THE ART OF THE GREAT ‘Rac All times equally have witnossod what appeared to be 8 certain snobbish energy of Nature, Like a suburban Matron, men think they catch her plaglarising thei fashionable selves, ‘They laugh faintly with a distracted vagueness, ot thoy tug at their moustackes, and slowly shake thelr bottoms and trail their feet, according to the period. But Osear Wilde publicly denounced her. In following the social syntheses masters of fetion throw up in their works, flech and blood appears 10 hhave transformed itself, and become a tributary, Mlood-rela- ‘Hon, and even twin of the shadow. So Wilde eventually accused Nature point Blank of plagiar~ fsm. «Nature imitates Art, not Art Nature,” Let us take {Up this old aesthotic quip, and set ourselves the light holiday {ask of Masting it indolently away, i Fint, however, itis advisable fo become fixed on one point, Artists do not, «en tant qu’artistes," Influence breathing humanity plastically. Bach moulded the respirations of his art and modified its organs ; but the behaviour or appear ‘anee of the young Viennese was moulded by other and less Precise hands. Tt ls the human and literary side of plastic ‘genius that atfects contemporaries in this palpable way. In ‘deas, 11s the reform clement, and not the deop elomont (that ‘is monotonous) which all of a sudden fings up a host of new haracters. Goethe, with a book, ot free the well-schmerzen ofthe Suleidal Teuton. The razors flashed al over the Teuton ‘world, The plsiol-smioke went up from every village. He had pressod a nerve of a definite type of Teutonic man, and ‘made a small desperate rave suddenly active, Bach stepped with the blank anonymity of Destiny. He sguabbted with Monsiour un tel, gat a fob with some act men in spite of somebody's efforis. But he did not turn ‘Humanity Into any new and equally futle way. No grocer talked more or less of his sout, or of his German soul, becatso of this master, Painting, with its persistently representative element, has always had in the modern world more ethical effect. The artist has the same moral influence as the dressmaker. A Bird-ltke hat in process of time produces a tird. Painting se-day, In renouncing more and more the pleturesque and Fopresentativo element, escapes also the embarrassments of ‘ts former influence, and tho dangers of more and more plastic compromise, To begin with, then, a Fabian Tady ( painting young lady or Osear Wilde's now degererate i ‘originally eame from a pure fount tronining young lady), wings, ate not things that ota, ob 10 ms ‘What shall we say comes from « pure Wothing, ageording to our notfon, for tyrannle bat is continuous, and Tourgeni always existod and always will exist. ‘Tourgente, when asked whom he w six Unknown". ‘Tourgentet himset He wore more lightly than any of bis powering psyehle accoutrements that ational Costume. He was an ind process, and fr no reason, of power with them, They were immense outea i last in the sunshine of hs plays. He ‘though well enough known to the world ‘easily numbered race who were the fir sles melancholy. Art Is not active Wolaes, takes mena finds thers, andworks ati, It gots the best out oi, TW aslats, ‘Tho wort I ll there touch with the World, and freer b tially, without fuss, appeas to bo a ¢ since that actuality seams eccent halt, ‘Another question, transpiring eno, is whether the posonion Inuenes is as surely the sign of ‘ominenee and unckallengeablo power Like bined with thet larg uncanny race finest aris? That question ean bo be of this essay. aia Before 1 Aesthetic blarnoy with to mock diagnosis, could be used, It ‘he valu of ts fatuene to whieh Wilde 43 to Nature's unoriginalty then, Nature, in the form of her human‘of the artist's work? She would havo to hogin im- ‘hor will on the subfect chosen very young. But in the ‘the alleged imitation of Rossett’s ty ‘Rossottt n his young days was not large, It Is at the moment of tho artist's famo that these ‘suddenly appear. They appear at once on all 4s Uke mushrooms, And If palnter of this human and ileal deseription be unknown one day and celebrated the these simulaera in flesh of his painted figures will as though by magle, fartit ont cals togoter and eengreate trom hea hpres fai, Us, x lherto vation roe, a exling Gon most eharateritis ype Int a ierary orate canon, siving it the authority of his special genius, Miss Siddall tind thecountrin the Haberdasher's in Leeester "Square fong before the young Tialln eould have influenced or Ratar ave got towork on hr with pasate ardour, | ‘The “long necks” that Oscar Wilde speaks of, witnessed HE itn rey day x crinin A.3.0 hapa nt chon et hey wou trish Be eetne tor an ois ih he nent ot cory mae Pt anes wut we co mertdeal end oppareety singe as that gonro of Englishwoman that attracted Rossetti, | porary, more ores, poured burning ol onthe heads of plumed "‘amallants from the brand-new walls of 14th Century | easton. Sho was wild camp follower inthe rear of Pitsh | mies, And tho Boardsloy woman was a cause of seandal to Our remotest forefathers. These genres have always existed. (On the promotion of thelr type 10a postion of eottln eon fideration in art ecelas, and gradually in wider spheres of io Mal, thoy all emerge ftom thir holes, and walk proudly fr & deoade—or several, according to the vitality of their protector inthe pubile oye. We have still amongst us many sureivals “of a gantor fashion. It you are not one of tho Six, corresponding in the things | haro writen about to the Six Hundred goldon beings of the | West which the Statue of Liberty sheds is rays on ; if you aro of nas yot unchartod race, you will some day perhaps have ‘tho opportunity of testing for yourslt tho vallity of these fusrtions. Imagine yoursltgolng out one morning, and by ‘the hesitating yet flattering glances of your fellow elitzens, And varlous other signs and portents, you gradually become Aware that your day has come. Some artlst, you at once see, {perhaps with shrinking, is busily employed in making, yout type of beauty provall, Or you bellove yourself, with your ‘ohapean molon " and your large, but insgniieant tbrar hwyond tho reach of the Creator. Bat the Wet Nurses of Diskene’ ime thought the same. The Suburbs never éreamt of belng conscriptod by any Olssings or Wollses that the old a 74 Earth could make, They ate now most érab bat famous armies. If numbers were the decisive factor, they would certainly rout any host brought against them, except thove eathered by a Religion. ‘The race that some of these political sesthetle crestors ‘all into ifejoverruns a elty or a continent,a veritable invesion ‘come out of the ground ; risen In our midst, with the ferocious aspect of the malled and bedizoned bodyguard of some bar- ‘arle conqueror, Others come to us beneath the Aegis of some perfumed chief, with mincing steps and languld masterful- ress. ‘The former one may sometimes see refining Itself amongst the gentle influences of the town, though preserving. Its barbarous costume and nomenclature ; the latter learning certain roughness from the manners of newer Invaders. ‘That debile and sinstor race of dlabolie dandles and erotically bloated alablestes and thelr attendant abortions, of Yellow Book fame, that tyrannised over the London mind for several years, has withdrawn from tho capital, not to the delleste savagery from which It was supposed to come, but certainly toa savage clime, In Germany some years ago I observed ‘tn youthfal state many figures of tho Beardesley stock, as vigorous and vamplre-like as when the ink was still undried ‘on Smithers’ catalogues. ‘When a man portrays and gives powerful literary expression toa certain typoin annation and milleu, he attracts fo him that ‘element in the race that he symbolises. These movements aro