Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-13
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the BOOklOuer

A dome shaped, red velvet pincush-
ion, whose shape and size were those
of a blancmange for not less than
eight people," with its lower edge COW
cred with "a floral pattern worked in
white glass beads, slightly opaleScent,"
ives made by the wife of the headmas-
ter of Wellington College for the use of
Queen Victoria on the occasion OF her
visit 10 the college after the death OF
the Prince Consort, who had been
chairman Of the Governing Board. The
headmaster was E. w. Benson, later
Bishop of Truro and still later Arch
bishop of Canterbury, and he married
the wife who made the pincushion
when she was only IT. Their son,
E. F.. Benson, tells the story of the
pincushion in the opening sentences of
his delightful book of "reminiscences,
las We We're: a Victorian Peep Show"
Although the famous pincushion had
also royal crown done in beads on
the top of its dome, it is uncertain
whether Queen Victoria ever used 1t on
that visit in 1864. She arrived in
landau from Windsor, clothed in the
deepest mourning: she walked about the
school buildings and asked concerning
all the domestic arrangements; she
'Wept little over the foundation stone
of the chapel. which had been laid by
the Prince ConSort": she visited the
fifth and sixth forms and shook hands
with all the boys; she went into the
Benson nursery and kissed the three
small children there. Then she was
taken to the best spare bed room, which
had been made ready for her Ito make
herself tidy for lunch" In the bed
room were smart bows on the sup
ports OF the looking-glass, and a cas-
70 la 1T ,N,l 81,
the CRATE, like the skirt of a smart lady
whose body and head were up the Chin
ney, and a can of hot water with a
woodwork cosy over 1t, ar.I on the man
te.piece the pink glass gobletS and a
m&Iachlte clock, and on the dressing
table that wondrous pincushion. The
dOOr vas closed and TO one ever knew
whether or not the Queen took pin
from the cushion. After lunch she
planted tree and then returned 10
Windsor.
The episode Of the Queen and the
pincushion IS but one Of the many Vic
torian memories Of Mr.. Benson. Glad
stone, Queen Victoria and Tennyson fig
ure in the chapter Three Monum ntal
Figures" Mr.. Benson was often at
Hawarden, shortly after taking his de-
gree at Cambridge as he was doing
archaeological work on the north wall
OF the city Of Chester nearby. He tells
many personal anecdotes of Gladstone
and concludes: Nothing can make me
believe that person like Mr.. Gladstone
was not of some higher voltage Of power
than more recent prize ministers"
TennySon appears as very susceptible to
ftattery, but also very awkward ana
brusque. Once, being captured by a
ladv Of ~
a country house, he was obliged to sis
beside her on a garden seat until he
could make his escape. Dead silence
fell: she was far too rapt and reverent
and oyerpOwered to speak, and he had
nothing TO say. Suddenly he found
something to say, and he pronounced
these appalling words. Your stays
creak. The young lady fsd to the
society of more ordinary people, but
Tennyscn b gan to reflect and his con-
science troubled him. He stalked her,
she lodged and doubled. but he finally
closed in on her and bluvted out: II
beg your pardon. II was my braces"
In 1887 Mr.. Benson drove with his father.
then Archbishop of Canterbury. to the
Abbey service, on the occasion of the
Quesn's jubilee. After all the kings
and queens and princes and princesses.
in their jewels and TCb5S, had passed
up the nave and were seated at the
sides of the throne. there moved up
one goh airy little figure IN a BACK satin
dress with white front and a white
bonnet with a band Of blac,; velvet
How right she had been to come liko
that, end not listen to iho@e who would
have her in rCb-s C sta.a She was
Qu-an of Engl.nd and Empress Of Iniia
and sne Was m0,hcc and ~othcr-in-laW
raH I'm he. r. Wat 1Sual
pany, and there she WIS, a lit lie old
lady coming TO church to thank God
for the long years in which she had
ruled her people"
Another chapter in AS We Were" is
called Two Scandals" and gives rem
iniscences Of the II nby Croft affair. or
the baccarat scandal in which the
Prince Of Wa,es. later Edward VII was
involved, and the Oscar Wilde scandal
The former placed the Prince of Wales.
largely through the efforts of his enc
mics in the light of an encouyager of
gambling. He was the victim, Mr.
Benson says. of an episode at a country
house III which. at a baccarat game.
one of the players was discovered to be
cheating. The affair through the fail
ure of some Of the players to keep a
pact of secrecy, entered into when the
man who had cheated at cards signed a
declaration never again to play cards
for money, eventually came into the
courts. The prince was summoned a
a witness and the newspapers of the
world held him up to condemnation as
a gambler He felt that he could not
defend himself in the press, but he
wrote a letter to the Archbishop of
Canterbury Mr.. BenSonS father, setting
forth his views on gambling which
stated: Il have a horror of gambling
and should always do my utmost to
discourage others who have an inclina-
ton for it, as 1 consider that gambling,
like intemperance, is one of the great
est curses which a country can be in
flicted with" The view of the prince,
the archbishop, and Mr.. Benson him
self, seems to be that gambling was
playing for stakes which a man could
not afford ard had no business to risk
Gambling is not an absolute
term, nor is it to be defined by one fixed
set of figures" Of the Oscar Wilde
scandal. Mr.. Benson says: "A very re-
markable literary interest, both directly
and indirectly. attaches to it and to the
savage punishment to which he was
sentenced, for they we're among the
causes which combined to establish his
reputation as a writer and a dramatist,
and caused it to soar, especially in Ger
many and Italy, to height which it is
most improbable that it would ever
have reached otherwise"
X X x
Americas future prosperity is more
closely linked with the Far East than
with Europe according to j. B. Cond-
life, research secretary of the Insti-
tute of Pacific Relations, in his reading
course, The Pacific Area in Interna-
tional Relations" just published by the
American Library Association. While
the United States Is trading less with
Europe and more and more with the
Orient, China and Japan are also buy
ing less from Europe and are instead
purchasing and selling more in North