wrong or dangerous in this mutual interchange and enjoyment
of property. He drew no hard-and-fast lines between _meum_ and _tuum_.
We cannot help thinking that, at a time when so much depends on the
fusion of classes, a new edition of these immortal dialogues, brought up
to date so as to meet the exigencies of the new poor, the new rich, the
old aristocracy and the new plutocracy, would be fraught with the most
salutary results.

The following are some crude suggestions of the lines on which the
revision might be carried out:--

"Have you the leathern waistcoat of the taxi-driver?--"No, but I have
the reach-me-down trousers of an inferior quality to those worn by the
village postman."

"Have you the smooth-running automobile of the prosperous grocer?"--"No,
but I have the loan of the push-bicycle of my former under-gardener's
uncle."

"Are you going to marry the beautiful daughter of the shoemaker?"--"Yes,
and her brother has just become engaged to the widow of my cousin the
marquis."

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Mr. Arthur Wontner_ (_to himself_). "WELL, I DON'T THINK
MUCH OF YOUR TASTE IN CLOTHES."]

* * * * *

AT THE PLAY.

"THE ROMANTIC AGE."

I HOPE that Mr. ALAN MILNE is a good enough critic to agree with me in
thinking that this is the best play he has so far given us. Not that the
idea of it is as new as that of his _Mr. Pim_ or his _Wurzel-Flummery_,
but because, without sacrificing his lightness of touch and his sense of
fun, he has, for the first time, produced a serious scheme.

People will tell you that his Second Act was the weak spot in the play;
that the others were brilliant, but that this one, for its first half,
was tedious and delayed the action. They will say this because they are
familiar with A. A. M.'s humour, but not with his sentiment. Yet it was
in this middle Act that he gave us the best passage of all, in
presenting the philosophy of his pedlar, which had in it something of
the dewy freshness of the early morning scene in the wood ("morning's at
seven," as _Pippa_--not _Mr. Pim_--said _en passant_). There was no real
delay in the action here, for the pedlar was providing the hero with the
argument without which he could never have persuaded the lady to yield;
could never have made her understand that Romance is not confined to the
trunk-and-hose period, or any age, so named, of chivalry, but is to be
found wherever t