occasionally accompanied with an enthusiasm that resembles a natlonal awakening or revival—but tm sueh in- stances, of a race within the Race, In the easo of a great ‘writer, when It fs usually a moral type that is celebrated, the ‘commotion {s offen considerable. But when It ls the personal appearance that 1s In question, the peace may be definitely isturbed. Every nation is composed of several or many very distinct types or groups, and each needs expression just ‘as each nation does. Each of those psychic groups has, lke the elaases, a psycho- logy. ‘They are independent of class, too. When those freemason- ries are awoken, they exist without reference fo thelr poet. Some ereators, in fact, find themselves in the position of the ‘Old Woman Who lived in a Shoe. This progeny may turn ‘out to be a race of eannibals and proceed to eat thelt poet. Thero isin every nation an inherently exotle element, But ‘this «foreign element Is usually the most energetic part, ‘and that side on which the racels destined to expand and renew Itself, The English have never been so Insular and « English ” fas at the present moment, When a people first comes in touch with neighbouring races, its obstinate eharactersties become momentarily more pronounced than ever. A man travelling abrond for the first time becomes eonselous of his walk, his colour, bis prejudices. These pecullarities underthe stress of this conselousnets heenme aecentuated. Soltis ‘with 2 people, In an age of ripe culture the different elements ‘or races in a people Bécome harmonised. It is then that tho universal artists pencefully flourish. The universal artist, ‘mn faet, Is in the exactest senso natfonal. He enthers into one all the ¢ypes of humanity at large that each eouniry contains. ‘We cannot have a universal poet when wo cannot have ational one, At present, In our Press-polsoned Impertallstic masses of ‘men, ealled nations, where all art and manners jostle hope- Aessly, with Insane waste of vitality and health and ignoble Impossibility of conviction, the types are more than ever sharply defined. ‘You see, na person’s tat, the taste of Paris during the First Empire, and in another person's flat next door, a stheme of decoration neo-Pharaohesque ; across the street a. dwelling {s decorated on the lines of an Elizabethan home. This is ‘currently known as « individualism.” Hardly anywhere is there a sen of an « actual” and contemporary state of mind ‘oF contelousness. There is not even an elementary climate ‘and femperamental rightness in current popolar Art. All this 1s because the « present " is not ripe. There ate no Futurists” at all (only a few Milanese automobilsts). But there aro some Primitives of a Future equilibrium. And Primitives are usually the most intresting artists, It Is for that reason that I have praised in this paper the vulgarity and eonfusion of our Time, When all these vast communities hhave dlsintograted ; when economic conditions have adjusted ‘themsoives, and standards based on the mecesites of the ‘Eenlus of the soll and the seope of life, have been fixed, there ‘will be a period of balance again. But when the balance comes, the conditions are too favourable. This Russian winter of inanity and inelfference, produces a consciousness that evaporates in the Southern brilliance ot good conditions, ‘The only person who objects to uniformity and ordet—-One art, One lfe—ts the man who knows that under these cond tons his « individuality” would not survive, Every real {Individuality and exectience would weleome conditions where there would Inevitably bo a hierarchy of power and vitality, ‘The Bost would then be Free. Under no other conditions is any Freedom at all possible, ‘When the races within the race ate asserting themselves, ‘then, the Great Raco is usually rotten or in bondage. And then perpetual foeal and picturesque bursts are phenomena, ff period of transition. Often considerable poets are found ifthe head ofthese revolutions. But their artis hardly ever Great Art, which is the art of the Great Race, ot an art foreshadowing it. The art of the Grest Race is always an abstract and universal art, for ft fs the result of a welding of ‘elements and 2 synthesis of life, In this connection, itis eurlous to remember that Rosset, ‘the famous Chiot that Osear was thinking of in bis peradox, 2 ‘was an Italian, This shows the disruption and unrealty At he roo! of this consciousness more vividly than anything flse, Rosset, the foreiener, found in England that intensely English type of feminine Beauty, tho « Rossetti woman,” ‘ad painied her'with all the passion of the exotic sense. Yot fhe was supposed fo havo invented her, and Nature to havo ‘ogun (arming such out by the thousand! ‘One man living in a cave alone can be a universal poet, ‘In fact solitude is art's atmosphere, and its heaven is tho Tndividvat's, The abstract artist Is tho most indivi {ust as genius is only sanity. Only it is the Individual, and tot our eonfomporary ‘Individualist,” whose individualism ‘consists in saying Booh when you say Bah! Everyone should be impelled to say Booh! only or Bah! only. And i€-would then dopend only on the Intensity of expression, the strength of his ngs, or the delicacy of his ear, that woula ‘enable one man's Book | (o bemore compelling than ancthor's (Competition Is necessary for isolation), ‘Tho actual National Post is a folk poet, and the politieatly souled Artist found at the head of local revivals or avakenings ‘is also a sort of Folk Poot. This is his intellectual secret. = Folk Art, along with Muslo Hall Songs, and outhors of Paslsesis, Viennese Waltzes, ofc, is very soducing and certainly tho next best thing to Bach, (The ofticiaily « seri- ous” artists of any time, who practise « le grand Ar," come Well Below My Homie in Dixi.”) ‘Thus folk-artists form the section of art that Is attached to life, and aro of the same ‘order and Importance as the decorations on vases ot carpets, ‘omamonts, and things of use, They are the ornament and current commentary of every day life, the dance of tho Fiesta, ‘the madrigal and war-song, ‘his ts tho only exactly and narrowly National Art. All Nationality isa congealing and eonventionalizing, 2 necessary nd delightful rest for tho many, It is Home, definitely, ‘with {ts compromises and domestic gent. ‘The Groat Nalional Poct, like Shakespeare, is not national At all, Tho Germans speak of « our Shakespeare,” and play ‘him and undersiand him far better than wo do. But Shakes- eare is not more German than English. Supposing English ‘eople became moro used to using their inteligence and grew fo care more for art, they would not possess Shakespeare any more for that. They would play bim and read him as Tush a3 the Germans, and there would be a «National Theatre.” But a truer name for this would be « Universal ‘Theatte.'H Only in a universal theatre could Shakospearo be adequately staged. No country can be possessive about a ‘Ban ike that although Wil may have boen «gentle Englah- iA VISION OF MUD. There {s mud all round This is favourable to the eclosion of mighty life: thank God for small mereles | How is it that it you struggle you sink? I lie quite still: hands are spreading mud everywhere : they plaster it on what should be a body. They fill my mouth with it, Iamsick. They shovel it all back again. ‘My eyes are full of It; nose and ears, too. wish I could feel or hear. should not mind what it was. My hand gropes out restlessly through the heat. By it’s curious movements it keeps my body afloat. It is grateful when it feels the sudden resistance of an iron bar. This bar is rectangular, It's edges are rather sharp. 