of history as "The bloody Englishman"; and, paradoxical as it may seem, headless kings and princes, dukes and lords; yeoman and nobleman, drawn and quartered by hundreds; the ashes of thousands at the stake; and shaggy, bloody heads on London bridge attest how well the title was earned. But this is as a finger pointing toward the dark chapter in the history of the stern old man that has given the world whole nations of great men and women, and whole chapters of illustrious history, renowned to the over-shadowing of the dark pages by the establishment of civil liberty, by achievements in art, science, literature, invention, and commerce, and we willingly turn from its contemplation to our theme.

That men so constituted, nurtured by circumstances so favorable to prejudicial notions, supported by a great history filled with wonderful achievements under a long line of kings, should look with prejudice on a few insubordinate subjects on a distant shore, a rebellious people, a presumptuous republic, a commercial rival polluted with slavery, is as natural a consequence as that night should follow day. On the other hand, the little islanders, reared amidst historic scenes of which they had become a part, came in time to despise the nations of the Old World with whom they

had so often successfully contended in arms, and whom they had outstripped in the achievements of peace. They became proud of Old England's history, proud of a royalty they sometimes hated, proud of a long lineage they sometimes detested, proud of her sturdy yeomanry, from whom lords often rose, and to whom blood royal sometimes descended. "Once an Englishman, always an Englishman." Why not? Who would desire to be more? "Long live the King!" And why not? It was under a long line of kings their country had achieved renown at home and abroad and became the boasted "Mistress of the Seas." They had left quite ten thousand French of "gentle blood" on the field at Agincourt. They had made nearly every family of Scotland to mourn a loss at Flodden Field. They had beaten the Irish at the Boyne, gained a renowned naval victory over the French and Spaniards at Trafalgar, and shared in the glories of Sebastopol. What if the dying Pitt bewailed defeat at Austerlitz, there was soon to be glory enough and to spare at Waterloo. And so their history runs.

But brilliant achievements in arms and the arts of peace turned the head of many a haughty BritPride grows with each achievement until at last it reaches a point beyond which it ceases to be

on.

commendable, ceases to be a virtue. It then becomes the parent of a trait of character that sometimes is simply unbearable in individuals, rendering the unfortunate possessor insufferable at times to his friends and acquaintances and odious to strangers. Hence, if we had to express in one word the greatest difference between two typical Englishman-an American and a Briton-if we should search every lexicon from Johnson's down, we should choose from each the one word, CONCEIT! CONCEIT! How it has inflated many a little Briton! persuading him “England all Olivers and Rowlands bred," as the great bard of Avon expressed it. Listen to the lofty, imperious directions of King Henry, conqueror of the French at Agincourt, to Princess Catharine, whom he had exacted of the French king in marriage: "Put off your maiden blushes; avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of an empress; take me by the hand and say: 'Harry of England, I am thine!' which word thou shalt no sooner bless my ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud 'England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine."" Enough to frighten the poor

girl to death. And such conceit!

It was conceit that led Great Britain to despise our armies and our tactics and sneer at our de

fenses. It gave our colonies British subalterns in lieu of trained American officers. To what dangerous extremes it has impelled her as a nation! It snared her armies at Saratoga and Yorktown. It cheated her navy to encounter young Perry on Lake Erie. It was conceit that led Braddock to ignore Washington's advice as to the proper mode to attack hostile Indians. It was conceit that suffered Lord Howe to address General Washington in a way belittling to the latter's rank. It was conceit that prompted Lord Erskine to style General Washington a fox which he could easily catch on the morrow. It was conceit bordering on madness that induced Walpole to think he could retain his hold on his eminent position of much-coveted power and yet dismiss from distinguish services friends rather than foes, though they numbered among them dukes and lords. It made the Earl of Chatham "an actor in the closet, an actor in council, an actor in parliament; who," says Macaulay, "even in private society could not lay aside his theatrical tones and attitude." Conceit is a word that may be read between the lines in almost every chapter of English history. "If Talbot do but think, rain will follow."

We are far from saying all Britons are con

ceited to an inordinate degree, or even tinctured

with it; or that just pride and wholesome selfesteem are bad qualities. Nay, more, it may be that it is because the deeds of the American do not illumine so many pages of history, that he too has not more of the ego. It may be, too, that it is because he has always been victorious in his encounters with the Briton that he is less prejudiced that his brother.

Another thing: While American authors have a hard time gaining prestige in England, English authors have always found easy access to American readers. The transcendant genius of Shakspeare is as well-known and as much admired in America as in England. Lalla Rookh is found on the centre-tables in American homes alongside Evangeline; Mrs. Browning and Mrs. Hemans side by side with the Careys; Lady of the Lake with Kathrina; Lucille with Poems of Passions, with Tennyson and Whittier, Scott and Bryant, Saxe and Holmes, and Wordsworth, Cowper, and Lowellall simply according to the taste of the reader. Dickens has always been much admired by Americans; while Macaulay's merits as an historian gained more rapid recognition in America than in England. And to-day we welcome every Englishman coming to our shores, even though he plainly say he sees much here he neither admires nor ap