NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1719, 9 April 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Dean of St. Paul's, Dit. Ixge, lias by no means wearied of pointing out,, to an age that would rather not hear them, the vital truths about modern society. He delivered a remarkable and valuable sermon the other day at Westminster Abbey from the text: "The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge." After pointing out that the Irish Nationalist antagonism to England, the bitter hatred of the Nonconformists towards the Church in Wales, and the disposition of somo foreign nations to regard Britain as a brutal and aggressive Power were legacies from a past when the Irish, the Welsh, and foreigners had some causo for their various hostilities, Dit. Inge went,on to contend that tho operation of the same law ("tho fathers have eaten a sour grape aud the Children's teeth are set on edge") accounted for the social troubles in England: Wo wondered why tho working men cherished such bitter feelings tigainst those who did not labour with tlieir hands. It was another caso of fi legacy of hatred handed down from times when there was too much justification for it. It was not our own social sins so much as those of our lathers and grandfathers that wo were- expiating. In the days before tho Factory Acts these signs of hatred were suppressed, and the hatred itself, which was only '-half conscious, gathered volume, and became a tradition. Now it was fully conscious, and we, who wero comparatively innocent of grintliug the -faces of the poor, had to suffer. If this is scientifically accurate, then obviously if we admit a duty to posterity, we must as a society leave no similar legacy of hate and bitterness to a future age. Amongst the best things we can bequeath arc health and sanity, and to Dr. Inge's mind, and to the minds of a great many other careful thinkers, our ago is neglecting its duty seriously. The modern Englishman, says the Dean, is an ' incorrigible, sentimentalist in religion, in polities, iu charity, and everything else, "and, like all sentimentalists, he hated doing or witnessing anything painful. He was fast coming to think all punishments unjustifiable, and he shed maudlin tears over the wastrel aud the criminal. This, mid tlio contempt- of intellect which went with it, seemed to Dr. Inge to bo preparing a legacy of trouble for tlio?? who como after. Wo needed to emphasise the stern and austere aspect of Christianity, which, surely, was never meant to bo a 'comfortable creed,' or a cresd for comfortable people." This may not be to tho taste of tho modern .Radical, but it is nevertheless true.

The language of the epitaph which his comrades inscribed on Captain Oates's 'cairn —"Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman"—has attracted much notice'in England'and abroad. The Piiris paper Le Temps, which was the first'witu its comment, said of it: ''These men find the right word , at once. They require no effort to raise-.themselves to the sublime." The London Telegraph has since printed a special-article upon the singular splendour and dignity of "sailors' English,'/ with special reference to the line, simple English of Scott's last "message to the public-." Pascal has said: ''When we see a natural style we aro astonished and charmed, for we expected to see an author and find a man." 1 That is why the direct and quiet—almost prim—language of Scott affected so deeply the lovers of good English. The 'l'cleyraph quotes, in support of its contention that "no other profos- - sion has produced such writers as that of the sea," some admirable scntonces'and phrases from the letters or dispatches of the rough and uneducated commanders of past days: " 'Wc liavo to choose either a dishonourable or uncertain peace, or put , on virtuous and valiant minds to make a way through with such a settled war ns may bring forth and command a quiet peace. ■ ■ . " 'There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it bo thoroughly finished yields tho true glory.. "'For the Lord is on our side, whereby we may assure ourselves our numbers aro greater thon theirs. > " 'We aro all persuaded that God, tho giver of ajl victories, will in rncrcy look upon your most excellent Majesty and us your poor subjects, who, for tho defence of your Jlajesty, our religion, and native country, have resolutely vowed the hazard of our lives.'" Nobody with any sense of style can fail to admire the phrase of a Captain Appleton, who, writing home in 1652, related that'"at the appearing of the morning stars they entered and, possessed the frigate in a short time." Or Admiral Vernon's reference to his "good health to go through all these glorious fatigues." The sentence in which Hawke ended his dispatch after the battle of Quibcron Bay has the lucidity and graceful balance of all tho best classic writers: "As to the loss we have sustained, let it be placed to tho account of tho necessity I was under of running all risks to break the strong force of the enemy." Nowadays wc act less, and talk aud write more—, aud talk and write less well, as tho decades pass. An interesting little exposure of the methods of the "land reformers" who are aiding Mit. Lloyij v -Geoiiue is published in tho latest English i newspapers to hand. Mu. R. L. OtmnvAiTß, M.P., who is the chief of Mil. Lloyd-George's lieutenants in the campaign of slander against the landowners, made a long series of astounding charges against the Duke oi' Norfolk. These charges, which pictured the Duke as a particularly brutal and oppressive and inhuman fellow, have been replied to seriatim, and are shoton to be grossly untrue. Some of them' are worth noticing. According to Mr. Outiiwaite, Sheffield is "the Duke's city," and is "in the grip of a monopoly," the monopoly being that of the Duke. The answer to this' is that out of the total area referred to within the bounds of tho city, less than one-sixth belongs to the Duke. ■ Mn. Outiiwaite alleged that in Atterelifie there is "oiie crowded area of three acres, the site of which was enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1820, and allotted lo the then Dcki: op Norfolk." The fact is that these three acres were sold nearly a hundred years ago by the Duke's ancestor at .Cst) an acre, and'the present Duke never had anything to do with it. Then there we're allegations as to "horrible areas" and "foul, evil-smelling habitations"

owned by, and kept horrible by, the Duke. Whatever may be tho condition of the area in question, the Duke has nothing to do with it. He only owns the sites of some cottages there, from which he gets in some cases only Gd. a week each, and tho sites were let on 800-year leases in the years 1728, 1731, and 1832. He could not (ouch the cottages, even if ho wished to. These arc only a few of a great number of baseless charges invented bv Mit. Lloyd-George's friends with the object of inflaming opinion against the Duke, and every charge has been falsified. But of course the Radicals will merely go on to invent some fresh story.