* *

THE GOOD NEW "TIMES."

Nobody, after visiting Terry's Theatre, can apply to Mr. PINERO's
piece the hackneyed phrase,--used apologetically by an unconscionable
reader after detaining the leading journal for three-quarters of an
hour,--"Oh, there's nothing in _The Times_," for, in Mr. PINERO's
piece there is plenty of amusement, if not of absorbing interest.

[Illustration]

The story is that of a _parvenu_, whose sole object in life, to
be recognised by "Society," is thwarted by the marriage of his
good-for-nothing son with the daughter of an Irish lodging-house
keeper. The struggles of _Mr. and Mrs. Bompas_ to conceal this
_mesalliance_, and the assistance given them in their difficulties by
the _Hon. Montague Trimble_, constitute the motive of the play. But
the question that must occur to the critical mind is, "Did the author
mean this piece for high comedy, or farcical comedy?" If the former,
then Mr. TERRY is wrong in his conception of the part; if the latter,
everybody else is wrong in their conception of their parts.

It seems to me as if, in the course of rehearsal, the peculiarities
distinguishing the character of _Percy Egerton Bompas, M.P._, had
gradually become assimilated with the individualities of the actor,
Mr. EDWARD TERRY. If Mr. PINERO so meant it, if he so wrote it for Mr.
TERRY and for Mr. TERRY only, then there is nothing more to be said;
Mr. PINERO's ideal is realised. But if the author did _not_ intend Mr.
TERRY's impersonation, then he must be content to sacrifice the ideal
to the real, shrug his shoulders, and pocket his profits. Yet, as if
making an appeal to the public to judge between the auctorial abstract
and the representational concrete, Mr. PINERO not only publishes his
playbook, but sells it in the theatre. Visitors to TERRY's, who buy
the book, will judge the play by its stage interpretation that has had
the advantage of the author's personal supervision and direction. The
representation, therefore, is either more or less in accordance with
his teaching, or flatly contradicts it.

[Illustration: One of the Leaders in _The Times_.]

The publication of the book of a comedy in a theatre may be thankfully
received as a present help to the audience, and an aid to memory
afterwards, or it may be considered as a protest on the part of the
author who says, "Here's what I have written. See how they act it:
whether it be farce or comedy, judge for yourselves. You pay you