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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
the leading theatres of the country. The
period from 1867 to 1877 might, with a
decent show of propriety, be called the
T. W. Robertsonian decade of the drama
in America. In England the Robertsonian
reign stretched out for twenty years or
more. The Encyclopaedia Britannica de-
clared, in 1886, that his " popularity showed
no sign of waning." The author's life
was embraced between 1829 and 187 1,
and he knew not his first taste of success
till seven years before his death. Of the
dramas mentioned above, only The Night-
ingale and War met with failure. David
Garrick, Home, and Caste were much the
best of the series, and, of these, the first
two had been brazenly — or perhaps, just
frankly — plagiarized from the continent
of Europe; Home being a loose version
of L'Aventuriere of Emile Augier. David
Garrick lends itself to the needs of rising
" stars," and seems to be booked for a
stage immortality, the span of which is
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