The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1919. CHANGED STANDARDS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 211, 31 May 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1919. CHANGED STANDARDS

•That the-centenary.of the birth oi Queen Victoria should produce many eiilogiV'of the life and character of that exemplary monarch was inevitable;; but these glowing tributes cannot hide the fact that the Victoria.! Age. has lost much of its glamour. ■ We have got out of sympathy with it,'and it has now become the fashion to speak contemptuously of Victorian literature, Victorian ideas, and the Victorian outlook on life: To describe a thing as "Victorian" is a polite way of faying that it is only fit for narrow-minded,. old-fashioned people who 'do-not know the joy of emancipation from, artificial restraints and prudish conventionalities. The severe moral standards of the Victorian Age arc,not popular in these, "enlightened" days. The younger generation has lost the sense of reverence, and is inclined resent'all'forms of discipline. Reverence and discipline are regarded as oiic of date, and that respect for age and authority which was pne of the characteristics of I the Victorian period is now looked upon by many as an amiable weakness. ■ The tendency , ' of the time is to jeer at "good" examples, , " and the, fact that Queen Victokia has "been so, often held up as an "example" is perhaps one of the reasons why her name and fame have been in a nic£.sure eclipsed during the eighteen- years which have passed, since- the-end of her reign. The' twentieth century has more in common, with the age of Elizabeth than'with the Victorian Age. We like to call ourselves the "new Elizabethans," and, indeed,, the perilous • times_ in which, our lot is cast resemble in many respects the spacious days of 'Elizabeth.' Like 'the Elizabethans, we have had to fight for our lives against a tremendously powerful foe,' and, like them, we havo all the wonderful possibilities or a new world .to enlarge our min/ls. and quicken our imagination. The natural effect of the fascinating • atmosphere of uncertainty and adventure which, surrounds us n to make the life of the Victorians seem dull and prosaic. '

The unpopularity of the Victorian Age , has been accentuated by the war. A writer in The Times Liitr(inj Supplement remarks that "the Victorians from whose standards and tests and ideals we were already having the inevitable reaction turn out to have been prouermans. :, We, refer to the era by the name of ■ Queen Viotobu, and it is,natural to associate the Queen and her Court with the responsibility for the approximation with Germany to which, at the present moment,, we look back with something like horror." But it is quite unfair to put the blame on Queen Victoria for the spread of German influence, in England during the "nineteenth century. Tho infection began, before she ascended the throne, _ and, quite apart from the connections between the British and German Courts, it permeated the literature an i, thought of the country. In this, as in most other things, tlie Queen faithfully represented tho general sentiment of the people. . In history,. philosophy, and.Biblical criticism German influence was predominant. Bishop brußiis uttered a note of warning and protect.. ,Hr asserted l.hafc the writings of the English historians of his day had been leavened by Prussian prejudice. He said the i German books read, in England were, written l;j "those German scholars who incline most strongly to Prussian- . iiiteV'Mts in politics, or by those who, noi being actually Prussian, still place their hopes of the German future in the line in which Prussian politics aro working;" But for this deadly kind of German influence Quebn Victoria cannot bo held responsible. The contamination was the result of one of the characteristics of the Victorian Age. Queen Victoria had her limitations. She had a, rather narrow ouMooir on life' A distinguished Victorian scientist deplored her "indifference to all the great" dis r coyerics .in science, during, her reign, and especially the medical and surgical. This indifference struck him as abnormal. But when due allowance is made for all her shortcomings and her lack of imagination, she. was .on tho whole a wise, constitutional monarch and a good woman who won. and deserved tho affection and confidence .of the .British peoples in all parts of the world.

It is quite impossible for the detractors of tlw Victorian Age to dim its lustre permanently. Histories, ; biographies, and recollections have recently been published which irnisfc convince any unprejudiced mind that the Victorian period luis rinc , of the greatest and most fruitful in the history of our race. The more mention of the illustrious men and women who figure in Loud Mokley'r and Mus. Ward's "recollections" is sufficient to disprove, .tlw taunts of those very "advanced" critics who sneer at its characteristics and belittle its achievements. It is impossible to deny that "l.lcrc were • giants in tITc. earth in those days." The Victorian Age produced great men in Church' and Stale, great scientists, philosophers, and men of letters, men great in business and in philanthropy. It lias no need to fear comparison withy any other period, in human history. A reviewer of Jin. LirroN Stkaohey's . • lhiiiicM Victorians' reminds the supcrior'yonng people who try to 'uiaKft themselves and others believe that the Victorian

Age was.weary, flat, stale, and unprofitable that "all tho giants who lived in that ago were not children of darkness; not all of them had the.bewildered and barbaric minds wo ascribe to such monsters, nor did they all - dwell in dim caves or grotesque, castles- of creed and dogma. Soul) of them wero the sons of,, light, and fought battles which' have for us more llinn v a funny, faint archaeological interest. They" wore our spiritual fathers; we live'in the world that they built for us; and though we may laugh at them, we should Jove ther too." Some-of us may think that the Victorians built badly, but wo have yet to prove that we can build better. The world will be vory fortunate if the achievementof the twentieth century equal those.of tho nineteenth.