From the INTRODUCTION. I have read with much interest and no little instruction the leaves of Mr. Austin Fryers' brochure, and now that I take up my pen to write an introduction to them, I pause, confronted with the conviction that hut little remains to he said on the subjects he has so exhaustively dealt with. To cumber the arguments which he so lucidly puts forward, would be a ridiculous excess of verbiage; while to agree with them in detail would involve oneself in that responsibility which most wise editors disclaim. Of the moral influence of the stage I do not think it is necessary to speak, except to say that a play is only moral or immoral in so far as its tendency is this or that. Even Puritans, some of whom I am told survive to this day, have probably come to the conclusion that morality is independent of vocation. Should any peculiar people exist who (not reading the records of the daily papers) believe that the stage has a monopoly of indiscretion, I need only refer them to what Mr Fryers has written on the subject. The chapters on the technicalities and varying circumstances of life and business in the theatrical profession are illuminating and instructive, because Mr Fryers, an observant and sympathetic critic, writes of them from personal experience. He lays bare many facts which are new to me and, I confess, somewhat startling. Such information is of advantage to all of us who strive for the elimination from our calling of those conditions which make for the undoing of the unwary. In the theatrical profession there are, of course, many pitfalls, and knowledge of the cold and grim business-aspect whose seams are visible from the other side of the footlights must prove of service to those who think of "going on the stage" to earn a livelihood. It is well that an able writer, not wholly imbued with professional views and aspirations, should have made such an intimate inspection of the "mean streets" of the profession. The effect of this little book may be to pull down some of the slums and rookeries. That I should find myself in agreement with Mr. Austin Fryers' views in favour of the necessity for dramatic training I fully anticipated, for I have had the privilege of knowing for many years past that he was confirmed in this true faith. My own endeavour — which, I am happy to say, promises to be entirely successful — to found a School of Dramatic Art has aroused not a few storms in some theatrical teacups. The habit of "writing to the papers" appears to be widespread and incurable; it has taken an epidemic form over my project(?). These microbic organisms were hatched by Mr. Wilson Barrett. At the inauguration of my school, he sent me a message of frank, breezy, and hearty condemnation of the project ; but, in the same electric breath, he offered, with a charming inconsistency, to pay for three scholarships. Thus, his vote of censure was turned, by his own amendment, into one of confidence. Mr Barrett has acquired, not unnaturally , the habit of rescuing maidens in distress, and in this quixotic spirit he has mistaken for one of these that matronly person, the British Drama, on whom no one has laid a hand — "except in the way of kindness." I know how a simple direct truth will always go straight to the hearts of the majority (unthinking or otherwise). As an instance of the success of the direct appeal, I recall that of an author-actor at Drury Lane, who, realising that the play was going badly up to the end of the second act, came to the footlights at the psychological moment, and, throwing himself into a heroic pose, exclaimed: — "A British sailor ... is NOT ... a woman ... but ... a man!" The School of Dramatic Art, instead of over - stocking the profession, or introducing the incapable, will have the directly contrary effect of reducing the ranks of the profession to the limits of capability. In a private school run for profit, mere considerations of business may induce the proprietor to retain a pupil who is hopelessly incapable, but in my School, as in the Paris Conservatoire, the incapables will be weeded out by examination.