

(adapted from " Maison Neuve," by Sardou)

St James's Theatre, October 1885

Lord Sulgrave Captain Marcus Jekyll Nicholas Barrable Geoffrey Roydart
. .

Mr Cartwright Mr Brookfield Mr Hare Mr Kendal

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINEROS PLA YS

Mr Perricarp Mr Jowett
.

239

Rudolph RufFord

Andrew Moorcroft Mr Cashew

.

Ogilvy

Mr Maclean Mr Hendrie Mr Elwood Mr H. Reeves Smith Mr Paget Mr W. T. Lovell

Mrs Kendal
Miss Webster Miss Fanny Enson Mrs Gaston Murray Miss Linda Dietz

Agnes

Edna
Hilda Ray
Priscilla
.

Louison

THE SCHOOLMISTRESS
Court Theatre, March
The Hon. Vere Queckett
Rear-Admiral Archibald Rankling, C.B. Lieut. John Mallory Mr Saunders Mr Reginald Paulover
.

1886

Mr

Otto Bernstein Tyler Goff

.
.

Jaflfray

Mr Arthur Cecil Mr John Clayton Mr F. Kerr Mr Edwin Victor Mr H. Eversfield Mr Chevalier Mr W. Phillips Mr Fred Cape Mr Lugg
Miss Emily Cross Mrs John Wood Miss Cudmore Miss Viney Mis La Coste Miss Norreys Miss Roche

Mrs Rankling
Miss Dyott

Dinah

Gwendoline Hawkins Ermyntrude Johnson

Peggy Hesslerigge
Jane Chipman
.

THE HOBBY-HORSE
St James's Theatre, October 1886

The Rev. Noel

Brice

Mr Spencer Jermyn Mr Pinching

Mr Herbert Waring Mr Hare Mr C. W. Somerset

240

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Mr Mackintosh Mr Hendrie Mr W. M. Cathcart Mr Thomas Mr Fuller Mellish Mr Albert Sims
Master Reid

Mr Shattock Mr Pews Mr Lyman Mr Moulter Tom Clark

Hewett Tiny Landon Mrs Spencer Jermyn Mrs Porcher Miss Moxon Bertha

Mrs Kendal Mrs Gaston Murray Mrs Beerbohm Tree Miss Webster
Miss Huntley

Mrs Landon

DANDY DICK
Court Theatre, January
The Very Rev. Augustin
Sir Tristram

1887

Jedd, D.D.

Mardon, Bart. Major Tarvey Mr Darbey

Blore

Noah Topping Hatcham Georgina Tidman

.

Mr John Clayton Mr Edmund Maurice Mr F. Kerr Mr H. Eversfield Mr Arthur Cecil Mr W. H. Denny Mr W. Lugg Mrs John Wood
Miss Marie Lewes Miss Norreys Miss Laura Linden

Salome Sheba

Hannah Topping

REVIVAL
Wyndham's Theatre, February
The Dean
Sir Tristram

1900

Major Tarvey

Mr Darbey
Blore

Noah Topping Hatcham

Mr Alfred Bishop Mr Edmund Maurice Mr A. Vane-Tempest Mr Stanley Cooke Mr George Giddens Mr W. H. Denny Mr A. E. George

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERO'S PLA YS

Georgina Tidman Salome
.

241

Sheba

Hannah Topping

Miss Violet Vanbrugh Miss Maud Hoffman Miss Grace Lane Miss Annie Hughes

SWEET LAVENDER
Terry's Theatre, March 1888
Geoffrey Wedderburn

Clement Hale Dr Delaney Dick Phenyl Horace Bream

Mr Maw Mr Bulger
Minnie

Mr Brandon Thomas Mr Bernard Gould Mr Alfred Bishop Mr Edward Terry Mr F. Kerr Mr Sant Matthews Mr T. C. Valentine
Miss Miss Miss Miss

Mrs GimUian
Ruth Rolt Lavender
.

M. A. Victor

Maude

Millett

Carlotta Addison

Norreys

THE WEAKER SEX

Court Theatre, March
Lord Gillingham Hon. George Liptrott
.

1889

Mr

Bargus, M.P. Captain Jessett

Dudley Silchester Ira Lee Mr Hawley Hill Mr Wade Green

Spencer (servant
lingham's)
at

Mr A. W. Denison Mr E. Allan Aynesworth Mr Edward Righton Mr A. B. Francis Mr W. H. Vernon Mr Kendal Mr W. Newall Mr Eric Lewis
Mr H. Deane

Lord Gil
Miss Violet Vanbrugh Miss Patty Chapman Miss E. Mathews

Lady Gillingham Lady Liptrott Lady Struddock

.

