his own advantage, and this self-deception is kept up with unflagging animation, until he flings his final words at his tormentors: "Go, hang yourselves _all_! You are idle, _shallow_ things: _I_ am not of _your_ element; you shall know _more_ hereafter." But this rendering of the scene entirely misses fire at Earl's Court. It would be ungracious and invidious, under the circumstances, to indulge in criticism of this kind without examining into the origin of the errors we have tried to point out. They are nearly all traditional. The actor is not the real culprit. If one appealed to him for an explanation, his answer would be, "What is good enough for Sir Herbert Tree is good enough for me," and Sir Herbert Tree might say, "What was good enough for Macready satisfies me." In the production of Shakespeare on the modern stage our actor-managers show originality and novelty. In the interpretation of Shakespeare's characters, and in the intelligent reading of his text, there seems to be no progress made and no individuality shown. In these matters we are still in the middle of the eighteenth century, the most artificial age in the history of Shakespearian drama. As a consequence, Shakespeare's plays are not taken seriously by actors of to-day. To them his characters are theatrical types which are not supposed to conform to the conditions that govern human beings in everyday life. They do not recognize that Shakespeare's art and his characters were as true to the life of his day as is the art of Shaw or Galsworthy to our own. Yet because the construction of his play is unsuited to the modern stage, therefore it is contended that Shakespeare is a bad constructor of plays, and any liberties may be taken in the matter of reconstruction that are convenient to the producer. And because his plays are written in verse, a medium we do not now use in modern drama, therefore it may be spoken in a way no human being ever did or could speak his thoughts. So it comes that there is always an apology on the actor's lips for "Shakespeare's shortcomings" whenever the actor wants to take liberties with this author. It is Shakespeare who is always in the wrong, and never the actor. Ask the actress who impersonates Olivia why she is not wearing a black dress, and she replies without a moment's hesitation that black is not becoming to her, as if it were an impertinence on Shakespeare's part to expect her to wear black. The havoc that is made with the characterization and story is of no consequence. "Oh, hang Shakespeare!" was what a popular Shakespearian actor once said to the present writer. That is the normal feeling of many actors towards Shakespeare's plays, and one which will continue unless public opinion can be roused to a sense of its responsibilities and insists that a more reverent and loyal treatment shall be bestowed on the work of the world's greatest poet and dramatist.