... I._A SNOW- MAN. BY CLO GRAVES. [Alt Rights Rescrvid by the Authoress.] Scene The courtyard of an old country manor-house. A frozen fish pond, a sea', and a sun-dial. It is a hriyht 2fth of December with Heaps of snow. Discovered, Gerty, ayed twelve, a vision of golden curls, bright eyes, and rosy cheeks, in combination with a Tam-o'-Shanter, a brass-buttoned pea-jacket, a short serge frock, ...

... Scene The courtyard of the same old country manor-house. A starlit night in July. Sir Robert, aged twenty-five, bare-headed and in Cavalry mess-uniform, kicking his heels impatiently by the sun-dial. Sir Robert [savagely knocking the ash from his cigar). How many more hours must I kick my heels round this beastly old sun-dial, I wonder? They must have finished dinner ages ago. She vowed to be ...

... TIIE LIFE OF THACKERAY. If there was one thing Thackeray hated more than he hated sentimentality, it was a biography. Let there be none of this when I go, he said to his daughters, as he threw down the fulsome memoir he was reading. That is the reason perhaps no official Life has appeared of him by any of his real intimates, if we except those tantalising glimpses which occur in the ...

... pTIOOS CRITIC. 41rHiS OAERICK THEATRE. THE tell me that the theatres generally, and notably the comic ones, are not doing surprisingly well, and perhaps until our war news becomes more cheerful it would seem a little heartless were we particular]y active in the quest of merriment. But, fortunately, however actively we might took for big fun on the stage just now, we may make up our we ...

... ^ttr^CAPTIOUS CRITIC. irg aND THE BEANSTALK AT DRURY JACK A laNe theatre DRURY LANE is justifying its traditions-- drawing full houses in these not very flourishing times for theatres, and making its audiences laugh, not excepting the strong con tingents of young folk. Of course the Christmas productions here-- thanks to the big expenditure which is the rule, and the exceptional ...

... %\xt theatres BY W. MOY TIIOMAS A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM WHILE. Mr. Sidney Lee, in the Nineteenth Century, is com plaining that the feast that Shakespeare's plays offer to the playgoer is regarded a ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE MYSTICAL MISS. IS The Mystical Miss a miss fire? I do not know, but I fear that it is not quite the success which it ought to be. To my own taste it is, at least, as good a piece as The Belle of New York which it follows at the Shaftesbury, and certainly on the whole is better sung and acted. Nor is there any denying the character and vigour of Mr. Sousa's setting, ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. A Midsummer Night's Dream is possibly the worst play that Shakespeare wrote, if indeed-- which does not seem quite clear-- he ever intended it to he regarded as a play at all. It is more allied in many respects to the masque than to the drama, and its incongruous mixture of Greek legend and old English fairy lore has left it a conundrum to ...

... Htusif flf the lleek Concerts have been very much better attended this week, and there is every hope that the slump is passing away, Indeed, there is great doubt whether the influenza, far more than ...

... Itefo flobrls a fair imperialist THE fact that Miss Petronella Carew approved of Dr. Jameson's raid, while her admirer, Mr. Hurlston, of the Stock Exchange, held an opposite opinion, is not sufficie ...

... . THIS handsome and very interesting book¹ is the record of the first ascents of Aconcagua and Tupungato, the giants of the Andes of Argentina, and of explorations of the surrounding valleys. The volume, it may be added, is the outcome of seven months of desperately hard and trying work by all the members of the expedition. Mr. Fitzgerald, who will be remembered as the author of Climbs in New ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER. SAID Johnson, apropos of She Stoops to Conquer, I know of no comedy for many years which has so much exhilarated an audience, that has answered so well the great end of comedy, making an audience merry. How did they then act the only one of Goldsmith's three plays which had a great deal of success with its contemporary public? That we shall never ...