WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 165, 9 April 1926, Page 8

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By

T.D.H.)

Buy a motor-car and see the world—» but whether thia world or the next; depends upon your temperament.

Marshal' Hindenburg says the old German army was an educational institution to the entire nation—but too much education has a way of going to the head.

The world is getting better—even the gaols are full with higher class people than formerly.

The late Lord Ashbourne, father cd the lady who has attempted to assassinate Signor Mussolini, was three times Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and held that position for no less than twentyi years. He had a brilliant career at the Irish Bar, and before his elevation to the peerage, when he and Mr. David Fluuket sat for Trinity College together, they .were rated the two most brilliant 1 ’ speakers in the House of Commons. Mr. Fluuket, it may be mentioned, was uncle to the late Lord Flunket, Governor!-' of New Zealand, and himself became a peer as Lord Rathmore.

Other members of the late Lord Ashbourne’s family than the Hon. Violet Gibson have shown signs of eccentricity, for four years back one of her brothers, the Hon. Victor Gibson, was found dead in an inn at Horsham, Surrey, where he had been staying under an assumed name, with evidence to show, that he had committed suicide. The only one of his sons in whom the first Lord Ashbourne seems to have had any confidence was his second son, the Hon. Edward Gibson, now next heir to the family peerage held by his elder brother. The Chancellor bequeathed the bulk of his fortune of £160,000 to this second son, the eldest son and present p'eer having to content himself, with a legacy of £BOO, while a similar; provision was made for the youngest son Victor.

A sister of Miss Gibson’s is Lady Bolton, wife of the peer of that name, one of whose sisters is Marchioness of Exeter, and the family generally is prominently connected. While Miss Gibson’s temperamental inclinations have - been devotional, her late brother, Mr. Victor Gibson, was remarkable for his distaste for domestic life. He was badly bitten with the wanderlust, and would often start off without giving any notice, and without parrying any baggage or change of clothes, to the ends of"the world; to Greenland, to Katnschatka, or to Patagonia, remaining absent for months, without giving any sign of life, or clue to his whereabouts. He served in the South African cam--paign of twenty years ago, and secured commissions as lieutenant, first in the Army and then in the Royal Naval Reserve during the Great War, but was not a success, owing to his queer ideas of discipline. After the restoration of peace he took up with the extremist section of the Sinn Fein movement, by whom he does not seem to have been trusted, owing to his unreliability and eccentricity. Perhaps, too, his associates recalled that his father was one of the most determined foes of the Nationalist movement.

The eldest brother, the present Lord Ashbourne, claims the credit of being one of the originators of the Gaelic movement, which aims at the revival of everything pertaining to the Erin of olden times. Among other forms of this revival has been that of dress, and Lord Ashbourne has devoted much time and money to researches upon the subject, in the belief that recalling into existence the distinctive Irish garb of long ago would accompisb the same result as the retention of the kilt and tartan in the Highlands of Scotland, in keeping alive national sentiment.

Many people imagine that the kilt is of purely Scottish origin. But like whisky, it hails originally from Ireland, where' the real old national garb, worn for hundreds of years, consisted of a kilt, generally saffron coloured, a saffron hued plaid or shawl over the shoulder, a silver or silver gilt waist belt, a short jacket, often curiously pleated and elaborately embroidered. The knees, however, were not bared, as in Scotland, and the legs were clothed by “trews,” a single garment, combining the uses of trousers and stockings. The cloak was full and of simple cut, and some readers may . recall the poet Spenser’s reference to it as being “an ideal for Irish outlaw.” Although the Highlanders of Scotland were forbidden at times during, the Jacobite insurrection to don a kilt, yet on the whole they were much less molested in this respect than the Irish, and consequent!}' have never reallv ceased to wear their distinctive garb.

King Henry VIII, with the object of stamping out every vestige of nationality among the opponents to his rule in Ireland, enacted a number of penal statutes providing dire punishment for any Irish patriot who should venture to adhere to the style of dress of his forefathers. It was this same statute, which carefully and elaborately enunitiated every article of Hibernian raiment forbidden bv the Crown and Par-, liament at Westminster, that by an irony of fate served the present Lord Ashbourne and his associates m their endeavours to reconstitute and to rei n c the old Irish garb. ♦ * •

Both Lord Ashbourne and his youngest brother, the late Victor Gibson, frequently wore the Irish kilt, and tins on one occasion led to an incident at Westminster which aroused some attention at the time. The eldest sons of peers have the privilege of standing on the steps of the throne during the debates of the House of Lords. One afternoon Lord Ashbourne, who had not then succeeded to his father s honours, endeavoured to avail himself o this time honoured prerogative attired in a saffron hued Irish kilt and mantle. The late Admiral Sir Henry Stephenson, the Gentleman. Usher of the Black Rod to the King, assigned by the latter to attendance on the House ot Lords at Westminster, compelled William Gibson to withdraw, on the ground that Irish kilts were an im P r garb ” being contrary to the ancient law which had been ’in existence ever since the reign of Henry D HI. *

Lord Ashbourne is still a member of the Athenaeum Club in London, to which solemn institution he was elected, not without some prior to his accession to the fanub honours. But before he could secure admission he was obliged to give a solemn pledge, indorsed by his father, that he would under no circumstances whatsoever ever attempt to. cross the threshold of the Athenaeum in his Irish kilt. f Dlanager: “I’m afraid you are ignorin£ our efficiency system, Mr. Smith. Dlr. Smith: “Perhaps so, sir,; but somebody has to get the work done. A SAIL. White is the sail and lonely On the misty infinite blue; Fiving from what in the homeland? Seeking for what in the new? The waves romp, and the winds whistla, And the mast leans and creeks; Alas! He flies not from fortune, And no good fortune he seeks. Beneath him tlie stream, luminous, azure, Above him the sun’s golden breast! But he, a rebel, invites the storms, As though in the storms were rent. —Translated from the Russian of M. Y. Lhermentov by Max Eastman.