New-York tribune., 1901-01-28

In the operetta His Excellency" which GIL
bert wrote for DR.. Carr after his quarrel with
Sullivan, he had his fling the literary idiosyn-
eFases OF the hymn. In the Prince Regents
expanation to Christian why even a real Prince
is not 10 be envIed he says that the fact that he
can't show his nose out Of doors without an
accompaniment OF national anthem is enough
70 make him turn revolutionist and cry aloud
for his own downfall" And then he sings:
Like the Banbury Lady, whom every one knows,
Hes cursed with its music wherever he goes!
And The devil himself @ co9idnt scam them
Win composure polite he endures day and night
That ilHterate National Anthem!
The fanciful scene Of His Excellency" is DEN
mark, but Gilbert's meaning is plain enough.
The words that "imperfectly rhyme" are 'victo-
Tious," glorious and 'over u.s. in the second
stanza, and laws cause" and voice" in the
third. The editor of the Loyal Song" in cal
hope" helped himself out Of the difficulty in the
third stanza by a transpostion Of words in the
sixth line. making the stanza read
Thy choicest gifts in store
On him be pleas'd 10 pour
Long may he reign!
May he defend laws
With heart and voice to sing
God save the King.
thereby destroying the rhyme-formula Of the
preceding stanzas. The words Of the hymn
1t Is high time that they be given a permanent
shape, so far as this can be done, by royal de-
cree or act OF Parliament-agencies that are
VIGOROUSLY weak in the creation Of national
anthems. Tennyson once tried his hand at the
unkering and our own Longfellow wrote an
additional stanza, which sung at the open
ing Of Mr.. Beerbohm Trees theatre in the Hay
market by Miss Clara Butt on April %, 1897
very good stanza 1t is. and extremely apropos
10 the present period, as see:
Lord let wars ternpests cease,
Fold the whole world in peace
Under Thy Wings
Make all the nations one.
All hearts beneath the sun,
TIL Thou shalt reign alone
Great King Of Kings.
Al the time OF the Queens Jubilee the Dean
oi Rochester Cathedral tried to better the only
vigorous stanza, the second which belongs TO
the original form OF the hymn. "Confound
ther politicls, Frustrate their knavish tricks"
mas something OF the denunciatory force of the
od Testament C'Confounded be all that serve
craven images" said the Psalrnist). but Dean
Hole sings as gently. impotently and inconse-
Quenually as any sucking dove:
Keep US from plague and dearth,
a1Fn ar6 thou Ihou % our w woes TO mirth.
Let there be peace!
Mirth is vanity. saith the preacher. and what
ooeh it?" Let us have peace" said the Aneri-
can General:-why the paraphrastic juxtaposi-
nong Canon Hartford wrote an imperial version
o' the hymn, beginning, God save our gracious
queen Long live our Empress Queen" retaining
'he rest Of the first stanza. the first three lines
OF the second, and the first two OF the third and
appending prayer that the 'orb OF day, Beam
"here her footsteps stray" as IL the Queen were
gwen TO vagrant wanderings through her realm
by the way. why not retive an old and quite
forgotten God Save the King" which was sung
N nonor OF Edward Wis immediate predecessor
VI that name? II would not ht the familiar
sVhe' but ii mry have had a good one. Thus II
began:
King Edward, King Edward
God King Edward.
King EDWARD the Sixth!
Al The popular concert in the Metropolitan