III.

From Adolphe Dennery.


Take an interesting theme, a subject neither too new nor too old,
neither too commonplace or too original,--so as to avoid shocking either
the vulgar-minded or the delicate-souled.

Adolphe Dennery.

* * * * *




IV.

From Alexandre Dumas Fils.


My dear fellow-craftsman and friend:

You ask me how a play is written. You honor me greatly, but you also
greatly embarrass me.

With study, work, patience, memory, energy, a man can gain a reputation
as a painter, or a sculptor, or a musician. In those arts there are
material and mechanical procedures that he can make his own, thanks to