Professor Leacock on England.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1922, Page 4

Professor Leacock on England.

Professor Stephen Leacock has noted that, every year a large number of Ehglisli tourists visit America and take an intelligent, if slightly condescending, .interest in its institutions planners, and customs. But why, he asked, should tho English have it all their own way? Why should not the process of exploration he reversed, and why should not an emissary of the new world conduct investigations in tlie old? Professor Leacock found a well-disposed editor, who commissioned him, to “write up” England, and ‘‘The .Discovery of England” contains the fruits .of his labour. Professor Leacock luipw the ways of tl;e American reporter, and laid his plans on the assumption that those of. the English reporter would be the same. Invariably the first question to be. addressed to the newcomer, in America is “What do you think of New York.” Pro.fessor Leacock expected to be be asked bis opinion of London, and bad considerately prepared numerous copies cf an interview beginning: “London strikes me as ompliaticnJly a city with a future. Standing as she does in the heart of a rich agricnltur- ' al district, with railroad -connections in nil directions, and resting, as she must, on a bed of coal and oil, 1 prophesy that she will one day be a great city” But the tribute missed fire. The people of. Loudon seemed indifferent to the fate of their city. The interviewers asked him nothing about London, but invited him to express his views on various abstruse questions of esthetics, such as the .structural inferiority of the- American to the French drama. Professor Leacock replied that he used to know, the answer when at, school, Imt he had forgotten it,| and was now too well off to need to remember it.’

The editor had qdvised, Professor Leacock to niingie in the scintillating intellectual life of England,, “There is,” he said, “a coterie of men. .probably the most brilliant group east of the' Missisippi.” The author made it lias'business to meet thc«e men, and gives some specimens of their conversation and their repartee., Sir James Barrie, said: “This is rcnily very exceptional weather for this time of the year.” Cyril .Maude said. “And so. a Martini cocktail is merely gin and vermouth.” These and similar coruscations furnished Professor Leacock with some of the most piquant recollections of his, tour. The. author touciUes upon British politics, notes that the House of Parliament is a finecommodious 'structure, and comes to thy conclusion that one of the mu.-t important qualifications for politics in Britain is a knmvh tig- of geography, An aspirant musl he familiar with conditions in the Saniak of Novi Bazar and the Aklioondrate of Swat, and must ho ahl-' to express an intelligent opinion on the rights of the claimant to the throne of Kainu Eln.j. Sometimes, it is true, statesmen may stumble. Mr Lloyd George, for instance, confessed at Versailles that he did not know where Teschui was. But that is nothing to he ashamed of. 1 h - Chinese delegate thought that the Ciinierouns were part of Scot hind, an i two of I lie American delegates, until flic 1 euiiftrence hub almost over, latuuijed under the impression that Vine(leemed Italy was on the east side of New York.

While Professor Leac .cl; was in England the Irish settlement was readied. It turned out to he a. very simple affair. “Belaud was merely given dominion status. What that is. n. one l;m>)ys, hut it means that the Irish have now got it, and that they sink from the high place they had in the white light of publicity to the level of the Canadian-; or the Now Zealanders.” Rut, although Professor Leacock's voyage of discovery is undertaken iu a humorous spirit and is most amusing to read about, lie does not always jest. In the chapter on Oxford he becomes serious fur a moment, and speaks in most appreciative terms of the ancient seat of learning. (>xf-rd has professors uho net or teach. a;:ci ] students who. never learn. Salesman- ; ship, plumbing, and gas-lilting find no i place in its curriculum, yet Professor Leacock regretfully admits that in seme respects it “has it all ever” al. American university. In fine, he thoroughly enjoy ed Ids trip to England, the more so because of quite a

lucrative association he formed with London journalism. He was mt, a runfributir in the ordinary sense, hut went in for. the < oiupptif ions oiien to children from 3 to 6 years of age which vv.ra a feature of certain Lomloq periodicals. “1 swept in prize afi'r prize. As ‘Little Agatha’ f got 4s for the best description of autumn in two lines, and Is for guessing correctly the missing letters in Br-stol, Sh-flield, and 11-11. A lot of the competitors fe'l down on H-11. 1 got (is for living the date of the Norman Conquest In short, the thing was easy. I might say that to enter these compediions one has to have a certificate of age from a member of the clergy. But I know a lot of them.”