of the right sort. What more plausible English hero than
Mr. C. AUBREY SMITH, except that he had to talk a good deal more than
seemed appropriate to his type? There was a well-managed post-election
scene when he was at his best (as was the author). And all through there
was good and sometimes glorious sense for those to hear who had ears.

The programme promised us about a month's interval between Acts I. and
II. It was actually less than that; but if Mr. J.H. SQUIRE's musicianly
orchestra had not been there to charm us we might conceivably have been
bored.

T.

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE LIGHTER SIDE OF EDITORIAL LIFE.

_Frank Aylett_ . . . . . . . . MR. C. AUBREY SMITH.

_Anthea Craig_ . . . . . . . . MISS VIOLA TREE.]

* * * * *

MORE COMMERCIAL CANDOUR.

"FOR SALE.--A 45 H.P., 6 cyl.--Car, touring body, fitted with every
latest convenience. Exceptionally well sprung. Just purchased by
owner and run under 1,000 miles. Guaranteed over 25-galls. to the
mile by Agents. Rs. 11,000."--_Indian Paper_.

* * * * *

[Illustration: "DIVERSION" IN THE BALKANS.]

* * * * *

HEROES.

If the question were put to a company of young women, "What is the most
thrilling experience you can have in a London street?" the odds are
a thousand to one that they would reply that nothing could be more
thrilling than to meet a famous actor in plain clothes and identify him.
I am not a young woman myself, but I should be inclined to share their
opinion. There is something about an actor in real life, moving along
like a human being--one of us--that always stirs my pulse. It is
exciting enough to see Mr. LLOYD GEORGE or Mr. ASQUITH or Sir OLIVER
LODGE; but no one stirs the imagination like an actor.

That is why I still tremble a little whenever I think of my good fortune
the other afternoon in the Haymarket, and why my pen shakes as I
commit the adventure to paper. For I met face to face two of the most
successful actors in London--at the present moment, in the world.

I was walking up the Haymarket in the rain, hoping, in spite of the new
prohibitive rates, that I might see an empty cab, when I met them coming
down. They were walking with a man whom I did not recognise, and, like
me, were getting wet. One thinks of successful actors as riding always
in taxis; but taxis are very rare n