oria of concrete things were to be gath-
ed into the titular abstraction; or as if
g's rightness were presently to be proved
kable in that it is all wrong.

d yet, I think, Chesterton or no Ches-
where is he, by the way?—I mean
ely what I have set down: Rudyard Kip-
remarkable rightness. Right, because
has sustained him against scoffers; re-
ble, because no one originally expected
articular kind of rightness from him.
is is not to be a discursive or an exhaust-
scussion of Kipling's utterances on plan-
or even racial questions. I have not
ated his complete works with his "right-
in mind. Indeed, to treat him exhaust-
would be a very difficult task; for the
of his wisdom is made up, not of a few
works," but of an infinite number of
cant brevities. My only excuse for deal-
ith him at all is that I have lived a long
vith the prose and verse of Kipling, and
ny knowledge of him has reached what
James called the point of saturation. I
[254]

gs were to be g abstraction; or resently to be pro 1 wrong. Co sterton or no

gods.

Rudyard Kipling, in his later life, fered under two great disadvantages sistence on a political point of view w unpopular, and the gradual diminishin flow of masterpieces. The dullest pe tell you smartly that he is "written c cleverest will tell you that he was pr but always cheap, if not vulgar. Perha one will fling "The Female of the Sp you. This paper is not to be a cata Kipling's virtues, nor yet of his achie But I should like you to consider wit a few moments that little volume The Five Nations. I take The Five purposely, for it is the Kipling of 1 Nations that I mean. Not the bette Kipling of the Barrack-Room Ballads Seven Seas. But supremely the Kiplin

the way?-1 m Hown: Rudyard K ss. Right, becas gainst scoffers; originally expect tness from him sive or an exha utterances on pla tions. I have s with his "h treat him exhaus cult task; for th up, not of a fa finite number excuse for de have lived a long e of Kipling, an as reached wi of saturation

to.

Two things changed the Kipling knew: renewed residence in England, Boer War. Of course, he was alway perialist; he always loved Lord Rob

en-by devious paths-he returned to
nd; and England held him as it held the
and the woman in "An Habitation En-
1." The Boer War came; and The Five
ns tells how he reacted. He has gone
y consistently from that day, developing,
ever swerving from the path of his con-
1. England did not listen to him: the
als of the first decade of the twentieth
y did not propose to listen to anyone
vrote short stories for the sake of the
and verse for the sake of a Tory idea.
were much too serious in Great Britain,
se days, to hearken to Rudyard Kipling.
so far as I know, neither Lord Roberts
pling ever said, "I told you so."
listen to "The Lesson":

our fault, and our very great fault-and now we
st turn it to use;

ve forty million reasons for failure, but not a gle excuse!

one has heard that rough-and-ready reviled—in the early nineteen-hundreds! now one recalls abusive editorials in

Not a make ist. Bu and r

you w pared

only:

can h ing a axion

of G

never

alwa

get jung! natid

now