WHAT IS MAN? AND OTHER ESSAYS OF MARK TWAIN

Whenever he finds a bright thing in your manuscript he strikes it

out with that. That does him good, and makes him smile and show

his teeth, the way he is doing in the picture. This one has just

been striking out a smart thing, and now he is sitting there with

his thumbs in his vest-holes, gloating. They are full of envy

and malice, editors are. This picture will serve to remind you

that Edward II. was the first English king who was DEPOSED. Upon

demand, he signed his deposition himself. He had found kingship

a most aggravating and disagreeable occupation, and you can see

by the look of him that he is glad he resigned. He has put his

blue pencil up for good now. He had struck out many a good thing

with it in his time.

Edward III. next; fifty RED squares. (Fig. 15.)

This editor is a critic. He has pulled out his carving-

knife and his tomahawk and is starting after a book which he is

going to have for breakfast. This one’s arms are put on wrong.

I did not notice it at first, but I see it now. Somehow he has

got his right arm on his left shoulder, and his left arm on his

right shoulder, and this shows us the back of his hands in both

instances. It makes him left-handed all around, which is a thing

which has never happened before, except perhaps in a museum.

That is the way with art, when it is not acquired but born to

you: you start in to make some simple little thing, not

suspecting that your genius is beginning to work and swell and

strain in secret, and all of a sudden there is a convulsion and

you fetch out something astonishing. This is called inspiration.

It is an accident; you never know when it is coming. I might

have tried as much as a year to think of such a strange thing as

an all-around left-handed man and I could not have done it, for

the more you try to think of an unthinkable thing the more it

eludes you; but it can’t elude inspiration; you have only to bait

with inspiration and you will get it every time. Look at

Botticelli’s “Spring.” Those snaky women were unthinkable, but

inspiration secured them for us, thanks to goodness. It is too

late to reorganize this editor-critic now; we will leave him as

he is. He will serve to remind us.

Richard II. next; twenty-two WHITE squares. (Fig. 16.)

We use the lion again because this is another Richard. Like

Edward II., he was DEPOSED. He is taking a last sad look at his

crown before they take it away. There was not room enough and I

have made it too small; but it never fitted him, anyway.

Now we turn the corner of the century with a new line of

monarchs–the Lancastrian kings.

Henry IV.; fourteen squares of YELLOW paper. (Fig. 17.)

This hen has laid the egg of a new dynasty and realizes the

magnitude of the event. She is giving notice in the usual way.

You notice I am improving in the construction of hens. At first

I made them too much like other animals, but this one is

orthodox. I mention this to encourage you. You will find that

the more you practice the more accurate you will become. I could

always draw animals, but before I was educated I could not tell

what kind they were when I got them done, but now I can. Keep up

your courage; it will be the same with you, although you may not

think it. This Henry died the year after Joan of Arc was born.

Henry V.; nine BLUE squares. (Fig. 18)

There you see him lost in meditation over the monument which

records the amazing figures of the battle of Agincourt. French

history says 20,000 Englishmen routed 80,000 Frenchmen there; and

English historians say that the French loss, in killed and

wounded, was 60,000.

Henry VI.; thirty-nine RED squares. (Fig. 19)

This is poor Henry VI., who reigned long and scored many

misfortunes and humiliations. Also two great disasters: he lost

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