The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-12-08
REV. D. YEATES REESE,S LECTURE

The Rev. f.. 1eateS Reese, of this city, lectured
last evening, before ,nr members of the 1aryland
| Institute taking for his subject, E'rhe Laurel of
! England and Alfred Tennyson. The lecturer com
| menced by saying that literary gentleman to whom
he had mentioned, previous to its preparation the
proposed title of his lecture, had attempted to dis
suade him from writing it, unless another title could
be substituted. ''Why,' said he, cone half your
audience will suppose you are going to deliver
harangue upon the vegetable kingdom-and as for
Alfred Tennyson, they will Of course imagine him
to be distinguished hOrticuturSt, who has brought
the laurel to great perfection in its way but of whom
they know nothing, and care Less lie should pay
no merted compliment to the intelligent audience
before him, did he not assume the very reverse of
this. They knew all about the lauTel-had most of
them read TennysOn through and through!-and all
he could hope to do was, to revive agreeable his
torical and literary remembrances. 1t posi-
Bile, nevertheless, that there might be one or two
present who were not well posted in this depart
ment of literature; and to such persons it became
him to ofer at once an apology for having misled
them as to the character of the lecture about to be
delivered.
He spoke of Daphne, the beautiful Thesalian
maiden who was woOed by Apollo, recorded in
NEUROLOGICAL dictionaries and classic lore;-how
she transformed into bay tree, from which
the disappointed lover pluckcd the unfadng laurel
and wreathed chaplet henceforth to be sacred to
the immortality of verse. This ideal chapet of
England is by Alfred Tennyson. As a
sort of background to the picture to be presented
in the proposed estimate Of Tennyson as the poet
laureate, he would invite his hearers to a rapid
Prospective glance at the origin of the office ITSELF
and notice some Of the predecessors of him who
worthily fills it.
The lecturer spoke of the Greeks and Romans as
wont to svmboliZe appreciation of distinguished
merit by chaplet and crown. At first these were
confined to physical prOwess, but afterwards they
were extended to musical and poetica triumphs
The grandeur of the medieval laureatons, howev-
er 1t may strike us as triingy formal had its uses,
at a time when barbarism was prevalent with the
masses, in exciting ambition to literary culture. 1t
impaired to learning a respect it could not other
wise have claimed. In England the conerment of
the laureate was not originally governmental dis
tinctiOn;-it was simply university degree in the
department of Bellies Lettres The test in compe-
ting for it was skill in the structure of Latin verse
The reader, who, glancing over English Literature
notices the references there to poets laureate, will
be deceived if he regard all as legitimatey recog
niZed to whom the title has been applied. The
claims of Chauccr and others, up to the time of
"Ben Johnson" considered. johnson was
the first who received letters patent for the office,
with an annual pension of hundred marks annex
ed. His amusing epistle to Charles l., asking an
increase of salary, was read, and the influence of
johnson over his age summed up in these lines of
Churchhill-
ellis comic humor kept the world in awe
And laughter frightened folly than law"
Commencing with such name that of ''rare
Ben Johnson" and terminating at the present in
the tavorte poet of the age, might suppose that
we should find the intermediate links of this chain
in any succeeding age since the death of johnson,
men who were worthy so be classed with
THE few, the immortal names,
That rot born to die"
But OF the brilliant poets whose memories crown
her past with glory surprising that of the Throne,
who has worn her laurel? Who has known the
distinction of courtly appreciation? John Dryden
and Thomas Warton were worthy; but with per
haps these exceptions, up to the time of S0uthey |
the laurels had been worn by inferior men, Nahum |
Tate, Lawrence Eusden, Colly Cibber, Henry Jas. |
PyeIsharers of courtly favor and appreciation
forsooth !-wearers of England's laurel tribute to
the immortality of song men of whom it had been
well sad-''they might have exhausted imagina-
ton in celebrating the virtues of boot backing,
the praises of cheap clothing"
On the death of Pye, in 1913, Walter Scott was |
rendered the office. A letter of Scott showing |
how much he was impressed with its degradation, |
referred to- and part of it quoted He de
clined the offer, but urged his friend SOuthey to
accept it. Southey did much to redeem the laurel |
Though he winked at royal debaucheres, sung
hosannahs were his moral sense must have been |
outraged, and barred his back to the mercess |
thongs of Lord Byrons satire, he nevertheless left
the laureate in more honorable position than he
found it. With all his scEcompliance, Southey
a man and poet. Wordsworth succeeded him. |
He simply enjoyed the sinecure. No line of his is
a hosannah to royal foOlery. When Words !
worth died, stripped of all its disgusting dutes
the laurel was placed upon the brow of a compara-
lively young man-the actual poet-laureate-the |
poet of poets of his day and generation, Alfred
Tennyson, whose very name has in it delicate
musical ring that seems prophetic of his fame.
The lecturer then entered upon an examination
of Tennyson's peculiarities poet. Critics had
been slow at first to give him defined position.
Meanwhile his peculiar power poet had been
working on the hearts of men. The influence of
predecessors upon him as suggested in Baynes dis
criminatve essay, was referred to, and its effects
noted. His characteristics shown to be marvellous
command of language, decacy of rhythm, minute
ness of detail, harmony Of color, vigor of imagna
ton, breadth of humanity, and lotiness of chris
tian sentiment. Each of these points was briefly
considered and in illustration the lecturer read
from 'Iocksley Hail. "Thc Lord of Bureieh"
"The Lady Clare" and several other poems. In
reference to his humanity he said Tennysons verse
was constant remonstrance against the aristo-
cratic fal8es that have been permitted to fasen
upon the civilization of his age IA mans a man
for a that never quickened to indignant scorn the
bosom of Robert Burns at the pretension of mere
titled greatness, than it does the great heart
of the poet-laureate. His humanity of sentiment
forming as it will form henceforth part of the
literature of the world, woven it will be woven