htful recollections, 'Soixante Ans de Souvenirs' he has a chapter
on Scribe in which he describes the methods of that master-craftsman in
dramatic construction; and in one of his 'Conferences Parisiennes' he
sets forth the successive steps by which another dramatist, Bouilly, was
able to compound his pathetic piece, the 'Abbe de l'Epee';--two papers
which deserve careful study by all who wish to apprehend the principles
of playmaking.

Eugene Labiche (1815-1888) was the most prolific of the comic dramatists
of France in the nineteenth century and the most richly endowed with
comic force. Most of his pieces are frankly farcical, but not a few of
them rise to the level of true comedy. The solid merit of his best work
is cordially recognized in the luminous preface written by Augier for
the complete collection of Labiche's comedies.

Edouard Pailleron (1834-1899) was a comic dramatist of more aspiration
than inspiration; and yet he succeeded in writing one of the most
popular pieces of his time;--the 'Monde ou l'on s'ennuie.'

Victorien Sardou (1831-1908) was probably the French playwright who was
most widely known outside of France. In the course of fifty years he was
successful in almost every kind of playwriting, from lively farce to
historic drama. His first indisputable triumph was with 'Pattes de
Mouche,' known in English as the 'Scrap of Paper' and as widely popular
in our language as in the original.

Emile Zola (1840-1902) was a novelist who repeatedly sought for success
as a dramatist, attaining it only in the adaptations of his stories made
by professional playwrights. Yet one of his earlier pieces, 'Therese
Raquin' is evidence that he might have mastered the art of the
playwright, if he had not allowed himself to be misled by his own
unfortunate theory of the theatre as set forth in his severe studies of
'Nos Auteurs Dramatiques' (1881).

In the 'Annee Psychologique' for 1894 the distinguisht physiological
psychologist, the late Alfred Binet,--to whom we are indebted for the
useful Binet tests--publisht a series of papers dealing with the
psychology of the playwright, in the preparation of which he was aided
by M.J. Passy. The two investigators had a series of interviews with
Sardou, Dumas _fils_, Pailleron, Meilhac, Daudet, and Edmond de
Goncourt. Altho Daudet and Goncourt had written plays they were
essentially novelists with no instinctive understanding of the drama as
a specific art. Nor did either Pai