The life of Sophia Jex-Blake / by Margaret Todd (Graham Travers).

  • Margaret Todd
Date:
1918
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The life of Sophia Jex-Blake / by Margaret Todd (Graham Travers). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    She begins gallantly many times : (We all know the experi¬ ence.) *' “ See how pretily the sunbeams dance Upon the fair waves of Speed-the-lance See the Waters of Gold ! ” and again, “ See Lord Grandaflora brave Fighting his country and life to save. ...” and again, “ See how gently Mordisca rules O’er Sackermena and her pooles ...” or is it “ fooles ” ?—The writing is very bad. On the whole the most delightful stanza is the one that was probably the first, ” Sweet Sackermena and her isles See how many yards and miles It takes to go round Sackermena ! ” No, poetry never came easy to her. When she tackles the constitution of the state, however, her work is on a totally different level. She gives us the officers, “ Military, Civil, and Judicial,” the standing army, standing navy, Men of War and frigates, and vessels “ in rest, ready to be raised.” From this we go on to Prisons, Castles, Laws, Parliament, Guards, etc. The population varies greatly in different schemes. In one, by a stroke of genius, all innocent of that terrible Woman Question in which she was to play so prominent a part, she says :—Men, 7,000,000; Women, 5,000,000. Truly an ideal state! There are many codes of laws, drawn up to meet one contingency after another. The following are picked out almost at random : “ The Despotic Emperor has authority that none may dispute and none may appear in his presence without his gracious permission save his sons and Lord Field Marshall, also the chief general the high Admiral the high Treasurer, high Chancellor, Secretary of state and the Chief Justice.” ” Succession to the Crown. It is at the option of the Reigning Despotic Emperor to name his successor but if he dies without
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