New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-02-05
NO MORE Ii CREATES.

Tcnnvson will be the last poet laureate. If
Mr., Glad,toneS example be followed. When
questioned in Parliament respecting the sue
cession to what is technically patent Office
at tho disposal of the Lord Chamberlain. the
Prime Minister has bru>qucly declared that he
has no intention of recommending the appoint
mcnt Of poet laureate. II is not known
whether he has reached this decision after dis
covering that poets like Swinbunc and Nor
ris having the most valid claim 10 the sue
c. ssion were Indifferent 70 the honor. or whether
he has perceived the impracticabiiy Of con-
tinung the traditional court custom by
mediocre appointment which would degrade
Tcnnyson's memory. Possibly he answered the
question impulsivcly, and revealed character
isic impotence over an attempt - draw him
out on what he had considered a trivial mat
ter when his time and thought were cngrosscd
with tho cares Of state or he may have de-
libcratoly determined upon the abolition Of the
Office n convenient way OF escaping from an
embarrassing position. Mr.. Gladstone while
markedly deficient in humor, Is sensitive =
ridicule. and may have forcSccn that he would
be laughed at, let him appoint whom he might.
Then again it is not improbable that the Queen
and her Prime Minister may not agree upon
their standards OF English poetry. The effect
is tho same, whatever may have been tho
motives which have controlled it, The laurc-
ateShip is allowed to lapse.
1t is singular that statesman who has Won
remown from his IIomcric studies and Hellenic
scholarship should be instrumental in abolish
ing an Office distnctivcy Greek in origin.
Mr.. Gladstone probably has never dissentcd
from Sir Henry Names generalization that
whatever is progressive in modern civilization
is Greek and at any rate he must have recog-
nzcd in the laurcateship the last survival Of
the classical custom Of browning the poets in
musical contests among the vine-cad hills and
olive groves of Pcloponneslis. From Greco
tho tradition passed to Rome and in the Middle
Ages it was revived in Germany, Spain Italy
and England In Germany there WAS a sue
ccSsion Of court poets from Ulrlch Won Hutton
to Karl Buergcr and finally the Imperial priv
ilegc was conferred upon universities and prac
tically abandoned. In Spain the laurcatcShip
never acquired distinction but in Italy Pctraich
was crowned in the capital, and TaSSo. after
aspiring TO the same honor throughout his
troubous life, was buried with the laurel on
his cold. white forehead. Whether Chauccr
of wine, or whether Spcnscr was entitled to
the lanll OF laureate in Elizabethan times. may
be a controversial matter; but from Ben Jon
sons acceptance of small life annuity until
Tennysons death the succession has been I'M
broken. 1t has been an unequal circuit of
genius and mcdiocrity Jonson. Davcnant Dry |
den, Southcy, Wordsworth and TcnnySon shar-
ing the chcapcned h9norS Of Shadwcll. Tate !
Rowe, Eusdcn. Cibbcr. Whitehead and War |
ton but whether in its high or low estate, the |
aureatoship has been rcminisccnce in prosaic |
England Of Greek culture and love of beauty |
and harmony refracted through the dense
gloom of the Middle Ages.
The earliest English laureaeS were employed |
TO furnish odes for royal entertainment when
Italian Mosques were produced at court. They
were expected TO earn their pensions and to
work for their tierces of malvOise and canary
wine. Even as late as Pyes term of royal
patronage an equivalent in verse was rendered
for the honor of appointment. Sir Walter
Scott declined the lalueateship because he con.
sidered the obligation 10 write for the court a
degrading one, and Southey and Wordsworth
could only be induced to take it when they
were released from compulsory service. Per-
haps it is this offensive tradition of official
patronage OF men of letters which has tended
TO discredt the Office and to reconcile Mr.. Glad
stone to its abolition, notwithstanding its
G. assical origin and "reminiscences sturdy DIR.
Johnson struck the first vigorous blow for the
CT literary genius from patronage
when in his famous letter II Lord Chesterfield
he asked =" Is not patron, my lord, one who
looks with unctncern on man struggling for