air, confining their remarks to criticism concerning the
workmanship.

In _The Third Floor Back_ a character is introduced who is called "The
Stranger," but known by everybody in the theatre to represent Jesus
Christ; and "The Stranger" visits a somewhat remarkable boarding-house
in which all the boarders and the landlady are vile, and after his visit
all of them are fit for immediate translation to heaven.

Certainly, many of us are anxious to broaden the basis of our drama. A
little while ago an important foreign paper contained a article saying
that the object of the London stage is "to introduce living pictures to
say pretty things for young girls," and that "of the social, religious,
economic or intellectual struggles which agitate our time no trace is
observable in the English stage literature of the day," and that English
stage literature "has become nothing more than an insipid and dying
study of the doings of the aristocratic and the rich." How sickening to
know that in the main the charges are true, and that our drama, with,
fortunately some exceptions, is merely a kind of Pap and Puppet affair.

On the other hand, the broadening effect of a play such as Mr Jerome's
is not obvious. The Censor has been dodged, just as he was dodged many
years ago, when Verdi's opera _Nebuchadonozor_ was called _Ninus_ or
when _Ben Hur_ was presented or _The Daughters of Babylon_. That
official has already permitted the performance of _Everyman_ and
_Hannele_. Consequently, it is not easy to see that the suggested
broadening of the basis has taken place.

Moreover, there are many who doubt whether broadening, so as to admit a
free trade in what could be called religious or Scripture drama, is
desirable. We do not pretend that the office of Censor ought to be
maintained merely to keep back a flood of plays introducing Scriptural
characters. The office, no doubt, does good as well as harm, but the
harm far outweighs the good. Would it be beneficial if this particular
restriction--this working rule that characters bearing the names of
personages of the Old and New Testament are not to be presented on the
stage--were relaxed. There are enthusiastic persons who desire a closer
union between Church and the Stage, and wish to have the theatre
employed as a kind of pulpit, who believe that Scripture plays would be
beneficial. It is conceivable that under certain circumstances the
attitude of these persons would be sound, but not unde