SOURCE: "Brander Matthews as a Dramatic Critic," in The International Monthly, Vol. IV, July-December 1901, pp. 289-293.

In the following essay, Trent rejoices that Matthews's dramatic criticism is being collected for publication in book form and extols his merits as a critic

For some years, not a few of Mr. Brander Matthews' many readers and friends have wished that he would devote more and more attention to critical work, and that the public would recognize him as a writer whose attractive versatility set off rather than detracted from his serious qualities. Mr. Matthews' critical essays were, however, scattered through magazines and several books issued by different publishers; they thus failed to produce their due effect, failed perhaps to produce as much effect as the more uniform series of his novels and short stories. Now they are to be gathered by the Scribners into five uniform volumes, of which the...