ombstone the following epitaph:--"He never acted in
private theatricals."

A touch of acrimony seems discernible in certain utterances of Mr George
Bernard Shaw about amateur theatricals which makes one doubt whether
such a statement in his case would contain even the trifling percentage
of truth that is customary in epitaphs. Indeed, he causes an impression
that he has really done something worse than play in amateur
theatricals, and even, although an amateur, has appeared in a
professional performance. There has been a rather needless fury in his
remarks; it is a case doubtless of more sound than sentiment. This,
however, is pretty George's way; where some would use a whip he
"fillips" people with "a three-man beetle."

They say that all the amateur Thespians' clubs in the kingdom have
passed fierce resolutions about him, and a monster petition is being
prepared praying for his outlawry or excommunication. The cause was a
letter concerning the question whether dramatists ought to reduce their
fees for performance by amateur clubs of copyright works, and the trump
card of the opponents was the fact that many of the entertainments are
given for the benefit of charities. Mr Zangwill it was who observed that
"charity uncovers a multitude of shins"; perhaps one may add, clumsily,
that charity suffereth long and applauds.

Certainly, amateur performances rarely contain anything intentionally
so humorous as the idea of suggesting to "G.B.S." that he should reduce
his fees by way of an indirect contribution to the fund for the
restoration of some village church or the like. Apparently the common
answer to the author of _Mrs Warren's Profession_ is a sort of
paraphrase of the line "Nobody axt you, sir, she said."

It would be interesting to know how many performances, if any, have been
given by the great unpaid of pieces by the now successful theatrical
iconoclast. Who knows whether his wrath has not a touch of the _spretae
injuria formae_? Perhaps he is longing to have _Caesar and Cleopatra_
represented by some amiable association that has hitherto confined
itself to the comedies of Bulwer Lytton and farces by Maddison Morton.
It may be the dream of his life to see what people untrammelled by
considerations of filthy lucre, except so far as the benefit of the
charity is concerned, can make of _The Philanderers_.

Judging by the public press and the circulars, Mr Shaw is not inaccurate
in his view that the army of amateur