Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-12-23
WOMEN AND MEN.
A Morning With Tennyson.

/ Morning with Tennyson.
Harpers: On q first trip to England,
just twenty years ago, 1 was firmly
determined not to take any letter OF
Introduction to Tennyson, having heard
a good deal Of his shyness, especially
towards Americans. But two friends
In Londcl Q4ady Pollock and Miss
Thackeray, afterward Mrs. Eitchie)
both urged me strongly to go to the
Isle of Wight and see him. both volun-
teering not merely to give letters of
introduction, bu to write aud say that
l was coming. Nothing less kind
would, thing, have overcome the un.
willingness to seek him out And
when, after driving across the Isle of
Wight with an intelligent young hotel
! groom who had never even heard of
Tennyson-such is local fame!-I found
myself at the very door of Earring
ford" the instinct of recoil was still
very strong. A story had just been in
the newspapers of Mr.. and Mrs. Tenny-
| son, who were sitting in a bower In
! their own domain, debating perhaps
poetry, perhaps housekeeping, and who
heard Il rustling in the boushs above
Looking up, they saw two Americans
who had established themselves here
with a spy glass. There WAS no one
in England, except Darwin, whom I de-
sired SO much to meet as Tennyson; ia
laying out the days for very brief
visit, l had deliberately sacrificed Sails
| bury Cathedral for him, as York Minis
ter had previously been abandoned foY
Darwin. In both cases the choice was
based on the ground, since justified,
that the cathedr;lls would probably
keep, but the men might not. All this
was true, and yet the place where
stood was so beautiful, and it seemed
so wrong that Il poets peace should be
DISTURBED by vagrant American, even
after due notice given, that l felt an
honest impulse to take to my heels at
the last moment, when | WAS reasS,lr-
cd by the sight Of my friends note ~
ing open upon the table. Warming had
therefore been given of the danger;
the sufferer might have retreated
through the back window had he wish
ed-and he was said to be capable Of
it-and If he did not wish to avoid the
interview, why should I?
Presently / heard a curiously marked
and rather heavy footstep coming from
an adjoining room, and Tennyson
stood before me. I saw a tall man of
curiously un-English aspect-as I'M Eng
lish as Lord Beaconsfield - carelessly
dressed, almost slovenly, with q noble
but somewhat narraw head, Il domelike
forehead, fine eyes, and tangled black
beard streaked with gray. He advanc-
ed toward me, gave me his hand
which is, or was, Il good deal for an
Englishman-then sided away to the
high mantel-piece, leaned against it,
and said, with the tone of vexed
school-boy: 81 am rather afraid of you
Americans your colntrymcn don't
treat me very well. There was Bayard
Taylor" And he went on With
long complaint Of a letter which had
lately appeared. one which Taylor had
not meant for publication, but which an
injudicious friend had printed. Strange
to say, the effect Of this diatribe was
not merely to amuse, but to put me EN-
liItiv 1T lily cttSo. L utlI no HllcIiUOu
of writing anything about him personal
ly- and have never before done So
and it was evident that with this as
sllrance he would feel that he had said
his worst. and would be kin md
friendly thenceforward, as proveh rue.
He took me to his study, showed me
his favorite view, led me through the
garden. and was as kind as possible.
He talked a great deal, and seemed,
like Wordsworth, to dwell 4 good deal
on himself. and perhaps from the same
cause-isolation from the world. "Ten-
nyson likes unmiXed flattery," said
Lord IIoughtOn to me afterwards; and
Tennyson himself more than once men
toned q mans opinion of his own poe
try as 4 element in the character Of the
man; thus of Lowell. che does not like
my poems very we'll" All this was
not carried far enough to be offensive.
but it was unmistakable. Something
more agreeable was that remarkable
knowledge of outdoor nature, which
has often been pointed out in his poe
try; he would say. in leading me
through the garden. that this or that
plant was one which did not grow III
America, and always correctly.