Lord Rosebery, at the ceremony , of unveiling the statue, discharged
the function of public orator with his wonted skill. In Alfred, as be said, we venerate "not 80 much a striking actor in our history as the ideal English- man, the perfect Sovereign, the pioneer of England's greatness." He was at once a homely and a romantic figure, while in his absorbing devotion to duty, his refusal to own defeat, his endurance, and his truthfulness he em- bodied the highest and best type of the qualities which we cherish in our national character. Then he was a true King, the guide, the leader, the father of his people. "On a small scale, and therefore less, but without distorting vices, and therefore greater, he was to his English kingdom what Peter was to Russia.' Lord Rosebery enlarged with great effect on the fruitful and far-reaching nature of Alfred's work, showing how while achieving a limited work for his people in their barharao condition he wrought an immortal work for us. Lastly, in a fine peroration, Lord Rosebery pictured the feelings of Allred were it possible for him to revisit the scene of his labours and
witness the momentous fulfilment of his designs. 'Particu- larly happy was the allusion to the American people as "that people which, always divided from us by the Atlantic, and often by differences of policy and aspiration, cannot, if they will, be wholly separated, and in supreme moments of stress and sorrow irresistibly join hands with us across the centuries and the seas." Our only criticism of a fine literary and oratorical effort was the extravagant reference to the vapid and prostituted epithet of great," as applied to Monarchs. If Lord Rosebery, to adapt Quarles, would "screw his divine theorbo one note lower" he would be an incom- parable serenader of dead worthies.
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