tute '9d.'_"

* * * * *

Illustration: THE CONCERT OF SOUTH AMERICA.

THE MEDIATORS. "PARDON, MADAM, BUT YOU HAVE HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE OF
THIS KIND OF THING. HOW DO YOU DO IT?"

EUROPA. "OH, WE JUST TALK AND TALK--AND THEN TALK!"

* * * * *

Illustration: _First Player (encouragingly)._ "Bad luck! Well tried!"

_Second Player (petulantly)._ "I didn't try for anything."

* * * * *

THE PIERCING OF THE VEIL.

"I think," says Dr. LYNCH in _The Daily Chronicle,_ "that a man leaves
some trace of himself in every sentence that he writes. What then of
works so extensive as Shakspeare's? Certainly we should see him through
and through if we only knew how to look."

_We_ do know how to look, and we have done so with results that can
hardly fail to astonish the reader. It has long been known, for
instance, that SHAKSPEARE was a good man of business, but until our
researches no one had realised quite how good. His theatre had to pay,
and he knew as well as any modern manager how to make it do so. That he
realised, for instance, the attractions of American dance tunes is
evident from his reference to "rags to split the ears of the
groundlings" (_Hamlet_, Act III., Scene 2).

Apart from his business SHAKSPEARE had private ambitions. We all know
that he applied for a grant of arms, but few are aware that he also
stood for Parliament, and, like many another, regretted the expense
after it was incurred. "Almost all," he says feelingly, "repent in their
election" (_Coriolanus_, Act II., Scene 3). His exact political views
are still uncertain, but, at any rate, we may be sure that he
disapproved of the Lords, for he boldly announced the fact in the _Two
Gentlemen of Verona,_ Act V., Scene 4, where he says, "One house, one
mutual happiness."

But these are serious matters. What of his hours of ease? That he golfed
there can now be no manner of doubt. In _The Tempest,_ Act IV., Scene 1,
he refers to the "short grassed green," and in _Hamlet_, Act II., Scene
2, he earns our respect by the simple statement, "I went round," without
any tedious details. Possibly the "thousand marks in links" in the first
part of _Henry IV._, Act III., Scene 3, explains this reticence, but, at
any rate, he occasionally found one whom he fancied he could beat;
witness his remark in _Twelfth Night,_ Act II., Scene 3, "Sir Toby, I
must be round with yo