Instead of reviving the Court Poet, why not revive the Court Fool? He is
the only person who could do any good at this moment either to the
Royal or the judicial Courts. The present political situation is utterly
unsuitable for the purposes of a great poet. But it is particularly
suitable for the purposes of a great buffoon. The old jester was under
certain privileges: you could not resent the jokes of a fool, just
as you cannot resent the sermons of a curate. Now, what the present
Government of England wants is neither serious praise nor serious
denunciation; what it wants is satire. What it wants, in other words,
is realism given with gusto. When King Louis the Eleventh unexpectedly
visited his enemy, the Duke of Burgundy, with a small escort, the Duke’s
jester said he would give the King his fool’s cap, for he was the fool
now. And when the Duke replied with dignity, “And suppose I treat him
with all proper respect?” the fool answered, “Then I will give it to
you.” That is the kind of thing that somebody ought to be free to say
now. But if you say it now you will be fined a hundred pounds at the
least.