* * * * *

[Footnote 1: It is against "technic" in this sense of the term that the
hero of Mr. Howells's admirable novel, _The Story of a Play_, protests
in vigorous and memorable terms. "They talk," says Maxwell, "about a
knowledge of the stage as if it were a difficult science, instead of a
very simple piece of mechanism whose limitations and possibilities
anyone may see at a glance. All that their knowledge of it comes to is
claptrap, pure and simple.... They think that their exits and entrances
are great matters and that they must come on with such a speech, and go
off with another; but it is not of the least importance how they come or
go, if they have something interesting to say or do." Maxwell, it must
be remembered, is speaking of technic as expounded by the star actor,
who is shilly-shallying--as star actors will--over the production of his
play. He would not, in his calmer moments, deny that it is of little use
to have something interesting to say, unless you know how to say it
interestingly. Such a denial would simply be the negation of the very
idea of art.]

[Footnote 2: A dramatist of my acquaintance adds this footnote: "But, by
the Lord! They have to give advice. I believe I write more plays of
other people's than I do of my own."]

[Footnote 3: It may be hoped, too, that even the accomplished dramatist
may take some interest in considering the reasons for things which he
does, or does not do, by instinct.]

[Footnote 4: This is not a phrase of contempt. The would-be intelligent
playgoer is vastly to be preferred to the playgoer who makes a boast of