Jones began with melodrama, of which _The Silver King_ (1882), _Saints and Sinners_ (1884) and _The Middle Man_ (1889) are examples; Pinero with ingenious farces happily associated with the fortunes of Sir Squire Bancroft and his wife, _The Magistrate_ (1885) being an excellent illustration of the type. The dates are significant in showing the turning of these skillful playwrights to play-making that was more serious in the handling of life and more artistic in constructive values; they are practically synchronous with the introduction of Ibsen into England. Both authors have now long lists of plays to their credit, with acknowledged masterpieces among them. Pinero's earlier romantic style may be seen in the enormously successful _Sweet Lavender_, a style repeated ten years later in _Trelawney of the Wells_; his more mature manner being represented in _The Second Mrs. Tanqueray_, the best of a number of plays which center in the woman who is a social rebel, the dramatist's tone being almost austerely grim in carrying the study to its logical conclusion. For a time Sir Arthur seemed to be preoccupied with the soiled dove as dramatic inspiration; but so fine a recent play as _The Thunderbolt_ shows he can get away from it. Jones' latest and best work as well has a tendency to the serious satiric showing-up of the failings of prosperous middle-class English society; this, however, in the main, kept in abeyance to story interest and constructive skill in its handling: _Mrs. Dane's Defense_, _The Case of Rebellious Susan_, _The Liars_, _The Rogue's Comedy_, _The Hypocrites_, and _Michael and His Lost Angel_ stand for admirably able performances in different ways.