Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's note

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 concut un jour le projet insense d'etre parfaitement sage. Il
n'y a guere d'hommes a qui cette folie n'ait quelquefois passe par la
tete." 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 concut un jour le projet insense d'etre parfaitement sage. Il
n'y a guere d'hommes a qui cette folie n'ait quelquefois passe par la
tete." 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.

The central scene of the play, however, is the scene between Dolly and her husband. The whole scene is delightful, worked out with the finest sense of dramatic rhythm: a truly great comic scene, of which Mr. Jones may well be proud."

Mr. Max Beerbohm--The Saturday Review.

TO MISS ETHEL IRVING

My Dear Miss Irving,

Will you accept the dedication of this little comedy, whose success at the Haymarket was so largely due to your fine and sincere performance of Dolly?

Faithfully yours

Henry Arthur Jones.

The following is a copy of the original cast of "Dolly Reforming Herself" produced at the Haymarket Theatre, on Tuesday, November 3rd., 1908.

CAST.

_Harry Telfer_ (Dolly's Husband) MR. ROBERT LORAINE _Matthew Barron_ (Dolly's Father) MR. C. M. LOWNE _Captain Lucas Wentworth_ (Dolly's Cousin) MR. CHARLES R. MAUDE _Professor Sturgess_ MR. E. LYALL SWETE _The Rev. James Pilcher_ (Vicar of Crookbury) MR. HERBERT BUNSTON _Criddle_ MR. GILBERT PORTEOUS _Mrs. Harry Telfer_ (Dolly) MISS ETHEL IRVING _Mrs. Sturgess_ (Renie) MISS MARGARET HALSTAN _Peters_ (Dolly's Maid) MISS ADA WEBSTER

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

HARRY TELFER (Dolly's husband). MATTHEW BARRON (Dolly's father). CAPTAIN LUCAS WENTWORTH (Dolly's cousin). PROFESSOR STURGESS. THE REVEREND JAMES PILCHER (Vicar of Crookbury.) CRIDDLE.

MRS. HARRY TELFER (Dolly). MRS. STURGESS (Renie). PETERS (Dolly's maid).

ACT I.

SCENE.--THE DRAWING-ROOM AT HARRY TELFER'S, THE GABLES, CROOKBURY GREEN, SURREY.

_Time_--THE AFTERNOON OF 1ST JANUARY, 1907.

ACT II.

SCENE.--THE SAME.

_Time_--AFTER DINNER ON THE SAME DAY.

ACT III.

SCENE.--THE SAME.

_Time_--LATER ON THE SAME NIGHT.

ACT IV.

SCENE.--THE SAME.

_Time_--THE AFTERNOON OF 1ST JANUARY, 1908.

Dolly Reforming Herself