14 APRIL 1917, Page 13

TENNYSON AS PROPHET.

(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR ."I SIR,—You may think the following lines remarkable as a fore- cast:—

"Gigantic daughter of the West, We drink to thee across the flood, We know thee most, we love thee best, For.art thou not of British blood?

Should war's mad blast again be blown, Permit not thou the tyrant powers To fight thy mother here alone, And let thy broadsides roar with ours, Hands all round!

God the tyrant's cause confound !

To our great kinsman of the West, my friends, And the great name of England round and round.

Arise our strong Atlantic sons, When war against our freedom springs!

0 speak to Europe through your guns!

They can be understood by kings.

You must not mix our Queen with those 'That wish to keep their people fools: . Our freedom's foemen are her foes, She comprehends the race she rules.

Hands all round!

God the tyrant's cause confound!

To our dear kinsmen of the West, my friends And the great cause of freedom round and round."

—Hands .411 Round (1852).