POLITICIAN AND POET

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 85, 20 October 1928, Page 21

POLITICIAN AND POET

SIR GEORGE TREVELYAN "BEST POLITICAL VERSE SINCE PEAED" (By"Ajax.") 'From the author's standpoint possibly the best thing iv Sir George Trevelyan's "Interludes in Verse and Prose" was tho earliest because it had the good fortune to attract the attention of the distinguished uncle whom he admired and loved, and whose Life he was to write. Going up from Harrow f~) Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1857, 'frevelyan wrote "The Cambridge Dionysia: A Classic Dream," in 1858, and Macaulay died in 1859, two years before "Horace at the University of Athens," the most famous of his nephew's Cambridge skits, appeared. It is interesting to know, writes "The Times Literary Supplement" reviewer, whom I quoted last week, that the earliest piece In this volume, "The Cambridge Dionysia," as brilliant an adaptation as an undergraduate ever, turned out,,was read and admired by Macaulay Tiimself. Written nearly half a century ago, it has, fortunately, despito a .few topical'allusions, no date within the Christian era. The immediate consequence of drinking Trinity audit, and reading the Wasps of Aristophanes, it remains as amusing as v a farce, and as instructive as an article from the "Dictionary of Classical Antiquities." . . ■ * ' '• • , • But though "The Cambridge Dionysia" may. make, an irresistible appeal to1 the Cantab and the scholar, it is not nearly so well adapted for popular quotation, as ''Horace at tho University of.Athens," from which I found it difficult to stop quoting last week. Best suited to this purpose is the couplet in the Aristophanic chorus referring to the "Lion," a rival publication of "Transcendental tendencies," as a jagged-toothed monster Which rages over all the town, from Magda-lene-bridge to Downing, With the bray of a dreamy German ass neath tho hide of Bobert Browning. Of "The Ladies ;in Parliament," which appeared in 1867, the same reviewer says that there can be no doubt that it was "the best piece of political verse published- since the death' of Pracd." Reprinted in 1888, it was considered important enough to give its name to a volume which also included the two Cambridge pieces, and two others. But in Sir George Trevelyan's "Interludes in Verse and Prose" the title is changed to "The Modern Eeclesiazusac," and at the same time the title of another- classical piece, "A.' Holiday Among Some Old Friends," is changed to '' An Ancient Greek War.'' .-. ..'•:•»-■'..'' '■ ■ «"■ '■ "- * •■ ■- ■* ■ ■ '■■: This practice of changing tho name of a literary work, especially when it has given its name to a volume, is so confusing that it is very much to be deplored, and the confusion produced in this case may bo some excuso for the. ignorance of the "T.L.S." reviewer and others that the bulk of the "Interludes in Verse and Prose," which was published in 1905, had already appeared in a single volume in ISBB. Professor G. M. Trevelyan, whose literary and. historical merits are a striking illustration of hereditary talent, reproduced this failing in a fashion which also, suggests heredity. His "Clio, a Muse, And Other Essays"—the title-pieco of which makes a brilliant onslaught on the theory that history is a science and urges its^.claim.' to literary treatment—has, I believe, been wholly or partly reprinted under some, such title as "The Recreations of a Historian." Should not the. purchaser of the original volume have the right to recover from the publishers the money he may have spent on buying it again under an-alias? .'* ' ♦ . ■« ■ ••...•-■ In "The Ladies in Parliament" Trevelyan still followed his classical mod: els, as the sub-title, "A Fragment After the Manner of an Old Athenian Comedy," indicates. But these models were now turned to a more practical purpose, for he-had'entered Parliament as Liberal M.P. for Tynemouth in 1865 and his dramatic fragment was written during. the great agitation which followed the' rejection oi. Wadstone's Reform-Bill the following .year. It caught not a little of tho fire as well as the fun of the struggle, tells the story -with great spirit and in brilliant style, and incidentally throws interesting sidelights on the very different political 'and social conditions of two generations ago. Here is a sample of feminine indignation over the politicians' neglect of their wives and the strictness of the domestic censorship: Yes, indeed! 'Tls past all bearing, when a hus.band slights his bride ' Who last Christmas still was blushing at her elder sister's side; Still on some minute allowance finding collars, boots, and glove 3; ,'-,.. Still to cousinly flirtations limiting her list of - loves; Still by stern domestic edict charged on no account to read Any of Miss Bronte's novels, .or to finish "Adam Bode." • « <• * In tneso days the domestic authorities —if there are any domestic authori-; ties—certainly would not worry about; Miss Bronte, and their difficulty with; George Eliot would be not to prevent; their charges from finishing "Adam1 Bede," but to get them to begin it. The indignant lady proceeds: — , When she says.to Charles or Henry, "Will.you take me out a walk? ' Since the Bill! is In Committee scarcely, find wo time to . talk . . . . ; But the budding politician "Not to-night, my pet," replies; ..-•■.' "I've a motion on the paper, and must wait my time to rise; Since in this distracting crisis ill the private member fares, If he be1 not Bright or Kinglake, should ho miss his place at prayers. It is interesting to learn that "The Ladies in.Parliament" was rejected by one editor "on the-ground that it was too respectful to John Bright." At the Carlton Bright was of course regarded as a dangerous demagogue, and even at Brooks V this brillian young Radical doubtless did himself no good by not extending to Bright the disrespect which the.least advanced of tho Whigs also believed to bo his due. • ■'■'* • > The "T.L.S." man says of "The Ladies in Parliament" that "it deserves to live .for the spirited Parabasis which commemorates tho defeat of Lord Russell's last Reform Bill on the 18th of June, 1866." The peroration^ of this speech, which is also tho conclusion of the play, is as'follows: — As to and fro our 'battle swayed in' terror, doubt, and shame, Lite wolves among the huddled; flock tho Tory Tr.r?"ard came. £ li-Mnent yet with shivered blade, torn scarf, ana pennon led, imperial Gladstone turned to bay amidst our farthest left. Where, shoulder tight to shoulder set, fought -on in sullen pride The veterans stanch who drink- tho streams 'of Tyne,»and Wear, and Clyde; Who've borne the toll, the heat, and blows .of. many a hopeless fray; Who serve uncheer'd by rank and fame, unbought by placo or pay. •At length, deserted and outmatched, by; fruitless efforts' spent, •" ' . ■ ' • ■ ■ From that disastrous, field of strife our steps wo homeward ' bent, .'••"'■ Kre long to ride in -triumph back, escorted near and far.;... . , . ; > , By eager millions surging on. behind'out hero's (■ar; While blue .and ; yellow streamers deck each Tory convert's- brow, :'• And both the 'Carltoris swell the shout, "We're all Reformers now!" , .;-. . ' * *.'-'• * Sixiy years later the. kcynoto. .of .Waterloo —on the anniversary of which

