The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-01

and anything low or ignoble in men re- volted him and made him thoroughly unhappy. I remember once taking Emerson to lunch with him, in his rooms in Corpus Christi college. Elm erson was an old friend of his, and in many respects a cognate soul. But some quite indifferent subject turned up, a heated discussion ensued, and Ruskin was so upset that he had to quit the room and leave us alone, Elm erson was most unhappy, and did all he could to make peace, but he had to leave without a reconciliation.
 Ruskin's influence among the under graduates at Oxford was most extraor- dinary. He could persuade the young Christ church men to take spade and wheelbarrow and help him to make road which he thought would prove useful to a village near Oxford. No other professor could have achieved that. The road was made, but was also soon washed away, and, of course, Ruskin was laughed at, though the la Dor undergone by his pupils did them no doubt a great deal of good, even though it did not benefit the inhabi- tants of the village for any length of time. It was sad to see Rusllin leave Oxford estranged from many of his friends, dissatisfied with his work which, nevertheless was most valuable and highly appreciated by young and old, perhaps by the young more than by the old. His spirit still dwells in the body, and if any one may look back with pride and satisfaction upon the work which he has achieved, it is sure ly Ruskin.
 Another, though less frequent visitor to Oxford was Tennyson His first wis 1t to our house was rather alarming, We lived in a small house in High street, nearly opposite Magdalen col lege, and our establishment was not calculated to receive sudden guests, particularly Poet Laureate. He stepped In one day during the long va cation, when Oxford was almost empty | Wishing to show the great man all ci- vility. we asked him to dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. At that time almost all the shops were in the market, which closed at one o'clock My wife, young housekeep- CT. did her best for our unexpected guest. He was known to be a gour- mand, and at dinner he was evidently put out by finding the sauce with the salmon was not the one he preferred. l He was pleased, however, with the wing of chicken, and said 1t was the only advantage he got from being Poet Laureate, that he generally received the liver-wing of a chicken. The next morning at breakfast we had rather plumed ourselves on having been able to get dish of cultets, and were not a little surprised, when our guest arrived to see him whip off the cover of the hot dish, and to hear the exclamation Mutton chops! the staple of every bad inn in England" However, these were but minor matters, though not without importance in the eyes of young wife to whom Tennyson had been like one of 1 the immortals. He was full of interest and full of inquiries about the east, more particularly about Indian poetry. and I believe it was then that told him that there was no rhyme in Sans l krit poetry, and ventured to ask him why there should be in English He was not so offended as Samuel Johnson seems to have been, who would proba- ply have answered my question by You are great fool, sir use your own Judgment" while Tennyson gave the very sensible answer that rhyme as- sisted the memory.
 
 Tennyson was very kind to me, and took a warm interest in my work, par ticularly in my mythological studies. l well remember his being struck by a metaphor in my first Essay on Com- parative Mythology" published in 1856, and his telling me so. I had said that the sun in his daily passage across the sky had ploughed golden furrow through the human brain, whence sprang in ancient times the first germs of mythology and afterwards the rich growth of religious thought
 ''I don't know" he said, whether the simile is quite correct, but I like it. I was, of course, very proud that the great poet should have pondered on any sentence of mine, and still more 'iAt't 'iS ohouiu hoNS upplONSu OI lily theory of seeing in mythology a poeti- cal interpretation of the great phenom- ena of nature. But it was difficult to have long discussion with him. He was fond of uttering short and decisive sentences; his yes was yes indeed and his no was no, indeed.
 It was generally after dinner. when smoking his pipe and slipping his whis- key and water that Tennyson began to thaw and to take a more active part in conversation. People who have not known him then have hardly known him at all. During the day he was Of ten very silent and absorbed in his own thoughts, but in the evening he took ar active part in the converse ton of his friends. His pipe was almost indispen- sable to him, and I remember one time when I and several friends were stay. ing at his house the question of tobac- co turned up. I confessed that fol years I had been a perfect slave to to- bacco, so that I could neither read noi write a line without smoking, but thai at last I had rebeled against this slave. ry and had entirely given up tobacco Some of his friends taunted Tennysor that he could never give up tobacco | Anybody can do that" he said eff he