[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR, I do not know whether you care to admit any corre- spondence on the subject of Mr. Phillips's sombre, yet beautiful, play. But if I may be allowed, I should like to call attention, since none of the critics seem to have done so, to the subtle and powerful delineation, in the third act, of a double consciousness in the mad King. He hugs his delusion, eagerly calling for Mariamne, vehemently professing to himself that she is still alive; and yet, at the back of his mind, one is allowed to see, he knows her to be dead. If there be any psychological study quite like this in our dramatic literature, I do not know of it, and the omission of any reference by the critics to this interesting feature in the play is the more remarkable since the author's intentions are most ably brought into effect by the actor.—
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