, in other ways the
loss is great. The provinces are no longer, in any effective sense, a
nursery of fresh talents for the London theatres, for the art acquired
in touring combinations is that of mimicry rather than of acting.
Moreover, provincial playgoers have lost all personal interest and pride
in their local theatres, which have no longer any individuality of their
own, but serve as a mere frame for the presentation of a series of
ready-made London pictures. Christmas pantomime is the only theatrical
product that has any really local flavour in it, and even this is often
only a second-hand London production, touched up with a few topical
allusions. Again, the railways which bring London productions to the
country take country playgoers by the thousand to London. The wealthier
classes, in the Lancashire, Yorkshire and Midland towns at any rate, do
almost all their theatre-going in London, or during the autumn months
when the leading London companies go on tour. Thus the better class of
comedy and drama has a hard fight to maintain itself in the provinces,
and the companies devoted to melodrama and musical farce enjoy an
ominous preponderance of popularity.

On the whole, however--and this is the main point to be observed with
regard to the literary development of the drama--the economic movement
of the five- and twenty years between 1865 and 1890 was enormously to
the advantage of the dramatic author. A London success meant a long
series of full houses at high prices, on which he took a handsome
percentage. The provinces, in which a popular playwright would often
have three or four plays going the rounds simultaneously, became a
steady source of income. And, finally, it was found possible, even
before international copyright came into force, to protect stageright in
the United States, so that about the beginning of the 'eighties large
receipts began to pour in from America. Thus successful dramatists,
instead of living from hand to mouth, like their predecessors of the
previous generation, found themselves in comfortable and even opulent
circumstances. They had leisure for reading, thought and careful
composition, and they could afford to gratify their ambition with an
occasional artistic experiment. Failure might mean a momentary loss of
prestige, but it would not spell ruin. A distinctly progressive spirit,
then, began to animate the leading English dramatists--a spirit which
found intelligent sympathy in such man