t, and serious
dramas of English life, attest his zeal as a dramatist. Among his most
successful farces are _The Magistrate_ (1885), _The School Mistress_
(1886), and _The Amazons_ (1893). Clever invention of absurd
situations and success in starting infectious laughter are the prime
qualities of these plays.

_The Second Mrs. Tanqueray_ (1893) is by most critics considered
Pinero's masterpiece. The failure of a character to regain
respectability once forfeited supplies the nucleus for the dramatic
situations. Excellent in craftsmanship as it is disagreeable in theme,
this play contains no superfluous word to retard the action or mar the
technical economy. Adolphus William Ward says: "With _The Second Mrs.
Tanqueray_ the English acted drama ceased to be a merely insular
product, and took rank in the literature of Europe. Here was a play
which, whatever its faults, was ...an epoch-marking play."

One great service of Pinero and Jones to the twentieth-century drama
has been excellent craftsmanship. Their technical skill may be
specifically noted in the naturalness of the dialogues, in the
movement of the characters about the stage, in the performance of some
acts apparently trivial but really significant, and in the
substitution of devices to take the place of the old soliloquies and
"asides." Of the two, Pinero is the better craftsman, since Jones, in
his endeavor to paint a moral, sometimes weakens his dramatic effect.

George Bernard Shaw.--Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1856. He
was willful and took "refuge in idleness" at school. His education
consisted mainly in studying music with his talented mother, in
haunting picture galleries, and in wide reading. At the age of twenty,
he went to London and began his literary career. He was at various
times a journalist, a critic of art, music, and the drama, a lecturer,
a novelist, and a playwright. Shaw describes himself as a man "up to
the chin in the life of his times." He is a vegetarian, an
anti-vivisectionist, an advocate for woman's suffrage, and a
socialist.

[Illustration: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.]

_Arms and the Man, Candida, You Never Can Tell_, and _The Man of
Destiny_, published (1898) in the second volume of _Plays, Pleasant
and Unpleasant_; and _The Devil's Disciple_, published (1900) in
_Three Plays for Puritans_, are among his best dramas. With their
stage directions and descriptions, they are as delightful to read as
novels. Of these plays, _Candida