The High Bid. By Henry James. (New Boltons.) Tins other
revival, from a mellower past, turns out well, and many a theatre-goer has been learning to his surprise that James was not above writing, an actable play ; a respectably actable play, in fact (although " edited by Basil Ashmore," who also produces, appears in small type under the title in the programme). Mrs. Gracedew is a handsome Jamesian-American widow, who occupies her lonely days back home in Minnesota or Missouri with the teaching of " taste," and has come to England to " do " it. Arrived at Govering Hall, an antique residence which she has mugged up in the guide-books, she persuades the wonderful old butler, a Jamesian gem, to let her in. In the course of her afternoon's " doing " she (a) prevents the house from falling into the podgy hands of a vulgar moneyman, (b) rescues the aristocratic owner from an unsuitable marriage arrangement, and (c) gets house and aristocratic owner for her very own. It is a part of great charm and affectionate irony, and Hermione Hatmen's performance is one of happy brilliance. The character is, to begin with, attractive ; Miss Hannen makes a delectable creature of her, the most tempting, intelligent widow ever dreamt into being, a born rehabilitator of stately homes and stuffed-
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