242

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Mrs Kendal
Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss

Lady Vivash
Sylvia (her daughter)

Annie Hughes
Trevor Bishop

Mrs Hawley Hill Mrs Boyle-Chewton Rhoda (her daughter)

Miss Cardelloe Fetch (servant at Mrs Boyle
.

Fanny Coleman Olga Brandon Blanche EUice

Chewton's)

Miss C. Lucie

THE PROFLIGATE
Garrick Theatre, April
Lord Dangars Dunstan Renshaw Hugh Murray
Wilfred Brudenell Mr Cheal
.

1889

Ephgraves

Weaver Mrs Stonehay

Leslie Brudenell
.

Mr John Hare Mr Forbes-Robertson Mr Lewis Waller Mr S. Brough Mr Dodsworth Mr R. Cathcart Mr H. Knight

Mrs Gaston Murray
Miss Miss Miss Miss Kate Rorke
Beatrice

Irene

Lamb

Janet
Priscilla
.

Olga Nethersole
Caldwell

THE CABINET MINISTER

Court Theatre, April
Earl of Drumdurris Viscount Aberbrothock Right Hon. Sir Julian Twom.

1890

Mr

(An Infant

Richard Saunders in arms)

bley, G.C.M.G., M.P. Brooke Twombley Macphail of Ballocheevin Mr Joseph Lebanon

.

Mr Arthur Cecil Mr E. Allan Aynesworth Mr Brandon Thomas Mr Weedon Grossmith

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERO'S PLA YS

Valentine White Mr Mitford (subsequently changed to Melton) The Munkittrick

243

Mr

Herbert Waring

Probyn

Mr Frank Farren Mr John Clulow Mr Ernest Paton

Miss R. G. Le Thi^re Miss Isabel Ellissen Miss Eva Moore Mrs John Wood Miss Florence Tanner Mrs Edmund Phelps Miss Rosina Filippi Miss Marianne Caldwell Miss Florence Harrington

Dowager Countess of Drum'

durris

Lady Euphemia Vibart

Countess of Drumdurris

Lady Twombley Imogen Lady Macphail Hon. Mrs Gaylustre

AngMe
Miss Munkittrick

LADY BOUNTIFUL
Garrick Theatre, March
Sir Lucian Brent, Bart.

1891

Sir Richard Philliter, Q.C.

Roderick Heron Dennis Heron John Veale

.

Pedgrift

Wimple
Floyce

Villager

Mr Gilbert_Hare Mr C. W. Somerset Mr John Hare Mr J. Forbes- Robertson Mr Charles Groves Mr R. Cathcart Mr John Byron Mr R. Power Mr Henry Rivers
Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss
Carlotta Addison Kate Rorke

Miss Brent
Camilla Brent Beatrix Brent Mrs Veale Margaret Veale
. .

Beatrice Ferrar

Dolores

Drummond

Marie Linden
Caroline Elton

Mrs Hodnutt Amelia

(a

pew opener)

Webster
E. Turtle

A Villager

244

ARTHUR WING PINERO

THE TIMES
Terry's Theatre, October 1891

Denham, Viscount Lurgashall

Hon. Montague Trimble Percy Egerton-Bompas, M.P.
.

Howard
Timothy M'Shane, M.P.
Jelf

Mr W. T. Lovell Mr Elliott Mr Edward Terry Mr Henry V. Esmond Mr Fred Thome Mr Albert Sims
Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss

Countess, of Ripstow

Mrs Egerton-Bompas
Beryl

M. Talbot Fanny Brough

Annie
Hill

Mrs Hooley
Honoria Miss Cazalet

Alexis Leighton
Barradell

Helena Dacre
Hetty Dene

Lucy Tuck

THE AMAZONS
Earl of Tweenwayes Viscount Litterly Count de Grival The Rev. Roger Minchin
Fitton

Court Theatre, March 1893 Mr Weedon

Grossmith

Youatt
Orts

Mr F. Kerr Mr Elliott Mr J. Beauchamp Mr W. Quinton Mr Compton Coutts Mr R. Nainby

Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss
Lily

Marchioness of Castlejordan

Lady Noeline Belturbet Lady Wilhelmina Belturbet Lady Thomasin Belturbet

"Sergeant" Shuter

Rose Leclercq Hanbury

EUaline Terriss
Pattie

Browne

Marianne Caldwell

THE SECOND MRS TANQUERAY

Aubrey Tanqueray
Paula

....
.

