Well, it cannot be denied that the English are only too anxious
to recognize a man of genius if somebody will kindly point him
out to them. Having pointed myself out in this manner with some
success, I now point out Samuel Butler, and trust that in
consequence I shall hear a little less in future of the novelty
and foreign origin of the ideas which are now making their way
into the English theatre through plays written by Socialists.
There are living men whose originality and power are as obvious
as Butler's; and when they die that fact will be discovered.
Meanwhile I recommend them to insist on their own merits as an
important part of their own business.


THE SALVATION ARMY

When Major Barbara was produced in London, the second act was
reported in an important northern newspaper as a withering attack
on the Salvation Army, and the despairing ejaculation of Barbara
deplored by a London daily as a tasteless blasphemy. And they
were set right, not by the professed critics of the theatre, but
by religious and philosophical publicists like Sir Oliver Lodge
and Dr Stanton Coit, and strenuous Nonconformist journalists like
Mr William Stead, who not only understood the act as well as the
Salvationists themselves, but also saw it in its relation to the
religious life of the nation, a life which seems to lie not only
outside the sympathy of many of our theatre critics, but actually
outside their knowledge of society. Indeed nothing could be more
ironically curious than the confrontation Major Barbara effected
of the theatre enthusiasts with the religious enthusiasts. On the