THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR W. PINERO
Paper cover, 1s 6d; cloth, 2s 6d each
THE TIMES
THE PROFLIGATE
THE CABINET MINISTER
THE HOBBY-HORSE
LADY BOUNTIFUL
THE MAGISTRATE
DANDY DICK
SWEET LAVENDER
THE SCHOOLMISTRESS
THE WEAKER SEX
THE AMAZONS
[A]THE SECOND MRS. TANQUERAY
THE NOTORIOUS MRS. EBBSMITH
THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
THE PRINCESS AND THE BUTTERFLY
TRELAWNY OF THE “WELLS”
[B]THE GAY LORD QUEX
IRIS
LETTY
A WIFE WITHOUT A SMILE
HIS HOUSE IN ORDER
THE THUNDERBOLT
MID-CHANNEL
PRESERVING MR. PANMURE
THE “MIND THE PAINT” GIRL
THE PINERO BIRTHDAY BOOK
Selected and Arranged by MYRA HAMILTON
With a Portrait, cloth extra, price 2s 6d.
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
The Profligate
A PLAY
In Four Acts
By ARTHUR W. PINERO
“It is a good and soothfast saw;
Half-roasted never will be raw;
No dough is dried once more to meal,
No crock new-shapen by the wheel;
You can’t turn curds to milk again,
Nor Now, by wishing back to Then;
And having tasted stolen honey,
You can’t buy innocence for money.”
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
First Printed, 1891
New Impressions, 1902, 1909, 1914
All applications respecting amateur performances
of this play must be made to Mr. Pinero’s Agents,
Samuel French Limited, 26 Southampton Street,
Strand, London, W.C.
Copyright
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It is now more than four years since “The Profligate”was written, and in the interval we have seen manyconflicting influences at work upon the theatre, manysigns of progress; but in June 1887, although thedramatic atmosphere was full of agitation and uncertainty,and the clamorous plaints of the pessimists wereloud, the bolt of Norweg