The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-26

All Is well then; rest
wiz 70 rest; ne Iald, must nave rest.


will 10 rest; ne sad, must nave resi-
THE rEEaYsoNIAN LYRICS AND coScETs
one wonld naturally expect In Mr.. TennysonA
drama some or those litle songs which are so
charming a part OF ''The Princess.p but here We
have only a MIkmaid's song and late song Of
Queen Mary Here Is the
MILgaAID singing tcfthouu.
Shame upon YOU. kODln,
Shame upon you now
Kiss me would you with my hands
MIXING the cow
DAISIES grow again,
kngcupS Ulow again,
And you came and Kiss'd me milking tho Gown
Robin came behind me,
Kissid ME wen vow:
Gun him could with my hands
Milking the cowg
Swallows lily again,
CuckOos cry again,
And you came and kiss'd me milking the COW.
Come ROBIN, Robin,
Come and KISS me now;
Help 1t can with my hands
Milking the COW
RIngdoyes coo again,
AL things WOO aaain.
Come behind ana KISS me milking the cowi
we think, however. the lutte song the prettier
concelt or the two, and there Is something WON
drously pathetic III the hopeless woman singing:-
Hapess doom OF woman happy in betrothingi
Beauty passes ike breath and love Is lost In
loathing:
Low. my luie; speak low, my lute but say tAs
Low, lutte, low
Love VIII hover round the mowers when they Arsa
Love viii ny the fallen Leaf, and not be overtakeni
Low, my lutte oh low, my lutte we fade and are
Low, dear lute, low
Other Tennysonian conceits show themselves
throughout the DRAMA OF which one or the hap
pest is the line
ITO gorge a hereto whole, roasted or raw"
This, we take It, was suggested by the modern
taste Tor the oyster We doubt however whether
chess was 80 common In queen Mary's day that
the French Ambassador. In inviting the young
Duke OF Devon TO his house TO take part in an In
trlgue. could ask him TO play 1t. This speech al
least Is due TO the telegraph:4
NoAILLEs
Ay but we play with Henry, King OF France,
Ills Hlgnness makes his moves across the channel,
We answer him with ours, and there are messens
That 60 between us.
AN ESTIMATE OF THE DRAMA.
The most surprising thing about this drama Is itA
complete unlikeness co everything the critic could
have anticipated. In spite oil its few Tennysonian
lyrics and conceits 1t is not Tennysonian. 1t has
none of the mawklsn sentlmentalty or '"The Prn-
cessn ana none or the morbid and obscure tran
scendentalsm or "In Memoriam.n In thought
and treatment it is simple TO severity. Even
when 1t is most beautiful 1t is almost bald
from the want OF adornment. There is not
a careless line nor an il-conslderea speech from
the FIRST act TO the last. Sometimes the con.
straint Is too constrained and the severity too
severe, but this is true only in the dramatic, not
the literary sense. As the work or a poet 1t may
be said to be fautless and II It's dramatic triumph
had been equally assured the laureate might well
contest with Shakespeare the palm OF great
ness. Could Mr.. Tennyson have been
actor without losing his gilt OF song,
II is quite possible his work would
have been play as well as
drama. Its fault is In It's failure to present TO the
eye what 1t reveals to the Imagination. and yet ta
very cumsness OF construction is It's perfection
as picture. The stage carpenters hand would
mar its beauty and vet lail to give It life. We
should see II on the stage we should miss In 10
that which is most exquisite, and find no recon.
pense In the multitude OF It's scenes natural
enough In poem, but shifting awkwardly In q
play IL Is dramatic In form, but not In fact; but
while we regret the loss OF the play we are
not condemning the drama As q poem
even the dramatic form was necessary "a
the poets purpose, ana II he has cheated the play.
house he has enriched player and paygoer alike.
AS an historical study, as the picture OF reign
and an age IN some respects the most marvellous
In the worlds annals, his work Is unsurpassed,
we might say indispensable. No other, not even
Shakespeare himself could have done better Win
may say Of Tennyson's 'HQueen Mary that II IL ID
not the highest effort OF genius It In At loass the
ripess iruii or intellectual culture.