BOOKS.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.*

MOTH lovers of Lincoln and of dramatic literature, we gladly welcome Mr. John Drinkwater's play, Abraham Lincoln, the latest addition to Lincoln literature, and the first attempt, as far as we know—at any rate in this country—to put the pathos and drama of the great President on the stage. It is always a matter of surprise and regret to us that our dramatic authors should so persistently elevate one passion, that of sox, above all others, and neglect those of equal force—ambition, power, revenge, patriotism, and sacrifice. Their grunt prototype, the arch-interpreter of humanity, know better. He saw life in a juster proportion, as he has proved for all time iu Julius Caesar, in Macbeth, in Coriolanus. He had in excelais the power to see • Abraham Marvin a Play. By Jobs Dnakwater London: Oldoolek

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the drama of character. Dramatic history holds brilliant examples of follOwers of Shakespeare's traditions, and in our own. day a notable instance is Mr. John Masefield with Philip of Spain and Good Friday. But the followers aro astonishingly few when one reflects on the inspiration which history offers. Nausea leap to the mind of heroic or conspicuous figures that must, it Boerne, inspire great epics and dramas.

Mr. Drinkwater's play is marked by admirable restraint, simplicity, and dignity. The action covers the period from Lincoln's acceptance of the invitation to stand for the Presidency to his assassination by the fanatic Booth. Covering so wide to period and so many events, it is of necessity a series of incidents. These are set out in six scenes, and to link the incidents together the author has adopted the classic method of the Chorus, recited by two Chroniclers. This Chorus is in irregular rhymed verse. which, if not always inspired, is accomplished throughout, and at times shows much descriptive power. Take for instance the introduction to Scene ii., after Lincoln's acceptance of his great task, which begins :-

" Lonely is the MOO who understands, Lonely is vision that leads a man away From the pasturelands, From the furrows of cons and the brown loads of hey, To the mountainside, To the highs places where contemplation brings All his adventurings Among the sowers nod the tillers in the wide Valleys to one fused experience, That shall control The courses of his soul, And give his hand Courage and continence."

For his study of his hero Mr. Drinkwater is much indebted, lie tells us, to Lord Chamwood' side oiLincolts, and his conception of Lincoln's character follows very much the lines of that able book. Though we are shown Lincoln's invincible honesty, his detestation of cant, his devoutness of mind, he is by no means a plaster saint. There is a glimpse here and there of his humour, of which we think we might have been allowed to see more ; of his abrupt methods, of his peculiarities. His uncouth appearance and manners are dwelt upon, but Mr.Drinkwater is too true an artist ever to per. mit him to become the buffoon. " There are some, shall we say graces ? " says Lincoln to the Delegation, " that I lack. Washing- ton does not altogether neglect these." "If you send me," he adds, " the South will have little but derision for your choice." " We believe that you'll last out their laughter," says a delegate. "I can take any man's ridicule," comes the quick reply, "Fin trained to it by a . . . somewhat odd figure that it pleased Cod to give me, if I may so far be pleasant with you." We see comparatively little of Lincoln on the domestic side. Tho records give no very clear picture of Mrs. Lincoln, and Mr. Drinkwater has deduced a somewhat shrewish if picturesque figure. But though the social scenes arc pleasant and adequate enough, it is, in our opinion, with Lincoln as statesman and philosopher that Mr. Drinkwater is at his best. Here he has caught the true Lincoln spirit. Liucoltes wonderful insight, his quick mind, his unflinching hominy, his humanity, his power to stand alone, are all excellently Amen. The whole scene between Seward, the two Southern delegates, and the President, where Lincoln discovers that his friend and colleague is in danger of being led into intrigue, could not be bettered. Seward is at first for some compromise " It's devastating, this thought of war." " It is," responds Lincoln quickly. " Do you thinlc Fin less sensible of that than you I War should be impossible. But you can only make it impossible by destroying its causes"--- words the force of which have come home to all of us during the past years of heroic agony. The fatal decision of the South it shown in one short quick interlude, with few words, but them of mighty import, which leave a dramatic silence behind them. We do not quite agree with Mr. Drinkwater in Lincoln's emo- tional outburst at the close of this scene, moving though it is. Much more in character, we feel, and wholly in keeping with Lincoln's " Shakespeare habit," is his comment a moment or two later :—

" ' Tftere is a tide in the affairs of men. . . Do you read Shakespeare, Seward

Seward : Shakespeare ! No. . . Liticoln : Ah ! "

Lincoln's predilection for quotation, which must have been and was, according to the play—at limos extremely irritating to his friends and aoquaintance, is exemplified in other scene.. With his Cabinet on tenterhooks of excitement over the success. ful turn of the war, ho persists in reading a long extract from his

pet writer, Artemus Ward, and is unmoved by their resentment. Lincoln has to meet opposition and dissension in his Cabinet, and does so with considerateness but determination. They are not with him on the question of the Proclamation to the Slaves. Lincoln is bold enough to assume the sole responsibility of the decision, if need be. " I do not wish your advice about the main matter, for that I have determined for myself. This I say with- out intending anything but respect for any one of you. But I beg you to stand with me in this thing."

