The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-07-14
tcspyrisht, isis, b. A. D. Jaeob.on.,

10 kAS6 ~. AuoSlu W. Nu0 ouIy NV
yer who has been Poet Laureate. He
was not . nominal barrister. but sought
briefs until the money that came to
him on his fathers death spoiled him ~
. lawyer and made him follow literature.
contradicting Lord Rosebsry. but con-
flrming an old saying about lawyers.
The English bar still boasts a poet In
active practice. Mr.. Newbolt, who has
won laurels. and some believe that he
might very well wear them onicislIy.
The once OF Poet Laureate is in the
gift Of the King, being a place in the
household Of the Lord Chamberlain
department. II the offer Is conveyed by
the Prime Minister. It il merely by COM
mand Of the Sovereign.
The earliest mention Of a poet laureate
under that title occurs In the reign Of
Edward w., when John Kay received
the appointment, but q similar ONCE
existed as early as the days of Henry
III, when Henry de Averanches was
styled king Versifier." and was paid q
stipend Of 100 shilling per annum The
selection Of the laureate for a long time
was in the hands of Oxford University,
and It was not until the reign Of Charles
I that the ofIlcial appointed was created
by letters patent. These letters assigned
the poet a salary of E1oo a year and "a
fierce Of Canary wine from the royal
cellars" The Laureate now receives a
wine.
Among the forgotten Poets Laureate
Paul Whitehead claims a place. His
piety seems to have been as remarkable
a quality as his poetry. When i go
into ST. Paurs." he said, II admire II
as a very fine, grand. beautiful building
and when have contemplated its beauty.
I come out: but II i go into westmin-
lister Abbey. I'm all devotion" The
merits of this tuneful member Of the
'.Hell-ire" Club were sufficiently ac-
knowledged in an incarnation that was
sung at his funeral:
From earth TO Heay'n whiteheads soul has fed.
Refulgent gIories ham about his head.
His Muse concluding With rerounding strings.
Gives angels words to praise the King OF hfnsS
Tennyson received the letter Offering
him the Laureateship one morning before
he was out of bed. On rising he imme-
diately wrote two replies; one accepting.
the other declining the offer. and deter
mined to consult with his friends at din
ner which to send. Ever after he would
jokingly declare that he accepted the
honor because Venables assured him that.
II he became Laureate. he would always.
when dining out. be offered the liver
and wing OF a fowl"
But Tennyson thought so lightly Of the
Poet Laureateship as to accept II merely
because of Venables' assurance that the
British public at least took the office Sc
riously The immediate result. his son
tells US, was that his father got such
shoals OF poems that he was almost
crazed'' with them: the poets Of Great
Britain deluged him daily with poems:
so that he exclaimed: IF any good soul.
by way Of diversion, would just send me
q tome Of prose-
When Bulwer Lytton attacked Tenny-
son for accepting a civil list pension.
Tennyson retaliated with a ten stanza
poem In Punch which has not been in
cIuded in any collected edition OF his
works. He described his antagonist as
That padded man that the stays
Who killed. the girls and thrilled the boys
With dandy pa,hos when you wrote.
What prodts to understand
The meIits OF . spotless shirt
A dapper boot-a little hand
II half the little soul is dirt!
Tennyson felt ashamed Of this outburst
when he saw it in prin:. Punch Of the
week contained his After
Thought" which ends:
Surely. after ALL
The noblest answer unto such
Is kindly silence when they bTavL
There is no evidence that Tennyson
ever regretted accepting the office. al
though he certainly looked forward to
his duties with apprehension: Il have
no passion for Courts" he wrote to a
friend. but a great love for privacy"
The income. I believe. IL scarce flo0 |
fear. and the price Of the Court dress |
will swallow up the first years pay. |
But in the end he used the poet Rogers
iress one that was Wordsworth's. and |
10 saved part of the salary.
Some of Mr.. Austin's predecessors have /
been poor poets. but It may be presumed |
hat all of them could read and write. !
Such. however. was not the case with \
Robert Maybe. the Poet Laureate Of
he Scilly Isles" who died about twenty |
ears ago at the age of eighty-two. |
Though quite illiterate In the ordinary /
ense, he composed a good deal Of poetry |
mot all Of 1t execrable-by debating It. |
lie had a reE.-:kable memory, and II a
,ook was read to him two or three times
lie could repeat almost the whole Of 1t
Without prompting. The merest outline of
IN incident would draw from him a set /
Il verses. which ne sold at a penny.
Browning wrote two violent things. for
me of which he was sorry even before
{ was in print. He tried to recall his
urious sonnet on FitzGerald when the
orm of the '.Athenaeum." to which he had
ent II. was already made up" and the
hing was irrevocable. But 1t cannot be