The " Dolly Dialogues " serve much the same purpose that the ballet does in an opera—they are a divertissement pure and simple. The winsome, irresponsible "Dolly" picks her steps amid the conversational pitfalls which the adroit " Mr. Carter" spreads for her, with as much dainty sureness as a premiere danseuse, and we cannot but admire and applaud her grace and vivacity. There is no hidden meaning to the "Dialogues " any more than there is to "Dolly." They but reveal the polished inanity of the modern ball-room, the fashionable frivolity of the five o'clock tea-table, and the harmless flirtations of the lawn-tennis court. As "trifles light as air," Mr. Hope offered them to us; as trifles we accept them, and who but the most nobly serious could refuse to smile over their gracefulness, their immaculate innuendo! As a hand-book on "Polite Conversations; or, The Art of Saying Nothing Gracefully," these " Dolly Dialogues " might almost take rank as a serious classic.

The " Dolly Dialogues " serve much the same purpose that the ballet does in an opera—they are a divertissement pure and simple. The winsome, irresponsible "Dolly" picks her steps amid the conversational pitfalls which the adroit " Mr. Carter" spreads for her, with as much dainty sureness as a premiere danseuse, and we cannot but admire and applaud her grace and vivacity. There is no hidden meaning to the "Dialogues " any more than there is to "Dolly." They but reveal the polished inanity of the modern ball-room, the fashionable frivolity of the five o'clock tea-table, and the harmless flirtations of the lawn-tennis court. As "trifles light as air," Mr. Hope offered them to us; as trifles we accept them, and who but the most nobly serious could refuse to smile over their gracefulness, their immaculate innuendo! As a hand-book on "Polite Conversations; or, The Art of Saying Nothing Gracefully," these " Dolly Dialogues " might almost take rank as a serious classic.

For this story there can be nothing but praise. It is true that it can scarcely be called literature, as doubtless no one knows better than the author. A writer who leaves off such work as Half a Hero and takes a royal road to fortune, if not to fame, with The Prisoner of Zenda, must be conscious of the change of method. But the work is quite as fine in its different way as if it were of much finer literary quality, and far more interesting than many a better written story. Too many books are worn thin by overuse of literature's tools, too few are endowed with the vitality that makes this tale vividly alive. From beginning to end it moves with a breathless rush. The plot is the purchase by an English nobleman ot an isolated island inhabited by semi-civilised Greeks who have a confirmed habit of killing any man who buys the island. They kill the old lord who sells it, and who dies just as the new owner arrives, so that the story opens with murder, to be followed by attempted assassination, all leading to blood and adventures galore.

Father Stafford is veritably a tragic tale, albeit it appears that he has seen fit to give it more the setting of a comi-tragedy. But when the heart of a noble, maguanimous character, like that of Father Stafford, is involved in a serious love affair, with no future but that of blighted hopes and disappointment, one feels like looking upon such scenes with a solemn, thoughtful mien , yet one must smile occasionally, for Anthony Hope has the knack of applying the most sparkling and humorous of dialogues exactly at the right moment, thus saving his dramatic and tragical scenes from going utterly to pieces. However, this is Anthony Hope over and over again. We recognized him as the prince of dialogue in " The Prisoner of Zenda," and although the story of " Father Stafford " is of entirely different aspect, the " speaking parts" are just as delicious. Father Stafford is an Anglican clergyman, and a man of remarkable talents, yet his inclinations would probably have been better directed had he turned them toward affairs of the world. As it is, a good, well-meaning man, who has bound himself to prayers, self-abnegation, and the Church, also taking the vow of celibacy, discovers too late that the flesh of mankind is weak, and that love is king of all emotions. His life is one of peacefulness until he meets Lady Claudia Territon at the English houseparty where the story is cast, when life for the " pope," as she charmingly dubs him, begins to drift into other spheres, different from the altitude of the religious devotee, and extremely unfortunate for the young minister, whose duty it is to walk in the ways of the righteous ...

This is probably one of the best-known and well-loved stories in Western culture, as it has 5 times been made into a film. The hero of the story is Rudolph Rassendyl who, finding himself in the mythical land of Ruritania, is swept into a fast-paced and exciting adventure in an attempt to save the rightful King from would-be conspirators.

It is easy to be enthusiastic about the story. It is psychologic—but with a difference, the difference being the bright and compelling interest of Mr. Hope's dialogue, and the smiling sanity of his spirit. Imagine much that is best in Meredith or James, and all that is best in Anthony Hope, and you have a fair idea of ' A Servant of the Public'. It is not the conventional story of the stage, with glib talk of the greenroom, and intimate glimpses 'behind the footlights.' It is the story of an actress off, rather than on, the stage—an analysis of the theatrical, perhaps 'artistic' temperament.