Mar, 24.
To-day is the centenary of the birth of William Morris, English poet and artist, who did much then England as to the an who, though he may some of the other luminaries in the artistic firmament, has left an influence behind' him which may be be just as important. His work went far beyond the narrow confines of. artistic circles and brought a. new conception of beauty into English homes at a time when that delightful quality was well nigh dead under the crushing weight of mid- and later-Vi Church, perhaps, lost little and mankind at large gained much, when Morris and Hume-Jones decided that their real mission lay in the direction of. social re+ form rather than in ecclesiastiical work, and speaking of Hume. Jones, with whom Morris had a fe lose friendship, the subject of this article walked with all the: men who had so profound an influence on the artistic fortunes in England during the nineteenth century—Rossetti, Philip Webb, Madox Browne, and the like. "Born of well-to-do parents, educated at Marlborough and later at Oxford, Morris belonged to the "Brotherhood" at Pembroke, reading together theology, ecclesiastical history, medieval poetry and, among the moderns, Ruskin and Tennyson. They studied art together, while Morris about this time come menced to write the poetry which was later to make him famous His productions at this part cular epoch of his life were unfortunately destroyed, though critics who saw it declared later that it was just as good as any-, thing he ever produced, poetry his worth was recognized, for not only was he offered a professorship in the art at Oxford, but on the death of Tennyson was offered the Laureateship both of which he, declined, the first because he felt! he lacked the necessary academic spirit, the second because his taste and record were too remote, from the requirements of a court It is a long ist oMaceomplishments which he had—poet, artist, craftsman, journalist and above all Socialist—and if some would cavil at the inclusion of the last named as an accomplishment, it must be insisted that the lof Morris's socialism wa: heart a passionate enthusiasm for an inaccessible artistic ideal, does not require too great an age to be able to recall much of the ugliness against which Morris and his fellows rebelled, that drear, heavy respectability: which had replaced the pro fligncy of the Georgian period. England laboured under a crushing load of tasteless ornate. ness, a vulgar display of heavy gilt and atrocious red plush and it was the mission of a little band of artists of whom Marr was the robust leader to destroy and in its place reveal to the, unseeing eyes of the English beauty in its most attractive. forms. Ie was a child of the Gothic revival, a follower of Ruskin and Pugin, though with greater practical influence jthan.either of them, because of the manner in which he brought beauty into the home. The man who built for himself a house embodying all his principles of decorative art gave his knowledge to his fellow men with an industry which even in these days must be regarded bordering on the miractilous. In house decoration of all kinds in furniture, wall-paper, hanging: carpet weaving: the painting glass and tiles, needlework, tapestry, he laid the foundations of a school dominated by his pro. test against commercialism, and emphasized his insistence upon the necessity for natural decora~ tion and pure colour produced y handicraft and inspired by a sion for beauty of which he wag a real apostle, Swinburne, his friend, alleged that Morris was concerned more with objects than men, more truly inspired by literature than ife, and it has been said that his pociry, dealing, it is true with wuman passions, treats with emotions as in' picture. He was generous, magnanimous, but lacking in the wider humanity, a failing in his art as it was a deficiency in his poetry. That might very well have been di to the "man's indefatigable energy for besides doing the work of half-a-dozen normal men, nity. Thus one writer dealing with his poetry says.
"The spirit of beauty breathes in every line; a sense of colour, everywhere abundant; the reader moves, as it were, under a canopy of apple blossoms, over a flower-starred turf, to the faint harmony of virginals, The clash of arms (Continued on page 488)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.