epic, descriptive, or lyric poetry will certainly mar the beauty of the drama by impeding its movement or action. Judged by these rules, Mr. Sundaram Pillai's dialogues are seen to be skilfully constructed and leave very little to be desired. They do not fall into the jogtrot of uninteresting and ineffective talk wor or they inappropriate, artificial and stilted anywhere. In all the dialogues, the personages introduced take a real living part and do not merely echo the sentiments of some one of the group, others acting as mere dummy figures to fill the stage with numbers. As for the introduction of passages of prodigious length Mr. Sundaram Pillai should, no doubt, plead guilty. His only excuse could be that he never intended the drama to be acted but wrote it for the study. As illustrations of compact construction of the dialogue, I shall select I.iv. 111-121 and III.iii. 1-36.

Modification for the stage

It must be allowed that from a pure dramatic point of view the play has to be touched up here and there to satisfy the highest requirements of that art. The author himself must be taken to have been keenly sensible of this. A drama not intended to be acted is just like a dainty not intended to be tasted. 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating' says the proverb; even so the value of a drama lies in its being staged or acted. To render Manonmaniyam fit for the stage - an experiment which the author himself did not evidently contemplate - the language of the play should first be brought down from its present high literary level. It should come very near to the colloquial dialect of common life without at the same time exhibiting any of its disfiguring corruptions. Minor characters, such as menials, soldiers, farmers, citizens, & c., should be made to keep to their station in life and not repeat high thoughts and imaginative flights in language highly polished and poetical put into their mouth by the poet. Long descriptive or lyric passages such as those that show the oratorical skill of KUDILA or the observative power of NATARAJAN or the compassionate attentions of the nurse should be largely cut down for adding to the celerity of dramatic action and for introducing greater compactness into the play itself. The excision of such episodes as கழலாடுதல் narration of சிவகாமிசரிதம் and the religious discussion between KARUNAKARAR and NISHTAPARAR will also answer the same purpose. From another important point of view also the dialogues may call for modification in certain places. Many of these characters sometimes talk in generalities, generalities which could come from the mouth of other characters as well without any impropriety whatsoever. Now the life and soul of the dramatic art is to exclude such generalities and make an event or an occasion as specifically and concretely distinct as possible by individualising it by sundry realistic touches. When MANONMANI draws VANI'S attention to the snoring of the nurse (செவிலி) it is a realistic touch which individualises the occasion. The nurse must