less noticed or thanked in
Australia than the describing of its natural beauties or the writing of
its national odes.

Gordon has more than once been misrepresented with respect to his
religious views. He has been called an agnostic, an atheist, even a
pagan. Passages in nearly a score of his poems must be read and compared
before an opinion can properly be given on the point. That he was a
doubter, and to some extent a fatalist, appears certain; but there is
nothing to support the charge of atheism. He shows a very clear
conception of the Christian ideas respecting right and wrong, and of the
Divine mercy, but hesitates to accept any theories of punishment in a
future state. His general attitude is one of hope, and of desire to
believe. He often thinks--too often--of the transiency of life, and of
the question to be solved 'beyond the dark beneath the dust.' But there
is no despair. And meanwhile his practical creed is

'Question not, but live and labour
Till yon goal be won,
Helping every feeble neighbour,
Seeking help from none.
Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone--
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.'

It conveys at once the highest and truest of the many views he has given
of his own character. Generous to others, he was too seldom just to
himself. It was well there remained among the friends he left behind a
few who knew him for what he was, and who were unwilling that qualities
often clouded during his life by an unhappy temperament should be
undervalued or forgotten. Kendall's 'In Memoriam' is a worthy tribute,
and finely summarizes the general impression of Gordon which one obtains
from his verse:

'The bard, the scholar, and the man who lived
That frank, that open-hearted life which keeps
The splendid fire of English chivalry
From dying out; the one who never wronged
A fellow-man; the faithful friend who judged
The many anxious to be loved of him
By what he saw, and not by what he heard,
As lesser spirits do; the brave great soul
That never told a lie, or turned aside
To fly from danger; he, I say, was one
Of that bright company this sin-stained world
Can ill afford to lose.'

ROLF BOLDREWOOD.

English readers of Rolf Boldrewood's novels have often wondered why he
has ignored in his writings the modern social life of Australia. He has
a unique knowledge of the country extending over si