... . By Alan R. Haig Brown. I KNOW of no sound more peculiarly suited to the stately country homes of England than the cawing of the rooks as they circle above the lofty elm trees. I know of no bird more cordially detested by agriculturists and game preservers than the sable pillager of grain and nests. And yet even in this matter-of-fact world of to-day, the good which the rook does, albeit of ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. EAST AND WEST.-- THE BAD GIRL OF THE FAMILY. WHY should folk smile when one mentions The Bad Girl of the Family'! I do not know, unless we are supposed to assume that Mr. Fredk. Melville's play, be cause it comes from over the water, is to be regarded indulgently by the world west of Temple Bar. Does not this however, raise a question which will allow of a great deal of ...

... . MR. FORHMAN has started his Repertory Theatre at the Duke of York's with a production in most respects typical of such a venture. The Justice of Mr. John Galsworthy is a play well worthy of presentation, and sure to com mand the interest, of a certain thoughtful section of playgoers. But it is emphatically not a play for every one's money, and it is thus suited for production only under ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC, THE TENTH MAN, AT THE GLOBE THEATRE. ACCORDING to George Winter, M.P. for Middlepool, in Mr. Maugham's play at the Globe Theatre, Nine men out of ten are either rogues or fools, and it is only The Tenth Man who is what-- well, different from the other nine, There are so many ways in which such difference may be manifested that we ought to be obliged to Mr. .Maugham ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE BALKAN PRINCESS AT THE PRINCE OF WALES'S THEATRE. WITH the Emperor William's stern eyes upon them, what few are left of the German minor princelets have to very much mind how they behave themselves. We must give up hope, therefore, for the present, at all events, of another Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. But in the Balkans, while three or four Great Powers are still ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE ETERNAL QUESTION AT THE GARRICK THEATRE. IN the preface to the copy of the play which is now before the public at the Garrick Theatre, Mr. Hall Caine tells us that it owes nothing to his Eternal City (Her Majesty's Theatre, 1902) except the material which the latter piece owed to the novel-- his own novel of the same name. However, perhaps for their own happiness, ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE O'FLYNN, AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. THERE is not much beyond its name to make the new play at His Majesty's particularly an Irish one. True, the leading character is, according to the conventional model which the stage-- always a trimmer --has adopted from Lover and Lever and Boucicault, to make up for Thackeray. But it is a model which those who look for its original ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE REJUVENATION OF AUNT MARY, AT TERRY'S THEATRE. I DO not know as I write whether The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary will be a success in London or not. But since in America, as we learn, its run has gone into four figures, we must do our best to like both the piece and the acting of it-- or stand the consequences. They are not pleasant, these consequences of being unable ...

... . By Vedetie. I THINK it is safe to say that Messrs. Smith and Car penter have got hold of another winner in The Fighting Chance, a military drama exactly of the kind to appeal to a British audience of what is known as the popular' order. From what I had heard of Messrs. Ferris and Matthews's play when it was originally tried at the Crown Theatre, Peckham, some two years ago, I should ...

... . OttR picture is of special interest because it marks the opening of a new railway extension which connects the three chief towns of Norway, and, as it were, places the whole country within hail. The booklet from which it is extracted is written by Dr. T. N. Kelynack, an expert who has been investigating the claims of Scandinavia as a health resort. He arrives at a very favourable conclusion, ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. SHAMUS O'BRIEN, AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Just afther the war in the year '98, As soon as the boys wor all scattered and bate, Twas the custom whenever a pesant was got. To hang them by thrial barrin' such as was shot. 80 sang Le Fanu, in rather rollicking measure, in the introduction to his rhymed story of Shamus O'Brien, which Mr. G. H. Jessop adapted, and Mr. C. ...

... . By Vedette. IF I had been Mr. Arthur Hardy I should have been inclined to postpone my production of the new Vice Versâ until the Christmas holidays, when it would have been sure of filling Mr. Chudleigh's cosy theatre with school boys eager for the fantastic fray of Mr. Anstey's school room farce. But after all this should be a timely triumph merely postponed, since the merry piece of semi ...