ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

to use another slang phrase of the day, is very 'convincing.' But the marriage controversy has been noticeable for the light thrown upon one of the prophets of literature-Mr. George Meredith-who has shown, with his own hand, where and what his pseudo-mystical prophesyings may lead to in the sphere of practical life.

If it furnishes the public with a key to the pretentious affectation and cryptic nonsense of his works, no harm perhaps will be done; for it is always well to be rid of false gods, especially when they are abolished by themselves.

We have been accustomed for a generation past to hear Mr. Meredith's work described in very grand language. Those of us who, after a slight or even an exhaustive acquaintance with the Master's works have been able to discover in them neither sense nor style, still less inspiration, have held our tongues. On the other hand, no disciple has deigned to interpret Mr. Meredith to a waiting and watching world. So the Meredithian cult has remained esoteric, and we outsiders have had to rest content with the assurance that if we could only understand' we should find the burden of this weary, unintelligible world' sensibly lightened.

In the course of the dead-season agitation, however, Mr. Meredith has, for once, spoken plainly. By his suggestion of marriage for a term of years he has relieved those who cannot read his books from any sense of intellectual inferiority. Those of us who still believe in the antiquated institution of marriage may perhaps be conscious of feelings somewhat stronger than mere relief. In effect Mr. Meredith has definitely taken his place among the sea-serpents of this year, and by linking his name to a ten years' marriage system he has attained an eminence among sea-serpents which ought to satisfy everybody-his admirers because he is incontestably chief, and the rest of the world because he has now definitely placed himself among the monstrosities.

The autumn season has been marked by the production of three noticeable plays. At His Majesty's there is much to please and attract. All that we lack is William Shakespeare. The Tempest of Mr. Tree has merit. There is an enchanting Ariel'—not Shakespeare's Ariel, but still an enchanting figure. There are some pretty airs, although to put The Tempest on the stage without Purcell's music to Full Fathom Five' is to seriously damage the production from the musical point of view. Here we stop. Just as a provincial bandmaster will entertain his audience with Selections from Handel, in which 'Ombra mai fu' is preceded with I Know that my Redeemer Liveth,' and succeeded by See the Conquering Hero Comes,' so at His Majesty's we are regaled with a series of Variations on Shakespeare' —with a not dissimilar effect upon our nerves. There is a very fine shipwreck; and no doubt the play does open with a shipwreck. The sands are yellow, as Shakespeare said they were, and the bogies are

[ocr errors]

numerous enough and funny enough for Drury Lane. In short, we have everything that we have a right to expect for ten-and-sixpence, and more, perhaps except Shakespeare.

After Shakespeare, Pinero, and A Wife without a Smile gives us furiously to think. Two years ago Mr. Redford declined to sanction the production of a play the central incident of which was the appearance on the stage of a young lady with nothing on but a dressinggown. Some champions of the play maintained that a 'voluminous robe' was not the same thing as a dressing-gown,' and gave quite a different tone to the piece. However, 'robe,'' frock,' or 'gown,' the thing was one garment that would come off easily, and the audience was to be provided with the delicious thrill of wondering, through the whole of a very warm scene, whether it was coming off or not. Mr. Redford said (very properly, as some of us thought) that he must draw the line somewhere; and he drew it here. Thirteen people with reputations to lose objected to Mr. Redford in the columns of The Times, and a judge upon the Bench espoused the cause of the girl in the dressing-gown in his charge to the jury. After this everybody expected an Act to amend the Act of Parliament under which Mr. Redford works; but, to the general astonishment, the indignant thirteen collapsed utterly. The appearance of A Wife without a Smile suggests that they must have privately intimated to Mr. Redford that they would overlook his conduct for once, but that 'he had better not do it again.' Certainly, to refuse one play and license the other is to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. It is unnecessary to describe the play here. It is sure of a long run, and will command crowded audiences who have not easy access to an unexpurgated Decameron, or Burton's Arabian Nights.

