New-York tribune., 1885-09-20
LORD TENNYsON.
THE MAN AND HIS HABITS.


habit to the outer world of society. Mr.. Browning
is to be met with-an always honored guest at the
dinner tables of the great and in the drawing
rooms of the leaders of fashion. Lord TenDyson ana
Mr. Swinburne the oldest and the youngest re-
spectiveIy OF contemporary bards, pest beloved by
the Perdes of Great Britain almost lead the life OF
recuses 4 he author of " Ataanta i'll Caledon has
found tranquil retreat beneath the roof OF MI
Theodore Watts. The Pines, Putney. Lord
Tennyson passes the whole of his time between his
residence on the Surrey hills and the domicile
where be first permanently established himself
after his marriage, and which has long since won
immortality in the Isle OF Wight or Swinburne
and Browning | may have something to say upon
future occasion. shall now conhne my remarks
to the august person of the laureate AS write.
the London of the present year OF grace has
reached its eliminating point Numerous and
assiduous as are the attempts which have been
made to secure his presence in the British capital.
ere the social glories of eighty-6ve tale that
is told, Lord TennysOn resolutely refuses to quit
Arcadia for Babylon. Mr.. Gladstone vas no sooner
emancipated from the cares of Office than he wrote
to the great poet, whom he has made peer, beg
ging him to pass fortnight with him in the com
Portable house which. by the favor OF Mr. Bertram
Curre, the ex-Premier of England now occupies in
whitehall Similar invitations by the score have,
one NAV be sure been received by Lord Tennyson
since the rowing moon of daHodil and crocus"
first climbed above the horizon, but they have all
elected one persistent refusal The laureate in his
reply to Mr. Gladstone said that he had shaken Oh
the dust of Cockagne forever, and that nothing
short of peremptOry and irresistible summons OF
business or duty would induce him to sOonrn
during a week in London. Lord 1ennyson las
registered this decision deliberately after having
made the experiment of London ife and finding 1T
unsatisfactory. couple of years ago he rented for
SIX weeks 6 smart house a fashionable quarter
At his mansion IN Lower Belgrave-st, within
stones throw of Eaton Square. he entertained the
Prime Minister. the Dean of st. PauPs and Mr.
Jowett the master of Balliol, together with divers
luminaries of craftsmanship, letters and theology
at dinner. He went ont and permitted himself TO
be entertained by Others He was the central orna-
ment of the garden parties at Clapbam given by
the editor OF monthly magazine and it was upon
of these occasions that he sat together with Mr.
Browning and Lord Houghton for an entire hour
under spreading mulberry tree while tile whole
company. drawn up around, gazed in mute admira-
ton upon this trinity of veteran wieders OF the
plec,rum, deeply occupied the while in their oral
symposium.
Lord Tennyson soon began to find the conyen-
tionahties of London society nsuiferaby tedious
cess of Thule To many of them. especial
ly to those relative to matters of personal
costume, he declined to subordinate himself.
When he appeared in public it was still in the
picturesque wide-awake OF tho ltaIan bandit,
with which his portraits have famliarized
the world However warm the weather his
shoulders were enveopcd by the poetic cloak.
Every one noticed him as he drove by in
carriage Of decidedly dOwdy aspect and
obviously hired at so much per week. Many people
recognized him and touched their hats respect
fully Had the laureate not placed curb upOn his
inclination he would most certainly have Int his
pipe IL was even rumOred that he once did SO. and
the incident real or imaginary. commemorated
by Mt Edmund Yates in entertaining parody OF
the Lord of Burlcgh. as follows:
Through the park and gardens going
Piccauilly and the Strand.
All day long his hacca blowing,
All agape the people stand
"Wants his hair cut. rum old duner,
Aged u century at least"
Quuth the laureate. - rus suncr
From the many.headed beast"
The explanation of the august apparition which,
when the season of 1888 was at its zenith. flashed
upon the London world, is tnat Lord Teunyson was
seized with an ambition of adding laures to his
wreath. and that he wished not only to write plays
that will live forever, but to see them acted lie
had notion that il he was 10 be successful in this
Possibly he did not originate the idea. Very likely
il was suggested TO him by the members of his
family. However this may be. the semi -grotesque
result was what has been described Although |
the laureate's dramatic efforts only partially |
successful-the triumph of The Cup produced |
by Mr. Irving Mt the Lyceum. only serving partially
TO redeem the appalling failure Of The Promise OF
May"-he has by no means abandoned his visions |
of supreme hIsriOnic victory and the latest OF his
tragedies will afford London audience the |
opportunity of judging how far his dream is likely |
TO be realized. Lord Tennyson may be said to he |
affected by the hopeless collapse of such piece as
" The Promise of May much as according TO Aris- |
tote the dead are affected by the fortunes of their
surviving relatives; they have dim notion of |
what has happened but nothing moro. 1t IS as II |
the sound were deadened and the event took place |
behind the curtain. In the case of the laureate. |
whatever domestic care and flial affection could do
toward wardng oil the blow was DONE His eldest
son. Mr.. Hallam Tcnnyson allowed his illustrious |
father 10 read none of the hostile criticisms and TO
omen none of the unfriendy and even vituperatiye |
letters which arrived by tho post All that TIE I
laureate understood was that the drama, which |
he still holds ought to have been the hit OF the /
was not appreciated so keenly by" the many
headed beast" as it deserved
The greatest poet then who has lived to adorn the
last quarter of the nineteenth century ,eschews |
London almost entirely, will never as he himself |
ayows VISIT it again except on compulsion, and lives
In a little world of his own. Not in |
deed that he is inspired by any msanthropIc or |
anti social sentiments the contrary, he delights
in discriminating hospitality. Among the |
nechbors. of whom in Surrey ho most are Sir |
Henry Holland son of the eminent physician. and |
the Financial Secretary to the Treasury in the new
Administration and. when they are |
at little cottage they possess hard by the laureates
house. Lord and Lady Wolseley. Tennyson also
receives visitors beneath his roof from
Saturday to Monday. and among this class of guests
none is more frequent or welcome than Henry |
Irving Some of the social usages of the laureates