GREEK PLAY 259 



room with one of the Committee. He seemed to me to 

 bristle with decision and alertness. He wore an old- 

 fashioned tall top-hat, very high in the crown, with a 

 flat brim ; and a short full-skirted tail coat. He looked 

 sharply from bird to bird, and then said suddenly, 

 " That scarlet Ibis is all wrong ; the head ought not 

 to be scarlet it is preposterously absurd ; it must be 

 darkened at once." 



The Ibis was the headgear of a friend of mine, 

 Willy Boyle, an extremely good-natured, able, rather 

 indolent Eton man, with much musical ability. He 

 took off the head. It was a pleasing object, made of a 

 long-haired rough red plush, with a curved black beak 

 and large, shining, roguish black eyes, represented by 

 means of a sort of glazed metal stud. 



Some paint was brought, and Professor Newton 

 daubed over the bird-head with it, giving a dusky 

 draggled air. The owner looked on ruefully. The 

 Professor said sharply : " There ; that is better now, 

 but it is still ridiculous. An Ibis with a scarlet head ! 

 Whoever heard of such nonsense ? ' It was not better 

 at all ; it was much worse, though perhaps it was 

 ornithologically correct ; but it sacrificed a pretty point 

 of colour. . . . That was my only sight of the Professor 

 at that date. He seemed to me to be decided, brisk, 

 peremptory, not very good-natured, not a man to 

 oppose in any way. 



Newton wrote to his friend Lord Lilford about the 

 same production of the Birds : 



December 4, 1883. 



MY DEAR LILFORD, 



I suppose Aristophanes had not a much more 

 definite notion of an Ibis than he had of a Phoenix. 

 He had heard of both and so mentioned their names. 

 The great drawback to the performance here was the 

 very small size of the stage. Had there been room for 

 the men to stand, the members of the chorus should 



