The sun., 1904-06-12

medipval and Rchaisssnost. Siness lJhh
Tadena gave curious account OF Robert
Br6whinss sight, naaintainlhk that with
ono eye. the poet could read the. number
Of q picture at the end Of ailong gallery;
while Will, the otiier, without artificial ns-
sistanoe. he could write an ode of Hogsoe
on a pisos OF paper Of the sise- OF a'thlee-
penny BIT. Browning, according to Lord
Aberdare, referred readily to the charge
Of obscurity brought against his poetry.
He .onoe told Aberdare, after. repeating q
story Wordswosth had told him toiliustrate
his own strange want Of humor and Wit,
that Wordsworth, after all, was UNJUST to
himself, for that, on hearing or Browhings
engagement to Miss Barrett, he had isaid:
We'll. suppose, they ,undefAtand each
other. although nobody understand Meu.
Grant DUH recalls thatat dinner OF the
Literary Society in Deoenber 1888, Dr.
Hubert Parry, the well known oomposer,
mentioned that Tennyson had sAid.to him,
and, In his (Pary's) opinion, With truth:
Browning is devoted to music, and knows
great deal about it; but there is no music
in his verse. Now lTennysonl know
nothing about music and don't care for IT
in the least; but my verse is FULL Of music.
DR.. Parry repeated the description of music
by some French savant as 1the only noise
for which one 10 obliged to pay Our au-
thor suggests that the savant must have
agreed with Theophile GaMtier, who. when
rebuked by his host for talking while some
one was singing, said: -Je ne supprirne pas
Ia musique; je ne fails que l'sttenuer.s Grant
Dun once asked G. Kezan Paul, the pub
hsher. u hehad ever published for Brown
ing NO. he said, never In con-
nection with another topic, however, he re-
called that he had once said to that poet:
what your admirers wish, Of whom i
may claim to have been one of the earliest,
is that you should give US some more lyrics.'
-Lyricsi" was Browning.s reply. II, could
give you buckets Of them, but they're not
worth the trouble
We have often encountered Tennyson
In preceding installments Of this diary,
and we hear Of him once more, under, date
Of September. 1892. month before his death.
Wilfrid Ward told Grant Duff that when
the twelfth verso Of Tehnyson's 'vastness
was read aloud BY the poet to him and
some one else, 1t ram. ~ =. .'tj ~ az:
Love for the maiden crowned With marnssA NO
regrets for ausht that has boen3+ e. So
Household happiness. gracious children. debtieas
competence. sober and eiean.. '':'''
At hearing the adjestives which ye haYe
italicized, Ward and. his companion both
Laughed aloud. What are you laughing
atp' asked the Laureate. q Ward explained
very tfmidly, and the result was that
golden mean was substituted for the
expression which had excited his rynirth.
1t seems that Ward spent some time with
Tennyson during the last weeks OF the
poets life. "He tTennysonl was depreesed,
and had lost his walking powers; but his
mind was not, even in the smallest degree.
weakened We talked Of Iauncelot's death,
and he was serioslsly' thinking of'writin9
on it, but he raised Two objections. . Une
was that Laupcelot ,'burisS Epineyefe neAf
Arthur's grave, which would be impossible
after the account q Arthurs passinE in
the Idyls; the other was his sense Of the
greatness Of the work. hit was at all % DO
justice to the subject Ward said: 'Write
q short poemJ~ THAT b hardap sstiA,
rejoined Tennyson; - short poem needs
so nauclf force; friend Of mine used to cay,
4 have not time TO write short lettsfs:
At the Atheno1m Club IN February.
1893, George Boyle told our author that
Tennyson had once said that u ispott had
only written PROUD Maisie.' 'Jook O
Hazeldean' and Wasted, Weary" Tin Guy
he would have taken rank
as a very considerable poet. OF coarse
Scott did not write .Jook, o. HAzeldean.
On Oct. II. 1890, Grant Duff, with his wife,
attended Tennyson's funeral In ,Westmin.
ster Abbey. Her invitation was for the
South Transept, his for the procession;
so she passed in at ~ O'Clock, while he
waited long in the Cloisters, talking chiefly
with Wilfid Ward, Arthur Gordon. Colonel
Maurice and Speal or Peel. Our directions
were to wait till the coffin and the immediate
OF the Laureate bad passed,
and then to fall In, two and two. Peel
proposed that should be his companion,
but thought that the Speaker Of the House
OF Commons ought to pair on with high
official. and 20 yielded my place to Bryce,
who has lately developed into Chancellor
of the Duchy' and member Of Gladstona.s
now Cabinet. immediately followed 1.-The
Speaker, while some one not known to me
took my left. The misty distances, a. We
passed up the Central Aisle, were very
striking. So was the singing Of Crossing
the Bar gravely and simply set BY DR..
Bridge; but Tennyson's last poenia The
Silent Voices, the music Of. which was
by his wife, was not, less effective. That
done, we moyed forward into Poets Corner
where the remainder Of the service took
place, and Heber's hymn, Holy. Holy. Holy
was sung - : - ~
Staying at Heath Court, tho Devonshtre
home OF. Lord Chief Justice sColeridge; our
author had some con nversation' with. his
host about Tennyson, whose house; at
Freshwater had been the home OF Mhs
Seymour, Coleridges first wife. .Coleridge
recalled that he had once gone 10 see Tenny-
son there, and that, In the course Of the
talk, the author Of .In' Memoriams had
distinctly put Wordsworth second among
English poets-below Shakespeare. rbut
above Milton. A year or two Later. when
Grant Duff was chatting with On, old Ok
ford contemporary. G. X. Paul (above mem
tioned). the name Of Tennyson came up.
Paul, who was at one time his publisher,
had known the poet extremely well and had
much to say about him. He related that the
great man considered Maud the best Of
his works, but was very unwilling to read
IL aloud, because. II he did 30 at all, ne liked