" Hook : I mistrust your judgment.

Lincoln : 7n what 1

Hook : Generally. You over-emphasise abolition.

Lincoln : You don't mean that. You mean that you fear possible public feeling against abolition.

Hook: It must be persuaded, not forced.

Lincoln: All the most worthy elements in it are persuaded. But the ungenerous elements make the most noise, and you hear Nunn only.. .

Hook : You have, in my opinion, failed in necessary firmness in saying what will be the individual penalties of rebellion. Lincoln : This is a war. I will not allow it to become a blood-feud.

Hook : We are fighting treason. We must meet it with severity. Lincoln : We will defeat treason. And I will meet it with conciliation.

Hook : It is a policy of weakness. Lincoln : It is a policy of faith—it is a policy of compassion."

Another admirable scene is that between Lincoln and the negro, Douglass. The emotion of the negro is all the more moving from being kept in check by Lincoln's kindly common- sense. " Just two old men," says the President, urging Douglass to sit down with him, " sitting together and talking." The scene provides an opportunity for an excellent definition—end condemnation—of the policy of reprisals. Southern soldiers have murdered black prisoners. Douglass wants revenge. " Don't ask me for reprisals," says Lincoln.

"Douglass (gleaming): Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Lincoln : No, no. You must think. Think what you are

Douglass : I think of murdered black men.

Lincoln : You would not ask me to murder ?

Douglass : Punish—not murder. Lincoln : Yes, murder. How can I kill men in cold blood for what has been done by others r Think what would follow. It is for us to set a great example, not to follow a wicked one."

Mr. Drinkwater is not quite so happy in the interview between Lincoln and the two women representing strongly contrasted sets of opinion, both extreme. While Douglass is a distinct personality, Mrs. Otherly and Mrs. Goliath Blow are never more than types, though well-drawn types. The scene, however, gives occasion for an admirable exposition of Lincoln's views on war;— "I too believe war to be wrong. It is the weakness and the jealousy and the folly of men that make a thing so wrong possible. But we are all weak, and jealous, and foolish. That's how the world is, ma'am, and we oannot outstrip the world. Some of the worst of us are sullen, aggressive still—just clumsy, greedy pirates. Some of us have grown out of that. But the best of us have an instinct to resist aggression if it won't listen to persuasion. You may say it is a wrong instinct. I don't know. But it's there, and it's there in millions of good men. I don't believe it's a wrong instinct. I believe that the world must come to wisdom slowly."

A sense of tragedy, of necessity, pervades the play. We all know that the assassin's knife is waiting at the close. This sense of tragedy, when the play is acted, becomes almost over- whelming. Perhaps Mr. Drinkwater in the lines of the Chorus insists rather more on the " glooms of fate " that hang over Lincoln than on the inspiration that carried him on, and this emphasis is more noticeable when the Chorus is recited than when read in the library ; perhaps it is inherent in the awkward yet lovable and dignified figure of Lincoln going so confidently and unknowingly to death. At the moment when, in the scene at the theatre, Lincoln has been forced to his feet to reply to his applauding countrymen, the blow is struck :- " A wind blows, and the brain

Is the dust that was its birth."

A friend standing by says reverently " Now he belongs to the ages." We wish that in this closing some Mr. Drinkwater had included the dramatic incident where Booth, having struck the blow, held up his dripping dagger and shouted " Sic Banner Tyrannis " (" So always with Tyrants "). An audience which included many Virginians, as the murderer knew, could appre. elate the point, for Sic &gaper Tyrannis is the motto of the State of Virginia. The incident, we think, would have been very eficetive on the stage, and would have had the added advantage

of giving some hint of Booth's motive—knowledge of which is assumed as the play stands. The production of the play by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre was thoroughly in keeping with its character, being simple and impressive. Stage decora- tion was at a minimum—indeed, the bareness of the President's room at Washington was almost startling to our modern ideas. Two or three incidents or seems of special beauty or dramatic significance stand out in the memory—Lincoln, alone in his room, gazing silently at the map of his beloved country ; the interview between Lincoln and Douglass, played with admir- able restraint and artistic finish; Susan, the maid, and Douglass listening to the singing of " John Brown's Body " by the crowd as it passes by Lincoln's house and goes into the distance ; Lincoln's interview with the young soldier, Scott ; and the sur- render of General Lee. It is to the credit of Birmingham that It should not only have produced Abraltam Lincoln, but given it the whole-hearted support which it received. It is to the discredit of London that in the greatest city of the Empire we so seldom get the pleasure and inspiration that come from the dramatic study of heroic characters and actions :—

" This is the wonder, always, everywhere—

Not that vast mutability which es event, The pits and pinnacles of change, But man's de ire and valiance that range All circumstance, and come to port unspent,"