It is a relief to visit the Adelphi, where there is a play-The Prayer of the Sword-of all but the highest order, and, as regards its aim, of quite the highest. No playgoer ought to lose the opportunity of seeing this perfectly harmonious production. In saying 'all but the highest' one feels instinctively that an author who can do so well as Mr. Fagan does would resent extravagance of expression, for it is in reserve that the play is remarkable. We have here not a note of absurdity or exaggeration. Audiences have of late grown so critical as to scenery and accessories that it may be as well to say at once that both are perfect. It is not that, in vulgar words, 'no expense has been spared,' although that is tolerably evident. It is that at every turn we see the control of an exacting and fastidious taste which insists that, however magnificent the accessories may be, they shall remain accessories. A ducal court in Italy at the beginning of the sixteenth century gives abundant opportunity for display; but we remember the story and forget the display, which is the best possible tribute to the management. As to the story, it is told in blank verse, which is truly courageous and even rash. Yet has the

author not tried too much. It is not didactic. The author's aim has been primarily and, one would say, exclusively artistic. Perhaps for that reason he has produced the greater effect. Nevertheless, at a time when so many of us appear to be hankering after a slavery that it cost us a great deal to be rid of, it might be worth while to remember how much discomfort, misery, nay, agony, was implied by the habitual interference of the clergy in private affairs.

It was precisely at the period when the action of The Prayer of the Sword was taking place, and when, as we heretics think, that prayer was so graciously heard and answered, that England was preparing for her final tussle with Papal Rome. Probably this was the last idea that was present in the distinguished author's mind. Nothing could better demonstrate the vitality of the play, as a whole, than to record (as may most faithfully be done) that these contentious reflections do not occur to the mind until long after the curtain is down and we have returned from the sixteenth century to the twentieth.

WALTER FREwen Lord.

The Editor of THE NINETEENTH CENTURY cannot undertake
to return unaccepted MSS.

[merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

A CONVERSATION WITH COUNT VON BULOW, THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR.

FOR many months-nay, for the last few years-the belief that Germany's Kaiser and Chancellor have been, and are still, playing a hostile game against Great Britain, and are cynically laying an elaborate plot for the ultimate ruin of our country's power, has been gaining ground in all spheres of British society, and not amongst the masses of unthinking people alone, who, perhaps, take their cue from the unreliable lucubrations of sensational journalism. The cultured classes of the United Kingdom also have become impregnated with similar views, and many persons from among the intellectual portion of the King's subjects speak of Germany as England's bitterest and most dangerous foe. In very exalted circles, too, we find persons who think they are justified in believing that Germany wants to rule the North Sea; to wrest the whole shipping trade out of our hands; to invade England; and to annihilate the world-power of Great Britain. For the attainment of these ends German VOL. LVI-No. 334 3 M

diplomacy is said to be everywhere angling in turbid streams, and to be intriguing against England in all the capitals of the world.

Some writers have recently gone so far as to denounce every Englishman who ventures to doubt the sufficiency of the grounds set forth in support of such insidious designs as too optimistic, or a simpleton or even as a partisan of Jewish bankers. And yet, as a distinguished French diplomatist not very long ago remarked to me, 'il faut être un peu optimiste dans la vie.' But for the encouragement of optimism, how would countries ever be able to bury their animosities? Austria would never have become reconciled to Prussia; Great Britain would still be at loggerheads with the United States and with France. If one did not cherish a hope for better relations between Great Britain and Germany, one would have to throw up the sponge and abandon the task of striving for them. But no sane person can pretend that it is in the interest of our country, whose foreign policy is and must be determined by our commercial interests, to continue a campaign of insult and mischievous suspicion that in the long run would infallibly prove disastrous, whichever way it ended. Nor is one a simpleton for supporting such views; and even a Jewish banker can assuredly lay claim to political judgment.

The causes of controversy with Germany that have been exciting the passions of both Germans and Britons for so long should be removed, and we should start with a clean slate. In trying to effect so laudable a consummation, there can be no abandonment of either our intellectual or political independence. A perpetual cannonade of the same unproved statements, based on mere suspicions, produces an unhealthy condition of things; and a campaign of this kind is unworthy of a great and free people.

Whenever an incident unpleasant to England happens in any part of the globe, a German diplomatist or the Central Government in Berlin is said to be behind it. Could anything be more fatuous than to attribute so much power to German diplomacy; or could anything be less complimentary to the representatives of Powers that are friendly disposed to us than to insinuate that they are completely under the thumb of their German colleagues?

If we look at the matter from an unprejudiced and business-like point of view, we must surely admit that nothing is more mischievous than to convert a rival into a bitter enemy. If some very serious international question were to arise whilst the peoples of two great Powers like Britain and Germany are being wilfully kept asunder by fomenters of international hatred, the situation might suddenly become fraught with untold danger; for the existing friction between them could easily develop into a complete rupture of relations. Friendship with other Powers need not involve bickerings with Germany. King Edward's political programme has

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »