New-York tribune., 1912-02-05
LONDON NOTES
MLabby's' Letters - WeIIing--
toms Charger-CoronatiO
Art-Lithographs.
London, January 20.

| L
and. like Mr. Gladstone. he disliked to
destroy private correspondence When
he retired from his post as member for
Northampton and gave up his London
| residence he had the courage and pa
thence required for examining the pigeon
hole accumulations Of forty years and
| burning the bulk of them. Acquaint-..
ances who called upon him at that time
found him with the inevitable cigarette
| in his mouth and with the floor Uttered
with letters from people of distinction In
politics. diplomacy, literature anu art.
An autograph hunter would have found
mine in the waste paper boxes and
omen CRATES. But "Labby" was de-
termined man when he undertook a hard
| Job. and he made thorough work Of sort
ing these private papers and committing
nine out of ten to the flames. The rem
nants he packed into few spacious
boxes, where his literary executor or BIZ
ographer could find them in due time.
Lord Morley was employed for months
in sorting and indexing the enormous
accumuations of Gladstone papers at
| Hawarden.
The habit Of writing letters 20 mis-
cellaneous correspondents has wellnigh
passed out of public life. Secretaries
are employed to large extent by minis
ters and members Of Parliament, and
their replies are seldom dictated, but are
expanded from brief notes pencilled on
the letters. Appointments and confer
x1sFfff
muuications, and telephones are in con-
stant use. So marked is the decline ot
letter writing that when recent com
muuication from Sir Edward Grey to
Lord Lytton has come to light news
Paper paragraphers have expressed sur
prise that it should nave beer sent by
post when the correspor dents lived close
together and could easily have used their
telephones Sir Edward Grey, however,
is O reticent statesman, who dislikes un-
necessary talk and prefers to answer
letters in his own hand In this respect
he resembles a great predecessor at the
Foreign Office-the late Lord Salisbury,
who submitted cheerfully to the drudg-
cry Of correspondence as the easiest
method OF getting rid of talkative bores.
Mr.. I.abouchere preferred to talk to men
in his library or in the smoking room OF.
the Commons; and being as intense an q
admirer Of Mr. Gladstone as an ipgraiued z
cynic could be, he was not ashamed 70
follow an ilIustrious example and to
make a large use of postcards. Little
/ from his own hand is likely TO be found
in the three deed boxes.
| Unwilling ceremonies are going out on
public occasions. There was none wnen
the memorial to Sir Henry Campbell
Bannerman was completed in West
minister Abbey, and possibly the omls-
sion was discreet, for somebody had
blundered and made an inexcusable mis-
take in the date Of the genial Prime
Minister'S birth. There has been none
this week at st. Paul's, where the Well
lington memorial has been surmounted
with an equestrian figure; and the
neglect may readily be condoned, for
when sixty years have passed since the
death OF the Iron Duke, and Mr.. Tweed,
only after prolonged delay, has been al
|
sign. the less that is said about national
gratitude the better for the average
Englishman's pride. The trouble was
originally caused by the horse, which
the dean and chapter considered out OF
place in a cathedral. The charger now s.
stands out against a gray window, and
the duke with bare head. military
cloak and a baton. holds him under
tight rein. The vicissitudes of the
sculptor in his struggle with self-opin-
donated ecclesiastics. pompous officials
and jealous Academcians wore him out,
but time at last has made all things
even"
The most important figures in the new
coronation picture are blanks to be filled
out when the King and Queen return
from India Mr.. Bacon is less likely 10
have trouble over them than Mr.. Abbey
| found in his time, for Queen Mary IS
more punctual in keeping appointments
than Queen Alexandra was, and King Q
George is less fussy over details than
King Edward. The moment chosen for
the new ceremonial work is when the
Archbishop has stepped back after plac-
ing the crown on the sovereign's head.
There is less action in IL than in MT.
Abbey's picture, but it is likely to have
beautiful passages of color, for, in addt-
tion to the prelates, peers and court
! functionaries, the painter has succeeded
| in giving prominence TO the group OF
pretty girls who acted as the Queens
train bearers. Sir Luke Fides, MIR.
Lavery and other Academic lights are
under command to produce life size por-
traits Of the King and the Queen. Mr.
McLure Hamilton has already exhibited
an artistic lithograph likeness of King
| George at the Senefelder Clubs excellent
show at the Goupil Gallery, and Mr.. Ed
mund ]. Sullivan has made fine prints
of the coronation and the gala night at
the opera.
Whistler's influence is felt on every
wall OF this lithograph exhibition, ana
especially in the group of prints by MI
Pennell The subjects are varied, rang
ing from skyscrapers in New York to
French coal mines, Dutch windmills and
the gates Of the Alhambra; but wherever
ne goes he is economical IN line, viva
cious in method and full of atmosphere
and movement When Alloys Sene-
fielder was experimenting carelessly withniii
this beautiful medium century ago he
could scarcely have forecast the develop
,,ant of the art now shown I'm Mr., Pen