Description

MICHAEL, though styled by Milton of celestial armies prince, has found his sword unequal to the task of combating the well-ordered hosts of darkness, By thousands and by millions ranged for fight. The author of Michael and his Lost Angel seeks accordingly in print consolation for the rebuffs he has experienced upon the stage. Some comfort in the midst of defeat may be found in the fact that the gods themselves fight vainly against prejudice and stupidity. I am not in the least seeking to set aside the verdict pronounced by the majority of experts upon Mr. Jones's latest play and subsequently accepted if not ratified by the general public which would not be induced to see it. All I seek to do is to deal so far as I am able with the adverse influences to which it succumbed, and to explain why I think it a fine work and in many respects a triumph. The misfortunes of Michael and his Lost Angel attended, if they did not anticipate, its conception. Like Marina in Pericles it had at least as chiding a nativity.