THE CONQUERING CELT.

    [Mr. ROBERT O’LOUGHRAN, writing in The Times of May 2nd,
    observes, “The Celt is tattooed in his cradle with this
    historic belief in his race—­a free Ireland.”]

  The Sassenach, stodgy and prosy,
    Lacks any distinguishing mark;
  The Semite has merely been nosey
    Right back to the days of the Ark;
  The Teuton proclaims himself edel
    And points to his family tree;
  But the Celt is tattooed in his cradle
        With “Erin the Free.”

  Some races inherit a stigma,
    And some find a spur in their past,
  But Ireland’s ancestral enigma
    Has now been unravelled at last;
  For the Celt, the original Gaidel,
    Apart from his proud pedigree,
  Is always tattooed in his cradle
        With “Erin the Free.”

  The actual process of branding
    I dare not attempt to describe;
  Some themes are too high and outstanding
    For bards of the doggerel tribe;
  But patriot minstrels will ladle
    Out lauds on the parents who see
  That the Celt is tattooed in his cradle
        With “Erin the Free.”

* * * * *

AT THE PLAY.

“JUDITH.”

That Mr. ARNOLD BENNETT was actuated by the very highest motives when he set out to edit the Apocryphal Scriptures for stage purposes, nobody would dream of doubting.  It is the more unfortunate that by making the rest of the play very dull he should have thrown into relief certain features in the story of Judith which the original author had preferred to treat with a commendable reticence.

It will be recalled that in the ancient version Holofernes made a feast for Judith “and drank much more wine than he had drunk at any time in one day since he was born;” that he then lay down on his bed in a state of stupor, and that Judith, taking advantage of his torpid condition, “approached” and cut off his head at her leisure with his own “fauchion.”  The decency of this arrangement is easily apparent; it obviated the necessity for wanton allurements on the part of Judith and amorous advances on the side of the Commander-in-Chief.  Incidentally it is more reasonable to assume that so virile a warrior would yield to nothing short of intoxication than that he would be persuaded, while still remaining sober, to take a brief rest (on the ground of temporary indisposition) and so go like a lamb to the slaughter, as he does in the play.

To do Miss LILLAH MCCARTHY justice, she went through a scene embarrassing alike to actors and audience with as much dignity and aloofness as the situation admitted.  In a previous scene there had been one rather gratuitous posture which we might perhaps have been spared; but, for the rest, from the moment when she first entered, a noble figure in her robes of widowhood, veiling all but the oval of her face, pale and passionless, she played with a fine restraint, giving us confidence in her reserve of strength and never once allowing her high purpose to be forgotten.