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"AND THERE ARE SMILES BY SHALLOW WORLDLINGS WORN,

SIR HENRY TAYLOR.

And the unsightly points of circumstance
That sullied its appearance and departure.

Elena. For how long saw you it?
Artev.

Elena.

I cannot tell.

I did not mark.

And what was that appearance

You say was so unsightly?

She appeared

"THE LAST YEAR'S LEAF, ITS TIME IS BRIEF UPON THE BEECHEN SPRAY;-(HENRY TAYLOR)

Artev.

In white, as when I saw her last laid out
After her death; suspended in the air

She seemed, and o'er her breast her arms were crossed;
Her feet were drawn together pointing downwards,
And rigid was her form and motionless.

From near her heart, as if the source were there,

A stain of blood went wavering to her feet.
So she remained inflexible as stone,
And I as fixedly regarding her.

Then suddenly, and in a line oblique,

Thy figure darted past her, whereupon,
Though rigid still and straight, she downward moved,
And as she pierced the river with her feet,
Descending steadily, the streak of blood

Peeled off upon the water, which, as she vanished,
Appeared all blood, and swelled and weltered sore,
And midmost in the eddy and the whirl
My own face saw I, which was pale and calm
As death could make it :-then the vision passed,
And I perceived the river and the bridge,
The mottled sky and horizontal moon,

The distant camp, and all things as they were.

[From "Philip van Artevelde."-"The steady, classical, and perspicuous style of this accomplished author is much to be admired. He has rightly understood the true meaning of simplicity as matter of style."-R. H. HORNE.]

TO GRACE A LIE OR LAUGH A TRUTH TO SCORN."-TAYLOR.

THE GREEN BUD SPRINGS, THE YOUNG BIRD SINGS, OLD LEAF, MAKE ROOM FOR MAY."-TAYLOR.

"A CROWD OF HOPES, THAT SOUGHT TO SOW THEMSELVES LIKE WINGED SEeds,-(alfred TENNYSON)

66 THOSE WE LOVE FIRST ARE TAKEN FIRST."-TENNYSON.

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[ALFRED TENNYSON was born in 1809 at Somersby Parsonage, in Lin-
colnshire. His father was the Rev. G. C. Tennyson, his mother a daughter
of the Rev. Stephen Fytche. He completed his education at Cambridge,
where he won the Chancellor's gold medal for a poem on "Timbuctoo
(1829), and made the acquaintance of Arthur Henry Hallam, the son of
Hallam the historian-an acquaintance which soon ripened into an earnest
friendship. In his eighteenth year he published, in conjunction with his
brother Charles, a volume of poetry (240 pages, duodecimo), under the title
of "Poems by Two Brothers." In 1830 he gave to the world his "Poems,
chiefly Lyrical," containing many pieces which are now familiar to every
ear, but which did not at first attract the favourable attention of the pub-
lic. Some judicious critics-as John Stuart Mill and Leigh Hunt-dis-
cerned their promise of future excellence; and in 1842 the publication of
his "Poems," in two volumes, including many old pieces, revised and re-
written, and many previously unpublished, convinced the world that a new
and genuine poet was among them. "Locksley Hall," "The Two Voices,"
"The Dream of Fair Women," "The Talking Oak," "Enone," "The
Morte d'Arthur," and other exquisite compositions, became household
words, and Mr. Tennyson's poetical reputation was thenceforth ensured.
It was elevated and broadened by the appearance of his magnificent elegy,
"In Memoriam," in 1850, a tribute to the memory of his friend, Arthur
Henry Hallam, who had been cut off in 1832 in the blossom of his days.
On the death of Wordsworth in 1851, it was felt that to him and him only
could be accorded "the laurel greener from the brows of him who uttered
nothing base," and he was appointed poet-laureate omnium consensu.
1852, he issued his "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington;" in
1853, the fifth edition of "The Princess: a Medley," the first rude sketch
of which had appeared in 1847; in 1855, "Maud, and Other Poems;" in
1858, "The Idylls of the King," founded on the old Arthurian legends;
in 1864, "Enoch Arden, and Other Poems;" "The Holy Grail," in 1869;
"The Loves of the Wrens," 1870; and "The Last Tournament," 1871.
He has also published several minor pieces, the principal being "Lucretius"
(in Macmillan's Magazine for May 1868)—a poem of great depth of
thought and felicity of language, worthy of comparison with the poet's finest
works. It only remains to be added, that in 1855 the University of Oxford
conferred on Tennyson the honorary degree of D.C.L.; and that his usual
residence was at Faringford, near Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, where
"Groves of pine on either hand,

To break the blast of winter, stand;

And further on, the hoary Channel
Tumbles a breaker on chalk and sand."

In

Mr. Tennyson, says an acute critic,* is a poet of large compass, of pro

* "Essays," by the late George Brimley, M.A.

"" THE LIME, A SUMMER HOME OF MURMUROUS WINGS."-IBID.

BORN OUT OF EVERYTHING I HEARD AND SAW, FLUTTERED ABOUT MY SENSES AND MY SOUL."-TENNYSON.

