PINERO, pi-ner'O, Arthur Wing, Eng lish dramatist: b. London, 24 May 1855. His ancestors the Pinheiros, Portuguese Jews, set tled in England in the 18th century. He was a solicitor's clerk for several years; went on the stage in 1874, appearing first in Edinburgh; be came a member of Henry Irving's company soon afterward, playing Claudius in 'Hamlet' ; and had written a farce,
Can Play at that Game' ; a successful comedietta,
(The Profligate,' with its Puritan theme of the impossibility of burying a wicked past, was dramatically powerful but poorly written. It was followed by the weak farces, (The Cabi net Minister' and (The Times,' in 1891 by (Lady Bountiful,' and in 1893 by
Second Mrs. Tanqueray,) which showed great gain in literary ability and in dramatic machinery. Between them and (The Notorious Mrs. Ebb smith' (1895), no doubt his best play, came again a farce (The Amazons' ; indeed it seems that after every serious effort he returned to the farce. Pinero's later works are (The Bene fit of the Doubt' (1895), a triumph of theatri cal construction; (The Princess and the Butter fly' (1897), a charming combination of satire and romance; the graceful (Trelawney of the Wells' (1898); a study in moral evolution, 'The Gay Lord Quex' (1899) ; the unpleasant but strong (Iris' (1901) ; (Letty) (1903) ;
House in Order' (1906); (The Thunderbolt' (1908) ; (Mid-Channel' (1909); (Mind-the Paint Girl) (1912). He was knighted in 1909. All in all, Pinero ranks as a master of the problem play. See THUNDERBOLT, THE.