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TIte Wimrose Leajorne.
' ''' I ' (Bail) Now. j i
1 "Trig Knights, apd Dames of the. Prim-,
fosP'lteigrie are reminded of their pbligation.
to wear'a buricli of .priinrpses on Saturday,
the 'lath of Aprii; heing Primrose Day."
The - admonition 'appears to have, 'been';
.generally attended to ' in 1 fact, it was ob
served by a great-number- of - people- to,
whom it was not addressed. Thu. shop
windows otid tho gnrmonU of men ana
women were. gay with: primroses.-. Many of
those who, wore them knew about as much
pf Lord Beaconsfield . arid, his policy as the
cabirien,- brnpiblia-drivers, and . shop-hoys
.whu sport dark or light.bluo rijibona on tlie
day ofithe Uniyersity boat rape know of the
educational, method a of Oxford' and. Cam
bridge. 1 A'good many people have a vngiie
idea jthaf'Lord Beaconsfield ''wlis 'oil ,' tlie'
"genteel " ' Side iri-. politics, "Arid" beflpwer
themselves vfitli primroses 'from the motivp
which induced1 thK - publican ' iri ' " Martin'.
Chuzzlewit " at election tippe, to put on his
top-boots arid votoifor what ho conceived! to
be " the gentlemanly 'i interest." In seme
.riiirispnquestionablytLpM Beaconsfield is
fbo', champion of! England,' .Vat. .Beiijamiri
for' fliu moment' it .taking the place of St.
'George. The, image of > him which tho
vulgar imagination hap framed bears about
as much .resemblance to tho reulity 'as the.
.historic Uepige of. Cappadocia bears to the
legendary patrori .saint , of England, who.
acemding to Gregory. , Nazionzen, wiiula
havo sold himself for a cake. England is
not fortunate in - -her- patron saints,
b'etween whom there is nothing iri common,
.except In the particulars gracefully referred
to on Saturday evening by Lord Egmont at
the dinner of the Friinrose League. St.
George, like Lord BeAcoristield, attained iris
highrank in spite of '"the disadvantages of
an 'origin comparatively humble and of ail.
extraction .'not. wholly English," Wo. have,
no wiBh' to speak of Lord Beaconsfield other-
kvisc than ri-ith1 the rrispect due : to a gKeat
"Englishman Who' is" no more ; but it is im
possible to extend the same indulgence to
I, the party - fntriguera - who - traffio in the
mothory"6f the' man whom they slighted
and btpassed driririg the greater pArt of his
life, or, to the crpzy cnthuaiusts who ,bpdeck
tliomselves with flowers,! like i Ophelia,' and
go mad- according to 'their rank, ' like' Til-
burina and her confidant, in.wliito satin or
in white linen'.-'
. Tho absence of Lorit Baridolph, Ch'rirehill,
whose health,, wo Jearn,1 with , regret, has
suffered from his exertions in Birmingham,
deprived the dinner of the Prikntose League,
at the Frcemnsous' Tavern, on Saturday, of
nny public .interest it might otherwise
have had. Thore'.was'notliing either in tho
things said or in the persons saying them to
give it'tlie slightest importance, or to redeem
what we must call the silliness of the, fiorati
tribute. If 'Lord ;!pandoIph had heeri. pre'-
' sent he might have. developed, jriT, A manner
pretty 1 sure to have been .ingenious, arid
amusing, -whatever ita political, value, his
thesis As to tho idohtity of Toryism with tho'
principles ,of popular, government. . Lord
Bolihgbroko arid .Lord Beaconsfield could
have furnished him with paradoxes mora
tlura. sufficient for one speech, to say nothing
of his own contributions to the matter. ' If is
possible tlmtPri.nirosoDaywillnotoutlnstMr.
