its he was an admirable craftsman. The same
preoccupation with local colour is manifest in the plays of Augustus M.
Thomas, a writer of genuine humour and originality. His localism
announces itself in the very titles of his most popular
plays--_Alabama_, _In Mizzoura_, _Arizona_. He also made a striking
success in _The Witching Hour_, a play dealing with the phenomena of
hypnotism and suggestion. Clyde Fitch (1865-1909), an immensely prolific
playwright of indubitable ability, after becoming known by some
experiments in quasi-historic drama (notably _Nathan Hale_, 1898;
_Barbara Frietchie_, 1899), devoted himself mainly to social drama on
the French model, in which his most notable efforts have been _The
Climbers_ (1900), _The Truth_ (1906), and _The Girl with the Green Eyes_
(1902). In popular drama, with elaborate scenic illustration, William
Gillette (b. 1856), David Belasco (b. 1859) and Charles Klein (b. 1867)
have done notable work. William Vaughn Moody (b. 1869) produced in _The
Great Divide_ (1907) a play of somewhat higher artistic pretensions;
Eugene Walter in _Paid in Full_ (1908) and _The Easiest Way_ (1909)
dealt vigorously with characteristic themes of modern life; and Edward
Sheldon produced in _Salvation Nell_ a slum drama of very striking
realism. The poetic side of drama was mainly represented by Percy
Mackaye (b. 1875), whose _Jeanne d'Arc_ (1906) and _Sappho and Phaon_
showed a high ambition and no small literary power. On the whole it may
be said that, though the financial conditions of the American stage are
even more unfortunate than those which prevail in England, they have
failed to check a very strong movement towards nationalism in drama.
Season by season, America writes more of her own plays, good or bad, and
becomes less dependent on imported work, whether French or English. (W.
A.)

(g) _German Drama._

The history of the German drama differs widely from that of the English,
though a close contact is observable between them at an early point, and
again at relatively recent points, in their annals. The dramatic
literature of Germany, though in its beginnings intimately connected
with the great national movement of the Reformation, soon devoted its
efforts to a sterile imitation of foreign models; while the popular
stage, persistently suiting itself to a robust but gross taste, likewise
largely due to the influence of foreign examples, seemed destined to a
hopeless decay. The literary and