Greater inadequacy than that revealed in Wilde’s biography is to be found in the fact that Synge has no biography whatever in the _Britannica_! Nor has Hankin. Nor Granville Barker. Nor Lady Gregory. Nor Galsworthy. The biographical omission of such important names as these can hardly be due to the editor’s opinion that they are not deserving of mention, for lesser English dramatic names of the preceding generation are given liberal space. The fact that these writers do not appear can be attributed only to the fact that the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ has not been properly brought up to date—a fact substantiated by an abundance of evidence throughout the entire work. Of what possible value to one interested in the modern drama is a reference library which contains no biographical mention of such significant figures as these? The French drama suffers even more from incompleteness and scantiness of material. Becque draws just eleven lines, exactly half the space given to the British playwright whose reputation largely depends on that piece of sentimental claptrap, _Lights o’ London_. Hervieu draws half a column of biography, in which his two important dramas, _Modestie_ and _Connais-Toi_ (both out before the _Britannica_ went to press), are not mentioned. Curel is given sixteen lines; Lavedan, fourteen lines, in which not all of even his best work is noted; Maurice Donnay, twenty lines, with no mention of _La Patronne_ (1908); Lemaître, a third of a column; Rostand, half a column, less space than is accorded the cheap, slap-stick humorist from Manchester, H. J. Byron; Capus, a third of a column; Porto-Riche, thirteen lines; and Brieux twenty-six lines. In Brieux’s very brief biography there is no record of _La Française_ (1807), _Simone_ (1908), or _Suzette_ (1909). Henri Bernstein does not have even a biographical mention. Maeterlinck’s biography runs only to a column and a third, and the last work of his to be mentioned is dated 1903, since which time the article has apparently not been revised! Therefore, if you depend for information on this biography in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, you will find no record of _Sœur Béatrice_, _Ariane et Barbe-Bleu_, _L’Oiseau Bleu_, or _Maria Magdaléne_.