" No other external recognition of great
intellectual service was deemed, in Bacon's Utopia, of equal
appropriateness. Bacon's mature judgment deserves greater regard than
the splendid imagery of Milton's budding muse.
VIII
In order to satisfy the commemorative instinct in a people, it is
necessary, as Bacon pointed out, strictly to adapt the means to the
end. The essential object of a national monument to a great man is to
pay tribute to his greatness, to express his fellow-men's sense of his
service. No blunder could be graver than to confuse the issue by
seeking to make the commemoration serve any secondary or collateral
purpose. It may be very useful to erect hospitals or schools. It may
help in the dissemination of knowledge and appreciation of
Shakespearean drama for the public to endow a theatre, which should be
devoted to the performance of Shakespeare's plays. The public interest
calls loudly for a playhouse that shall be under public control.
Promoters of such a commendable endeavour might find their labours
facilitated by associating their project with Shakespeare's name--with
the proposed commemoration of Shakespeare. But the true aim of the
commemoration will be frustrated if it be linked with any purpose of
utility, however commendable, with anything beyond a symbolisation of
Shakespeare's mighty genius and influence.
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