Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/543

 1899.] ART, DRAMA AND MUSIC. 119

by Mr. W. H. Forman fetched 22,3902., and a portion of the appendix collection of the Ashburnham manuscripts, 8000/. ; a portion of Sir J. H. Thorold's library, 8,960/. ; of Canon Harford's, 5,758/. ; and the remaining manuscripts of Sir Thomas Phillipps, 3,780/. But highest prices reached were 11,210/. for the library, engravings and autographs of Mr. W. Wright, and 8,037/. for the books and manuscripts of an anonymous collector.

II. DRAMA.

The year 1899 produced only one drama of striking interest and importance, and that, as might be expected, came from Mr. Pinero's pen. ''The Gay Lord Quex" was a play to which objection may legitimately be taken from many points of view. It was in some points needlessly disagreeable — one had almost said needlessly vulgar. The last act, as in so many good plays, was weak and unconvincing. But as to the force and power of the drama there could be no dispute. The principal scene, admirably acted by Mr. Hare and by Miss Irene Vanbrugh — who, in the difficult part of the heroine, achieved a very remarkable success — was a piece of dramatic writing of the highest rank, and contained work which Mr. Pinero never surpassed. The play excited a good deal of criticism, and of criticism that was by no means unfair. But its appeal to the public was never for a moment in doubt, though many of Mr. Pinero's staunchest admirers were found to wish that his great dramatic ability could be employed on more agreeable themes. Mr. A. H. Jones was not so fortunate with the public this year. His excellent light comedy, " The Manoeuvres pf Jane," continued indeed to run for many weeks together ; but a more ambitious piece produced by Mr. Tree at Her Majesty's Theatre was less successful. "Carnae Sahib " was a drama of Indian life which contained, as all Mr. Jones's work does, a great deal of originality and interest, but either on account of the theme, or on account of the workmanship— or even, it might perhaps be said, on account of the acting— it failed to command any great measure of support. Another experienced dramatist, Mr. Grundy, tempted fortune with two plays, one " The Degenerates," produced by Mrs. Langtry, and the other an adaptation of "La Tulipe Noire," pro- duced at the Haymarket by Mr. Cyril Maude. The former piece was obviously written to suit Mrs. Langtry, and though a section of the public seemed to like it, it was in most respects a degenerate pro- duction. The latter proved to be too thin to hold the stage, as the author himself would feel were he a little more critical and ambitious with his work. Mr. Haddon Chambers was more successful with a light agreeable comedy, " The Tyranny of Tears," which, excellently played by Mr. Wyndham and his company, delighted a good many play-goers at the Criterion, and which will probably remain one of the pleasantest and latest memories of Mr. Wyndham's reign in that well-known little house. Mr. Carton also had some measure of good fortune with a comedy entitled "Wheels within Wheels," which, if it hardly increased its author's reputation, at least showed him to be a clever master of stage craft. And Mr. Louis Parker, among the busiest of dramatists* besides collaborating with Mr. Wilson Barrett in a melodramatic