degree. There was only one word when the formalities were
disposed of; and that was "We are up against Augustus all day."
The showing-up of Augustus scandalized one or two innocent and
patriotic critics who regarded the prowess of the British army as
inextricably bound up with Highcastle prestige. But our
Government departments knew better: their problem was how to win
the war with Augustus on their backs, well-meaning, brave,
patriotic, but obstructively fussy, self-important, imbecile, and
disastrous.

Save for the satisfaction of being able to laugh at Augustus in
the theatre, nothing, as far as I know, came of my dramatic
reduction of him to absurdity. Generals, admirals, Prime
Ministers and Controllers, not to mention Emperors, Kaisers and
Tsars, were scrapped remorselessly at home and abroad, for their
sins or services, as the case might be. But Augustus stood like
the Eddystone in a storm, and stands so to this day. He gave us
his word that he was indispensable and we took it.

Augustus Does His Bit was performed for the first time at
the Court Theatre in London by the Stage Society on the
21st January, 1917, with Lalla Vandervelde as The Lady, F.
B.J. Sharp as Lord Augustus Highcastle, and Charles Rock as
Horatio Floyd Beamish.


AUGUSTUS DOES HIS BIT

The Mayor's parlor in the Town Hall of Little Pifflington. Lord
Augustus Highcastle, a distinguished member of the governing