Oxford

The new Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Julian Edward George, now a child of eleven years, sat round-eyed and attentive in a gallery overlooking a huge, oblong, Gothic room. Below, the House of Commons was somberly proceeding to honor the little boy's grandfather, great onetime Prime Minister Asquith (1908-16), the Earl of Oxford and Asquith, who had just died.

The child sat mouse-still. Possibly he was awed by the nearby presence of his widowed "grandmama,'' famed Margot Asquith. Perhaps, on the other hand, he was now and then whisperingly reminded not to squirm by his mother. She is Mrs. Raymond Asquith, widow of the late statesman's eldest son, who was killed in action in 1916. Whether she whispered or "Margot" frowned, the eleven-year-old heir & Earl listened with exemplary gravity, last week, while Prime Minister Baldwin and onetime Prime Ministers Lloyd George & Ramsay MacDonald declaimed funereally from the floor of the House.

More exciting than to listen was to reflect upon the legend that the new little Earl is a descendant of "Little Jack Horner" on his mother's side. She was Miss Katharine Horner, and her paternal progenitor was that James ("Jack") Horner who was Steward to the rich Abbot of Glastonbury in the days of Henry VIII.

Amid troublous times the Abbot secreted certain valuable deeds in a vast meat pie. Treacherous Steward "Jack" Horner filched and stole them out. Later this bold deed was totally emasculated in a nursery rhyme:

Little Jack Horner

Sat in a corner Eating a Christmas pie.

He stuck in his thumb

And pulled out a plum Then cried "What a good boy am I!"

Today the property of Wells Manor, Glastonbury, believed to have been mentioned in the deeds stolen by "Jack" Horner, is still owned by the Horner family.

Of the Parliamentary tributes paid, last week, to the late Herbert Henry Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith, that of James Ramsay MacDonald was perhaps most moving. Speaking as a Laborite who had fought Liberal Prime Minister Asquith, Mr. MacDonald said: "He was the last of what Victorians meant by great parliamentarians--men of leisure and culture, formality and dignity, learning and catholicity. . . . He was a sturdy champion whose mellow mind and rich, sonorous oratory so often lulled our watchful intelligence to sleep. We gave him our applause forgetful of the gulfs that separated us and of all the challenges that would presently be thrown by us at him when the magic of his oratory ceased to operate."

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin concluded the ceremonies in the Commons by moving adjournment for one day.

Throughout the week, interest focused on David Lloyd George, now Liberal leader, but long estranged from Asquith. What would he say? Would he conceal his pleasure at being left alive to dominate alone throughout the Liberal sphere?

In the Commons, Mr. Lloyd George spoke platitudes, but later he referred cockily to Prime Minister Asquith, under whom Mr. Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer when the War began. Said he: "On a solemn occasion like this I prefer to recall the days of our pleasant and, I think it would be admitted, fruitful association, when we were working together for great causes."

Having thus spoken, he had no cause to complain when the German press took occasion, last week, to flay him. Thundered the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag:

"Lloyd George stole his ideas from Asquith's head and used them as his own. Psychological history should show that Asquith died from Lloyd George."

Though these were wild words, it is true that Mr. Lloyd George owed much of his early success to the guiding hand and persuasive tongue of the Great Man whom he supplanted as Prime Minister in 1916.

Though the Dean of Westminster proposed, last week, that the late Lord Oxford and Asquith should be buried in Westminster Abbey, this project was thwarted by the dead Earl. He had left positive instructions. Therefore his body was quietly removed, last week, from his Berkshire estate to the neighboring little Church of All Saints. With none but members of his immediate family present the service was performed by the Bishop of Oxford. Later the peer who was called "Lord Oxford" by all, including the King, was interred in the little country graveyard of All Saints.

Though simple, the last rites of Lord Oxford were no more austere than those of the late Earl Haig (TIME, Feb. 13). Haig was borne to final rest in Dryburgh Abbey, Scotland, on a farm cart, attended chiefly by local Scottish friends of small renown.

In striking contrast with the simple taste of the late Lord Oxford was that of "Margot," Countess of Oxford and Asquith, who permitted and participated in, last week, an ostentatious mourning service in Westminster Abbey. Belated, this took place on the day following the actual funeral. Formal, it drew phalanxes of potent Britons as well as the diplomatic corps.