opinion on a Dramatic Academy in the _Daily
Chronicle_ some time ago, and have been promptly abused for it.
Consequently, I am most firmly convinced that the reasons which I
brought forward are sound. Nowadays, abuse is the highest form of
approbation. There are just two little points on which I wish to touch
just now, not in defence, but to explain. I mean that famous L50,000. It
has been repeated that I want L50,000. I want them very much indeed,
privately, but for the academy--_c'est autre chose_. All that I really
want is that someone (the inevitable "someone," who plays such a
star-part in our theatrical world) should lend a sum of L50,000 for five
years, which should be placed in a bank under trustees, and the
usufruct of which should serve to maintain the establishment during its
period of dentition, if I may call it so. After five years the capital
would return to its owner, who would be none the poorer, while art would
have been a great deal the richer for it. It is also insinuated that,
because I opined that _one_ man--not an actor--should stand at the head
of affairs, I had clearly indicated who should be that man. I--of
course! Such accusations of self-nepotism are a sign of the times. No
one can speak disinterestedly about a subject now; we all must have a
motive. We are all mercenary, we are automatic advertising machines of
our own selves, we are always insincere. Charming! But for my own part,
I wish to state it very plainly that I never have thought, or could
think, of putting my own candidature forward if ever the academy should
become a fact. I have no desire to fill such a post, an Englishman born
should do it: it is a national affair. One thing should not deter us
from advocating the academy. I refer to the failure of the former
school. All I know about it is from hearsay, but it must have been a
most miserable business, and if half the tales which are in circulation
about the management are true, it was fit for anything except education.
The radical and principal fault of the old school was that it had too
many heads and not one competent ruler. Big names alone will not
accomplish the work, and large committees are the most troublesome spoke
in the wheel-work of any machinery. The former draw the money and the
latter spend it. When the funds had dried up the whole thing collapsed.
And what had it done? Nothing, absolutely nothing of any importance,
nothing which could not have been done better and c