1 twist my hand round the bar so that the edge saws gently at my wrist, Tam glad of the slight pain. It is like a secret. Now things get through : an antidiluvian sound eomes through the Deluge of Mud It fs something by way of an olive branch. Itseems to bea recruiting band, ‘The drums thud and the fifes pipe on tip-toe, They are trying to pleree and dart through the thick envelope of the drum’s beatings ‘They want to tear jagged holes in the cloud. I try to open my eyes a little. A crowd of india-rubber-like shapes swarm through the narrow chinks. ‘They swell and shrink, merge into one another like an ashen kaleidoscope ! My eyes are shut down again. A giant cloud like a black bladder with holes in it hovers overhead. Out of the holes stream incessant cataracts of the same black mud that I am lying in, There is a little red in the mud. One of these mud-shafts is just above me. It is pouring Into me so that my body swells and grows heavier every minute. ‘There is no sign of sinking. It floats like a dingy feather on stagnation. Where does this taste of honey come from ? ‘This mud has curious properties, It makes you dream. It is like poisoned arrows. (Such mud, naturally, is medicinal ; that is why they have set up this vulgar “Hydro” here. It Is a health-resort,) Ihave just discovered with what I think Is disgust, that there are hundreds of other bodies bobbing about against me. 13THE LONDON GROUP 1915 (MARCH). X will confine myself principally to a consideration of the ‘lctures in the Vorteist or Cubist section. The two prinelpal Sections of this group are in many ways contradictory in aim. It you arrange to exhibit together, you also taelily agree not {to Insist on these contradictions, but only on the points of ‘agreement or on nothing at all. ‘Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Nevinson, or Mr. Adeney, are the painters ean speak about directly, without any ‘general qualifications. Mr. Edward Wadsworth’s BLACKPOOL appears to ‘mo one of the finest paintings he has done. I's striped aseonding blocks aro tho elements ofa seaside scono, condensod, {nto the simplest form possible for the retaining of t's vivacity. Tes theme is that of five variegated cliffs. The striped awnings of Cafés and shops, the stripes of bathing tents, the srlpes of bathing-machines, of toy trumpets, of dresses, are ‘marshalled into a dense essence of the scone, The harsh Jarring and sunny yellows, yellow-greens and reds are especially well used, with tho sores of commercial blues. One quality this painting has which I will draw especial attention to, Much more than any work exhibited in the last year or so by any English painter of Cubist or Futurist tendencies it has the quality of LIFE : much more indeed, than Mr, Wadsworth’s own pleture next to It. In most of the best and most contemporary work, even, in England, there is a great deal of the deadness and heaviness of wooden ‘or'of stone objects, rather than of flashing and eager flesh, oF shining metal, and heavy traces everywhere of tho too- thorough grounding in‘ Old Master ” art, which has charaster- zed the last decade in this eountry. Several ot the Tiallan Futurists have this quality of LIFE eminently: though thetr ‘merit, vory often, consists in this and nothing else. Hardly any of the Parls Cublsts havo, although i¢ is true they don't esiro to havo it. To synthesizo this quality of LIFE with ‘the lgniticanco or spiritual weight that fs the mark of all the ‘eatest art, should be, trom one angle, the work of the Vortiosts, My own paintings require no. deseription ; the note on Vorilcism gives thelr direction, ‘Mr, Willam Roberts has a very brilliant drawing (done ‘some time ago, I think) called Dangers," Infiniely laboured like a 15th Century engraving in appearance, worked out with astonishing dexterity and scholarship, it displays 9 power that only the few best people possess in any decade, Michael ‘Angelo is unfortunately the guest of honour at this Lord's Supper. But Buonarottl is my Bote-Nolr. Mr, Roberts’ painting “ Boatmen” is very ditferent from ‘the drawing. It is a very powerful, definitely centralized ‘structure, based on a simple human group. All the imbs and hheads, as well, have become, however, a conglomeration of ‘old and vivid springs bent together into one organized baneh. The line of colour exploited is the cold, effective, between olours of modern Advertising art, Tho beauty of many of the Tube-posters—at least when seon together, and when ‘organized by a curious mind—is a late discovery. The wide, sealo of colour and certain juxtapesitions, in “ Boatmen,” however, suggests flowers, as well. It is the most successful Painting Mr. Roberts has so far produced, I think. ‘As to Mr, Nevinson’s work, an artist ean only reeeive fair ‘treatment at the hands of one completely In sympathy with ‘him, So it would not be fair for me to take Mr. Novinson' Paintings for criticism, side by side with Wadsworth’s, for ‘mstance. Nevertheless, I ean say that his “Marching Soldiers" have a hurried and harassed melancholy and chilliness that 1s well seen, Also at the Alpine Club, Mr. ‘Novinson’s Searehlights, the best plsture there, Is perhaps too, ‘the best he has painted, ‘Mr. Jaoob Kramer shows us a new planet risen on our horizon : (he inaptly calls it the Earth, whieh tt is not,) It {s still rather molten, and all sorts of objects and sehoois are {mn it's melting-pot. Tt has fine passages of colour, and many Possibilities as a future luminary. Several yellows and reds alone, and some of i's more homogenous inhabitants, would ‘make a fine painting. 1 have seen another thing of his that ‘confirms me in this belief, Mr. Adeney, in pallid and sollditied landseapes, brings us back to the “ Fauves,” Ho Is not very lke a wild beast, hhowever, His gentle logic plays round the heaviness of Gézannolike summer-lightaing. These pale green maditations fm form have great personal charm,Mr, Jacob Rpsteln's * Rock drill” Is one of the best things ‘hehas done, The norvo-ike figure perched on the machinery, ‘with t's straining to one purpose, Is a vivid illustration of the ‘greatest function of life, I foe! the combination of the white ‘gure and the rock-drill is rather unfortunate and ghost-ike, But It's lack of logic has an effectiveness of it's own. I feel ‘that a logical co-ordination was not intended. It should be {taken rather as a monumental, bustling, and very personal ‘whim, Had Mr. Epsteinin his marble group, Mother and Child, ‘ot mado Eugéne Carriiroin stone of the Mother, but treated ‘hat head, too, with the plastic solidity of the baby's head, ‘should have considered it among his best things. As Itis, for the Baby's sake,” itis very fine. Gaudler-Breeska is not very well represented, He is Dbusy elsewhere, and of the two statues here, one is (wo of three years old, T should think, As an archalsm it has ‘considerable beauty. Tho other litte one in red stone has a great deal of the plastic character we associate with his work. It Is admirably condensed, and heavily sinuous. Thore is ‘a suaye, thick, quite PERSONAL character about his ‘ost work. It this,that makes his sculpture what we would ‘principally turn to tn England to show the new forces and ‘future ofthis art, His beautiful drawing trom the trenches of ‘a bursting shel! isnot only a fine design, but a earlosity. It 4s surely a protty satistactory answer {o those who would kill ‘us with Prussian bullets: who say, n short that Germany, in ‘attacking Europe, has Killed spiritually ‘all the Cubisis, ‘Vorticlss and Futurists in tho world, Hore is one, a great artist, who makes drawings of those shells as thoy come to- ‘wards him, and whieh, thank God, have not killod him or ‘changed him yet. havo now rua through all the people T ean more oF tess ‘unconditionally adnire. Among tho Camden Town Group, { ‘admire many qualities ia Mr. Gilman's and Me. Ginner's ‘palntings. [tll