The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-10-06
TENNYsON's SUCCESSION.

The withdrawal OF Tennyson from the
laureateship of England. which now seems TO
be imminent on account of his growing
feebleness. the result Of extreme old age,
will carry a thrill Of regret into the heart of
the whole civilized world, because it will en-
phasize the fact that the greatest OF contem-
porary poets must soon disappear from
among living men.
There is no single individual now alive
among the vast multitudes IF English speak
ing people whose reputation is as extensive
as that OF the English poet laureate. Glad
stone alone approaches him in uniyersality Of
fame but, even tho Grand Old Ian himself
is not as well known in as many households
as the illustrious author who is drawing near
10 the end Of his life. The name of the man
TO whose genius we owe Locksley Hall. the
Princess and tho IdylS Of the King is fami.
liar to many c reader. who is totally ignorant
of the career Of the great Prime Minister who
still survives in tho full possession ofhis won
derful faculties.
1t is probably not an exaggeration to say
that after the Bible there are more Iiy-
ing persons versed in the works OF Tennv-
son than in the works Of any author. whether
belonging to the present or the past age, not
even excepting the Hamlet Of Shakespeare or
the Pilgrims Progress Of Bunyan. This pop
ularity must decline as the glamour of the
living poet melts into the clearer and serener
light that invests the classical author when
death has set lis eternal seal upon his great
ness.
There is no contemporary who can stand
with the slightest show Of success a compari-
son with the Poet Laureate either in force Of
genius or in extent Of fame. Browning, whom
many critics of discriminating judgment
placed in a higher class. and Justly so. so far
as superiority in mere dramatic ability was
concerned. passed away several years ago and
left Tennyson without q rival even in the
estimation of persons who subordinate the
descriptive TO the dramatic faculty in their
conception of the highest poetical genius.
Who is there to catch the poetical mantle
that will soon fall from his shoulders? Swim
burne. Morris and Austin, these are the only
names that occur which il does not seem
radically inapt and incongruous to mention
. iAn ul1O INV u ttth IWllQuIHt |
falls behind him in general perfection. in pure
sentiment, in ethereal imagery, in just obser-
walton. in restrained thought. in controlled
passion Rare and happy destiny to please
the critical and the uncritical. the
most e~xacting and learned scholar, as we'll as
the most crude and unframed reader, the
man who lives in his intellect. the woman
who is conferred in her emotions, individuals Of
every age and every variety of taste. appealing
to the universal sense Of oil that is beautiful
in the moral and the physical world and with
o success as spontaneous as it will be perma-
nent.
Such a poet as this should only be followed
by O poet like himself. He can have no other
appropriate successor. So high has he raised
the standard of the laureateship that il
should lie suffered to fall into allegiance even
for a generation rather than be filed by an
appointment which will lower or tarnish
the dignity which now invests it. Spen-
Dryden. Southey, Wordsworth,
md Tennyson have occcpied the Office.
history records the names Of other
ncumbents but their regulations were
ephemeral. During the greater part
# the present century, the laureateship has
'een exalted by the tenure Of the authors of
he Excursion and the Princess respectively.
nd the glorious precedent which they estab-
ished for the Nineteenth Century should be
xtended far into the twentieth, il not for an
Indefinite time.