For in London the critics are reinforced by a considerable body of people who go to the theatre as many others go to church, to display their best clothes and compare them with other people’s; to be in the fashion, and have something to talk about at dinner parties; to adore a pet performer; or to pass away the evening away from home. In short, they go for any or every reason other than an interest in dramatic art as such. In fashionable centers the number of irreligious people who go to church, of unmusical people who go to concerts and operas, and of undramatic people who go to the theatre, is so prodigious that sermons have been cut down to ten minutes and plays to two hours; and, even with these changes, congregations sit longing for the benediction and audiences for the final curtain, so that they may get away to the lunch or supper they really crave for, and their arriving at the churches, concerts, operas, and theatres later than the hour of beginning can possibly be made for them.