As it is, imaginative work is replaced by intellectual exercises, poetry is lost in his analysis of complex states of feeling.

However, this involved in-and-out of thought is entertaining to follow in one's study if not on the stage.

It is done with a loose power no one else in England possessed, and our only regret is that he did not bridle and master his power.

Finally, with regard to this play, I should like to isolate from it certain imaginative representations of characters which embody types of the men of the time, such as the Prefect and the Nuncio.

The last interview between Loys and the Prefect, taken out of the drama, would be a little masterpiece of characterisation.
* * * * * _The Blot in the Scutcheon_ is the finest of all these dramas.