es.[45]

[Footnote 45: The proceedings of the committee which was formed in the
spring of 1905 have been dilatory. Mr Badger informs me that he paid
the organisers, nearly two years ago, the sum of L500 for preliminary
expenses, and deposited bonds to the value of L3000 with Lord Avebury,
the treasurer of the committee. The delay is assigned to the
circumstance that the London County Council, which is supporting the
proposal, is desirous of associating it with the great Council Hall
which it is preparing to erect on the south side of the Thames, and
that it has not yet been found practicable to invite designs for that
work. (Oct. 1, 1906.)]

The propriety of visibly and outwardly commemorating Shakespeare in
the capital city of the Empire has consequently become once more an
urgent public question. The public is invited anew to form an opinion
on the various points at issue. No expression of opinion should carry
weight which omits to take into account past experience as well as
present conditions and possibilities. If regard for the public
interest justify a national memorial in London, it is most desirable
to define the principles whereby its precise form should be
determined.

In one important particular the consideration of the subject to-day is
simpler than when it was debated on former occasions. Differences
existed, then as now, in regard to the propriety of erecting a
national memorial of Shakespeare in London; but almost all who
interested themselves in the matter in the nineteenth century agreed
that the public interest justified, if it did not require, the
preservation from decay or demolition of the buildings at
Stratford-on-Avon with which Shakespeare's life was associated. So
long as those buildings were in private hands, every proposal to
commemorate Shakespeare in London had to meet a formidable objection
which was raised on their behalf. If the nation undertook to
commemorate Shakespeare at all, it should make its first aim (it was
argued) the conversion into public property of the surviving memorials
of Shakespeare's career at Stratford. The scheme of the London
memorial could not be thoroughly discussed on its merits while the
claims of Stratford remained unsatisfied. It was deemed premature,
whether or no it were justifiable, to entertain any scheme of
commemoration which left the Stratford buildings out of account.

A natural sentiment connected Shakespeare more closely with
Stratford-on-Avon t