BY THE LATE WILLIAM CALDWELL ROSCOE. EDITED, WITH A PREFATORY MEMOIR, BY HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW, RICHARD HOLT HUTTON. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. ESSAYS. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. MDCCCLX. ESSAYS. TENNYSON.* [Oct. 1855.] THERE are two instincts of the poetic nature, two faculties of the imagination, either of which possessed in a high degree is calculated to secure for its possessor a more than common immediateness of popularity. The poet who can enter deeply into, and vividly reproduce, the characteristic elements in the thought and sentiment of his own time, has a hold on it by virtue of sympathy, and of that mysterious hankering after outward expression, which makes all men delight in having their thoughts spoken, and their feelings interpreted for them with a completeness they could never hope themselves to attain. He again has a not less binding claim, based upon their gratitude, who can transport them from the cankering cares of daily life, the perplexities and confusions of their philosophies, the weariness of their haunting thoughts, to some entirely new field of existence, to some place of rest, some "clear-walled city by the sea,' where they can draw a serene air, undimmed by the clouds and smoke which infest their ordinary existence. *Maud, and other Poems. By Alfred Tennyson, D.C.L., Poet Laureate. B |