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234 The learned —On what ground do you base your recommendation, gentlemen?

The —We think that he is not solely responsible for the result. Many persons contribute to a stage performance, and the author's contribution is only a part of a whole. We think that he should not be held absolutely responsible for either failure or success. In this case manager, actor, actresses, and author were all more or less to blame. The author is one of many contributors to an unsatisfactory result.

The learned —At the same time you consider that he has committed the offence of writing an impracticable and ineffective stage-play? The —Undoubtedly. We were never so bored in our lives. (Murmurs of assent from the Jury.)

The learned addressing the Prisoner, said.—You have been found guilty by a most fair and impartial jury of the very serious offence of having written an exceedingly poor play. Several of the witnesses have testified to certain literary merits which are to be found in your work, but sitting here as your judge, it is my duty to tell you that literary merit is only one of many elements—and by no means an indispensable one—that go to make a successful stage-play. It is but one of the constituents of the dramatic pudding. Stage-craft is the water that binds these constituents into an attractive mass; without it the fabric will not hold together.