ays, or make the worst of both worlds.
Modern plays being ruled out, you must either have Shakespeare or--or
what? What is there? "The Cenci"?

* * * * *

Can you not now sympathize with the King as he ran through, in his mind,
the whole range of British drama? But the truth is that he did not run
through the whole range of British drama. Invariably in these cases a list
is submitted for the sovereign to choose from. It is an open secret that
in this particular case such a list was prepared. Whether or not it was
prepared by Mr. Arthur Collins, organizer of Drury Lane pantomimes, I
cannot say. The list contained Shakespeare and Lytton, and I don't know
who else. Conceivably the King did not want Shakespeare. To my mind he
would be quite justified in not wanting Shakespeare. We are glutted with
Shakespeare in the Haymarket. Well, then,--why not "Money"? It is a famous
play. We all know its name and the name of its author. And that is the
limit of our knowledge. Why should the King be supposed to be acquainted
with its extreme badness? I confess I didn't know it was so bad as now it
seems to be. And, not very long ago, was not Sir William Robertson Nicoll
defending the genius of Lytton in the _British Weekly_? It is now richly
apparent that "Money" ought not to have been included in the list
submitted to the King. But it is easy to be wise after the event.

* * * * *

Let it be for ever understood that State theatres and State performances
never have had, never will have, any real connexion with original dramatic
art. That is one reason why I am against a national theatre, whose
influence on the drama is bound to be sinister. To count the performance
of "Money" as an insult to living artists is to lose sight of a main
factor in the case. The State and living art must be mutually opposed, for
the reason that the State must, and quite rightly does, represent the
average of opinion. For an original artist to expect aid from the State is
silly; it is also wrong. In expressing a particular regard for the
feelings of musical comedy, and in announcing beforehand his intention of
being present at the first night of the new Gaiety masterpiece, the King
was properly fulfilling his duties as a monarch towards dramatic art. Art
is not the whole of life, and to adore musical comedy is not a crime. The
best thing original artists can do is to keep their perspective
undist