N OWHERE in the whole world is there so fit a place for the Shakespearean theatre as at Stratford. The little Warwickshire town, despite the motor-car and Marie Corelli, is still very much as it was when Shakespeare was born in the house that is now a museum, and died in the house the foundations of which are reverently preserved as if they were the relics of some hallowed shrine. The meadows starred with daisies and golden with cowslips, the hedges bursting into hawthorn bloom, the river winding between banks all osierfringed, the stately spire of the church soaring heavenward over the elm tree-tops, the flowers, the birds, the swans with their cygnets, the lowing herds and the frolicsome lambs-all these are to-day as they were when Shakespeare courted Anne Hathaway in the Shottery Woods. It requires a strenuous effort of the historic imagination to reconstruct the London of Shakespeare's time. In Stratford it is always Shakespeare's time. The air of Stratford, with the glad song of the lark in the day and the plaintive melody of the nightingale at night, breathes and burns with Shakespeare. In 1901. Hither have come in pious pilgrimage all the children of men, the greatest and the meanest, the richest and the poorest, drawn by the magnetism of genius, to pay homage to him whose touch of nature made the whole world kin. It is the Mecca of the English-speaking race. Here was born, here lived, here loved, here died and here lies buried the creator of more of our familiar friends than any other mortal. Within each of us lie, mostly latent, but occasionally felt, all the emotions which crave for expression, which no one ever expressed so fully and so well as the woolstapler's son who was baptised at the old stone font still shown in the church. We owe to him not only some of the best of our friends, but he made them all the friends of our other friends. He created a world common to everyone and we all know and understand each other better because he introduced us to so many common acquaintances, all of whom are far more really realised denizens of the world in which we live than our next-door neighbours. Nay, we really only understand most of the flesh and blood figures, in the midst of which we spend life's fitful fever, by our more intimate acquaintance with these great human types which Shakespeare created for all time. If we endeavour to explain a man or a woman's character, how often we have to borrow phrases from Shakespeare, or use his characters as the key to interpret living men. And although Shakespeare placed his creations in Elsinore and in Venice, in the forest of Ardennes and in Verona, distributing them impartially throughout many lands, including fairyland, it was here at Stratford that he found the raw material, here also it was that nature supplied the scenery that is the background of all his dramas. When we read "There is a willow grows aslant a brook" we know that that willow first grew on Avon-side. It is growing there this day, with all the attendant paraphernalia of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples," as all may see who care. Oberon knew A bank whereon the wild thyme blows," and he found it in a wood near Athens. Shakespeare probably saw it in some glade in the Warwickshire woods. 66 66 Forty years before I had first made the acquaintance of Shakespeare's plays. The investment of one penny made me the somewhat curious possessor of the plays of "Hamlet" and Othello." I hardly knew what a tragedy was. I was utterly unprepared for the wholesale slaughter that heaps the stage with dead in "Hamlet." It jarred horribly, and at first I almost shrank from reading another play. But I went on through "Othello," and from that time I read two or three plays every week until I had read them all. Into what a world of wonder and romance they introduced the sixteen-year-old errand boy on Newcastle quay! For the whole of that year I lived in Shakespeare world. My friends laughed at me as Shakespeare mad. "He's got Shakespeare on the brain," they said in derision-as if it were possible to have anything better on the brain than Shakespeare. Review of Reviews, May, 1905. William T. Stead THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS The Outlook. THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. LONDON, April 1, 1916. April brings in a brighter and better outlook, and, although it is not in the province of this section of the Progress to comment on the war, it is impossible to open these notes without paying tribute to our gallant Ally who has so valiantly repulsed attack after attack in the Verdun district. The result of this splendid stand will be a quickened spirit of resolve and fervour amongst the Allies, a greater realisation of the strength and power of their armies, and a sure knowledge that, though the struggle may still be a long one and many men and tons of munitions may be needed, the goal for which they have been working and preparing, and for which they stand united, is within their grasp. Signs of Weakening. With the Central Powers there are signs of weakening. To throw away men as they have been doing cannot but be a heavy drain on their resources, and can have done little to forward their cause. Even the hope of impressing their own people and Neutrals by a big offensive, to judge by results, can hardly have been realised. Although without doubt there are still many in Germany who look to victory, from many sources comes the knowledge that this feeling is by no means universal; that there is a great deal of unrest in Germany and amongst the Central Powers generally there can be little doubt. Rumours, substantiated, of Turkey wishing to conclude a separate peace, difficulties in Bulgaria, the latest submarine tactics-all