New-York tribune., 1909-05-16
LONDON NOTES
Newspaper Royalties "A Costly
Holbein-Years Pdgeduts.
London. Nav s.

Public Wants" produced by the Stage Society
with an excellent company of players. Each
of these journalistic despots has string oe
newspapers and periodicals. and has made
millions by giving the public as much triviality,
vugarity and sensationalism as Is marketable;
and each is ready to become blaekmailer on
the chance of defeating legislative project and
obtaining what is known all around scoop |
One eonvcts a Cabinet minister of a scan
dalous intrigue and threatens him with ex-
posure for the sake of killing off a wages bill;
and the other becomes a blackmailer
larger scale in order to force a woman suffrage
bill through Parliament There is evidently a
preconcerted arrangement for diseredting the
newspaper king by making him criminal
less cautious and astute than the commonest
rogue in a third floor back Mr.. Bennett is
even more mereiless than Mr.. Fagan. His man
Of many newspapers is an ignoramus as we'll
as a backguard. He has never read a line of
Shakespeare, conducts reportory theatre with
out having the slightest knowledge of art: splits
his inflnitves with innocent gayety, and makes
guy" of himself in his dealings with actresses
who cannot act and with dramatic critics who
take serious view of life.
These newspaper royalties" are not dragged
into farce as eccentric figures of modern society.
They are seriously portrayed leaders of
public opinion, who traffic in their trade for the
most sordid purposes and display their power
IN politics for the sake Of lncreasin circulation
and making everybody talk about them. They
reduce their editors and literary critics to con-
ditons Of bondage unknown to hacks in the
worst days of Grub-street and are themselves
at the mercy of any self-respecting victim who
chooses to call in the police and charge them
with blackmail. Lord Northclffe Mr. Arthur
Pearson Sir George Nevnes and other large
newspaper owners will not be fattered by these
stage portraits; will anybody intimately
acquainted with the conditions of London Jour
| nalism be impressed with the realism of stage
writing. If there were ignorant and criminal
| capitalists like these in charge Of the English
| press, Truth" would have found II out long ago
and scourged them with satire and righteous
| Indignation.
The Duke Of NoTfolk's Holbein has hung so
! long IN the German corridor of the National
| Gallery that it seemed a national possession II
| is the portrait of Christina Duchess Of Milan.
whom Henry VIII thought Of marrying after
| the death Of Jane Seymour He sent Hobein to
! the Continent 10 paint the Danish princess's
portrait. and she sat for 1t in 1898 at Brussels
/ The King was favorably impressed with II and
was inclined TO press his suit but the marriage
! was prevented for state reasons. the princess's
sarcastic refusal, with the Jest about having one
| head, not two being probably fancful tradi-
! tion. The picture was in the royal collection
when Henry VII died and it passed into ths
| possession Of the Earl Of Arundel. from whom
| it was inherited by his daughter Lady Joan
| Fitz-AIan, the wife OF Lord LumlAy AS she
| had no children, /; went hack to Arundel from
| I-umey Castle, and It has been one Of the art
| treasures OF the Howards for generations The
Duke Of Norfolk. after repeatedly warning the
| trustees of the National Gallery that ne was
| receiving large offers for the portrait has
| finally sold II 10 syndicate FOR f6l 600
\ belated and apparently desperate effort is
making to cause its retention in the National
Gallery at that price. Mr.. Lionel Gust
siders that the loss Of this picture will be little
| less than tragedy, since II Is fine example
of Hobein's later style and Is genuine work
which has never been out Of England since the
| death Of Henry VIII 1t Is likely to go either TO
New York or Berlin unless millionaire bene-
| factor redeems il at the last moment
AS a picture the portrait or the Duchess OF
| Milan is less striking than the mere vigorous
! Ambassadors" with the skull under the table.
which has been exhibited with It for a long
| time. That is the work of realist, who had
remarkable facility for seiznE characteristic
| traits and peculiarities OF expression The Prin-
cess Christina is painted with refinement of
method but without much subtlety In the ar
| rangement OF surfaces and colors. 1t lacks the
power and realism of the Louvre portrait of Irin-
! cess Anne Of CIeyes. which Holbein painted
! about the same time near Cologne. Possibly II
/ Woud have been finished more laboTousIy II
| there had been q marriage and the subject had
been numbered among English queens. While
| IL is interesting from the romantic associations
and from it's authenticity It cannot he compared
| with the best Holbens In the Louvre, the Am
| sterdam Museum. the Basic Museum WINDSOR
Castle and ChatsWOrth. The Duke of Norfolk
| In selling 1t, has been influenced by anXleties
respecting the future of large land holders. ana
has considered it prudent TO reduce the hablli-
ties of his own estate and to set his house in
| order 1t is of the signs or the umes.
TITLED land holders are thoroughly alarmed by
! the systematic raiding OF their possessions by
| an energetic Chazcellor of the Exchequer who
| is '.robbing the hen roosts." The Holbein Is
| cold because the owner cannot afford to give it
| TO the nation, and If no millionaire Is prepared
to redeem it It is because tax gathering has
become little short of legalized looting.
The ma geants of the year have been opened by
the stepney school children at the Wbitechapel
| Art Gallery They have made the history of
| London easy. picturesque and intelllgibe by EN-
| acting a series of scenes in costume with run
| ine commentary to connect past and present
# ts not make believe; the children are living
again in the old days with the sincerest realism
| piqbt roval Boadicea defies martial Paulinus
| ,itb conouering Rome behind him; the Nor
| mo, William grants a charter to London bur
| easses and Bishop Gundulf plans the Tower;
| tba Empress Maud and Queen Matilda wear
| their splendd robes with a grand air; KING
| picbard meets Wat Tyler's rebels on Mile End
Waste. there is a rollickng interlude for the
| mind hegRar's daughter OF Bethnal Green the
| Canterbury pilgrims march, with pretty pri-
DRESS signing and smirking, and off go the step
| nev sailors under Queen Bess's eyes to Join the