The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1936. THE LAST RITES.

Evening Star, Issue 22249, 29 January 1936, Page 10

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1936. THE LAST RITES.

“ To tiie noise of the mourning of a mighty nation ” a good king has been borne to his last rest. The pomp and ceremony, and all the solemnities that preceded, as well as those that formed part of, the final scenes, were tradi-» tional. They all had their roots deep in history. There were reasons, for some of them when they originated, which do not exist at the present day, but they all had iHeir eloquence and their value as witnessing to the heaviness of a nation’s loss and affording to a grief-stricken people the opportunity to take their last farewell of a King who was not more their ruler -than one of . them. For the soul of this pageantry was not wanting; it was affection and grief. The mourning for too many kings has been chiefly formal. It Was not the sorrowful side of a king’s passing which impressed Sir Walter Raleigh when he made his magnificent apostrophe to Death, in concluding his history of the world. He recalled how the rulers whose actions he had chronicled had won their large fame “ by rapine, oppression, and cruelty;, by giving in spoil the innocent and labouring soul to the idle and insolent ” ; and he wrote: “ 0 eloquent, just, and mighty Death; Whom none could'advise, ThouTiast persuaded! What none have dared, thou hast done! And whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of .the world and despised! Thou hast drawn together all the far-fetched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words: ‘Hie jacet.’” Horace , Walpole, describing the burial of George H. in Westminster Abbey, could find in the last proceedings little except a comedy. Though much was simulated, he implied that there was as little of sorrow among some chief mourners at that ceremony as there was of order and decorum in the last act of it. No doubt Walpole had his reputation to, keep up as a wag and a cynic, but no one could have stood by the graves of any of the Empire’s last three rulers or seen their funeral processions and been imbued with his spirit. Thousands stood all night and through rain that fell in the early morning to view the setting forth of King George’s funeral cortege, and the sorrow that watched its passing was unmistakable. The. secret of the late King’s hold over the hearts of his subjects was no doubt expressed

by the Archbishop of Canterbury as well as it will ever be when he recalled His Majesty’s saying that lie was “ a very ordinary sort of fellow," and went on to say “ they [his subjects] came to see in him just the sort of man each of them' instinctively would wish to be—simple, sincere, frank, a lover of borne and of healthy sport, loyal to his friends, setting a high standard ui personal lilo and public duly, steadfast in service, and mindful of his God. Such a man ins people understood. 'They saw in him the simple, sterling virtues which each of them knew to be right for himself. This was the personality which more and more fully as the years passed communicated itself to the people.” Hushed crowds which witnessed this funeral werc-greater than have ever assembled on a like occasion, and for the first time, thanks to new invention, all the King's Empire could take part in the august proceedings short of the one power of seeing them. The tributes of France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, America, and of other countries have been eloquent of the esteem felt for this King. His Empire will turn now front mourning, grateful for the example which ho gave to it, with the prayer in its heart which concluded the chapel service: " Let us humbly beseech Almighty God to bless with long life, health and honour, and all worldly happiness. . • • our Sovereign Lord Edward," who, ft is its joy to know, will walk in his father’s steps; .