1903 1 Yeats' "Hour Glass" 53 



whole he is satisfied with it, and I am convinced all will go well. It 

 has been a great satisfaction to me to manage this matter. 



" 2nd May.— Spent the morning writing a letter to the ' Times ' 

 about Somaliland. This exhausted me, as I am still very weak, so weak 

 that I could not sit out the Irish play, to which I went in the afternoon. 

 The first piece was a terrible infliction, called ' The Hour Glass,' by 

 Yeats — a stupid imitation of that dull old morality, ' Everyman,' which 

 bored me so much last year. What Yeats can mean by putting such 

 thin stuff on the stage I can't imagine. It was not even well acted, for 

 Yeats had drilled his actors to imitate Irving and other English medi- 

 ocrities. They talked pompous stage English, and were not allowed 

 their natural Irish accent. I felt inclined to get up and protest that we 

 had not come to the Irish Literary Society for that. I was indignant, 

 too, but it exhausted my little strength. I was determined, however, 

 to hear Lady Gregory's piece, ' Twenty-five,' and was rewarded, for it is 

 quite the most perfect little work of art and the most touching play 

 I have ever seen acted. Only it made me weep in my weak state. I 

 could not stay on for the final piece, ' Kathleen na Houlihan.' So I went 

 home. I expect to see unbounded praise of the ' Hour Glass ' in the 

 London papers. 



"May 3rd (Sunday). — William O'Brien came unexpectedly to see 

 me and I talked the Land Bill over with him. I hope he will be pru- 

 dent in what he says on the second reading, but he seems determined to 

 press for an all round reduction of 15 per cent., which George told me 

 was one of the most dangerous points, as Chamberlain is lying in wait 

 to demand a withdrawal of the Bill if the twelve million limit is threat- 

 ened, also, George believes, Hicks-Beach. While we were talking and I 

 was impressing on O'Brien George's conversion on the Irish question, 

 who should come in but Percy Wyndham. ' I see the world is very 

 small,' said O'Brien, ' and perhaps I had better be off,' and off he 

 went. He was to have sent Dillon to me, but this morning I have had 

 a note from him saying he thinks it might have an awkward effect if 

 the suggestion of his calling came from him. (They had quarrelled.) 

 Percy had been told that O'Brien was with me and was much intrigue 

 about him. Percy, though immensely interested in George's success, 

 is too old a Tory to like the Bill, and prophesies all kinds of trouble 

 for Ireland in the future. As to myself I have written as follows 

 to Redmond : 



" ' I see you are asking subscriptions for the Irish Parliamentary 

 Fund. I have much pleasure in sending you £50. You have done 

 such admirable service during the past year as Leader of the Oppo- 

 sition, in place of the half-hearted and unintelligent gentlemen who sit 

 on the Liberal Front Bench, that all lovers of Liberty here have come 



