New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-06
Mr.. TENNYSON'S PEERAGE-LITERARY AMI
THEATRICAL INCIDENTS

rrpov rtr prGrr Az CORRESPONDENT or The TRIBUNLl
t l. NDON, December Is.
NJ Teurvsou's peerape we hear from Newly DIRK
Inv the eyer communicative cable, Is Thought to
testify in behalf of his countrymen the honor II
which they hold the poet. Upon which bold
Briton Processes his inability to understand now
Mr. Teunyson's peerage could testify anything OF
the sort seeing that none were more surprised thah
his conntr,nrp 10 hear that he had got 1t. Sur
prised they certainly We're, and pleased they GER
tainlv are not Nearly every important organ OF
public opinion either took ground IN advance
against the proposal to make Mr. Ienhysoh peer
or has expressed its regret since, or perhaps mas
allowed silence to signify its dissatisfaction. Inc
imnortaut execution is The Saturday Hericc which
/ published on this subject one Of the most Teiheh-
! dous articles ever printed i'll this or any other
| country. The opposition to the Poet Laureates
ennobIement is deridcd as clumsy and shallow
snObbery and we are told that as matter OF fact
no man living or who ever hyed-not Cesar or Per
icles. not Shakespeare or Michael AnCelo-could
confer more honor than he took on entering that
House !"
TO this astounding outburst Mr.. Swinbume
makes answer in three stanlaS beginning;
o Lords our Gods, benehcent, sublime,
In the evening and before the morning halncs,
We praise We bless. magnify your names.
The most august the most peculiar. the most
beneficial the most unefiaceabe Of the elements OF
the English Constitution is the House Of Lords"
cries the journal which Mr.. W. II. Pollock edits and
Mr.. Beresford Hope inspires. And whoever does
not think 50 is a snOb or as Mr. Swinburnc puts it
The serf, the cur, the sycophant Is he
Who feels no cringinC motto tWltch his knee,
When from height too high for Shakespeare mods
The wearer of a higher than Milton's crown.
1t is not ] suppose, because the English people
have ceased to respect the House OF Lords that they
dislike to see Mr.. Teunyson become Lord Tennyson.
There is plenty of respect in this country for
Lords and It is but the political authority OF their
assembly which is called in question in these rad
zeal DAYS They do not think Tennyson too good
for the Lords They simply think him out of place
there They would grudge him no apt and suitable
dignity that the Queen or any other source OF
honor could be,tow on him. They do not think
that it adds distinction 10 literature that popular
and admirable poet should receive the same sort of
recognition which OF late years has been reserved
for the possossor of immense wealth, for successful
lawyers for successful soldiers aud for unsuccessful
politicians.
Now. however, MIR. w. Fl. Pollock and Mr.. Beres-
ford Hope have found an ally in the pen son of Mr..
Martin f. Upper That eminent and proverbal
philosopher publishes letter, Is II indeed he, or
some enemy of Mr. Upper who has done this
thiurl letter which has not a correct sentence
in il from beginning to end. I suppose must,
.Proyerbial Philosophy TO be the author Of this
strange epistle. 1t is perhaps enough to say of it
that he halls the "receut and most worthy eleva-
ton of our greatest Poet Laureate as making an
era in the history of England. You will hear with
surprise and delight that shrewd America select
her diplomatic Ministers mostly from the class OF
her own poets and historians And the conclusion
is this: that If any foolish rule has hitherto ex-
listed that any writer, however cXccllcnt, must-as
possibly Bohcmian-bc excluded from National rec
ognition through the fountain of honor in the way
of titular distinction, may well rejoice that, as
our noble TcnnySon has now broken through the
pale there Is hope for some OF his literary brethren
ana sisters being thought worthy of public honors
from our great and good Queen" Why, certainly.
How would Lord Upper do
Mr.. Henry James, article on Matthew Arnold in
the January number OF Macmillan's R8lish Illus
tratd Nodr,iae j. cordial, but also, IN the good
sense a critical panegyric. To an American says
Mr. james, rs 10 any stranger Mr. Arnold speaks
more directly than any other contemporary English
writer says moro of those things which make him
the visitors intellectual companion, becomes in 4
singular way nearer and doarer' He has, more
over. detachment Of mind, a capacity Of looking
AT and cliticsInC things English from non-Eng-
lIsh point OF view remaining all the viii full OF
English piety aad English gO0d-humOr. lie
touches S"lntc- Bcuye on one side and Renan on the
other " it'll all his IgtDess of form, Inc has added
to the interest of life, 10 the charm of knowledge
1t is Mr.. Arnold whom We think of when We
figure 10 ourselves the best know ledge Of what Is
being done in the world, the best appreciation OF
literature and life.
These sentences Gull almost at random from Mr..
Jamess paper, with the whole of which you will
soon be familiar in America. His object Is avowedly
TO express the high appreciation Of those who have
in any degree attempted TO for literature, and
the debt of gratitude they owe 70 Arnold for hls
admirable example, for having placed the standard
of successful expression, Of literary feeling and
good manners high, "a sentence which is itself
not unlike Mr.. ATnOld's most effective style And
Ike Lord Coleridge Mr. Henry James finds Mr..
Matthew Arnold" more than any one else the happily
proPortioncd, the truly distinguished man Of let
ter" among the English men of letters now extant.
New Notes on the Ancestry Of George Washing
tom is the first title of the seventh volume of The
Gcnoalogst," book which consists of the four col
lecttJ numbers Of the quarterly magazine of that
name. This paper is but one Of several published
or 90 be published, which denote the intent of the
editor 10 make speciality of American family his
tory. We Americans are supposed to take keen
interest in such matters and there is no reason why
We should not; those of u.s. at least, who trace, OF
wish 10 trace, Our descent from an English stock.
The GenealOgist is IN its eighth year. and
may he described IA quarterly magazine of Gen
ealOgical Antiquarian, Typographical aud Heraldic
Research. The editor is Mr.. Walford ID. Selby. of
the Public Record Office; the publishers Messrs
Bell \ Son. Its contributors include some of the
best known specialists in the Kin gdom, more than
one of them in the Heralds' College. Aud since it
is understood that q large cont nCeuf Of American