New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-03-19
LORD ROSEBERY,
THE NEW LEGEND ABOUT HIM-soMn
REAL PERSONAL TRAITS.

London March T.
The building up Of the Rosebery legend has
already begun. There is, naturally, great curl
osity to know all that can be known about the
new Prime Minister. 1t is the greater because
his public life has. Of late years been surrounded
with certain reserve. He has fulfilled his own
and Lord salisburys idea of the Secretary Of
State for Foreign Affairs He has been dumb,
or almost dumb He has made great speech
in the House OF Lords aid some lesser ones. but
he has hardly been the public platform.
He has had little to say, except with pen In
his hand, on the burning questions of the hour.
He has devoted himself to foreign policy. and the
foreign policy CT Great Britain is enough, and
more than enough, to absorb the energies OF any
one man. This very absorption, though not
quite complete has withdrawn him from his
taskmaster's eye; bis taskmaster being, Of course
the British public. And so the taskmaster, by
help Of his other faithful servants, the news
papers, indemnifes himself as best he can by
constructing legend. They all want to know
more than they do. not merely about the Min
lister, whose record and achievements are open to
everybody, but about the man. Hence the
Observation-Disclosures" which seem to me mostly
well-meant and good-natured caricatures. Moth
ing Is more remarkable than the way in which
stories attach themselves to particular person
for which there is little no foundation In fact
1t is the body Of these stories which make up
what | call the legend And since nothing
travels so fast or far or lasts so long as error,
it may be worth while to set right two or three
specimen errors.
One OF these character artists will have 1t that
Lord Rosebery knows his Horace by heart"
This seems meant to hand on an ancient ira
dition: Many Of the Prime Ministers Of England
ola lad
one Of the best, and it is but the other day some
body was saying that he was going to translate
the whole Of Horace. or perhaps only the whole
OF the Odes The patheti reason was given that
this work would make no demand on his eyes
He knew his Horace by heart, he knows his
Homer in a sense, by heart Asked once how
well he knew II, he answered that II you began
with a line at the top Of any page, he could
complete the page from memory. But OF classical
learning his successor has very little. He was
at Christchurch. oxford, during the classical
period. but Christchurch has never been con-
spicuous as a reading college, and Lord Dali
meny. as he then was did not set himself very
strcnuously against the fashion or custom Of idle
ness Many a man. indeed, learns his Horace by
heart who is no scholar and some Of them keep
up the knowledge. He has ever been pre-enli-
nently the poet of the man Of the world. doubt
whether Lord Rosebery is Of this number. Ger
tainly. If he has any such knowledge ne rather
hides it under a bushel modestiy.
He is presented to the word as poet. There
exists says one Of his portrait-eulogists at least
one unpublished poem by him which may see
the light some day. There exist. don't doubt.
or have existed, more poems than one. or copies
Of verses: for which the world, think. will wait
a long time. No man knows better than Lord
Roseberv the limitations on his powers. He has
written verses for his own amusement, and for
that Of his friends. | have seen him sit down 10
a table IN the drawing room after dinner. large
company of people talking and playing games,
and amid the soft tumut OF all these distractions,
and Of his duties as host. produce some note
paoer sheets Of what are called or used 70 be
called occasional verses. They were turned out
as fast as his pen could travel on the paper;
metre and rhymes all correct His frie"ds read
them If they liked. They were excellent of their
kind and the improvisation added to their merit
doubt whether they were preserved am sure
they will not be published. Lord Rose5ery, who
is one of the best of readers reads very little
poetry That fact alone might dispel the notion
that he has any ambition to figure as poet
His reading is before all things historical. and
1t is the political and diplomatic history of Eng
land and of Scotland-Ircland, also. OF late years.
which mas most occupied HILL MS hHu"lSusc ~
on those subjects and in those directions wide
and accurate II 1t be possible FOR accuracy in
matters of fact of dates. Of events. 10 be a
foible. 1t is a foible with him; and he Is some
times impatient OF inaccuracy in others; an
Impotence which ne carefully suppresses. This
reading began long ago; began in the days when
racing was believed to occupy his mind much
more than reading. one OF his earlier friends.
who knew him long before I did. told me years
ago that Lord Rosebery had. as it were. made at
that time a secret of the studious side OF his life.
He read early and late: long before his comrades
Of those days were up and long after they mad
gone TO bed 1t may be conjectured that even
then he had conceived a high ambition, and was
silently fitting himself for the part he meant 10
play by and by. II you have seen much OF MIN
you will have observed that he makes 1t rule
never to talk to others of subjects out OF their
range or apart from their known interests and
habits That OF itself might explain the im-
perfect knowledge which his earlier associates,
or most OF them had Of these solid studies.
The use he has made of them became evident
later. I defer what have 70 say of his public
lifc but | will remark here that in every branch
OF il, whether Parliamentary or municipal
whether in the House OF Lords or on the plat
form or in that important part OF public ne
which consists in private intercourse with other
men. he has been distinguished by the funess
and precision OF his acquired knowledge. That
was the fruit which these early and ever-con-
tlnued studies bore. Later. they broadened ana
varied When he became or before he first BE-
came Foreign Minister. they spread over the
Continent. They included familiar acquaint-
ance with the personages and personal history
OF all the reigning families of Europe OF all
their Minister'S. of all those who had to do with
affairs abroad. You could consult him as you
would consult Gothas Almanach, and with at
least equal certainty of being rightly informed
That Is a kind Of information which few Eng
lishmen possess: even among the few to whom
the political history OF the Continent and 10
diplomatic intricacies are knDwn.
These latter every Foreign Minister In England
a., a,,oosad % ,,a,,ar Sop,a do and some do