The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-22

| fact, II The Notorious MIS- Eoponh'h'
after an existence OF scarce six years. Ia in
parts already moth-eaten and mouldy, 1t IL
merely the fault Of it's lamentabie con-
clusion. The first two acts are still fne'
but in the third act things gallop DOWN
ward at vertiginous pace. and the last
act, which was already condemned in 1895,
IL now positively intolerable. i wonder
that Mr.. Pinero has not used his leisure to
improve upon this, his greatest work,
play that, az far as literature Ia concerned,
entirely overshadows The Second Mrs.
| Tanoueray' The final act Of nearly every
! play Of our foremost dramatist IL his weakest
| point
Mr.. Grein also mentions the beautifully
finished acting Of Mr.. George Arliss NOW
in THE Darling Of the GodsO as the Duke
Of 81. Oipherts. -He literally drained the
character, he rendered il with all its finesse,
it's acerbity OF speech. it's cynicism OF the
evergreen yet equity old beau. John
Hare was the Duke in New York. We saw
| Mr.. Arliss and liked him better, better be-
| cause more facets Of the characters were
exposed by his more generous. freer artis-
| tic method. Mr. Hare is often CONSTRUCTED
| and hard. His tone is that Of once ex-
celent. but now rather dry, old-fashioned
square planoforte.
Both .Iris" IiSoll and THE Gay Lord
Quex' Ils99l have been recently heard here
and do not warrant discussion at present.
The latter comedy of manners strikes us
as the very brilliant Towering Of the Pine 70
talent. 1t is objective the author wisely
refuses to side with the angels or devils.
1t is consummately witty. And it is SUI
premely executed. OF its cynical worldly
tone, of it's too black painting Of society
we have nothing to say. Modern painters
are now working in higher pitched color
scheme. A Monet landscape, its atnos-
phere buzzing with heat. its glorious hand
ling of divided tones and complementary
colors; an interior of Renoir with it's dex-
ferrous play Of contrasted lights-these
works Of art might serve as symbolic sign
posts 1--we admit the analogy is strained
for Pinero in his later manner. He is
more intense than formerly--Irs' proves
il; he is not ashamed, as are many Of his
English contemporaries, to display naked
emotion; but he is still far from spiritual
emancipation. still in the bonds OF the
orthodox. He might profit by the ex-
ample Of his artistic French brethren.
who after a oenturys slavery to the con-
ing light Of the studio where the model
was ACCIDENTALLY posed for an ideal
subject, went forth into the open and saw
men and women and sunlight with I'M
prejudiced vision. The result is glorious,
from Manet. Degas, Monet to the new man
OF yesterday. 1t has cleaned up the pal
ette." to employ a telling phrase, and it is
nearer natures warm heartbeat.
NJ pip,rn baa hann solaa ming hia
dramatic palette of all the old, ugly dull
and dispiriting colors for a decade; when
he goes into the open air altogether he will
achieve great things. Look at Thomas
Hardy and his Jude the Obscure and
what an outburst of puritanical hatred
that novel caused. Pinero is so essentially
British in his gifts, in his expression, that
it would be- pity il he followed too closely
in the footsteps Of Ibsen. Of Hauptmann,
Sudermann or the modern Parisians. The
radical painters always rely on their in
dividual vision and judgment. Now,
Pinero has voice. vision, judgment. He
has mastered the idiom of the theatre.
He has written at least one masterpiece
and half dozen admirable plays. He is
at the meridian of his powers. Iris"
has moments when you feel that at last
he is about to achieve his full flight: but
its ponderous psychology chokes the drama
which. despite its supernal cleverness
in spots, il not Technically unfolded
with Pineros sovereign skill. There are
halts and hesitations and discouraging
little backwaters of desolation; then the
action proceeds jerkily 20 terrific con-
clusion: a logical conclusion. be il said,
for here and not in The Notorious Mrs.
Ebbsmith." the dramatist has displayed
exalted courage. We do not agree with
Mr. Grein in his statement that the tale Of
Agnes Ebbsmith is crater literature than
Pduiu's career The most meanly, miser-
able and remorselessly appealing is the
sad adventuring OF Iris Boldmy. And
Mr. Pinero will. We hope, give us some
thing greater less pcssmistic and with
more Of the pathos and tragic beauty Of
life Surely there IL balm somewhere in
Gilead for the feminine transgressor In
real life the so-callrd ruined woman
does not always go Ia the gutter. nor yet
faunt abroad her SCARLET shame After
her publication through sorrow. repen-
tanoe-in secret, and not on the housstops,
she has been known to live happily and
end ia the odor of sp-ctabllity, Tins
of ooursa. will offend unchsritable idealists
who would like To- believe that Ia world
81 change the one Interchangeable entry
!. the woman who has loved unvissly
But modern experience and modern tol-r-
ancs do not tally With thes@ narrow views
Mr. Pinero lac ready al hand just such
problems Of good aud evil and beyond
good aud evil ~ the land of the immoraliri
~h.T, the instability 81 all thinss mundane.
even a hArd-And-fsst system ~ morality,
IL recognized
W. ss.,m TIA. Sunday a. have followed
"a. pfaatIr- ~ Hl1hu Who. when a nov
lspok vac uublisii.d took down a l,-loy'd
ODD one ffum 90 shsif Arthur Pin"ro IL
AlsAys good a. r-ad the DID 40 veil a. ~.
nss pibsio aud IA" brSrf the i-',tsTi
JAnts lirRtkIh