42 



The Review of Reviews. 



reject the plays on which his Examiner has reported, 

 was unworthy a Minister of the Crown. The Lord 

 Chamberlain employs his Examiners as his eyes to 

 inform him of the nature and conients of a play. He 

 may of course if he chooses, and if he has time, exer- 

 cise his reserved right to use his own eyes. But when 

 men keep a dog they do not do their own barking. 

 Neither does the Lord Chamberlain, who keeps two 

 Readers, do his own reading. If Mr. Brookfield 

 reports that in the performance of his functions he 

 has read a certain play, and that it contains no 

 matter upon which there can be any doubt, that play 

 would be passed as a matter of course by the Lord 

 Chamberlain. It is pos- 

 sible that the Lord Cham- 

 berlain might look at a 

 play against which Mr. 

 Hrookfield had reported, 

 although even that i^ 

 doubtful. But what we 

 are concerned with is not 

 so much with the plays 

 Mr. Brookfield would re- 

 ject as with those which 

 he would pass. His neg- 

 ative report might be over- 

 ruled, his impriviatur will 

 [)ass unchallenged. 



"special qualifica- 

 tions." 



The Lord Chamberlain 

 is full of admiration for 

 the " special qualifica- 

 tions " which Mr. Brook- 

 field possesses for the 

 post to which he has been 

 a[)pointed. Whether he 

 regards as ranking among 

 these " special qualifica- 

 tions" the fact that Mr. 

 Brookfield is the author 

 of one of the filthiest 

 plays put on our stage this 

 century, was not stated, 

 but "in his judgment" 

 the fact " raises no pre- 

 sumption that -Mr. Brookfield is disqualified for the 

 etiicient performance of his duties." It reminds me 

 of a discovery I made during " The Maiden Tribute " 

 investigations. Being a child in such matters, I 

 asked .Mr. Labouchere to give me an introduction 

 to the most immoral man he knew in London. He 

 gave me an introduction to one whom he regarded 

 as a past master in the theory and practice of 

 breaking the Seventh Conmiandment. Imagine my 

 astonishment when I discovered that this jirecious 

 scoundrel had actually secured his election as chair- 

 man of a society formed for the protection of women ! 

 Mr. Labouchere's acquaintance concealed his true 

 character from the society over which he presided. 



riu^io^raph ly\ 



But in Mr. Brookfield's case he has been chosen to 

 jjrotect the morals of the stage with his record 

 blazoned before the eyes of the whole world. 

 MR. mckenna's profitable reading. 

 The Home .Secretary informed the astonished 

 House that in his opinion Mr. Brookfield's plays 

 might be read with " great profit and amusement." 

 Such at least is the inference from his remark that if 

 .Mr. Brookfield wrote a new play " the Lord Chamber- 

 lain would read it with great profit and amusement." 

 We do not know anything about what Mr. Brookfield's 

 next play may be like, nor does the Home Secretary. 

 Mr. McKenna nuist have formed his judgment upon 



plays Mr. Brookfield has 

 already written. 



Let us see, then, the 

 kind of play which the 

 Home Secretary thinks 

 may be read " with great 

 profit and amusement." 

 "Dear Old Charlie" is 

 a play which even the 

 lenient critic of a sporting 

 paper described as " disa- 

 greeable except to those 

 wno regard matrimonial 

 fidelity as a huge joke and 

 enjoy reading between the 

 lines of cynical double 

 cntaulre!' The title of 

 the piece, " Dear Old 

 Charlie," stamps it. . P'or 

 who is "Dear Old Char- 

 lie"? A profligate rake, 

 who having lived in adul- 

 tery with the wives of two 

 of his friends, is about to 

 marry a pure young giri. 

 " Dear Old Charlie " i^ 

 pictured as a charming, 

 delightful, niuch-to-be- 

 cnvied gentleman. The 

 husbands whose wives ht 

 had seduced are re pre 

 sented as a couple o 

 abject 'ooobies who art 

 held up to ridicule and contempt. This is the kin 

 of play which Mr. McKenna thinks may be read wit 

 " great profit and amusement." 



A PI.AV OF GLORIFIED ADULTERV. 



Contrast this complacent chuckle over a play < 

 glorified adultery with the scathing words employe 

 by Macaulay to describe the plays of the Restor; 

 tion, of which " Dear Old Chariie " is the lineal an 

 legitimate successor : — 



This pari of our literature is a ilisgrace lo our laiigu.igc an 

 our national cliaractcr. It is clever, indeed, and veiy eniertaii 

 ing, but it is in tlie most i mpliatic sense of the words "eijrthl' 

 sensual and devilisli ". . . We will take as an instance c>f\vh: 

 we mean a single suhjivl of the highest imporiance '.o il 

 happiness of mankind, omjug.il felicity . . . .Alter ilie Uesto:, 



Charles Brookfield. 



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