45 2 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Such a vessel would mean an initial 

 outlay of close on a quarter of a mil- 

 lion pounds, and the chance of any 

 compensating return would be slight. 

 To arm merchantmen, as is now being 

 done, means the gift of some good 

 guns as well as a good ship, to any 

 enemy's cruiser that happened along, 

 for no unarmoured ship would dream of 

 fighting a steel-clad vessel, however 

 small. The only possible use such 

 guns could be put to would be to repel 

 an attack by an enemy's ship similarly 

 armed, a remote and improbable con- 

 tingency. The experiment is bound to 

 be a costly one, both for the British 

 taxpaper, who through the Admiralty 

 supplies the guns and necessary am- 

 munition, and for • the owners, who 

 have to make considerable structural 

 alterations, to sacrifice much valuable 

 cargo room, and pay increased insur- 

 ance charges, not to mention the in- 

 convenience which may be met with in 

 ports where vessels carrying explosives 

 are prohibited from docking or lying 

 alongside wharves. The whole scheme 

 is a useless expenditure of public 

 money 

 The Poet Laureate. 



The death of Alfred Austin renders 

 vacant the position of Poet Laureate, 

 which he has held since 1896. His pre- 

 decessor, Lord Tennyson, died in 1892, 

 and the office was unfilled for four 

 years. In fact there was a strong feel- 

 ing that it should lapse altogether, 

 there being no one of equal genius to 

 succeed the master singer. Alfred 

 Austin had a difficult position to fill, 

 and did it with dignity, if not with 

 brilliance. On the whole, few poets of 

 real distinction have had the honour of 

 being made Laureate. Before the ap- 

 pointment of Southey the office had 

 fallen into contempt, but he, Words- 

 worth and Tennyson left it the goal 

 rather than the derision of poets. 



THE LATE RT. HON. GEORGE WYNDHAM. 



One of the most statesmanlike leaders of the 

 Unionist party. As Irish Secretary, he intro- 

 duced the Land Bill, which enabled tenants to- 

 purchase their holdings at advantageous rates. 

 His loss will seriously weaken the Opposition in 

 debate. 



Dryden was the first paid Laureate, 

 the title being conferred on him by 

 letters patent. Neither Swinburne nor 

 Morris would accept the post of birth- 

 day singer to the Court, hence it had 

 to be filled by Austin, a man of lesser 

 genius. Speculation is already busy 

 with the names of possible successors. 

 A popular vote would no doubt give it 

 to Kipling, the Empire's jingle bard, 

 for the public dearly likes to be tickled 

 with words, and appreciates jingo 

 jingles, whilst the thought-compelling 

 muse of a Swinburne, a Meredith, or a 

 Morris leaves it cold. Kipling appears 

 to be getting into training for this 

 post ; he has thrown off some verses of 

 welcome for M. Poincare, but poets 

 like Watson, Masefield or Noyes are 

 more likely to be selected than a 

 rhymer like Rudyard Kipling. 



