The qualifications needed by the novelist and by the dramatist are at once alike and unlike. Differing in manner rather than in matter, they are rarely found united in one man. Scott, from whose novels many stirring plays have been taken, was incapable of writing one himself; Thackeray, even after he was the well-known author of _Vanity Fair_, could not find a manager willing to produce his comedy; and Thackeray's great master, Fielding, comparatively failed as a dramatist, though Joseph Surface is Blifil and Charles Surface is Tom Jones, and from the same work Colman derived his comedy of the _Jealous Wife_, which holds the stage to this day. By dint of hard work a man might make himself a novelist, but the dramatist, like the poet, must be born. He who possesses the power of writing successfully for the stage will surely show it in his first work. This theory accounts for the signal success of the _Cantab_, a slight farce played in 1861 at the London Strand Theatre. The material was weak and worn-out, but the fun was not forced: it flowed naturally from the situations. There was a freshness and a firmness about the little piece which showed the hand of a young author capable of better things. Three years later, Mr. Sothern, desiring a part diametrically the opposite of Lord Dundreary, produced _David Garrick_, and in 1865 _Society_ made its first appearance on the stage of the Prince of Wales's Theatre. Then T. W. Robertson stepped to the front rank of living English dramatists. The author had found his audience and his actors. The Prince of Wales's Theatre was directed by a burlesque actress, and devoted to light comedy and extravaganza: after that it gave up burlesque, merely heightening the effect of the comedy and prolonging the programme by a quiet farce. The company was small and strong, the theatre was well managed, and plays were handsomely mounted. After the success of _Society_ until Robertson's death its main reliance was upon his pen. In 1866 _Ours_ was first produced, followed in 1867 by _Caste_. The pieces of other authors, although carefully played and well mounted, were uniform failures. Mr. Edmund Yates's _Tame Cats_, and Mr. Dion Boucicault's _How She Loves Him!_ were each withdrawn after a run of a very few nights, whereas _School Play_, an _M.P._ succeeded each other with undisputed success. At the Haymarket Theatre _David Garrick_ was followed by _Home_ and _Birth_.