Mr. Max Beerbohm, whose caricatures we discuss on page 925,
has withdrawn the drawings of members of the Royal Family which had given offence to some people. In a very sensible letter which was published on Thursday Mr. Beerbohm said that his caricatures were "conceived in a spirit of light-hearted fantasy," but that if the public read " any shadow of seriousness " into them they had better be removed, as he himself was not unkind and certainly not disloyal. The criticism to which' Mr. Beerbohm has bowed was unintelligent and unfair. The pictures, after all, are only " chaff " in line. We may feel sure that such good sportsmen as the King and the Prince of Wales have always shown themselves to be know how to take " chaff " of all kinds, as also do the British people as a whole. Amongst Englishmen, nothing gains ir man 'wider esteem and more respect than the good sportsmanship displayed in the ability not to take offence. The man who stands upon his dignity, not in essentials, but in minor matters, is never really popular here. The representatives of our Royal House are notoriously the last people who want to be reminded of this fact, but it seems that the fact might be usefully recalled for others. For ourselves, we hope we shall never live to see the day when the German ante-War view of lese-majeste is adopted here. They are no friends of the Dynasty who demand that our Royalties shall be treated like idols in a secret shrine.
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