SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the wee?; as have not been reserved for review in other forms.]
A Masque of Empire. By Mrs. St. Loe St rachey. (Hutchinson and Co. Is.)—For obvious reasons, this work cannot be criticised either for good or ill in these pages. We may point out, however, that the Masque was written to be acted by a company of players in the Surrey villages of Albury and Shere, and that its author's desire was to convey the facts of Empire and the lessons of a sane Imperialism through the medium of poetic drama. How far she has succeeded it will be for her readers to decide. In the Masque Britannia calls before her first her sailors and soldiers, on whom the duty of maintaining the Empire rests ; next the daughter- nations, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfound- land, and South Africa; then India and the rest of our Crown Colonies and dependencies ; and, lastly, the coaling-stations. The self-governing Colonies and India are presented by women, and the smaller' dependencies and scattered islands of the Empire by children. The more important characters speak. The children for the most part only dance. To Chorus are entrusted duties combining those of the Chorus of the Elizabethan and of the Greek stage. There are recitations from Campbell, Tennyson, and Kipling. In the course of the play occur songs and incidental music, including a "Song of the Flag" set to the tune of the "Old Hundredth." The following speeches of Australia and New Zealand addressed to Britannia may be given as a sample of the Masque :— " Trumpet-eaU. The two voices call, • Advance Australia ! ' The Orchestra plays appropriate music, and AUSTRALIA enters on the left. She is dressed in a semi-classical robe, and wears a crown of stars, representing the Southern Cross, on her head. She carries a basket heaped with apples and trimmed with mimosa. She advances to the throne and is kissed by Barrazims, after which she speaks her lines: AUSTRALIA. Lo, with a daughter's duteous kiss and smile The Island Continent greets her Mother Isle. Gamy vast seaboard sparkle cities fair, The ocean laps me, for thy soul is there. Up country, through the Bush, I gallop free, My horse, scarce broken, bred and reared by me. Deep in the earth my cherished wealth I hold, With patient toil my miners seek for gold.
On my vast sheep-runs countless flocks are raised, Thousands of cattle on my lands are grazed. Then to my Garden WAD& southward ho 1 Where in my orchards rosiest apples grow. But ah, my silent Bush, my crystal air, My arch of Heaven—all my heart is there. There where, when evening deepens, from on high The Southern Cross hangs in the purple sky.
Clawing. And now, New Zealand, come and take your stand, And with your sisters greet the Motherland.
Trumpet-call. The two voices ca/l, 'New Zealand I New Zealand!' The Orchestra plays appropriate music, and NEW ZEALAND comes in on the left. She is dressed in blue or pink, like a shepherdess. She carries a crook in her hand and is wreathed with wild roses. She advances to (he throne and is kissed by BRITANNIA, after which she speaks her lines:
NEW ZEALAND.
From my three sister Islands, Set in the Southern Sea, Full quickly at thy bidding. Mother I come to thee.
(Turning to the audience) And with a special kinship I fain would speak to you, For, in the far Pacific
My lands are sea-girt, too.
Now, when my earliest settlers Did first from Britain roam, My happy, smiling valleys All spoke to them of home— Spoke when the shepherd folded His sheep upon my hills, Spoke in my island weather, Spoke in my sparkling rills.
But yet a sterner beauty Than ever England knew Lia3 in my snow-capped mountains And in my glaciers blue; While in my northern island Beats still a heart of flame— Volcanoes, boiling fountains, Fierce forces none may time.
Down my deep-wrinkled coast-line Lie fiords and harbours wide,
Where the great ships from
England Float in upon the tide. Hail to my happy country I Hail to my islands three !
Hail to the new Dominion, My Kingdom of the Sea "
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