Lord W. I should feel it was not true.

A mother's love means devotion, unselfishness, sacrifice. What could you know

of such things? Mrs. E. You are right. What could I

know of such things? Don't let us talk any more about it, as for telling my daughter who I am, that I do not allow. It is my secret, it is not yours. If I make up my mind to tell her, and I think I will, I shall tell her before I leave this

house-if not, I shall never tell her. Lord W. (Angrily.) Then let me beg of

you to leave our house at once. I will make your excuses to Margaret.

(Enter Lady W. r. She goes over to Mrs.

E. with the photograph in her hand. Lord W. moves to back of sofa, and anriously watches Mrs. E. as the scene progresses.)

Lady W. No, it gave him too much paili

He told me how my mother had died a few months after I was born. His eyes filled with tears as he spoke. Then be begged me never to mention her name to him again. It made him suffer even to hear it. My father-my father really died a broken heart. His was the

most ruined life I know. Mrs. E. (Rising.). I am afraid I must go

now, Lady Windermere. Lady W. (Rising.) Oh no, don't. Mrs. E. I think I had better. My car

riage must have come back by this time

I sent it to Lady Jedburgh's with a note. Lady W. Artlıur, would you mind seeing

if Mrs. Erlynne's carriage has come

back? Mrs. E. Pray don't trouble Lord Winder

mere, Lady Windermere. Lady W. Yes, Arthur, do go, please.

(Lord WV. hesitates for a moment and looks at Mrs. E. She remains quite impassive. He leaves the room.) (TO Mrs. E.) Oh, what am I to say to you? You saved me last night!

(Goes toward her.) Mrs. E. Hush-don't speak of it. Lady W. I must speak of it. I can't let

you think that I am going to accept th:isacrifice. I am not. It is too great. I am going to tell my husband everything.

It is my duty. Mrs. E. It is not your duty-at least you

have duties to others besides him. You

say you owe me something? Lady W. I owe you everything. Mrs. E. Then pay your debt by silenee.

That is the only way in which it can be paid. Don't spoil the one good thing I have done in my life by telling it to any one. Promise me that what passed last night will remain a secret between us. You must not bring misery into your husband's life. Why spoil his love? You must not spoil it. Love is easily killed. Oh, how easily love is killed! Pledge me your word, Lady Windermere, that you will never tell him. I insist upon

Lady W. I am so sorry, Mrs. Erlynne, to

have kept you waiting. I could n't find the photograph anywhere. At last I discovered it in my husband's dressing

-he had stolen it. Mrs. E. (Takes the photograph from her

and looks at it.) I am not surprisedit is charming. (Goes over to sofa with Lady W. and sits down beside her. Looks again at the photograph.) And so that is your little boy! What is he

called ? Lady W. Gerard, after my dear father. Mrs. E. (Laying the photograph down.)

Really? Lady W. Yes. If it had been a girl, I

would have called it after my mother. My mother had the same name as myself,

Margaret. Mrs. E. My name is Margaret, too. Lady W. Indeed! Mrs. E. Yes. (Pause.) You are devoted

to your mother's memory, Lady Winder

mere, your husband tells me. Lady W. We all have ideals in life. At least we all should have.

Mine is my mother. Mrs.

E. Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but

they are better. Lady W. (Shaking her head.) If I lost

my ideals, I should lose everything. Mrs. E. Everything? Lady W. Yes.

(Pause.) Mrs. E. Did your father often speak to

you of your mother?

room

it.

Lady W. (With bowed head.) It is yonr

will, not mine. Mrs. E. Yes, it is my will. And never

forget your child—I like to think of you as a mother. I like you to think of your

self as one. Lady W. (Looking up.) I always will

now. Only once in my life I have forgotten my own mother—that was last night. Oh, if I had remembered her, I should not have been so foolish, so

wicked. Mrs. E. (With a slight shudder.) Hush, last night is quite over.

(Enter Lord W.) Lord W. Your carriage has not come back

yet, Mrs. Erlynne. Mrs. E. It makes no matter. I'll take a

hansom. There is nothing in the world so respectable as a good Shrewsbury and Talbot. And now, dear Lady Windermere, I am afraid it is really good-bye. (Moves

ир c.) Oh, I remember. You'll think me absurd, but do you know, I've taken a great fancy to this fan that I was silly enough to run away with last night from your ball. Now, I wonder would you give it to me? Lord Windermere says you may. I know it is

his present. Lady W. Oh, certainly, if it will give you

any pleasure. But it has my name on it.