hopo to find myself on common ground with ‘hese two punters one ofthese days. Given the limitations ‘ele system of work, a8 Toonsider it they yot stand out notably among their o-eotionsts, that Tam optimistle 23 ‘to this virtue soon changing their kind too. I have notleed that the art-aities praise rather indis- riminately among the Camden Town Artists. Sometimes ‘Mz. This and Miss That is pieked out : sometimes Mr. That land Miss the other. T don't think they are altogether to be ‘iamed. I must be rather ditieult for converted reporters, ‘who enjoy a good dinner far more than a good picture, and ‘whose only reason, indeed, for lingering among pletures at all {is because of their subtle connection (when written about) ‘with good dinners to diseriminate between one genre painter of ‘@numerous school and another. That Vorticists and Cubists | should, lke Chinaman “ look all the same," is equally natural, "So, curiously enough, the members of both sections of this ‘troup have a strange family resemblance, among eosectionists, ‘tor the critic, “Thoreseoms to bea certain contusion in the minds ot some ot sy fiends on the Camden side of London as to the moaning ot REALIST. They seem to read into REALIST the Aattsibules of the word NATURALIST : for on various etnsons they have ealod themselves NEO-REA LISTS. By REALIST they ovidently mean a man who scientih. aly rogsiors the objects mot in is every day Ue, Bu NATURALIST is tho word tor this parteular gontioman, Really is not the result of sclentiie registration, but rather NATURE. Mr. Wadsworth, in his painting of BLACK. POOL ts purely “realistic.” That 1s the REALITY, the ‘ssental truth, ofa nolsy, garish seaside. A painting of Biack- pool bya Camden Town Artist would be a corner of the beach ‘auch as seen by the Camera, This would be only asymbol tf tfophy of the scene, with the erudity of Time addedto the spatial poorness of the Camera. ‘An early Futurist painting (tho doveloped-Impressionism of ‘tho Sackville Galleries, thats) would get nearer to REALITY {insomuch as imitation is rejected by them, and they rebel ‘against the static “ Moment of Time,” and launch into what they term simultsnoous vision. But the natural culmination of “ simaltaneity" Js the reformed and imaginatively co- fordinated impression that is seen in a Vorticist picture, In Vorticism the direct and hot impressions of lfe are mated with Abstraction, oF the combinations of the Will ‘The eritiques in the daily Press of this particular Exhibition hhave been much the same asusual. Two of them, however, may be answerod, One of these, Mr. Nevinson deats with ‘lsewhore in this paper, in an open letter. There romains ‘the “Times” notice on “ Junkerism in Art. Many people tell me that to call you a Prussian” at the ‘resent juneture is done with intent to harm, to east a cloud foyer the movement, if possible, amd moreover that it is actionable, But I do not mind being called a Prussian in tho Teast. 1am glad I am not one, however, and it may be ‘worth while to show how, aesthetically, I am not one cither. This eritie relates tho paintings by Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Roberts and myself fo Prussian Junkerism: he also says, “Should the Junker happily take to painting, instead of ‘isturbing the peace of Europe, he would paint pictures very similar fo those of Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Roberts, and Mr. ‘Wyndham Lewis.” This last statement is careless one: for the Junker, ‘obviously, if he painted, would do florid and disreputable canvases of nymphs and dryads, or very sentimental “ por~ ftaits of the Sunker's mother.” But as to the more general Statement, it erystallizes, topically, a usual error as (0 our ‘alms. Because these paintings are rather strange at first sight, they are regarded as ferocious and untriendly. They fare neither, although they have no pretence to an excessive {enileness or especial love for the general public, We are not ‘cannibals. Our rigid head-dresses and disoiplined movements,‘which eauso misgivings in the unobvervant as to our Intenttons, ‘are aesthetic phenomena : our goddess fs Beauty, like any ‘Royal Academician's though we have different ideas as to IRow she should be deploted or carved: and wo eat Desfstoaks, for what we can get (except human beings) Uke most people— ‘As to goososteps, (the eritio compares “ rigidity’ to gootestep ) as an antidote to the slop of Cambridge Post ‘Aesthoticism (Posi-Impresslonism 1s an insult to Manet ‘and Cézanne) or tho Gypsy Bottowlis of Mill Street, may not such “‘riglalty’” be welcomed? ‘This rigsdity, in the normal process of Nature, will flower Uke other things. THIS simple and massive trunk or stom may be watshed. But we fare not Hindx magiclans to make our Mango tree grow 1a hhalt an hour, It is too commonly suggested that rietaty ‘eannot flower without "‘renouncing”” itself or may not in iMsolt bo Beautiful, At the worst all tho finest beauty ts pendent on It for ie, Wile MODERN CARICATURE AND IMPRESSIONISM. ‘Tho lnelfestivencss of carteature, espectally the English ‘variety, is the direst result of Impressionism, Thenaturalisic ‘method, with fis atmospherlo slop and veristmilitude, makes ‘drab academy study of the best notion. Punch is a national ‘iegrace, {rom the polnt of view of drawing. No great comic oper of Franeo, Germany, Italy or Russia could contain sanytbing so splritioss and sflly as, without a single exception, the drawings ia any number of Punch are. If you compare the political cartoons of the war printed side by side, where ‘© Punch cartoon turns up, It's rustic and laborious mirth, ‘combined with the vilost and dullest standard of drawing ‘appal you, And England {s tamous for t's come spirit thronghout the world On the other hand, scattered upand Gown papers like the London Mall, Westminster Gaztto, ‘Sketeb, London Opinion, are excellently telling drawings on eurrent vents, “The German leaving Kiou-Chou,” his “placo {tn the Sun" having got too hot for him, is a good example, ‘Why doos not some enterprising Newspaper Propristor gather all this seattored talent and wit together,and start an important ‘Come paper to supersede Punch? It would be ceriain to pay. It is such an obviously sound entorpriso that it is ‘itfiealt to see why it has not been done up till now. To retorm Punch would bo Impossible, Tt would be lke ‘an attempt to reoulpt the Albert Memorial. There isno harm ‘whatever in Pune, any more than in any other Victorian. Institutions, But that {t should ropresont England to-day ts ‘an absurdity. ‘Whether it is an abstraot figure of Britannis, or of a ‘Sportsman, or a Territorial, the method omployed by the degenerate Punch eartoonist of to-day is always the samo, A. ‘model must be sought, dressed and stuek up, and carefully ‘copied in the required attitude, That being within a radins ff five miles ot the eartoonlst's studio who, draped with a "9 ‘Lélghton photographer's robe, looks the most Uke Britannia, must appear as our most authoritative eoneeption of that ‘august abstraction. [We aro not attacking the method of working from Nature If that is done without any Uterary objective, and only trom Inforest in the object AS AN OBJECT, tho result ean be such as is found in Van Gogh, Manet or Cézanne, This at ‘east is respectable and inofensive, and by aceldent or through tho natural resouree of genius, ean beeome eomplataly eatis- fying. England has produced in the mattor of imaginative drawing. {m the last generation, ono very Important figure, who has had ‘a very great influence especially on tho drawings in tho best CComie papers abroad. All the most gifted Press éraughismen {in Germany would admit that the influenes of Aubrey Beards- ley has heon greater than that of any other European