Note 21 — Chapter VI · 1878. THE NEW MANAGER OF THE LYCEUM—MISS TERRY—HIS SYSTEM AND ASSISTANTS.

Time moves so quickly on that many will have forgotten that the popular writer Pinero, whose dramatic works are now in such demand, was at this time an obscure, painstaking actor, and one of the first to take service in Irving’s corps. By-and-by he brought the manager some slight pieces, such as ‘Daisy’s Escape,’ to serve as levers de rideau. These were neatly written and full of spirit. He thus practised his pen, and, as the stage was of large size, had to aim at broad, bold effects, a treatment which has been of material service in his more formal pieces. To his efforts as an actor we can scarcely extend the admiration we have for his writings; and his performance of Sir Peter Teazle at the Haymarket was a strange, wonderful thing.