Gladstone's Adriiiriistratiori. So far as it has
any purpose, it is. a comminution day for
the hving statesmnn rather than a festival
for the dead one. Tho connection of. the
primrose with Lord Beaconsfield 'is purely
Arbitrary. Lord Beaconsfiold had a quick
eye nnd a keen perception, but his tosto was
pithsr '.for what is, splendid and nrtifisial,
even for what is. gaudy nnd glaring, than
for quiet And simple beauty. Thoro is no
reason to think that he cared especially for
floworsj of any sort. A primrhsoby the
river's brim was probably something more
to him thanlt wos to Peter-Bell ; but it is
difficult to imagine 3rim hanging overt that
flowpr hp Chaucer dql over liistjalsy, pn his
heart filling and daneipg with: its clu'stofcd
groupsaS'WordsworthVivdid with tho ilfifo-
dib. Lord Beaconsfield, "Ve aro inclinyfi to
believe, would have though!! both -Chaucer
and -Wordsworth sentimental ninnicii, and
would : have despised their devotion to
daisies-, and daffodils As tho height
of namby - pambyism. In, his. .secret
heart, probably, Lord Beaconsfield ad-;
mired the buttercup or the 'kingcup moro
thnu the pritrirosa. Tho colour is richer..
-But . whatever might have' -been Lord
Beaconsfield'8 feeling towards primroses,
there can bo little doubt as to wliat would
have been his feeling' to the Prlmrosp
League could he' by, possibility have fore
seen the institution of that extraordinary
order, ; He Would probably have consigned
it to " the primroso patii that leads to the
everlasting ' .bonfire." ' If its "raemhers1
wished to play tho fool, they might hare
done so on some other, day than the anni
versary of his death. The Primrose League,
:witb'its sham knights and dames, iB just the
sort of folly which Lord Beaconsfield would
have sAtirised;iri his beat. vein, if the folly
had been perpetrated during- his lifetime at
tho expense of some ' othor 'reputation than
his own, ' ' He would have' revelled in 'the
exposure of tlie solemn nonseuBe, and in
ridicule of the stolidly 'sentimental nonsense
makers. But ho u helpless, arid well-mean
ing blackheads play their fantastic tricks in
epito'of him., , , ... "....
The Paly parallels in fact or fiction to this
nmnzin'g order are to be' found .in the
Knights Prentices, of .whom "Mr. Simon
Tappertit was the head, and the Glorious
Apollos, of wliobi Mr. Bichard Swiveiler
had, tho honour .to , be Perpetual Grand.
The English people are not a mawkish race,
and,' this babbling and drivelling about:
priiriroses is the silliest possible way of com
memorating a man who, whateVer may be
thought of, his career na' a wliole, or of , cer-
tain partA of ithnd at any riite the virtues
of a manly and reticent character, and who
wouji have despised the- lachrymose maun-
deringa of the political sentlmentaHsts who '
hayecliosentotakehimos their hero.: Isabella
weeping ovAr heripot of - basil' ia not qiiito
the raoael of'n sturdy Conservative countiy
gentleman, wlio has something better to do
than to -water1 .primroses with -. iiis toara.'
But wgile we condole with Lord Beacons-
field's spirit, if ho liAvo any ,consciius'nesaJpf
the antics . which .ffib !'uiieouth swains , of.
Toiylsm are.'playing in his name, wo ninst
also ' ejipress otir ey mpathy . w Ithr '.the.
: unhappy -'flo'wer "which ' is' thus dragged
into publicity. ' " The ratlie primrose, which
forBakeri dies," will, in the eycpt .of tho com
memoration going on.many years, beconfinei
to Milton's poetry " The ppjitical cultof the
primrose would seem likely to lead to ita ex-
tinction, if it did riot tend rather to convert
it into an_industiy. jjThospyellp.w flowers,"
1 to use the expression oLa worthy pingistrato
will probably soon rise to Audi a. price rfs'to
1 raake|tlie obligation of'.the .Kniglita and
Dames; of the Primroso League to wear a
- bunch of them on. the 19th of April a some
what restly undertaking.' -It is rather
ignoble to drag .flowera into .party/ politics.
They. have been national symbqls-rthe rose,
of England, the. „ thistle .of Scotland, tho
shamrock of Ireland, the leekbf Wales give
instances enough without travelling beyond
our own islands. But hitherto the vegetable
unlike the political' kingdom; has net' boon
disturbed by; faction fights since Somerest
. and Warwick plucked 'White "rind red rases
. in tho'Temple Garden.! i. Wo have liad the'
Wars of the Bases, ' Are wo to have :now
.the war of ..the : primroses, and, lot us say,
the' orohidal A ,poet has sung -of the
Loves'of tho Plants. Perhaps some com
ing poet will describe "the factions' of the
flowers,: V . '.
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