e word, and with only the repetition late in the play
of a line that had been spoken in an early act. That fact does not
exclude the possibility of rewritings before the manuscript came to the
company, but rather, in view of Bronson Howard's thoroness as a workman
and his masterly sense of proportion, makes such rewritings the more
probable. The effect, however, of his rewriting, wherever it may have
been, and the slow additions of his daily contributions, was that of
spontaneity.

Some philosopher tells us that a factor of greatness in any field is the
power to generalize, the ability to discover the principle underlying
apparently discordant facts. Bronson Howard's plays are notable for
their evidence of this power. He saw causes, tendencies, results. His
plays are expositions of this chemistry. 'Shenandoah' dealt broadly with
the forces and feelings behind the Civil War; the 'Henrietta' with the
American passion for speculation--the money-madness that was dividing
families. 'Aristocracy' was a very accurate, altho satirical, seizure of
the disposition, then in its strongest manifestation, of a newly-rich
and Western family of native force to break into the exclusive social
set of New York and to do so thru a preparatory European alliance.

He has a human story in every instance. There is always dramatic
conflict between interesting characters, of course, but behind them is
always the background of some considerable social tendency--some
comprehensive generalization--that includes and explains them all. The
commander from his eminence saw all the combatants: he knew what the
fight was about, and it always was about something worth while. Bronson
Howard never dramatized piffle.

He was an observer of human nature and events, a traveler, a thinker, a
student of the drama of all ages. He had been a reporter and an
editorial writer. His plays were written by a watchful, sympathetic, and
artistic military general turned philosopher.

AUGUSTUS THOMAS.

(June 1914).

The Autobiography of a Play

As read before the Shakspere Club _of_ Harvard University

I have not come to Newcastle with a load of coals; and I shall not try
to tell the faculty and students of Harvard University anything about
the Greek drama or the classical unities. I will remind you of only one
thing in that direction; and say even this merely because it has a
direct bearing upon some of the practical questions connected