artist uring tho last 15 years, But except forridieulusly unintell- gent and literal imitations, his effeot on England has been very slight. It has oon entirely the LITERARY side of his gentus, ‘which was tho least important and which contained all his contemporary ‘‘decadent"” paraphernalia thst has been most seized on by English draughtsmen. ‘Beardsley's several versions of John Bull would be a good model to set against the endless ttresomenoss and art sehool noatrality of somo Albion or Lord Kitehenet by Bernard Partridge, ‘Or compare oven John Tennlel’s “Dropping the Plot “with ‘the latest dense attempt to rovive the success of that admirable ‘ld cartoon, WaleHISTORY OF THE LARGEST INDEPENDENT SOCIETY IN ENGLAND. Most of us are agreed to seo that the Allied Artists after the ‘war proceed as usual. As an alternative promiscuous exhibi- ‘on, and one especially whero vory large canvasss ean leit- mately be sent, itis of great use to many painters. At each exhibition fresh contingents of more or less lively young gentlemen and ladies come into It, Mr. Frank Rutier’s Admirable initiative in starting it soveral years ago should 2e earried on and maintained by the now formidable society that has grown out of It. But, in the nature of things, as the soelety has grown and so many new and very divergent elements are at present Included tn i, the machinery for organizing I's exhiitions of 2 or 3 years ago is rather out of date, and does not answer to ‘he new and considerable interests involved, ‘When the Society was founded, painting in this country was at a vory different polnt of development to what it is “foxday. Tho centres of energy have shifted, This will bo ‘easily soon, and incidentally another purpose served by a brief review of the successive rejuvenations of painting in England. Fitteon or sixteen years ago THE revolutionary soclety, the seandal of Jism. Mr. Wilson Steer appeared an outrageous fellow (0 the ride of the day, in his Prusslan-blue pastiches of John Constable. Mr. Walter Sickert was a horrifying personage {n ilustrations of tow life” with i's cheap washing-stands ‘and immodest artist's models squatting blankly and lstiessly on beds, It 1s attintt fo understand, at this distance, the otfenee ‘that these admirable gentlemen (and often quite good painters) ould have caused. But then Whistler's very grave, ‘beautiful and decorous painting of the Thames at night ‘aroused fury when It was painted. ‘However, the earlier New English was about to receive a bow, inthe shape of an eruptton of now life, The day of that decade was done. A. pecullar enthusiastic and sehool-boy ‘ike individual of the name of Tonks told his students at the Slade School to go to the British Museum and copy Michael ‘Angelo and Andrea, They all did. In thelr youthful con- slaves they all became figures of the Renaissance they read ‘Vasart ; they used immense quantities of ted Tatian chalk ‘m pastching the Italian mastors ofthe Cinque Cento, One of thom performed scholastic prodigies, This was ‘Augustus John, He carried academic drawing farther than er been carried in England, not excepting Aitred But he did not, like Stevens, confine his attentions {o the Sixtine, Ho tried his hand at the whole of European art, from Giotto to Watteau and Constantin Guys, Rodin and Dégas marked the limit of his scholastic appetite, I think Teonsider John, in the matter of his good gifts, and much of ‘his accomplishment, 2 great artist. He is one of the most Imaginative men I havo mot, and the one who suggested the ‘greatest personal horizons. But despite his incomparable power, he had not very great ‘eonirol of his moyens, and his genius seemed to prematurely exhaust him. He was aesthetically oversindulgent in bis fury of seholastic precoeity, and his Will was never equal to it’. mate. (There is no relerence to Mr. Rothenstcin here.) At present he is sometimes strangely indistinguishable {rom Mr, Nicholson, or an artist called, 1 think, Pride, ‘However it was John who inaugurated an era of imaginative art in England, and buried the mock naturalists and pseudo- Ampressionists of the New English Art Club under tho ocoan of genial eclecticism he bi-yearly belohed forth. It was his Rembrandtesque drawings of stumpy brown people, followed Dy his tribes after tribes of archaie and romantio Gitanos and Gtianas that mado'him the logitimate successor to Beardsloy ‘and Wilde, and, in exploiting the inveterate exoticlsm of the édueated Englishman and Englishwoman, stamped himsclt, batharic chevelure and all, on what might be termed the Atigustan decade, Oscar Wilde, oven, had prepared the ground forhim ; the same charming and aesthetic stock that the Irish Ailettante attracted were at hand for the reaction, and like all delicate and charming gentlemen and ladies, they were thrilled to the bone with the doctrine of “ wild life” and "savage nature,” ‘About this time, just after John's first great success, Walter Sickert founded his Saturday afternoon gatherings in Fittroy $t., which eventually ted to the “Camden Town Group.” Now new forces were stirring in Paris, which site Mr. Slekert had vacated, andhis idea no doubt was to retreat fight- ‘ng to England, and gather and intrenoh in these slow-moving‘an impressionist topion of his own: to withdraw jongst the Island fogs, which rathor sulted his speolal vision, ‘A much more real and lively person than his New Enelish colleagues, whom ho temporarily deserted and criticized with great freedom,tor a few years he controlled the most sensible and serious body of paintors in England, As a local reaction back to impressionist “ Nature just as she is" thoy wore a healthy little dyke against the pseado-gypsy hordes John hhad launched against the town. They alsohelped to completo ‘the destruction of the every day more effete Now English Art Club cronies, ‘And it was about his time that the Allied Artists! was founded (9 or 10 years ago), Sine then a great deal has happened. The gypsy hordes become more and more languid and John Is an institution like Madamo Tussauds, never, I hope, to bo pulled down. ‘quite deserves this classic eminence and habitual security. ‘The Camden Town ” element has served t's purpose, and although Intact and not at all deteriorated, It is as a section of the London Group that it survives. It contains, in my. ‘opinion, two excellent paintors, Spencer Gore being dead, and Sickert in retirement. To contain two people who can be called "excellent painters”’s very considerable praise, Tclalm no solitary and unique importance for the Vorticist or Cubist painters. I do not see the contradiction that the Public appears to feelin painting of Wadsworth’s being hung in the ‘same exhibition as a painting by Mr. Gilman, As to their respective merits, that is a complicated and delicate matter, itismot necessary for the moment togointo. With Mr. Steor’s tty young ladles on couches or Mr. Nicholson's grey and tastefal’” vulgarities, T havo a definite quarrel, I resent Mr. John’s stage-gypsies emptying their properties over his severe and often splendid painter's gift. But with the two fr three best of my Camden Town colleagues, 1 have no Partioular mental feud, though not agreeing with them, ‘And if they would only allow me to alter their ploturesa, Little, and would undergo a brief course of training preseribed by me, I would even AGREE with thom. Eight years ago, when there was really nothing in England ‘but the Camden Town Group in the way of an organized body of modern and uncompromising painters, it was right and, proper that they should take hold of the management of t Allied Artists’ Association, and Mr. Frank Rutter was for~ tunate in disposing of their services. But to-day, although this, section of painters should certainly bo