ALFRED THE GREAT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1360, 10 February 1912, Page 9

ALFRED THE GREAT.

Mr. G. W. E. Russell, author of "Collections and R-eeollectious," gives in the "Commonwealth" for December a very sympathetic review of Mr. G. K. Chesterton s "The Ballad of the White Horse." Mr. Gilbert Keith Chesterton," says Mr. Rus&oll, "a sou of the soil of London, who knows its many-coloured life and has described it eiicliantingly in press ami verse, has of late betaken himself to pastures new and fresh inspirations. In the first chapter of 'Tom Brown' (which is worth all the rest put together) we were taught when we were young to lovo the Vale of White Horse, with its glorious legends of Ashdown, where Alfred broke the Danish power, and made England a Christian land. 'After which crowning mercy, tho pious King, that there might never be wanting .a sign and a memorial to the countryside, carved out on the northern side of the chalk hill, the great Saxon White Horse, that gives its name to tlio Vale, over which it has looked these thousand years or more.' "Mr. Chesterton, having deserted London and quartered himself at ISeaconsh'eld, has taken up his pilgrim-staff, and made his way through the beech-clad recesses of the Chilterns, past the spires of Oxford, to the steep slopes of those Berksluro downs, where men" still cherish the story of Alfred with his Cakes and his Harp and his conquering sword. "Mr. Chesterton has taken the tale of Alfred, 'lighting for the Christian civilisation against tho heathen nihilism.' aud lias woven it into a b.illad worthv of (he name. It is a song of fighting;' of impassioned yet disciplined strength; of de?i> humility and self-mistrust, and of victorious faith." In this bcok Mr. Russell says, is "Mr. Chesterton's true message to tl>» o"e." "He sees what our authorised teacher* of religion either fail to see, or, .seeing, prefer to ignore. He sees that, masking their true natures under a parade of pseudo-science, 'the heathen have come into the inheritance , of Christendom. He detects in their iargon of Ijrocds,' and the right r,f •"tin.. Blood,' and 'tho survival of the- fittest,' and the supremacy of brute furce, the negation of the Christian Ethie and the di-tliryneiiient uf the Chi'Mian Ideal. He sit Lhut the Olleiira of the Cruvs hu< nut tr»:,«l; that there is nu iIU-lmige in the was- tu which the follower-: (it Hie I'ru.--- uiv idedi/cd; and that the eternal duty uf the Uuu'cli is n-.>t in cm lit cm- lu cue--, but lu Jiylit au,\ to tiiii(|iier. ,!, " '"Ijsti.'iit , inipiri-s uf Mami:i(in and lieliftl.' "*L'Jn- vvriiai inediiim thniiigh which (hi-; is conveyed," add-i Mr. liu-ell, "sliow-i ufiT-iJi tlio writer's cuimiiiimi over • he illiiuiiablv rich rc-otims ul niir Kn , :- li~h spm-li; "l lit- slowing, apt. 'iiu-vit-uble' word*, tvhieli all tin- time an- Ivin I ,' naily to bi- u-i'il, but which iim-t uf u=. are lm> uii4;ilfnl to ili-ruver. . . . ".In liimk VIII «v re-jd the iiim-liH.m of I hi' tale, mill withal its interpretation:— In the days of the rest of Alfred, When all these tilings were done, And Wessex lay in a patch of peace, Like a dog in a patch of sun--The King snt in liis orchard, Anion!,' apple- green and red. With tho little book in hi- b'l-oin, And the sunshine nn his head. "And there he held his Court, anil gave i the law, and ruled with tho stroiiE hind,

and punished the wrongdoer,' and let his almsgiving How like n river in Hood: and boro himself in all things as » high Christian King. And. when ho began h draw towards his end, ho hade his followers keep the til-pat White Unix; scoured and dean as an everlasting memorial of the great victory of Light over Darkness. Yet, even as ho uttered his command, Ihe shadow of a doubt foil upon his soul, -anil ho remembered the Virgin Mother's prophocy that (he skies would darken once again for a perilous storm, ns ho foresaw that thr- white symbol would jtrmv dim, nnil that the nnce-coiuiucred enemy would lilt his hated head onco more. '1 know that woods shall grow in it than men can burn; And, though they scatter now and go, In sonic far centurv, sad and slow, 1 have a vision, and I know The heathen shall return. They shall not como with worships, They shall not waste with brands, But- books be all their eating, And ink be- on their hand*. They shall come as mild and monkish clerks, With many a scroll and pen; And backward shall ye turn and ga7,c, Desiring one of Alfred's days, When pagans still wore men. By this sign yo shall know them, 'The breaking of the sword, And Man no more a free knight, That loves or hates- his lord. Yen, this shall bo the sign of them, The sign of tho dying fire; And Man made like a half-wit, That knows not of his sire. What though they come with scroll and pen, And grave as a shaven clerk, By this sign you shall know them, That they ruin and make dark; By all men bond, to Nothing. Being slaves without a lord, By one blind idiot-world obeyed, Too blind to bo abhorred. By terror and the cruel talcs Of curse in bonn and kin, By detail of the sinning. And denial of the sin; By thought a crnwlinpr ruin, By life a leaping mire. Bv "a broken heart in the breast of the ' world, And the end of the world's desire; By God ami man dishonoured, By death and life made vain, Know ye the old barbarian, The barbarian come again, When is great talk of trend and title, .And wisdom arid destiny, Hail that undying heathen That is sadder than the sea.'" The January nntnbei of th* "Windsor Magazine" is a particularly fine production. It contains fifteen pictures in the three-colour process, and over 200 pages of reading matter. Miss Ellen Terry, in a reminiscent article, contributes the results of her experience to the current discussion on stage decoration. The. illustrations to this article show the Into Sir Henry Irving as Hamlet, and Miss Ellen Terry, Sir Herbert Beerbohm .Tree, Mr. and Mrs. F. K. Benson, and other famous artists in several part?. Tho now ideas in the care of animals in captivity are described and illustrated by Miss Nellie Haddeu, F.Z.S., in an article on tho Zoological Gardens at Rome. What a great municipality may do for culture b\ shown in an article on the Manchester City Art Gallery, illustrated with reproductions of pictures by Holman Hunt, Sir John Millais, Stanhope Forbes, and others. The 'contributors to this excellent issue also ■include Messrs. E. F. Benson, Justus M. Fonnan, Eden Phillpott.s Barry Pain, S. Macnaiighten, H. B. Marriott Watson, Halliwell Sutcliffe, and Robert Barr, and some of the most popular black-and-white artists of the day.

The announcement has been made in Sydney of the formation of a nciv theatrical firm by Messrs. George Portus and Frank Talbot, both well-known touring managers in Australasia. Both were associated with the enterprises of Messrs. J. and X. Tait for some years, and may claim an extensive knowledge of the management of "stars." They will commence their management with the nppearance of Jnnsen, a magician. This artist is to begin a season at tlie Criterion Theatre, Sydney, on March 2. They have also contracted with Madame Oisneros, the grand opera star, to appear in concerts as early as June next. The firm have aUo arranged with Air. Hammond, aviator (originally of Bulls, ltangitikoi), to give- a series of flights in the chief cities of Australasia, and. later, they hone to introduce a real old-time negro minstrel troupe from America, Lorenzo Perosi, the Italian priest-com-poser, has completed a new oratorio entitled "Vespertino Oratio." Felix Weingartner has completed the libretto of an opera entitled "Cain and Abel." He will now proceed to set it to music. Some posthumous works of Dvorak are to be published in Berlin. They comprise symphonies, overtures, piano pieces and songs.