Bargeman. “WHICH?  THE RHINE?”]

* * * * *

THE NEW COURTIERSHIP.

    (With profound acknowledgment to the writer of the article on “Heroine
    Worship” in “The Times” of June 24th.)

While thrones and dynasties have rocked or fallen in the great world upheaval of the last six years, there remains one form of monarchy which has proved impervious to all the shocks of circumstance—­the monarchy of genius.  If proof be demanded of this assertion we need only point to the wonderful manifestations of loyalty evoked in the last week by the advent of the Queen of the Film World and her admirable consort.  The adoration of MARY PICKFORD has been compared with that of MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, and not without some show of reason, for the appeal which her acting, makes is always to the sense of chivalry which, in however sentimental a form, is characteristic of our race.

But the noble adulation which the latest of our royal visitors inspires is deeper and more universal than that prompted by the charm and the misfortunes of her namesake.  MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, as the evidence of contemporary portraits conclusively establishes, was not conspicuous for her personal beauty.  In the “Queen business” she was a failure, and her prestige is largely if not entirely posthumous.  Her character has been impugned by historians; even her most faithful champions have not pronounced her impeccable.

Centuries were necessary to raise MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS to her somewhat insecure pinnacle of devotion; by the alchemy of a machine centuries have been shortened to days and nights in the meteoric career of Miss PICKFORD.  Yet merit has joined fortune in high cabal.  Handicapped by a somewhat uneuphonious patronymic, MARY PICKFORD has established her rule without recourse to any of the disputable methods adopted by her predecessor.  At home in all the “palaces” of both hemispheres, she owes her triumphs to the triple endowment of genius, loveliness and gentleness.  Moreover, in the highest sense she is truly an ambassadress of our race, for the kiss which she so graciously bestowed on Mlle. SUZANNE LENGLEN at Wimbledon on Wednesday last has probably done even more to heal the wounds inflicted on our gallant Allies by the disastrous policy of Mr. LLOYD GEORGE than the heroic efforts of The Times to maintain the Entente in its integrity.

The parallels and contrasts with MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS need not be further laboured.  But far too little stress has been laid on the rare felicity of a union which links the name of Mary with that of Douglas.  The annals of British chivalry contain no more romantic or splendid entries than those associated with Sir JAMES DOUGLAS, alternately styled the “Good” and the “Black,” hero of seventy battles and the victor in fifty-seven, peerless as a raider, who crowned a glorious career by his mission to Palestine with the embalmed heart of BRUCE, and his death in action against the Moors.  His illustrious namesake is now conducting a “raid” on our shores of a purely educational and humanitarian nature, and our welcome, while it expresses the rare and momentous influence of the film, is no mere gratitude for pleasure afforded; it is rather the recognition of a human touch tending to make the whole English-speaking world kin.