represented, there is no longer any excuse for their almost exclusively controlling the management of the Society. It Is a very large Society, and the newest additions to it are by no means the least ali Itis growing, that Is, not only in size, but quality. Therefore, It eould now do with a more representative artiss' committee, ‘each vital unit of tendency being adequately represented, But it is-not only the fact of the unnecessarily compl 84 representation of Camden Town talent on the Committee to whieh I object. The Commitioe was originally elected on too frlendly and closed-door 2 basis, the members who are not etinitoly Camden Town artists being, ke Mr. and Mrs. ‘Sund, not representative of any genoral interest or of any newer ‘ondencies. The whole organization of the Society should be ‘overhauled, and a completely new Committee elected. ‘To my thinking, Mr. Gllman and Mr. Ginner are by far the ‘most important painters belonging to the Camden Tow! section, And that section would be admirably and adequately represented by them, Mz. Epstein or Mr, Brieska could be Iintrusted with the seulpture, The pompiers should have a ‘couple of representatives, and most ceriainly the Vortlelst and Futurist sections should be looked alter by at least two people. Tam firmly convinced that this Society will never come into it’s own, and have it's full weight, until it i HUNG IN SECTIONS. Imagine the Indépendants in Patis, for example, NOT hung in sections. It fs only due fo certain ob- ‘struotlonists who are shy at boing herded with their fellows, oF seoa personal advantage in being scattered about, that this has not already happened. I do not happen to Nave discussed thls point with Mr. Hutter, but 1 am sure he woald mot be averse to thls arrangement—of a show hung insestions of the Aitferent groups. ‘This, In any case, a mattor of individual opinion if not of individual interest. But what is certain 1s that until the Committee is completely re-organized the question of these relorms can never bo usefully raised. may add to this article a note on the question of promis- ‘cuous voting by head. Must we stick to the system by which the dog with the biggest Itter, though not necessarily the biggest dox, gots it's way ? ‘Tho best is notoriously unprolific,, ‘And tt afaet, that im any open society ike the Allied Artists (as indeod in any soclety of a considerable sizo at all) the ‘isgusting and rabbit-lke fecundity of the Bad overwhelms the exclusive quality of the Good, Were the Pomplers to ‘begin voting, even Mr. Sickert's numerous female progeny would be outnumbered by 10 to 1. Yet Mr. Sickert is better than a Pompier, though inferior to a Vortieist, But very fow King-Pomplers are numbered in this society. ‘And that seetion is more or less listless, For the health and possibility for futuro growth of the ‘Allied Artists, they would do well to keop thelr “ advanced " members. And as Voriioists and Cubists are temperate propagators, their interests should not be measured by their numbers, as their utility to the State is not that of so many men-at-arms, but as individuals, They should be recognized as a necessarily sell-governing community, and given privileges ‘equal at least to the privileges of numbers, Wi,LIFE HAS NO TASTE. Tho best artist i an imperfect artist. ‘The PERFECT artist, in the sense of “artist” par ‘excellence, and nothing ose, Is the dilettante or taster. “Pare art, in the same way, is dilettante art: It eannot De anything else. 1, in fact, rather the samo thing to admire EVERY- THING in’ Nature around you-mateh-boxes, print dresses, glnger-boot bottles, lamp-posis, as to admire every ‘esthetic mantfestation—oxamples of all schools of art. ‘Taste is dead emotion, or montally—trvated and preserved ‘emotion. Taste Is also a stronghold against barbarism of soul, You should be omotionsl about everything, rather than senative, ‘You should be human about EVERYTHING: ishuman about only a few things. ‘Taste should become dooper and exclusive: defintely a STRONGHOLD s point and not a tine. AMERICAN ART. ‘Ameriean art, when {{ comes, will be Mongol, inhaman, ftimiste, and very mach on the proclous side, as opposed to European pathos and solidity. In this conneotlon you have only {0 consider the character- {stlesof the best art s0 far produced north of Moxico and south of the Pole, ‘Red-indtan Rdg, Allen Poo (series of sinesre and solemn blnifs. Hetneeage Iyrles, monotonoualy absorbed tn the toot algae of romantte emotton). ‘Whistler (Noetarne, ithographs, ete.) Henry James Ghost psychology of New England old mala stately maze of imperturbable analogies. ‘Walt Whltman Bland and easy braggart of a very cotmlc self. Holes, salmon-eoloured and serene, whiting ‘stick In a very cerle dawn, oceante emotion handy at bis elbow. Exra Pound Demon pantechnieon driver, bury with removal of old world into now quarters. In his steel not of impeccable technique be ‘has Intely caught Li Energy of a diseriminating Element,ey ‘Head of Exa Pound, Gaudler=Brzecka,CHRONICLES. ‘Lest the future age looking back upon our era should be or should conceive of It a atime wholly cultivated and delightful, wo think it well to record oceaslonal_ ineldents Mlustrative of contemporary custom, following, in to far as is ‘eonventent, the manner of John Boceaclo. Let it then stand written that tn the year of grace, 1914, there was in the parish ot Kensington a priest or vicar, portly, pechaps over fed, ‘nditferent to the comfort of others, and well pad for offical ‘advertisement and maintenance of the cult of the Galilean + + + that Is to say of the contemporary form of that alt. ‘ ‘And whereas tho Gallloan was, according to record, pleasant, wellspoken, intelligent vagabond, this person, as is common with most of this soot was in most sorts the ro- verse . . thelr hymns and musle belng in the last stages of decadence. ‘The sald vicar elther caused to be rang or at least permitted ‘tho ringing of great bolls, untuneful,il-managed, to the great Aisturbanes of thove Ilving near to the chureh, Ho himsclt lived on the summit of the hil at some distanco and was tla Aisturbed by the clatter, ‘Tho poor who lived inthe stone court-yard beneath the belfry suffered great annoyanee, especially when thelr women lay ‘tek. Protest, was however, of no avall, The eccleststie had the right to Ineommode them. Tho entire nelghbourhood reaked with the intolerable fangle. The mediaeval annoyance of stench might well be compared to lt. Wo record this detall of contemporary life, boeaute obscure things of this sort are wont carelessly to be passed over by our writers of fletlon, and beeause we endeavour in all ways to leave a (rue account of our time, We point out that these bells serve no purpose, no one pretends that they advanco tho eult of the Gallletn, no on, pretends that a musleal chime of bells would be ess ettctent ‘They serve as an example of atavism, Once such bells wero of use for alarm, of told the hour to a seattered peasantry, or announced a service fo a village without other chronometers, ‘ow they persist in thickly populated portions of our elt t than that of showing the ‘eclestasieal pleasure in almless annoyance of others, ‘Tho threo crcumjacent temples of Bacchus debesed and the one shrine of Aphrodite popular, Iying within the radius of this belfry cause less discord and less bad temper among the district's inhabitants, ‘The intellectual status of this Galilean cult in our time may be well judged when we consider that you would searcely find any member of the clergy who would not heartily approve of this biweekly annoyance of the eltizens. For in this place atleast theringersmustenfores their onsummateincompetence by pretending to practoe the diseords, whieh are, very likely, ‘worse than any