"THE SMELL OF VIOLETS, HIDDEN IN THE GREEN, POURED BACK INTO MY EMPTY SOUL AND FRAME

446

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MUSIC THAT GENTLIER ON THE SPIRIT LIES,-(TENNYSON)

ALFRED TENNYSON.

found insight, of finished skill. We find him possessing the clearest in-
sight into our modern life, one who discerns its rich poetical resources,
who tells us what we are and may be; how we can live free, joyous, and
harmonious lives; what grand elements of thought, feeling, and action lie
around us; what a field there is for the various activities fermenting within
We do not call him a Shakespeare, or even a Chaucer; but what Shake-
speare and Chaucer did for the ages they lived in, Mr. Tennyson is doing
for our age, after his measure. He is showing it to us as an age in which
an Englishman may live a man's life, and be neither a mere man of business
nor a mere man of pleasure, but may find in his affections, studies, business,
and relaxations, scope for his spiritual faculties....Since John Dryden
died, no English poet has written verse so noble, so sonorous, of such sus-
tained majesty and might; no English poet has brought pictures so clear
and splendid before the eye by the power of single epithets and phrases.
Speaking of his idylls, Mr. Kingsley observes:* Such a combination of
powers as Mr. Tennyson's naturally develop themselves into a high idyllic
faculty; for it is the very essence of the idyll to set forth the poetry which
lies in the simpler manifestations of Man and Nature; yet not explicitly, by
a reflective moralizing on them, as almost all our idyllists have done, but
implicitly, by investing them all with a rich and delightful tone of colouring,
perfect grace of manner, perfect melody of rhythm, which, like a gorgeous
summer atmosphere, shall glorify without altering the most trivial and
homely sights. And it is this very power which has made Tennyson, not
merely the only English rival of Theocritus and Dion, but, in our opinion,
as much their superior as modern England is superior to modern Greece.]

THE TIMES WHEN I REMEMBER TO HAVE BEEN JOYFUL AND FREE FROM BLAME."-ALFRED TENNYSON.

KING ARTHUR'S FAREWELL TO GUINEVERE.
{King Arthur, who may be taken to represent Tennyson's ideal of perfect
manhood, bids farewell to his queen, Guinevere, whom he has tenderly loved
and loyally trusted, until no longer able to close his eyes to the deception she
has practised upon him in her wicked preference for his knight, Sir Lancelot.]
MURMURING whisper through the nunnery ran,
Then on a sudden a cry, "The King!" She sat
Stiff-stricken, listening; but when armed feet
Through the long gallery from the outer doors
Rang coming, prone from off her feet she fell,
And grovelled with her face against the floor:
There with her milk-white arms and shadowy hair
She made her face a darkness from the King:

Miscellanies," by the Rev. Charles Kingsley.

THAN TIRED EYELIDS UPON TIRED Eyes."-ALFRED TENNYSON.

"IT IS THE LAND THAT FREEMEN TILL, THAT SOBER-SUITED FREEDOM CHOSE;-(ALFRED TENNYSON)

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And in the darkness heard his armèd feet
Pause by her; then came silence, then a voice,

Monotonous and hollow like a ghost's

Denouncing judgment; but though changed, the King's.

"Liest thou here so low, the child of one
I honoured, happy, dead before thy shame?

Well is it that no child is born of thee.
The children born of thee are sword and fire,
Red ruin and the breaking up of laws,

The craft of kindred and the godless hosts
Of heathen swarming o'er the Northern Sea,
Whom I, while yet Sir Lancelot, my right arm,
The mightiest of my Knights, abode with me,
Have everywhere about this land of Christ
In twelve great battles running overthrown.

And knowest thou now from whence I come?-from
him-

From waging bitter war with him and he,
That did not shun to smite me in worse way,
Had yet that grace of courtesy in him left,
He spared to lift his hand against the King
Who made him Knight: but many a Knight was slain;
And many more, and all his kith and kin
Clave to him, and abode in his own land.
And many more when Modred raised revolt,
Forgetful of their troth and fealty, clave
To Modred, and a remnant stays with me.
And of this remnant will I leave a part,
True men who love me still, for whom I live,
To guard thee in the wild hour coming on,
Lest but a hair of this low head be harmed.
Fear not thou shalt be guarded till my death.
Howbeit I know, if ancient prophecies

RAW HASTE, HALF-SISTER TO DELAY."-TENNYSON,

THE LAND WHERE, GIRT WITH FRIENDS OR FOES, A MAN MAY SPEAK THE THING HE WILL."-TENNYSON.

"LOVE THOU THY LAND, WITH LOVE FAR-BROUGHT FROM OUT THE STORIED PAST, AND USED

448

66 VALUING THE GIDDY PLEASURE OF THE EYES."-TENNYSON.

ALFRED TENNYSON.

Have erred not, that I march to meet my doom.
Thou hast not made my life so sweet to me,
That I the King should greatly care to live;
For thou hast spoilt the purpose of my life.
Bear with me for the last time while I show,
Ev'n for thy sake, the sin which thou hast sinned.
For when the Roman left us, and their law

Relaxed its hold upon us, and the ways
Were filled with rapine, here and there a deed
Of prowess done redressed a random wrong.
But I was first of all the kings who drew
The knighthood-errant of this realm and all
The realms together under me, their Head,
In that fair order of my Table Round,
A glorious company, the flower of men,
To serve as model for the mighty world,
And be the fair beginning of a time.

I made them lay their hands in mine and swear
To reverence the King, as if he were

Their conscience, and their conscience as their King,
To break the heathen and uphold the Christ,
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs,
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it,
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity,
To love one maiden only, cleave to her,
And worship her by years of noble deeds,
Until they won her; for indeed I knew
Of no more subtle master under heaven
Than is the maiden passion for a maid,
Not only to keep down the base in man,
But teach high thought and amiable words
And courtliness, and the desire of fame,
And love of truth, and all that makes a man.

And all this throve until I wedded thee!

66

IT IS A SHAMEFUL THING FOR MEN TO LIE."-TENNYSON.

WITHIN THE PRESENT, BUT TRANSFUSED THROUGH FUTURE TIME BY POWER OF THOUGHT."-TENNYSON.

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