As is the case with all successful players especially if they have the good sense and good taste to present refined art he has many enemies. And most of these are members of his own profession! These malcontents have the effrontery to discuss a genius who has so far distanced them by his indefatigable industry, mentality and application as to leave them nowhere. He has succeeded in producing dignified plays in a dignified manner and his success has not been only "artistic." He makes enough to be able to pay $50,000 per annum for one of the prettiest playhouses in the world! I smile with you at your scoffers, Mr. Tree (I can't say Sir Beerbohm!). My hat's off to you. Here is a little anecdote of the man they say is characteristic. He had been dining quite late--yes, and well. When the party broke up Tree hailed a cab and jumped in with the one word, "Home," addressed toward the cabby. That artful individual saw his chance for a fat fare and drove off without inquiring for more explicit instructions. After he had let his horse wander about London all night--with Tree in peaceful slumber inside--the cabby peeked in through his little aperture in the roof and awoke the sleeping player. "Where shall I drive you to now, sir?" queried the cabby. "Home, I say," replied Tree angrily. "I beg pardon, guv'nor," replied the cabby, "but where is your 'ome, sir?" Tree opened one eye long enough to direct a look full of reproach at the cabby. "You don't imagine I'm going to tell every common cabman my private address, do you?" _Chapter LXXIV_ THE ORIGIN OF THE STAGE Far be it from me to be a dusty delver into dates! But a word as to the origin of the profession in which so many of us have toiled so many years may not be amiss, especially if it point the moral or adorn the tale I have in mind. And that is not so much a tale as a protest against the customary reverence the public has for the actor who dares essay the classic rôles. It's not only not difficult to play a classic rôle. It's fifty per cent easier than to play a modern part! But to be historical! It was almost 350 (or only, as you please) years ago that the first properly licensed theatre was built in London. The exact date was 1570. It was called the Black Friars Theatre. (And to-day, 1913, there are a dozen or so on one block, on one side of one block in Forty-second street, New York!) On the other hand it is marvelous to consider the amount of discussion one causes when one announces a forth-coming production of a classic play. By common impulse the critics sharpen their quills and prepare for the onslaught! How dare men and women who have been known to wear modern garments attractively and in style even attempt to enter into competition with past or present "masters"? By what right has the modern actor forsaken his frock coat for the sock and buskin?