tend to show a weakening. The way to take advantage of this is to be ready and prepared with men and munitions. Lord Kitchener's earnest The appeal to the married Married Men. men to come forward without hesitation and join the ranks, his assurance and the assurances of the Prime Minister, Lloyd George, and Lord Derby that all possible is being done to secure the single men, ought to do much to end the agitation on the subject of the married men, especially if the men themselves-as most assuredly most of them didcame forward in the earnest wish to help their country in her time of need. Our great difficulty in the past has been lack of reinforcements, and we have pledged our word to those on active service that this shall not be the case in the future. In order to prevent this men and more men must be continually under training. That the married men as a whole should wish to hold back until every single man is in training, even if it means the Army going short, is unbelievable and untrue. There has been a great deal of talk of broken pledges, and no doubt mistakes have been made. But the Government are now tackling all difficulties seriously, and we are pleased to note that the provisions to be made for the financial liabilities of the married men are to be retrospective. The married men, and many single men, who have "cheerfully born their sacrifices" for months, have equal, if not more right to consideration than those who have been comfortably at home, and in many cases have been earning better wages than before, and have had time and opportunity to prepare for going. The Conference in Paris. represented, The first Conference of the Allies took place last month in Paris. All the Allied countries were England's representatives being Mr. Asquith, Lord Bertie, Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Lloyd George, Lord Kitchener, and General Sir William Robertson. Complete confidence reigned throughout, and not the slightest doubt as to the ultimate issue of the war was to be detected. The following resolutions were unanimously adopted : 1. The representatives of the Allied Governments, assembled in Paris on March 27th and 28th, 1916, affirm the entire community of views and solidarity of the Allies. They confirm all the measures taken to realise unity of action and unity of front. By this they mean at once military unity of action as assured by the agreement concluded between the General Staffs, economic unity of action, the organisation of which has been settled by the present Conference, and diplomatic unity of action which is guaranteed by their unshakable determination to pursue the struggle to the victory of their common cause. 2. The Allied Governments decide to put into practice in the economic domain their solidarity of views and interests. They charge the economic conference, which will be shortly held in Paris, to propose to them measures adapted to realise this solidarity. 3. With a view to strengthening, co-ordinating, and unifying the economic action to be exercised in order to prevent supplies from reaching the enemy, the Conference decides to establish in Paris a permanent committee upon which all the Allies will be represented. 4. The Conference decides : (a) To continue the organisation begun in London of a Central Bureau of Freights. (b) To take common action with the shortest possible delay with a view to discovering the practical methods to be employed for equitably distributing, between the Allied nations, the burdens resulting from maritime transport and for putting a stop to the rise in freights. The late First Lord. may Colonel Churchill and injudicious in parts of his speech last month during the Navy Debate, but the very fact that there has been shortage of labour in connection with the Navy looks as if a certain amount of driving power had been lacking, and it was in no unfriendly tone that the late First Lord cautioned against complacency and questioned why with much greater facilities the present Board has been content to maintain an attitude of seeming passivity. Mr. Balfour in his reply admitted that there had been delays, owing partly to shortage of labour and also to the action of the previous Board in taking guns designed for Dreadnoughts in order to use them for monitors. However, the stirring up of efforts and counsels since seems unmistakable proof of the result of the debate. It is impossible to put Colonel Churchill's words aside as out of place and out of his province, as has been done in some quarters. It is to him that we owe the preparedness of the Fleet in 1914, and it was due to his insistence that Lord Fisher was recalledan act which was triumphantly justified by events. Colonel Churchill has worked with and realises the driving power of the late Sea Lord, what it has meant to us for years, and he has been able to overlook personalities and face the big issue and great faith in the British Empire as an immense power for good, and believes that one of the greatest effects of this war will be a closer and more systematic co-ordination of the Motherland and her Colonies. His visit should do much to advance the union of the Empire in every way. The There are to be many services and celebra Tercentenary tions throughout the Celebration. land this and next month in commemoration of the Tercentenary of Shakespeare's death. On April 30th there are to be special services at Westminster Abbey. On Monday, May 1st, a meeting is to be held at the Mansion House. On May 2nd a Gala performance of Julius Cæsar is to be given at Drury Lane Theatre. One cannot but deplore that this is all-one performance amongst all our West End theatres! Surely, although SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL OF MERCY Photo by] Tercentenary |