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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
right to live, I suppose, but nothing could
make me doubt that, with the actress of
thirty years ago to play the leading part,
the drama would captivate sensitive hearts
to-day ; and as to this declaration, I put
myself upon a jury of my peers, — recog-
nizing as my peers, for this purpose, only
such persons as distinctly remember the
play and its chief player.
Mrs. Curtis's drama. The Spirit of '76,
deserves to be recalled not only for its
piquant wit, but because of the interest
attaching to its prophetic character. It
was in form a delicate burlesque, but its
plot and dialogue were underborne by a
thoughtful, conservative purpose. Pro-
duced in 1868, the play was a fanciful
picture in anticipation of our corner of
the United States in 1876, the political and
economic relations of the sexes having
been precisely inverted ad interim. None
of the more extravagant visions have any-
where come even partly true, except in
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