PREFATORY NOTE



  IN " Barbara Frietchie " and " Captain Jinks
of the Horse Marines ", Mr. Fitch continued the
picturesque historical vein, so successfully begun
in "Beau Brummell ", "Fr6deric Lemaitre",
"His Grace de Grammont" and "(Nathan Hale."
his love of a period was not an artificial taste
with him; he had the inestimable ability of
absorbing atmosphere, and of giving to his
detail little intimate touches which resulted in
realism amidst romantic action. And even
though there is such wide contrast between the
first two plays in this volume and "The
Climbers ", one can easily detect in "Captain
Jinks ", for example, characteristic flashes fore-
shadowing the satirist of the later social plays.
  It is not so easy a matter to re-create a period
convincingly, however picturesque the details
and however romantic the plot. Mr. Fitch's
inventions were always entertaining. But it
was because of his ability to make himself a
part of the time, place, and manner, that his
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