untrained hand eould accomplish, n. ON THE RAGE OR PEEVISHNESS WHICH GREETED THE FIRST NUMBER OF BLAST. ‘The first number of BLAST which camo to many as cooling water, as a pleasant light, was greeted with such a ‘mincing jibber by the banderlog that one is fain examine the phenomenon, Tho fIbber was for the most part inarileulate, ‘but certain phrases are translatable into English. We noto ‘thereby certain symptoms of minds bordering on the human. First that the sterile, having with pain acquired one ready made sot of Ldeas trom deceased creators of Ideas, are above ‘all ese enraged at being told that the creation of ideas did not stop at the date of their birth ; that they were, by their ad~ ‘vent Into this life, unable to produce a state of static awe and stolldity. The common or homo eanls snarls violently at ‘the thought of there being Ideas which he doesn't know. He ies a death of lingering horror at the thought that even after ‘ho has learned even the nowett set of made ideas, there will sll bo more fdoas, that the horrid things will grow, will goon srowing in spite of him. BLAST does not atfompt to reeonelle the homo eanls ‘with bimselt, Of courso the homo eanls will fellow us. It Is the nature of the homo canis to follow. They grow! but ‘they follow. They havo even followed thing in blacksurtouts ‘with thelr collars buttoned behind. OYEZ. OYEZ. OYEZ. ‘Throughout the length and breadth of England and through three continents BLAST has ben REVILED by all save the Inteligent, WHY? Because BLAST slone has dared to show modernity Ms fue in an honest glass, ‘While all other pertodieals were whispering PEACE in ‘one tone ot another ; while they were all saying “hush” (for one “ interest " or another), “BLAST” alone daredNOT ESSENTIAL TTER SHOULD E ANYTHING IN ALIVE WITH A 'S OWN. jan unerring Indox to ‘brush in writing or ber tho freedom and of Korin’s famous they mao they hveane LK ER See sy ne KN NH essWYNDHAM LEWIS VORTEX No. 1. ART VORTEX. BE THYSELF. You must talk with two tongues, if you do not wish to eause confusion. You must also learn, like a Circassian horseman, to change tongues in mid- career without falling to Earth, You must give the impression of two persuaders, standing each on a different hip—teft hip, right hip—with four eyes vacillating concentrically at different angles upon the object chosen for subjugation. There is nothing so impressive as the number TWO. You must be a duet in everything. For, the Individual, the single object, and the isolated, is, you will admit, an absurdity. Why try and give the impression of a consistent and indivisible personality? ‘You can establish yourself either as a Machine of two similar fraternal surfaces overlapping. Or, more sentimentally, you may postulate the relation of object and Its shadow for your two selves. ‘There Is Yourself: and there Is the Exterior World, that fat mass you browse on. ‘You knead it into an amorphus imitation of yourself inside yourself. Sometimes you speak through its huskier mouth, sometimes through yours. Do not confuse yourself with it, or weaken the esoteric lines of fine original being. Do not marry it, either, to a maiden. Any machine then you like: but become mechanical by fundamental dual repetition. oe For the sake of your good looks you must become a machine. Hurry up and get into this harmonious and sane duality. ‘Tho thought of the old Body-and-Soul, Male-and-Female, Eternal Duet of Existence, can perhaps be of help to you, if you hesitate still fo invent yourself properly. No clear out lines, exeept on condition of being dual and prolonged. You must cateh the clearness and logic in the midst of contradictions: not settle down and snooze on an acquired, easily possessed and mastered, satisfying shape. ‘We artists do not provide wives for you. F You have too many as it is. =BLESS Koyetzu Rotatzu Korin Bottomley A. G. Hales Basil Hallam Bombardier Wells War Babies Selfridge Mrs. MacGaskill Mr. MacGaskill The scaffolding around the Albert Memorial The War Loan All A.B.C. Tea-shops (without exception) Norton MAX ; Burgomaster Linder Warneford The Poet's Bride (June 28th) 93THE CROWD MASTER. 1914. LONDON, JULY. ‘THE CROWD. ‘Mon drift in thrilling masses past the Admiralty, cold ‘night tide, Their throng ereeps round eorners, breaks faintly hhere and there up against a railing barring from possible fights. Local ebullieneo and thickening: some madman Aisturbing their depths with baffling and reeondite noise. ‘THE POLICE with distant ley contempt herd London. ‘They shift {tin lumps here and there, touching and shaping with heavy delieate professional fingers. Their attitude is as though these universal crowds wanted some new vague Sattrage, Is this opposition correct? dramatic Suffragette analogy. (For theve crowds are willing (0 be « Furies "in the humorous male way.) Some tiny grain of sultrage will perhaps be thrown (o the ‘millions in the street, or taken away. THE POLICE howover are contemptuous, cold and) di sgroeable. ‘THE NEWSPAPERS alroady smell carton. They allow ‘themselves almost BLAST typo already. Prussia was invented for Newspaper propristors. Her ‘theatrical instinet has saved the Crowd from breaking’ up for twenty years. Bang! Bang! ‘Ultimatum to you! ‘itimatum to you! ‘ULTIMATUM! ‘rom an Eveoing Paper: July— « The outlook has become more grave during the afternoon, Germany's attitude causes considerable uneasiness. she ‘seoms to be throwing obstacles in the way.—The German Siewader tn Vieana has eegraphed o bis goverment, Germany, thé sinistor brigand and naughty egotist of Jater-day Europe, and of hor own romantle faney, « mauvais oisin’” for the little French bourgeoit-reservist, remains filent and ominously unhelpful in her armoured cave. ‘Do the idiots really mean— ? THE CROWD. ‘THE) CROWDI%s the frst mobilisation of a country. ‘THE CROWD now is formed in London. It is estab- ished with all Lie ¥ague profound organs au grand complet, It serpentines every night, In thick well-nourished cols, all over the town, in trople degustation of news and « stim- vung. ‘THE INDIVIDUAL and THE CROWD WAR: Man's solitude and Peace; Man's Community and Row. PEACE and ‘The Bachelor and the Husband-Crowd, The Married Man. Is the Symbol of the Crowd: bis function Is to set onegoing. At the altar he embraces Death. Wo all shed our small skin periodically or are apt to ‘sometime, aud are purged in big being : an ompty throb. Men resist death with horror when their timo comes. Death is, however, only a form of Crowd, It is a similar surrender. For most men bellove in some such survival, children an sctive and definite one. ‘Again, the Crowd in Lite spells death too, very often. The Growd I an immense anaesthetlo towards death. Duty flings the selfish will into this relaxed vortex. A fine dust of extinetion, a grain or two for each man, is seattored in any crowd like these black London war-crows: ‘Their pace 1s so mournful. Ware bogin with this huge in- elinite Interment in the elties,For days now whorever you are you heat a sound Iiko a very ‘harsh perpetual voleo of a shell, If you put W before tt, It ‘always makes WAR | Tt ts tho Crowd cheering everywhere, Even wooks after- ‘wards, whon tho Crowd has served Its hour and dlssolved, ‘those living in the {own Itself wil seem to hear this noise, THOMAS BLENNER. BLENNER was tn Scotland at this time, Ho Is © man of 85, retired {st Lieutenant Indlan Army with atte money. Ho wrltes a Uttlo, abusively as rogards the Army. Log in splints, getting better, from a fall from a horse. He motored ‘over with his friends to the nearest town. Tho others went to play golt, he went into the town alone to get the morning apers. ‘Tho « Northern Dispatch” postor was the first he save, wlolet on white ground, large letters : MORPETH