526 



The Review of Reviews. 



BROWNING'S RELIGIOUS IDEAS. 



Bv Dr. iJeecjiini.. 



On May 7 it will be a hundred )-ears since Browning 

 was born. One of the first centenary articles on the 

 poet appears in the Jlay number of the Stinday at 

 Home. It is by Dr. Beeching, Dean of Norwich, and 

 it deals with the religious ideas of Browning as they 

 occur in his various poems. 



HIS CONCEPTION OF NATURE. 



Dr. Beeching admits that it is a dangerous enterprise 

 to formulate the creed of a dramatic poet, but when 

 we find in his poems a certain group of conceptions 

 again and again, he thinks we are justified in assuming 

 that they represent in the main their writer's own 

 point of view. To Browning Nature, we are told, is a 

 flood of life, sometimes turbulent, sometimes peaceful, 

 streaming from the will of God, and creating in its 

 course innumerable separate e.xistences, with man for 

 last and best. In every work of Nature he recognises 

 the twin marks of divine authorship — power and 

 love. 



SERVICE AND ASPIRATION INDISPENSABLE TO MAN. 



As to the place of man in the universe, the poet, 

 says Dr. Beeching, distinguishes man, on the one hand, 

 from God, and on the other from the beasts, by this — 

 that while God lives His life perfectly, and the beasts 

 live their small lives with equal perfection, man's life 

 is essentially imperfect. God can conceive nothing 

 higher than His o\Vn being ; the beasts also can con- 

 ceive nothing higher than themselves ; but man, by 

 his very constitution, has his mind set upon God. His 

 true life must be an ascent from the life of animal 

 appetites, which he shares with the lower creation, 

 to that life of knowledge and goodwill and love which 

 he discerns to be the life of God. The question is, Is 

 man aspiring, working, pursuing his ideal, whether it 

 be truth, or goodness, or beauty, or some other aspect 

 of the divine nature that he has discerned ? " All 

 service ranks the same with God," but service there 

 must be. 



THE FLAME FED BY ( 'USTACLES. 



Man's life is meant to be a progress, but progress, 

 which is " man's distinctive mark," would be impos- 

 sible if there were no hindrances to overcome. To 

 iirowning the two hopeless faults are the refusal to 

 disturb one's selfish peace by taking any strenuous 

 part, and the refusal to recognise a mistake and rise 

 above failure. But though the rciognition of-failure is 

 a sure promise of future success, Browning is very far 

 from saying that everything is failure which may so 

 appear. 'I'he man has done his part b}' putting his will 

 into the work, and so his life has been right. " Each 

 age has its own proliUms to face " (conchKlcs Dr. 

 Beeching); "it is Browning's high praise that he helped 

 his own generation to face their problems and retain 

 their faith." 



PROGRESS IN AERONAUTICS. 



Under this title. Jlajor H. Bannerman-Phillips, in 

 the United Service Magazine, has a very businesslike 

 account of the efforts made by Germany to secure 

 aerial supremacy. Our neighbours are evidently 

 determined to extract from the Zeppelin type a flying 

 au.xiliary which can be depended upon as a weapon of 

 offence in time of war. 



FOUR STRIKING FACTS. 



The Major emphasises four striking facts : — 



(l) That Germany's experiments and purcliasesin this connec- 

 tion are being made persistently antl continuously in addition to 

 tlieir programme of instruction in military aviation and their 

 purchase of aeroplanes ; and (2) despite the frequent assevera- 

 tions of critics that the dirigible cannot defend itself against the 

 attacks of aeroplanes ; (3) that many of the latter can he built 

 for the price of one airship ; and {4) the official German plan? 

 for acquisition and development of military dirigibles tend to 

 encourage the rigid type, such as the Zt-ppelin and vessels of the 

 I.Trgest size, such as the non-rigid Siiineiis-Schuckert, so as to 

 ensure the qualities of weight-carrying and the covering of long 

 distances without interruption of journey. 



ABOVE REACH OF ARTILLERY. 



Details are given of the Siemens-Schuckert, 

 Schwaben, Deutschland, and other dirigibles. Of the 

 last-named, e.xperiments showed that — 



It could Ije raised by aerodynamic reaction of the elevating 

 planes alone, with only two propellers and two motors in action, 

 i"rom a static level of equilibrium of 2,132 feet to 4,756 feet, 

 equivalent to a lift of two tons, and this without any additional 

 ascensional power due to expansion of gas or getting rid of 

 ballast. By using three motors and four propellers in conjunc- 

 tion with tde elevating gear, the vessel was made to ascend to 

 5,904 feet, equivalent to a lift of nearly another ton, and it 

 remained at this level, carrying a crew of nine rnen, four 

 passengers, over 200 pounds of fuel and oil, and two tons of 

 ballast. With such a reserve of ascensional power, the com- 

 mander of an airship would be justifie'I in disregarding the 

 chances of dis.iblement by aerial artillery from the earth's 

 surface, for at a height of over 5,000 feet his vessel, with its 

 46-foot beam, \\'ould be a small mark- for the gunner, and the 

 speed would be all the greater on account of the thinness of the 

 air at such an altitude, making it exceedingly difficult to judge 

 and keep the range. 



FRANCE V. GERMANY. 



The Major is quite impartial in his encouragement 

 to the two rivals : — 



In numbers and training of pilots for her army France is at 

 present far ahead of any other nation, and provision is made in 

 this year's Supplementary Estimates for ten new machines for 

 the Naval Aviation Corps, which is to have its aerodrome at 

 Frejus, 45 miles north-east of Toulon. Pending the preparation 

 of this aerodrome, the headquarters will be at ^lontpellier. 

 France possesses already over 200 aeroplanes, mostly of modern 

 type, and what with Government appropriations and public 

 subscriptions, she should be able to quadruple that number by 

 the end of the present year. 



Germany docs not perhaps possess more than 100 military 

 aeroplanes, but the last year's manoeuvres have impressed the 

 authorities with the necessity for increasing the number, and 

 with characteristic energy and Teutonic thoroughness, but 

 without any flourish of trumpets, they are working in de.Tdly 

 earnest to augment the number of German machines and pilots, 

 and to afford training in aerial reconnaissance to as many 

 officers as possible. .Six military aviation schools have been 

 opened, and officers arc also receiving training at civilian flying 

 schools. A large number of the very ellicient Istrich mono- 

 planes have been o\dered, amongst others, and altogether 

 Germany proposes to spend ;^740,ooo on military aviation this 

 year. 



