, but upon long literary
tradition. Nothing could be more conclusive than the reference in the old
Latin hymn:--

"Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum."

It is anticipated that the discussion will be attended by Signor MARCONI,
Lord DUNSANY, Mr. YEATS and Lieutenant JONES, the author of _The Road to
En-Dor_.

* * * * *

Meanwhile the conflicting current of musical materialism is running strong.
_The Daily Mail_, always in the van of artistic progress, has espoused the
cause of the insurgent Georgians with intrepid zeal. Mr. JULIUS HARRISON is
extolled in a leading article for finding a theme for an orchestral work,
not in any of the misty or metaphysical abstractions which appealed to the
effete Victorian composers, but in plums. And, mind you, not Carlsbad, but
honest Worcestershire plums, without any Teutonic taint. Mr. JULIUS
HARRISON'S patriotic example is not likely to be lost on his brother
composers. Indeed it is asserted on credible authority that Mr. GRANVILLE
BANTOCK, who has completely forsworn all Oriental and exotic subjects, is
engaged on a gigantic symphony, with choral interludes, entitled "Yorkshire
Pudding;" and that Mr. JOSEF HOLBROOKE is collaborating with Lord HOWARD DE
WALDEN in a romantic historical opera in fifteen Acts called "From Woad to
Broadcloth."

* * * * *

Mr. BERNARD SHAW, who, it may be necessary to remind youthful readers, was
a musical critic on _The Star_ and _The World_ before he achieved fame as a
dramatist, has been causing his friends and admirers serious misgivings by
his article on Sir EDWARD ELGAR in a new musical journal, _Music and
Letters_. Sir EDWARD ELGAR has a great following; he has written oratorios;
he is an O.M.; yet Mr. SHAW salutes him as the greatest English composer,
the true lineal descendant of BEETHOVEN, one of the Immortals and the only
candidate for Westminster Abbey! To find Mr. SHAW taking a majority view is
bad enough; it is a case of proving false to the tradition of a lifetime--a
moral suicide. But why drag in BEETHOVEN? So left-handed a compliment
prompts the suspicion that, after all, what appears to be eulogy is in
reality nothing more than an essay in adroitly dissembled obloquy. _Mutatis
mutandis_, Mr. SHAW would not thank Sir EDWARD ELGAR for calling him, for
example, the Voltaire _de nos jours_. What he does enjoy is the frank
disparagement of Mr. WILFRID BLUNT,