olies.
Apparently this spirit was thrown overboard during the famous passage of
_The Mayflower_, or when Boston Bay was turned into a teapot, and
certainly the American takes everything on trust, except, indeed, the
honesty of his rulers and judges. Unfortunately one of the things we are
importing from America--would that there were a real prohibitive tariff
against it!--is the monopolistic spirit; and this being the case, it is
very rash to hope that we shall band ourselves adequately to resist the
attacks of the theatre syndicates.

It is easy to see how such a thing would be worked: at the beginning
quietly, pleasantly, until the hold became so strong that the gloves
could be taken off and players might be warned not to accept engagements
from outsiders on pain of getting none from the trust; and dramatists
informed that unless they kept all their wares for the Syndicate they
must look to the few outsiders for a living. The American managers, in
their big way, would buy up some of the irreconcilable newspapers, would
acquire a preponderating influence in the neutral, and discover that the
critics representing the independent journals were not "absolutely
impartial, absolutely just, and always on the most dignified plane."
Truly, if we are to be judged by such a method, few, if any, of us will
escape a whipping. Does the Syndicate regard any critic who expresses an
unfavourable opinion about its wares as "absolutely impartial," etc.?
Surely no one who is not "absolutely impartial," etc., is entitled to
apply such a standard to the critics: would this consideration prevent
Mr Klaw from judging them and carrying out his sentences? It is to be
feared that he would do Jedburgh justice on some of us, and the
out-of-work critics would join the crowd at Poverty Corner.

CHAPTER IV

PLAYS OF PARTICULAR TYPES

The Pseudo-Historical

A play running at the Savoy in March 1905, concerning Madame du Barri,
called forth the usual complaints about inaccuracy in detail and
undesirability of subject. The latter point is not our theme, and may be
dismissed with the remark that there was nothing in the life of the
creature as presented upon the stage to serve as an excuse for requiring
us to spend an evening with such a worthless baggage.

At an early stage of his career the critic welcomes this class of
pseudo-historical drama--but his welcome takes an unamiable form. He
likes to have it produced on a Saturday evening, s