dreary, Sothern in Cassius, Booth as Monsieur
Tourbillon or Solon Shingle, Owens as Iago, he will have the salient
points of our argument in strong light. The best example of a well
fitted play I ever saw was Lester Wallack's "Veteran," as first acted,
with James W. Wallack for Colonel Delmar, Mrs. Hoey for Amina, Mary
Gannon for the other young woman, Mrs. Vernon for Mrs. MacShake. Every
part, down to the very slaves, was perfectly fitted, and nothing has
since come near it in completeness except Boucicault's plays, written
at different times for the same theatre, "Jessie Brown" and the
"Shaughraun." The full consideration of all these facts, and especially
a retrospect of the relative rank of versatile actors and of
specialists, has led to the following further aphorism:

XVI. If the actors fit the play, expect success; if they do not,
disaster.

The consideration of actors as affecting the success of a play brings
us to the last branch of the whole subject affected by the dramatic
canons, which is _the qualifications required by the dramatist_ to
secure success. When we have considered them we shall have finished our
task--the completion of an essay to arouse thought in others. When we
consider the literary construction of such plays as "Black Crook,"
"Buffalo Bill," as well as the hosts of nameless dramas that are
constantly making their appearance at minor and first-class theatres,
their flat dialogue and general insipidity when merely read, not acted,
we begin to realize that genius or even talent in the author are not
the first requisite. He may lack both and still succeed. He must,
however, have one thing, or he might as well keep out of the box office
altogether, for his plays will be there pigeon-holed for good if he
possesses it not. This something is _stage experience_. He may be an
actor, no matter how bad, a scene painter, a carpenter, a musician, but
he must have been about a theatre in some capacity, no matter how
humble, to see how things work. One week behind the curtain is worth a
year in front. The mere acquaintance with the ways of managers and
actors is worth a good deal of time, but the familiarity with the
working of a piece is the main thing. The most successful American
comedy that has yet appeared was written by a walking lady who never
would have made an actress if she had staid on the stage forty years,
but who utilized her experience to some purpose on quitting the stage.
The most success