It has “Margaret” on it. Mrs. E. But we have the same Christian

Duchess. Won't you carry the fan, Lord

Augustus ? Lord A. If you really desire it, Mrs. Er

lynne. Mrs. E. (Laughing.) Of course I do. You'll carry it

so gracefully. You would carry off anything gracefully,

dear Lord Augustus. (When she reaches the door she looks back

for a moment at Lady W. Their eyes meet. Then she turns, and exit c., fol

lowed by Lord A.) Lady W. You will never speak against

Mrs. Erlynne again, Arthur, will you? Lord W. (Gravely.) She is better than

one thought her. Lady W. She is better than I am. Lord W. (Smiling as he strokes her hair.)

Child, you and she belong to different worlds. Into your world evil has never

entered. Lady W. Don't say that, Arthur. There

is the same world for all of us, and good and evil, sin and innocence, go through it hand in hand. To shut one's eyes to half of life that one may live securely is as though one blinded oneself that one might walk with more safety in a land

of pit and precipice. Lord W. (Moves down with her.) Dar

ling, why do you say that? Lady W. (Sits on sofa.) Because I, who

had shut my eyes to life, came to the brink. And who had separated

name.

Lady W. Oh, I forgot. Of course, do

have it. What a wonderful chance our

names being the same! Mrs. E. Quite wonderful. Thanks—it will always remind me of you.

(Shakes hands with her.)

one

(Enter Parker.)

us

Parker. Lord Augustus Lorton. Mrs. Erlynne's carriage has come.

(Enter Lord A.) Lord A. Good morning, dear boy. Good

morning, Lady Windermere. (Sees

Mrs. E.) Mrs. Erlynne! Mrs. E. How do you do, Lord Augustus ?

Are you quite well this morning? Lord A. (Coldly.) Quite well, thank you,

Mrs. Erlynne. Mrs. E. You don't look at all well, Lord

Augustus. You stop up too late—it is so bad for you. You really should take more care of yourself. Good-bye, Lord Windermere. (Goes towards door with a bow to Lord A. Suddenly smiles, and looks back at him.) Lord Augustus ! Won't you see me to my carriage? You

might carry the fan. Lord W. Allow me! Mrs. E. No, I want Lord Augustus. I

have a special message for the dear

Lord W. We were never parted.
Lady W. We never must be again. Oh,

Arthur, don't love me less, and I will
trust you more. I will trust you abso-
lutely. Let us go to Selby. In the Rose
Garden at Selby, the roses are white and
red.

(Enter Lord A. C.) Lord A. Arthur, she has explained every

thing! (Lady W. looks horribly frightened. Lord W. starts. Lord A. takes Lord W. by the arm, and brings him to front of stage.) My dear fellow, she has explained every demned thing. We all wronged her immensely. It was entirely for my sake she went to Darlington's rooms-called first at the club. Fact is, wanted to put me out of suspense, and being told I had gone on, followed-naturally-frightened when she heard a lot of men coming in-retired to another room-I assure you, most gratifying to me, the whole thing. We all behaved

Lord A. (Advancing towards her with a

bow.) Yes; Lady Windermere, Mrs. Erlynne has done me the honor of accepting

a

my hand.

brutally to her. She is just the woman for me. Suits me down to the ground. All the condition she makes is that we live out of England-a very good thing, too!-Demmed clubs, demmed climate, demmed cooks, demmed everything!

Sick of it all. Lady W. (Frightened.) Has Mrs. Er

lynne- ?

Lord W. Well, you are certainly marry

C.

1884-5. Brooke, C. F. T. 1910. Ellis, H. Mermaid ed. 1887. Phelps, W. L. Masterpieces of the English Drama. 1912. Plays and Poems in the Everyman's Li

brary, vol. 383. Eduard II. Ed. Verity, A. W. Temple Dra.

matists. 1896. McLaughlin, E. T. 1894. Ingram, J. H. Christopher Marloue and his

Associates. 1904. Baker, G. P. Dramatic Technique in Mar

loue, in Essays and Studies by Members of

the English Association, Vol. IV. 1913. Schelling, F. E. The English Chronicle Play. 1902.

(Present text based on Neilson's, collated with Brooke's.)

