Produced by K Nordquist, Branko Collin and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) _The Big Drum_ _THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR W. PINERO_ Paper cover, 1s. 6d.; cloth, 2s. 6d. each _THE TIMES_ _THE PROFLIGATE_ _THE CABINET MINISTER_ _THE HOBBY-HORSE_[1] _LADY BOUNTIFUL_ _THE MAGISTRATE_ _DANDY DICK_ _SWEET LAVENDER_ _THE SCHOOLMISTRESS_ _THE WEAKER SEX_ _THE AMAZONS_[1] _THE SECOND MRS. TANQUERAY_[1] _THE NOTORIOUS MRS. EBBSMITH_ _THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT_[1] _THE PRINCESS AND THE BUTTERFLY_ _TRELAWNY OF THE "WELLS"_ _THE GAY LORD QUEX_[2] _IRIS_ _LETTY_ _A WIFE WITHOUT A SMILE_ _HIS HOUSE IN ORDER_[1] _THE THUNDERBOLT_ _MID-CHANNEL_ _THE "MIND THE PAINT" GIRL_ THE PINERO BIRTHDAY BOOK SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY MYRA HAMILTON With a Portrait, cloth extra, price 2s. 6d. _LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN_ [1] This Play can be had in library form, 4to, cloth, with a portrait, 5s. [2] A Limited Edition of this play on hand-made paper, with a new portrait, 10s, net. _The Big Drum_ _A COMEDY_ _In Four Acts_ _By_ _ARTHUR PINERO_ _"The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private."_ ADDISON _LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN_ _MCMXV_ _Copyright 1915, by Arthur Pinero_ _This play was Produced in London, at the St. James's Theatre, on Wednesday, September 1, 1915_ _PREFACE_ The Big Drum is published exactly as it was written, and as it was originally performed. At its first representation, however, the audience was reported to have been saddened by its "unhappy ending." Pressure was forthwith put upon me to reconcile Philip and Ottoline at the finish, and at the third performance of the play the curtain fell upon the picture, violently and crudely brought about, of Ottoline in Philip's arms. I made the alteration against my principles and against my conscience, and yet not altogether unwillingly. For we live in depressing times; and perhaps in such times it is the first duty of a writer for the stage to make concessions to his audiences and, above everything, to try to afford them a complete, if brief, distraction from the gloom which awaits them outside the theatre. My excuse for having at the start provided an "unhappy" ending is that I was blind enough not to regard the ultimate break between Philip and Ottoline as really unhappy for either party. On the contrary, I looked upon the separation of these two people as a fortunate occurrence for both; and I conceived it as a piece of ironic comedy which might not prove unentertaining that the falling away of Philip from his high resolves was checked by the woman he had once despised and who had at last grown to know and to despise herself.