About this time he was commissioned to write three paragraphs each day for an evening paper.  The first of them always began:  “Mr Asquith’s admission in the House of Commons yesterday that he had never done so and so is not without parallel.  In 1746 the elder Pitt ...”  The second always began:  “Mention of the elder Pitt recalls the fact that ...”  The third always began:  “It may not be generally known ...”

Until he began to write these paragraphs Annesley Bupp had no definite political views.

IV

Annesley Bupp is now at the zenith of his fame.  The “buppy” of old days he still writes occasionally, but he no longer signs it in full.  A modest “A.  B.” in the corner, supposed by the ignorant to stand for “Arthur Balfour,” is the only evidence of the author. (I say “the only evidence,” for he has had, like all great men, his countless imitators.) Trams also he deserted with the publication of his great work on the subject—­Tramiana.  But as a writer on Literature and Old London he has a European reputation, and his recent book, In the Track of Shakespeare:  A Record of a Visit to Stratford-on-Avon, created no little stir.

He is in great request at public dinners, where his speech in reply to the toast of Literature is eagerly attended.

He contributes to every symposium in the popular magazines.

It is all the more to be regretted that his autobiography, The Last of the Bupps, is to be published posthumously.

LITTLE PLAYS FOR AMATEURS

“Fair mistress Dorothy”

The scene is an apartment in the mansion of Sir Thomas Farthingale. 
There is no need to describe the furniture in it, as rehearsals will
gradually show what is wanted. A picture or two of previous Sir
Thomas’s might be seen on the walls, if you have an artistic friend
who could arrange this; but it is A mistake to hang up your own
ancestors as some of your guests may recognize them, and thus pierce
beneath the VRAISEMBLANCE of the scene.

The period is that of Cromwell—­sixteen something.

The costumes are, if possible, of the same period.

Mistress Dorothy Farthingale is seated in the middle of the stage,
reading A letter and occasionally sighing.