OLYMPIAD RECORD CROWD ‘Wonderful Crowds, gathering at Olympiads! What is the War to you? I Is you that make both the Wars and Olympiads. When War knocks at tho door, why should you hurry? You are busy with an Olympiad! So for a day War must walt. Amating English Crowds! This erude violet lettering distillation of 1905 to 1915 : Sutfragism, H. G. Wells. Morpeth Olympiads. ‘He bought a London Réltion of the « Dally Mall.” GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON RUSSIA. ‘With the words came a dark rush of hot humanity In his mind. ‘An immense human gesture swept its shadow across him Ike a smoky cloud. « Germany Declares War on Russa,” soomed a roar of guns. He saw active Mophistophelian specks {m Chancolleries. “He saw a rush of papers, a frowning race, Cay est,” thought Blenner, with innate military exultation, ‘Tho ground seemed swaying a little, He limped away from the paper-shop, gulping this big morsel down with delighted stony dignity. The party at the golf links took his « News,” « Mails,” and « Mirrors,” as the run home commenced, with eareful lofsureliness and avoldanee of pretence of indifference. Each ‘manifested his gladness at the bad news in his own restrained way. ‘Atmosphere of respectable restraint of a house where there 4s a Burying. A party of eroque-morts mixed with Curates on thelr way to tho Front, and deputation of amateur iplomatists to God Almighty. ‘Tho closing of the Stock Exchange, announced, suggested host offaseinating and blood-curdling changes in Ife. What ‘would happen as to tho Banks? Food supplies hind better ‘bo ald tn, What of invasion ? ‘the excitement and novelty of Ute foreshadowed, pleased: each, Personal cares mitigated if, But even this mitigation ‘was an additional pleasure. The satisfaction showed ttselt in various disgulses, Tho noxt few days was a gay Camival of Fear, psychologically. ‘Tho Morpeth Olympiad poster was secured, and stuck up in the hall next day. It appeared to the household an ado~ ‘quate expression of the great Nation to which they belonged. ‘Thon all the London Newspapers began to be bought ap in Edinburgh, and none ever got as far as their eountryside, Blenner felt the neod of the great Crowd. Here he got imperfect Crowd. They had become Crowd in the house, ‘the gonoral shadow of that other Personality of men steeped ‘thom In ease, But the numbers being so slight, It was like a straining and ‘issatistaction in Blenner, the pale edge of the mass he knew ‘now would be forming, finding onee more the immense commen nature of is boing. ‘THE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. Ho lett Scotland by the night train, on the second day of ‘the English Mobilisation order. Ho had to walt for half an hhour at Geddes station for the midnight train from Edinburgh. ‘Two English youths in khaki with rifles were on the platform. Soveral men arrived in a latge ear. One was vory fall and rather fat. Ho stood talking to the station master for some ‘minutes, who was evidently telling him of the precautions taken in the neighbourhood, and bits of private news a station ‘master might be supposed to know, Benner with thick aggressive beard, absurdly bright biue yes, watched the new arrivals with disilke. He stood, in his ‘dress and appearance nautical and priestly at tho same time, m guard over his portmanteau. The wide open eyes and delicacy of skin between them anid beard, gave s certain di agrecable softness to his face, Blenner was a very moral character. His soul easily fell Into a condition of bard, selfish protest. Ho watched the large puppy schoolboy merriment of the ‘soup of new arrivals, Oitleers packing off southwards @ tte tate?_ Mis sensations and reflections, colleoted into though would be :« Stupid fat snob | Too poor s chemistry (0 produce anything se, ‘The German officer is reported to have achieved the killing ‘of privates who omitted (o salute him. I prefer the Prussian. He does at leat read Clausewitz when he is not making love, ‘and realizes the philosophy of hls machine-made moustaches. Ho ls capable of doggere easly. ‘The perpetual sight of the amplest impermeability, tke a Bank factory wall, and absence of anything but food and ‘port, eannot help but make Englishmen of my sort a Hite ‘mad and very restless. Tolivetna country where theres no chance, not the faintest, of ever meeting that nature so common In Russia, which ‘Dostolovsky describes in Crotala !—Over the counter of the ‘pawnshop, faced with great distress, the git's face fs lamin- ‘ated by the poasbillties and weight of the allusion in the words, “Tam the spirit which wills the evil and does the rood,” dropped by the pawnbroker. All this tonelines, like the ‘Russian winter, makes the individual a Uttle over-vsionary, ‘and apt to talk fo himself, as Multum says! The English ‘Pablle ls our Steppes—as he says. FF Stuplaty i unhyziente too, A stagnant and impoverished ‘lnd requires legislation. ‘Arrogant and crafty sheep! A Ia Ianterne | alk about eonseription being a good thing for the physical condition of the youth of the country! Much more urgent ‘all to exorcise thelr other faculties, But happlly the masses are not in such need of It as those dolts! Hard conditions oop the souls of the poor, if not their minds, in traning.” ‘Such sullen fulminations were always provoked by such ‘prevences. And yot be spent a large part of his time limping ‘about circles where such people congregated. Tho oy of ‘rotest was deoply ingrained In him, and he instinctively ‘sought opportunites of feeding it. His beard was bis naivest ‘emblem of superiority. ‘Te train came molodramatlelly into the station, an (Med las erage deed hn fom kis He found salts spravied about in most compartments, ‘Mobisation was overywhere. The train was qulte full, Sentrion om the bridges at Nowoasile-on-Tyne. Stacks of rites on the rallway platform. More « mobilisation scenes, ‘the ten sleeping people, travelling through England on ‘his important and dramatic night, inevitably in the mind ‘were ongecied with mobilisation. Stoop had struck them down at tho start. Theso ten upright uncomfortable. and ndifferont figures looked as though they were mobilised ‘every weok or so. It was very disagreoable, but thoy were ‘quite used to It. Neweastio woke them up, but they shook tt off easily: ‘thoy roturmed to churtish slumbers, ‘A squat figure in a stilt short coat got In, and made an ‘loventh beside Blonner, or rather, by a tentative operation ‘against his loft thigh, began a gradually sinking movement towards the supposed position of the seat. He was an unpleasant, although momentarily apologetic, ‘character; and as he sald he was answoring the mobilisation ‘all, he must have been something to do with the Navy's ood. «Tm not traveling for pleasure,” he sald aggressively, later. «No, I'm called up. What are we going for?” he asked, misunderstanding = ‘question, « Why, to take the placo ofother mon, as soon ‘as they're shot down!” Tho tronehant hissing of his « soon, as they're shot down ” was ful of resentment. ‘ The Kayser ought to be bloody well shot,” he considered. ‘ Ho's bin gettin ready for this for twenty years. Now he's ‘oing to have what he wants, “A-ah| e's bin spendin’ his private fortune on it! He was a man about 48, like a Prussian, but even harder, and less imaginative, Must be connected with provisions, for ‘some reason or othe Sea-grocer? The white apron of the German delicatessen shops fitted him, evidently. Gold resentment ; near his pension, perhaps. ‘The warmth of the lady next to Blenner appeared to him, eventually, excessive. Her leg was fat, restloss and hot. ‘Then he noticed thick wheeze and a shawl. Other indlea- tions showed him that he was very closely pressed against 3 siok woman, The heat was fever no doubt,