William Stanton () was a British police officer in Hong Kong who spoke fluent Cantonese and was suspended for his involvement in a corruption scandal. The present is his first book. “The three plays and two poems in this little volume are reprinted, with slight alterations, from the China Review. The introductory account of Chinese theatrical affairs has never before appeared in print.” (Preface). The three plays in question are ‘The Willow Lute’ (Qin si liu), ’The Golden Leafed Chrysanthemum“ (Jin ye ju), and ‘The Sacrifice for the Soul of Ho Man Sau’ (Fu jian He Wenxiu), all popular plays in the late Qing dynasty. Sir Henry Arthur Blake (1840-1918) was Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903. Rare.