The morning call., 1893-05-10
RUsKIN FOR LAUREATE.

rather surprising dispatch from Lon
don announces that Mr. Gladstone has
offered the post of poet laureate to John
Ruskin. As Mr.. Ruskin is "a years old,
and was obliged TO give up his duties as
Stade professor OF fine art at Oxford in
consequence of ill-healtb, it seems un-
likely that he would accept the Office. If
he does not. Mr.. Gladstone will provoke n
laugh by raising TO the primary among
poets man who never wrote a line Of
poetry in his life.
The original poet laureate was min
strel, who accompanied the court on its
travels and sang songs to his lute while
the others were dining. The office ac-
Quired distinction when it fell TO Chaucer,
just 500 years ago 1t was not so consid-
erabie, however. that ii carried with it
salary; the author of Canterbury Tales"
was paid in wine. 1t was not till the time
OF Charles l, who knew good poetry when
he saw il, that the laureate got salary of
&l00 year. He stiIl got his tierce of wine
every year until the time of SOuthey. who
was moderate drnker. and commuIed his
ration Of liquor for e27 a year. From
Spenser, who became laureate about 400
years ago, to Tennyson, whose vacancy
has now to be filled. sixteen laureates are
counted. But among these only six
Spenser, Ben JonsOn, Dryden, Southey,
Wordsworth and Tennyson-are known to
readers in our day. Whoever heard of
Bardwell or Tate, or Eusdep, or Warton
or Pye? Every one haS heard of Colley
CiGber; but was he a poet? Whatever his
poetic genius, the poet laureate is MEM
Der OF the royal household, and ranks with
the groom of the robes. the pages Of
the backstairs, the clerk of the closet and
the page Of the cham Der. under the COM
mand of tile Lord Chamberlain. But we
believe that Lord TenDyson was never re-
auiced TO sing songs to his banjo while
her Majesty Queen Victoria was eating
her dinner.
Usage requires that the poet laureate
shall compose an ode on events which
touch the royal family or the national
pride. Tennyson fulfilled the duty some
times without raising his reputation. His
welcome to the Princess Of Wales contains
some fair lines
Norman ana saxon and Dane are we,
But all OF as Danes in our welcome OF thee,
AIexaudrAi
But his "Ode to the Six Hundred" dis
| torted history as grossly as Campbelfs
! poem on the battle of Copenhagen; and
! in the treatment Of the death of the Duke
! Of Wellington he was far surpassed by
Longfelow.
IN choosing a successor TO Tennyson Mr.
| Gladstone found himself in position Of
| embarrassment. Swinburne would have
| been the natural choice of the English
| people, but there were early verses of his
| which the Queen could not forgive. There
! are two gentlemen OF the name OF Morris
who seem 10 have written poetry, and one
| OF them Queen Victoria, who is not a wooer
of the muse. is said to admire. Sir Edwin
Arnold. whose opinion of his own verses
| is high, was pressed for the position by his
! friends. He also has been guilty OF some
! fine lines, but in the Light of Asia" and
the Light OF the World" there is much
that is family suggestive Of James Bailey s
''Frstus." If vote could be taken among
EHglish-speaking people on the question,
which English poet OF the day speaks most
| directly to the human heart, the choice
| would probably fall on young Ruuyard
| kipling, who is a British subject. though a
| resident of the United States. But il is
odds that her Majesty never heard Of him.
He is an eccentric person. and Is not more
| likely to be the recipient OF official honors
than Beranger was to be elected a member
of the French Academy.
John Ruskn is one 10 whom English art
owes much. He reformed British taste,
and did much to form The taste Of Ameri-
cans in painting, sculpture and architecture.
Before him mannerism regned. He
swept it out Of existence with his powerful
pen, and though his disciples of the pre-
Raphaelte school carried his doctrines to
an extreme as intolerable as that which
| permeated their predecessors. reaction
soon brought them to the truth of nature
England can never honor too highly the
author Of the Stones Of Venice" and the
Lectures on Art" But to make him poet
laureate IS like giving a great lawyer the
| command Of a modern batt!eship.