The Penalty of Knighthood
The Penalty of Knighthood is an article published in The Sketch on 3 july 1907.
The Penalty of Knighthood
If Mr. W. S. Gilbert wants a knighthood, he certainly ought to have one. As a matter of fact, he ought to have anything, in reason, that he happens to want. None the less, it seems a pity that we shall lose a name that is familiar to all the English-speaking world, and is associated with the gayest comic operas in the language. W. S. Gilbert is everybody's friend; Sir William Gilbert will be a strange, conventional, rather stiff sort of person, reminding one, for some reason or another, of commerce rather than of literature or art. When the honour of knighthood is conferred upon a man he does not always understand that lie is never again quite the same person to the public. Take the case of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle, the author of "Sherlock Holmes," was known everywhere. You will meet people, however, who will assure you quite solemnly that Conan Doyle and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are totally different men. I remember being in some doubt myself once, when I came across a story signed A. Conan Doyle. as to whether A. Conan Doyle and Conan Doyle were one and the same person. For my own part, I have secretly decided never to accept a knighthood for this very reason. Besides, I should not know what on earth to do with it if I had one.