St James's Theatre,
.

May 1893 Mr George Alexander

Mrs
Patrick Campbell

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINEROS PLA YS

Ellean Cayley

ii,,'^

Miss Maude Millett

Drummle

Mr

Cyril

Maude
Roselle

Mrs Cortelyon
Captain

Miss

Amy

Hugh Ardale

Gordon Jayne, M.D. Frank Misquith, Q.C.,

Sir

George Orreyed, Bart Lady Orreyed

Mr Ben Webster Mr Murray Hathorn Mr Nutcombe Gould Mr A. Vane-Tempest

Miss Edith Chester

Morse

Mr Alfred

Holies

REVIVAL
Royalty Theatre, September
Aubrey Tanqueray
Cayley Drummle Captain Hugh Ardale Gordon Jayne
1901

Mr G. S. Titheradge Mr George Arliss Mr Gerald du Maurier Mr J. W. Macdonald Mr Mr

Mrs
Caleb Porter Arthur Bromley-Daven-

Frank Misquith, Q.C, M.P. Sir George Orreyed

port

Morse
Paula Ellean

Mr Sydney

Laurence

Patrick Campbell

Mrs Cortelyon Lady Orreyed

Miss Winifred Eraser Miss Katharine Stewart Miss Rose Duprd

THE NOTORIOUS MRS EBBSMITH

Garrick Theatre, March
1895

Duke

of St Olpherts

Sir Sandford Cleeve

Lucas Cleeve Rev. Amos Winterfield Sir George Brodrick Dr Kirke Fortund
.

Mr John Hare Mr Ian Robertson Mr ForUes-Robertson Mr C. Aubrey Smith Mr Joseph Came Mr Fred Thorne Mr Gerald du Maurier

246

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Mr
C. F. Caravoglia

Antonio Peppi

Agnes
Gertrude Thorpe Sybil Cleeve Nella

Hepzibah

Patrick Campbell Miss Ellis Jeffreys Miss Eleanor Calhoun Miss Mary Halsey Mrs Charles Groves

Mrs

REVIVAL
Royalty Theatre, February
Agnes
Lucas Cleeve
Sybil Cleeve
Sir Sandford Cleeve

1901

Mrs

Patrick Campbell

Duke

of St Olpherts
.

Gertrude Thorpe The Rev. Amos Winterfield Sir George Brodrick

Kirke Fortund Antonio Peppi Nella
.

Courtenay Thorpe Miss Beryl Faber Mr Gerald du Maurier Mr George Arliss Miss Winifred Fraser

Mr

Dr

Mr Berte Thomas Mr Howard Sturge Mr F. W. Permain Mr Burton Mr Vincent

Miss Italia Conti Miss Leila Repton

Hepzibah

THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT

Comedy Theatre,
Mrs Emptage
Claude Emptage
Justina October 1895

Miss Henrietta Lindley

Mr Aubrey Mr Mr

Fitzgerald

Emptage

Theophila Fraser Sir Fletcher Portwood, M.P.

Miss Esmd Beringer Miss Winifred Emery

Cyril

Maude

Mrs Cloys
Anthony Cloys, D.D, Bishop of St Olpherts Alexander Fraser ("Fraser of Locheen")
Rt. Rev.

Miss Rose Leclercq

Ernest Cosham
G.

Mr J.

Grahame

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERO'S PLAYS

John AUingham
Denzil Shafto Peter Elphick

247

Horton
Quaife

Mr Leonard Boyne Mr J. W. Pigott Mr Stuart Champion Mr Mules Browne Mr J. Byron

Miss Lily Hanbury Miss Eva Williams

AUingham Mrs Quinton Twelves

Olive

THE PRINCESS AND THE BUTTERFLY

St James's Theatre, March 1897
Sir

George Lamorant, Bart.

. .

Edward Oriel Mr St Roche

Lieut.-Col. Arthur

Eave Hon. Charles Denstroude Sir James Velleret, M.P. Mr Adrian Mylls Mr Bartley Levan

Mr Percival Ord Maxime Demailly

Major
-

Mr George Alexander Mr H. B. Irving Mr H. V. Esmond Mr C. Aubrey Smith Mr Ivo Dawson Mr R. Dalton Mr George Bancroft Mr Gerald Gurney Mr A Vane-Tempest Mr Arthur Royston Mr H. H. Vincent Mr S. Hamilton Mr Richards Mr Robert Soutar Mr C. Stafford Mr A. W. Munro
Miss Julia Neilson

General

Sir

Robert

Chichele, K.C.B.

