unobtainable; but the economic importance of maintaining London's pre-eminence in this respect may be gathered from the statements made in the early part of this paper as to the magnitude of our income from our international banking and financial services. Of the many advantages derived by this country from its distribution of capital practically throughout the world, one of the most important is the stability of income which is thus attained. It will be generally found that if trade in one part of the world is suffering from depression or from a failure of the harvests, in another part harvests are abundant and business is expanding; and the net result which may be confidently anticipated from the geographical spread of our investments is therefore stability of income. This policy also tends to produce stability of capital values, because it greatly reduces the risk of heavy losses through war, revolution, earthquakes, or failure of harvests, which is run by countries which have placed their foreign investments within a relatively narrow field. Finally, it may be pointed out that in time of war, when it is probable that the earnings of our shipping industry may be cut down drastically, and when there would in all probability be an equal diminution in the earnings of our banking and mercantile houses, this income from our foreign investments would continue to accrue, and would provide this country with the means of continuing the conflict long after the period when a less richly endowed antagonist would have exhausted its financial resources. The disadvantages attendant upon the investment of capital abroad are not so patent as the advantages; but that there are certain risks and disadvantages involved cannot be doubted, and time alone will reveal their true magnitude. For example, there is the danger involved by the fact that each year we are assuming vaster liabilities immediately payable in gold, if need be, without maintaining an adequate gold reserve which would enable us to tide over any temporary stoppage of the inflow of gold that might arise during a time of war or any other extraordinary occurrence. It is a curious fact that, although we receive gold to the average value of more than 50,000,000l. per annum, we have not been able during Vol. 215.-No. 428. F the past decade to retain in this country more than about 3,000,000l. per annum; and the bulk of the amount retained is probably used in manufactures or arts. Further, it must be recognised that it would be utterly impracticable to bring home or even to transfer quickly from one country to another an appreciable percentage of our investments abroad. It has taken fourteen years to transfer 103,000,000l. of British capital from Europe to the United States, Canada, and the Latin American States, although far greater inducements are offered to capitalists in the latter countries. We must also appreciate the fact that the investment of such a vast proportion of the national wealth outside the limits of the United Kingdom is another and a most influential reason for the maintenance of a great and supreme navy. We have managed to get the world fairly well into our debt; but, if England became weak and lost the hegemony of the seas, it would be impossible to measure the shrinkage that might take place in the value of her investments if foreign countries adopted a policy of repudiation. This contingency, though happily remote, should not be ignored. The most important drawback involved by the investment of capital abroad which has yet come to light is the marked influence which it has exercised in the direction of increasing the cost of credit at home. Investors are now offered a large return on foreign and colonial investments; and the direct taxation of this country has become so disproportionate and heavy that investors cannot afford to hold an unduly large proportion of low-yielding home securities, however good. Tangible evidence of this is afforded by the very heavy fall that has taken place in the market value of Consols and all gilt-edged securities since the outflow of capital has assumed huge dimensions. A recent bank-failure emphasises the importance of this consideration. For some reasons the increasing cost of credit in the case of municipal corporations need not be deplored, because it has imposed a wholesome check upon the abuse of municipal trading; but the enhanced cost of credit is likely to have an unfavourable influence upon the finances of useful public trusts such as the Port of London Authority, the Metropolitan Water Board, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, etc. One important point that British investors show a disposition to overlook is that capital should as far as possible be invested abroad under British control. American and Canadian financiers are fully alive to the beneficial effect which results from the investment of capital in foreign countries; and in Mexico and certain of the other Latin American States very large amounts of British capital have been invested under American and Canadian control, with the result that the export trades of this country have not benefited so much as they would have done had the disposal of the money remained in British hands. This is an important consideration, because there is reason to believe that