, 1873-04-06
TENNYS0k:s LAST ODE.

tranalators have had the assistance OF several
| eminent scholars and clergymen, together with
! two public libraries, and seyen biographical and
other dictionaries, they believe that the follow
t ing rendering faithfully deciphers the stupen-
| dous rebus. But, in the interest Of hieroglyph-
les and other antiquarian learning, the editor Of
that journal respectfully announces that he will
! not close his columns against any other proposed
solution. Further communications on the sub
| ject should be written in plain hand, and ad-
dressed in simple Greek to Box 2s48, New York:
A1FREp TEsSYsoN's spEEcH-
Your Royal Highnees, I have addressed to you
apoem which my stupid and bewi1dered friends
(inc1uding perhaps yourzelf) think ought to
explain in prose.
It begins BY calling you loyal and royal; by
which I mean, clearly enough, that you ara
every inch 3 woman and Queen.
Then, as proof Of the loyalty OF your people,
make touching af1usion to the sickness which
| the Prince Of Wales caught in playing billiards
in his sni1t-sleeyes at Sandringham, and to tho
stunning way in which the whole nation cele-
! hrated his recovery. I say, for instance, that
| London roll'd one tide Of Joy thro' all
Her tTeb1ed millions.
This is not q misprint for " Troubled millions" I"
meant to astonish the world by the announce
ment that nine millions Of people Tor three Lon
AN%tA NAA
casion; which it was easy for them to do, Of
course, by poetic license. Nor Was this all.
There was another feature OF that celebration,
namely: what finely style
Thunderoua Nghtuings striking under sea
From sunset ard sunrise Of all thy realm.
That 1a, there came by submarine telegraph (at
FL per word) oongratulatory dispatches from
India and Australia in the East, and from Can
ada and Nova Scotia in the West.
Perhaps you will be puzzled by the al1usion to
NJ 1.&n
A strain to shame Us, "Keep you to yourselves;
So loyal Is too costlyl friends-your love
Is but u burthen: loose the bond and CO."
The true North" is Canada, and the " strain
the London Times that Canada costs too much
to the British Government, and ought to be an
empire by itself. Your Hghuess, that sentiment
Is bosh! The Times, in uttering it, does not
speak
And meaning whom the roar OF Hougoumont,
Left mtghtiest Of all peoples under heaven;
or in other words, does not represent the con-
victions Of TINT Britannia who. since the battle
Of Waterloo, datters herself that she has been
mistress Of the world
With subtitle irony, then proceed to ask il
England is really
Some third-rate isle half lost among her seas7
This question arose in my mind On reading T.
land had sunk to. q third-rate power: Let not
your Majesty be deceived by that fanatic, Would
the trebied Tor the troubled) millions Of London
shout, "God save the Queen Of = third-rate
power - The question +ha. T. it's 1wn to answnF
My next point is against those who Gay that,
whila Eng1ishmen at home are loyal to the mon
archy, yet, when they live in the distant colo
nies, they desire Independence Just as the un-
grateful Americans did under George III. met
this accusation by showing that re who we're
born and brought up in England, but who have
eent our sons and daughters to Calcutta, and
Melbourne, and Montreal, have sent them thith-
er not to be part Of new nation, but only 70
make worldwide the glory Of the g tight little
isle " or, az poetica1ly state it,
The Ioya1 to their crown
Arc loyal to their OWL far sous, who love
Our ocean-eupfre with her boundless homes
For eyer-broadening EnglAnd, md her throne
In one vast orient, and one isle, one islc,
That knows not her OWL greatness.
then change the keynote OF my harp, and
say Tor in words to that effect), your Highness
will do me the honor to accept this book Of
poems-uot on it's Own account, but because your
late husband, the Prince Consort, was very fond
OF these Legendary tales, particularly King Ar
thur, to whom once did myself the honor to
compare him.
This compels me to expIain that the King
Arthur whom have herein descrbed is very
different from the mythical personage whom We
have heretofore associated With that name-yes,
far higher in intellect and moDals than the
Round-Tab1o hero OF whom you hare read in the
history BIZ Geoffrey, Of Monmouth, or in the re-
told Arthurian legends translated from the Nor
man-French by Sir Thomas % Mallory whose Welsh
name prefer to spell in the old STYLE :" MAJ
z1ed with my learned alusione- The early
and rude traditions OF King Arthur and
his knighte-gtories which were oft en- lewd and
1ow-I have invested with pure and high mean
ing, using them to illustrate the struggles be-
tween the ca1nal and the spiritual nature Of
men. OF, aa the poem itself phrases 1t.
shadowtng Sense at WAT with Soul.
Finally, as peroration, Take my blessing in
blank verse. Heaven grant your Majesty good
signs Of the times are portentous- conserva-
tive like myself. I have nothing but denuncia-
ton for what call
wordy trucklings to the transient hour,
by which mean the subserviency Of the press,
as when it pande1s to Canadian Independence I
despise
F4erce and careless looeeners Of the faith,
and il Huxley, and Darwin, and Tyndal1. and
other reyolntionists against religion, think that
this shoe fits them, let them put it on I inveigh
against
Art with poisonons honey stolen from Ftance-
In which include the whole catalogue OF French
from new adaptations Of stage
plays to new fashions OF ladies' dresses; grieve
that the 1abo1ing classes present to LIE threat
ening problem, uttering
groan aud not voice,
as witness the portentous strike in South Wales :;
I animAdvert on the unhappy fact that the edu-
Gated classes are se1dah1y devoted to their own
and that the ignorant multitude are
thus left in unchecked Possession OF the govern
ment or, as more deGcately expressed it in
the accompanying copy Of verses,
That which knows, but careful for itself,
And that which knows not, ruling that which knows
To its own harM-
But, notwithstanding, all these drawbacks on
our Conserv atiye prosperity, the prophets who |
predict the final triumph Of the Opposition-and
particularly the triumph OF such Radicals - |
5ir Charles Dixie, Mr. Bradlaugh, and the Eest-
are simply scared at their own shadows. |
SO, although the tale OF King Arthur keeps !!
pointing TO Some great and final dis
aster which ahall happen
In the West
Where al OF high and holy dies swsy,
nevertheless your Royal Highness may avert
This threatened calamity il you will simply stick
10 your t
Crowning comuon-sense,
sud reject the vsgaries Of all who tell you to
- Go West"
[Cheers and applause, during which the bard