added to his artificial method of conceiving a plot.

He has, therefore, played the theatrical game with love for it, with
thorough understanding of it--and though political preferment in the
Democratic Party has been offered him many times, he has thus far not
deserted the theatre. As the years advance, he does not seem to lose
any of his dexterity; on the other hand, he does not show inclination
to be stirred in his plays by the social problems of the day.
When "The Witching Hour" showed a departure into realms of subtle
psychology, we thought Thomas, as a playwright, had passed into the
realm of wisdom; but his introduction to that play reveals the fact
that, once, he was press-agent for a thought-reader. So it was
the "showman" aspect of the subject which led him to read up on
auto-hypnosis. It was not so much conviction as picturesqueness which
prompted him to write, in 1890, the one-act psychic sketch which
afterwards became the longer play. His enthusiasm was of considerable
duration; it passed from one play to another, and among his "subtle"
pieces on the same theme were "The Harvest Moon" and "As a Man
Thinks."

Apart from these--the nearest approach of Thomas to the so-called
"intellectual" drama--and apart from the racy territorial pieces like
"Alabama," "In Mizzoura," "Arizona," and "Colorado," his plays came
from a desire to suit the eccentricities of "stars," like
Lawrence D'Orsey in "The Earl of Pawtucket" and "The Embassy
Ball"--blood-cousins in humour to _Dundreary_--or "On the Quiet" for
the dry unctuousness of William Collier. In these plays, his purpose
was as deep as a sheet of plate glass, as polished on the surface, and
as quick to reflect the rays of smiles.