Mr Shaw said he knew "Historic Doubts" very well.
"And what you think of it?" said Ernest, who regarded the pamphlet as a
masterpiece of wit and cogency.
"If you really want to know," said Mr Shaw, with a sly twinkle, "I think
that he who was so willing and able to prove that what was was not, would
be equally able and willing to make a case for thinking that what was not
was, if it suited his purpose." Ernest was very much taken aback. How
was it that all the clever people of Cambridge had never put him up to
this simple rejoinder? The answer is easy: they did not develop it for
the same reason that a hen had never developed webbed feet--that is to
say, because they did not want to do so; but this was before the days of
Evolution, and Ernest could not as yet know anything of the great
principle that underlies it.
"You see," continued Mr Shaw, "these writers all get their living by
writing in a certain way, and the more they write in that way, the more
they are likely to get on. You should not call them dishonest for this
any more than a judge should call a barrister dishonest for earning his
living by defending one in whose innocence he does not seriously believe;
but you should hear the barrister on the other side before you decide
upon the case.
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