Count Vladislaus Reviczky General Yanokoff Kara Pasha Col. the Hon. Reginald Ugh
brook, C.B.
.

Faulding
Princess Pannonia

Mrs Marsh Annis Marsh Lady Ringstead Lady Chichele Mrs Sabiston Mrs St Roche
Blanche Oriel
.

Mrs Kemmis
Miss Dorothy Hammond Miss Rose Leclercq Miss Pattie Bell

Mrs

Cecil Raleigh

Miss Granville Miss M. Hackney

24S

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Yanokoff
.

Mrs Ware

Madame

Mrs Ughbrook
Catherine

Fay

Zuliani

Miss Julie Opp Miss Ellen Standing Miss Leila Repton Miss Eleanor Aickin Miss Fay Davis

TRELAWNY OF THE
Theatrical Folk

"

WELLS "
1898

Court Theatre, January

James Telfer
Augustus Colpoys Ferdinand Gadd
.

Tom Wrench
Mrs
Telfer (Miss Violet Sylvester)

Mr Athol Forde Mr E. M. Robson Mr Gerald du Maurier Mr Paul Arthur

Mrs E. Saker Miss Pattie Browne Miss Irene Vanbrugh Miss Hilda Spong
Richard Purdon Vernon, Mr Foster, fMr Milton, and Miss Mr Baird Mr W. H. Quinton

Avonia Bunn Rose Trelawny

Imogen Parrott O'Dwyer

.

Mr

Members

of

the

Company
.

of

the Pantheon Theatre

Hall-keeper at the Pantheon

Non-theatrical Folk

Vice - Chancellor Sir William Mr Dion Boucicault Gower, Kt. Arthur Go wer \ fMr James Erskine u grandchildren ^'^ jj^j^^ j.^^ Williams Clara de Foenixj Miss Isabel Bateman Miss Trafalgar Gower Mr Sam Sothern Captain de Fcenix Miss Le Thi^re Mrs Mossop Mr Fred Thome Mr Ablott
.
.

Charles

Mr Aubrey

Fitzgerald

Sarah

Miss Polly Emery

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MR PINERO'S PLA YS

249

THE GAY LORD QUEX

Globe Theatre, April
The Marquis
of

1899

Quex

Mr John Hare

Sir Chichester

Frayne (Gover-

nor of Uiimbos, West Coast

of Africa)

Captain Basiling " Valma," otherwise Franij Pollitt

Mr Mr

Gilbert

Hare

Charles Cherry

(a professional palmist)

Mr Frank

Gillmore

The Duchess
Julia,

of Strood
.

Countess of Owbridge

Mrs Jack Eden Muriel Eden (her sister-in-law) Sophy FuUgarney (a manicurist)
Miss Moon Miss Huddle Miss Claridge Miss Limbird
.

'

young
patrons

Lady
of

and
Miss

other
Full-

garney
Servants at Fauncey Court

Miss Fortescue Miss Fanny Coleman Miss Mona K. Oram Miss Mabel Terry-Lewis Miss Irene Vanbrugh Miss Laura M'Gilvray Miss Doris Templeton Miss Victoria Addison Miss Marion Dolby Miss K. Carpenter, Mrs Copleston, Miss B. Coleman, Mr Richard Lambart, and Mr Hubert Evelyn

Mr

Abbot Lennox

and

Mr

IRIS
Garrick Theatre, September
Frederick Maldonado Laurence Trenwith Croker Harrington Archibald Kane Colonel Wynning Servant at Mrs Bellamy's Servant at the Villa Prigno
.

igoi

Mr Oscar Asche Mr Charles Bryant Mr Dion Boucicault Mr Jerrold Robertshaw Mr Bayntun Mr Sims Mr Thomas

250
Iris

ARTHUR WING PINERO

Bellamy Miss Miss Miss Miss

Fay Davis
Beryl Faber

Fanny Sylvain Aurea Vyse Mrs Wynning

Miss Pinsent Women-servants

Nora Lancaster
Repton

Mrs Maesmore Morris

Miss Deane and Miss Francis

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. . .

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Written in no mean spirit of truly delightful book. it is a well-balanced, characteristic, and fair estimate of a personality and a above the average." Sunday Special. "it is an intensely interesting life story Mr Pemberton has to tell. This little volume is eminently readable, full of excellent stories and anecdotes, . and is in short a very admirable commentary upon the work of one of the brightest masters of the pen that the great continent oversea has produced."