Other chronicle-plays are Bale’s Kyng Johan and Sackville and Norton's Gor. boduo (forerunners of the type), the anonymous Troublesome Reign of King John, Heywood's Eduard Il' and If You Know not Me You know Nobody, Ford's Perkin Warbeck.

THOMAS DEKKER Collected Editions: Pearson, J. 4 vols. 1873. Rhys, E. Mermaid ed. 1895. The Shoemakers' Holiday. Lange, A. F.

(in Gayley's Representative English

Comedies. Vol. III. 1914). Grosart, A. B. The Non-Dramatic Works

of Thomas Dekker. 5 vols. 1884-6. Hunt, Mary L. Thomas Dekker: A Study. 1911.

(Present text based on Neilson's, col. lated with Lange's.)

Other comedies of London life are Eastuard Ho! by Jonson, Chapman and Marston, Middleton's A Mad World My Masters, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Å Trick to Catch the Old One, Fletcher's Monsieur Thomas and Wit Without Money.

THOMAS HEYWOOD Collected Editions: Pearson, J. 6 vols. 1874. Verity, A. W. Mermaid ed. 1888. The Captives. In Bullen's Old Plays. Vol.

IV. 1883. A Woman Killed with Kindness. Ed. A.

W. Ward, Temple Dramatists. 1897. (Present text based on Neilson's, collated with Pearson's and Verity's.)

Other examples of domestic drama are: Arden of Ferersham, How a Man May Choose a Good Wife from a Bad, Heywood's The English Traveller and Fortune by Land and Sea, Middleton and Rowley's A Fair Quarrel.

BEN JONSON Collected Editions: Gifford, W. 9 vols.

1816. Cunningham, F. 9 vols. 1871-5. Nicholson, B. Mermaid ed. 3 vols. 1893-4. Rhys, E. Masterpieces of The English Drama. Everyman's Library, vols. 489, 490. Several of the plays have

been edited in Yale Studies in English. The Alchemist. Ed. Hathaway, Η.

Yale Studies in English. 1903. Ed. with Eastuard Ho! by Schelling, F. E.

Belles Lettres Series. 1903. Castelain, M. Ben Jonson: L'Homme et

l'Oeuvre. 1907. Koeppel, E. Ben Jonson's Wirkung auf

zeitgenössische Dramatiker. Anglistische

Forschungen. 1906. Koeppel, E. Quellenstudien zu den Dramen

Ben Jonson's. 1895. Swinburne, A. C. A Study of Ben Jonson.

1889. Symonds, J. A. Ben Jonson. 1886. Woodbridge, E. Studies in Jonson's Comedy. 1898.

(Present text based on Neilson's, collated with Schelling's.)

A reading of The Alchemist may be supplemented by that of others of Jonson's plays: Every Man in His Humor, Sejanus, Volpone, Epicene, Bartholomer Fair. Massinger's New Way to Pay Old Debts shows his influence.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER Collected Editions. Bullen, A. H. Va

riorum ed. (4 vols. published; in prog: ress). 1904, etc. Glover, A. and Waller, A. R. 10 vols. 1905–12. Schelling, F. E. Masterpieces of the English Drama. 1912. Select Plays, in Everyman's Library, vol. 506. Strachey, J. St. L. Ver.

maid ed. 2 vols. 1887. Philaster. Ed. Boas, F. S. Temple Dra.

matists. 1898. Thorndike, A. H. Belles

Lettres Series. 1906. Gayley, C. M. Beaumont the Dramatist.

1914. Hatcher, O. L. John Fletcher, a Study in

Dramatic Method. 1905.
Macaulay, G. C. Francis Beaumont,

Critical Study. 1883. Thorndike, A. H. The Influence of Beatmont and Fletcher on Shakespeare. 1901.

(Both present texts are based on Neilson's, collated with Thorndike's for Phil. aster, and Glover and Waller's for Wild Goose Chase.)

Other good examples of tragi-comedy are:

The Tuo Noble Kinsmen, attributed to Shakespeare and Fletcher, Beaumont and Fletcher's King and No King, Fletcher's The Chances and The Loyal Subject, Heywood's A Challenge for Beauty, Massinger's The Maid of Honor and The Great Duke of Florence, Middleton and Rowley's The Spanisk Gipsy, Shirley's The Coronation and The Royal Master, D'Avenant's Lote

and Honor.

Other good examples of high comedy, pointing toward Restoration comedy, are Shirley's Lady of Pleasure and Hyde Park.