Dolly Reforming Herself A Comedy in Four Acts   By: Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929)

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. A few printer errors have been changed, and are listed at the end. All other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained.

THE PLAYS OF HENRY ARTHUR JONES

DOLLY REFORMING HERSELF

A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS

BY

HENRY ARTHUR JONES

AUTHOR OF

"THE LIARS," "MICHAEL AND HIS LOST ANGEL," "THE TEMPTER," "THE CRUSADERS," "JUDAH," "THE CASE OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN," "THE DANCING GIRL," "THE MIDDLEMAN," "THE ROGUE'S COMEDY," "THE TRIUMPH OF THE PHILISTINES," "THE MASQUERADERS," "THE MANOEUVRES OF JANE," "CARNACSAHIB," "THE GOAL," "MRS. DANE'S DEFENCE," "THE LACKEY'S CARNIVAL," "THE PRINCESS'S NOSE," ETC.

"Memnon conçut un jour le projet insensé d'être parfaitement sage. Il n'y a guère d'hommes à qui cette folie n'ait quelquefois passé par la tête." VOLTAIRE.

COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY HENRY ARTHUR JONES

PRICE 50 CENTS

NEW YORK LONDON. SAMUEL FRENCH SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. PUBLISHER 26 SOUTHAMPTON ST, 28 30 WEST 38TH STREET STRAND

DOLLY REFORMING HERSELF

A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS

BY

HENRY ARTHUR JONES

"Memnon conçut un jour le projet insensé d'être parfaitement sage. Il n'y a guère d'hommes à qui cette folie n'ait quelquefois passé par la tête." VOLTAIRE.

COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY HENRY ARTHUR JONES

CAUTION This play is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, is subject to royalty, and any one presenting the play without the consent of the author or his agents, will be liable to penalty under the law. All applications for amateur performances must be made to SAMUEL FRENCH, 28 30 West 38th Street, New York City.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

NEW YORK LONDON SAMUEL FRENCH SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. PUBLISHER 26 SOUTHAMPTON STREET 28 30 WEST 38TH STREET STRAND

"The crescendo of quarrel is most skilfully and drolly arranged; a scene on classic lines boldly challenging and, what is more, maintaining comparison with Sheridan." Mr. A. B. Walkley The London Times.

"This new play, by Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, at The Haymarket, is surely as good a comedy as he has ever written.

I should say, in evaluating Mr. Jones, that his greatest asset is his humor. We are grateful that Mr. Jones has that comfortable gift which prevents him from dancing on us that gift of humor whereby he is content to take us just as we are.

No playwright is more joyously observant than Mr. Jones; and none observes more accurately, in the milieu that he has chosen. Other playwrights may create more salient and memorable figures. But none of them creates figures so lifelike as Mr. Jones.

Nor is any one of them so fine a craftsman. We are not made conscious of it while the play is in progress. From the very outset, we are aware merely of certain ladies and gentlemen behaving with apparent freedom and naturalness. It is only when the play is over that we notice the art of it. The verisimilitude of "Dolly Reforming Herself" is all the more admirable because the play is founded on a philosophic question, and in the whole course of it there is not a scene, not a character (not even the butler's character), that is not strictly and logically relevant to this question. The whole fabric is wrought in a tight and formal pattern, yet the effect of it is as life itself. The question in point is "Can we cure ourselves of our bad habits?" and the answer is worked not through a story, but simply through the behavior of a few people in a country house.