“Yes,” answered the stranger; “it gets worse every year doesn’t it?”
“But Mr. Corporal’s pictures are always worth seeing,” said Faubourg.
“I think he paints men better than women,” said the stranger; “he doesn’t flatter people, but of course his pictures are very clever.”
At this moment the attention of the whole table was monopolised by Osmond Hall, who began to discuss the scenario of a new play he was writing. “My play,” he began, “is going to be called ‘The King of the North Pole.’ I have never been to the North Pole, and I don’t mean to go there. It’s not necessary to have first-hand knowledge of technical subjects in order to write a play. People say that Shakespeare must have studied the law, because his allusions to the law are frequent and accurate. That does not prove that he knew law any more than the fact that he put a sea in Bohemia proves that he did not know geography. It proves he was a dramatist. He wanted a sea in Bohemia. He wanted lawyer’s ‘shop.’ I should do just the same thing myself. I wrote a play about doctors, knowing nothing about medicine: I asked a friend to give me the necessary information. Shakespeare, I expect, asked his friends to give him the legal information he required.”
Every allusion to Shakespeare was a stab to Mrs. Bergmann.
“Shakespeare’s knowledge of the law is very thorough,” broke in Lockton.
“Not so thorough as the knowledge of medicine which is revealed in my play,” said Hall.
“Shakespeare knew law by intuition,” murmured Willmott, “but he did not guess what the modern stage would make of his plays.”
“Let us hope not,” said Giles.
“Shakespeare,” said Faubourg, “was a psychologue; he had the power, I cannot say it in English, de deviner ce qu’il ne savait pas en puisant dans le fond et le trefond de son ame.”