All And Sundry

is for the moment head of the singular form of monarchy known as the United States of America. President Wilson has not changed, but he seems changed, not so much because we see him from a different angle, as because we see him in a different atmosphere. Prospero is Prospero still, but his "so potent art" is no longer exerted to shake "the strong-based promontory," and "by the spurs pluck up the pine and cedar"; Prospero instead is busied in the practical politics of Milan and Naples?on the whole, rather a descent for Prospero. Up to the Armistice President Wilson was a sort of Jupiter in his remote Olympus. He was not "careless of mankind"; mankind has never had a more conscientious guardian. But he did seem to survey mankind from a height, and contrived to let mankind know it. In going to Paris,however, Mr. Wilson came flat-footed to earth, and thereafter rather resembled Jupiter when he condescended to engage in the contentions of mortals; tripping up one hero, seizing the heel of another, shielding a third with his buckler, or invoking a general fog to cover the retreat of a fourth. It is inevitable that in such a rough-and-tumble, Jupiter must lose some morsel of his majesty. Olympus has no doubt its points as a place of residence, but it has one conspicuous disadvantage: one cannot go away for a change without people talking. A single week-end at the seaside will compromise your reputation as a divinity. It is, however, merely an inverted compliment to s... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.