Page:Men of Letters, Scott, 1916.djvu/69

THE INNOCENCE OF BERNARD SHAW 43 one exclusive caste. A specimen of the sensible, highly educated young Englishwoman ; prompt, strong, con- fident, self-possessed. . . . A man of cool tem,perament and loiD hut clear and keen intelligence, with the im- perturhahility of the accurate calculator who has no illusions. . . . A vigorous, genial, popular man of forty with a sound voice which he uses with the clean athletic articulation of the practised orator. . , . A dignified man, a horn chairman of directors. . . . A strong man, tvith a watchful face. . . . Pass them in parade, from Vivie Warren to Andrew Undershaft, and you find they have all had to be endowed with this rare faculty — a power of quick, precise, and ruthless cal- culation and self-confidence, the necessary adjunct to the way they'll have to speak. Each has a ready point of view, bright and finished as a rapier ; and the drama has to resolve itself into the ring and rattle of these weapons, the multiplex duel we get when they all unsheathe their points and prettily proceed to cross opinions. What fun it is, how exciting it can be, we all, to our happiness, well know. But we have to admit that the mirror misses much. It is odd to reflect that his democracy is the cause of this exclusiveness. Ill Yet if these are serious handicaps I fear the third is even heavier. It was bad enough to be compelled to insist on his dramatis personce all coming clearly pro- vided with opinions ; but what was worse was the fact that the exigencies of platform work had compelled him to add a pack of neat opinions to his own equip- ment, and that his haste and his innocence and the highly peculiar circle of his friends made the pack in many ways a faked one. *' To be set too early,'* says Meredith, somewhere, *' is to take the work out of the hands of the Sculptor who fashions men. A