New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-01-05

Content TO be the idle singer OF an empty Gay,
Mr. Austin ramb,cs on prettily, tunefully. hon
estly about sights and scenes in English Ire
which may mean little enough al times. but are
somehow very close to the English heart, ana
which are usually so attractive in themselves
that the mere recurrence Of them as matters u
fact in his serene measures Is something pro-
ductive of pleasure to the sympatAe'lc reaue''
He is not capable of striking the mightier chords
in the imperial Tyre. When he has TO be drama'c
and impassioned. he becomes merely colorless.
Even his most successful essays In poetic MARIA
ton. as THE Last Redoubt" fall cold and futile.
But whenever it is the tender sentiment or Eng
lish LOYALTY that is to be sung. the loveness OF
English flowers. the commences Of English feel
ing. Mr. Austin is not an unskllfui spokesman OF
his countrys pride. He Is not in the least great
poet. but he is one of whom the nation may eN-
meet nroductions couchcd In agreeable English
and gentle measures, and devoted To high ideals
The fitness OF his appointment might be more
generally and more clearly understood l. people
were to divest themselves of a great mass of IN
warrantable tradition in the premises: and were
TO see the position OF poet laureate as X really
is There is in truth. reason why we shouIu
ciamor for the induction Of the nobest EAghsh
singer into the office, or shake our heaus Sau''
when u less than perfect selection, as the IN
dividual may consider 1t. is made. We nave 40
right either. to cr.ticise that selection as having
been based in the present instance not alone Oh
poetic grounds, but on questions OF pohtcal ca
pedicncy and social tact. If We choose to thihK
OF the poet laureate Of England as an hef l"
Petrarchs laurel. that is our affair ana no. l,oru
Salisburys He knows that from the seven
teenth century t. our own there has been vast
difference between the endowment Of court
poet BY the British throne and the coronation
of the Italian master in the Eternal CI'y'
Petrarch wore the laurel as tribute 10 ms
genius paid solely because his genius was
adored. Jonson, Davtnan., Dryden, Sou'hey'
Wordsworth and Tennyson, to cite the h'oSt
notable names in the English ire oI Tos""!
recognized singers. were made members VI 'i'e
royal household on precisely ;he same loo'hs
as the groom of the robes and the pages OF the
backstairs. That is to say. that "hlie 'he.'
functions nav have differed from those Of their
more humble fellow courters, their oiie:ai stand
ing was the same they came under the authority
of the same lord chamberlain. Naturally. that
authority was never exertei in any definite
NAV prohablv Tenrvson never knew the lord
chamberlain. save as perhaps, personal ac-
ouaintancc or as the official from WON MS
yearly honorarium was TO be expected. Yet facts
ara facts and the courtesy shown TO the poet
laureate from the earliest to the latest years
of the Office has never actually removed MN
from the sphere of regularly employed FerVItofs'
This has been recognized quickly enough by
some writers, and they have inveighed against
Tennyson because allowed himself TO De
made a paid servant of the crown More oIteH
the public have chosen TO regard Inc oince dS
one conveying a SORT OF national ratiiicauoh "l
the poets erninence. a thing which II never mas
done and never can do The poet laureate II
nothing more nor less than person kept III
communication with the court on the tact Il
not explicit understanding that when the reign
ing n,ince wins battle or discovers ne"
country or gives away his daughter IN marriage
or establishes a treaty with some distant power
some lyrical celebration OF the event may D.
counted upon by all those loyal subjects WI
want a literary benson upon the dlnhuN'., o.
their taxes or the expansion OF their trane' zen
nvson was fortunate. He was poet laureate -
a noble lady Bat how often In century '"ulu
the wearer of his crown be sure OF slhelns Il
worthy heroine or hero? Sentiment aslde' 'herr
is lust one reason for the existence 81 por'
iaureate IN England a purely formal ana o.
fcial one: and with this distinctly reaIizcd IN"
need for a pother over Mr.. AIstins appoint
ment or that OF any Of his contemporaries =
seen to disa ppcar.