The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-14

LIE DUN
dissertation. the scenes Of The comet. HArold's
ehipyrreok and capture. the oath, Edwards
curso and death. tho marriage and coronation OF
Harold and Aldwyth, and the great battle OF
Snmiac. Winds and waves, Harolds wi acts,
so allan TO his nature. and even circumstances,
flpht against him. Notwithstanding which he
still holds to duty. noblencss, and patriotism.
It 10 the truthful Haroids raise oath oy the
sa,pts of Normandy that gives the tragic unity
20 m. oc,,on. In vain does Harold defeat the
Nortbmon and his " reasonable brother,
Tostie. who has brought them into England.
The bloody victory docs but weaken him In the
ensuing struRrlo for supremacy with William.
In vain does he ga, riHoo his Edith and marry
Aldwytt, to secure, as he thinks, the aid OF her
brothers, Edwin and Morcar. They stand aloot
in bis hour of need; and his own high courage
itseIf does but expose him to the fatal arrow
which so,ls his doom and that OF England. The
author Of this memoir. In 1870, was at Battle
Abbey with his father, who there wrote his
predatory sonnet to Harold They found, 1t
seems. a rising ground to the English right,
and tho poet pictured to himself Edith
and stipnnd and tho English canons of
Waltbnm and the camp follower standing to
watch tho battle, and to catch q glimpse OF
their Rrent Harold between the English stand
ards. which tapped high above the roof OF flying
arrows. and the deadly CLEAN Of axes that
lighteped with a single flash about the sum.
nit" Whom Tennyson boheld the streams of
tourists flowing over the lawns, and not SEEM
ing much to care for tho mighty Harold, or for
tho momentous field Of Senlac, he turned to his
son and said:
Another England. now we come and 20.
nations fall has grown q summer show.
Those tragic days Of the nations fall" how
ever, were recognized by Tennyson as the
prelude of a new birth for England; indeed,
Edward the Confessor is represented Il as foreseo.
ing such a birth in his death vision. ono Of the
passages in which the author Of the play thought
no had been successful.
1t was in 1879 that Tennyson printed the
first proofs of his tragedy Of Beckett" which
he had begun in'ls76. but tho publication q
the play was deferred until December. 1884. 1t
was not acted until some years afterward. The
poet had visited Canterbury in August, 1877,
and gone over each separate scone of the Arch
bishops martyrdom. Admirers Of Beckett" he
observes in his manuscript notes. will find
that Becket's letters and tho writings Of Her
bert Of Bosnian, FitZstephen and John OF Sails
bury throw great light on those days. Bishop
Lightfoot found out about Rosamund for me-"
Tennyson's view of Becket's character IL thus set
forth: Beckett was u really great and impulsive
man, with q firm sense Of duty, and. when he re-
nounced the world. looked upon himself as being
in the Angevind ominions the head Of that church
which was the peoples tower Of strength, their
bulwark against throne and baronage.'" He felt
that. in accepting the Archbishopric in lieu of
the Chanccllorship which he had previously
held. he had changed masters; that he was not
simply advanced to a higher service of the same
lego lord. but that he had changed his former
lord paramount. whose fiery self-wil had made
havoc OF his fine intellect. for one of higher
degree, and that he had become a power distinct
from, and. it might be, antagonistic to the King.
This idea so far wrought in Becket's dominant
nature as to betray him into many rash acts;
and, later. he lost himself in tho idea. His
enthusiasm reached a spiritual ecstasy which
carries the historian along with 1t, and his hui
manity and abiding tenderness for the poor. tho
weak, and the unprotected heighten the impress
sion SO much as to make the poet feel passion
ately the wronged Rosamund's reverential de-
votion for him when she kneels praying over
his body in Canterbury Cathedral. The story of
Henry ii. and Rosamund had long before at
tracted Tennyson. aud the germ Of the play Is
to be found in q little song written before 1912,
and hitherto unpublished. The song is called
"Rosamund's Bower" and It is Rosamund who
speaks.
What rustles hither In the dark7
Astep? A ~footfaIlp What 10 that I hsar7
Tho night 10 black and stilli the deer
Bleat as with human voices in the park.
Is It the King7 Is It my love7
Coming along the secret ways,
Tho man that round mo wovo
InextricabIe brick work. maze In maze.
It is not no; far of from England's shore,
He comea no more. ...
Anfdle hops was In my breast.
My hope 10 false, my terrors truol
Iahudder in my lonely nest.
And think acunning hand has found the clue
God be gracious to my soul!
1t is well known that in 1879 Irving refused the
play: but in 1891 he asked leave to produce it,
holding that the taste OF the theatregoing pub
lie had changed in the interval and that 1t was
now likely to be a success on the stage. The
event justified the managers forecast. Here
we may mention that some of the last lines
which Tennyson wrote arc at the end of the
Northampton scene, an anthem speech penned
for Irving:
The voice of the Lord is in the voice of the people.
The voice OF the Lord is on the warning flood.
And He will lead His people into peaoel
The voice OF the Lord will shake the wilderness.
The barren wilderness OF unbeliefi
The voice OF the Lord will break the cedar-trees.
II Alukb II uiptb Snnt navy aEb
Against the Voice. 10! at their hour of doom
The voice of the Lord will hush the hounds OF hell
In everlasting silence.
v.
The volume of ballads and poems dedi-
| Gated by Tennyson to his grandson, Golden
Haired Ally" was published in the poets SOW.
| enty first year. that is to say. in 1880. He left
many manuscript notes concerning them. We
learn, for instance. that Tho First Quarrel"
was founded on an Isle of Wight story. DR..
Babbs was the doctor. The poor woman quar-.
relied with her husband. Ho started. the night
of the quarrel. for Jersey. The boat, In which he
was. struck a reef and went down. "Rlzpah " 10
founded ON an incident which Tennyson saw re-
lated in some penny magazine under the caption
OF OIL Brighton" 1t seems that two men,
Rookie and Howell. were convicted Of robbing
the mail in n village near Brighton, and were
Ribbcted on the spot where the crime was COM
mitted. There was an affecting story connected