Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-28


the world for the seven days
Il ended December 81. 1880:
y \ \
THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH
OF NATIONS.-The electoral reform
bill to be introduced after the Christ
mas recess, besides It's main feature Of
an alternative vote, will propose abol-
ton of the university seats, almost al
ways held by Conservatives, with now
and then a Liberal interloper.
The great Albert Einstein has accept
ed the Invitation Of oxford University
and the Rhodes trustees to be the
Rhodes Memorial lecturer at Oxford
next year.
December was the Tooth anniver-
sary Of the birth of Christina Rossetti;
certainly the greatest poetess since
Sappho, and, though not in the first
class Of British bards, eminent In the
second.
Miss RoSsetu had a sense of physical
beauty and the pied and opulent aspects
Of nature that might seem a throw
back to some ancestress Of the Italian
renaissance, but opposed by religious
conscience of almost unexampled rigid
ity. It Is the clash of these oppositeS
that produces her unique charm. Con-
science asserts itself tyrannically, but
the passionate urge bursts trammels;
result, the sensuous display in startling
relief and the pathos and poignancy
terribly intensified by contrast. The
crowning example in this kind Is the
poem Amor Mund1."
There was In the young Christina q
vein Of puckishness which found al
most riotous expression in the lyrical
ballad "Joblin Market" one Of the few
successful glamour stories in verse; sui
generis, delightful. Conscience blocked
further outlet for that vein.
The merit of Christina RoSsetti as
a Sonneteer has not sufficiently been
recognized. Here again she may be
thought to have harked back to Italian
| forbears. Her sonnetS have, with
concinnity and nice articulation very
rare quality of naturalness. Success
with the sonnet presupposes extraordi-
nary capacity of mental concentration
along with extraordinary metrical
address. The Cardinal Newman" and
several other of Miss RoSsetti's sonnets
deserve fabrication.
But, of course, it Is by the best Of
| her lyrics that Christina RoSSetti may
most hopefully defy all-eating time. OF
the Victorians who but Tennyson and
Swinburne may take the pas Of her?
Notice the great variety of measures,
the delicacy yet sureness of touch, the
| spontaneity. She has something to say
and is emotionally impelled to say it.
For Ginning, echoing cadences she
| rivals Poe and TennySon. In mono
rhyme she stands alone. Swinburne
was beholden to her for some of his
most exquisite turns and fashions. The
copiousness of effects is extraordinary.
She Is very little initiative, but as you
read, Blake might have written that"
you say. why, here are some versicles
of ST. Francis" This elegiac strain,
It's Collins, I'll be bound" and this
| tranSlucence, Chinese, Tao Chen him
self, one looks right through to Tao"
| To be sure, have run on uncon-
scionably, but I felt driven to say q
! word for an outrageously neglected
| genius. This transcendent glory of her
sex has not received her mead Of CEN
tennial honors.
It would not be fair to let the year
go by without noting that it is the
Booth year since the birth of Charles
Cotton, author of Second Part" Con
fly fishing to Walton's Complete
Angler" and Of some pleasant poems,
and notable translator of Montaigne's
essays.
Viscount wilmington, about to retire
as governor general of Canada, has
been designated to succeed Lord Irwin
as viceroy Of India upon the latter's
retirement in the coming March. Lord
| Wilmington knows his India, having
served as governor of Madras for IL
years, in which capacity he impressed
as of singularly open mind. He is q
Liberal and "a years Of age. He was
raised to the peerage in 1910, being
promoted viscount in 1924.
y
IRISH FREE STATE.-The Shannon
River hydro-electric installation Is prov
ing itself q success. A dividend ct the
end Of the drst year Of operation on the