certain financiers in the United States, who perceive the importance of controlling the flow of the fertilising stream of capital, have in contemplation the commercial exploitation of China by means of large loans to be raised in Paris and London. We shall place our manufacturing industries in a much better position to command the China markets if we subscribe capital for investment in China under purely British auspices. On the whole, however, weighing the visible advantages against the visible drawbacks and dangers, there would appear to be reasonable ground for the general conclusion that, so far as can be seen at the present time, the investment of British capital abroad has had a beneficial effect upon the shipping, manufacturing, commercial, and financial interests of this country; and there can be no room for doubt that the development of the Imperial British Dominions and foreign countries which has resulted from the investment of British capital therein has proved of enormous benefit to the whole world. EDGAR CRAMMOND. Art. 4.-ENGLISH PROSODY. 1. A History of English Prosody, from the 12th Century to the Present Day. By George Saintsbury, Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University of Edinburgh. Three vols. London: Macmillan, 19061910. 2. Historical Manual of English Prosody. By George Saintsbury. London: Macmillan, 1910. 3. Milton's Prosody, etc. By Robert Bridges. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893. 4. On the Use of Classical Metres in English. By W. J. Stone. London: Frowde, 1899. 5. A Study of Metre. By T. S. Omond. London: Grant Richards, 1903. NOT the least charming of many charming stories told by Ruskin in his 'Praeterita' is that of a struggle which took place in his early years between himself and his mother over a point of prosody in the lines: 'Shall any following Spring revive The dispute arose over his reading of the second of these two lines. Being, he says, 'wholly careless on the subject both of urns and their contents,' he insisted, 'partly in childish obstinacy and partly in true instinct for rhythm,' on reciting it with an accented 'of'; and, he adds, 'it was not till after three weeks' labour that my mother got the accent lightened on the "of" and laid on the "ashes" to her mind.' The intricacy of our subject could hardly be better indicated than by the fact that this simple tale at once provides a battle-ground. The dispute between the child Ruskin and his mother remains unsettled. Among the first problems which confront the prosodist is that of the nature of poetry itself. His studies are confined to its embodiment, its formal side-to various effects of sound and rhythm compassable by language. Yet, if he is to appreciate these effects rightly, he must be able to pierce, in intuition at least, to the impulse or purpose which has produced them, must divine how poetry comes to be written, and how it is that, by the aid of this baffling yet victorious blend of nature and artifice, language can express things that remain else inexpressible. An equally fundamental difficulty is suggested by the comparison of poetry with music. In both alike, sound and rhythm are a medium of artistic expression. But in music they are the sole medium; whereas, when they enter into poetry, they are already constituents of the symbolic code called language. Thus the sound and rhythm which the prosodist has to investigate are never 'pure.' Poetry is only one among many functions that belong to language. Its forms have been determined by other associations, other needs. These other needs and associations cannot be left out of account. The purpose of language is communication between man and man; words exist to convey a meaning. The poet forgets this at his peril. For the essence of art is economy. A work of art may carry no dead-weight of inert material; in whatever medium it be executed, strenuous co-operation must be exacted from every part, and the full capacities of the medium must be utilised in such a way that they may be felt in the design. Poetry differs from prose in submitting to certain rhythmical formalities; it differs from painting or music in working from the outset with fixed symbols. And the latter difference is the broader of the two. The fact that the poet employs language remains the primary fact about his art; the sound of a poem is inalienable from its sense. The prosodist's investigations are complicated by this contingency in the nature of his subject. The rules and systems which he painfully constructs may be invalidated at any moment by the imperious requirements of the higher functions of the organism. It is characteristic of Prof. Saintsbury, whose monumental work is recognised already as forming a landmark in the history of prosodic investigation, that he makes poetry his starting-point. Theorisings, such as we have just indulged in, have no charm for him; and he will consider that already they have led us astray. He takes a practised instinct, a ripe experience for his guides, and is fortified through his long journey by his never-failing delight in the music of words. The chief feature of his work, a feature which forestalls criticism and wins pardon for a host of extravagances, is its overflowing vitality. This vitality is often tasteless in its expression; it affects |