The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-30

Kingsley dealt in intimate detail Wlta an epoch that is painted, or rather in dicated. only by few broad touches III history. His intense partisanshlp, his fiery opinions about everything from the theory of gravitatiOn to religion. color all those details yet so vivid, so hotly human is the whole story that even the reader with a close knowledge of the history of that strange, wild age is carried away and comes to believe the novel to be more true than the ae- cepted philosophy of history. some chapters are Homeric. No better pie ture of the half savage, half noble Vikings has been painted than this pie1 ture of Hereward sea -robber, land-pll- lager slayer, burner and patriot. Tn Q novel is called "Hereward. the Last or the English" in some editions. This title is more significant of its theme than the better known title.
 THn Lady aodiva, .,Ft','.',a,,t Datroness 9I .'l ! the land for her brave deed in riding naked through the town to save 1t from exaction, was heavy at heart Again and again had her wild son Here ward done evil to hind and squire with his wild following, beating and staying men in drunken brawls, and again and again had she forgiven him. But now he had done a deed that seemed to her pious soul to curse him here and here after.
 He had thrown Herluin. the reverend sub-prior of Peterborough, from his fat mule and dragged from him l6 silver pennies You and your fellow priests shouted Hereward, 'have swindled my lady mother of the hoard You have swindled me, through her, of many a fair manor ere now, and it is but fair that I should tithe the rents, as l shall never get the lands out of your clawsF' The mortified priest hurried to the Lady Godfva. While he was telling her the terrible tale there sounded roar ing laugh outside and Hereward burst into the room.
 He was such a lad as might have pleased the eye of any mother-a young man of 1S short, but immense in breadth of chest and strength of limb, full of a noble, reckless courage that showed in every line of his handsome face as he shook back his long bright yellow hair and roared out: "Herluini Sir Monk, if my good old Uncle Brand were not prior of Peterborough l would have burned the minister over your head long ago. When there Is another prior there you will find Hereward the Ber- serker smoking you out some dark night!'
 The monk shrank behind the Lady God iva-and small wonder, for the bear s rage, the Berserker- -wuth, was flaming in the young mans face, and it was made the more frightening by the sinister ex- pression of his eyes. which came from the fact that one was gray and one was blue The bright blue tattooing around his wrists and throat swelled and writhed as his veins and muscles grew big with fury.
 Lady Godiva, majestic and beautiful still, despite the lines of care that marked her features. cried out upon him and promised that before nghtfall a messen- ger should be on his way to Edward the Confessor's court to apprise her hus- band the great Earl of Mercia and Ches- ter, of this crowning sin of their son.
 "Ham shouted Hereward. My father will tell the King, and the old miracle worker will outlaw me. Very well. Out law l will be, and try what a man can do for himself with no angel or saint to help him, and nothing but his wits and his sword"
 He flung out of the room, and it passed as he had foreseen. The Earl, wisest of all men in England of his time swore that he was Earl to see justice done, and done 1t should be, even on his own flesh and blood. So one morning Hereward with good armor on his back, good weap- ons by his side, good horse beneath him and good money in his purse, rode away Wake" a ''wolfs head"-an outlaw whose life was in every mans hand.
 First he rode to the land beyond North umberiand where ruled a scheming. cum ming, bold Fleming, Gilbert of Ghent who made the young Wake welcome, fol he had abundant use for strong geltmer who were willing to take hard blows from his enemies.
 He became the darling of the ladies 1T few weeks. Indeed the yellow-haired outlaw had that luck through all his life Logically, the knights did not love hin the more for that, especially after ht had proved with many a mighty blow
 
 of his ready arm.
 After while he became bored because none seemed able to stand up to him long enough to make it a really interesting fight, and he longed for a chance at tn, only creature at court who seemed wortf while. This creature was not a man. I was more than man. It was a mighty white bear whom everybody feared st much that the common people would dar not even name him, but called him Cod dog. Gilbert and all the rest feared hin equally and approached his den with re spect. They said that he was the sol of the Fairy Bear. and an uncle o cousin of great Sward Digre himself He had iron claws like his fairy father said they No man ever felt like ex amining those claws, and no doubt wa raised as to this natural fact. He cou be conquered by no man. He was tn whales bane, the seals dread, the ride of the iceberg.
 Hereward begged Gilbert for permission to try bout with the monster of the hot but Gilbert, who would never tell how Il had obtained the dreaded beast or expai the mystery of why he kept him caged a his court, shook his head drunk o sober
 One day. however, the bear escaped Hereward came riding into the courtyar just as everybody had fled into the hous