THE REAL KING EDWARD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 135, 21 January 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE REAL KING EDWARD.

DELIGHTFUL MEMORIES. Lord Redesdale, in his two volumes of memoirs published last month (Hutchinson), has given the world a book of extraordinary interest, which will he read eagerly by the living generation, and which will give generations to come a clear insight into the nineteenth and twentieth century England. It covers a wide span of seventy years. It is written with serenity and charm. It paints living pictures of most of the greatest figures of a stirring time. But, above a'l, it is of historical importance for its vindication of King Edward's memory against the errors of Sir S dney Lee in the ''Dictionary of National Biography." That such 'an account of so great a Sovereign should have appeared in a standard work of reference, it- a national misfortune. The twenty pages which Lord Redes. dales devotes to correcting this "contemporary judgment" are among the most valuable in the hook. They give the testimony of one who knew His Majesty intimately. And first it is pointed out that Edward VII. was brought up in the strangest of fashions, probably through the influence of the Prince Consort, of whom we are g veil this curious picture : "He was essentially a shy man. He would enter a room to meet some visitor whom he had summoned, sidling up, as it were, along two walls of it before stepping forward to hold out his hand. . . He preferred the second rate. So in art. as portrait painter, he was sat'sliied with Landsoor and Winterhalter.'' KINO EDWARDS .MEMORY. The Prince Consort's hid'(Terence to books perhaps accounted for the indifference to literature with winch his censorious biographer has taxed King Edward. As an eager boy of seventeen the amusement devised for his leisure hours was "turning over books oi draw.ngs and prints.'' II King Edward was not a bookish man. he had a vast fund of knowledge and information. While Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort saw little, of the great men of their time outside politics, King Edward knew them all. •• H ; s memory was phenomenal—he seemed unable to forgot." His power of intelligent discussion—which all remarked— "was the result of long years oi patient listening and inquiry—of those same long years winch his detractors would have us believe were spent to exhaustion in the pursuit of frivolous occupations and in the selfish sacrifice of duty to pleasure. No more false charge was ever brought against a man in his exalted position." It is equally untrue that he neglected work, and this anecdote is told by Kind Redesdale to prove how seriously tin 1 Kng took his duties : "We sat smoking and talking over old fines for a couple of hours. Towards midnight he got up and said: 'Now I must bid you good-night, for 1 must get to work'—pointing to a huge l piie of the familiar red boxes. 'Surely.' I said, 'your Majesty is not going to tackle all'that work to-night?" His answer was: 'Yes. T must. Besides, t is all so interesting.' " A MAN INTENSELY HUMAN. The charge has been brought against him that after he became King lie enjoyed practical joking at the expense of his friends. "Nothing could be more m'sleading," says Lord Redesdale. "When a very young man he laughed at the pranks of the youngsters about him, but — "never, either as Prince or King, did T during nearly half a century see him take active part in such games himself. My recollection of the King . . . is that of a monarch deeply impressed with the duties and obligations of his exalted station—a mini intensely human, and. let his critics sav what thev will, altogether lovable." The "Dictionry of National Bio grapky" would -a] tee public to sup pose that King ;< ]d.v >': l was a politic il nonentity Lord Redesdale pours just scorn on the remark. "An. inesponsible suggestion at a private' party in Paris that the hntente ought to be converted into a military alliance, met with no response." "The response," replies Lord Redesdale, "is loud enough to-day in the duties of Flanders, on the Vistula, :it the Carpathians, and in the Dardanelles." He travelled widely on the Continent, knew its sovereigns and state-men. was " immensely popular in France.' where his memory is venerated to-day, and even in Germany tributes were paid to his diplomacy and bonhomie. After all, it was the "Hamburger Nachriehten" winch called him "the first statesman of Europe." He stood above the factions and parties with one desires to help and save his country. "The King loved England. He was a patriot in the highest, 1 had almost said the div.nest, of the word. Queen Mary Tudor said that when she died the word CALAIS would be found written upon her heart. When King Edward died the word would have been ENGLAND. The last time Lord Rede.sdale saw him was at the opera few days before hi-., death : I noticed that he was looking very lied and worn. He sat through one ■ict. all alone in the box. Then he got up, and I heard him give a great s gh. He opened the door of the box, hngered for a little in the doorway with a very sail expression in his lace- .«o unlike himself—took a hist look at the house. and then went out." IL- pavs a brief tribute to King Kchvard\'eouragc : " It never seemed Lo occur to him that there could be such a thing as dangi r. . . . When lilondin of iered to cany him across, Niagara mi Ins tight-rope the Prince of Wales (a.s he then was) would have accepted the venture at once, and war- keen to go. So it was when he wa> face to face with the murderer and Ins pistol in Brussels. His nerve was perfect. We all remember the ouiet courage with which he cleared decks for actual and mule readv for tie' op t;il ens which in VM)'2 might ea-i l\ have cost him hi- life.'' SWINBI'RNF. AT ETON. So little : - known of Swinburne's pi r-nii I'lity. though his influence on Fngii-di poetrv w ill oerbaps n> ver die. thai Lord Kodosdalo'.s account of h s cousin - e.irlv (lavs i - most pice on -. He i ni red at Eton in Mil. and was placed under Lord Redesdale'.- care at the ace of 12. lie was -trangiv liny. Hi, limbs were small and (Ideate, and his sloping shoulders looked far too weak to carry Lis great head, the ,izc ol w Inch Wis exaggerated by the tousled ma-, ol red hair standing almost ai right ang- |,« to I. . . All who knew him nm-i remember that euuisit'sv soft voice with a rather d'.igsong intonation IL-L.ie'iii-e even at that ago, was beanlii'ul. fanciful, and richlv vared. . . 11 ; . memory was wonderful, his power of quotation almost mil mited. . . Aho walked along with hi- peculiar ilaneng gait, tripping along liLc a young

faun, lu.-> eyes elcannne with eiithu.*l- - . . . lie would pour nut with that unforgettable voice oi h * the trea*unv whicli he had pithered. He was ab,*olutely lirave. He did not know what [ear meant. From hi* culver in the Diplomatic Service. Lord Kede*dale is iihle to shed a liooil deal of oil the errors c.f Isriti.sh foreign policy in the pant. In a striking passage lie declares that "the keel of the first (German) Dreadnought ua* laid at St. lYtrishure; in the month of February refusal to co-operate with lJussia in .-aviiij; Denmark ironi I* r u-- an ajijiros*ion. I'niSfiia's aim «a- to acquire port-*, and as hotli Lord I'almei'ston and Caviiur had foreseen, to build a M-re.it licet and challenge the i!rit *h mi', \ of t lie r-ca.s. There are innumerable jmhhl -.tone*, a- uf Oueen Victoria'* passion for pi'n ( *. even in the .sliowslor lis o! Xoveniiier : of the fleas whiih abode ill Garili ii.li s home *ll Capiera .ol the puv Inch | icktd up only forty •.ears in Mroadwav. Si. Loui*: <>l iii'iiiha ii <llliipreaching on the hoil ill!,. U ! •kednc.ss of tile Lll-h Ii noli lity in that they devoted <rieat areas o! land to plua*.u;t*, wh eh |ilica*an'r* they hulite<l with dons: and of Mr.* ('uhle. who complained bitterly that her husband resented an embalmed mouse in hi* pnrr:d»e. Ihe I*; ii i k i* a veritable treasure-house of aiie: dole. luit it ha- a far de( per value a* a D rmaiu'iit contrb'.tiuu to hintory.