the division was taken —may seem too high for the occasion. But when the "T.L.S." reviewer says that "the excellence of the verso and the truthfulness of the narrative cannot bo denied" nobody is likely to dissent from him on the-first point. The second ho justifies with an historical comment of extraordinary interest: — There was a House of Commons then. Members were not delegates. Mandates were unknown. The. caucus was on tho other side of the Atlantic. . . London society was still political and Members of Parliament had opinions of their own. A Minister, even if ho was Palmerston or Gladstone, had to consider not merely his followers and his opponents, but the corporate spirit of tho House as a whole. The House of ' Commons was more powerful than it has ever been before or since,, and tho Parliament which lasted from 1865 to IS6B was the. master, not the servant, of the Cabinet. There is a real historic value in tl-is graphic delineation of It frQm the inside by an ardent young Liberal bred in tho straitest sect of Whiggery. • • » » But to me the favourite passage in the play is what.the following extract from the preface marks as probably the author's favourite passage also:— The Idea of producing something that should be Aristophanic from end to end fell through; chiefly, no doubt, from tho' inability of the author; but in part also because the simplicity which is so quaint and pretty in Attic becomes childish in English. . . There is, however, one passage which reflects something of the old Greek manner; that namely which begins "We must revere our sires"; in which an attempt has been made to mimic the jovial conservatism which goes rollicking through the long swinging metres of Aristophanes. • « i> . «... | Here arc the opening lines: — ; We much revere our sires, who wero a. mighty race of men, . : For every glass of port we drink they nothing ■ thought of ton. • ■■ • They dwelt above tho foulest drains. They breathed the closest air. ' , ' They had their yearly'twinge of' gout, ,and little seemed to care. They set those meddling people down for Jacobins or fools . Who talked of public libraries, and grants to normal schools; ■ • . . Since common folks who read, and write, and ■ like their. betters speak, - : Want something more than pipes, and beer, and , sermons once a week. ' ; And therefore both by land, arid sea their match they rarely, met, But made the name of Britain great, and ran 1 her deep In debt. They seldom stopped to count the: foe, nor sum : the moneys spent, " But clenched their teeth and straight ahead '.with sword and musket went. Ana, though they thought If trade were free that England ne'er would thrive, ; They freely gave their blood for Moore, and Wellington, aifd Clive. And, though they burned their coal at home, nor fetched their ice from Wenham, They played the man before Quebec and stormed the lines at Blenheim. • When sailors lived on mouldy bread, and lumps of rusty pork, No Frenchman dared his nose to show between the Downs and Cork; • , ' But- now that .Tack gets beef and greens, and .next his skin wears flannel, ~ ; The "Standard", says we've not a ship in plight to keep - the Channel. • "r • • Faithfully indeed has Trevelyan reproduced the rollicking humour, tho patriotic Conservatism, and "the long swinging metres" of his model. Has it. ever been better done? In 1867 "The Ladies in Parliament" was, according to the critic to whom I am so much indebted, "the best piece of political ■ verse since the death of Praed" —an interval of less than 30 years. In the interval of more than 60 years that has • since passed, has anybody done anything of the kind to equal it?