Her confession to Trenwith would have been far more
dramatic and moving had it been about one-fourth part as long and
one-fourth part as articulate.
* * * * *
Of the scene imposed by history or legend it is unnecessary to say very
much. We saw in Chapter IX that the theatre is not the place for
expounding the results of original research, which cast a new light on
historic character. It is not the place for whitewashing Richard III, or
representing him as a man of erect and graceful figure. It is not the
place for proving that Guy Fawkes was an earnest Presbyterian, that Nell
Gwynn was a lady of the strictest morals, or that George Washington was
incapable of telling the truth. The playwright who deals with Henry VIII
is bound to present him, in the schoolboy's phrase, as "a great
widower." William the Silent must not be a chatterbox, Torquemada a
humanitarian, Ivan the Terrible a conscientious opponent of capital
punishment. And legend has its fixed points no less than history.
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