TRUNDLEBEN: I think it was rather--perhaps _rather_ tragic, Sir Webley. SIR WEBLEY: Oh, I don't say it wasn't. No doubt. No doubt at all. That's one thing. But to call his whole life a tragedy is--is quite another. What, Neeks? NEEKS: Oh, quite another. TRUNDLEBEN: Oh, certainly, Sir Webley. Tragedy is--er--is a very strong term indeed, to--to apply to such a case. SIR WEBLEY: He was probably out poaching when he should have been learning his history. TRUNDLEBEN: I'm afraid so, Sir Webley. SIR WEBLEY: And what else, eh? Anything more? TRUNDLEBEN: Well, there are some poems, he says. [_Holds up a list._ SIR WEBLEY: And what are they about? TRUNDLEBEN: Well, there's one called ... Oh. I'd really rather not mention that one; perhaps that had better be left out altogether. NEEKS: Not...? SIR WEBLEY: Not quite...? TRUNDLEBEN: No, not at all. SIR WEBLEY and NEEKS: H'm. TRUNDLEBEN: Left out altogether. And then there are "Sonnets," and--and "Venus and Adonis," and--and "The Phœnix and the Turtle." SIR WEBLEY: The Phœnix and the what? TRUNDLEBEN: The Turtle. SIR WEBLEY: Oh. Go on ... TRUNDLEBEN: One called "The Passionate Pilgrim," another "A Lover's Complaint." SIR WEBLEY: I think the whole thing's very regrettable. NEEKS: I think so too, Sir Webley. TRUNDLEBEN (_mournfully_): And there've been no poets since poor Browning died, none at all. It's absurd for him to call himself a poet. NEEKS: Quite so, Trundleben, quite so. SIR WEBLEY: And all these plays. What does he mean by calling them plays? They've never been acted. TRUNDLEBEN: Well--er--no, not exactly acted, Sir Webley. SIR WEBLEY: What do you mean by not exactly, Trundleben? TRUNDLEBEN: Well, I believe they were acted in America, though of course not in London. SIR WEBLEY: In America? What's that got to do with it. America? Why, that's the other side of the Atlantic. TRUNDLEBEN: Oh, yes, Sir Webley, I--I quite agree with you. SIR WEBLEY: America! I daresay they did. I daresay they did act them. But that doesn't make him a suitable member for the Olympus. Quite the contrary. NEEKS: Oh, quite the contrary. TRUNDLEBEN: Oh, certainly, Sir Webley, certainly. SIR WEBLEY: I daresay "Macbeth" would be the sort of thing that would appeal to Irish Americans. _Just_ the sort of thing. TRUNDLEBEN: Very likely, Sir Webley, I'm sure. SIR WEBLEY: Their game laws are very lax, I believe, over there; they probably took to him on account of his being a poacher. TRUNDLEBEN: I've no doubt of it, Sir Webley. Very likely. NEEKS: I expect that was just it. SIR WEBLEY: Well now, Trundleben; are we to ask the Olympus to elect a man who'll come in here with his pockets bulging with rabbits. NEEKS: Rabbits, and hares too. SIR WEBLEY: And venison even, if you come to that. TRUNDLEBEN: Yes indeed, Sir Webley. SIR WEBLEY: Thank God the Olympus can get its haunch of venison without having to go to a man like that for it. NEEKS: Yes indeed. TRUNDLEBEN: Indeed I hope so.