out, but it can be estimated by his two remarks, that it was better to
fail with Tennyson than to succeed with Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, and that
there is likely to be no change for the better so long as the merits of
a drama are judged by "the standard of material prosperity." Taking
these assertions in turn, we may note, first, that Tennyson ardently
longed to write a play which should please the playgoers of his own
time; second, that he desired to be judged by these very standards of
material prosperity,--just as Mr. Jones does. Mr. Jones has more than
once succeeded in pleasing the playgoers of his own time, and Tennyson
failed to achieve the particular kind of success he was aiming at. His
failure may have been due to his lack of the native dramatic faculty; it
may have been due to his following of outworn models no longer adjusted
to the conditions of the modern theater; but whatever the reason, there
is no doubt as to the fact itself. He did not attain the goal he was
striving for any more than Browning was able to do so; and it is not for
their eulogists now to say that their goal was unworthy. The test of
"material prosperity" was the very test by which the poets wisht to be
tried, and by this test they both failed--and Mr. Henry Arthur Jones
more than once has succeeded. Tennyson and Mr. Jones were aiming at the
same target--popular success in the theater. Even if Mr. Jones has not
always made a bull's-eye, he has often put his bullet on the target--the
very target which Tennyson mist completely, even if his ball happened to
make a hit on another.

Tennyson desired to meet the conditions which all the great dramatists
have ever been willing to meet. He did not follow their example and
study carefully the circumstances of theatrical representation as they
had done, nor did he make himself master of the secrets of the
dramaturgic art. And this is a chief reason why he was unable to
produce any impression upon the drama of his day; while the dramatic