The primary justification involves a somewhat different
train of thought. A national memorial of Shakespeare in London must be
reckoned of small account if it merely aim at keeping alive in public
memory episodes of Shakespeare's London career. The true aim of a
national London memorial must be symbolical of a larger fact. It must
typify Shakespeare's place, not in the past, but in the present life
of the nation and of the world. It ought to constitute a perpetual
reminder of the position that he fills in the present economy, and is
likely to fill in the future economy of human thought, for those whose
growing absorption in the narrowing business of life tends to make
them forget it.
The day is long since past when vague eulogy of Shakespeare is
permissible. Shakespeare's literary supremacy is as fully recognised
by those who justly appreciate literature as any law of nature. To the
man and woman of culture in all civilised countries he symbolises the
potency of the human intellect. But those who are content to read and
admire him in the cloister at times overlook the full significance of
his achievement in the outer world. Critics of all nationalities are
in substantial agreement with the romance-writer Dumas, who pointed
out that Shakespeare is more than the greatest of dramatists; he is
the greatest of thinking men.
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